As the line of rain moves south into the afternoon, it has the potential to lose steam.

The storms are not severe but could bring gustier winds, downpours, and lightning.

Remember if you hear thunder roar, you’ll want to head indoors for your safety.

How much rain Harris County picks up will depend on the placement of the front. This time of year, it is hard to get a front to clear all the way to the coast, often stalling before it can move south.

If the weekend front doesn’t reach Houston, rain chances will be very limited. However, there is plenty of heat and humidity ahead of the front, so once it reaches Houston, showers and storms will be easy to develop.

Right forecasting around a 40% Saturday with decreasing rain chances through into the early week.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% after veering between an earlier gain of 0.7% and drop of 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 282 points, or 0.5%, as of 1:44 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher after briefly losing all of an early 1.3% jump.

The market initially seemed to be heading for healthy gains as Amazon leaped 14.9% after reporting much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its profit more than tripled from a year earlier, thanks in part to an acceleration of growth in its cloud computing business.

Analysts said that could be a signal Amazon’s huge investments in artificial-intelligence technology are paying off, and Amazon increased its forecast for how much it will spend on investments this year.

The stock reaction was similar to what Microsoft got a day before, when it soared to its best day in nearly 18 years on signals that its AI investments may also be yielding higher profits.

Worries have been high on Wall Street that companies pouring billions of dollars into AI data centers may not get enough profit and productivity to make all the investments worth it. That weighed on the broad U.S. stock market, causing its sharp swings throughout July, along with worries that stock prices shot too high for companies selling the processors and computer memory that such “hyperscalers” are scrambling to buy.

Chipmakers swung sharply again on Friday. Micron Technology, for example, went from an early jump of 6.4% to a loss of 2.5%.

More firmly on the losing end of Wall Street was Apple, which dropped 9.6% despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Its forecast for growth in the current quarter fell short of expectations, which executives pinned on a supply crunch in components getting vacuumed up in the AI boom.

Also pressuring stocks was another rise in oil prices as uncertainty continues about when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again from the Middle East.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 1.4% to $88.06 after careening between $72 and $102 earlier in July.

Higher oil prices have pushed the cost for a gallon of regular gasoline to an average of nearly $4.11 across the United States, up from $3.85 a month ago, according to AAA. More expensive oil also puts upward pressure on prices for virtually every product that rides on a ship, plane or truck before it gets to a customer.

The worries about inflation sent yields in the bond market even higher.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.74% from 4.68% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran sent oil prices shooting higher. That's a notable move for the bond market, and the yield moves higher when investors' expectations for inflation, economic growth and other factors in upcoming years are rising.

The leap has already sent the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its highest level in a year.

Longer-term yields jumped on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's chair, Kevin Warsh, promised again to get inflation back down to 2% but did not say how he plans to get it there. The Fed voted again to keep its main interest rate steady on Wednesday, even though inflation continues to remain well above 2%.

Higher interest rates could keep a lid on inflation, but they could also slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments. President Donald Trump, who nominated Warsh to lead the Fed, has lobbied for lower interest rates instead of higher.

Warsh has clearly told financial markets that he does not want to give hints about what the Fed will do with interest rates, saying he wants to get direct, “unfiltered” messages from them rather than echoes back of what the Fed has suggested.

But “without clarifying why action was or wasn’t taken already, it’s hard to see how statements about being committed to hitting its inflation target aren’t just a bluff,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management.

“The Fed is facing a growing credibility problem,” economists at Bank of America wrote in a report. Unless data comes in showing less pressure on inflation in the interim, “it is imperative for the Fed to pass the September test by hiking rates and delivering an internally consistent narrative.”

In stock markets abroad, the swings were even wilder for chip stocks.

Seoul’s Kospi index soared 17.9% for its best day in history. The index is dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which both surged at least 26.8% on Friday.

The Kospi, though, still lost 22% in July despite Friday’s historic move. That’s after it more than doubled in the first six months of the year.

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Until now, the answer has been a doting home health aide from Haiti named Martha Nelson. But with the Supreme Court sanctioning a White House immigration crackdown, Nelson’s permission to stay in the country appears likely to be yanked within days, leaving French worried.

“She’s with me all the time,” says French. “Life would be impossible.”

As the Trump administration unwinds years of protections for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti, twin populations of vulnerable people find themselves in the crosshairs: caregivers in jobs to which those immigrants have flocked, and the older adults and disabled people who rely on them.

Around the U.S., care homes and home health agencies are bracing for the loss of workers with TPS, which stands for temporary protected status, even as they continue to reel from other immigration policy changes that have squeezed an already short-staffed industry.

For businesses, it is a predicament that could hurt bottom lines and tax remaining workers. For their clients, it threatens to upend every aspect of their lives.

“They have become like family,” says Katy Sanchez, who lives in a group home for disabled people in Nanuet, New York, run by The Arc Rockland, which stands to lose 19 caregivers with TPS, on top of 20 others it lost in immigration changes last year. “If they are forced to leave, it would be devastating.”

Supreme Court ruling paved the way

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration last month, saying it could end temporary protected status. The ruling specifically pertained to 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, but immigration advocates and legal observers say it could be applied to a broader group of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.

The justices' move has been met with weeks of confusion. Immigration officials subsequently granted several extensions to TPS holders that carried through Monday. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued guidance Wednesday affirming TPS was over, though some attorneys and labor unions have argued work authorization remains intact until lower courts lift an injunction.

The Department of Homeland Security made light of the TPS expiration, referencing lyrics from a 1998 hit song: “It’s closing time, which means you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Fearful they might be in breach of the law, some employers have begun terminating TPS holders, to the dismay of their clients.

Anna Fischbein grew accustomed to visits to her home in Sunny Isles, Florida, from the same kindly Haitian health aide every week for the past 10 years. But Jewish Community Services of South Florida terminated the aide along with 17 others when their TPS lapsed.

“I lost not only a lady working for me,” the 87-year-old Holocaust survivor says, her voice broken by sobs. “I lost a friend.”

Facilities scramble to come up with replacement workers

Around 1 in 5 workers in the U.S. is foreign born, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but immigrants are overrepresented in caregiving roles. Among home health aides, for example, one-third are immigrants, according to PHI, a nonprofit focused on the caregiving workforce.

In lives upended by age or disability, a cherished caregiver is a lifeline. For someone living in their own home, they may be the last line of defense before institutionalization. For those in a care facility, they may be their strongest advocate, who notices subtle changes before anyone else, ensures small comforts like dollar-store word search books, and brings a sense of humanity to the humiliation of being incontinent.

“They are the first people they see when they wake up in the morning and they’re the last ones that they see before they go to bed,” says Simone Smith, vice president of human resources at Cabrini of Westchester, a nursing home in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where eight Haitians with TPS await word of their fate.

Like similar facilities around the country, Cabrini is prepared to scramble to secure replacement staffers from nursing agencies and plead with remaining workers to take overtime shifts. Cabrini’s workforce is about 75% immigrant. Among those with TPS, Smith senses “almost a hopelessness.”

A Haitian who loses TPS faces an unbearable choice: Attempt to stay in the U.S. and find underground work, tiptoeing through life with fear that authorities will eventually find and remove them. Or return to a country so plagued by gang violence and poverty that many believe it would amount to a death sentence.

“I’m afraid all the time,” says a Haitian man working at a Brooklyn nursing home who asked for anonymity because of concerns for the safety of himself and his family. “I pay tax to the country. I’m a good person. … All I want is to work. When you work, you are a person.”

Families wonder what they will do

Outside a simple brick house in Queens, Nelson stands guard as French steps through her door. On the porch, you might mistake the two for old friends, their bond as much an illustration of what is at risk as it is of how much things have changed.

The women made the same journey, from Port-au-Prince to New York, four decades apart.

French was drawn here in 1970 by the potential opportunities she saw. She built businesses as a hairdresser and seamstress. Her late husband made his way as an electrician and contractor. They bought their home. Their children got good educations. They believed they achieved the American dream.

Nelson came after an earthquake flattened Haiti in 2010. At home, she ran a butcher shop, but after arriving in New York she found work in caregiving roles. She began working for French about three years ago after French fell and broke her hip. Nelson, now 69, has been with her nearly every weekday since.

Both women felt welcomed by the U.S. when they arrived. But French is saddened to see how views on immigrants have evolved.

“America is a good country,” French says, “but it has changed.”

Nelson brings leftovers, tends to French’s chores and is a source of companionship. They watch the news together and talk in Haitian Creole about their families. On weekends, Nelson calls to make sure French has gotten up from bed and nags her to eat.

“On my days off, I think about her,” Nelson says.

French says Nelson has become like family. Nelson agrees, saying she sees French as if she’s her own mother, a show of affection and the source of the pair’s one ongoing dispute.

“You’re not like my daughter,” French protests. “You’re like my sister.”

For now, the two continue their routine, knowing each shift may be Nelson's last. She keeps a copy of her work authorization zipped in a black cloth pouch that she carries everywhere, in case she is stopped. Each Sunday, she sinks to her knees in church, praying for an answer. She worries for herself and for French.

“It makes me feel depressed,” Nelson says. “It could be difficult for her without me.”

___

Salomon reported from Miami.

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

“It’s extremely important to us,” said Itai Nixon, who leads the diaspora department for Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. “We’re the state of the Jewish people, not just Israelis.”

Lesley Sachs, who has protested the current Israeli government and chairs the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, also considers a close relationship with diaspora Jews a “strategic asset” for both Israel and Jews worldwide.

So she’s greatly concerned about diaspora Jews losing the sense that Israel can be a homeland for them, especially as rising antisemitism targets them regardless of political and religious affiliations.

“That was always really, really important that everybody around the world, especially after the Holocaust, knows that there is a country that will always take them,” Sachs said in her synagogue in Tel Aviv. “This is already a few generations after, and this is less prominent in their DNA. And I think that this is really a failure on the part of both Israel and world Jewry, that we have not managed to keep that prominent.”

Since 2000, Taglit-Birthright Israel has brought a million Jewish young adults from the United States and elsewhere for a free 10-day “discovery” tour of Israel. The organization’s CEO says it’s more necessary than ever to show what their connection to Israel could be like beyond controversial politics.

“That really increases the importance of my job to expose people to what they give up on,” said Gidi Mark. “What we give them is a mirror.”

The staunch Israel-US relationship shows some cracks

Israel and the United States have long been staunch allies. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington earlier this week to discuss the war against Iran they launched together five months ago.

“The United States is perceived as the best friend of Israel in the entire world, and that’s still the case,” said Tamar Hermann, who directs the Israel Democracy Institute’s Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research in Jerusalem.

Divisions over the ceasefire in the Iran war, however, have weakened Jewish Israelis’ belief that Trump prioritizes Israel’s security — from 64% in March to 26% in June — according to the center.

Amid diplomatic tensions, the role of Jewish Americans who historically lobbied for political, military and financial support for Israel gains new prominence, Israelis said. And that deepens the concern that many young progressive Americans, including Jews, now see supporting Israel in any way as irreconcilable with their worldview.

The decline in support for Israel has become particularly stark since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians in southern Israel, and abducted 251 others. Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

That in turn ignited protests across the United States, especially on college campuses.

“Holocaust, refugees, the importance of Israel in times of need abroad, and the fact that Israel is a small country fighting for its existence … that’s history they read in a book,” Sachs said of younger Jewish Americans. “They weren’t emotionally part of it in any way or any form. And so they look at their values and the things that they believe in. And they don’t see it in Israel.”

Jewish Americans have a complicated relationship with Israel

Only about 4 in 10 religious Jewish adults under 45 in the United States say that supporting Israel is “extremely” or “very” important for their Jewish identity, while about half of older religious Jewish adults do, according to the AP-NORC poll.

The survey of 1,022 Jewish adults — including people who identify as Jewish by religion and religiously unaffiliated people who identify as Jewish through culture, ethnicity or family background — also found that only about half of religious adults say Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza are justified. The number drops to 2 in 10 among Jewish adults without a religious affiliation.

At the same time, about 6 in 10 Jewish adults say prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the United States today.

To many Israelis, safety threats against Jews make it all the more tragic — and dangerous — that young Jewish Americans do not see the state of Israel as a refuge or even an ally.

“Antisemitism sadly helps us to explain why a Jewish homeland is not a bad idea,” said Asaf Zamir, a deputy mayor of Tel Aviv who served as consul general in New York. “Opposing the government is fine, but you cannot understand your history as a Jew without understanding the part of Israel in it.”

Israel reaches out to secular and liberal Jews in North America

In order to promote deeper attachment between Israel and diaspora Jews, both the government and religious organizations are reinforcing exchange programs. For decades, young Israelis have traveled to Jewish summer camps across North America, and non-Israeli Jews get free trips to Israel.

“To see Israel and meet Israelis is the gold standard,” Itai Nixon said of programs bringing teens to the country.

Taglit-Birthright’s Gidi Mark said that since 2023, with multiple wars, tour participants are fewer — and their reactions to touring Israel have also changed. He recalled one participant shouting “Israel! Israel!” outside his hotel just because he felt safe to express himself.

“These people don’t feel free to experience who they are in the places that they are coming from,” Mark said.

These and other initiatives are focusing on secular Jews and adherents to Reform Judaism. The largest branch of the religion in North America, it emphasizes progressive values such as social justice.

Orthodox Jews abroad tend to have stronger ties to Israel — and Orthodox Jews in Israel tend to see themselves as closer to diaspora Jews than do secular Israelis, Hermann said.

Within the Israeli Reform movement, which is a small part of Judaism in the country, there’s a push to send more young Israelis to the United States, including as camp counselors.

“That kind of action is important, that one-on-one connection saying, ‘You know what, we believe in the same things you do. Really, we have the same ideology in general, and we feel we need to change Israel together,'" Sachs said. “We need to be partners in making Israel the country that we all need.”

Alma Edry, 18, is spending two months as a counselor at a progressive Jewish summer camp in Ontario with teens and young adults from Canada and the United States. She said her biggest surprise has been “that Israel is such a big deal for people outside the country.”

“Most of their friends are anti-Israel,” she said of the campers. “This is their chance to celebrate their connection.”

___

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.

Trump is taking Friday’s Cabinet meeting on the road — to the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. It's the first Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Trump’s second term after an earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather.

Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid conceding to Senate Republicans’ demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family.

Here's the Latest:

Trump has wrapped up the public portion of his Cabinet meeting

The president gave a lengthy opening statement, heard from top officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and answered questions on Iran and array of other topics.

He has now asked the press and cameras to leave, meaning the rest of the meeting’s proceedings won’t happen in view of the public.

Trump steps back from pledge to let Ukraine make Patriot interceptors

Asked about his previous commitment to give Ukraine a license to make Patriot air defense systems to counter Russian missiles, Trump said, “We have not agreed to that.”

“We’re talking about it. But it’s a hard thing to give away that kind of technology,” Trump said at his Cabinet meeting on Friday.

“I don’t think this would ever happen, but you know there’s people that, you give that technology, they can someday turn on you,” Trump added. “You look at war, that’s happened a couple of times over the years, right? So we have to be very careful.”

It was a contrast to earlier remarks from the sidelines of the NATO summit this month, where Trump said, “We’ll give them the right to make Patriots.”

Trump said he discussed the topic with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when they met in Washington on Tuesday. Zelenskyy also met with senators to make a case for why Ukraine needs the interceptors.

Trump claims Iran war helped drive Hamas to disarmament agreement

The president during his Cabinet meeting said the newly-minted agreement aimed at leading to disarmament of the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and transition of oversight of the territory to a civilian body will have “ups and downs.”

Still, he said this week’s agreement is a “great breakthrough” that has been helped along by the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, which has served as Hamas’ prime backer.

“Nobody’s ever thought that would be possible to disarm Hamas,” Trump said. “That shows you how much success we’re having with Iran, because if you go four months ago or five months ago, a deal like that would have been impossible.”

RFK Jr talks about first visiting Camp David 6-plus decades ago

Trump health chief Robert Kennedy Jr. said he was visiting the presidential retreat on Friday for the first time in about 62 years.

“My father loved this place, my uncle loved this place,” said Kennedy, who is the son of former Attorney General and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy.

He said that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was resentful of his predecessor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for naming it Camp David after Eisenhower’s grandson.

Kennedy said that had his uncle lived to a second term, he planned to rename the retreat Shangri-La, which was its original moniker before Eisenhower changed it.

Kennedy also cheered Trump for allowing reporters in the compound, saying Trump had opened “inner sanctum” of the presidency.

Trump later pointed to a picture of John F. Kennedy on the wall and said he was a “handsome guy.”

Trump says the anti-weaponization fund is ‘dead’

The comments came after the president spent the morning defending the $1.8 billion fund on social media.

“It is dead,” Trump said. “But I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you.”

Trump continued to defend the people who could potentially benefit from the fund, mainly those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Their families have been ruined,” Trump said. Those people “wanted to go to a rally or an event and ended up spending the rest of their lives in horror.”

Trump acknowledged that Blanche, his attorney general pick, has been a “pawn in this whole thing.”

Trump says ‘we just want to win’ in Iran

The president has previously insisted that Iran has been “completely defeated” militarily. But in his engagement with reporters at Camp David on Friday, he acknowledged that he expects U.S. military action will likely continue for some time.

“We’ll be hitting them very hard,” Trump said. “You know, at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore.’”

Trump cheers Clayton for first Cabinet meeting

Jay Clayton, confirmed earlier this week as the new director of national intelligence, is at Camp David for his first formal Cabinet meeting.

Clayton was confirmed by the Senate on party lines earlier this week.

“He’s with us today, as you know,” Trump said. “He’s had a big victory.”

Trump said of Clayton, a former federal prosecutor and chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: “His whole life has been about doing a fantastic job.”

Trump says he doesn’t think International Criminal Court is targeting him but ‘it could happen’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio complained that the international court based in the Hague was very arrogant and had unfairly targeted leaders around the world.

That prompted the president to interject: “There’s no indication they’re after me. It could happen.” He didn’t elaborate, but his suggestion drew laughter from Cabinet members.

Trump said Rubio wasn’t trying to defend him personally, but instead wanted to shield other court targets. He said that could include people like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“There is no indication that I’m one of them, at this moment,” Trump added again for emphasis, drawing still more laughter.

Trump says US could see surge of migrants like Spain if Republicans don’t win midterms

Spain is grappling to respond after some 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain’s tiny Ceuta territory in the past 24 hours.

Roughly half of them have already made their way back voluntarily, according to the Spanish government, but Trump suggested the moment should be taken as a warning to U.S. voters as midterm elections near.

“You know I saw Spain yesterday and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people,” Trump said. “And that same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected. Except worse, much bigger.”

Trump also criticized Spain’s left wing government led by Pedro Sánchez, claiming the country’s “weak law, bad management” is to blame.

US to make visa bond requirements permanent, affecting mostly African countries

The State Department is making permanent a pilot program under which citizens from 50 countries, mainly in Africa, are required to post bonds to apply for a U.S. visa, and it’s raising the cost as well, to as much as $20,000.

A draft notice published Friday in the Federal Register says a review “provided sufficient data” to suggest the bond program effectively enforces compliance, and would be made permanent by the end of August. The notice is to be formally published on Monday. Additional countries may be added to the list, found here.

The program requires holders of passports from the affected countries to pay the bond when being interviewed for business and tourist visas. The regulation says the bond will be refunded if the application is denied or after the person leaves the United States.

The Trump administration rolled out the program as a way of cracking down on visa overstays.

Trump starts Cabinet meeting at Camp David

The president began his Cabinet meeting Friday by saying his team was meeting in a “very special room.”

The White House has tried to highlight that this was the first televised Cabinet meeting at the presidential retreat.

Trump said he invited the news media to watch because he believes in “transparency,” before turning to his standard talking points about the economy and border security, among other issues.

CEO defends Exxon’s performance at a time of global supply shortages

American refineries are running at near-full capacity and poised to benefit because some refineries in the Middle East and Russia were damaged. And Asia can’t get the amount of Middle East oil needed for refining.

“Penalizing the businesses who stood by those countries and provided that product going forward is very short-sighted,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a call with investors Friday. “We canceled investments that we had planned for Europe based on the last time they passed a windfall profits tax.”

Lawmakers propose taxing the war profits of major oil producers

Exxon and Chevron don’t set the price of American oil, which has ricocheted between $68 and $115 a barrel, driven by supply and demand, and what traders, refiners and other buyers are willing to pay.

Democrats nevertheless hope to tax major oil producers for profits from 2026 onward and redistribute that revenue to consumers.

“It’s fair to put a windfall profits tax on inordinate windfall profits rather than cut off children’s food programs,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. His measure and a companion bill by Rep. Ro Khanna of California would impose a per-barrel tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025.

The UK and other European countries have extended temporary windfall profits taxes on fossil fuel companies to 2030, according to Tax Foundation Europe.

Critics say the energy company windfalls are unjustified

“There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them,” said Patrick Galey, fossil fuels lead at Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental issues.

“When you compare that to the hundreds of millions of people who are struggling with rolling blackouts, with electricity curbs, rationing, waiting in line for food queues, or the disruption to fertilizers and the potential impact that that has on food prices, we don’t think that it’s a justifiable price for the rest of the world to be paying.”

Major oil companies reap massive profits as US and Iran fighting drives energy prices higher

American oil and gas giants are announcing huge spring windfalls thanks to the fighting between Iran and the U.S. that made consumers around the world pay more for fuel.

Exxon Mobil on Friday reported that its second quarter profits doubled to $14.53 billion, boosted by record diesel production. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42%. Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion and revenue jumped 56% to $70.06 billion.

Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted combined first-quarter profits of $22 billion, more than 40% higher than last year.

Saudi Arabia announces Red Sea defense alliance plan

The kingdom said the alliance includes 14 countries to strengthen maritime security, safeguard freedom of navigation and secure international trade routes and energy supply corridors in the Red Sea region.

The Iran war has severely disrupted global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia over a separate but related conflict, putting at risk another major trade corridor.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the coalition is “defensive in nature,” and that access “remains open to all willing countries.” Oman and the United Arab Emirates were the only two Gulf countries that did not back Saudi Arabia’s statement. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan were among those that joined the proposed alliance.

Latest developments in the Iran conflict

No U.S. strikes were reported in Iran on Friday.

Iran fired drones at Kuwait, a Gulf country hosting U.S. forces, and said it had also fired at oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and gas shipments, which has been largely closed by the fighting.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said Friday its armed forces had shot down drones inside Kuwaiti airspace. It said the Iranian attacks had targeted several vital military facilities, causing material damage from falling shrapnel but no casualties. It did not specify how many drones were intercepted. Iranian state media said Iran had targeted an air base in Kuwait with drones, in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Thursday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed to have hit two oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media said four other tankers had turned around. The report did not provide further details on which flags or ownership the tankers were sailing under, or say whether there were any casualties.

FIFA chief operating officer tells AP that staff was ‘deceived’ by World Cup sell-off plan that ‘must not go ahead’

FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said in a statement to The Associated Press that the staff was “deceived” by Gianni Infantino’s lack of openness while planning the scheme to sell a World Cup stake to private investors linked to Trump’s family.

“It is the project of one person,” wrote Lamour, a long-time colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Lamour did not resign the post he held since 2024 but said he had a duty to his colleagues to speak out about the “contempt and intimidation” FIFA staff has faced.

“And if that means I lose my job, then so be it” the French official said. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

▶ Read more

Wisconsin Democrats shaken by Mandela Barnes’ exit from governor’s race

The former lieutenant governor’s announcement came Thursday amid news that the state party had reviewed past allegations of inappropriate behavior, further shaking up the race less than two weeks before the Aug. 11 primary in Wisconsin, where independents and moderates are key voters and where Trump won two razor-thin elections.

That leaves four Democrats, including most prominently Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who rejoined the race with the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her run amid a campaign finance scandal two weeks ago, and insurgent democratic socialist State Rep. Francesca Hong, running far to the left.

The single mother and former line cook has captured the imaginations of liberal Democrats upset with the party establishment, but she’s raised concerns that her past calls for defunding the police will hurt her chances against Trump-backed Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November.

▶ Read more

Details on disarmament from the Hamas statement

Hamas said Friday that it’s committed to implementing the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including the new roadmap focused on the steps it needs to take to disarm.

The group’s statement says it and other Palestinian factions agreed to the framework as part of a national consensus to protect people in Gaza and help meet their humanitarian needs.

It said Israel must adhere to the ceasefire deal agreed to in October and halt its attacks in order for implementation to move forward, echoing language in the new roadmap released Friday by the Board of Peace.

The agreement calls for Hamas, which ran the government in Gaza, to first turn over all police weapons to a national committee of technocrats responsible for administering the strip. Only later, once the Israeli military withdraws from Gaza, would it be required to decommission and hand over its heavier weapons, according to the text.

▶ Read more

Democratic candidates grapple with ‘defund the police’ baggage

With midterm elections looming, Democrats hope to convince voters that Trump administration lawlessness is the biggest threat to their rights and pocketbooks. The party’s past debates over crime and safety threaten to undermine that pitch.

Across the country, Democratic candidates are facing tough questions about their past calls to “defund the police” by reimagining public safety services or redirecting spending to other social programs — a prominent demand during the protests that followed George Floyd’s death.

Democratic leaders fear the outlier opinions may sink their chances of gaining ground in Congress, governor’s mansions and statehouses as the party’s rising left flank captivates its base, just as Republicans stoke fears about crime, immigration and democratic socialism in their closing midterm message.

▶ Read More

Asian soccer joins Europe and North America in opposing World Cup privatization plan

The Asian Football Confederation, a key ally in Gianni Infantino’s presidency of global soccer, has joined UEFA and CONCACAF in protesting his plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors tied to the Trump family.

“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body. Together with Europe and North America, they count 136 of FIFA’s 211 members.

“Some things are simply too important to sell,” UEFA said in a statement Thursday announcing a boycott of FIFA events.

Infantino’s secret proposal revealed Tuesday would spin off its commercial operations in a new $20 billion subsidiary 20% owned by private investors, whose core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Trump swings at Cornyn over Blanche nomination

Trump, still frustrated about the status of his attorney general pick, began his Friday morning by going after one of the Republican senators who was holding up Todd Blanche’s confirmation to lead the Justice Department.

Continuing a criticism he began earlier this week, Trump said Texas Sen. John Cornyn had no issue with the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund until after he endorsed his primary challenger, Ken Paxton, for the Senate.

In the post, Trump also continued to defend the controversial fund, which Blanche said in his Senate testimony was dead. Republican senators want him to put that commitment into writing.

“Perhaps there has never been a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history,” Trump said. “They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them.”

Blanche met privately with Cornyn and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis over the issue later Thursday and the sides were working collaboratively, although Blanche’s confirmation prospects still remain unclear.

FIFA adviser on White House’s World Cup panel resigns to protest Infantino private equity plan

Senior FIFA adviser Carlos Cordeiro, who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned Friday to protest its private equity plan.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker, said in a statement resigning as adviser to FIFA President Gianni Infantino that urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet Trump at the White House in recent years.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” the former U.S. Soccer Federation president said, calling the $20 billion commercial subsidiary “a bad deal for football.”

“Football has been central to my life, and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away” he said. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.”

▶ Read more

The Trump administration is ending a Medicare drug subsidy program. Here’s how it could affect costs

Millions of older adults on Medicare prescription drug coverage could face steeper monthly costs in 2027, after the Trump administration concludes a temporary subsidy program that has helped offset premiums for the past two years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week announced it would wrap up the program, which was initially implemented by the Biden administration in 2024 to lower patients’ Medicare Part D prescription drug costs in response to the effects of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

While federal officials insist the financial impact on Medicare beneficiaries will be minimal, the decision opens the Republican-led administration to potential political consequences in a high-stakes midterm election year. Voters have identified cost of living as a top concern, and many older adults, who tend to vote in high numbers, are on fixed incomes where every dollar counts. The roughly 25 million Americans with Medicare Part D plans will find out about their 2027 rates in the fall, when they are casting ballots in November’s elections.

▶ Read more

Trump floats pulling Blanche’s nomination for attorney general to avoid conceding to GOP demands

Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid conceding to Senate Republicans’ demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family.

After failed negotiations forced the delay of a committee vote to advance Blanche’s nomination, Trump suggested he was holding firm against pressure from Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. They have expressed concerns about the controversial settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, which a judge denounced as an exercise in self-dealing.

The senators said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement with them, but the White House wouldn’t budge to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s priorities as acting attorney general. Instead, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year.

▶ Read more

Trump is taking his Friday Cabinet meeting on the road to Camp David

Trump told his Cabinet members to meet him at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, a rustic backdrop for the Trump administration sessions that have come to be known for being overly long and consumed by endless praise for their boss.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the 13th such meeting of the Republican president’s second term “will be a lot of fun and something different for the Cabinet to experience together.”

An earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather. During his first term, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the retreat.

The public portion of Trump’s Cabinet meetings has lasted as long as three hours, with the president letting everyone at the table update him on their departments or agencies — with added praise for him personally and his leadership thrown in. In a departure from other presidents, he allows the news media to stay for the duration, a move that Leavitt has said proves his commitment to transparency.

▶ Read more

Trump announces a deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, but many hurdles and uncertainty remain

A Hamas official said Friday that they did reach an agreement on disarmament, the most crucial part of the ceasefire deal. Israel didn’t give an indication that they had agreed.

Trump said Thursday that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory.

The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

▶ Read more

But roughly half of the people who made the crossing soon made their way back voluntarily, the Spanish government said, after the sudden arrival of so many migrants triggered chaos and a humanitarian crisis.

Some migrants swam several miles through the sea and faced down authorities who tried to turn them back with water cannons, tear gas and warning shots. Those who died included some who drowned or were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier near a border checkpoint.

Spain deployed its armed forces and additional police to restore order in Ceuta, which sits on the Strait of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea and has been a Spanish possession since 1580. On the Moroccan side of the border, security forces clashed with migrants.

“The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas told journalists.

Meanwhile, migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, Spain’s other territory at the tip of North Africa, where they clashed with police.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ceuta on Friday and condemned the border breach, which he described as “a violation of Spain's territorial integrity.”

Sánchez blamed human smugglers for the crisis, saying they “deceive so many young people and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths," whether in the ocean or in the city.

The Spanish Interior Ministry released its own figures shortly after Vivas’ spoke, estimating that some 50,000 people had crossed from Morocco since Thursday. It added that 37,500 had already returned to Morocco by Friday afternoon, with hundreds more going back by the hour.

Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers association representing Civil Guard officers, described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis,” saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were left sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.

“It’s chaotic,” Sbihi said.

The Moroccan Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the migrant figures released by the Spanish authorities.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the images from Ceuta "are unacceptable.”

“We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules,” she said Friday in an online statement. “Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow.”

Dozens died in the chaos

Some of the 41 people who died had drowned, Sbihi said, but some were also killed in a stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal Beach, an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco. The waters near the border fence were littered with buoys, shoes and other abandoned belongings.

Many young Moroccans who crossed into Ceuta told The Associated Press that they had hoped to find better work opportunities in Spain but were returning given the mayhem in Ceuta.

“There’s nothing at home. I’d have to work 12-hour shifts for a meager wage. That’s why I came here,” said 21-year-old Abdulah Buji, who hails from the city of Tetouan. “But I haven’t found any opportunities here either, so I have to go back.”

Moroccan police used water cannons and fired warning shots into the air to prevent migrants from crossing into Ceuta, according to rights groups in Morocco.

Morocco’s ambassador to Spain said the situation in Ceuta had unfolded against Morocco’s wishes.

“We have always prioritized legal, orderly and safe migration for all,” Karima Benyaich said. She did not comment on what prompted the migrants to cross into Ceuta.

To reach Ceuta, on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.

Border surge linked to Supreme Court ruling

The authorities in Ceuta and Madrid have linked the border surge to a recent decision by the Spanish Supreme Court, which ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported, unlike those who cross by land or climb the border fence.

Sánchez said migrant smugglers misinterpreted the ruling.

The interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling “spread like wildfire over the past few hours through the networks of human trafficking organizations,” triggering the surge, Sánchez said.

Spanish prime minister has bucked anti-immigration trend

Sánchez has bucked the anti-migration trend that has gained ground across Europe and in the U.S.

Earlier this year, his government moved to give residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in the country without permission.

Sánchez, a Socialist, argued that it would be good for the economy and the demographics of an aging Spain. Migrants who entered irregularly after Jan. 1 this year were not included.

His critics have jumped at the opportunity to attack his policy, saying it encouraged more migrants to come.

“Sánchez allows Spain to be invaded through Ceuta,” Spanish conservative politician Isabel Díaz Ayuso wrote on X.

The U.S. State Department expressed its support for “the people of Spain, and all Europeans, against this egregious violation of their sovereignty and human rights.”

In a post on X, the department added that “this unacceptable incident is the direct result of the Spanish Government’s deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe.”

Sánchez on Friday defended his migration policy and distanced it from the events in Ceuta.

The chaos had ripple effects abroad. Italy temporarily suspended the its open-border Shengen agreement with Spain, re-imposing border controls for air and sea. The Interior Ministry said the decision amounted to a “closure” of the borders, but experts said it was merely a resumption of border controls. The agreement allows travelers to fly between the two countries without presenting passports.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France would also strengthen border checks with Spain.

“This crisis in Ceuta has nothing to do with the regularization of migrants adopted by the Government of Spain, as is being falsely claimed by some,” the Spanish government said in a statement late Thursday after Meloni's announcement.

Pressure grows on second Spanish territory in Africa

Migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, the other Spanish territory at the tip of North Africa.

There was widespread chaos in Bni Nsar, the Moroccan town bordering the Spanish territory, where migrants clashed with police, throwing rocks and setting police vehicles ablaze, according to local media and rights groups. They reported injuries among security forces and the arrest of dozens of people attempting to cross.

Like Ceuta, Melilla is an self-governing Spanish city. Many Moroccans consider both cities to be occupied territory.

___

Naishadham reported from Madrid. Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press journalists Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain; Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco; and Antonio Sempere in Ceuta, Spain, contributed.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Superior Court of Delaware, is the latest in a flurry of suits filed against the social media giants that alleges their platforms are addictive and dangerous.

The complaint was filed on behalf of four families from Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee whose children died over a 14-month period starting in July 2024 through September 2025.

The Social Media Victims Law Center is bringing the suit on behalf of the families, and its founding attorney, Matthew Bergman, said it's “particularly salient” that the children in this case died “long after” similar suits had been filed.

“These platforms continue to kill kids, despite the platitudes of their executives,” Bergman said in an interview. “This is a clear and present danger to the health and safety of children, not just in the United States but around the world.”

The four teens who died by suicide each experienced harms including social media addiction, severe sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation after years of using the social platforms, the complaint states. Livi Castro died at age 13, Riv Kelleher at 14, Nathaniel Chambers at age 17 and Dawson Holden at 18.

The complaint alleges the social media companies knew they were causing harm to young users.

A spokesperson for Google, which owns YouTube, said in a statement that “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work. In collaboration with mental health and parenting experts, we’ve built services and policies to provide young people with age-appropriate experiences, and parents with robust controls. We send our deepest sympathies to the families and are reviewing the claims in this lawsuit.”

Representatives for Meta, TikTok and Snap did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, said in a statement that parents, activists and whistleblowers have come forward and met with lawmakers for years and “while Congress has dragged its feet, more children have died."

Federal legislation of social media has moved at a glacial pace. The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act — which had the support of parents’ groups and children’s advocacy organizations — exactly two years before this lawsuit was filed. The House of Representatives never voted on that version of the legislation, and the House and Senate are currently disagreeing on key provisions they think should be included.

“Livi, Nathaniel, Dawson, and Riv’s stories are proof that Big Tech companies continue to lie about the safety of their products, choosing instead to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into false advertising, deceptive paid partnerships with trusted education programs and political lobbying,” Haworth's statement continued.

Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are facing numerous state and federal lawsuits over harms to minors. Meta is on trial in Tennessee this week for a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general claiming that the company deliberately designed its platforms, notably Instagram, to make them addictive to young people, and did not warn them of its dangers. And in August, Meta is heading to trial in federal court in Oakland, California to face four of dozens of states that sued the company in 2023. That lawsuit says the company is contributing to the youth mental health crisis by designing addictive features and violated federal law by collecting data on kids under 13 without parental consent.

Not all lawsuits are successful, and many are settled out of court. Last week, a Florida teenager dropped his case against Meta that was set to go to trial in state court in Los Angeles, without receiving any payment from the company. Meta had argued that the teen only used his Instagram and Facebook for just minutes a day, on average, and created most accounts only after hiring a lawyer in his case.

Still, the mounting court cases can get expensive, even for a company like Meta Platforms. Earlier this week Meta said it had $2.4 billion in legal expenses in the second quarter, which contributed to a relatively unusual 14% profit decline.

Trump began the meeting by noting it was “something very unique.”

“It's Camp David, and this room is a very, very special room,” Trump said, as the White House spent Friday morning highlighting that the meeting was the first televised Cabinet meeting at the storied presidential retreat.

He then segued into his usual talking points about the economy, the border and Iran — but then referred to the recent surge of migrants into Cueta, a tiny territory of Spain, suggesting that the moment should be taken as a warning to voters ahead of the U.S. midterms.

“You know I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people,” Trump said. “And that same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected. Except worse, much bigger.”

Other Cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, also spoke before Trump fielded questions from journalists, who left the meeting after nearly an hour.

It was the first Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Trump's second term after an earlier attempt in May was scuttled because of bad weather. During his first term, Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the retreat.

The public portion of Trump's Cabinet meetings has lasted as long as three hours, with the president letting everyone at the table update him on their departments or agencies — with added praise for him personally and his leadership thrown in. In a departure from other presidents, he has allowed the news media to stay for the duration of the meetings, a move that Leavitt has said proves his commitment to transparency.

More recently, however, Trump has commented on how lengthy the meetings have become. He has begun urging speakers to keep their comments brief, and he has limited the number of oral reports.

“Everybody around here has got a lot to say. But we did that once, and it lasted for like four or five hours. It was a little much,” Trump said at the May meeting.

Camp David was established in 1942 during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency and has been used by every president since.

Roosevelt had enjoyed relaxing aboard a presidential yacht, but the military and the U.S. Secret Service began to worry about his safety on open water during World War II. As a result, Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to find sites within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the White House that he could use for rest.

He chose what is now known as Camp David. He gave it the original name of Shangri-La, from James Hilton’s novel “Lost Horizon.” President Dwight Eisenhower renamed it Camp David, after his grandson and father.

Trump spent more weekends at the retreat in his first term but has visited sparingly in his second, most recently in June for Father’s Day.

In 2019, during his first term, Trump announced on social media that he had canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders — scheduled for just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — after a bombing in the capital of Kabul killed a dozen people, including a U.S. soldier.

Presidents throughout history have turned to Camp David when they needed security and privacy for sensitive diplomatic talks with foreign leaders. Jimmy Carter took the leaders of Egypt and Israel there in 1978 for talks that produced the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between the two countries.

Camp David is also where Carter huddled in 1979 with representatives of a cross-section of American society. He later delivered a nationally televised speech on energy policy that became known as the “malaise” speech — even though he never said the word.

The camp's primary purpose is to provide presidents a place to rest, relax and recharge.

The 180-acre (73-hectare) retreat, which is run by the Navy and guarded by Marines, has a cabin named Aspen that’s reserved for the president, plus about a dozen other cabins for guests. A main lodge has conference rooms, a dining room and an office for the president.

Guests can take advantage of a range of indoor and outdoor amenities, including a fitness center, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a heated swimming pool and tennis and basketball courts. A chapel offers religious services.

___

Superville and Kim reported from Washington.

Friday, July 31

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Hot Wheels Monster Truck Live Glow-N-Fire at Toyota Center
• There’s a story behind every building: Take a tour of Downtown Houston with Preservation Houston
• • Preservation Houston

Thursday, July 30

• KK Cheesecakes
• How HCU’s high-tech simulation lab is preparing nursing students for in-demand jobs
• • Houston Christian University Linda R. Dunham School of Nursing
• Garbage Girlfriend
• Gexa Energy marks 25 Years by volunteering with Meals on Wheels and The Beacon
• • Gexa Energy

Wednesday, July 29

• Houston Shakespeare Festival is back at Miller Outdoor Theatre with a reimagined lead in “The Tempest”
• • Houston Shakespeare Festival
• In the CLASSROOM with Kroger: How they’re helping parents and kids start the school year happy, healthy, and prepared
• • KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for your chance to win a $250 Kroger gift card!
  • Kroger
• Happy National Lipstick Day! Here’s the lowdown on choosing a matte, glossy, or satin pigment 💄
• • Makeup Artist Darcie Teasley
• Tony Danza is coming to Houston this week, here is where to see him
• • Doc’s Houston Presents Tony Danza - “Standards and Stories”

Monday, July 27

• Back-to-school safety: What kids should know and what parents should watch for in case of a school emergency
• • CPR and Safety Lady Gail Gould
  • Back to School Safety Webinar with CPR and Safety Lady Gail Gould
• Anaheim: The Urban Basecamp You Didn’t Know You Needed In Southern California
• • Gabe Saglie The Travel Guy
• Houston students turn thousands of plastic bags into an award-winning business
• • Plastic Free July
  • Next Use
• Allied Outdoor Solutions

Friday, July 24

• Houston celebrates Art House Theater Day with a “Car Wash” screening and preshow party
• • Houston Art House Theater Day
• The best tacos in Texas arrive in Houston this weekend + Texas Monthly Taco Editor‘s spicy gig getting paid to eat tacos
• • 2026 Texas Monthly Taco Fest South
  • Huncho’s Tacos
• BISSELL Pet Foundation Empty the Shelters
• Rosenberg Animal Control and Shelter

Thursday, July 23

• Meet the Houston Rig Hands: The city’s pro 3-on-3 basketball team 🏀🏀
• • Follow Houston Rig Hands on Instagram
  • BIG3 Playing at Toyota Center Tickets
• Houston City College’s Coleman Campus: Training the next generation of health care workers
• • Houston City College
• Vic Mignogna on Anime Matsuri, Star Trek & life with Dominique Sachse
• • Follow Vic Mignogna on Instagram
  • Anime Matsuri

Wednesday, July 22

• 16th annual Mayor’s Back 2 School & Health Fair brings free supplies, screenings to Houston families
• • Mayor’s Back to School & Health Fair
• Tips for Planning the Perfect Summer Getaway
• • Travel Expert, Jeanenne Tornatore | The Outside Insider
  • Marriott Bonvoy
  • Official Guide to Breckenridge
• Celebrate National Tequila Day at Zanti Cucina Italiana in River Oaks
• • Zanti Cucina Italiana
• Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman heading to Houston for blues experience
• • Performing Arts Houston Presents "Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience"

Tuesday, July 21

• How CenterPoint Energy says they’re building a stronger, more resilient electric grid
• • CenterPoint Energy Action Center
• NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”
• Ox St. Kitchen
• Ivan Chavez Chavos BBQ
• The world’s fragrance community comes together at FRAGCON in Houston
• • Global Fragrance Convention

Monday, July 20

• Houston’s Girl Gone Grilling shares her buffalo chicken stuffed garlic bread
• • Katherine Salom “Girl Gone Grilling”
• Powerhouse performer Christina Wells, now in a wheelchair, is still lighting up Houston stages
• • Christina Wells
• When a smile needs more than veneers: one Houston patient’s transformation
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, July 17

• Hidden Omakase serves up a Summer favorite while continuing its comeback story
• • Hidden Omakase
• East Houston Medical Center works to improve access to health care in the community
• • East Houston Medical Center
• “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
• 13th Annual Ohana Surf Dogs Competition

Thursday, July 16

• 93Q’s Cowboys & Angels Concert Brings Country Stars to Houston
• • 93Q’s Cowboys & Angels
• Here’s Blue Willow Bookshop’s summer reading picks you need to add to your TBR
• • Blue Willow Bookshop
• UniverSoul Circus brings big top thrills to Houston Life
• • UniverSoul Circus

Wednesday, July 15

• Llamas, haunted houses, and mermaids?! Houston realtor Noel Collier talks HGTV’S ‘Extreme Buyers Club’
• • HGTV’s ‘Extreme Buyers Club’
  • Noel Collier Group
• Protect Yourself After a Crash: What to Do If You’re Illegally Solicited
• • The Miller Law Firm, home of The Texas Bulldog
• Skip the oven and beat the summer heat with this no-bake chocolate raspberry tart
• • Florence Jackson
• Raising Cane’s and the Norris family to honor Chuck Norris’ legacy on National Chicken Finger Day
• • Raising Canes

Tuesday, July 14

• Casa de Cultura turns a Houston gallery into a living archive one family story at a time
• • Photographer Violeta Álvarez
  • FreshArts
• The late Chuck Norris continues to empower kids through Kickstart Kids martial arts program
• • Kickstart Kids
  • Raising Canes
• Protein-Packed Plates: Casa do Brasil, Los Tios and a High Protein Bowl with Tanji Patton of Goodtaste TV
• • Goodtaste for the Soul with Tanji Patton

Monday, July 13

• Remembering the iconic artist David Adickes on his 99th birthday and his lasting legacy in Houston
• • David Adickes Art
• Spend the Summer at Moody Gardens: Animal encounters, weekly themes, and how to register
• • Moody Gardens
• There’s a story behind every building: Take a tour of Downtown Houston with Preservation Houston
• • Preservation Houston
• Celebrate 713 Day with Houston Rap Legend Lil’ Keke
• • Follow Lil Keke on Instagram
• Best places and deals around Houston to celebrate 713 Day

Friday, July 10

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Houston Hula Academy brings the spirit of Polynesia to Houston Life
• • Houston Hula Academy
  • Drums of the Pacific
• A car lover’s dream! Where to see life-size Hot Wheels cars in the Houston area
• • Hot Wheels Legends Tour
• Fire Up The Grill: Easy Grilling for a Crowd
• • III Catering
• Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Thursday, July 9

• Meet the Houston 6-year-old golfer makes national tournament history
• • Ascend Golf Academy
• Fort Bend County Fair Celebrates 90 Years with Pat Green, Sawyer Brown and a Star-Studded 2026 Lineup
• • Fort Bend County Fair
• Houston City College: College that fits your schedule
• • Houston City College
• Goode Company Seafood celebrates 40 years
• Goode Company Seafood x Texas Parks and Wildlife

Wednesday, July 8

• Fort Bend County Fair
• Fung’s Kitchen
• East Houston Medical Center hosts free FIFA World Cup 2026™ watch parties and a chance to win a free trip to the final
• • East Houston Medical Center
• Houston’s Ensemble Theatre marks 50th anniversary with premieres, revivals and, honoring the past
• • The Ensemble Theatre
• Stars of Netflix’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ chat reimagining the iconic story
• • Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie

Tuesday, July 7

• KPRC 2 Insider
• Inside the New Era of Fitness: How 24 Hour Fitness Is Rethinking the Modern Gym
• • 24 Hour Fitness
• Cosmic Ice Cream and Trill Burgers teaming up for National Ice Cream day
• • Cosmic Ice Cream
  • Trill Burgers
• Houston Ballet’s Dance 2 Thrive program brings movement, music and wellness to the Community
• • Houston Ballet
  • Dance 2 Thrive registration form

Monday, July 6

• Why Trae Tha Truth Keeps Turning His Birthday Into Houston’s Biggest Give-Back
• • Traeday 2026
• PopUp Bagels lands in Houston — grip, rip and dip your way to a viral bagel
• • PopUp Bagels
• When a smile needs more than veneers: one Houston patient’s transformation
• • Texas Dental Implant Center
• Your Bucket List Guide
• Flora Houston
• Make this at home! The Two-Ingredient Cocktail Popping Up Around Houston During the FIFA World Cup 26™
• • Bucanita by Buchanan’s

Thursday, July 2

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• These women athletes from Afghanistan escaped Taliban rule. Now the players of Houston Shine FC find joy in soccer again
• • Houston Shine FC
• ‘Read With Jenna’ debuts cozy Book Nook aboard MSC Seascape sailing from Galveston
• • ‘Read with Jenna’
• Keep Kids Safe Around Water: Expert Guidance on Supervision and Drowning Prevention
• • Bivona Law Firm
• New Sprouts in Kingwood Is Here | And Yes, You Can Sample Just About Anything
• • Sprouts Farmers Market

Wednesday, July 1

• Celebrate America’s 250th with Houston Life’s special Fourth of July Show
• • Houston Christian University’s Independence Hall
  • Baytown’s Fourth of July Festivities
  • PBS’s Annual A Capitol Fourth celebration
  • Houston Zoo
  • Blue Bell Creameries
• LIST: Fourth of July fireworks, parades, celebrations across Greater Houston

Tuesday, June 30

• This Thai-inspired hot dog brings new flavor to your Fourth of July cookout
• • MaKiin Concepts Hospitality Group
• Firework Safety | Cy-Fair Fire Department, TX
• United Against Human Trafficking
• Houston native shares how being stranded at sea during COVID inspired a documentary, memoir and mission to help others
• • Angela Harger Productions
• 5 Things Houston Homeowners Should Know Before the Next Power Outage
• • GenPro.com

Monday, June 29

• Meet the cast of ‘Young Washington’ ahead of the film’s July 3rd release
• • ‘Young Washington’
• From Houston to American homes: Good Ranchers celebrates America’s 250th with homegrown meat
• • Good Ranchers
• New Zealand by train: Scenic journeys, culture and food
• • Gabe Saglie The Travel Guy
• Gexa Energy gives back: Make-A-Wish reveal brings joy to local child
• • Gexa Energy
• Hands-on training at Houston City College prepares students for high-demand careers
• • Houston City College

Friday, June 26

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Best Friends Animal Society hosts a free pet adoption event this Saturday
• • RSVP to Best Friends “Bring Love Home” Adoption Event
• Houston’s own Tyce Green stars in Disney’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’
• • Houston Broadway Theatre’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”
• Stay connected with reliable internet during hurricane season
• • Ezee Fiber
• Better STAAR scores, bigger goals: Here’s why Good Reason Houston focuses on a path to a living wage
• • Good Reason Houston
• Baytown Is Going Big for the Fourth of July
• • Visit Baytown
• Rodney Atkins

Thursday, June 25

• Best Friends Animal Society hosts a free pet adoption event this Saturday
• • RSVP to Best Friends “Bring Love Home” Adoption Event
  • Best Friends Houston
• A New Sprouts Farmers Market Has Opened in Webster—Here’s What You’ll Find Inside
• • Sprouts Farmers Market
• Why this financial expert says small business success starts with financial organization
• • Aragon Tax Return Services
• Mattress expert links poor sleep to serious health risks
• • Texas Mattress Makers

Wednesday, June 24

• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announces historic agriculture complex benefitting Texas youth
• • Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
• Vegan recipes to add to your summer cookout menu
• • Dr. Chinwe Orabuchi
• Could your roof be hiding storm damage: What Houston homeowners should know
• • Adams Roofing
• Companion Energy brings ‘Energy that Cares’ to the Houston Humane Society
• • Companion Energy
• Travel Mom Emily Kaufman says now’s the time to book Australia
• • Travel Mom
  • Visit Sydney
  • Visit South Wales

Tuesday, June 23

• Houston Life goes LIVE from new IKEA Webster ahead of Grand Opening
• • KPRC 2 Insiders, Enter for a chance to win IKEA gift cards!
  • IKEA
  • IKEA Webster: Friends and Family Shopping Event

Monday, June 22

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Family-owned restaurant Foreign Grill shares Uzbek flavors ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ match
• • Follow Foreign Grill on Instagram
• Prime Day Picks to upgrade your home
• • Home Improvement Expert, Kathryn Emery | Be The Best Home
• Meet the Houston skincare brand embracing beef tallow with no frills and all the beneficial ingredients
• • NutréLux Beauty
• Future-Proof Careers: Celebrating the HVAC Technicians Who Keep Houston Cool
• • Fortis College
• Why cruises are the hottest ticket this summer - expert tips & where to go
• • Carnival Cruises
  • Travel Expert, Jeanenne Tornatore | The Outside Insider

Thursday, June 18

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for your chance to win a $250 Kroger gift card!
• • Kroger
• The South Dakota Road Trip You Didn’t Know You Needed
• • Your Bucket List Guide
  • Travel South Dakota
• Hands-on training at Houston City College Southeast prepares students for high-demand careers
• • Houston City College
• Stay connected with reliable internet during hurricane season
• • Ezee Fiber

Wednesday, June 17

• WANTED: An audience ready to laugh at the Texas Outlaw Comics tonight at Houston Improv
• • Texas Outlaw Comics
• The cast of Netflix’s ‘I Will Find You’ talks bringing the bestselling thriller to life
• • Netflix’s Harlan Coben’s "I Will Find You"
• Saunawelt opens Houston’s first public European sauna house
• • Saunawelt
• Village Plumbing, Air & Electric shares summer safety tips as company celebrates 80 Years of servicing Houston
• • Village Plumbing

Tuesday, June 16

• ‘Heart & Hustle: Houston’ Star Muneera Page opens up about fame, friendship and season two
• • OWN’s “Heart & Hustle: Houston”
• Looking for a Father’s Day activity? See more than 100 exotic cars at Velocité in Houston
• • Velocité – A Father’s Day Tradition in Motion
• AEW Star Thunder Rosa balances two wrestling worlds while inspiring fans to chase their dreams
• • All Elite Wrestling at Smart Financial Centre
  • Follow Thunder Rosa on Instagram
• Transform your outdoor space with Carvestone - Plus, a chance to win $5,000 in outdoor furniture
• • Allied Outdoor Solutions

Monday, June 15

• Local 17-year-old filmmaker makes her mark with movie focusing on men’s mental health
• • “Used to Be” tickets
• WWE star Braun Strowman chats season 2 of ‘Everything On The Menu’
• • USA Network’s “Everything on the Menu With Braun Strowman”
• How Houston Habitat for Humanity is helping families build generational wealth
• • KPRC 2 Habitat for Humanity
  • Houston Habitat for Humanity
• Houston’s own Cris Sosa competes on NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ Season 21
• • Comedian Cris Sosa
  • NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”

Friday, June 12

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Why the Rothko Chapel may be Houston’s most transformative space
• • Rothko Chapel
• Keep your home cool and save on energy with these tips from Champion & Nash
• • Champion and Nash
• Marco’s Pizza brings New York-style pizza to your neighborhood
• • Marco’s Pizza
• Meet Yassine Cheuko, personal bodyguard to soccer superstar Lionel Messi

Thursday, June 11

• FIFA Fan Festival™ Houston

Wednesday, June 10

• Houston physician and educator Dr. Tim Garson makes history approachable and relatable to modern life in new book
• • Dr. Arthur “Tim” Garson
  • Book: “Five Thousand Years of Controversies: A Family’s Journey Through World History”
• Ishida Dance Company presents ‘Waiting/Rex’ at Asia Society Texas
• • Ishida Dance Company Tickets
• Father’s Day finds and summer-ready home upgrades
• • Kathryn Emery
• Peptides and functional health: How Antiage Institute helps Houstonians age better
• • Antiage Institute

Tuesday, June 9

• How a community effort saved Houston’s printmaking legacy
• How custom coasters are made by hand at Red Bird Press studio
• • Red Bird Press
• A 34-Day soccer watch party in Houston with Diplo, wagyu burgers and VIP lounges?
• • The Ranch Presents Pitch Live
• Find the right mattress with expert help in Texas
• • Texas Mattress Makers

Monday, June 8

• Meet Saxboy Billy, the man behind the viral “Puerto Rico Song”
• • Follow Saxboy Billy on Instagram
• Celebrate Culture through music and movement with Tx2 Dance Company
• • T2 Dance Company
• NBC’s ‘American Ninja Warrior’ Season 18: What Lauren Kelly learned from the Hosts
• • NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”
• Replace an entire arch, not just a tooth: How ONEARCH changes lives
• • Texas Dental Implant Center
• Visit San Antonio

Friday, June 5

• The music collective behind the Houston remix for FIFA World Cup 2026™
• • Bombón
  • Official FIFA World Cup 26™ Houston Sonic ID
• Why Alley Theatre’s “Misery” is leaving Houston audiences gasping
• • Misery at Alley Theatre
• Young Houstonians will learn how to train like a pro at the Simple Truth Will Anderson Jr. ProCamp
• • Will Anderson Jr. Football ProCamp

Thursday, June 4

• Magician Michael Carbonaro is ready to wow fans in Houston with his new show ‘WONDERBOY’
• • Michael Carbonaro at Houston of Blues
• HCC Southwest ramps up hands-on training in AI, robotics and cybersecurity
• • Houston City College
• The Travel Mom’s tips for planning and booking a breathtaking Alaskan cruise
• • The Travel Mom
  • Holland America Cruises
• Spice Routes: Cardamom Challenge a culinary passport awaits at Houston’s stunning Ismaili Center
• • Ismaili Center

Wednesday, June 3

• Celebrate Freedom Festival returns to Emancipation Park this Saturday
• • Juneteenth Houston
• Why this red velvet cornbread recipe belongs on your Juneteenth table
• • Chef Cassi
• Houston Rockets Skills Camp returns to various locations this summer
• • Houston Rockets Youth Skills Camp
• KPRC 2’s 2026 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide
• IMDB “Masters of the Universe”

Tuesday, June 2

• CPR and AED basics: Simple skills that can help save a life
• • Register for FREE CPR webinar on June 3
  • Gail Gould
• Meet the local break dancers uplifting women and youth through hip-hop, culture, and the arts
• • BGirl City Worldwide
• Cool Treats in the Heights: Where to find Hawaiian shaved ice and frozen cocktails
• • Happy Go Lucky

Monday, June 1

• Houston Author Jenny Block drops new book about finding authenticity, success and joy in life
• • Follow Jenny Block on Instagram
• The laughs keep coming in season 2 of Netflix’s ‘The Four Seasons’
• • Netflix’s “The Four Seasons”
• Discovery Green celebrating summer with free family fun and soccer-inspired events
• • Discovery Green
• Why natural looking dental implants are the new luxury in facial rejuvenation
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, May 29

• Texas Teen Pageant Queens use their platforms to empower foster kids, fight bullying, and inspire future farmers
• • Kyleigh’s Kidz
• Immersive Gamebox is launching ‘Soccer Arcade,’ the world’s first immersive soccer experience
• • Immersive Gamebox
• Tanji Patton reveals what’s next after 11 seasons of Goodtaste TV
• Sweet, Savory & Spicy: Creative cantaloupe recipes worth trying this Summer
• • Goodtaste with Tanji Patton

Thursday, May 28

• Game day skin care tips for FIFA World Cup 2026™ watch parties and summer heat
• • Board-Certified Dermatologist Dr. Sherry Ingraham
• A Quick Drive From Houston, This Louisiana Resort Delivers Vegas-Style Luxury Without the Flight
• • Coushatta Casino Resort
• Licasa Treatment Center Opens in Conroe to expand compassionate mental health and addiction care
• • Licasa Treatment Center

Wednesday, May 27

•  Powering Houston’s future: Electrical apprentices showcase skills at annual Wire-Off Competition 
• • IEC Texas Gulf Coast
• Los Souldees is the local band bringing the sounds you love from the past with a fresh Houston twist
• • Los Souldees

Tuesday, May 26

• Lone Star College
• A Houston little boy’s toughest battle led to a monster surprise!
• • Gexa Energy
• Captain MC’s Seafood
• The Window Source Houston

Friday, May 22

• Get your bike ready for summer rides with these simple safety tips
• • Sun & Ski Sports
• This easy road trip from Houston comes with luxury suites, gaming, and a powerful legacy
• • Coushatta Powwow
  • Coushatta Casino Resort
• Hear the hits - ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ in Houston
• • “The Carole King Musical” at Theatre Under the Stars
• Support local veterans while having fun at the Patriots Charity Classic
• • Patriots Charity Classic Event

Thursday, May 21

• The World comes to Houston! Here’s what to expect ahead of the FIFA Fan Festival™ kicking off in EaDo
• • FIFA Fan Festival™
• This easy road trip from Houston comes with luxury suites, gaming, and a powerful legacy
• • Coushatta Casino Resort - New Legacy Tower
• SUMMER SWEEPSTAKES: Enter to win 3 weeks of free airport parking from The Parking Spot
• • The Parking Spot
• Train for Houston’s in demand jobs at HCC Northeast - Public Safety, Automotive, & more
• • HCC Northeast
• Schlotzsky’s Deli launches new stacked subs in Houston - Try three bold flavors
• • Schlotzsky’s Deli

Wednesday, May 20

• Schlotzsky’s Deli launches new stacked subs in Houston - Try three bold flavors
• • Schlotzsky’s Deli
• Swap, shop, sustain: Houston’s eco-friendly clothing event returns this Sunday
• • The Houston Clothing Shop
• A Houston little boy’s toughest battle led to a monster surprise!
• • Gexa Energy
• Early detection, AI tools, personalized care redefine preventive health
• • Fountain Life Houston Clinic
• Get your backyard summer ready with pest control, pool upgrades, trampolines and whole home backup power
• • Kathryn Emery
• Need summer plans? This easy Galveston getaway has dinosaurs, beaches & lazy rivers
• • Moody Gardens

Tuesday, May 19

• In the Kitchen with Kroger: Memorial Day hosting doesn’t have to start from scratch
• • KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for your chance to win a $250 Kroger gift card!
  • Kroger
• Moody Gardens
• Houston Ballet closes 2025-2026 season with two standout productions
• • Houston Ballet
• From award-winning tv to action-packed films, Bob Odenkirk chats ‘Normal’
• • Follow Bob Odenkirk on Instagram

Monday, May 18

• Celebrate World Ocean Day in Galveston with art, music & ocean fun for free 🌊 🌊
• • Artist Boat
• A collector’s dream: U.S. Coins & Jewelry opens brand new showroom for buying and selling
• • U.S. Coins and Jewelry
• Mental Health Awareness Month: How to spot the signs when stress becomes something more
• • The Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)
• Spring couple transforms builder-grade patio into beautiful backyard with Allied Outdoor Solutions
• • Allied Outdoor Solutions
• Why natural looking dental implants are the new luxury in facial rejuvenation
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, May 15

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• At Houston’s Alley Theatre, “Dear Alien” explores the beautiful weirdness of being human
• • “Dear Alien at Alley Theatre
• Gear up inside the newly renovated and relocated Sun & Ski Sports Memorial City
• • Sun & Ski Sports Memorial City
• The Travel Mom on the perks of RV life on the road
• • The Travel Mom
  • Go RVing

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

SEEN ON HL 2025 ARCHIVE

SEEN ON HL 2024 ARCHIVE

SEEN ON HL 2023 ARCHIVE

A key area of the Pacific Ocean used to measure the strength of El Nino this week reached its warmest and most intense level ever recorded for the 15th week since it formed, which is early in its lifetime, scientists at Columbia University reported.

El Nino — a natural warming of the Pacific near the equator that warps weather patterns worldwide — won't peak for several months and should last through spring 2027. The World Meteorological Organization, a U.N. agency, cautioned on Friday that it will likely trigger extreme heat, drought and rainfall well into next year.

“Two months ago, I warned that El Nino was arriving on our doorstep. Now it is inside the house — and turning up the heat,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Friday. “We have already endured a summer of extremes — record-shattering heat domes; apocalyptic wildfires raging in Spain, France and far beyond; thousands of lives lost in the scorching conditions.”

“But according to the latest science, this is only a warm-up act,” Guterres said, saying as the El Nino strengthens it will be “adding fuel to a planet already on fire.”

“We are in uncharted territory,” he said. “The climate crisis is in overdrive.”

Most computer forecast models are showing that this El Nino will likely break the all-time record for intensity when it peaks, sometime late fall or so, but that's not guaranteed, scientists said.

Chaotic extremes in rain, drought and unheard of heat coming

It's still early in the nearly yearlong life of a typical El Nino to see many direct effects yet, but they are coming, scientists said, agreeing with Guterres’ warnings. El Nino's effects will combine with the long-term global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

“We’re seeing something that is the warmest July ever recorded for that specific region," used as an El Nino indicator, Columbia University climate scientist Jeffrey Shaman said. "A year from now, it’s going to be very hot in the Northern Hemisphere. And we’re going to possibly have a summer like we’ve never experienced globally."

But before then, the strong El Nino is likely to cause changes in rainfall patterns that will bring chaotic extremes to different parts of the world in fall and winter. There's a strong chance of drought and wildfires in Indonesia, India and other parts of Asia, south and east Australia, chunks of South America and southern regions in Africa, the WMO warned. Other areas, including much of the United States and fire-struck Southern Europe will get above average rain.

“This El Nino, developing against the backdrop of unprecedented ocean heat and rising temperatures, provides governments and communities with a window of opportunity to anticipate risks and act before impacts unfold,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.

El Nino amplifies human-caused warming

While El Nino and climate change are separate phenomena, their effects create a harmful combination — and people aren't taking the connection seriously enough, Guterres said.

“We hear much about record heat, drought and wildfires — but not enough about the real change that is driving these events: the accelerating climate crisis powered by fossil fuels," Guterres said.

Guterres said the world gets too absorbed by dramatic wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan to notice the dangers of climate change. On top of that, “there is a deliberate campaign, namely by the fossil fuel industry and some countries in order to pretend that that the problems that we are witnessing indeed do not exist.”

The U.N. must be more active and mobilize public opinion “to tell governments it’s time to recognize this threat as an existential threat to us all,” he told reporters.

Much of the heat from the burning of fossil fuels gets trapped in the oceans, but “during an El Nino the ocean in some sense gets to return some of the heated buildups of global warming back to the atmosphere,” Shaman said. Even though this El Nino will end, the released heat sticks around in the air, along with the higher temperatures, which will jump up again the next El Nino, he added.

Guterres called for more early warning systems and cooling systems to handle extreme heat. He said industry and governments need to make work safer, highlighting the garment industry, which has 90 million workers, most of them women. In 17 of the 23 biggest clothing making hubs, dangerously hot days jumped by more than 10% in the past 20 years, “yet most global brands set no heat standard for the factories that supply them.”

But mostly, Guterres said, “the world must stop fueling the crisis.... More coal, oil and gas will lead to a more combustible future."

___

Borenstein reported from Washington.

___

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

The retreat, about an hour northwest of Washington, has been the backdrop for presidential summits and smaller-scale meetings since Franklin Roosevelt established it during World War II. Friday’s meeting isn’t Trump’s first at Camp David, but he has spent less time at the compound than other presidents, and typically spends weekends at his own properties, including Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and his golf courses in New Jersey and Virginia.

Here's a look at some key dates and prominent visitors in the camp's history, assembled using archival material from The Associated Press, the National Archives, and presidential libraries.

1942 — Roosevelt established the camp as Shangri-La, a reference from James Hilton's novel “Lost Horizon.” Roosevelt had liked to relax on a presidential yacht, but the military and Secret Service started to worry about his safety on the open water during World War II. Roosevelt asked the National Park Service to identify sites within 100 miles of the White House that he could use for rest and picked what is now known as Camp David.

1943 — Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill, who went on a fishing trip with the president and discussed the Normandy invasion at the retreat.

1953 — Dwight Eisenhower renamed the facility Camp David after his grandson and father.

1959 — Eisenhower hosted Nikita Khrushchev, the first time a Soviet leader had come to the United States.

1971 — Richard Nixon met with economic advisers amid inflation and a looming run on gold, leading eventually to an announcement ending the gold-backed dollar.

1973 — Nixon hosted his Soviet counterpart, Leonid Brezhnev.

1978 — Jimmy Carter hosted Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, resulting in the Camp David Accords signed in 1979. Unlike at the White House, where journalists come and go, the news media are barred from Camp David, unless they are invited to cover an event, like Friday’s summit.

1984 — Ronald Reagan, the president who spent the most time at Camp David, hosted British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher for the first time.

1990 — George H.W. Bush hosted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

1992 — Camp David's only wedding occurred when Bush’s daughter, Dorothy, married Bobby Koch at Evergreen Chapel at the facility.

2000 — Bill Clinton hosted a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

2001 — George W. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair early in the year and held post 9/11 meetings ahead of the Afghanistan invasion later in the year.

2003 — Bush hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin.

2012 — Barack Obama hosted the G8 Summit.

2015 — Obama hosted Persian Gulf nations for a summit.

2019 — Trump canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after a bombing in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier. ———

Associated Press journalist Darlene Superville contributed archival reporting for this timeline.

Starting Aug. 1, HISD is rolling out new security and entry rules for UIL sporting events at district athletic facilities, including a new clear bag policy, student ID requirements and adult supervision for most minors.

District leaders say the changes add another layer of security alongside the metal detectors and bag inspections already in place.

“Though we’re really blessed that we don’t have a lot of issues, our athletes have prepared too hard and too long to let something stop them,” HISD Executive Director of Athletics Dr. Andre’ Walker said.

What’s changing at HISD athletic events?

Beginning Aug. 1, spectators attending UIL sporting events at HISD athletic facilities must follow these new rules:

• Each spectator may bring one clear bag that meets district size requirements.
• Most minors must be accompanied by an adult to enter.
• Minors must also show a school ID, which can be a physical ID or a photo of it on their phone.

The only exceptions are:

• HISD high school students, who may enter without an adult but must show a school ID.
• Student-athletes competing in the event.

One adult may accompany multiple students.

Walker said the supervision requirement is designed to help ensure students aren’t left unsupervised before or after games while waiting for rides.

What bags are allowed?

Only one clear bag per spectator is permitted inside the venue.

There are a few exceptions:

• Clear diaper bags are allowed and are not subject to size restrictions, but they must be made of clear material.
• Medically necessary bags are allowed but will be inspected.

If someone arrives with a prohibited bag, they’ll be asked to return it to their vehicle before entering.

HISD said spectators who want additional privacy can place personal items, including hygiene products, inside pouches or pockets within their clear bag.

The clear bag policy does not apply to student-athletes transporting uniforms or equipment.

Where do the new rules apply?

The new policies apply to UIL competitions hosted at HISD athletic facilities, including venues like Delmar Stadium and other district sports complexes.

They do not automatically apply to non-UIL events, such as club sports, although individual campuses may choose to adopt similar policies.

Families are encouraged to check with their campus before attending an event.

What isn’t changing?

HISD says several existing security measures will remain in place, including:

• Security screening and metal detectors
• Bag inspections, including clear bags and medical bags

Fans can still bring items such as:

• Binoculars
• Stadium seats
• Blankets
• Small personal umbrellas, as long as they don’t obstruct others’ view

Items already prohibited on school property, including weapons, alcohol, smoking devices, air horns and other mechanical noisemakers, will continue to be banned at athletic venues.

For additional information, families can review HISD’s athletics event policy FAQ or contact the HISD Athletics Office at 713-556-6913.

New York joins a growing number of states filing lawsuits against Kalshi and other companies in a dispute with President Donald Trump's administration over who regulates the fast-growing prediction market. Kalshi and other platforms argue they are federally licensed and regulated, and states have no authority to govern them.

“It’s sad to see this type of political theater from the leadership in our own state,” Elisabeth Diana, a spokesperson for New York-based Kalshi, said in a statement. “States can’t just shut down a federally licensed exchange. This would also hurt New Yorkers, who would be driven offshore. We love New York, we love New Yorkers, and New Yorkers love our product.”

Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket allow trading on the likelihood of a wide range of events such as sports, politics, news and even the weather.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, announced the lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

“New York’s gambling laws protect children from underage betting and help combat gambling addiction,” James said in a statement. “No matter what they call themselves, prediction markets like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple. By ignoring our laws, Kalshi is running an illegal operation and harming New Yorkers in the process.”

James' office is requesting that Kalshi be ordered to forfeit all illegal gains, pay restitution to consumers who were harmed and pay fines equal to three times the company's gains. In a court filing, state officials provided a rough estimate of the damages and costs sought by the lawsuit — $36 billion.

Kalshi had been in negotiations with New York officials in recent weeks over tax and consumer protection issues.

In April, New York filed a similar lawsuit against prediction market platforms Coinbase and Gemini on illegal gambling operation allegations.

State officials say the prediction markets meet the legal definition of gambling “because the outcomes of the events on which its users are betting are uncertain and outside the control of the bettor or hinge on a game of chance.”

New York claims Kalshi has failed to obtain a license from the state Gaming Commission and skirted its obligation to pay taxes like licensed casinos and mobile sports gambling platforms do. The lawsuit also says prediction markets allow users ages 18 to 20, while New York requires mobile sports betting users to be at least 21.

Last October, the Gaming Commission ordered Kalshi to stop what it called the “illegal operating” of an “unlicensed mobile sports wagering platform” in New York. Kalshi responded days later by filing a federal lawsuit against the commission and its members — legal action that remains pending.

Prediction market platforms say they operate differently than gambling operations, because consumers are trading against other consumers — much like how stock markets work. Prices are based on trading, and the platforms only take a fee from the trading, they say.

The platforms also argue federal law gives the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive jurisdiction to regulate transactions offered in the prediction market. In February, Trump’s appointee atop the federal commission declared that the agency “will no longer sit idly by” while states aim to regulate or ban prediction markets and “undermine the agency’s exclusive jurisdiction.”

States counter that the vast majority of the business on prediction market platforms is sports betting, which they are empowered to regulate, and that is completely different from the commodities and futures contracts that the commission regulates.

On Monday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Minnesota’s first-in-the-nation law banning prediction markets just days before it was to take effect — dealing a setback for states trying to outlaw or regulate the platforms. In April, another federal judge ordered a similar temporary halt to Arizona's efforts to enforce its gambling laws against prediction markets.

A tangle of lawsuits is growing, as states try to use their gambling laws to shut down Kalshi, Polymarket and other prediction market operators. In April alone, the federal government sued Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois, challenging their efforts to regulate the industry.

“Hi,” she said softly as she sat down across from Leo at his desk in the Apostolic Palace.

Wearing a crucifix necklace and hair in her trademark braids, Smith has become an increasingly visible presence at the Vatican thanks to her friendship with the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary in the Vatican’s culture ministry.

She has said that while she is not Catholic, she was drawn in particular to Pope Francis and his “gentle, open, and steadfast sense of humanity.”

She also had a thing for Pope John Paul I: Her 1979 tune “Wave,” is about a make-believe conversation with the pope who had just died after a 33-day papacy. It begins “Hi. Hi” uttered in the same breathy voice Smith used with Leo on Friday.

The pope clearly was familiar with the tune. “That was marvelous,” he said.

Earlier this year, Smith performed during the inauguration of the Holy See’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair. The occasion, May 8, was the anniversary of Leo’s election.

Spadaro, who joined Smith at Friday’s audience, said the encounter between the two Chicago natives was around 40 minutes long. In a text message, he said it “felt more like a conversation between two people discovering they were old friends, sharing memories woven from words and music, dreams, visions, and hopes — both from yesterday and for today.”

He said at the end, Smith said “Bye. Bye.”

Smith met Francis in 2013 and sang for him in 2014. When he died, on April 21, 2025, she wrote a poem on social media, comparing Francis to a dandelion, “humble yet strong.”

“Nature and poetry and the suffering shall miss their champion,” she wrote.

It was Leo's second encounter with a music legend this week. On Wednesday, Leo attended a concert in his honor by tenor Andrea Bocelli.

___

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.

Hamas also said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would come later in the process, was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel's current government adamantly rejects.

Israel has not officially commented on the deal, which is part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced last October. That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw, and an International Stabilization Force was to deploy.

But progress stalled, with Israel saying everything hinged on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to carry out regular strikes on Gaza.

Expectations of implementation are low

Disarming would represent a sea change for Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and which sees its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, as lying at the heart of its identity.

Israel, meanwhile, appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions ahead of its October elections. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough reelection battle, with opponents accusing him of failing to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

Neil Quilliam, a Middle East expert at London’s Chatham House think tank, said expectations are low that Hamas will actually disarm or that Israel will withdraw from Gaza.

“I think that Netanyahu’s silence speaks volumes,’’ Quilliam said. “This is a massive decision that he has to make.”

“But with the prospect of the elections hanging over his head, with several Cabinet ministers and opposition leaders already counseling not to go ahead with the deal, I think he understands that doing so would likely scupper his chances of reelection,” he added.

The deal would be implemented in stages

In announcing the latest deal on social media, Trump said it would be carried out in “carefully structured phases.”

“As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors,” he wrote.

A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by The Associated Press said that all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the U.S.-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps.

A process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces. The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.

Israel currently controls around 60% of Gaza, areas that have been mostly destroyed and depopulated. Most of the territory's 2 million Palestinians are in the other part, where hundreds of thousands live in squalid tent camps and destroyed neighborhoods.

In a statement Thursday, an Israeli official said that there will be no Israeli withdrawal before the militant group is disarmed and the strip demilitarized. The statement was made on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

A person with knowledge of the situation said that Israel is fully involved, but it's not a signatory to the deal, which is between Hamas and several countries helping to negotiate and guarantee the ceasefire. The person spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the agreement. The deal's guarantors are the U.S., Turkey, Egypt and Qatar.

It could take years for Hamas to disarm

On Thursday, U.S. and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment. The board was established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza.

While Gaza's police force is expected to hand over its arms, that doesn't include the vast majority of Hamas militants, and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said. That timeline did not appear in the agreement obtained by AP.

A Hamas official and a regional official involved in the process said that Hamas and other groups agreed to “collect and store” arms inside Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian technocratic committee and that weapons won’t be handed to Israel or non-Palestinian parties.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said this would be a gradual process linked to an Israeli withdrawal.

Israel has been deeply skeptical

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation. The official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had committed to as part of the October agreement.

A member of the Palestinian technocratic committee told the AP on Friday that it was eager to enter Gaza but was concerned Israel will pose challenges. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The person said they didn’t expect to enter Gaza for at least two months.

The committee welcomed the progress Friday, but said the work to restore public institutions and services and rebuild the territory would be immense.

The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals, does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its toll but says women and children make up around half of all deaths.

___

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, Cooper from Phoenix, and Lee from Washington. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Danica Kirka in London contributed.

A statement from the regional Gilgt-Baltistan government identified the three recovered bodies as Nepalese climber Pur Bahadur Gurung, Omani climber Nathira Ahmed and American climber Mallory Geis. It said the bodies had been transported to a hospital.

The announcement came hours after officials said search teams had located the remains of four climbers despite harsh weather. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They did not immediately identify the fourth body that had been spotted.

Bad weather continued to hamper the rescue effort Friday, according to a statement from the Gilgit-Baltistan region's Chief Minister Amjad Hussain.

The climbers lost contact with their base camp after an avalanche struck Broad Peak while they were attempting to scale the mountain, said Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. “The team has been out of communication since Thursday,” said Haidri, adding that army helicopters were part of the search-and-rescue operation.

Authorities said the search for the missing climbers continued until Friday evening and would resume Saturday.

According to the Alpine Club, the expedition comprised five Nepali climbers in addition to the Omani and American climbers, as well as Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and one other foreign climber.

On Friday, China’s government said it was trying to verify whether any of its nationals were among the 10 climbers missing.

“We will provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need and are also willing to offer help in accordance with the needs of the Pakistani side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, “14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible.” His record was surpassed in 2023.

Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan, announced late last month that the expedition team was on its way to the small town of Askole and wished them a safe journey climbing Broad Peak. The company said this was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be Sakhi’s final one.

Sakhi is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer, and has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to Moving Mountains’ website.

Geis, 39, lives in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”

Broad Peak, at 8,047 meters (26,401 feet), is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It lies in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, attracting climbers from around the globe.

Accidents are common during climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches and rapidly changing weather.

___

Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. AP journalist E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

Note: Availability is typically first-come, first-served and may be limited while supplies last. Some events require kids to be present to receive items.

19th Annual Back to School Drive, Health Fair & Business Expo

• When: Saturday, July 25 | 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Where: PlazAmericas Mall 2nd Floor, 201 Sharpstown Center, Houston
• What to know: This is a free, family event giving out 5,000 backpacks and school supplies; free immunizations and medical screenings; health and wellness resources; business expo exhibitors; and family activities.

Operation Backpack (Attorney Brian White) — 3,000 filled backpacks + free entertainment

• When: Saturday, July 25 | 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
• Where: Launch Family Entertainment, 13331 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77077
• What to know: Organizers say the event will distribute 3,000 backpacks filled with essential school supplies. Families will also get free admission to Launch during the event, with access to attractions (including trampolines and other activities).
• Details: Backpacks are available while supplies last; children must be present to receive a backpack.

Vida City Church Back 2 School Bash

• When: Saturday, July 25 | 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Where: Vida City Church Houston, 1300 W Mount Houston Road, Houston
• What to know: Organizers are offering free backpacks and school supplies in addition to community resources.

Verizon retailer Round Room “School Rocks” Backpack Giveaway (Houston-area locations)

• When: Sunday, July 26 | Starts at 1 p.m. (lines expected before start)
• Where (Houston area):
• • 3420 7th Street, Bay City
  • 1140 North FM 3083 West Road, Suite 300, Conroe
  • 27117 Fulshear Bend Dr., Ste 200, Fulshear
  • 3351 Clear Lake City Blvd., Ste 600, Houston
• What to know: Round Room, a Verizon authorized retailer, says it is giving away $3 million worth of free backpacks nationwide during its annual “School Rocks” event.

Pasadena to Fill the Bus for Local Students

• When: Monday, July 27 | 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Where: Pasadena Convention Center, 7902 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena
• What to know: The City of Pasadena is collecting donated school supplies for students. Community members will then deliver the supplies throughout the day. Volunteers will receive and organize the donations.

Back to School Community Giveaway (Attorney Kristopher A. Alvarez) - school supplies giveaways + free food

• When: Wednesday, July 29 | 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
• Where: 6841 Avenue I, Houston
• What to know: Organizers said the event will offer free backpacks with school supplies. There will also be food and drinks, games, activities, free haircuts and live entertainment. More than 200 children are registered for the event, organizers say.

Buckner Family Hope Center Back-to-School Health Fair & Backpack Distribution

• When: Friday, July 31 | 12 p.m.-3 p.m.
• Where: Buckner Children and Family Services of Houston, 8600 Sweetwater Lane, Houston
• What to know: The Buckner Family Hope Center will be distributing backpacks with school supplies to 1,000 kids in Houston’s northside in addition to shoes. Organizers said there will also be community and health resources. Families can also enjoy activities like arts and crafts.

Houston Rockets annual Back-to-School Bash powered by Reliant

• When: Friday, July 31 | 4 p.m.-7 p.m.
• Where: Sunnyside Community Center, 3502 West Bellfort Avenue, Houston
• What to know: The Houston Rockets and Reliant, in partnership with the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, are hosting their annual back-to-school event, offering free backpacks and school supplies. Organizers say each backpack will also include vouchers for Chick-fil-A and Pizza Hut locations. Hall of Famer and Comets legend Cynthia Cooper, Rockets legend Rafer Alston, and more prominent figures will be making appearances. Organizers say there will also be free health screenings and family activities.

The Mayor’s Back 2 School & Health Fair presented by Shell

• When: Saturday, Aug. 1 | 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Where: George R. Brown Convention Center, 1001 Avenida de las Americas, Houston
• What to know: The Houston Mayor’s Office will be holding its 16th annual back-to-school fair with backpack and school supply giveaways in addition to free health/dental screenings and routine immunizations. Make sure to register your student beforehand.

HISD “Ready, Set, School!” Back-to-School Resource Fair & School Supply Giveaway

• When: Saturday, Aug. 1 | 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
• Where: Delmar Fieldhouse, 2020 Mangum Road, Houston, TX 77092
• What to know: Houston ISD says families can receive free backpacks and school supplies, plus free routine health screenings.
• Extras: District teams including enrollment, transportation and nutrition will be available to help families get ready for the school year.

YES Prep Public Schools Backpack Giveaway & Back-to-School Fair

• When: Saturday, Aug. 1 | 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Where: YES Prep West Elementary, 9910 Sharpcrest Street, Houston
• What to know: YES Prep Public Schools is giving away 300 backpacks full of school supplies to students ahead of the 2026-27 academic year. Organizers said there will also be free vaccines and free/low-cost haircuts. The event is open to the public and will also feature family activities, community resources, and special appearances from local leaders.

Fellowship of Love Church Operation Backpack Drop

• When: Saturday, Aug. 1 | 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Where: Missing Bend Boys & Girls Club, 8709 Addicks Clodine Road, Houston
• What to know: Love Works is holding their annual school supplies giveaway and health fair. Organizers say the first 300 school-aged children will receive free sneakers. There will also be family activities at the event.

IDEA Public Schools Backpacks for Bright Futures

• When: Saturday, Aug. 1 | 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Where: IDEA Hardy Academy and College Preparatory, 1930 Little York Road, Houston
• What to know: IDEA Public Schools is hosting a free back-to-school backpack giveaway for the first 600 students at the event. Parents and guardians must be present with their children in order to receive the supplies. More community resources, giveaways, games and vendors will be at the event, organizers said.

Revive Fest 2026 - Christian Hip Hop performances + school supply drive

• When: Saturday, Aug. 1 | 12 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Where: Life Community Baptist Church, 2626 Avenue N, Rosenberg
• What to know: A back-to-school drive will be taking place at Life Community Baptist Church’s Revive Fest for students. Organizers say this is part of the larger community event, which includes family activities, live Christian hip-hop performances, food, giveaways and a basketball tournament.

Free Back-to-School Immunization Clinic (State Rep. Suleman Lalani, M.D.)

• When: Tuesday, Aug. 4 | 4 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Where: Office of Rep. Suleman Lalani, 12550 Emily Ct, Suite 300, Sugar Land
• What to know: State Representative Suleman Lalani in partnership with the Texas Children’s Hospital is holding a free immunization clinic for Medicaid-eligible and uninsured children. Organizers said walk-ins are okay, but appointments are recommended and can be scheduled by calling 832-824-6355. Organizers said parents and guardians should bring their child’s immunization records. Note: This event is not offering school supplies.

Boykins Youth Foundations 12th annual Back-2-School Drive & Free Haircuts

• When: Wednesday, Aug. 5 | 8 a.m.-12 p.m.
• Where: Evan E. Worthing High School, 9215 Scott Street, Houston
• What to know: Boykins Youth Foundations and community partners are holding their annual back-to-school event offering free school supplies, backpacks and uniforms. Organizers say there will also be free haircuts and hairstyles on offer, in addition to free physicals and eye exams.

Judge Bob Wolfe Back to School Supply Giveaway

• When: Saturday, Aug. 8 | 10 a.m.
• Where: 16715 Clay Road, Houston
• What to know: Precinct 5, Place 2 Justice of the Peace Bob Wolfe is holding a back-to-school supply giveaway until supplies last. Organizers say there will be free food and drinks, too. Children must be present in order to receive supplies, according to the judge.

Community Back-to-School Bash for Families (Attorney Cherika Edwards)

• When: Saturday, Aug. 15 | 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Where: 3310 West Fuqua Drive, Houston
• What to know: The Law Office of Cherika Edwards is holding its annual back-to-school event, offering free school supplies (while supplies last), free food, free family activities, and community resources.

Terry Bryant Accident & Injury Law — $200 gift card giveaway (Texas residents)

This is a statewide drawing (not an in-person Houston backpack event), but it may still help some families.

• What: The firm says it will award 15 Texas residents a $200 gift card through a random drawing.
• Deadline: Runs through 10 a.m. CT on Aug. 19 (per the announcement).

Have a giveaway to add?

Send details (date, time, address, what’s being given away, and any registration requirements) to Desk@kprc.com and we can update this list.

“This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious," said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting."

“It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered.

Pauner is among the untold numbers of volunteers who have mobilized to support firefighters battling the biggest wildfires in years in France.

“I’m protecting my forest, and my home,” he said, pouring his watering can into a smoking ditch as if watering a garden, then huffing in the heat.

Hundreds of thousands forced from their homes

The wildfires that tore through cultivated forests on an Atlantic coast also known for towering sand dunes and tourist resorts devastated 42,000 hectares (about 162 square miles) west of Bordeaux, driving nearly a quarter-million people out of their homes and vacation sites.

Many other places in France have been hit by fires this summer, including in the Mediterranean Var region where a blaze in the Gros Bessillon mountain ridge flared up again on Friday, driven by violent winds, local authorities said. Several towns in the area were evacuated.

Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. The United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Greece and Turkey battled blazes this week.

As cooler, more humid air moved into southwest France this week, authorities allowed two-thirds of the 224,000 evacuees to return home, including some more on Friday.

But the ground still simmers in many places.

“It’s stabilized, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio. “Hot spots remain.”

Volunteers like Pauner — what he calls “little eyes” on watch to report flare-ups to firefighters — do what they can with limited resources. Others have mobilized their trucks and giant jerrycans to supply water to fire crews.

Drought has left forests dangerously dry

Prolonged drought and climate change have created fire-prone conditions. Pauner said the region endured more than two months without significant rainfall, leaving vegetation exceptionally dry.

In the smoking forests, fire crews used rakes to dig down into the smoldering forest floor so buried embers can be doused with water, a long and painstaking job. Ukraine became the latest country to send help, dispatching 70 people and 10 vehicles in the coming days, Nunez said.

Investigators suspect that contractors clearing away vegetation inadvertently ignited the blaze last week. But other fires have been attributed to arsonists or criminal negligence.

Nunez said police have made 308 arrests in connection with blazes this summer — more than 120 of them involving minors — and that 33 people have either been convicted or are being held pending court rulings.

Elsewhere in Europe, fires are also burning

Blazes continued in other parts of Europe.

Many parts of Greece were listed at high or extreme risk of wildfires, with strong winds. Three Greek firefighters died fighting fires this week on the southern island of Crete.

Firefighters were tackling 73 wildfires around the country, 51 of which broke out on Friday, Fire department spokesman Col. Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

The fire department and coast guard used boats to evacuate more than 250 people from one of the largest fires, in Boeotia, and evacuation orders were issued for several other fires, including one on the western fringes of the Greek capital.

Gale-force winds were hampering aircraft from dumping water on the wildfires, he said.

In England, where half the country is gripped by drought, firefighters battled a wildfire on an east coast heath in Suffolk, near a nuclear power station that fire services said wasn't threatened. More than 100 firefighters were deployed.

“I wouldn’t say it is under control," said Henry Griffin, a fire officer.

___ Macpherson reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Danica Kirka in London, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and John Leicester contributed to this report.

Zurich-based executive Kevin Lamour all but invited Infantino to fire him in a statement to The Associated Press that defended his colleagues amid intense fallout from the FIFA boss' plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private equity funds.

Lamour wrote that staff were “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness in planning the sale over recent months and “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”

“It is the project of one person,” Lamour, a long-time colleague of Infantino at both FIFA and European soccer body UEFA, wrote. “Not only must this project not go ahead … but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Lamour's statement came hours after Infantino's senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented the soccer body on the White House Task Force for the World Cup, resigned and urged other senior FIFA staff to speak out.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro wrote in a statement. The former U.S. Soccer Federation president said he was not included in talks about the plan backed by a New York investment fund created by Joshua Kushner.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” Cordeiro said. He called the $20 billion commercial subsidiary “a bad deal for football.”

Lamour did not resign the post he has held since 2024 but said he had a duty to his colleagues.

“And if that means I lose my job then so be it” the French official said. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

Lamour came to soccer from politics two decades ago as an aide to then-UEFA president Michel Platini. He often had an international role in soccer politics liaising with FIFA member federations in Africa and Asia who are weighing their own decisions about Infantino's offers of $20 million each by a Sept. 19 deadline.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years.

“Football has been central to my life, and after more than 35 years in banking I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving part of it away,” he said. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.”

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors. The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“FIFA already has access to extraordinary financial resources. The organization sits on billions of dollars in reserves and no debt,” Cordeiro said. He noted FIFA's revenue of $15 billion over the last four years tied to the men's World Cup just ended.

“Against that backdrop, selling a permanent stake in football’s most valuable asset to raise $4.2 billion makes little sense. It is mortgaging football’s future without any compelling justification,” he said.

Cordeiro said he shared five years of working for FIFA alongside Infantino with “dedicated, principled people who care deeply about the game.”

“I hope they, too, will speak up,” he wrote, “because decisions of this magnitude should be made in the interests of football, not those who stand to profit from it.”

Infantino has been president of FIFA for more than 10 years and seemed sure to be re-elected unopposed next March. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to come forward.

Lamour was part of Infantino’s inner circle that campaigned for him to become the surprise winner of that FIFA presidential election in February 2016.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

After 80 years in business, the restaurant’s final day of operations is Saturday, Aug. 1, co-owner David Skrehot confirmed. The reasons, he said, are practical and personal — rising costs, yes, but mostly a family decision for his father.

“There’s a lot of factors. Some of it’s food costs, you know, energy costs,” Skrehot said. “But mainly … he’s ready to retire and it’s just time.”

Still, the Barbecue Inn was never just a place you grabbed lunch. The business has spanned the Houston food scene since 1946, and over those decades, it became a kind of neighborhood landmark that helped define what “going out to eat” looked like for thousands of families — a warm, retro dining room where regulars didn’t need a menu, and first-timers were treated like they’d been coming for years.

The restaurant calls itself “a legendary retro BBQ spot” with “retro interior, red booths, and time-honored recipes,” a description that sounds like branding until you realize it’s simply accurate. Those booths and those plates turned into memory markers for generations of Houstonians.

A family story that stretches back to 1946

Skrehot traces the restaurant’s roots to his grandfather — a man who loved to cook and learned in the family kitchen before turning it into a business.

“My grandfather liked to cook … he learned from my great-grandmother, and he opened this restaurant in a smaller building back in 1946,” Skrehot said.

After his grandfather died, Skrehot said the restaurant stayed in the family.

“Eventually my uncle and my dad took it over. They ran it together for over 50 years,” he said. “And 15 years ago, my uncle Lewis was ready to step down, and my dad and I had the opportunity to work together, and so it’s been a good 15 years.”

That kind of continuity matters in a city that reinvents itself quickly. Houston is famous for growth — new subdivisions, new restaurant districts, new skylines — but it’s also a place where people quietly hold onto what feels constant. For many longtime residents, Barbecue Inn has been one of those constants.

“At every table, a story” — and some of them get passed down

Ask Skrehot what the restaurant meant to customers, and he doesn’t talk about receipts or reviews. He talks about stories.

“I’ve had young couples walk in and want to sit in the same booth that their grandparents got engaged in,” he said. “Countless numbers of stories like that over the years.”

That’s the kind of legacy you can’t build on social media alone — it takes time, repetition, and a room that makes people want to return.

Customer Scott Kubeczka said his connection to Barbecue Inn started before he could drive.

“This was our Friday outing whenever we went out to eat. My dad and mom would bring us here,” Kubeczka said. “In fact, there’s a booth that my parents sat at. My mom sat at it right before she passed away.”

He said those details — where you sat, who you sat with, what you ordered — become the emotional geography of a family.

“So it brings back a lot of memories,” Kubeczka said.

Comfort food — and the patience that comes with it

The name on the sign says barbecue, but regulars will tell you the same thing Kubeczka did: the staples are the comfort classics.

“You don’t really come here for the barbecue. You come for the fried shrimp, the crab, the chicken fried steak,” he said, adding that his daughters go for the “chicken fried chicken.”

Skrehot echoed that reputation, saying guests often come in with a specific favorite.

“People come here, you know, they want the best shrimp, or the best chicken fried steak, or the best fried chicken,” he said. “And they’re going to get that first.”

There’s also something increasingly rare about the pace of it.

Regular Nelda Billescas said the Barbecue Inn isn’t built for a quick bite — it’s built for a meal.

“The meals they cook fresh, this isn’t something that they have prepped, and they just throw on. You sit down and you wait,” she said. “And while you’re waiting, the servers, their personalities, it’s incredible.”

That wait has long been part of the identity, not a flaw. Skrehot remembers when it was almost a weekly ritual for the neighborhood.

“Years and years ago, every Friday night, we had a line around the building … every Friday night,” he said.

And on the way out, customers didn’t just leave with leftovers — they left with the sense they’d participated in something.

The people behind the plates

Skrehot credits his staff for being the connective tissue between the food and the feeling.

“They provide excellent service. They care about their customers,” he said. “They want to make sure that the customer is number one and gets the best service they can provide.”

Billescas described that relationship in personal terms.

“Not seeing this corner, not sitting down in these booths, not visiting with the servers, and, of course, Mr. Skrehot and David, is gonna be tough,” she said. “They’re really good people. They’re an icon, they’re an institution here in Houston.”

She also pointed to something longtime patrons often mention: the family’s presence in the community beyond the dining room.

“The dedication they’ve had to this community, not just what they’ve done here to feed us and love on us, but what they do, philanthropically for the community, they’re constantly giving back,” Billescas said.

A Houston restaurant, in a Houston food city

Skrehot said the Barbecue Inn’s story is also a Houston story — one that fits inside a city where food is part of the identity.

“This is the greatest city in the country. Lived here all my life, traveled, you know, traveled around the country. We’ve got some great food. You can get any kind of food you want in this city,” he said.

For decades, the Barbecue Inn has been one of the places where Houstonians didn’t just eat — they gathered. A place where families got their “Friday outing,” where couples asked big questions in familiar booths, where people drove across the region because a fried shrimp plate tasted like their childhood.

The Barbecue Inn is ending service on Aug. 1, but the stories inside those red booths — the ones Skrehot calls “countless” — will keep living in Houston kitchens, family albums and Friday-night conversations for years to come.

After being driven past two businesses relevant to the narrative of the January 2023 killings, jurors were escorted in groups of six to view the inside of the house, including the basement where the children died. During the roughly 40-minute visit, the jury also saw the yard where Clancy was found after jumping from a second-story window.

Journalists were kept away by a police barricade, but court officers could be seen through the trees escorting jurors to and from the bus along the site of the Clancy family’s former driveway. The home now has a new owner.

Clancy herself did not attend the visit to the home, which she hasn't seen since the day of the killings. Her lawyers argue she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

___

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

___

Jurors in U.S. criminal cases often are expressly told not to visit the scene of the events in question. There are a number of rationales for not doing so — among other things, the site may have changed in the interim between an alleged crime and a trial.

But courts sometimes allow juries to make a supervised excursion as a group, for reasons that can include assessing distances or features that aren’t thought to come across fully in photos.

Such excursions have happened in a number of high-profile cases, including the 2023 murder trial of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, the 2022 sentencing trial of Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz, the 2015 Massachusetts murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez and the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

Jurors in Clancy's trial retraced the route her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, took when she asked him to pick up takeout food and medicine for Cora on the night of the killings. He returned to find the children dead and his then-wife badly injured and bleeding in the yard.

The panel was driven past the restaurant — about 5.5 miles (9 kilometers) from the family’s former home in Duxbury, a town south of Boston — and the pharmacy, about a mile (1.6 km) from the house.

Prosecutors say the errands were a ruse to get her husband out of the house. They say Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, acted intentionally and is criminally responsible for the deaths of children Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months.

Her lawyers don't dispute that she killed the children, but they say she had bipolar disorder and her condition worsened while she was on antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child. She believed a voice was telling her to “kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyers.

Lindsay Clancy remains paralyzed from the waist down after using multiple methods to try to end her life that night.

If convicted of murder, she faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

___ Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.

A small fly has the potential to impart a big impact on Texas’ beef and agricultural industry.

On June 3, the New World screwworm was detected in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since then, the agency reported more screwworm infestations in Texas.

The fly poses a multibillion-dollar crisis for the state’s cattle industry, which generates $41 billion a year. It could also increase already record-high beef prices nationwide.

It’s unclear how many cases could hit Texas. Nearly 28,000 cases have been detected in Mexico since November 2024, according to Mexican officials.

State and federal officials are working together to stop the northern migration, which they have tracked since 2023. In response to the cases, USDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission have ramped up animal surveillance of animals near the confirmed detections by setting up zones around each infestation. Animals are not allowed to leave infested areas without being properly inspected.

Officials are also increasing fly traps, surveillance of wildlife and releasing sterile flies, which are used to break the reproduction cycle of the parasitic screwworm fly.

What is New World Screwworm?

New World Screwworm is a parasitic fly that is attracted to living tissue, burrowing their larvae into open wounds. After they hatch, the maggots then feed off that living flesh, causing damage to the animal. If untreated, the damage can even cause the animal to die.

Screwworm can also burrow through openings in the skin, such as the corner of an eye or through the nose.

From a biological standpoint, all mammals are vulnerable to screwworm, including pets and humans. However, livestock and wildlife tend to be the most susceptible because they spend their entire lives outdoors.

Dogs and cats are vulnerable through small wounds or scratches that break the skin. Health officials recommend pets be medicated for fleas and ticks year-round, said Casey Locklear, veterinarian and parasiticides lead for Elanco Animal Health.

“As a pet owner, if you were to notice that your dog or cat had a wound, especially if it’s foul smelling, it’s enlarging, you may actually see the maggots,” Locklear said. “If you see a wound, get treatment early. Whether that’s for yourself or your pet, early treatment is key.”

Read more about the screwworm here.

The conflict, now in its sixth month, halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that previously served as a delivery route for a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas. With global supplies constrained, prices for Brent crude, the international standard, soared from about $70 to above $100 a barrel for much of March, April and May, and at one point reached $126.

The money that oil companies accrued between the beginning of April and the end of June could receive extra scrutiny this year. Gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices climbed sharply during that period, increasing costs for drivers and airline passengers. Supplies ran low in some countries, leading to sporadic fuel rationing in Australia and government office closures in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Exxon Mobil on Friday reported that its second quarter profits doubled to $14.53 billion, boosted by record diesel production. The oil giant, based in Spring, Texas, brought in $116.02 billion in revenue, up 42%.

Chevron, based in Houston, nearly quadrupled its profits to $12.07 billion and revenue jumped 56% to $70.06 billion.

Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted combined first-quarter profits of $22 billion, more than 40% higher than last year.

“There are constituencies around the world who are having a very good crisis, and the oil producers are one of them,” said Patrick Galey, fossil fuels lead at Global Witness, a nonprofit organization that investigates environmental issues. “When you compare that to the hundreds of millions of people who are struggling with rolling blackouts, with electricity curbs, rationing, waiting in line for food queues, or the disruption to fertilizers and the potential impact that that has on food prices, we don’t think that it’s a justifiable price for the rest of the world to be paying.”

Lawmakers propose taxing major oil producers for war windfalls

Energy companies such as Exxon and Chevron do not set the price of American oil, which ricocheted from $68 to $115 a barrel during the quarter. It’s driven by supply and demand, and what traders, refiners and other buyers are willing to pay.

Nevertheless, Democrats in Congress introduced bills in March to tax major oil producers for profits they show from 2026 onward and have the tax proceeds redistributed to consumers.

“It’s fair to put a windfall profits tax on inordinate windfall profits rather than cut off children’s food programs,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who introduced the Senate version of the legislation.

Whitehouse's measure and a companion bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California would amend the U.S. tax code to impose a per-barrel tax on companies that produced or imported at least 300,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025.

“We cracked $4 again per gallon last weekend in gas stations that I drove by, and that’s a big expense, particularly for families that get their income from driving around from job to job in the work van or the work truck,” Whitehouse said.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S., which was below $3 before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, reached $4.11 Friday, about $1 more than ast year at this time.

The UK and other European countries implemented temporary windfall profits taxes on fossil fuel companies in 2022. The UK extended that to 2030, according to Tax Foundation Europe.

“Penalizing the businesses who stood by those countries and provided that product going forward is very short-sighted,” Exxon CEO Darren Woods said in a call with investors Friday. “We canceled investments that we had planned for Europe based on the last time they passed a windfall profits tax.”

Refineries rake in cash while consumers pay more for fuel

Outfits such as Exxon and Chevron, which also own refineries, are in the best position to profit from the current market conditions, said Tom Seng, assistant professor of energy finance at Texas Christian University.

Refineries turn oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil. Higher prices for those products meant Chevron’s quarterly refinery profit was six times as big in 2026, despite processing less crude and selling less products.

“The return on refining, on a percentage basis, has skyrocketed,” Seng said. “Oil right now is priced what it is priced because of the Iran war. But in the meantime, the refineries are making money hand over fist.”

The global refining market is under-supplied, and with countries such as Russia and China no longer exporting, companies like Exxon and Chevron have to pick it up, said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital. “The world is going to be short jet fuel, diesel and gasoline, so we’ll probably continue to see higher profits there.”

Globally, not all refineries have been able to get the supply of crude oil they need to meet demand since the conflict began, said Timothy Fitzgerald, a University of Tennessee professor of business economics who studies the petroleum industry.

As a result, refineries that have ample oil to work with, including those in the U.S., are turning high profits, particularly when they make jet fuel and diesel, which is priced about 41% higher in the U.S. than before the Strait of Hormuz was blocked.

"If you’re a company that owns a bunch of refinery capacity, things look pretty good," Fitzgerald said.

American refineries are running at near-full capacity and poised to benefit because some refineries in the Middle East and Russia were damaged. And Asia can't get the amount of Middle East oil needed for refining.

“Ultimately, users of the energy services pay,” Fitzgerald said. “Consumers, people like you and me buying retail motor gasoline or diesel fuel or airplane tickets. But it also means that almost everything else we buy has an embedded energy content to it ... and this is where you start to worry about it driving increases in costs.”

Not all oil and gas companies benefit in the same way

In the present geopolitical environment, some companies are winners while others are losers, Fitzgerald said.

“If you’re a company like a U.S. (oil) producer, even a U.S.-based international company like an Exxon or Chevron who’s got lots of production outside the Gulf, things are good. You’re selling your product at a higher price,” he said.

But companies in the Middle East that are not able to benefit from higher prices because they are struggling to get their liquefied natural gas out of the Persian Gulf or have a lot of damaged oil fields or processing facilities have a very different take on recent events, Fitzgerald added.

“Your ability to sell anything and the volume that you may be getting out is so curtailed that your revenues are way down and you’re incurring higher transportation costs and security costs,” he said.

Exxon and Chevron weren’t as profitable in the first quarter due to the way oil is traded; the first real opportunity they had to take advantage of higher prices oil was in April. Companies that had a lot of oil stored in floating tankers and available for spot-market trading, including some European ones, were able to benefit from March’s higher oil prices, Seng said.

The crash happened at the yogurt shop in the 10880 block of Louetta Road.

Officials said an elderly woman drove into the building, causing significant structural damage.

The business was closed at the time of the crash. No injuries were reported other than the driver, who was evaluated by EMS, deputies said.

Gabriel Rios, who witnessed the crash, said he was sitting in his truck while waiting for a delivery and heard a loud engine. He said he saw the woman’s vehicle jump the curve, hit the bumper of his truck, which spun her vehicle around and into the side window of the building.

“She seemed disorientated, but she wasn’t hurt,” Rios said. “She just seemed confused.”

Friday’s Forecast:

Tracking a front this weekend:

High pressure that has brought the hot, humid and dry weather moves west Saturday. This will allow and opening for a front to move into southeast Texas. Because of the heat and humidity any storm that forms along the front has the potential to be strong. Not everyone will get rain or thunderstorms, it will move through as a broken line of storms. Timing is late Saturday afternoon into Saturday night.

Sunday’s forecast:

The front stalls near The Woodlands. That means two things. First, any city north of The Woodlands will get several hours of dry air. I don’t expect a big cool down but getting dry air this time of year is huge bonus. Second, south of The Woodlands will not get dry air. In fact, this area may get more rain and storms Sunday morning and afternoon. The only cool down will come from short lived rain cooled air. By Sunday night a southerly wind will bring back the humidity for all of us.

Tracking the tropics:

We’ll get long break from our next storm. There is nothing brewing in the tropics for the next seven to ten days in the Atlantic basin.

10 Day Forecast:

Temperatures remain in the upper 90s next week, and since we are now in the heart of summer there is no major break from the heat. Overnight lows are also close to 80°.

An expanding crisis for soccer's governing body reached into Infantino's longtime inner circle when his pick to represent FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup walked away calling the Joshua Kushner-backed $20 billion commercial subsidiary plan “a bad deal for football.”

Carlos Cordeiro is a former Goldman Sachs banker and officially Infantino's Senior Adviser yet revealed he was not involved in the secretive investment plan that has rocked the sport since media reports revealed it Tuesday.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement formally resigning, just hours after FIFA insisted in a statement: “Nobody is selling football.”

Cordeiro's exit — and call for other senior staff to speak out — intensified scrutiny on Infantino one day after European soccer body UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA games and events until the plan is dropped. North America's CONCACAF also rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation by a mid-September deadline.

Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years, and took part in meetings of the administration's World Cup task force led by Andrew Guiliani.

“Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” said Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president.

Asia joins Europe and North America

On another seismic day in soccer politics, Asia’s soccer body that has been a key ally in Infantino's 11-year presidency opposed the investor plan and said FIFA must urgently review its management style

The Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity” with UEFA and CONCACAF, the first two continental bodies to oppose Infantino whose combined 90 FIFA member countries near a majority of the 211 global total.

“Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA's 211 members

Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA's commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward” and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.

The statement did not name Infantino yet criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan plus failing to consult about the secretive proposal.

“Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed,” said the AFC, whose longtime president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa narrowly lost the FIFA presidential election to Infantino in 2016.

“Accordingly, the AFC calls upon FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework,” said the organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Infantino's job at risk?

Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — to have a clear path to being reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031.

FIFA had briefed during the tournament that Infantino had letters of support from about 200 members, despite a furor over letting United States forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium even though he received a red card in his previous game. Trump acknowledged asking Infantino to review Balogun's mandatory one-game ban.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.

FIFA blames the media

The Asian statement came hours after FIFA blamed the media and doubled down on pursuing the project which now seems to have a majority of the 211 in opposition.

“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement early Friday. “We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”

The next FIFA event that would be targeted by the threatened European boycott is within weeks — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5. The four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due Nov. 23.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to Peanut’s recovery. The Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office is urging residents to share Peanut’s photo widely, saying broader visibility increases the chances someone recognizes him and comes forward.

Anyone with information about Peanut’s location is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Houston immediately at 713-222-8477.

Currently, a one road configuration is confusing, causing drivers to either break traffic laws in the area or end up on SH 99 and pay a toll because of their mistake.

View this post on Instagram

Many drivers shared their frustrations in the comments on one of our latest social media posts.

@ga_tx_diva87

• “They should fix the street for 529 near 99 going to Elyson Target. I’m sick of people going through the light in the wrong lane.”

@sincerelybrandyk

• “Yessss! I get anxiety when the people in middle lane go straight through and it’s a turning lane by Target.”

@abbiejasscan

• “Literally like atp just make the middle lane a straight/left no need to have to lefts to enter the 99 that merges anyways”

@just.krenn

• “THIS! They should’ve had a connection to the Target parking lot off that turn because if it’s your first time driving there, you turn and get charged almost $10 just to exit the toll smh. Happened to me because there’s not enough signage before you get up on the light.”

Those comments reflect the common concern that current lane markings, direction rules, and road layout create confusion for residents and others not familiar with the area.

KPRC 2 reached out to the Texas Department of Transportation with the concerns, and TxDOT said that it would send crews to the area to determine how improvements can be made.

Additionally, TxDOT told KPRC 2 the access road in the area stretching from Longenbaugh Road to FM 529 will help alleviate some of the traffic issues arising from rapid development and an increase in local drivers.

This is an ongoing story. We will keep you updated when more information becomes available.

View this post on Instagram

Matei said the issue came to light after she tried to find local teachers’ wish lists in hopes of donating before the new school year. She said when she could not find any lists online, she posted on social media urging teachers to reach out with their lists, and CFISD teachers responded.

“That’s when I got the DMs coming in saying, ‘I’m not able to publicly post this. I can sometimes privately share it,’” Matei said. “It made me so sad that these teachers are having to jump through all these loopholes.”

So Matei went to TikTok and posted a new video expressing teachers’ claims that CFISD was not allowing them to post their wish lists online.

Here’s what teachers were saying in her comments:

@user1503194302939

• “Girl I just post mine and block my coworkers from seeing it.”

@madison.elise.adams

• “I just left CFISD. We were told we couldn’t even post them on our personal Facebook. I still did it because it’s a ridiculous rule, and it was MY friends and family who were donating to ME!”

@life-of-des66

• “As a current employee of CFISD, I’m so confused because we never heard of this.”

One of the most puzzling parts of the story is the inconsistencies in what is being communicated.

Matei said the varying reports and teachers’ lack of awareness about certain rules are what concern her most.

“There are so many varying reports,” Matei said. “Some teachers are saying they can’t share anything. Some are saying they have no issues doing that.”

Matei said the only way she has been able to make sense of this is that she believes the policy may be tied to the public perception that school districts are not properly providing resources for their teachers and students, although she stressed it was her opinion.

“I think the school districts are doing this because it’s all PR,” Matei said. “They don’t want to seem like they’re not providing. But if it sounds like a duck, it’s a duck.”

CFISD, however, says teachers can share classroom lists once they receive proper approval.

CFISD issued KPRC this statement:

“To ensure compliance with Board Policy CDC (LOCAL) and District Regulation CDC-R, CFISD has an approval process in place for its two district-authorized crowdfunding websites, DonorsChoose.org and Amazon Classroom Wish List. Once an authorization form is completed and approved by their campus principal, the lists may be made live, and teachers may share links to these lists online. Donors financially support programs like DonorsChoose, in part, based on the needs of students at specific campuses promoted in the description. As such, materials acquired through these donations remain at the campus to continue supporting the students and programs for which the donations were intended. This ensures that donor contributions directly benefit the campus community identified in the funding request.”

Still, Matei said some teachers have privately told her they created personal “birthday” wish lists as a workaround to get classroom items.

Matei also said she has heard from other educators around Texas who have reached out and commented with similar stories.

“I want to support my friends and family. I want to support their kids and their community,” Matei said. “All we want to do is help our teachers and help our kids.”

View this post on Instagram

The new facility, which is scheduled to open for the 2026–27 school year, was approved by voters as part of SBISD’s 2022 bond program. The bond dedicated $290.3 million to CTE improvements districtwide, including the construction of the new Guthrie Center.

“Our vision is T-2-4, so we want every student when they graduate our school system to be prepared with either a technical, a two-year, or a four-year degree, or go into the military,” SBISD Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Blaine said. “We don’t want to ever limit that ability by what we do or don’t provide.”

• Harris County Clerk to hold Saturday birth certificate event to help families get ready for school

SBISD introduces CTE courses in middle school, exposing students to different career paths. Freshmen and sophomores continue taking CTE courses at their home campuses, before moving to the Guthrie Center as juniors and seniors for more advanced instruction.

One of the unique aspects of the Guthrie Center is that students have the chance to serve the public through their automotive, cosmetology and culinary arts programs.

The community can enter through the “enterprise entrance” and get their oil changed, a new set of nails or enjoy lunch at the cafe.

“There’s a whole side of this where not only are our kids learning in the classroom with their teachers, but they’re practicing the service that they’re then delivering in a real-world setting so that they get accustomed to that,” Blaine said.

• LIST: Back-to-school freebies — backpack and supply giveaways around Houston

Speaking of teachers - students will be learning from real architects, welders, chefs, and more.

“That really lends credibility to the program,” Principal Joe Kolenda said. “Students walk in and it’s not just teachers that learned something out of a book. It’s teachers that did it.”

For more information on the Guthrie Center and its programs, click here.

The rocket's upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that scientists — and skygazers — are eager to observe.

Space tracking expert Bill Gray predicts an impact of 5,400 mph (8,700 kph) — seven times the speed of sound — near Einstein Crater on the moon’s sunlit western limb. With the action unfolding in the wee hours, the eastern portions of the U.S. and Canada, and much of South America should have the best views.

While scientists are not too concerned about this particular piece of space junk, it highlights the growing threat as more and more items cram into orbit.

“Things are getting crowded up there,” said Gray, who plans to view the aftermath from New Brunswick, Canada.

It was never SpaceX's intent to hit the moon. But space experts said the crash could have been avoided if the upper stage had been nudged into orbit around the sun.

It will be the second dead rocket known to crash into the moon accidentally. A Chinese rocket segment dug out a pair of craters on the lunar far side in 2022.

Lucky for astronomers, the upcoming smashup will occur on the moon’s near side, packing the equivalent energy of three tons of TNT.

The impact flash, lasting less than a second, will probably be too dim to see, according to experts. But the stream of ejected material could stretch for several miles (kilometers) into space and remain visible to telescopes for tens of minutes.

“The gravity on the moon is low and there is no wind to blow the dust away,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Benjamin Fernando, who’s encouraging observations by professionals and amateurs alike.

“Part of the reason for our interest in this event is to figure out how much of a hazard debris impacts pose to future astronauts,” he added in an email.

Fernando anticipates an impact crater nearly 90 feet across and 16 feet deep (27 meters across and 5 meters deep), too small to see from Earth but visible to spacecraft.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter will gather before-and-after shots of the crash scene. Danuri will stray within a mile or two (a few kilometers) of the SpaceX rocket just two minutes before impact, according to Fernando and his team.

The abandoned rocket segment — measuring some 40 feet (12 meters) and weighing around 10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms) — hoisted two private lunar landers on Jan. 15, 2025.

One of them — Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost — became the first private spacecraft to pull off a fully successful lunar touchdown. The other, Japan-based ispace’s lander, wrecked.

With meteoroids and other natural objects offering little if any warning before walloping the moon, scientists said there’s much to learn by observing well-tracked strikes by human-made objects like the one coming up. NASA hurled rocket sections and lunar modules into the moon during the Apollo era for seismic measurements. Decades later, in 2009, NASA intentionally crashed its LCROSS spacecraft and upper stage in search of ice near the lunar south pole.

With the moon as the new travel hot spot, scientists said it’s crucial to improve debris monitoring and traffic control before packs of robots and astronauts arrive.

The United States and China are racing to land astronauts on the moon in the next few years. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are vying to provide the lander for NASA's yet-to-be-named moonwalkers of Artemis IV, who will succeed the 12 Apollo astronauts who strolled the lunar surface.

“This impact will not be a problem,” retired astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said in an email. “But in a future where there are long-term bases on the moon, similar impacts would be an issue and we need not to leave rocket stages in chaotic orbits of this kind.”

___

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.

HCSO Sgt. Mike Ritchie said deputies responded to the residence earlier in the morning after a man called 911 and reported finding his parents dead inside a bedroom.

Sgt. Ritchie said deputies and medical personnel responded, and both parents were confirmed dead at the scene. Based on what investigators observed inside the home and inside the room where the deaths occurred, authorities said the case is being handled as a suspected murder-suicide.

• Judge denies bond for now for El Salvador teen accused in 2 Houston murders

The couple was described as a husband and wife in their mid-to-late 70s. Sgt. Ritchie said it appears the husband shot his wife and then turned the weapon on himself.

Crime scene investigators and homicide detectives remained at the home as family members were interviewed, Sgt. Ritchie said.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Jessica Treviño, 34, filed a lawsuit through her attorney this week asking a federal judge to intervene.

Treviño and her husband were arrested in December after federal agents followed them and two of their daughters into a Home Depot parking lot in South Texas. Both were deported and are living in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of Brownsville, Texas. Their three children, all U.S. citizens, are living with family on the U.S. side near the border.

After being brought to the country as a child at the age of 7, Treviño subsequently received legal permission at 20 to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Introduced in 2012, DACA does not confer legal status but has allowed hundreds of thousands of people who had come to the U.S. as children to temporarily remain and obtain work permits.

As a DACA recipient, she must maintain a clean criminal record and is not allowed to travel outside the United States.

Her attorney, David Rozas, filed the lawsuit. He noted her status and work permit were most recently authorized until April 2027.

Notice to terminate DACA cites ‘unauthorized travel’

Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent her a notice of intent to terminate her status for “unauthorized travel outside of the United States on or about March 25, 2026,” the same day she was deported from the country by the Department of Homeland Security.

In a statement, DHS said Treviño's husband was in the country without permission and driving at the time of the arrest. After a collision between the couple's vehicle and an unmarked Homeland Security Investigations vehicle, the couple was arrested. DHS claimed she “knowingly accepted voluntary departure and waived appeal. She left the U.S. on March 25, 2026, and will NOT return.”

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Treviño said she did not sign any forms at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility and did not want to be deported.

Lawsuit seeks restitution of status

Rozas filed a petition asking a federal judge in Brownsville to declare the woman's expulsion was unlawful, order the government to facilitate Treviño's return to the U.S. and allow her DACA status to remain valid.

“The government had no lawful basis to remove her, and we filed this petition to demand she be brought back home,” her attorney added.

An immigration judge under the Justice Department had issued a voluntary departure order for Treviño in February while she was in ICE custody, but a valid DACA status prevents the Department of Homeland Security from deporting her.

“I would be so blessed to be able to go back home, because that’s what I long for most right now. I’m really desperate. It’s been seven months since I’ve been home,” Treviño said Thursday. Her three children are set to start school next month and their mother said she would like to be there.

The current Trump administration has deported 86 DACA recipients and arrested 241 others, according to a DHS letter sent in February to Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois.

Advocates for DACA recipients say Treviño's deportation is part of a pattern.

“This is what a deliberate, systematic effort to destroy DACA looks like in practice: target recipients one by one, manufacture justifications after the fact, and leave their children to grow up without them,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, a policy organization defending immigration rights.

___

This story has been revised to correct that Treviño arrived in the U.S. at age 7, not 8, later receiving DACA status at 20 years old.

Having released her new single “Shotty” on Friday, Reid wants people to meet the less pristine version of herself: a 23-year-old from Atlanta who falls in love, deals with boy problems and is still finding her way.

“I think people might think I have it all together when I really don't,” said Reid, who is known for performances in “ Euphoria, ” “ A Wrinkle in Time ” and “ The Last of Us, ” which earned her an Emmy in 2024. She graduated from the University of Southern California last year.

“I'm a normal girl trying to figure it out,” she continued.

“Shotty” follows Reid’s debut single, “Clean Sweep,” continuing a music journey she has pursued over the past year. So far, she has recorded more than 25 songs.

Reid said she hopes to focus work on her first EP after wrapping production on Teyana Taylor's feature directorial debut “Get Lite,” giving herself time to shape a project that tells a cohesive story. She's releasing music independently through her label, 1720 Music, saying the approach gives her greater creative freedom while leaving the door open to partner with a major label in the future.

“The indie route, you have a little bit more autonomy of what you want to do and how you do things,” she said.

Reid said ownership also gives her an opportunity to create doors for other artists.

“It’s the most powerful thing,” she said. “I want to sign people. I want to sign songwriters and producers and artists, and give them opportunities.”

Music has quickly become as important to Reid as acting, a career she'll continue with upcoming projects including Netflix’s “Roommates” and “Get Lite.” Preparing for Taylor's film pushed Reid outside her comfort zone as a dancer, challenging her to become more comfortable as a performer.

It's a skill Reid hopes will eventually translate to performing her own music.

“It’s as big and as important as acting is,” she said. “It’s something that I want to continue to do and want to continue to grow at.”

Reid said years in Hollywood prepared her for criticism.

“People didn’t feel like I deserved to win an Emmy, but it’s still sitting in my house,” she said. “It’s still in my mama’s house, so I don’t really care what people say.”

Since releasing “Clean Sweep,” Reid said she has largely stayed away from reading online comments.

“I don’t want to get distracted or discouraged,” she said. “Mostly I’ve been so thankful. The sentiments have been really nice and people have been supportive. ... I'm excited and can’t wait for them to hear more.”

For Reid, music has become more about who she's always been.

“Not everything is gonna be perfect. Not everything is gonna be prim, proper and pristine and eloquent,” Reid said. “Like yeah, that’s a part of me, and I can do that, and I can do it really well. But also … this is me too.”

According to the Consumer Price Index, food prices were 3% higher last month compared to the same time a year ago, making it more expensive for families to fill their grocery carts.

Despite the rising costs, registered dietitian Julia Zumpano with the Cleveland Clinic says nutritious foods are essential for fueling both the body and mind.

• Terry Black’s BBQ is finally coming to Houston, so you can skip the drive to Austin

“Food is medicine, in my opinion,” Zumpano said.

She recommends planning meals ahead of time and only buying foods you know you’ll eat to reduce waste and stretch your grocery budget.

Start with produce

Fresh fruits and vegetables should be the foundation of your grocery cart, but there are several ways to save money if fresh produce isn’t always affordable.

“Ways to help cut the cost of those would be buying seasonally, buying locally, or buying in bulk,” Zumpano said. “And then lastly, buying frozen or canned, depending on your budget.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also recommends choosing produce that’s in season, which is often more affordable and widely available. During the summer months, shoppers can typically find apples, green beans, strawberries, tomatoes and summer squash among the seasonal options.

• Between prices and a diarrhea-causing parasite, lettuce is causing hard times at some restaurants

Choose affordable protein sources

While premium cuts of meat like grass-fed beef can be expensive, Zumpano says there are plenty of budget-friendly protein options, including:

• Fresh or canned fish, such as sardines
• Lentils
• Beans
• Dried peas
• Legumes
• Nuts and seeds

These foods provide protein and other important nutrients at a lower cost than many meats.

Don’t skip healthy carbohydrates

Zumpano also recommends adding complex carbohydrates to your shopping list, including:

• Brown rice
• Oats
• Whole-grain flour for homemade bread

These foods are rich in fiber and nutrients and can help create filling, balanced meals.

“For you to feel your prime, at your prime, eating good nutritious food is essential,” Zumpano said.

The USDA offers an online seasonal produce guide to help shoppers identify fruits and vegetables that are in season throughout the year, making it easier to find nutritious options that may also be easier on the budget.

Winfrey opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007 after being inspired by conversations with former South African President Nelson Mandela about the transformative power of educating girls. He was among the guests at the school's opening ceremony.

Winfrey's charitable foundation ran and funded the school, but it was always part of the agreement that the academy campus near Johannesburg be ultimately handed over to the provincial education department, the academy said.

“The dream was never simply to build a school,” Winfrey said in a statement issued by the academy on Wednesday. “It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education.”

The academy said Winfrey’s commitment to educating South African girls would continue through an expanded national scholarship program supporting academically talented girls at leading schools across the country.

More than 500 girls have graduated from the academy and some have attended top universities in South Africa, the United States and Europe, according to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.

The Gauteng provincial government will take over the 52-acre academy campus, which has 21 classrooms, six science and computer laboratories, a 10,000-volume library and a 600-seat theater. It did not immediately say what the plans for the property were.

Gauteng Provincial Minister for Education Lebogang Maile said those currently enrolled in the school will be able to complete their education with uninterrupted financial support.

The academy drew international attention shortly after opening in 2007 when several students accused a dormitory matron of physically and sexually abusing them.

Winfrey traveled to South Africa to meet with students and parents, publicly apologized, and commissioned an independent investigation.

The matron was acquitted of criminal charges in 2010.

___

This report has been corrected to show Oprah Winfrey’s statement as issued on Wednesday and not Thursday.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Paxton, the Republican nominee, said his plan is intended to “put thousands of dollars back into the pockets of hardworking Texans,” with a focus on write-offs for housing and healthcare costs.

“Washington has made it harder than ever to get ahead, and the American Dream is slipping away as the cost of everything from housing to healthcare rises,” Paxton said in a statement that doubled as the opening message of a new digital ad he narrated. “My agenda is very simple: I believe every Texan should be able to buy a home, raise a family and live a healthy life without struggling to make ends meet.”

Affordability has routinely topped voters’ list of concerns in polling, making the fight to own the issue — including defining the culprit and proposing popular solutions — a critical battleground in Texas’ Senate race. Paxton is running in a neck-and-neck contest against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

The attorney general is launching a tour next week to accompany the digital ad in promoting the plan, with stops set in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, McAllen and San Antonio areas.

Republicans last year passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a massive tax-and-spending package, on a mostly party-line vote. The bill permanently extended the tax cuts Republicans passed during President Donald Trump’s first term while creating new temporary deductions aimed at working-class Americans — allowing individuals to deduct tips, overtime pay and car loan interest from their tax bills. 

Paxton’s plan would create new tax deductions for healthcare, housing and family-related expenses. The tax benefits could be claimed on top of existing deductions, including the standard deduction, and would fall into four pillars.

The first would be a $25,000 deduction for any out-of-pocket medical expense, including premiums, for individuals, with an additional $25,000 per dependent.

Additionally, Paxton wants to create a $5,000 tax deduction to stimulate healthy lifestyle choices. Taxpayers could deduct workout and gym expenses, spending related to nutrition plans, payments for sports activities for dependents, and the cost of GLP-1 weight-loss medications. 

On housing, the attorney general is proposing a $50,000 deduction for first-time homebuyers and a $50,000 deduction on down payments for people moving to a new primary residence.

Such a deduction has received bipartisan interest in recent years, as housing becomes one of the rare issues bringing Democrats and Republicans together in Congress.

And finally, Paxton aims to make permanent and expand two items from the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The megabill created the “Trump accounts” program, a proposal from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for children under 18. Children are eligible to receive $1,000 in federal seed money for a tax-advantaged savings account created for them. Children are eligible for up to $5,000 per year in annual contributions from family, friends or others, and employers can contribute up to $2,500 for their employees’ children. Trump account beneficiaries cannot withdraw the funds until they turn 18, at which point it functions like an individual retirement account.

Kids born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, are currently eligible for the one-time federal investment. Paxton is proposing extending the pilot permanently.

He also wants to double the size of the child tax credit, currently worth up to $2,200 per child. Republicans raised the worth of the credit by $200 in the Trump megabill, preventing a scheduled reversion to $1,000, but under Paxton’s plan, the maximum credit would rise to $4,400 — a figure closer to Senate Democrats’ plan. 

Democrats temporarily expanded the child tax credit in 2021 to be worth up to $3,600 per child under six, and up to $3,000 for children aged 6 to 17, but that change expired and reverted to $2,000.

Last year, Democrats in the upper chamber proposed raising the value of the tax credit to up to $6,360 for newborns, $4,320 for children aged 1 to 6 and $3,600 for children 6 to 17.

Both candidates — neither of whom have served in federal office before — have faulted the entrenched political system for voters’ economic struggles, and both have plans that highlight the cost of healthcare and housing. And in his new digital ad touting the economic plan, Paxton, who knocked off a longstanding incumbent in the primary, frames himself as a political outsider, blaming “Washington” as he runs under the president’s endorsement and with his party controlling both chambers in Congress. 

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries marked the start of the campaign’s homestretch this week with a diagnosis that the “American dream is fading,” echoing Paxton’s ad that says it is “slipping away.”

But the parties have different prescriptions for the problem, including in Texas’ Senate contest. While Paxton’s plan aims to increase the amount of money households can keep through tax deductions, Talarico’s is more focused on cracking down on billionaires and corporate interests.

Talarico’s economic and tax plan also includes expanding the child tax credit. But beyond that, he’s proposing to raise taxes on billionaires and corporations and close loopholes that benefit both.

Talarico also wants to hike the federal minimum wage, repeal Trump’s tariffs, create a federal public health insurance option, expand the low-income housing tax credit and go after corporate landlords who buy up housing stock and artificially raise rents, among other proposals.

Tax policy is one of a few areas where the Senate can pass bills on a partisan basis through a tool called budget reconciliation, which allows the majority to bypass the 60-vote filibuster for bills that deal exclusively with spending, revenue and debt. The ability to enact Paxton’s plan would hinge on Republicans maintaining unified control of Congress and pursuing another significant tax bill that includes his priorities, or passing the deductions on a bipartisan basis in divided government.

Affordability and cost-of-living concerns have emerged as the top issue of the midterms. A new poll from Fox News of the Texas Senate race found that 37% of voters consider inflation and high prices to be the issue they care most about, more than double immigration and border security, which came in second at 18%. Among the critical bloc of independent voters, who favored Talarico by a whopping 39-point margin, prices were even more important — 43% named it their top issue.

The Fox News poll found Talarico leading Paxton, 51% to 48%.

The death toll rose to 34, the Kumamoto prefectural government said, as rescuers raced to find those still missing after the quake triggered a mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed that authorities must secure water supplies by doing “whatever it takes” and called for close coordination with the military and other relevant agencies. The earthquake left thousands of homes without power, but electricity was fully restored by Friday evening. The local power company also said there were no immediate reports of remaining outages.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. As search operations entered a fourth day, it wasn’t known how many people remained missing.

More than 1,500 buildings were damaged, including 179 that were destroyed, according to preliminary assessments by Kumamoto officials.

Officials said one more death and its connection to the quake is under investigation. At least 96 people were injured, including six seriously.

Debris collected at a severely damaged century-old Japanese inn

In Yatsushiro City, another hard-hit area in southern Kumamoto, Kinparo, a 116-year old Japanese inn, was severely damaged, with its roofed main entrance collapsed to the ground, white walls cracked and rooftiles fell.

On Friday, three days after the quake, workers were removing parts of the gate, which is part of a registered historic property that needs to be restored.

Started in 1910, the three-story ryokan with traditional architecture and its hot bath have attracted many fans from the region and across Japan.

“The damage is tremendous and it would require significant repairs, and I can’t even think if or how I can do that,” inn owner Keisuke Matsumoto said. “But it’s a valuable family inn that has been handed down for generations since my great-great grandfather built it, so I do hope to preserve it.”

Inside, his mother Misao Matsumoto said she was not injured in the quake but “I’m mentally discouraged. It’s very painful to see parts of what I’ve lived with and enjoyed for decades crumble to that state.” But she said experts of historic buildings will come in to discuss the reconstruction, so “I have to hang in there."

Across the street from the Kinparo inn, a fish cake shop owner unable to resume his business due to the water cutoff was giving away tube-shaped fish cakes while they are still edible.

Signs for the “chikuwa” fish cake hang from the ceiling. “I just wanted to cheer up this neighborhood,” said shop owner Shinichiro Katayama. He says he cannot clean or check his fish cake machine is intact until the water supply resumes. “I don’t even know if the machine still works. When water supply is back that would be my first step toward a recovery.”

Thousands are without water as heat soars

Kumamoto authorities said nearly 80,000 homes remained without water. More than 9,000 people were staying in shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Fuel has also become scarce as power outages disabled gas stations and quake damage disrupted deliveries from other regions. Many have resorted to sleeping in their cars for privacy, but with the fuel shortage, they struggle to keep the air conditioning running in sweltering temperatures.

Japan's weather agency and the Ministry of the Environment issued an extreme heat alert for Kumamoto city Friday as temperatures peaked at 36 C (97 F).

Hirokazu Sato, who lost his home in the earthquake, said he and his wife and three children would remain in their car until they can move into temporary housing.

“I don’t know how soon I’d be able to move in,” said Sato. “We need to have the air conditioning on throughout the day and night, which uses up gas.”

Kumamoto is also a major industrial hub, and there are concerns that the quake could possibly disrupt semiconductor and auto-parts supply chains for months to come.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a global chip giant that operates a lab in Kumamoto, said all personnel were safe and operations were gradually resuming after postquake inspections found the structure was sound, although detailed inspections and impact assessments were still underway.

Searches continue, with the number of missing unknown

Japanese officials had described Friday afternoon as a crucial point for rescue efforts as some experts say survival chances decline after the first three days.

With search dogs, rescuers continued looking for survivors across the Kumamoto area, including at the collapsed Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima, one of the hardest-hit sites. The complex was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.

The company said about 3,000 shoppers were evacuated to a parking lot before an explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some staff remained working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Seven of the 11 rescued were confirmed dead, but officials did not say if anyone else is missing.

A search operation had ended at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the Yatsushiro city where a chimney collapsed in the quake, officials said. Of the 11 people dug out there, nine were confirmed dead.

Smaller-scale searches continued Friday at the sites of collapsed houses in badly hit towns in southern Kumamoto. Authorities haven't supplied a firm figure for how many people are missing.

____

Ono reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer business writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

A major change for certain Texas hemp products takes effect today, with new restrictions now in place for many THC items sold in smoke shops across the state.

As always, follow us for the latest on Click2Houston.com and watch us live on KPRC 2+.

➡️ Love our morning newsletter? Share it with your family and friends!

Weather ⛅

TODAY: 92° TONIGHT: 96°

KPRC Meteorologist Daji Aswad says:

“Even without a formal heat advisory or warning in effect, the heat index has ranged between 104° and a 108°. Afternoon temperatures climb near 100° both Friday and Saturday and the humidity will make it feel even hotter, so take frequent breaks, stay hydrated and avoid spending too much time outside during the peak heating hours.”

➡️ More weather headlines? Check them out here

Get your forecast details here.

Houston’s Top Headlines 📰

Texas’ ban on several consumable THC hemp products goes into effect Friday: What is legal and what is not?

A new Texas ban on many consumable hemp-derived THC products takes effect Friday, making possession or sale of synthetic THC (including delta-8, delta-10, THCP and THCA flower) a criminal offense. Delta-9 products under 0.3% THC by dry weight remain legal.

Vehicle crashes into Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt in northwest Harris County

Deputies are investigating after an elderly driver crashed into a Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt on Louetta Road in northwest Harris County, causing significant structural damage. The shop was closed and no customers were hurt; the driver was evaluated by EMS.

TxDOT permanently closing SH-146 ramp to I-45 south in Galveston County. Here’s what drivers need to know

TxDOT will permanently close the SH 146 westbound connector ramp to I-45 south beginning 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8 as part of the I-45 widening project. Drivers should expect detours via SH 6/FM 519 and a new U-turn setup for about two years.

After 14 years of ICE check-ins, Houston woman is detained without a criminal history

A Houston woman who complied with ICE check-ins for 14 years was detained during a routine appointment despite having no criminal history, according to her attorney and family friends. Her case comes as data shows a growing share of ICE arrests in Texas involve people with no criminal convictions or pending charges.

Judge denies bond for now for El Salvador teen accused in 2 Houston murders

A judge denied bond for now for Jefferson Velasquez, an 18-year-old from El Salvador charged in two separate Houston-area murders eight months apart. Prosecutors are set to argue Aug. 10 to keep him jailed indefinitely pending trial.

Back 2 School - Moms 💌

Summer Survival: What parents should be doing now before back-to-school

We’re almost two months into summer, and the countdown to back-to-school is getting closer. In this week’s Moms Blog with Houston Moms, we’re checking in on summer regression, what it is, how it can impact kids, and what parents can do now to help their children transition smoothly back into a school routine.

Plus, our Surviving Summer tip covers simple ways to make the most of the season, from planning a fun “Yes Day” with your kids to setting healthy boundaries around digital devices and screen time.

• LIST: Back-to-school freebies — backpack and supply giveaways around Houston

Things 2 Know 💡

Terry Black’s BBQ is finally coming to Houston, so you can skip the drive to Austin

Healthy eating on a budget: Dietitian shares grocery shopping tips as food prices rise

New study ranks the most and least safest big cities in the country; Where does Houston land on the list?

In case you missed it... 👀

• Check your fridge: Latest FDA food recalls impacting Texas
• Texas City man sentenced 90 years in prison, convicted of sexually abusing several young children
• Teen from El Salvador charged with murder in two separate Houston shootings

Share your Pins! 📷

See a news story in your neighborhood? Capture a great weather moment? Just want to share a photo of your pet? Send your photos and videos to Click2Pins, and you may see them on air and online!

Don’t miss a minute

We’re tracking your forecast, bringing you traffic solutions, and covering important news LIVE from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on KPRC 2 and the KPRC 2+ livestream. Join us today!

None of those initiatives would have passed under a ballot measure getting decided by voters Tuesday.

Missouri's proposed Amendment 4 would make it significantly harder to amend the constitution by requiring citizen initiatives to pass in all eight of the state's diverse congressional districts instead of by a traditional, simple statewide majority. No other state has such a high standard — or has even asked voters to consider it.

“This is a first-of-its-kind,” said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a national group that backs progressive ballot initiatives like the ones Missouri's Republican lawmakers are hoping to quelch.

“It would be nearly impossible for citizens to participate meaningfully in any sort of direct democracy,” said Hall, who believes other states could try to copy Missouri's proposal.

Lawmakers seek to rein in citizen initiatives

The Missouri proposal is the culmination of years of attempts by lawmakers in numerous states to raise the bar for citizen-initiated petitions to qualify for the ballot and win voter approval. Some elected officials contend lawmaking is best left to themselves — the people's representatives — because citizen initiatives lack the vetting that comes from the multistep legislative process of public hearings, debates and revisions.

The effort to curtail citizen initiatives on state ballots comes as President Donald Trump pushes for greater restrictions on who can vote and how ballots are cast, asserting the integrity of elections is at stake.

Missouri’s measure “fits into the larger narrative and story around what the future of democracy looks like in the United States,” said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which supports progressive ballot measures.

Citizen initiatives are allowed only in some states

About one-third of U.S. states allow people to bypass their legislatures by gathering signatures to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. Several others allow the process for proposed laws.

In most of those states, a simple majority of voters is all that’s needed to approve constitutional amendments. Colorado requires a 55% vote for most measures, and Florida a 60% vote.

Voters in recent years rejected ballot measures to raise the approval threshold for amendments in Arkansas, Ohio and South Dakota. Still, South Dakota lawmakers have placed a proposal for a 60% approval threshold on the November ballot. North Dakota voters will consider a similar measure, and Utah voters will decide on a 60% requirement for citizen-initiated tax increases.

Missouri’s proposal would apply only to citizen initiatives. Constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature still would need only a statewide majority. No other state has a dual standard like that.

Missouri proposal requires geographic consensus

Republican state Rep. Ed Lewis, who sponsored Missouri's measure, said he wants to ensure people in all parts of the state have their voices heard. He said activists funded by out-of-state interest groups have run up large majorities in St. Louis and Kansas City to pass controversial initiatives that failed throughout most of the rest of Missouri.

The abortion, marijuana, sports betting and Medicaid initiatives all were placed on the ballot by petitions between 2020 and 2024 after lawmakers declined to act. All passed with 53% or less of the statewide vote.

Requiring “50% in each of our congressional districts is not a difficult barrier for anything that has a consensus,” Lewis said. But “it is a difficult barrier for either a very conservative or a very liberal initiative petition,” he said.

“If you’re going to change the constitution, shouldn’t it be broadly accepted?” Lewis asked rhetorically.

Amendments to the U.S. Constitution require ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Critics say Missouri's proposed amendment could undercut consensus, because an initiative backed by large margins in seven congressional districts still would fail if opposed by a slim margin in just one district.

“It is an astonishing level of unfairness, and it crushes our notion of one person, one vote and majority rule, which we learned about in school as kids,” said Scott Charton, a spokesperson for the Missouri Realtors campaign committees, which have backed previous initiatives.

Republicans are divided over initiative restrictions

Though Amendment 4 was referred to the ballot by Republican lawmakers, people at a recent Republican club meeting in Jefferson City were divided about whether to make it harder for citizens to amend the state constitution.

Rick Kolb said he supports the tougher standards.

“Our country was founded as a republic not a democracy,” he said. When initiatives appear on the ballot, “everybody votes on these things that they haven’t put any thought into it.”

But Jim Bryan said he opposes the amendment, fearing it could allow voters in St. Louis or Kansas City to thwart measures supported by the rest of the state.

“The popular vote is what I want,” he said.

A new petition could fortify citizen initiatives

Regardless of the outcome, Tuesday's vote may not be the last on Missouri's citizen initiatives.

The Respect Missouri Voters coalition submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures — currently being verified by election officials — to try to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot protecting the initiative process. It would reverse the Legislature's amendment by requiring only a statewide majority to pass citizen initiatives. It also would bar the Legislature from increasing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, shortening the time to do so or imposing other requirements that weaken initiative rights.

The measure also would make it harder for the Legislature to reverse or amend voter-approved initiatives by requiring an 80% vote in both the House and Senate instead of a simple majority. That comes after the Legislature last year repealed a paid sick leave law approved by voters and referred a new constitutional amendment to the November ballot to reverse voter-approved abortion rights.

Supporters insist their measure is nonpartisan, noting that Democratic lawmakers also tried to restrict citizen initiatives before Republicans gained control of the Capitol.

“Politicians in power want all the power in their hands,” said Benjamin Singer, co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters. “They don’t want citizens to have a check on their power.”

UFL leadership said two replacement markets will be announced for the 2027 season. The league also reiterated a push to grow to 10 teams by 2028 — a plan that includes adding Oklahoma City — and a longer-range goal of reaching 12 teams by 2030. Officials said strong interest from prospective cities could move that timetable up to 2029.

Co-owner Mike Repole stressed that the departure from both markets is not meant as a critique of local support.

“Departing a market is never easy and this decision is not a reflection of the dedication shown by players, coaches, fans, local partners, or civic leaders in Birmingham or Houston,” Repole said.

• Houston Restaurant Weeks 2026 begins Aug. 1 with nearly 400 restaurants signed on

In Houston, Repole pointed to instability around branding and venue decisions as factors that hindered momentum for the Gamblers. While calling Houston a strong sports market and praising the league’s relationship with Shell Energy Stadium, he said the league did not provide the consistency the market needed, citing shifts that included venue changes and team-name changes.

In Birmingham, Repole said the challenge came down to facility scale. In a separate statement, he described the issue as “100% due to the wrong sized venue,” arguing that the stadium’s size made it difficult to translate attendance into the kind of atmosphere the league believes is necessary for spring football to thrive. He added the league has told local leaders it would be open to returning if a better stadium option becomes available.

The league said season ticket holders will be refunded automatically within 7-10 business days.

• Asian soccer body joins opposition to FIFA and Infantino’s World Cup private equity plan

The announcement comes as the UFL says it has been evaluating cities across the country that want a spring pro football team. League officials credited the 2026 season with improved performance indicators and increased interest from markets, while emphasizing that future decisions will be guided by a three-part framework Repole said has used since the league’s start: “the right market, the right sized venue, and a passionate fan base.”

The UFL currently fields eight teams and is backed by an ownership group that includes Repole and Impact Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, FOX, Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and ESPN.

Retired NASA astronauts Brian Duffy, Mike Baker and Megan McArthur are scheduled to take part in the weekend programming, including “Mission Memories” talks where visitors can hear firsthand stories from their careers. Guests can also add a ticketed Breakfast with an Astronaut in the morning, featuring a catered meal by Wolfgang Puck and a live Q&A with that day’s featured astronaut.

• LIST: Back-to-school freebies — backpack and supply giveaways around Houston

New this year is the Science Deck, a hands-on learning area built around the scientific method—encouraging visitors to observe, test ideas and discover concepts tied to Earth observation, microgravity, cognition and temperature effects. Additional activities include a puzzle mural, spacecraft-building opportunities and rotating pop-up labs exploring topics like radiation exposure and pressure changes, plus a sensory component that lets guests experience what space environments are believed to smell like.

One of the weekend’s highlights is the Astronaut Training Facility tram tour at NASA Johnson Space Center. Often described as the “astronaut’s toybox,” the facility includes an elevated training path used for current missions and for developing future exploration vehicles. The tour is included with general admission but is subject to availability.

• Houston Restaurant Weeks 2026 begins Aug. 1 with nearly 400 restaurants signed on

Visitors can also stop for photo opportunities with a floating astronaut and catch appearances by Commander Quest in the main plaza before checking out the Haven-1 display. The Haven-1 experience offers a preview of a commercial space station concept, including features such as individual sleeping quarters, a large window, a communal dining space and connectivity designed for life in orbit.

Schedule

Friday, July 31

• 8:30–9:30 a.m. — Breakfast with an Astronaut (ticketed add-on): Brian Duffy
• 11 a.m.–2 p.m. — Astronaut Days (activities throughout the center)
• • 11:30 a.m. — “Mission Memories” astronaut presentation: Brian Duffy
  • 1:30 p.m. — “Mission Memories” astronaut presentation: Brian Duffy

Saturday, Aug. 1

• 8:30–9:30 a.m. — Breakfast with an Astronaut (ticketed add-on): Mike Baker
• 11 a.m.–2 p.m. — Astronaut Days (activities throughout the center)
• • 11:30 a.m. — “Mission Memories” astronaut presentation: Mike Baker
  • 1:30 p.m. — “Mission Memories” astronaut presentation: Mike Baker

All that trade and investment means that thousands of Texas jobs depend on the smooth flow of goods and services between the U.S. and its southern and northern neighbors. So, too, does the competitiveness of North America in the world economy as a whole.

Since July 1, when the Trump administration announced it would not renew the USMCA and instead put the agreement under annual review, the U.S. has held bilateral trade talks with Mexico but not with Canada. In the meantime, ratcheting up the pressure, President Donald Trump has announced a new 10% tariff on a fraction of Mexican imports and 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian imports, including cars and trucks.

“The problem is not for Washington or Mexico City or Ottawa,” said Tony Payan, director of the Claudio X. Gonzalez Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “The problem is for businesses, because a lot of these companies — manufacturers, energy companies — they’ve got long-term plans. They have to plan ahead 5, 10 years. And now they have to learn to live with the uncertainty of investments that may not be covered by the agreement whenever that is ratified, if it all.”

“It’d be tough”

In 2024, two-way trade between Texas and Mexico came to $281.2 billion, while trade between Texas and Canada came to $69.2 billion. Taken together, that’s equivalent to 12% of the state’s economy. Texas’ main exports to Mexico and Canada are oil and natural gas products – but its manufacturing, particularly of vehicles, depends heavily on parts imported from both countries. Texas’ and Mexico’s economies have been historically integrated, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t suffer if the USMCA dies. That’s even more the case with Texas’ ties with Canada.

Air Tractor, Inc. is a prime example of a company that has thrived thanks to USMCA. Based in the small North Texas city of Olney, the company makes aircraft for farming and aerial firefighting. It sells to customers throughout the U.S. and in more than 50 countries across the world.

“The USMCA and the old NAFTA in particular help facilitate a relationship with our engine supplier, Pratt & Whitney Canada,” said Air Tractor’s president and CEO, Jim Hirsch. “Our engines that come from Pratt & Whitney in Canada potentially could be subject to a 25% tariff. The engine in our airplanes represents approximately half the value of the airplane.”

The USMCA pact means Air Tractor can import engines from Canada without paying that tariff. So, when Trump publicly said the U.S. would be better off without USMCA, Hirsch was understandably concerned. He said if USMCA were terminated, the return of the tariff on Canadian aircraft engines would force him to increase the price of his planes by 12%.

“It’d be tough. It would take deep cuts in staff and supply,” Hirsch said. “We know the order book would just decline sharply. We don’t know how sharply. Is it 50% loss in orders or greater? We just don’t know, but we know it would be significant. Whether we could survive it or not, not quite sure.”

The company employs more than 400 people across North Texas. Those jobs, and many more, hang in the balance.

“We can’t afford the risk”

Payan said Trump is likely pushing for maximum leverage rather than aiming to kill the USMCA. Even if Trump were to announce he intends to terminate the agreement, which he has not done, the agreement would remain in force for another 10 years, while trade negotiations would continue on an annual basis.

“He’s got other issues with Canada, he’s got other issues with Mexico City, and so there is no incentive for him at this minute to actually ratify the agreement,” Payan said.

Among other goals, Trump wants to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S. He’s had some success on that front as Toyota recently announced it was shifting 2,000 jobs from Tijuana to San Antonio.

“Some of these companies are taking this very seriously and saying, ‘You know what? We’re going to assemble back in the States. We can’t afford the tariffs or the duties, and we can’t afford the risk regardless of how USMCA shakes out,'” said Brett Preston, managing partner of the El Paso commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield PIRES.

But so far, Toyota’s move has been the exception, not the rule.

“One of the reasons or one of the issues behind Trump’s economic program is, of course, to attract manufacturing, to sort of occasion some sort of manufacturing renaissance in the United States,” Payan said. “A year-and-a-half, moving into well into his second year, that has not happened. In fact, the U.S. has lost manufacturing jobs. Companies are withholding their investment.”

That’s especially visible in the so-called Borderplex, an economic triangle linking West Texas, southern New Mexico and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Jerry Pacheco is president of the Border Industrial Association of Santa Teresa, New Mexico, based just over the New Mexico-Texas state line from El Paso.

“For the past year or so, we’ve had projects put on hold, companies that would have come here but they’re not coming because of the uncertainty over what would happen with USMCA and because of the kind of knee-jerk tariff imposition,” Pacheco said. “We recruited an auto …component manufacturer from Taiwan that bought 30 acres to do a campus to supply Tesla with some components, and they have not pulled the trigger.”

“They’re hurting domestic companies”

That Tesla supplier’s decision could be more indicative of how the auto and auto parts industry is responding to the uncertainty in North American trade than what Toyota has planned.

“Probably, in Texas, the sector that’s going to notice it the most is going to be the automobile sector, because a lot of transportation equipment is processed on both sides of the border in a symbiotic manner,” said Tom Fullerton, professor of economics at the University of Texas at El Paso. “There’s a lot of technological advances occurring in the automotive sector. And these factories need to be upgraded, new factory capacity is needed, and many of those projects are going to get mothballed.”

That may already be happening. Investment in new manufacturing and warehousing space is at a standstill on both sides of the border, according to Cushman & Wakefield PIRES.

“There’s a lot of headline grabbing when you see stuff with, you know, the Mexican companies are going to be hurt. No, they’re hurting domestic companies,” Preston said, “because these rules and these tariffs or these costs eventually either trickle down to the profit margin or they trickle down to the consumer with a higher price.”

Disclosure: Rice University and The University of Texas at El Paso have been financial supporters 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 Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Growing up in Austin, all the kids in Itzayana Mondragón’s neighborhood looked pretty much like her — and spoke Spanish too.

Soon after Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, Mondragón noticed that some of her friends had stopped attending class. She would learn later that those classmates were undocumented and had returned to their home countries — some out of fear, some against their will, as Trump delivered on his campaign promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

Mondragón’s parents sat her down to explain that they were undocumented — and so was she. The family had crossed the border from Mexico in 2000 when she was six months old.

“I didn’t know I was what people here call ‘illegal’ until high school, when the Trump administration came into office,” Mondragón said. “I did grow up with the fear of hearing my parents say, ‘What’s going to happen if they deport us?’ But it never crossed my mind to think, ‘You’re illegal.’ ”

As Trump’s first administration ramped up border enforcement and increased deportations, Mondragón, like many migrants who have long lived in the U.S., turned to an immigration program launched under President Barack Obama’s administration. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program offers legal protection and work permits to people who crossed the border as children and grew up without papers.

Trump tried to dismantle the program in his first term, but in 2020 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against him, arguing that the president’s attempt to shut down DACA was “arbitrary and capricious” and violated federal law. About 500,000 people in the U.S. are DACA recipients, meaning they can live and work here. About 80,000 of those people live in Texas.

Mondragón had applied in 2016 at her parents’ urging. In the 10 years that she’s had DACA status — allowing her to live and work in the U.S. — Mondragón became a nurse, a landowner and a mom. The 26-year-old has worked at a clinic for four years now, and two years ago, she and her husband, who works construction, bought a three-acre farm on the outskirts of Cedar Creek, half an hour from Austin — some grass, a green barn, a white wooden house.

As a side hustle, they raise dozens of animals: chickens, turkeys, ducks, sheep, geese. Their kids, 6 and 2 years old, help gather the eggs.

Now she’s afraid she could lose it all.

In Trump’s second term, DACA recipients’ renewal appointments are being routinely postponed, which leads to their status expiring, along with their work permits, which translates into people losing their jobs. Mondragón says one friend had to quit her job as a nurse when her DACA expired despite her renewal request.

Without DACA, they can become targets of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has recently arrested some recipients at the appointments to renew their status or at traffic stops, and deported them to countries they no longer know.

Mondragón was so afraid that she applied for her renewal in June, six months before it would expire.

“It is entirely possible that the administration is slowing down the renewals to go around the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Whitney Drake, managing attorney and co-legal director of American Gateways, a Texas-based nonprofit that provides legal services to low-income immigrant communities. “This administration has been very creative in the ways that it is attempting to dismantle the immigration system.”

Some Texas business owners say the administration’s DACA strategy has destabilized the labor force and hurt their business. A group of Republican construction business leaders from South Texas on Wednesday warned their own party that deporting workers will cost them votes in the November midterms.

Zach Kahler, spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency “is safeguarding the American people by more thoroughly screening and vetting all aliens.”

Three family members deported

Mondragón says she’s feeling the anxiety of watching people around her being swept up by ICE during Trump’s mass deportation push. She’s terrified, like her parents before her, that law enforcement agents could separate her from her children.

She said ICE arrested three of her brothers-in-law and deported two of them. They were undocumented. One lived at the farm and was pulled over for a broken light on his car, Mondragón said — 24 hours later he called home to tell them he was already in Mexico.

She said collecting her brothers-in-law’s belongings and vehicles to put them up for sale has become routine.

She’s seen ICE roaming Cedar Creek, pulling over her neighbors in the heavily Latino area.

“I get really bad PTSD and anxiety when I see a construction truck on the side of the road” with nobody in it, she said. “You can tell what happened.”

She said she witnessed state troopers drag a mother out of her car in the parking lot of the clinic where she works — Mondragón couldn’t stop staring from inside the building at the empty child’s seat in the back of the vehicle while they took the woman away. She said some of her co-workers went outside to translate for the woman as the troopers explained she had a warrant for missing an ICE check-in appointment.

“And I feel like that broke my heart, you know? I wish I could have done more,” she said. “I feel like I still haven’t recovered mentally from it.”

She said she’s seeing a therapist, taking pills, avoiding the news, crying alone, tending the farm and her kids to keep her mind busy. And praying.

“They don’t want you here, but they want your money”

At 12, Jesús Álvarez floated across the Rio Grande on a tire the coyote had inflated on the Mexican side of the river. He waited with his sister on U.S. soil, while the smuggler crossed back to get his parents. It was 2005.

Jesús’ brother had paved the way north. At 15, he left the family home in Iztapalapa, the most populous borough of Mexico City, saying he was chasing the American Dream. After six years of installing carpet, he’d saved enough to afford the fee to smuggle his family into Texas.

Álvarez arrived at a school where local kids bullied newcomers with foreign accents. He missed his country, his city, his grandparents. He learned English, but made friends with other children with foreign accents. In the summers, he worked with his dad and brother installing carpet.

After graduation, in 2012, he joined the carpet business and applied for DACA. He’s been renewing it every two years. It expired in April, even though he’d applied for the renewal appointment four months ahead, like he always does.

“I’ve spent my whole life here. Give me a chance to fix my status. I’m here paying taxes, being a good citizen,” he said. “But they don’t want you here — they want your money, they want you to work, they want to enslave you.”

Álvarez, now 34, moved into his parents’ home along with his wife and two kids last year around the time the mass deportation campaign took hold. They wanted to save money to buy their own place, but he said now they can’t move out — without DACA they can’t buy or rent a house in his name. Álvarez also can’t renew his driver’s license or do any kind of legal paperwork.

“Life here is just work and then home. And now there’s the fear of wondering whether today I’m going to make it back home to my family,” he said. “It’s something that wears you down — to go out into the street and see your own people running from the police as if they were animals.

“These people who say, ‘They’re stealing our jobs’ — come, come work and go head-to-head with us,” he added. “Why are you a criminal for trying to feed your family? Why are you a criminal for wanting to get ahead?”

“My home is in the U.S. now”

Unlike Mondragón, Diana Maldonado understood she was undocumented the moment she set foot in the U.S.

Her parents arrived earlier to establish themselves in Texas; Maldonado followed in 2001, when she was 11, traveling from her native Guanajuato, Mexico, with her uncle. She couldn’t wait to see her mom again.

The first time they tried to cross the Rio Grande, the Border Patrol found them with their clothes still wet, lying on the river bank, trying to hide under the night and the trees. Agents sent them back to Mexico the next day. On their second attempt, shortly after, they managed to get to Austin.

Maldonado applied for DACA in 2012, the year it was created, and found work cleaning houses. In 2024, she was able to travel to Mexico after obtaining a permit that allowed her to travel abroad and return without losing her DACA status.

“I thought I was going to feel happy returning to what I had once called my home — the place where I was born, where I grew up as a child,” she said. “But while I was there I realized that my home is in the U.S. now.”

Now 36, she has a 21-year-old son who’s attending college and a 16-year-old daughter. Maldonado said she applied for her DACA renewal in December because it usually takes three to four months to come through.

It expired in February as she waited.

She’s been nervously checking for updates online, but the government website just lists her application as “processing.”

“This is the first time since I’ve had DACA that I’ve felt undocumented,” she said.

Six months ago, around the same time her DACA expired, doctors found a tumor in Maldonado’s left ear that touched her brain. She stopped working and has lived off help from some of her cleaning clients.

She had surgery, lost hearing in the left ear and even though she still has follow-up checkups, the doctors have cleared her to work.

She’s just waiting for her DACA renewal.

She needs a paycheck again. Every time she drives, her kids worry a police officer will stop her. Every time she leaves her house — a cozy mobile home with a porch, flowers and a small patch of grass outside of Austin — she fears she may not come back.

She doesn’t want to feel far from home again.

Virgin of Guadalupe’s miracles

To honor those whom ICE tore from their lives, Mondragón built a little altar to the Virgin of Guadalupe at her farm. Before finishing it, she said she had an emotional breakdown — nothing was working, ICE was all around and she couldn’t even find a statue of the Virgin.

“Within an hour this random guy came honking,” she said. He sold Virgin figures. “I’d never seen him before. He came out of nowhere.” He was Mexican.

She finished the altar on a Sunday. The next day, her DACA renewal was approved and her parents’ visas, allowing them to live legally in the U.S. for three years and apply for residency, arrived after a two yearlong process. She said it must be the Virgin of Guadalupe, doing her thing.

But now, like other DACA recipients in Texas, she faces an additional threat: a federal court’s upcoming ruling in a lawsuit could ban them from working in the state and force them to move to other states to work legally.

The legal battle began in 2018, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined six other states to sue the Trump administration seeking to end the program, arguing that it was illegal and that providing social services to DACA recipients was financially harming the states.

If the suit is successful, that would mean Mondragón loses her job, the farm, the life. She’s arranged for her younger brother, a U.S. citizen, to keep the property in that event. Besides that, she doesn’t know what she’d do. Start from scratch in a different state? Try her luck in the country she left as a baby?

“I’m not from here or there,” she said. “The truth is, I’m not wanted here, but I don’t know any life in Mexico.”

Mondragón inherited her immigrant parents’ hard-working attitude and their fear about the future — the need to have a plan.

She dreams about going back to school, becoming Dr. Mondragón, someone able to explain in Spanish what her patients can’t understand in English.

Instead, she’s been feeding her emergency fund. Even with her DACA renewed, she doesn’t trust the law will protect her.

“I have to save money for my safety and my children’s safety,” she said. “What will happen if I’m deported? What will happen to my house? What will happen to my pets?”

She hopes to pass her parents’ spirit onto her children — minus the fear.

She looked up at her kids jumping on a trampoline with their father on the other side of the farm.

“I hope this family stays together.”

Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind Claude, posted on its website Thursday that it discovered the three incidents after reviewing more than 141,000 evaluation runs.

It had launched a “large-scale” cybersecurity review which specifically looked for evidence whether its AI models were able to access the internet from within testing environments that should have been sealed off, in response to the OpenAI incident, Anthropic said.

Anthropic said the models involved in the incidents were Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Mythos 5 and an internal research test model. The earliest incidents date to April, the AI company said.

“Claude compromised the impacted organizations’ infrastructure using basic techniques,” Anthropic said, such as exploiting weak passwords.

In all three incidents, the AI models were tasked with a “capture the flag” cybersecurity challenge, which Anthropic said has been one of the ways it assesses a model’s cyber capabilities.

The models were given a fictional scenario and told a piece of secret information, or the “flag,” had been hidden on a different machine on the network with the objective of breaking in and retrieving it, it said.

It added that it had already reached out to the affected organizations, which it did not name. Two of them said they had not previously detected the activity. Anthropic said it was “continuing to reach out to the third.”

Anthropic said it conducted its review with Irregular, which describes itself as the “first frontier security lab.”

“Addressing these risks will require closer cooperation across the AI ecosystem,” Irregular said in a post on X.

Last week, OpenAI said its AI models went rogue during an evaluation of its models, breaking into the servers of AI startup Hugging Face. OpenAI described it as a “significant security incident.”

These incidents have highlighted the vulnerabilities in AI security and controls and raised questions over how AI can be safely kept under human control as the technology’s usage becomes more widespread globally.

Researchers have warned for years about risks from technology and the need for stronger AI defensive engineering.

“Safety testing happens before a model is released precisely because we don’t yet know what it is capable of,” Anthropic said on Thursday on its website.

Kok Tin Gan, co-founder & CEO of cybersecurity firm NyxLab, which specializes in cybersecurity and threat detection, believes there will be more such incidents in the future.

“It is increasingly about governing what agents are available to the AI, what authorities they possess, which actions require approval, and how we ensure they remain within scope,” Gan said.

But the future of AI safety extends beyond just the safety of AI models, he said.

“If we simply give the AI a goal and allow it to decide how to achieve it, we should not be surprised when it takes actions that technically satisfy the objective, but fall outside our intended scope or expectations,” Gan said.

Therefore, stepping up the governance of the organizations and authorities behind these AI models is going to be increasingly important, he said.

The Dodgers open a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox.

The two-way superstar wanted to play Thursday against the Seattle Mariners, manager Dave Roberts said, but it was the team's decision to rest him. Ohtani told the training staff of renewed soreness after Wednesday night's 4-2 win.

“I appreciate the communication,” Roberts said. “I can’t read minds, the training staff can’t read minds, so just for him to communicate that then allows for us to make a decision.”

Second baseman Tommy Edman went 0 for 3 in Ohtani’s place for the series finale, a 6-2 win.

Ohtani has been dealing with knee soreness since June 11 and hasn't pitched since July 3 while also dealing with a right biceps issue. He skipped the All-Star Game in Philadelphia to stay home and receive a lubricant injection in the knee.

He is still serving as the designated hitter. Ohtani was 5 for 7 combined in his last two games against the Mariners, with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored.

"The last couple days he’s been on base a lot more whereas the last part of the road trip he wasn’t, so there might have been a little something to that,” Roberts said, adding that nothing occurred in the game Wednesday to precipitate Ohtani sitting out the next day.

The Dodgers expect Ohtani to return to pitching this season, but they're not rushing him back to the mound.

“If there was something structural, then we would be much more concerned,” Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said Wednesday. “The fact that there’s not and the fact that it does keep improving suggests that we’re on the right path.”

For now, the team doesn't have any plans to shut down Ohtani entirely to give him time to recover from his ailments.

"We're talking about this constantly,” Roberts said. “Nothing should be off the table and nothing is set in stone. So I think it’s more of how he feels. With this new information we’ve got to have new conversations.”

___

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

The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

“The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” Trump said on social media. “As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave.

Trump announced what he said was an agreement to realize one of the most difficult portions of the Gaza ceasefire while negotiations have stalled and military attacks have escalated in the war that the U.S. and Israel in February launched against Iran, a key sponsor of Hamas.

On Friday, a Hamas official said they have reached an agreement on disarmament, the most crucial part of the ceasefire deal. Israel didn't give an indication that they had agreed.

Officials offer long or unspecific timelines for Hamas to disarm

U.S. and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment of the agreement that laid out a scenario very similar to the one described by Trump and his top aides when the Board of Peace, an international body established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, was first formed.

The officials were unable to offer specific timelines for the disarmament of Hamas or other groups that operate in Gaza, such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but said the Gaza police force would turn over weapons to the technocratic Board of Peace-backed Gaza administration in the next two weeks.

The Gaza police force, however, does not include the vast majority of Hamas militants and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials.

Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said.

Israel has not responded but has been deeply skeptical

A U.S. official said Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish at least behind-the-scenes control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation.

However, the official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had initially committed to when it agreed to Trump’s 20-point plan, which essentially involves withdrawing its forces from Gaza and committing to ending airstrikes on the territory.

The official said Trump would be “very, very disappointed” if Israel didn't adhere to the agreement. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on Tuesday, but neither said much about what was discussed in their first face-to-face meeting since launching the war against Iran.

Israel’s U.N. Mission said it had no immediate comment.

The official added that Iran remains a wildcard in the equation because although it counseled Hamas members not to accept a deal, it is also not in a position to offer the group much support because it is preoccupied with the conflict with the United States.

Hamas previously had insisted on implementing the first phase of the ceasefire before moving to discuss its weapons. The group’s founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and it has been reluctant to give up an arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, that lies at the heart of its identity.

Hamas announced earlier this month, however, that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of the ceasefire deal.

The war in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Israel’s military now controls more than half of Gaza, leaving Palestinians confined to squalid tent camps and heavily damaged urban neighborhoods.

___

Cooper reported from Phoenix, Amiri from New York and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.

The 30-year-old entertainer, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, wept after the verdicts were delivered in the District Court of Western Australia state in Perth.

He had pleaded not guilty to six charges of rape, three charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and one count of choking in a Perth hotel room in September 2024.

The accuser cannot legally be named. She was 20 at the time.

Three days after the jury began deliberating, they found him guilty of only two of the assault charges which relate to him biting the woman. He testified during his eight-day trial that they were “love bites” and denied his victim had complained that he was hurting her.

He was found not guilty on some charges, but he could potentially face a retrial on three charges of rape on which the jury could not reach a verdict.

Despite the convictions, the Colombian-born entertainer remained free on bail until the case returns to court on Aug. 21 to discuss next steps.

Barrientos had been touring Australia and had already performed in Sydney and Melbourne before he encountered his victim in Perth. He was arrested several days later in the east coast city of Brisbane, where the tour was to end.

Prosecutors alleged the woman initially agreed to have sex but withdrew her consent because she feared for her safety.

Photos of the woman with bruising as well as bite marks on her face and neck were shown to the court.

Barrientos has been free on bail since he was charged and was allowed to return to Britain for several months.

The book was returned to the library in the seaside town of Kiama last week by a local Ross Simmons who had found it during recent home renovations inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace, Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson said.

“We’ve never had anything that old come back to us,” Hudson said Thursday.

“I follow lots of libraries on social media and often you’ll get things that are maybe 30 or 40 years old when they’re cleaning out estates and stuff like that,” she added.

Ross Simmons, told The Associated Press on Friday he assumed the book was borrowed by his great-great-grandfather John Simmons, who had owned the house where it was found.

“I'm making an assumption. He was in residence in the cottage around about that time and his children were probably too young,” Ross Simmons said.

The library opened in 1872, and the book, “Antiquities of Athens,” published in 1858, was marked as No. 506 in the library’s original collection of around 1,000 books. Hudson suspects the book was lost within a few years of the library opening.

The late return fine would be around 28,000 Australian dollars ($19,500), allowing for inflation, Hudson said. That was calculated on the British three pence-a-week overdue fee that was printed on the inside cover of the book, along with a list of rules that applied when the library opened.

But Hudson said the library's records of borrowers in the 1870s had been lost. “Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There’s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was,” Hudson said.

Library rules in the 1870s stated that a book had to be returned and an overdue debt paid before another book could be borrowed. “Maybe that’s why they never returned it to us,” Hudson said.

Antiquated rules of the day included that up to three books could be borrowed by households in which at least six members were “known to be able to read.” Proof of reading ability is no longer required to use today’s library.

In the 1870s, books were not lent to people who arrived at the library in a “state of intoxication.” Library users are now asked to leave if their behavior impacts others, but the rules are not specific about intoxication.

Ross Simmons said he had no idea why his English immigrant ancestor, who had also served as an alderman in Kiama's municipal government, would not have returned the book.

He said he hadn't been concerned by the prosect of being held liable by an angry librarian for his family's debt.

“I've spent a lifetime dealing with irate customers and being irate with customers himself. Just stick to your guns and say do your worst,” the 77-year-old said.

The returned book will be displayed in the library’s local history collection.

“We’re not going to allow it to go back out again. We don’t want to wait another 150 years for this book to be returned,” Hudson said.

Devers did get a sacrifice fly, but Tatis added on to his impressive list of home run robberies.

Tatis tracked Devers' fly ball and leaped to get his glove high above the short wall in right-center at Petco Park to make the catch. He landed and tumbled onto his backside, but flipped the ball to center fielder Jackson Merrill, who tossed it into the infield.

Merrill helped Tatis to his feet and patted him on the chest. Pitcher JP Sears raised his left arm in celebration.

Tatis was an All-Star at shortstop in 2021 and was moved to right field in 2023, after missing the 2022 season with injuries and a PED suspension. He won the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove awards in 2023 and 2025.

___

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

“UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions,” the European soccer body said after an urgent online meeting of its 55 member nations.

FIFA issued a statement early Friday saying that “nobody is selling football” and that it plans to continue the consultation process. But it appeared to back off from establishing the public equity move — what it calls the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) — if member countries do not agree.

“FIFA acknowledges and respects feedback and concern aired in public,” it said, while blaming "erroneous reporting in the media” for disruptions to its planned consultation with member associations.

But it said that without the support of FIFA's 211 member associations, “FIFA’s commercial activities would remain unchanged. FFE would not be established.”

"Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.”

The next scheduled FIFA tournament is within weeks in Europe — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5 — and the four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due Nov. 23.

“Some things are simply too important to sell,” UEFA said in a statement. “The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

The strategy meeting was called to counter FIFA President Infantino’s offer of $20 million to each of FIFA’s 211 global members that has to be accepted by mid-September.

Later Thursday, the 41-member Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) met and announced it rejected Infantino's plan.

In a statement, CONCACAF said members “expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies.” It also questioned the need for outside investment "following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history.”

Infantino’s secret project was revealed Tuesday to spin off its commercial operations in the new $20 billion FFE subsidiary 20% owned by private investors. The core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Infantino wrote Tuesday to the 211 members — already the effective owners of FIFA as a non-profit association under Swiss law — that if they approve FFE their promised $10 million basic funding for the next four years will double to $20 million. He projected their FIFA funding through 2038 would be $86 million each, instead of about $36 million.

“This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football,” said UEFA, where Infantino was a long-time staffer and its CEO-like general secretary when he was first elected to lead FIFA in 2016.

Infantino’s presidency at risk?

Infantino’s high-stakes financial gambit now could threaten his previously secure 11-year presidency of FIFA as anger and frustration with him rises among soccer stakeholders including three of the six continental bodies.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.

Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — to have a clear path to being re-elected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031, despite a furor over letting United States forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium despite a red card in his previous game.

Soccer officials have said privately Infantino has eyed a lucrative commissioner-like role at the FFE spinoff beyond 2031.

“Game over, Gianni #InfantinOUT,” the Football Supporters Europe group, which advises UEFA on fan issues such as ticket prices, posted after the boycott threat.

Soccer’s concern at investor pressure

UEFA detailed Thursday why soccer officials fear external investors owning a stake of the global game’s biggest events, including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women.

“The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in FIFA competitions, football changes forever,” UEFA said. “Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure.”

Infantino has presented the private equity offer as a chance to “turbocharge” funding development of soccer across the world, where a majority of the 211 FIFA members rely on its funding.

Officials from about 40 UEFA member spoke at the urgent meeting, with anger expressed that FIFA is not using some of its multi-billion reserves to fund extra development programs.

“As a result of today’s discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive,” the European soccer body said, “unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.”

Asia adds rare criticism of Infantino

On a seismic day in soccer politics, a traditional bedrock of support in Asia for FIFA and Infantino had earlier Thursday been shaken.

“FIFA’s unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football,” the Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said in a letter to its 46 members of FIFA, warning of risks to their own competitions.

Sheikh Salman, an ally to Infantino since losing the FIFA presidential election to him in 2016, wrote “such an initiative will not succeed without the support of all the confederations, which is not the case now.”

In a video message published Wednesday by FIFA, Infantino insisted spinning off its money-making operations was “an offer, not an obligation.”

A FIFA presentation for its members, co-written with its banking advisors from J.P. Morgan and seen by the AP, set a goal for FFE as “commercial rigor and expertise to better capitalize on broadcast rights, sponsorships and a growing tournament portfolio.”

FIFA squeeze on continental games

That growing portfolio likely would include adding more teams to FIFA competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup for men and women, and potentially staging them more often than every four years, including in the U.S.

FIFA adding teams, games and competitions would squeeze the value, status and space in the congested global fixture calendar for those that fund and are organized by the six continental soccer bodies like UEFA and the AFC. Those include World Cup qualifying games, continental tournaments and Champions Leagues.

“It is important that the AFC family has a complete understanding,” Sheikh Salman wrote, “of how such an initiative may affect key areas of global and Asian football, including the sustainability of confederation and (domestic) competitions, as well as the organization and commercial landscape surrounding the AFC’s activities.”

UEFA’s previous boycott threat

A threatened World Cup boycott from Europe helped derail Infantino’s plan in 2021 to play World Cups every two years instead of four.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage

When the 64-year-old Houston woman arrived at an ICE field office for another routine check-in on June 18, however, she was taken into custody.

“She’s literally a part of our family,” said Maureen Mendrek-Laske, whose four children Basele helped raise over the past 10 years. “She’s really a maternal figure.”

Basele’s case comes as federal data shows people without criminal convictions or pending criminal charges—often described as non-criminal undocumented immigrants—make up a growing share of ICE arrests in Texas.

How Basele ended up in ICE custody

Basele entered the United States legally from Kenya in September 2005 as the dependent spouse of her then-husband, who was in the country as a religious worker, according to her immigration attorney, Leslie Kirby.

Kirby said Basele lost her dependent visa status following her divorce, something Basele did not realize at the time.

Basele was later placed in removal proceedings and applied for asylum and withholding of removal. Although an immigration judge found her claims credible, Kirby said they did not meet the legal and evidentiary requirements for relief.

Kirby said Basele’s previous attorneys also missed critical deadlines during subsequent appeals. One person who represented Basele was not licensed to practice law in Texas, according to Kirby.

Those unsuccessful appeals left Basele with a final order of removal. ICE later placed her under an order of supervision, allowing her to remain in the country as long as she regularly reported to immigration officials.

For approximately 14 years, Basele attended those check-ins as required.

“She went to check in at the DHS, and they detained her at that moment,” Mendrek-Laske said.

Mendrek-Laske said Basele has no criminal history, pays taxes and maintains her certification as a nursing assistant. Basele has cared for both children and older adults while living in the Houston area.

Basele also has a U.S.-citizen daughter whose petition to sponsor her mother was approved. However, Kirby said Basele cannot adjust her immigration status while the removal order remains in place.

Texas ICE arrest data shows a shift

KPRC 2 analyzed arrest records obtained from ICE through the Deportation Data Project, a collaboration between researchers at UCLA and UC Berkeley that collects federal immigration-enforcement records through public-information requests and litigation.

The analysis excluded records flagged as possible duplicates.

In 2025, ICE recorded 82,620 arrests in Texas:

• 31,997, or 38.7%, involved people with no criminal convictions or pending charges.
• 29,449, or 35.6%, involved convicted criminals.
• 21,174, or 25.6%, involved people facing pending criminal charges.

In the available 2026 data, the share involving non-criminal immigrants increased:

• 8,951, or 48.1%, had no convictions or pending charges.
• 5,610, or 30.1%, were classified as convicted criminals.
• 4,051, or 21.8%, had pending criminal charges.

The 2026 records only extend through March 11 and do not represent a complete year.

The data also does not identify the underlying offenses connected to each conviction or pending charge. Therefore, it cannot determine how many arrests involved violent criminals.

ICE has continued to publicize arrests and removals of people it describes as the “worst of the worst.” Kirby, however, said attorneys are increasingly seeing people without criminal histories detained while complying with required ICE check-ins.

“There does seem to be a strategic effort to extend beyond the ‘worst of the worst,’” said Kirby.

Deportation blocked, but detention continues

Kirby said her legal team secured a stay of deportation for Basele, temporarily preventing ICE from removing her from the United States while a humanitarian petition remains pending.

“We were able to get a stay of her deportation,” Kirby said. “ICE expressly stated to us that they would not be deporting her, but they still have custody. So they are refusing to release her from custody.”

Kirby said Basele may next file a habeas corpus petition asking a federal judge to review whether her continued detention is lawful.

Basele remains detained at a CoreCivic-operated immigration detention facility. She spent her 64th birthday there on July 14.

“Is she really a threat?” Mendrek-Laske asked. “You have someone who has been compliant, taxpaying, working two jobs. What more do you want?”

• PREVIOUS: Baytown Police investigating officer accused of misusing Flock license plate reader system

In an update released by Chief John Stringer, the department said it opened two separate investigations after the allegations surfaced: an internal affairs investigation and a separate criminal investigation. Stringer said both cases are still ongoing, and the officer at the center of the investigation left the department the day before the latest update was issued.

“This does not conclude either one of the investigations,” Stringer said, adding that the department will pursue accountability “to the fullest extent of the law” depending on what the criminal investigation finds.

Stringer said the results of the internal affairs investigation will be reported to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, and that the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has been informed as the criminal investigation continues.

The chief said the department is limited in what it can release while the investigations remain active, but pledged to provide additional information when it is appropriate.

Flock cameras, which are designed to capture license plate data to help investigators track vehicles tied to crimes, have expanded across the Houston area in recent years — and have also raised broader privacy and oversight questions, as KPRC 2 has previously reported. Baytown police have not detailed what specific conduct is being investigated in this case, citing the ongoing inquiries.

KPRC 2 News obtained a copy of Baytown PD’s Flock camera policy, which outlines strict guidelines for how the technology can be used:

• License plate reader data cannot be used to track people’s movements, habits or activities without a legitimate law enforcement purpose.
• Officers are barred from using the technology to target people based on race, religion, gender or other protected characteristics.
• The data cannot be used for personal gain, harassment or revenue generation.

The cases come as Flock cameras have sparked a broader debate about privacy and law enforcement technology. Earlier this month, Harris County Commissioners approved an amendment expanding countywide access to its Flock contract, a decision that drew concern from some residents about privacy.

Frustration over the surveillance system has also turned physical in some areas, a Flock camera pole was recently cut down in the Houston Medical District.

Chief Stringer says investigators remain committed to following the case wherever it leads, regardless of the officer’s employment status.

The announcement came after local authorities in Ceuta had asked the central government in Madrid for reinforcements to manage a border crisis that boiled over Thursday with large crowds of people breaching the border fence.

Spain’s government said it would send the Armed Forces to help the Civil Guard “maintain security in the city of Ceuta.” It also announced that Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would join Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska in a visit to Ceuta on Friday.

“The situation is absolute chaos,” Rachid Sbihi, head of the association that represents Spain’s Civil Guard officers who police the border in Ceuta, told The Associated Press. “It’s not possible to give precise numbers, but there are thousands of migrants crossing,” he said, adding that the border had “totally collapsed.”

Achraf Maimouni, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights in northern Morocco, described the situation as “exceptional.”

“The Tarajal border was opened under unusual circumstances this morning and people crossed," he said.

Video footage showed crowds of people, mainly Moroccans, walking around the breakwaters at Tarajal beach onto local roads. While most appeared to be young men, there were also families with women and small children.

“Viva España!” some shouted to a freelance photographer working for the AP. It was not immediately clear what prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta.

Spain’s government delegation in Ceuta said at least nine people died Thursday during the chaos. It did not provide details on the circumstances of the deaths but bodies could be seen floating in the water. Dozens have died this year trying to reach Ceuta, according to local authorities.

Arrivals had been increasing, but reasons are still unclear

The escalation at the frontier between Spain and Morocco comes after a surge in migrants attempting to reach the small exclave, mainly by swimming, on Wednesday.

Moroccan authorities have not publicly commented on the crossings, and Morocco's Interior Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said the Moroccan government was “closely cooperating” with Spain to handle the situation and that Moroccan police are stopping “numerous people” who are trying to cross the border. Both countries agreed to work together “for the return, as soon as possible, of all the people who entered Ceuta illegally.”

The ministry earlier said it would guarantee the safety of citizens and the integrity of the nation’s border but that the Spanish government could not declare a national emergency — as local authorities had asked — over migration concerns.

The chaos had ripple effects in Italy, another key destination for migrants. Premier Giorgia Meloni threatened to suspend Italy's open-border Schengen agreement with Spain “to defend our borders and ensure the safety of our citizens," though Italy doesn't share a border with Spain.

Ceuta authorities had previously linked the surge to a Spanish Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that barred authorities from immediately returning migrants who arrive by sea without due process. The ruling does not apply to migrants who enter Spain by land, including by climbing over the border fence.

But some activists in Morocco expressed doubt that the ruling was behind the surge, arguing most migrants would have been unaware of such legal decisions.

Spain is a main point of arrival into Europe for migrants seeking better economic opportunities or an escape from violence in their home countries.

To reach Ceuta, located on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.

The scenes of people streaming across the frontier recall the border crisis of May 2021 when more than 8,000 migrants poured into Ceuta in just two days.

At the time, Morocco was accused of easing border controls and allowing migrants to cross into Ceuta after Spain allowed Polisario Front leader Brahim Ghali to receive treatment at a Spanish hospital, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Rabat and Madrid. The pro-independence Polisario Front for decades has claimed to be the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people of the Western Sahara. Morocco claims Western Sahara as its own.

Ceuta authorities ask Madrid to declare emergency, send army

Juan Jesús Vivas, the head of Ceuta’s regional government, called for the national government to declare an emergency on grounds of national security, asking for more police and for the army to be deployed on the border “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety.”

He had warned Wednesday that migrant reception centers were overwhelmed with hundreds of people sleeping on the streets after more than 1,500 migrants entered the territory in the past week. Thousands more crossed overnight and on Thursday.

Spain’s Interior Ministry, which tracks irregular migration, would not confirm the number of migrants who had made it to Ceuta in the last few days but said it would publish its next migration report on Aug. 3. As of July 15, nearly 3,000 migrants had entered Ceuta by land or sea this year, according to ministry figures.

Legislation covering a declaration of national emergencies does not consider migration flows as a risk to national security, according to the ministry, which said government agencies are “coordinating to respond with speed and efficacy to the situation in Ceuta.”

Ceuta, which is perched on a historical isthmus, has been a Spanish possession since 1580. Its mixed population of Christians and Muslims, Spanish and Moroccan residents and day workers, lives in relative harmony behind a border fence that many desperate migrants from across Africa attempt to cross for a better life in Europe.

___

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. AP journalists Joseph Wilson in Barcelona and Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.

The incident happened on FM 50 near Westerfeld Road, which is north of Brenham.

The Prairie Hill Volunteer Fire Department says the man was mowing along his fence when he was attacked by the bees and stung multiple times.

A quick-thinking neighbor heard the man’s screams and called 911. A delivery driver also tried to help the man and was also stung.

The fire department said the man experienced an anaphylactic reaction after the attack and was airlifted to a hospital.

The man’s condition is unknown.

Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday. The number of people missing was unclear.

Of the deaths given in the latest tally, 25 have been confirmed as related to the disaster, but there were nine more deaths under investigation as likely to be connected, the Kumamoto prefectural government said. The quake left at least 86 people injured, five of them seriously, it said.

Survivors spoke about desperately pulling family members out of the wreckage. Some had suffered injuries and were rushed to the hospital.

Thousands of people spent another night at evacuation centers set up throughout the area at schools and other big spaces. Some homes were still without water or electricity, while others were simply afraid to go back.

Nearly 19,000 homes were still without electricity and more than 9,000 people were staying in the roughly 400 shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Concerns were growing about illness, including from the sweltering heat. The Ministry of Environment sent out a heatstroke alert for the Kumamoto area, with temperatures rising above 33 C (91 F) Thursday.

Some evacuees sleep in cars

In the town of Hikawa, one of the hardest-hit areas in Kumamoto, many residents are without water or electricity, or both, and some were staying inside their vehicles in parks, at the town hall parking lot, or outside their homes. More than 800 of the town of about 4,500 households were destroyed or damaged, officials said.

At the front entrance of the town hall, officials delivered bottled water and packaged instant rice, while the Ground Self-Defense Force service members came with a trolley to provide fresh water.

Hirokazu Sato, a nurse, whose house was destroyed, is staying in his passenger car at the town hall parking lot with his wife and three children, because he worries that his 1-year-old baby could be a nuisance to others if they take shelter at an evacuation center.

“I can't sleep sitting in the car, so sometimes I go out for a walk during the night,” Sato says. “I hope the town will provide temporary housing soon.”

Yoshiaki Nakashima, a 66-year-old resident who came with two bottles and his beloved pet dog to get water, said he is staying in a car because of his reluctance to stay at one of the three evacuation centers in the area. He also said he doesn’t want to sleep at home because aftershocks made him feel uneasy.

“It’s difficult to turn over while sleeping in a car,” he said, but added that living at a shelter is even more difficult.

Akiko Inazaki, another resident in her 30s, is living in a tent set up in the yard of her home, which has been without water and electricity since the quake. Inazaki, who also came to get water, said she will use it little by little.

“Fresh water is so valuable,” she said. Inazaki said she drank so little that she almost had a heatstroke.

Risks of heatstroke are a major concern among officials.

Yutaka Kobayashi, a doctor dispatched from central Japan's Aichi prefecture, said he was touring evacuation centers Thursday to assess the condition of evacuees, especially elderly people and those with injuries as they cope with a harsh environment.

“We have to make sure elderly people are not developing heatstrokes or dehydration,” he said in Hikawa.

While the town parking lot was nearly packed the first night, some residents have moved to three public schools where air-conditioning is running, Hikawa officials said.

A town official, Yuzuru Tamura, said they are starting to run out of emergency food supply, such as canned bread and instant rice.

Emergency personnel search for missing people

The most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake struck in the late afternoon.

The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before the explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people.

On Thursday, seven people were confirmed to have died at the mall site among the 12 people pulled out of the wreckage, according to Kumamoto authorities.

In the Yatsushiro area, where a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory, 10 people were rescued, but eight others died, and one remained missing, the Kumamoto prefectural disaster team said.

Footage provided by the Japanese government and military showed rescue workers drilling through the collapsed parts of the building in an attempt to get to anyone who may still be trapped inside.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters the central government will take a lead role in coordinating the various rescue efforts. Restoring electricity, gas and water to stricken areas, while providing a supply of fresh water is key, she said.

“The needs on the ground are constantly changing. To put to rest the people's feelings of uncertainty, we will do all that needs to be done,” she said.

___

Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Judge Hazel Jones on Thursday denied bond for Jefferson Velasquez, an 18-year-old from El Salvador just charged with a new murder this week for the April fatal shooting of 27-year-old Noah Ramirez outside Diosa, a Midtown nightclub.

Houston Police investigated the April shooting, but Velasquez had been in custody since June, when he was arrested and charged in a Harris County Sheriff’s Office murder case involving the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Angel Garcia at an August 2025 large house party in East Harris County.

• RELATED: Teen from El Salvador charged with murder in two separate Houston shootings

During his court appearance Thursday, Velasquez appeared to smirk at people he knew in the courtroom.

It’s not clear exactly what evidence investigators have tying Velasquez to the two shootings, although both happened during what police described as fights at large gatherings.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said a hearing has now been set for Aug. 10, when prosecutors plan to argue to hold Velasquez in jail indefinitely pending trial.

An appointed defense attorney representing Velasquez told KPRC 2 News on Wednesday he’s not commenting on the new murder case and is still waiting on evidence to be shared by prosecutors.

Records show Velasquez has an ICE hold.

Anyone who recognizes Velasquez as a possible robbery or assault suspect is urged to contact law enforcement.

Amazon’s fully autonomous Zoox vehicles got approval Thursday to begin charging customers for rides in the specially designed cars that feature four inward-facing seats once they secure state and local approval. Zoox has already been offering free rides in Las Vegas and San Francisco since last year. At least a couple people were waiting at most stops Thursday afternoon for rides up and down the Vegas strip aboard one of the distinctive boxy-shaped vehicles.

“It’s kind of scary at first, but when I just got used to it, it’s really cool and chilling. I really liked the music and how you can adjust the temperature,” Chloe Huu from Ann Arbor, Michigan, said after taking a ride in a Zoox Thursday. But the projected wait time for the ride kept changing, which made it hard to plan.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also proposed a rule last month to allow robotaxis to operate without brake pedals, but that proposal is still pending. Administrator Jonathan Morrison said his agency wants to update the regulations to fit these fully autonomous vehicles while still acting as the “cop on the beat to make sure that this is being done right.”

Most vehicle safety regulations were written decades ago, always with the assumption that there would be a human driver behind the wheel. But Morrison said that things like steering wheels, windshield wipers and side-view mirrors aren't really needed in an autonomous vehicle.

“If you’re going to be developing a standard in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, nobody at that time had this imagination, nobody had a crystal ball that you might have technologies that would enable the vehicle to drive itself,” Morrison said.

Questions remain about robotaxi safety

The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety group raised concerns about Zoox’s plan to operate without a steering wheel or other standard controls because the company didn’t provide detailed evidence to show that its vehicles could operate safely on public roads.

“Lots of promises, lots of glossy language, lots of ‘We believe, we think we’ll do this.’ Yet there really was no data behind the promises, and that’s really concerning to us,” said Peter Kurdock, who is general counsel for the Advocates group.

Morrison said this technology does offer the promise of never driving distracted or drunk like human drivers do, but robotaxis have had some problems. Sometimes they're just weird behaviors like stopping in the middle of the road or struggling to get out of a parking lot. But he said NHTSA responded to the incidents of autonomous cars passing school buses or interfering with first responders, with investigations, recalls and calls to action.

“Sometimes we have seen unsafe behaviors, and we jump on that really quickly again. That’s our job at NHTSA,” Morrison said. But he said Americans shouldn't be terribly worried about the safety of these robotaxis.

“By and large we’re really excited about the promise of this technology and we want to see that promise fulfilled,” he said.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said recently that the limited crash data the government requires autonomous vehicle companies to submit makes it hard to assess the safety record of these robotaxis as they continue to expand across the country.

Most companies don't report how many miles their autonomous vehicles drove, which makes it impossible to calculate a crash rate, according to the IIHS. And there isn't a clear standard for which incidents must be reported. So autonomous vehicle companies are reporting many more minor incidents than human drivers, who tend to only report a crash when there is significant damage or injuries.

Robotaxi industry is expanding quickly nationwide

Zoox and Tesla are working to catch up to the industry-leading Waymo that already operates in multiple cities. Waymo is owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet.

Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said this approval is an important milestone for autonomous vehicles.

“This achievement reflects a shared commitment to enabling innovation while maintaining the highest standards of safety,” Evans said.

Amazon hopes to eventually produce as many as 10,000 robotaxis a year at a plant near Silicon Valley as it works to challenge Waymo. Amazon paid $1.2 billion to acquire self-driving startup Zoox. Initially, Zoox will only be allowed to deploy up to 2,500 vehicles without steering wheels over the next two years as it works to prove the technology is safe. The company said that more than half a million people have already ridden in its vehicles.

___

AP Transportation Writer Josh Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska.

The changes at the National Jamboree, which ends Friday, reflect shifts made by Scouting America since the organization became a target of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what he calls “woke” policies. Some scouts who had planned to attend the event in West Virginia said they backed out because Scouting America scrapped the inclusion initiatives it previously celebrated.

Hegseth threatened to end the Pentagon's century-old partnership with Scouting America if it did not make changes including refocusing away from diversity initiatives. The organization, previously known as Boy Scouts of America, rebranded in 2024 to emphasize inclusion and the growing number of girls in the scouting ranks.

“Scouting fundamentally is a safe place for young people to have fun,” said Samuel J. Aronson, an assistant scoutmaster who has organized inclusive events at previous national events. “In the absence of these spaces, we’re denying all that, both the safety and the fun, to thousands of young people.”

Thousands attend the National Jamboree

This year, about 15,000 scouts, leaders and volunteers from across the country are attending the 10-day event in the mountains of West Virginia. In addition to activities including mountain biking and kayaking, the gathering hosts leadership programs and educational sessions.

A Scouting America spokesperson said the organization remains “fully committed to welcoming and serving all youth,” but did not address questions about the changes to the jamboree.

The Pentagon made a deal with Scouting America in February but the two sides have given conflicting accounts of that agreement. This month, a gay rights activist obtained the memo outlining the agreement from the Defense Department after filing a lawsuit, arguing that clarity was of public importance.

The six-page document spells out ways the Pentagon will monitor compliance, including that officials from each organization would have “periodic touchpoints and meet” as needed. It was obtained by James Dale, who was expelled from the Boy Scouts in the early 1990s for being gay and later sued over discrimination. He equated the Pentagon's tactics to the actions of a bully.

“They basically have their thumb on the organization, threatening them under constant pressure,” Dale said.

Deal preserves ties between Scouting America and Pentagon

The scouts and the military have long held close ties; The military provides logistical support for the jamboree and some scout troops meet on or near bases.

Asked about the implementation and monitoring of the deal, a Pentagon spokesperson referred to previous comments by Hegseth.

In February, Hegseth posted a video that said his department would “vigorously review” changes made by Scouting America and would cease the military’s longtime support of the organization if it failed to comply by late August.

Some scouts disappointed by changes to inclusion efforts

John Andrew Segebarth, a 21-year-old college student and Eagle Scout, has been disheartened by the agreement. He joined the scout ranks in first grade and said he had been looking forward to staffing the space for LGBTQ+ and Allied Scouts at this year’s jamboree.

Segebarth, who is gay and was elected by peers as a national officer for scouts in 2024, said the removal of inclusive spaces is a sharp reversal for Scouting America. National scouting events in recent years included community spaces for girls, scouts of color, LGBTQ+ scouts and persons with disabilities, according to Aronson.

“Scouting’s kind of walking back on its values that they told me they believed in,” said Segebarth who, along with Aronson, decided not to attend the jamboree this year.

It was at a community tent that Layla Grace found the first place where she could talk openly about being a transgender female. Now a 21-year-old assistant scoutmaster, Grace had also planned to staff the space for LGBTQ+ and Allied Scouts in West Virginia this year.

When the spaces were canceled, Grace said she almost didn't go to the jamboree but decided she wanted to be there to help those in need. She wound up volunteering at an area dedicated to addressing issues that include mental health, food security and education.

And she's trying to fill the gap left by the removal of inclusive areas.

“I am wearing so many rainbows on me, my right hand has my nails painted in the lesbian flag and my left hand has my nails painted in the transgender flag,” she said. “I am being as loud as I can to do my best to hopefully make up for the lack of community spaces.”

___

Associated Press reporter Ben Finley contributed to this report from Washington.

The blast was apparently triggered by a buildup of methane gas and occurred on the outskirts of the Baluchistan provincial capital of Quetta, said government mine inspector Ghani Baloch.

The bodies of seven people were recovered hours after the blast, and emergency responders later found 25 more bodies, officials and a provincial disaster management agency said in a statement. It said the search and rescue operation was continuing, with rescue teams working to locate and recover the remaining trapped miners.

Baloch said rescue operations would continue until all the trapped miners were found, but he added that officials believed the death toll likely would rise further.

“The chances of finding anyone alive diminish after methane gas explosions because oxygen levels drop to zero, and rescuers are also proceeding cautiously inside the mine,” Baloch said.

Authorities were handing over the bodies to their families for burial, while relatives of those still trapped waited anxiously for news, Baloch said.

Baluchistan’s Minister for Mines and Minerals Shoaib Nosherwani said the rescue teams were working under extremely difficult conditions.

Nosherwani expressed condolences to relatives of the victims and said the provincial government would pay compensation of 500,000 Pakistani rupees (about $1,800) to the family of each miner killed in the blast.

He said authorities would conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the explosion, and would review mining safety measures.

A coal miners’ labor union said it suspected negligence led to the explosion and called for action against those responsible. In a statement, the Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation urged the government to strictly enforce safety regulations and take tough action against companies that violate mine safety laws.

Deadly accidents are common in Pakistan’s coal mining industry, particularly in Baluchistan, where many mines lack adequate ventilation, gas monitoring systems and other basic safety measures.

Mine workers and labor groups have long accused mine owners of failing to enforce safety regulations or provide adequate protective equipment.

Despite the risks and low wages, thousands of miners depend on the coal industry for their livelihoods in Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province, where unemployment and poverty remain widespread.

___

Ahmed reported from Islamabad.

Mayor Katie Wilson's announcement followed hours of speculation about whether Police Chief Shon Barnes would step down, as some of his supporters said he had rebuffed Wilson’s request to resign.

Wilson said she was appointing Deputy Chief Andre Sayles, a law enforcement veteran with more than two decades of experience, as interim chief.

Barnes told The Seattle Times earlier Thursday that whether he remained as chief was “up to the mayor.” He said he was off for the day and spending time with family.

In a written statement, the mayor said she was grateful for Barnes' service. The statement included comments in which Barnes called it an honor to have served the city.

“I hope this transition gives the city and this department the opportunity to return full focus to what matters most, addressing youth gun violence and preventing more tragedies,” Barnes said.

Barnes was out of town at a law enforcement conference when gunfire erupted last weekend at the Bite of Seattle, an annual three-day festival that draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers. Three people, including one suspect, were killed, and four people were wounded. One of the injured was a 2-year-old boy.

Dozens of officers were at the event, and at least one saw a 15-year-old suspect firing into a crowd and quickly persuaded him to surrender, according to court documents. Police are still searching for at least one other person.

While Wilson credited the quick police response with potentially saving lives, she acknowledged that the city was slow to communicate in the aftermath.

After an initial social media post announcing the shooting, it took nearly five hours for police to provide any additional information to the public, including whether there was any ongoing threat. The city also failed to send out any notifications through its emergency alert system. In the meantime Wilson announced that two people had been taken into custody, a statement she later retracted.

Assistant Seattle Police Chief Tyrone Davis finally provided an update around 11 p.m. Sunday during a news conference that was also attended by the mayor, Gov. Bob Ferguson and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

“What I did not fully understand in that moment was how little information had reached the public or the press since the incident began at 6 p.m.,” Wilson said in a video statement Thursday. “Had I known that, I would have pushed for an immediate briefing, rather than waiting for a press conference to be organized.”

Barnes was the second Black police chief in Seattle.

Several Black community organizations, including the Seattle NAACP and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, rallied to try to save his job Thursday. In an open letter to the mayor's office, they credited him with improving relations between the department and the community, helping reduce gun violence and strengthening the department's operations.

“Chief Barnes should not be made a scapegoat for the complex challenges of public safety,” the letter said.

At least six City Council members issued statements supporting Barnes. A statement signed by four of them pointed out that the city has had four chiefs in less than three years.

“Our priority must be stability, not further disruption,” it said.

Barnes was appointed by Seattle's previous mayor, Bruce Harrell, in December 2024 after serving as chief of the Madison, Wisconsin, police department.

When Wilson — a democratic socialist who once supported defunding police — won the mayor's race last year, she kept Barnes on as chief. That was a signal to the city's business establishment and community groups that she did not intend to take a radically different approach to public safety.

“Seattle had been on a positive course on public safety with police hiring trending up and crime trending down,” Jon Scholes, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, said in an emailed statement. “It’s imperative the next chief of police is able to maintain progress that’s been made and instill confidence in our community.”

Barnes faced some criticism for spending time in Chicago, where his family lives. Sgt. Patrick Michaud, a department spokesperson, said Thursday that Barnes has made four trips to Chicago this year and spent in total about 18 days traveling there.

The resignation comes as Seattle heads into another big festival weekend. Seafair Weekend Festival 2026 — a boating event, air show and festival — starts Friday.

The U.S. and Iran each fired barrages of missiles Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again. After a brief respite, the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for a second day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person.

Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll. The results are a stark repudiation of Trump’s approach to the conflict, which has dragged on far longer than he originally predicted.

Here's the Latest:

Body cameras will start being shipped to ICE offices next week, Maine senator says

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said she met Thursday with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for an update after the deadly shooting of a Colombian native in Biddeford, Maine.

Collins says Acting ICE Director David Venturella confirmed that its policy requires at least one ICE officer to wear a body-worn camera when conducting enforcement interactions, including any vehicle stops.

She says that by the end of August, body-worn cameras will be deployed nationwide and worn by all ICE agents in the field.

Collins, who is the chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, said that Venturella told her that Homeland Security has awarded a contract to purchase additional body-worn cameras, and that they will start being shipped to field offices next week. She said he agreed with her request to prioritize Maine.

Collins helped secure $20 million for the cameras in the department’s funding package Congress approved earlier this year.

Appeals court rejects the administration’s expansion of mandatory detention for immigrants

A federal appeals court says the Trump administration cannot deny immigrants detained inside the United States a chance for release on bond.

The 2-1 decision Thursday by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals deepens a split between federal appeals courts over the administration’s mandatory detention policy.

Under previous administrations, most noncitizens without a criminal record who were arrested inside the U.S. could seek a bond hearing while their immigration cases were pending. Last July, immigration officials issued guidance expanding mandatory detention to immigrants in the U.S. interior.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it was confident in its legal position on mandatory detention.

▶ Read more

The Trump administration is ending a Medicare drug subsidy program. Here’s how it could affect costs

Millions of older adults on Medicare prescription drug coverage could face higher monthly costs in 2027.

The Trump administration said this week it has decided to end a temporary subsidy program that helped offset premiums for the past two years.

The program was initially implemented by former President Joe Biden’s administration in 2024 to lower Medicare Part D prescription drug costs in response to the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

While federal officials say the financial impact will be minimal, the decision opens the administration to potential political consequences in a high-stakes midterm election year.

Democrats have criticized the move, calling it an attack on healthcare affordability.

▶ Read more

RFK Jr. launches an HHS cooking show

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is known for eating a “carnivore” diet of red meat and fermented foods – but he’s broadening those horizons for a new online cooking show.

He and celebrity chef Andrew Gruel prepared crispy salmon cakes and an arugula, apple and white bean salad in the first episode of “The Real Food Show,” posted Thursday with the branding of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The department says the show will provide examples of nutritious and affordable meals for Americans who want to eat healthier. It comes months after the Trump administration released new dietary guidelines at the start of this year.

Bessent says US expects China to meet rare earth and agriculture commitments

After meeting on Thursday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on social media that the Trump administration expects Beijing “to fully meet its commitments on rare earths and U.S. agricultural products.” Trade representative Greer also attended, Bessent said.

The meeting between finance and trade officials sets the stage for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected meeting face to face in September.

Bessent said the group also discussed implementation of the Trade and Investment Boards as a way to build more “balanced, fair, and constructive U.S.-China economic relationship.”

What to know about Trump’s nearly $1.8B fund to compensate allies claiming political targeting

Back in May, the Justice Department announced that allies of the president who believe they have been wrongly investigated and prosecuted could soon have access to a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” would represent “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.” Blanche’s statement made no mention of how investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s political opponents under his watch have exposed the Justice Department to the same claims of politicized law enforcement that he has said he opposed.

The fund was announced as part of a deal to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, but was subsequently scrapped and a federal judge blocked the fund’s creation.

Trump-branded commemorative USA 250 passports to become more widely available

The State Department says its limited-edition Trump-branded commemorative USA 250 passports will soon become available to Americans outside the greater Washington, D.C., area.

Beginning next month, the department’s 27 passport agencies around the nation will start one-day events, offering the so-called “Patriot Passports” that feature a page emblazoned with a stern portrait of Trump. Previously, the commemorative passports were only available at the Washington, D.C., passport office for in-person applicants.

Starting on Aug. 8, passport offices in seven cities including Chicago, New York City and Dallas will offer the Trump passports. More passport offices will be included throughout August. Applicants wanting the special passport must apply to the selected offices in person on the day specified. Those wanting a traditional passport must apply on different days.

A total of 250,000 of the commemorative passports will be available.

Trump wants more military veterans to become commercial truckers

The president hosted an event on the White House campus where he said America’s roads had been “terrorized by unqualified illegal aliens dangerously driving big rigs” and that he would replace these immigrants with “highly qualified American veterans.”

The administration has dubbed the program the “Freedom Haulers Initiative,” under which anyone who has driven a heavy truck for the military would automatically be eligible for a commercial drivers license.

Trump said that 34 states are part of the initiative.

Immigrants account for about 20% of all truck drivers, but all of these non-domiciled licenses for immigrants represent only about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses, or about 200,000 drivers.

State Department says ‘unfortunate error’ led to badly mislabeled map of Africa at AIDS conference

The State Department is taking full responsibility for a badly mislabeled map of Africa that was presented at a global AIDS conference last week in Brazil.

It said that should not take away from the Trump administration’s commitment to fighting the deadly virus.

“This was an unfortunate error caused by a team member who hastily altered the slide deck immediately before the presentation at the AIDS 2026 Conference,” the department said Thursday after photos of the map were posted online by conference participants.

A photo of the map was shared by AIDS activist Emily Bass in a Substack post on Sunday showing six countries mislabeled. Among them, Nigeria was placed in roughly the same location as Niger; Ivory Coast, placed in southern Africa; Mozambique, placed in the Horn of Africa; and Cameroon, placed in what appeared to be the location of Ghana. The State Department confirmed that six countries were misidentified.

Senate rejects another war powers resolution to halt Iran war

Most Senate Republicans voted against advancing the measure in the Democrats’ latest effort to end Trump’s engagement in military action without congressional approval.

“We were told this president would bring peace and lower prices,” said Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New Year, who sponsored the resolution. “What is President Trump doing? Pouring bills of tax dollars into an open-ended war with Iran.”

The tally was 49-50. Three Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, joined most Democrats to advance the measure. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined Republicans to oppose.

Since the war began earlier this year, House and Senate Democrats have introduced more than a dozen war powers resolutions. None has passed both chambers.

Democratic senators call on Treasury to move forward with new Tubman $20 bill

Ten Democratic senators are calling on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to provide more details about whether a longtime effort to place Harriet Tubman’s likeness on the $20 bill has been canceled or merely delayed.

The senators are following up on comments Bessent made to Spectrum News, saying Treasury was “not at present” planning to put Tubman on the $20 bill.

The senators in their letter are calling on Bessent to immediately reconsider and resume plans to create the new bill. They are also asking for a briefing on the matter. Meanwhile, the senators noted that Treasury has prepared the design for a $250 bill featuring Trump.

The effort to place the 19th-century abolitionist leader on the $20 bill began more than a decade ago.

Trump says he may delay Blanche nomination until dissenting senators leave office

Trump says he may withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general until Republican senators who are seeking concessions from the top prosecutor leave office next year.

Trump doubled down Thursday on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him “a STAR.” He said he’ll keep Blanche as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis are gone.

Cornyn and Tillis have demanded additional assurances in writing that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is dead and have pressed for clarification on the scope of a tax immunity deal Trump secured by suing the Internal Revenue Service. Cornyn has said he wants the administration to modify that piece of the settlement to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.

Trump’s comments came after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a planned vote on Thursday to advance Blanche’s nomination.

Senate committee advances nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to be Trump’s CDC director

A Senate committee on Thursday advanced Dr. Erica Schwartz’s nomination to be director of the nation’s top public health agency, setting aside concerns that she won’t stand up to political meddling.

If confirmed by the full Senate, the 54-year-old would become the 22nd director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her resume includes medical and law degrees, a stint as deputy surgeon general, and a leadership position with the U.S. Coast Guard.

Schwartz appeared to be on shaky ground after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and others questioned whether she would be willing to stand up to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if the health secretary ordered CDC to do something unsupported by science and good public health practice. Cassidy later expressed confidence that “she knows what she’s doing.”

▶ Read more

US-Iran conflict enters new phase as Saudi Arabia helps hit proxies and diplomacy stalls again

The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase with Saudi Arabia publicly joining military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies and an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war faltering once again.

Little is clear about what strategy, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward. The Republican president has vacillated for months between insisting a deal was near to end the war and Tehran’s nuclear program, and using vulgarities and threats to try to get Iran to capitulate.

The stakes for continued U.S. military action have never been higher for Trump and his party as the conflict, unpopular among many Americans, has jolted the world economy months before voters get their say in November. The renewed fighting has killed and injured more American troops and raised concerns about drawing down the stockpiles of key U.S. air defense systems.

▶ Read more

Trump touts his tariffs in Michigan despite rising costs

Flying to a rally at General Motors this week, the president declared that “car companies are doing better than they’ve ever done” thanks to his tariffs, “all because of Trump.”

“It’s amazing what tariffs will do for General Motors,” he said before autographing a white Corvette. “Michigan is thriving,” he told cheering supporters.

That’s not exactly true, according to many metrics. Tariffs have cost businesses in Michigan and across the country billions of dollars while stoking inflation that continues to run hot. Many Americans believe tariffs have pushed prices higher and the war in Iran has increased gasoline prices, hurting consumer confidence in the economy.

There are few places where Trump’s boasts and economic reality are more likely to collide ahead of November’s midterm elections than in battleground Michigan, which holds its primary on Tuesday.

▶ Read more

Opposition to FIFA’s World Cup private equity plan grows

Global opposition is growing to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan for selling a stake in World Cup revenue to private investors.

The FIFA project would be underwritten by a New York investment vehicle, Thrive Eternal, created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Infantino has had close ties to Jared Kushner and held secret talks with potential backers in the U.S. about creating the $20 billion FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary with $4.2 billion of private equity.

“FIFA’s unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football,” the Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa warned in a letter Thursday to member federations that was seen by The Associated Press.

It circulated as the 55-nation European soccer body UEFA met Thursday to shape a resistance strategy. The 35-member North American soccer body CONCACAF, meanwhile, said it is “deeply concerned by the lack of due process” in Infantino’s project.

▶ Read more

US economy turns in sluggish 1.5% second-quarter growth and inflation remains above Fed target

The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth. But consumer spending rose. And the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month, by 3.7%, but remained above the central bank’s 2% target.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that growth in U.S. gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — decelerated from 2.1% in the first three months of 2026 and came in below economists’ expectations.

The Fed on Wednesday chose to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the fifth straight meeting. But three regional Fed presidents dissented, saying they wanted to raise rates to combat elevated inflation.

Higher costs have frustrated Americans ahead of November’s midterm elections, which will determine whether Trump’s Republicans keep full control of Congress.

US filings for jobless benefits rise to 197,000 last week, but layoffs remain historically low

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years.

U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 188,000 but remains the lowest in more than 50 years.

Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 207,000 new applications.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.

Urban League report says Trump harms Black Americans’ chances at American Dream

The American Dream may not be dead for many Black Americans, but a National Urban League report warns that it’s further away than at any point since the Civil Rights Movement.

The 50th annual “State of Black America” report released Thursday grimly describes Black Americans ’ economic and political prospects as having worsened due to Trump’s policies. A copy obtained by The Associated Press says all Americans should be concerned.

“While they have targeted and focused on Black Americans, these attacks are going to impact broadly working Americans, poor Americans, aspirational middle-class Americans, and this is what this report points to,” said Marc Morial, the league’s president and CEO.

Morial urged concerned Americans to respond at the ballot box and with their pocketbooks. “We cannot be dejected. We cannot be cynical. We must act,” Morial said.

▶ Read more

Most say it’s important to keep gas prices down: AP-NORC poll

Many Americans continue to be concerned about the pocketbook impact of the Iran war, the new poll shows.

About 7 in 10 U.S. adults — 72% — say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for the U.S. to prevent domestic oil and gas prices from rising, up slightly from 67% in March.

A similar share, 70%, say it’s highly important for the U.S. to reach a ceasefire agreement with Iran.

Americans’ goals for the Iran war may not be fully aligned with Trump, who has repeatedly said the war was launched to keep a nuclear weapon out of Iran’s hands.

While about two-thirds of U.S. adults say it’s “extremely” or “very” important to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon — with Republicans especially likely to say this — Americans are more likely to prioritize low gas prices and a permanent ceasefire with Iran.

About two-thirds say the Iran war is not worth fighting: AP-NORC poll

Most U.S. adults say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to a new AP-NORC poll. About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28, has not been worthwhile. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents, as well as about 37% of Republicans.

The poll shows little appetite among Americans for a prolonged conflict.

Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults want to continue military action in Iran, while about 3 in 10 say the U.S. should pause military action and seek a renewed ceasefire through negotiations. About 2 in 10 want to completely stop military action in Iran and roughly one-quarter don’t know enough to say.

At Houston Christian University, nursing students are preparing for their future careers at the Linda R. Dunham School of Nursing, housed inside The Cullen Science II building. Here, students learn from industry veterans and get hands-on experience in HCU’s high-tech simulation lab.

Watch the full video to learn more about this cutting-edge program and their big plans to move into a brand new facility next year.

On the route: Meals on Wheels in Midtown

Gexa volunteers joined a briefing at the Midtown Meals on Wheels hub before loading insulated carriers and heading out on delivery routes. The work wasn’t just about food — it was about checking in on seniors, many over 75, who live alone and rely on those daily visits for companionship and safety. The program also accepts pet-food donations through an AniMeals initiative so seniors’ animal companions stay fed — if you have unopened cat or dog food to spare, consider donating.

Hands-on help at The Beacon

Gexa Energy also partnered with The Beacon to support Houston residents experiencing homelessness. Employees prepared and served hot meals, organized donation drives, and assisted with laundry and distribution — all aimed at preserving dignity and helping clients move toward stable housing. Corporate-community partnerships like this make measurable differences.

RELATED LINK: Gexa Energy gives back

A milestone that strengthens community

What started as an anniversary celebration has become an ongoing commitment to Gexa’s motto of “Texans Serving Texans.” From feeding seniors to sorting donations and helping feed unhoused neighbors downtown, Gexa’s 25th anniversary activities show how corporate volunteer programs can make a real difference in the community.

Hats off to the Gexa team for using a milestone to deepen ties with local nonprofits and to remind our city that small acts — a warm meal, a clean shirt, a friendly visit — matter.

Learn more online gexaenergy.com/community.

The project, proposed by Magellan Pipeline Company, L.P., now part of ONEOK, would be built on a nearly 20-acre tract at 25510 Zube Road in Hockley, just north of U.S. Highway 290.

If approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the facility would receive, store and transfer gasoline, diesel, ethanol and supplemental fuels.

For neighbors like Ziba and Joe Minavi, the proposal hits especially close to home.

The couple is nearly finished building their dream home along Zube Road. Their property backs up to the site where the proposed terminal could be constructed.

“That is where the house is, and where the trees are is the property line between this side of the proposed tanks and also this house,” Joe Minavi said while pointing toward the proposed site.

The Minavis say they were shocked to learn an industrial fuel storage facility could be built next door.

“And just imagine living next to a facility this scale that has fuel, jet fuels and gas in huge tanks. Sixty feet tall. Nobody wants to live next to this,” Ziba Minavi said.

According to TCEQ’s permit application, the proposed terminal would receive, store and transfer:

• Gasoline
• Diesel
• Ethanol
• Supplemental fuels

The permit application also states the facility would include storage tanks, piping, truck loading operations and pollution-control equipment designed to reduce emissions.

One of the biggest concerns voiced by residents is air quality.

According to TCEQ permit documents, the proposed facility would be permitted to emit regulated air pollutants, including:

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
• Carbon monoxide
• Sulfur dioxide
• Particulate matter
• Hazardous air pollutants

VOCs are gases released during fuel storage and transfer operations. TCEQ’s technical review states the proposed facility would use vapor recovery and other pollution-control systems designed to reduce emissions.

The agency has issued a preliminary decision on the permit, but a final decision has not yet been made.

The proposed site is located near Roberts Road Elementary School, churches and growing residential communities.

Kenyatta Bangura, who recently moved to the area, says she’s especially concerned because she’s expecting a baby.

“I’m actually pregnant now, so it’s very scary to know that I’m in a community, I purchased a house here, and so I’m locked in for 30 years in a way. It’s very scary to know that I’m trying to start a life here,” Bangura said.

Just across Highway 290 is the growing Jubilee master-planned community.

Homeowner Derrick Davis says he also worries about what the development could mean for property values.

“It’s gonna be an eyesore for one, and it’s gonna be additional traffic. It’s just, it’s not a good look,” Davis said.

The proposed terminal has not yet received final approval.

TCEQ is currently reviewing public comments before making a final decision on Air Quality Permit No. 180764.

Residents have organized community meetings, submitted public comments and say they plan to continue opposing the project throughout the permitting process.

"Why, why does it have to be here? You know, we’re not against expansion and development and progression and against oil and gas, but why does it have to be here? You know, there’s, there’s plenty of other places you can go build this that are gonna be much safer and a much better fit for, for a plant of that type," Davis said.

KPRC2 reached out to the TCEQ regarding the permitting process.

They issued the statement below:

• What type of permit has been requested for this proposed facility, and what activities would the permit authorize?

Magellan Pipeline Company, LP applied for a case-by-case New Source Review permit. You can find additional information in the application on our website at Pending Air Permits: Information on Current Applications - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.texas.gov. You can search under permit number 180764

• Where does this project currently stand in the permitting process?

Staff is currently evaluating all comments received during the public comment period. This review will culminate in a formal Response to Comments (RTC) that responds to all comments filed during the comment period. Once the RTC is filed, the Office of the Chief Clerk (OCC) will schedule all timely hearing requests and any requests for reconsideration to be considered at a scheduled commission public meeting (Agenda).

• What environmental reviews does TCEQ conduct before deciding whether to issue this type of permit? TCEQ conducts a technical review in accordance with all rules and regulations.
• What emissions are anticipated under the proposed permit, and how does TCEQ evaluate whether those emissions comply with state and federal air quality standards?

The emission levels for each air contaminant may be found in the application at the link identified in Item No. 1. TCEQ conducts a technical review which includes an evaluation of the emission sources, control technologies, and a protectiveness review.

• How does TCEQ evaluate a proposed facility’s proximity to homes, schools, churches, and other sensitive locations? Under 30 Texas Administrative Code § 116.111, all construction permits and amendment applications for facilities must demonstrate that the proposed operation, as represented in the air permit application, complies with all applicable state and federal regulations to ensure protection of public health and welfare. This demonstration, commonly referred to as a protectiveness or impacts review ensures the protection of all public which contains the facilities identified.
• Does TCEQ require traffic, noise, or flooding studies as part of this permitting process? If not, which agencies are responsible for reviewing those potential impacts? TCEQ does not have jurisdiction to regulate traffic, noise, or flooding, and these matters are typically addressed through local county or municipal ordinances and enforced by local authorities.
• How many public comments has TCEQ received regarding this proposed project?

You can find this information on the TCEQ Commissioners Integrated Database at Search TCEQ Data - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.texas.gov.

KPRC 2 also received a statement from ONEOK regarding the proposed terminal. A spokesperson said:

“The proposed refined products terminal in Hockley, Texas, would safely store and distribute refined petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel and other transportation fuels that support everyday needs across the growing Houston metro region. These products are used by consumers, businesses, emergency services and other critical infrastructure that depend on a safe, reliable and affordable fuel supply.

We have a century-long track record of building relationships with stakeholders in and around our operating areas and have been actively engaged with the community regarding our proposed project. We recently hosted a project open house and participated in a public permit meeting, allowing residents to ask questions directly of our project team and share feedback. We remain committed to ongoing community engagement throughout the permitting process and take questions from all stakeholders seriously.

We will continue to comply with applicable federal, state and local regulatory requirements for this project and have performed all studies and modeling pursuant to the requirements of the permitting process. Lowest achievable emission rates have also been integrated into the facility design for environmental protection. We look forward to continued engagement with community members and other stakeholders as the permitting process moves forward."

Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones’ office also issued a statement.

“The TCEQ has a troubling record of disregarding community concerns about hazardous material facilities that emit toxic pollutants. In rapidly growing communities like Hockley, responsible development that prioritizes safety must be non-negotiable. Our children deserve safe places to learn and play; Texas schools should never loom under the constant threat of industrial pollution. I stand with the families fighting this project and urge TCEQ and state leaders to deny this permit. State leaders have a duty to keep all Texans safe and must strengthen protections to prevent such facilities from ever being placed near schools, hospitals, or homes.”

State Rep. Tom Oliverson’s office has not provided a statement as of this publication.

Residents say they plan to continue contacting elected officials and state regulators in hopes of stopping the project from being built in their community.

Whether Hill — the only player in the NFL's Super Bowl era to amass 1,000 or more yards passing, rushing and receiving — continues to play professional football remains to be seen. He did not announce his retirement.

“I’ve taken time this offseason to think carefully about what comes next for my family and me,” Hill said in a social media post Wednesday night. “I still don’t have a clear answer about what the future holds, but I know that returning to New Orleans is not in the cards."

Hill's announcement was largely anticipated; he sold his New Orleans-area home during the offseason and had not signed an extension with the Saints after becoming a free agent in March.

Soon after Hill's post, the Saints posted a highlight video, narrated by record-setting, Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Drew Brees, thanking Hill for his contributions to the franchise.

On the eve of training camp, Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said he had spoken to Hill, but wanted to keep those conversations private for the time being. The uncertainty surrounding those conversations lasted little more than a day.

“As training camp begins, I didn’t want my silence to be misinterpreted," Hill said. "As hard as it is to put into words, I wanted to express my gratitude. To the city of New Orleans: thank you.”

Hill's NFL career began as an undrafted free-agent QB with Green Bay during the 2017 offseason. When he was waived at the end of training camp, the Saints, then coached by Sean Payton, claimed him.

Payton, now coaching the Denver Broncos, initially planed to groom Hill as a possible successor to Brees at QB. But not wanting to let the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Hill's athleticism go to waste, the Saints decided to try him out on special teams as a returner, an upback on punts and covering kicks.

After Hill proved effective in those roles, he became a change-of-pace, running QB who also chipped in at running back, tight end and receiver, earning him the moniker of the Saints' “Swiss Army Knife.”

“You didn't know where they were going to line him up,” said Saints linebacker Kaden Ellis, who played against Hill while with Atlanta the past three seasons. “And then, when he gets the ball, it's a whole other issue.”

Saints coach Kellen Moore said Hill's success led other clubs to explore whether they could incorporate a versatile skill player into their offenses in similar ways.

“Everyone for the last few years has been chasing — let's find the next Taysom — and there's really just one Taysom,” Moore said.

While Hill never won a full-time starting QB job, he started nine times because of injuries. The Saints went 7-2 in those games.

Hill now has career statistics of 2,554 yards and 34 touchdowns rushing; 2,426 yards and 12 TDs passing; and 1,034 yards and 11 touchdowns receiving. In 2023, Hill became the first NFL player in half a century to have 10 touchdowns rushing, passing and receiving.

During his final home game for the Saints, Hill surpassed the career 1,000 yard mark as a receiver and also threw a touchdown pass. He waved goodbye to fans as he left the field after the game, saying he wasn't sure if he'd play in the Superdome again.

If he does, it'll be in a different uniform.

“Taysom’s career to this point as a member of the Saints organization has been remarkable in all facets,” Loomis said in a statement. “His intelligence, unique athletic ability, versatility and unselfishness have benefited this team in many facets for the past nine seasons. Additionally, he’s been a great teammate, excellent leader and mentor."

___

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

Friday’s Forecast:

Tracking a front this weekend:

High pressure that has brought the hot, humid and dry weather moves west Saturday. This will allow and opening for a front to move into southeast Texas. Because of the heat and humidity any storm that forms along the front has the potential to be strong. Not everyone will get rain or thunderstorms, it will move through as a broken line of storms. Timing is late Saturday afternoon into Saturday night.

Sunday’s forecast:

The front stalls near The Woodlands. That means two things. First, any city north of The Woodlands will get several hours of dry air. I don’t expect a big cool down but getting dry air this time of year is huge bonus. Second, south of The Woodlands will not get dry air. In fact, this area may get more rain and storms Sunday morning and afternoon. The only cool down will come from short lived rain cooled air. By Sunday night a southerly wind will bring back the humidity for all of us.

Tracking the tropics:

We’ll get long break from our next storm. There is nothing brewing in the tropics for the next seven to ten days in the Atlantic basin.

10 Day Forecast:

Temperatures remain in the upper 90s next week, and since we are now in the heart of summer there is no major break from the heat. Overnight lows are also close to 80°.

Residents at several Houston apartment complexes say their AC units have stopped working or are not cooling their apartments enough to stay comfortable during extreme heat.

At Independence Hall Apartments, a complex that houses seniors, residents say their air conditioning problems have made it difficult to escape the heat indoors.

One resident, who did not want to show her face because she feared retaliation, said her apartment does not get enough cool air.

“Once things heat up during the day, since this heat is like it is now, by the end of the day it’s pretty warm,” she said.

She said she also has health issues that make the lack of proper cooling especially concerning.

At Meyerland at Braeswood Apartments, resident Charity says she has dealt with repeated AC failures while caring for her 2-year-old daughter.

She said her air conditioner has gone out regularly since March, sometimes leaving her apartment without cooling for days at a time.

“It’s gone out to the point where my belongings have started to mold,” Charity said.

She said the heat has also affected her health.

“I get sick a lot more often than I usually do. It is just hot in there. Hot, sick, now I’m uncomfortable and sick. It’s a lot,” she said.

Charity said she often leaves her apartment to find a cooler place, including spending time at work where air conditioning is available.

Houston councilmember pushes for more protections

Houston City Councilmember Alejandra Salinas says thousands of renters are vulnerable during extreme heat when they do not have access to working air conditioning.

She is calling on landlords to do more and wants changes to city rules that would require air conditioning in all habitable spaces while removing exemptions that allow some properties to operate without it.

Salinas says working air conditioning should be considered a basic need during Houston’s extreme summer temperatures.

What renters can do

For tenants dealing with AC problems, attorneys say there are steps they can take — but repairs may not happen immediately.

Jonna Treble, an attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid, says renters should first report the issue in writing and give their landlord a reasonable amount of time to make repairs.

She said that period is generally considered around seven to 10 days.

Treble advises tenants to keep records of their complaints and continue paying rent while seeking repairs, though she says renters may eventually need legal assistance or consider moving if problems are not resolved.

She also recommends tenants know where cooling sensors are located in their homes and look into available resources if they need a cooler place to stay.

Cooling resources available

Salinas says her office is committing funds to purchase portable air conditioning units for residents who need them.

The city has also opened more than 100 cooling centers, and Reliant Energy is working with Houston to distribute 300 additional portable AC units.

Residents looking for cooling locations or assistance can contact local resources through the City of Houston.

KPRC reached out to both Independence Hall Apartments and Meyerland at Braeswood Apartments to confirm if plans to fix the air conditioning systems are underway. We have not heard back.

The recording, released by Mississippi authorities this week, captures a July 4 call to a private marine towing company requesting assistance for a boat that was taking in water off Horn Island, where Wells was last seen.

“Our bilge pump stopped working. We’re sinking. Can y’all please come?” the caller asks, noting that there were about seven people on board. The dispatcher then speaks with a captain for the towing company, who said a relative of the boat owner reported those onboard had solved the issue and "don't need any help right now.”

The distress call was made to Sea Tow, a private company, and released to media outlets by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Law enforcement officials have said they were told by witnesses that Wells was not on the boat when it left the island.

Speaking at the National Urban League Conference on Thursday, the civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Wells' family had retained audio engineering experts to review the recording. The legal team is also calling on prosecutors to include outside authorities in the review of phones belonging to friends who traveled with Wells to the island.

A voicemail left with the Jackson County District Attorney’s office was not returned.

Wells' parents also attended the conference, pleading for anyone with information to come forward. “We will not rest until we get answers," said his mother, Christine Wonsley.

Online speculation and suspicion mount

The teenager's death has touched off rampant speculation, deepened in part by uncertainty about his final hours, distrust of law enforcement and Mississippi’s long history of racist violence.

The teenager, who was Black, had traveled to the uninhabited island with a group of friends from high school, all of whom were white. He did not return with his friends to the mainland that evening. His body was found two days later off the island’s coast.

A day after the discovery, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating with authorities and that investigators did not suspect foul play. The sheriff has released few details since but has said the investigation is ongoing.

An independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family was inconclusive about the cause of his death. The official autopsy will remain sealed until a grand jury reviews the evidence, which is a standard practice in Jackson County, according to the local district attorney.

In the absence of new information, social media users have seized on videos and photos shared online. Some have made unsubstantiated claims against Wells’ friends, whose attorneys and family members have since reported death threats and doxing campaigns.

Following the release of the dispatch call this week, online sleuths quickly tracked down some of the people mentioned in the audio.

In a statement Wednesday, the parents of a 21-year-old said their son had been doxed and threatened as a result of “outright fabrications” stemming from the audio.

They said he had boarded the malfunctioning boat to help, then briefly towed it a short distance with his own boat. He has since cooperated with law enforcement, provided names of potential witnesses and allowed authorities to inspect his boat and GPS device, the statement added. An attorney for the family said they had already served one person with a cease-and-desist letter for alleged defamatory claims and planned to serve others this week.

Crump defends the attention on the case

On Thursday, Crump rebuffed criticism that his attention on the case could inspire online targeting of others. He noted that Wells’ parents also have faced online attacks.

“We’re not trying to cast aspersions on anybody, we want the truth,” Crump said. “If it was your child, you’d want the same thing."

The attorney was also joined Thursday by relatives of Tyler Smith and Daniel Erving, two Black 18-year-olds who died in recent months, in circumstances that Crump described as “very similar” to Wells' final hours.

Smith, a recent high school graduate from Lexington, Kentucky, died on July 4 from a gunshot wound that police said was accidental and self-inflicted. His family has disputed the determination. Police said the investigation remains ongoing.

Erving drowned in a Texas lake in April after jumping from a railway bridge with two teenage friends, local authorities said. Earlier this month, the two friends were charged with evidence tampering because they had “failed to report the incident and later discarded items belonging to Daniel,” according to a Dallas police spokesperson.

Relatives of both Erving and Smith said their concerns about the investigations had not been taken seriously by local law enforcement.

“Three 18-year-old Black boys all within three months,” Crump said. “We want answers.”

“I can’t wake them up — I can’t get them up!” he frantically told the officers who, along with firefighters and paramedics, gave jurors firsthand accounts on Thursday of the aftermath.

The murder trial has centered on Clancy’s mental state at the time. Her lawyers do not dispute that she strangled the children with exercise bands. But they say she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.

Prosecutors say Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, acted intentionally and is criminally responsible for the deaths in January 2023.

___

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

___

The testimony came after jurors spent two days listening to testimony from Patrick Clancy and his anguished 911 call. He was still on the phone when he discovered the bodies of 3-year-old Dawson, 5-year-old Cora, and 8-month-old Callan, minutes after returning home from an errand his wife asked him to run.

Patrick Clancy has said in interviews that he forgives his ex-wife, whom he viewed as ill rather than evil. The trial marks the first time he has seen Lindsay Clancy since the killings.

She remains paralyzed from the waist down after using multiple methods to try to end her life that night. She says a voice told her, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyer.

Officers Stephen Hall and Brian Josephine testified Thursday that they were each dispatched separately to the house in Duxbury, a coastal town south of Boston. Hall said they arrived to find Patrick Clancy yelling for help from behind the home.

Patrick Clancy testified earlier this week that his injured wife told him the kids were in the basement, but she didn't say they were dead.

When the officers followed the sound of his screams downstairs, only 8-month-old Callan had a faint pulse, Josephine testified.

“Based on my training experience from previous incidents, I knew it wasn’t going to be good,” Josephine said. They began rendering aid with help from firefighters.

PJ Hussey, a fire department supervisor, arrived in time to glimpse through a basement window as Patrick Clancy unwrapped an exercise band from his child's neck.

“It turned very chaotic very quickly” as more ambulances rushed to the house, Hussey testified. Duxbury firefighter and paramedic Jennifer Stratton said the infant never regained a pulse.

If convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

In opening arguments Monday, her attorney said she had bipolar disorder, and that antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition.

Patrick Clancy testified about his wife’s deteriorating mental health in the months leading up to the killings. He said she told him about intrusive thoughts of harming the children, as well as thoughts of suicide.

She sought care from experts in postpartum mood disorders and was put on multiple psychiatric medications. When nothing worked, she checked into a psychiatric hospital. She killed the children 19 days after she was discharged.

Clancy and her ex-husband accuse her medical providers of failing to properly diagnose, treat and monitor her, according to lawsuits filed earlier this year.

Lettuce prices rose sharply in the first half of 2026 due to hot weather in Arizona, where about one-third of America’s lettuce is grown. Now, restaurants are dealing with the fallout from a cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded lettuce that has sickened thousands of Americans.

Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, said Thursday that Taco Bell's U.S. same-store sales are down 2% so far in the July-September period due to customers' concerns over the outbreak. That compares to a 7% same-store sales increase in the April-June period.

Federal health officials first tied the diarrhea-causing outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. Later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said customers in Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were also affected.

Taco Bell removed shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms from its U.S. restaurants on July 17. The following day, Taylor Farms recalled iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico.

Taco Bell's sales bottomed out the weekend of July 18-19 but have been steadily improving since then, Yum Brands Chief Financial Officer Ranjith Roy said Thursday in a conference call with investors. Over the last four days, Taco Bell's U.S. sales have climbed halfway back to their year-ago level, he said.

Yum Brands CEO Chris Turner said Taco Bell's quick action to contain the issue and its clear communication on social media helped bring diners back. The brand also enticed fans with daily specials like $1 Mexican pizza.

“With respect to the consumer sentiment, we’ve seen real improvement as consumers have understood better the nature of the issue,” Turner said. “They understand that it is not a Taco Bell specific issue.”

Yum Brands shares rose 3.3% Thursday.

Other chains are also feeling some impact from the outbreak even though they haven't been named in government investigations. Chipotle Mexican Grill said Wednesday that it expects its same-store sales to rise only 1% in the July-September period because of lower traffic due to the outbreak. It had previously expected same-store sales to rise 3% in that period.

Foot traffic at Chopt, a salad-focused chain with 105 locations, plunged 24% on July 18 compared to the normal average for a Saturday, according to Placer.ai, a market research company. M Science, another market research firm, found that weekly spending at the salad chain Sweetgreen dropped 10 percentage points compared to last year during the first half of July.

Chopt didn't respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Sweetgreen, which has 285 U.S. locations, did not confirm a drop in sales and said in a statement that its food hasn’t been connected to the current cyclospora outbreak.

“We follow rigorous food safety standards and can trace our ingredients from restaurant to farm,” the company said.

Cyclospora cases have continued to grow. As of July 27, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it has received reports of 6,707 laboratory-confirmed cases. It's investigating multiple clusters, including a new outbreak involving 72 people that was announced last week. As the FDA investigation progresses, officials should get a better understanding of which illnesses are connected and “how complex this outbreak actually has become," said Craig Hedberg, a food safety researcher at the University of Minnesota.

The outbreak came on top of an already difficult year for the lettuce industry and people who love eating salads. The retail price of a pound of iceberg lettuce jumped nearly 20% between January and June of this year, according to government data. Consumers paid an average of 33% more last month for all fresh lettuce compared to a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

Lettuce prices advertised by major grocery stores last week averaged $1.86 for a head of iceberg, 25 cents more than the same week a year earlier, according to the USDA. A head of red leaf lettuce cost 52 cents more at $1.66, and a bunch of romaine had an advertised price of $2.49, which was $1.55 higher, the department reported.

Shoppers caught a break with some types of salad mixes, though, which stores advertised at prices 7 to 24 cents cheaper than a year prior, the USDA said.

Elizabeth Canales, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, said unusually hot weather in Arizona early in the year caused crops to mature too early. That caused big supply gaps until California production began in late April.

Fuel costs, which increased after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran and Iran blocked most oil tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf, have also been an issue, according to Canales. Lettuce is especially perishable and requires energy for cooling from the time it's picked to the time it's sold, Canales said.

“The cold chain needs to be maintained. Cooling and transporting it is very important,” Canales said.

Lettuce has been linked to multiple food poisoning outbreaks in the past, including two in 2018 involving E. coli linked to romaine lettuce grown in Arizona and California.

___

Associated Press Writer Mike Stobbe contributed from New York.

Minnesota IT Services said state officials had yet to identify who was behind the attacks that took place Sunday and Monday. There were no reports that residents had been impacted by the attacks, though one city asked residents to conserve water for a couple hours while they tried to determine what was wrong.

The FBI, which is investigating, has not publicly identified a culprit and a spokesperson declined to say Thursday who the bureau thought might be responsible. The FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other agencies warned in an advisory last week that Iranian hackers have been targeting water and wastewater systems and the operational controls other critical infrastructure sectors.

Digital warfare has become ingrained in military conflict, and local water plants or healthcare facilities often lack the funds and know-how to install the latest software patches or take other security steps. That has made them a favorite target, both because of the relative ease of penetrating them and because of the panic such disruptions can cause.

Iran has the “geopolitical motivations” and a recent history of targeting water systems, said Cynthia Kaiser, the former deputy assistant director of the FBI's cyber division who has been closely monitoring threats to critical infrastructure from hackers linked to the country.

“I think most credible researchers and responders would be right to treat it like it’s Iran until proven otherwise,” added Kaiser, who is now the senior vice president of Halcyon’s Ransomware Research Center. “When it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's really important to call it out.”

Iran's interest in the operations of water systems inside the U.S. dates back years. In 2016, the Justice Department charged a group of Iranian hackers in connection with a cyberattack targeting a small dam near New York City.

Minnesota IT Services said that as of Thursday, there were no active requests from Minnesota communities for residents to modify usage of their drinking water. The state agency said most of the confirmed attacks involved technology that water systems use to remotely monitor and control equipment. It said that being impacted meant investigators confirmed there was malicious activity involving the system’s technology and didn’t mean every impacted community had their water service disrupted.

The state agency said there are similarities among the incidents, including timing and the types of technology used, but investigators haven’t determined if the same culprit was behind each one.

For a few hours on Monday, the city of Braham asked residents to minimize water use as they tried to determine why the water plant was offline. The city of about 1,700 people, located about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, said in a news release that the water plant outage was due to a cyberattack, but it didn't cause any issue with water quality.

The city said the attackers shut down the operating controls that shut down the well and water treatment plant. That left the city for a time only able to provide residents with the water held in the water tower.

In Plymouth, a city of about 80,000 located outside of Minneapolis, officials said on social media that their water infrastructure communications had been restored by Tuesday afternoon following a cyberattack. The city said crews were able to continue operating the system during the outage and it didn't have any impact on water levels or quality.

The Seattle-based company said Thursday that sales in its cloud computing unit called AWS rose 37% during the April-June period, faster than the 28% clip in the previous quarter and marking the fastest rate of growth in 18 quarters.

CEO and President Andy Jassy disclosed to investors on the call that Amazon now expects capital spending to total $220 billion, which also includes outlays on robots, semiconductors and satellites. That's up from the $200 billion investment plan that was announced in February and well above the $128 billion in capital spending for all of last year. Jassy cited the higher cost of memory chips as the main reason for the increase.

Jassy told investors that even at the $220 billion level, Amazon will not have enough capacity to meet all of the demand it has this year.

“I believe this dynamic will also be true in 2027 too,” he added. “In fact, the demand we already have for 2028 is striking.”

Still, shares rose more than 9% in after-hours trading.

Investors had been closely watching Amazon’s quarterly earnings to see if the company’s big spending on AI is starting to pay off.

The Seattle-based company offered a cautious sales outlook for the current quarter.

Amazon was among the last of the tech giants to report its earnings results covering the latest three-month period. The reports offer investors a read on AI spending and cloud computing growth across the industry.

Google parent Alphabet reported better-than-expected revenue for the second quarter last week, fueled by an 82% increase in its cloud business. But the stock tumbled as the tech giant increased its full-year forecast for capital expenditures to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion. That’s up from its previous estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion.

Microsoft, which on Wednesday reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, said growth was strong for its Azure cloud business. The company didn’t announce a big increase in how much it plans to spend on AI investments. That helped to boost shares.

Investors are worried that such spending is eating into companies’ cash flows and may not ultimately be worth it if AI doesn’t deliver as much productivity and profits as promised.

In a statement released Thursday, Jassy said AWS is “booming” and noted that its AI and chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion. He noted that in stores, the company set record delivery speeds for its Prime members in the first half of the year, noting that 40% more items were delivered either same-day or overnight.

“There’s a lot to be excited about, and we have much more coming for customers in the second half of the year and beyond,” he said.

Amazon’s results from the latest quarter underscored that demand keeps growing for Amazon’s services and technology.

In April, Amazon signed big deals with OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.

Amazon announced in April what it called a “major expansion” of its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI one day after the artificial intelligence company said it was loosening its ties to longtime backer Microsoft.

Like other retailers, however, Amazon is experiencing higher tariff costs because of President Donald Trump’s foreign trade policies. Rising shipping costs as the Iran war affects oil and fuel prices also could cut into the company’s e-commerce revenue.

Meanwhile, Amazon has been speeding up order delivery times through a combination of robotics, AI technology and more efficient warehousing. In fact, speedier delivery helped Amazon dethrone Walmart in February from its status as the nation’s largest company by revenue, according to Fortune, which compiles a ranking of the top 500 U.S. corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years.

Amazon announced in May it was rapidly opening small order processing hubs in dozens of U.S. and foreign cities for 30 minute deliveries, catering to people who can’t or don’t want to wait for cough medicine to relieve flu symptoms or tomatoes for tonight’s dinner salad.

The company said Thursday that for the first six months of the year it more than doubled the number of new customers for its online pharmacy service, while same-day prescription deliveries were up nearly five times.

Amazon also pushed up its big four-day sale event known as Prime Day to June from July this year.

Amazon reported net income of $62.65 billion, or $5.75 per share, in the three-month period ended June 30. That compares with $18.16 billion or $1.68 per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales rose to $200.6 billion from $167.7 billion a year ago.

Analysts were expecting sales of $197.03 billion for the latest quarter.

Amazon said it expects net sales to be in the range of $197 billion to $202 billion. Analysts expect $203.9 billion, according to FactSet.

Human-caused climate change made the hot and dry conditions responsible for Spain's record-sized inferno 20 times more likely to happen, and it doubled the chances of extreme fire conditions for the flames in France, scientists at World Weather Attribution calculated in a rapid analysis Thursday, conducted while fires were still burning. Warming in the past 26 years has tripled the odds of the severe fire risk conditions in Spain and increased the chances in France 40%, the same report found.

At the same time, researchers published a separate study on Thursday — written and edited long before this week's fires began — that found the number of days that Southern Europe's weather reached extreme fire-prone levels has more than doubled compared to decades ago.

Both studies examined changes in the weather that creates fire-prone conditions. The measurements factor in air temperature, drought conditions, humidity and wind.

"The change in these fire weather conditions in Spain is really extremely strong and is, I think, one of the largest changes that I've seen," said Friederike Otto, an Imperial College of London climate scientist who coordinates World Weather Attribution. Spain is having its hottest summer on record, after an incredibly wet January that allowed plants to grow before a severe drought hit, a combination that increased wildfire fuel, the report said.

Spain also had the added problem of land abandonment, which left unmanaged plants and trees to dry out, Otto said. France's Bordeaux region, meanwhile, had thick groves of pines that also burn well when a fire starts, she said.

World Weather Attribution — an international collaboration of scientists who examine extreme events to determine climate change's role, if any — did that study so quickly, the report didn't get peer reviewed, which is the scientific gold standard. But Otto and her colleagues used techniques that are scientifically accepted, and many of their reports are published in peer-reviewed journals later.

Warming world means fires ignite ‘more explosively’

Otto's team calculated how much climate change — from the burning of coal, oil and gas — increased the chances for fires of this intensity to happen. They did so by comparing fire weather severity levels to past measurements for the region and to what they would be if the world was 2.5 degrees (1.4 degrees Celsius) cooler. That is how much Earth has warmed since pre-industrial times.

“This study makes sense and provides numbers to confirm what fire scientists already knew,” said Syracuse University fire scientist Jacob Bendix, who wasn't part of either research. “We have always known that fires ignite more easily and spread more explosively under conditions of extreme heat and drought. And we’ve known for decades that extreme heat and drought are becoming more common due to anthropogenic climate change. So the general outline of these events, if not all the details, was tragically predictable.”

Thursday's other study, in the journal Scientific Reports, finds that there were about 10 extreme fire weather days a year in Southern Europe in earlier decades, but it is now up to around 25 a year, said study author Raúl Cordero, a climate scientist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. And it is not just more frequent bad fire weather days. Those days are about 50% more intense than they were from 1981 to 2010, his study said.

Fires were decreasing until climate change overwhelmed gains

The number of Southern European fires and amount of land burned had decreased quite a bit from the 1980s to 2018, mostly because of better fire suppression and management techniques, Cordero said. But then things quickly got worse fast because climate change overwhelmed that improvement, he said.

“It doesn't matter how many resources or how much money you have, you just cannot stop the propagation of a fire when the weather is so extreme,” Cordero said. “The climate forcing is so extreme nowadays that it's just amazing.”

University of California Merced fire scientist John Abatzaglou, who also wasn’t part of either research, said, “these findings make clear that climate change is not just a future problem, it’s already here.”

“We need to stop burning fossil fuels,” Otto said. “Because as long as we keep burning fossil fuels, temperatures will increase globally. And that will mean that these fire weather conditions will get worse and worse and worse. And there are hard limits to what we can adapt to.”

___

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

The former lieutenant governor made the announcement in a video posted on his Facebook page as democratic socialist Francesca Hong has garnered strong support from the liberal wing of the party.

Barnes’ decision to drop out came a day after the release of a Marquette Law School poll of Wisconsin Democratic primary voters that found Hong leading Barnes and the other candidates by a significant margin, although about one-third of primary voters remained undecided.

“It's become very clear who our nominee is going to be,” Barnes said.

Barnes’ move came on the same day that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that it had asked him about allegations of inappropriate behavior lodged with the state Democratic Party, local party officials and others against him.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party received an anonymous letter in 2024 and again in 2025 making allegations against Barnes, a person with direct knowledge of the party’s actions told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the review.

The party hired a law firm in 2025 to look into claims that Barnes used his position in the party to seek out inappropriate relationships with young adult women, the person said. The review found nothing actionable because the allegations were anonymous and unspecific, the person with knowledge of the probe said.

Barnes' campaign issued a statement saying, “There are no allegations of misconduct or wrongdoing against Mandela.”

Barnes is the third Democrat to withdraw from the race. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez ended her run amid a campaign finance scandal two weeks ago and former state economic development director Missy Hughes dropped out in June.

After Rodriguez ended her campaign, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley rejoined the race with the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers.

Crowley made a direct plea to Barnes' supporters to back him.

“There's a place for you in what we're building,” he posted on social media.

Evers told reporters Thursday that he was surprised by Barnes’ move.

“But he needs to do what he needs to do,” Evers said. “I don’t know why he’s getting out. I have to believe it’s something relatively important.”

Evers said he stuck by his endorsement of Crowley, who worked closely with Evers and Republican lawmakers on a deal to increase funding for local communities. Evers chose to endorse him over Barnes, who served as his lieutenant governor in his first term.

Evers said Crowley was the best candidate “even if Mandela was in.”

Hong did not immediately return a text message seeking comment.

Joel Brennan, a long-shot candidate in the race, said, “It’s unfortunate for voters that this primary has gotten more attention for chaos than the stakes of this election."

The shake-up comes after nearly 128,000 voters have already returned absentee ballots and on the third day of in-person early voting. On Wednesday, a judge rejected a lawsuit supported by the Democratic Party seeking to allow voters who have already returned their absentee ballots to cancel them and vote again.

The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who faces only nominal opposition in the Republican primary. Tiffany, who has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, said it's become clear the race will be a choice between a “socialist agenda” or “common sense.”

“This election is not about red versus blue,” he said. “It is about whether Wisconsin stays Wisconsin.”

Barnes ending his campaign comes after he benefited from other candidates dropping out in the Democratic primary race for Senate in 2022 to clear the field for him. He ended up losing by under 27,000 votes that year to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

The department selected investment firm Brookfield Asset Management to develop and operate the data center at the government-owned Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. In March, the department announced a similar project at its Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio.

Both are undergoing extensive cleanup, decontamination and decommissioning after decades of fueling the nation's nuclear weapons and power plants. The project is in line with the Trump administration's efforts to make artificial intelligence superiority over China a top national security and economic priority.

The federal government is transforming former DOE sites into “engines of innovation and economic growth” to “ensure the United States wins the A.I. race,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement Wednesday.

“There will be a lot of new natural gas power plants, a large data center, thousands of jobs and tens of billions of dollars of investment in rural western Kentucky,” Wright said on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends.”

Earlier in July, the Department of Energy said it had picked engineering contractor Amentum to negotiate a lease to develop an AI data center and on-site power plant at South Carolina's Savannah River Site, a massive complex where the federal government once produced materials used in nuclear weapons, primarily tritium and plutonium-239.

Real estate, energy and data center services are cornerstones in the investment portfolio of New York-headquartered Brookfield, which reports that it has more than $1 trillion in assets under management.

A Brookfield spokesperson estimated that 30% of the $100 billion in spending would go toward construction of the data center and power components, with the rest of the money being spent on the equipment in the data centers, including servers, routers and semiconductor chips.

Discussions were ongoing with commercial partners to use the data center space, Brookfield spokesperson Simon Maine said.

Other partners in the Paducah project are power generation and transmission giant NextEra Energy and local utilities.

Florida-based NextEra Energy will build and own the power generation components, which are to include 2 gigawatts of natural gas-fired generation, upgrades to transmission networks and 2.6 gigawatts of battery energy storage to support a new 1.8 gigawatt AI data center campus, the department said.

The plant would be the largest gas-fired power plant in Kentucky. A single gigawatt, according to a general industry standard for utilities, can power about 750,000 homes.

A power service agreement must be approved by state utility regulators, and excess electricity would be delivered to the regional grid. Construction was expected to be complete in 2031, the department said.

Cleanup is continuing at the roughly 3,550-acre Paducah plant site, which was on a list of 16 federal sites released last year as locations where the department could invite technology companies to build data management and storage capacity.

It shut down in 2013 and the gaseous diffusion process to enrich uranium is considered obsolete.

The department has projected that cleanup at the Paducah site would be completed in 2065 at a cost of about $17 billion, including demolishing buildings, disassembling uranium converters, removing refrigerant and treating a large plume of groundwater contamination.

In the meantime, the department is working on plans to provide some of the uranium waste being stored for decades at the Paducah site to a pair of companies seeking to use newer technologies to re-enrich it for use in power plants.

Group raises questions about projects

A newly formed group called Protect McCracken County has raised questions about the uranium enrichment and data center projects, saying that the work is being carried out beside a river that 5 million people downstream drink from without an independent study of the impact.

Byron Gary, a senior attorney for the environmental and public health advocacy group Kentucky Resources Council, said any plans to develop the contaminated Paducah site or to withdraw water from the water table underneath it must be carefully executed.

He said the construction of a such a large gas-fired power plant — which emits planet-warming greenhouse gases — would have implications for climate change and that his organization would want to be certain that regular ratepayers are not forced to subsidize the power plants and transmission upgrades there.

Gary also said his organization will want to make sure that the Department of Energy does not circumvent permitting processes as a way to get around environmental protection laws.

“There shouldn't be a justification to get around that and end up potentially dumping a lot more burden on a rural community that can’t afford it,” Gary said.

___

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

Torres-Concho’s body was found around 8 a.m. on September 30, 2025 along the Katy Freeway service road in the Heights.

According to police the teen was stabbed multiple times.

HPD released surveillance photos of the suspect about a month later.

Marcus Fernandez is currently in the custody of the Texas Department of Corrections on unrelated charges.

Apple raised the prices of its Macs and iPads last month, citing a memory-chip shortage brought on by the artificial intelligence boom. The company had called the demand spike an “unprecedented challenge” for the consumer electronics industry. While it hasn't yet raised iPhone prices, analysts and consumers expect that to happen later this year.

The maker of the iPhone and iPad said Thursday it earned $29.79 billion, or $2.02 per share, in the April-June period. That is up 27% from $23.43 billion, or $1.57 per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 16% to $$109.42 billion from $94.04 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.89 per share on revenue of $109 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. Tariff refunds of 11 cents per share contributed to the quarter's earnings.

“Today, Apple is proud to report our strongest June quarter ever, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac and Services, and in every geographic segment,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. It was Cook's final earnings call. He announced his retirement in April, after 15 years at the helm of the company. John Ternus, Apple’s head of hardware engineering, will assume the role on Sept. 1.

"I couldn't be more confident in his leadership, in the executive team and the extraordinary people at Apple," Cook said.

Apple continues to generate cash without the massive artificial intelligence spending that its Big Tech peers area are dealing with “and that showed across most parts of the operation,” said Thomas Monteiro, an analyst at Investing.com. “As the market grows more worried about free cash flow trajectories elsewhere in Big Tech, Apple keeps standing out as the safe haven in the storm.”

But he cautioned that memory costs — which are continuing to increase — could challenge Apple in the coming quarters. It also won't have the tariff benefit to boost profit margins again. September's iPhone launch and more price increases should “help cushion the hit,” Monteiro said.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple, which recently regained its title as the world's most valuable company from Nvidia, fell $7.52, or 2.3%, to $325.91 in after-hours trading.

The study by Smartasset lists Houston as the second least safest big city in the United States.

The study calculated the rankings based off several criteria. These were the statistics for Houston in the study:

• Violent crimes per 1K: 11.5
•    Property crimes per 1K: 42.9
•    Auto fatalities per 100K: 11.6
•    Disaster risk: Very High

Of the 83 cities listed by safety, Houston was 82, surpassing only Memphis, Tennessee. Dallas was also listed among the least safe large cities coming in at 73 on the list.

However, Texas is also home to some of what the study says are the safest cities in the United States. Plano came in as the second safest large city in the country. Laredo was listed as the sixth safest large city in the country.

• Texas’ ban on several consumable THC hemp products goes into effect Friday: What is legal and what is not?

The study ranked cities with populations greater than 250,000 people. It calculated natural disaster risk by converting the county risk rating in FEMA’s National Risk Index, as of April 2026, for the county in which a particular city is located to a five-point numeric scale.

Smartasset says traffic fatality rates were sourced from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Property and violent crime rates were sourced from the FBI’s 2024 issue of Crime in the United States (CIUS), the most recent year available; where city data was not available via CIUS, alternate sources, such as state or agency reports were used. Each metric was weighted and combined into a composite score used to rank the cities.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week announced it would wrap up the program, which was initially implemented by the Biden administration in 2024 to lower patients' Medicare Part D prescription drug costs in response to effects of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

While federal officials insist the financial impact on Medicare beneficiaries will be minimal, the decision opens the Republican-led administration to potential political consequences in a high-stakes midterm election year. Voters have identified cost of living as a top concern, and many older adults, who tend to vote in high numbers, are on fixed incomes where every dollar counts. The roughly 25 million Americans with Medicare Part D plans will find out about their 2027 rates in the fall, when they are casting ballots in November's elections.

Democrats slammed CMS's move as part of a pattern of federal attacks on healthcare affordability, alongside federal Medicaid cuts and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies that had reduced premium costs for working-age Americans in that program.

“The Trump administration is actively raising prescription drug costs for 25 million seniors,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X in response to the news, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. “Heartless, cruel, and completely by choice.”

CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday said ending the subsidy program would prevent billions of taxpayer dollars from being funneled to insurance companies. It cost the agency an estimated $3.6 billion in 2026.

He said most Medicare beneficiaries would see less than a $10-per-month increase, and some would even see lower premiums than beforehand.

“Every Medicare beneficiary still has access to low-cost plans, and we will continue to lower prescription drug prices for every American patient, from more MFN deals to our policy giving seniors access to GLP-1s for $50 a month,” he wrote on social media.

The federal government also negotiates directly with pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of some of the most expensive drugs in Medicare, through a program created by Congress in 2022.

This week's decision has no impact on the out-of-pocket cap that limits the amount that older adults with standalone Medicare drug coverage spend on their prescription drugs over the course of a year. That was set at $2,100 in 2026 and is projected to rise to $2,400 for 2027.

Part D beneficiaries paid an average of $36 a month this year for their prescription drug premiums with the subsidies in place, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. The subsidies offset the average premium by $16 in 2026, according to the federal Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

It's not yet known how many Americans the change will effect, or how much more they'll pay. Older Americans have the opportunity to shop for plans each year, and prices vary widely between them. CMS has said it will release information about next year's premiums in September.

AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said her organization, which serves Americans 50 and older, had supported the temporary subsidy.

“While it’s too early to know the full impact of this change, it would be unfortunate if this decision made Part D coverage less affordable, just as we’re beginning to see billions in savings from Medicare drug price negotiation,” she said in a statement.

Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, said the price increases may be marginal for some consumers but impactful for others when combined with higher prices in other areas, like groceries, gas and housing.

“What's going to matter most for consumers is how much more or less they have to pay at the end of a month, and how much they have left after the bills are paid,” she said. “This could just make it more challenging for some people to make that math work.”

Cameron threw only 72 pitches through six innings with two walks and five strikeouts, with little solid contact by the Twins. Catcher Salvador Perez sprang forward to pick up Ryan Kreidler’s dribbler in front of the plate and make an on-target underhand toss to first base for the second out of the sixth as the 36-year-old tumbled to the grass to keep the feat alive.

But Jeffers delivered a clean single to right-center field on an 0-2 changeup from Cameron.

Cameron still stretched his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 16 by getting the next six outs for his career-long outing with a one-hitter in eight shutout innings. He threw seven shutout frames in relief last Friday after the Royals used an opener in a 2-1 loss at Detroit. This one ended even worse, when Kody Clemens hit a walk-off grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to give Minnesota a 4-3 victory.

Former Twins right-hander Randy Dobnak pitched seven scoreless innings for the Royals on Wednesday night in a 4-0 victory.

Cameron went 9-7 with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts last season and finished fourth in American League Rookie of the Year award voting. The 27-year-old threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings in his major league debut on April 30, 2025, for a 3-0 win at Tampa Bay.

___

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

The S&P 500 rallied 1.7% and more than recovered its drop from the day before, which was its worst in seven weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 613 points, or 1.2%. The Nasdaq composite, which is full of artificial-intelligence stocks, rallied 2.8% a day after it fell 9.8% below its record set last month.

Microsoft led the way and leaped 15.5% for its best day in nearly 18 years after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Growth was strong for its Azure cloud business, and CEO Satya Nadella said it reflects how customers are using Microsoft to move into AI.

Perhaps just as importantly for Wall Street, Microsoft did not announce a big increase in how much it plans to spend on AI investments, something that several other Big Tech rivals have done. Worries are high that such spending is eating into companies’ cash flows and may not ultimately be worth it if AI does not produce as much productivity and profits as promised.

Meta Platforms helped demonstrate such fears after falling 8%. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, even though it made slightly more in revenue than expected. It also raised the lower end of its forecasted range for spending on investments this year.

Companies involved in the making of the computer memory and processors that such “hyperscalers” are buying to power their AI efforts rose Thursday, recovering some of the big losses they’ve taken on worries their stock prices shot too high in the euphoria around AI.

Micron Technology jumped 18.4%, for example, to trim its loss for the week to 5%. It was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 after Microsoft.

Lam Research, a supplier to the semiconductor industry, soared 18% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Chip giant Advanced Micro Devices rallied 13%.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Jersey Mike’s Subs. The sandwich chain’s stock fell 6% in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 121.48 to 7,437.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 613.92 to 52,208.06, and the Nasdaq composite leaped 679.24 to 25,122.18.

In the bond market, longer-term Treasury yields held steadier following their sharp accelerations Wednesday. They had jumped after the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, gave few clues about what the central bank will do with interest rates to combat the painfully high inflation that continues to hurt the country.

Higher rates could keep a lid on inflation, but they can also slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was 4.67%, the same as late Wednesday. The 30-year Treasury yield ticked up to 5.22% from 5.20%, a day after it shot up from 5.09%. Those yields move with investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth in upcoming years.

Warsh reaffirmed on Wednesday the Fed wants to get inflation back to 2%, even though the central bank decided not to raise interest rates despite inflation remaining higher than that. He also implied the bond market may already be doing some of the Fed’s work to restrain inflation, and he pointed to how yields have climbed since the central bank’s last meeting six weeks earlier.

That leaves investors questioning whether the Fed is prepared to act if inflation worsens, or whether it is relying on financial markets to achieve the same outcome, according to Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

“If investors conclude that the latter is true, the credibility of the Fed’s inflation-fighting commitment could come under increasing scrutiny. Arguably, it already is.”

President Donald Trump, who nominated Warsh to lead the Fed, has lobbied for lower interest rates even though they could cause inflation to accelerate.

Reports released Thursday suggested the U.S. economy’s growth slowed by more during the spring than economists expected. A measure of Inflation, meanwhile, remained worse last month than the Federal Reserve’s target, but it slowed from May’s level.

In the oil market, prices eased. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.4% to settle at $86.88 per barrel.

It had swung as low as $72 early this month and as high as $102 last week on uncertainty about whether the United States and Iran could reach a deal to allow oil tankers to move freely again from the Middle East to customers worldwide.

In stock markets worldwide, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.2%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.9% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

Seoul’s market has been at the center of AI’s huge swings because it’s dominated by two tech titans, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. After more than doubling through this year’s first six months, the Kospi has plunged 34% so far in July.

Its drop on Thursday came as Samsung Electronics dipped 0.7%. The tech giant reported a record profit for the spring and said demand for its chips continues to outpace supply, but its earnings nevertheless fell shy of analysts’ high expectations.

___

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

Following a few days of respite, fears of a wider war have grown, with renewed fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person. Also this week, drones caused fires on ships at an Egyptian port, and Saudi Arabia said it came under fire from Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The war — which in its early days President Donald Trump said would last four to five weeks, although he warned it could take longer — has caused the price of fuel to spike and roiled the global economy. As months have passed, concerns have deepened about using up the stockpile of weapons the U.S. needs to defend its bases and allies.

The war is unpopular among Americans, and a new AP-NORC poll says Trump’s approval rating on Iran has dipped slightly since last month.

The recent pause in fighting, which began over the weekend and spurred hopes among mediators of diplomatic progress, ended with increasing missile and drone attacks across many countries in the Middle East.

“We note with concern that the security situation remains precarious,” said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, whose country has been a key mediator.

Talks “are ongoing to normalize the situation, particularly the situation in the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters.

The US and Iran trade strikes

An Iranian strike hit a Chinese firm’s building in Kuwait on Thursday, severely damaging the structure and killing a worker, Kuwait’s military said, hours after Jordan’s air defenses shot down five missiles launched from Iran.

No injuries were reported from Jordan’s interception, the country's state-run Petra news agency said, quoting the spokesman for the country’s armed forces. Both Jordan and Kuwait host American troops.

The attacks came after the U.S. military said it completed “a heavy wave of strikes against Iran” in response to an earlier Iranian missile attack on a U.S. base in Jordan.

U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces struck dozens of targets belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance and defense sites.

Iran's official IRNA news agency said three people were killed and two were wounded in a strike on the island of Qeshm, which lies off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world's energy supplies that has been at the center of the conflict.

The latest barrage came after the U.S. partnered with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers.

Fires reported on two natural gas vessels at an Egyptian port

Also on Wednesday, British maritime security firm Ambrey said drone strikes ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strikes on a U.S.-owned floating storage facility and a Greek-owned tanker. No injuries were reported.

The office of the Egyptian prime minister said initial investigations showed the fires had been caused by a drone. In a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said investigators were able to recover traces of the drone and will try to determine where it came from.

Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator, has until now been spared direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have denied they were behind the attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi didn't outright deny Iranian involvement but said: “Egypt is an important friend and partner in the region, and its security is of utmost importance to us.”

"We must all be vigilant against Israeli plots and false-flag operations designed to undermine regional peace," he said on X. “The threat is clear, mutual, and fearful of Muslim solidarity.”

The war has wreaked havoc on the global economy

The conflict has wreaked havoc on the global economy as energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have ground to a near halt. Much of the diplomacy around ending the war has focused on reopening the strait, through which 20% of oil and natural gas shipments passed in peacetime.

The already limited traffic through the strait has plunged to wartime lows during the recent exchange of strikes, from 82 ships during the week of July 13-19 to just 39 from July 20-26, Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping data and analysis firm, said in an webinar.

Fighting elsewhere has squeezed energy supplies further.

Saudi Arabia has accused Iraqi militias of firing drones against its oil facilities over the past days. An umbrella group of Iraqi militias initially denied the allegations, while the Houthi rebels said they had attacked Saudi energy facilities as part of a separate but related conflict.

The Houthis have also declared a blockade of Saudi shipping and threatened to choke off another crucial Middle East trade route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden. That route became even more important during the war, as Saudi Arabia used it to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

While some Saudi oil exports are continuing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait despite the blockade, Lloyd’s List Intelligence said much of that oil now follows an expensive and time-consuming workaround: It travels from Saudi Arabia on tankers to the Egyptian city of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea coast before being pumped overland through a pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir. Then it's loaded on tankers again.

The Suez Canal is not deep enough to handle the largest and most economical tankers when they are fully loaded with oil.

Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met Wednesday with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly about the private meetings.

They said the Saudi decision to join the U.S. attacks against the Iraqi militias was meant to send a message to Iran that the kingdom would not tolerate Iran or its proxies targeting the Saudi oil industry and other critical infrastructure. At the same time, the defense minister underscored to Trump and Vance that the Saudis want to see a de-escalation in the war and for Washington and Tehran to return to negotiations.

___

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Aamer Madhani in Washington; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Fatma Khaled in Cairo; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed.

A group of seniors at a Galveston Island retirement community says they have been displaced for nearly a year after a pipe failure caused significant flooding — and they want to know when they can finally go home.

Residents of the Meridian of Galveston say management relocated them to the Inn at the Waterpark following the incident. But they say the conditions and level of care at the hotel are not the same as what they were promised — and what they’re paying for.

“My biggest complaint is I’m paying $3,400 to live in a single hotel room,” one resident said.

The frustration runs deeper than the accommodations. John Schreiber says he feels like residents have been forgotten by management.

“The advertisements they put out to get people to come to the Meridian advertised active transportation available and certain amenities — and they haven’t been delivering on them,” Schreiber said.

Gary Delzer says the problems started when a pipe on the sixth floor failed, causing flooding that spread throughout the building. He took photos of the damage that followed. What was supposed to be a short-term fix has stretched far longer than anyone expected.

“At first they said it would be a very short number of weeks or months to fix everything, and now it’s been a year — and it always gets postponed,” Delzer said.

KPRC 2 took those concerns directly to Barry Goldstein, executive director of the Meridian of Galveston. He acknowledged the delays but says the facility is now moving toward getting residents back home.

“Right now, where we’re at is we’ve submitted our application for certificate of occupancy,” Goldstein said. “What that allows is the city to go and review all the inspections they’ve had and to conduct further inspections to determine and ensure that it’s safe for the residents to return.”

As for why the process took so long, Goldstein said the scope of the damage was far greater than initially anticipated.

“Two-thirds of the building had damage to it,” Goldstein said. “It’s basically like an onion — when you find an area to fix, it leads to things that require new code, and we would have to repair to that code. We had challenges with the contractors to get the appropriate work done and changed contractors a couple of times throughout the process.”

Goldstein says the city now has 10 days to review the certificate of occupancy request. He is optimistic there will be no further delays and that residents could begin moving back in shortly after.

As an added incentive for residents who choose to return, Goldstein says the Meridian will offer a two-year freeze on any rent increases.

After failed negotiations forced the delay of a committee vote to advance Blanche's nomination, Trump suggested he was holding firm against pressure from Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. They have expressed concerns about the controversial settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, which a judge denounced as an exercise in self-dealing.

The senators said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement with them, but the White House wouldn't budge to aid the confirmation of Trump's loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration's priorities as acting attorney general. Instead, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche's nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year.

“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday. “But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with it.”

Hours after Trump's post, however, Blanche held a meeting with Cornyn and Tillis and the two sides were back to working collaboratively, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations around Blanche’s confirmation.

Cornyn and Tillis have said they won't back Blanche's nomination without additional assurances in writing about the settlement, which included a deal to drop tax claims against the president and a now-scrapped plan to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” meant to compensate Trump allies.

With all Democratic senators opposed, just one Republican holdout on the Senate Judiciary Committee could sink Blanche’s chances for confirmation. And even if Blanche makes it through the Senate Judiciary Committee, it’s unclear if he has enough Republican support to be confirmed by the full chamber.

Cornyn wrote in a social media post Thursday that the president is “mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”

While the Justice Department dropped plans for the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” after bipartisan outrage about the potential of payouts going to violent Jan. 6 rioters, officials have said that another piece of the settlement — granting Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits — remains in place.

Though Blanche has repeatedly insisted that the “Anti-Weaponization fund” is dead, skeptical lawmakers have pushed for a commitment in writing — especially since Trump has expressed continued support for the idea. But the senators suggested the White House is resisting putting it in writing.

“The president’s getting bad advice. He should listen to Blanche and others who think if it’s dead, it should be rendered completely dead,” Tillis told reporters about the fund.

Another sticking point was the settlement's audit immunity provision that said the U.S. government is “forever barred and precluded” from scrutinizing or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization’s current and past tax examinations. Cornyn and Tillis have pressed the administration to modify the agreement to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.

While the majority of Republican senators oppose the settlement, the main pushback to Blanche has come from Cornyn, who lost his seat earlier this year when Trump opposed him in a GOP primary. Trump has also frequently targeted Tillis, who announced last year that he would not run for re-election and has criticized the administration over the pardons of Jan. 6 rioters and other matters.

Though it would be politically embarrassing for the Trump administration, pulling Blanche’s nomination would likely have little practical impact on the management of the Justice Department.

Blanche, who took the reins of the department after Pam Bondi's firing in April, can still lead the agency as either acting attorney general or deputy attorney general, the No. 2 post to which he was confirmed last year. The deputy attorney general, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the law enforcement agency, can perform the duties of the attorney general if that post is vacant.

___

Associated Press reporter Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

The Texas Supreme Court’s May ruling ended a 2021 injunction which paused the state from enforcing the new classification.

What is banned?

The reclassification bans the sale and/or possession of all synthetically created THC, including delta-8, delta-10, THCP and THCA flower.

• Texas Senate panel lays groundwork for renewed push to ban THC products

An exception to this ruling is delta-9 products with less than 0.3% THC by dry weight.

These products can come in the form of:

• smokable products
• CBD oil
• gummies and edibles
• topical lotions and cosmetic products
• infused foods and drinks

What is the punishment for being in possession of such products?

Once the reclassification goes into effect, it will become a crime to possess or manufacture these types of synthetically made THC products.

It will become a state jail felony punishable of between 180 days to two years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

The Texas Tribune contributed to this article

The growing number of stray dogs — along with reports of animal cruelty and neglect — drew residents to Commissioners Court last year, where many pushed for a shelter and were encouraged when money was set aside. KPRC 2’s Lisa Hernandez requested an update from Liberty County Attorney Matthew Poston, who said the shelter cannot operate as planned without a staffing strategy that relies heavily on inmate labor.

• Texas Children’s completes $200M expansion to boost care for high-risk pregnancies and newborns

Poston said the county does not have room in the budget to hire the employees needed to run an animal shelter and would need trustee inmates to handle essential daily work such as grounds maintenance, cleaning and monitoring animals. But he said the current jail does not house low-level offenders who could qualify for that trustee program, and the planned new jail — estimated to be completed in about two years — is intended to house inmates who are eligible for trustee status.

KPRC 2 asked for more details, but an interview was declined. We will provide updates as soon as we learn new information.

County Attorney Matthew Poston provided the following statement:

Ms. Hernandez,

To understand the timeline, the plan and its constraints should be described. The Commissioners intend to replicate a neighboring county’s animal control program. There, officers who are dual-certified as animal control officers and jailers enlist trustee inmates to perform much of the work of the program. For example, the inmates mow the grounds around the shelter, clean the kennels and monitor the animals. Such a program benefits the animals, the inmates and the county, who is able to greatly reduce employment costs.

The animal shelter program is only workable when the new Liberty County jail is constructed. For example, the inmates who work at the animal shelter would need to be eligible for trustee status and the inmates who populate the current jail do not meet those eligibility requirements. Most of the county inmates are housed out of county under contracts which give the other county the right to refuse the most dangerous inmates and those who require intensive healthcare. The Liberty County jail is therefore left with both of those classes of inmates.

Liberty County is entering a hiring freeze in the next budget year as the first payments on the jail bond are coming due. Unfortunately, county employees will not receive a cost-of-living raise. The County is entering a very restrictive budgetary period because of the increase in the jail population occurring at the same time as the jail’s capacity was greatly reduced by order of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Utilizing inmate labor is a budgetary necessity for the animal control program.

This means that the animal shelter’s construction must coincide with the new jail’s. The County has already hired the architects for the jail project and will be hiring construction managers this Thursday. The Court will immediately turn to doing the same for the animal shelter now. The next step will be to hire an architect and shortly after that, a construction manager. I’m expecting an agenda item on Tuesday’s agenda dealing with selection criteria for an architect from our purchasing department. Based on similarly sized projects, we expect construction of the animal shelter to take approximately a year to complete. The jail is estimated to be constructed in approximately 20-24 months.

This timeline is not near as fast as Commissioners Court would like nor as the need for an animal control program demands. In the period before the animal shelter is built, we are looking for partners for spay/neuter events. Limiting the growth of the stray animal population is vital to reducing the risk of disease in our community. Similarly, we are asking the Legislature to grant Liberty County the authority to prohibit roadside sales of dogs, something that would no only keep our roads safer, but would also reduce the number of fly-by-night pet breeders.

Matthew Poston, Liberty County Attorney

The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback didn’t get the contract extension he sought and plans to play out the final season of his three-year, $100 million deal.

“I’ve been pretty up front and honest about my feelings about Tampa, it being home for our family, raising kids here,” Mayfield said Thursday. “We love it here. I wanted a deal done and set the deadline and told them it was going to be all ball after that, and I did mean that. I don’t know if they thought I was gonna take some of the offers that they gave.

“I’m at the point in my career, understanding what I’ve brought to this franchise. One, I’m very thankful for the chance they gave me — do not get me wrong on that. But I also know, I really know what I’ve brought to this franchise, leadership-wise and even play-wise. It’s been some of the best years of my career, and I think it’s only going to trend upwards.”

Mayfield, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft by Cleveland, revived his career in Tampa Bay after replacing Tom Brady in 2023. He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons while leading the Bucs to consecutive NFC South titles. He was an MVP candidate through the first half of last season when the team started 6-2 but struggled with injuries and tailed off.

“It’s disappointing in that regard, to feel disrespected a little bit,” he said. “That’s really the disappointing part to feel undervalued after thinking you’ve earned it. This is not a ‘poor me’ thing. There’s a lot of other people who have it way worse off. But I can sit here and look at other quarterbacks and peers and evaluate myself based on that and put myself in certain categories that I deserved to be compensated for that.

“I think I’m a franchise quarterback. I’ve been told I’m a franchise quarterback. It’s been said publicly from ownership down here and to not have a deal done is very disappointing.”

Mayfield had set a deadline on getting a new contract by the start of training camp. He said he addressed his teammates to let them know he won’t let the issue become a distraction. He also doesn’t need it to motivate him.

“Money should never be the motivation in football,” he said. “It’s how do I help this team win? It’s never going to be the motivation for me. When it comes to having a chip on your shoulder and all that, for me it just puts me in the mindset of betting on myself. That’s something I’m pretty familiar with, and it’s a good place to be. As a highly competitive guy, sometimes you have to put yourself backed into a corner and fight your way out. I have a lot of guys and a lot of staff around me that are with me, so I’m not alone in it. We’re fighting for the same goal, and that’s to be playing in February.”

If Mayfield plays like he did in 2024 — 4,500 yards passing, 41 touchdown passes, 71.4% completion rate, 106.8 passer rating — the Buccaneers likely will have to pay him even more than he commands now. A contract that averages between $50-55 million is considered to be Mayfield’s current range.

“Baker hasn’t missed a beat or changed one bit through anything that’s going on,” offensive lineman Ben Bredeson said. “He’s still our quarterback, he’s still the same leader, friend, guy that we all love. When he says it’s all about ball, he means it. He’s probably one of the most consistent and locked in individuals I’ve ever had the chance to play with. It’s an honor going to work with him every day and no matter what’s happening outside of the building, he has not changed one bit and is ready to go at all times.”

Two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Vita Vea also is unhappy with his contract situation as he enters the final year of his deal. He has missed the first two days of practice with a back injury.

“It’s all about winning here now and what we’re going to do and hopefully gets his back fixed and gets his deal done,” Mayfield said. “Vita deserves that. He’s the anchor of our defense. I hope they take care of him.”

___

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

Houston Restaurant Weeks returns Saturday, Aug. 1, launching a 38-day run that organizers say will include nearly 400 restaurants across Greater Houston. The annual “Dine Out & Do Good” campaign runs through Labor Day, Sept. 7, pairing prix-fixe deals with donations that help stock the Houston Food Bank.

How it works (and what it costs)

Participating restaurants create multi-course, fixed-price menus for brunch, lunch and dinner, with a built-in donation attached to each meal sold, according to the Cleverley Stone Foundation, which produces the event.

Menu price points for 2026 include:

• Brunch: $25 (donation included)
• Lunch: $25 (donation included)
• Dinner: $39 and $55 (donation included)

Organizers say dinner participation is required for restaurants, while brunch and lunch options vary by location.

A fundraiser that’s grown into a Houston tradition

Now in its 23rd year, Houston Restaurant Weeks has become a signature late-summer tradition in the region — a time when restaurants typically see slower traffic and diners are more willing to explore new menus.

The Cleverley Stone Foundation says the campaign has generated more than $23 million for the Houston Food Bank since it began in 2003 — an impact the organization translates to more than 70 million meals provided across Southeast Texas.

• Terry Black’s BBQ is finally coming to Houston, so you can skip the drive to Austin

“Houstonians are truly special. I don’t know of another city that comes together in quite the way Houston does to support one another,” Katie Stone, president of the Cleverley Stone Foundation, said in a statement. She added that the event continues the vision of her mother, the late Cleverley Stone, and the idea of bringing people together “around the table” to make a local impact.

Where to find restaurants and menus

Organizers say the most up-to-date list of participating restaurants and their menus will be posted on the Houston Restaurant Weeks website, with updates continuing as the start date approaches.

Among the returning participants listed by organizers are well-known Houston-area names such as Brennan’s of Houston, Bludorn, Hugo’s, Xochi, Rainbow Lodge, and multiple locations of Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille, Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill and other restaurant groups.

This year’s newly added participants listed in the release include restaurants such as Bistro Mistral, Cafe Brasil, Caribbean Jerk Palace, El Tiempo Cantina (multiple locations), North Italia (multiple locations), Truluck’s Ocean’s Finest Seafood & Crab (Houston and The Woodlands), Uchiko, and others.

The 2-1 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with a judge appointed by President Donald Trump in the majority, deepened a split between federal appeals courts over the administration's mandatory detention policy.

Four other appeals courts have also rejected it, while the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans and Eighth Circuit in St. Louis have sided with the Trump administration.

The expanding circuit split increases the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue. The administration last month asked the high court to consider it.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it “strongly disagrees with the Ninth Circuit panel and is confident in its legal position regarding mandatory detention.”

“President Donald Trump and Secretary Mullin are now enforcing the law as it was actually written to keep America safe,” the statement said.

Under previous administrations, most noncitizens without a criminal record who were arrested inside the U.S. were allowed to seek a bond hearing while their immigration cases were pending. Mandatory detention was generally reserved for people arrested at the border.

Last July, immigration officials issued guidance expanding mandatory detention to immigrants in the U.S. interior. The move — part of the administration's mass deportation campaign — prompted a deluge of federal lawsuits by immigrants seeking release from custody.

Some federal judges who ordered bond hearings blasted the administration for repeatedly violating their orders.

The Trump administration has argued that Congress changed immigration law in 1996 to allow mandatory detention beyond the border, but previous administrations didn't enforce that provision.

Writing for the majority in Thursday's ruling, 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Daniel Bress rejected that argument.

“Although no reading of the complicated and interrelated textual provisions at issue here is without some shortcomings, the historical understanding of the statute is the better one,” Bress, a Trump appointee, wrote.

He was joined by Judge M. Margaret McKeown, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Judge Carlos Bea, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, dissented, saying the text and purpose of an amendment Congress approved in 1996 support the Trump administration's reading.

The blitz expanded Russia’s almost daily bombardment of Ukrainian cities, including the capital of Kyiv where tens of thousands spent the night sheltering in subway stations, as Moscow apparently looked to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Western-supplied anti-ballistic missile defenses.

NATO said a Russian missile entered Polish airspace during the onslaught and landed in a rural area. It caused no injuries or damage but could deepen tensions between the military alliance and Moscow, as wary European countries fear the 4-year-old war could spill into their territory.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called it “yet another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was “a very serious incident,” but added: “There are absolutely no reasons to believe that Poland was the target.”

Russia's barrage struck areas of Ukraine where weapons are believed to be stored and manufactured. Ukrainian long-range drones and missiles have battered Russia's oil sector, causing a fuel crisis.

The attack came two days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump and representatives of American defense companies as he pleads for swifter and bigger deliveries of Patriot air defense systems to stop Russia’s ballistic missiles.

The Iran war has drained stockpiles of the U.S.-made interceptors. Trump has promised to grant Ukraine licenses to build its own Patriots, but production could take many months.

“Given the critical shortage of air defense missiles from our partners, our warriors are accomplishing truly incredible things, demonstrating a very high level of professionalism,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

“This Russian terror once again proves that protection against the Russian missile threat is the most important task when it comes to saving the lives of our people,” he said.

Russia says it targeted military sites

Zelenskyy said at least 10 Ukrainian regions were attacked, with dozens of homes, businesses and infrastructure facilities destroyed or damaged.

Russia launched more than 70 missiles, a significant number of them ballistic missiles, he said, and over 280 attack drones, of which more than 260 were intercepted.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it targeted Ukrainian air bases, arms factories and military telecommunications and logistics facilities, including drone factories and storage depots, as well as plants for missiles, aircraft repairs, electronics and chemicals.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian attack killed six people and wounded 10, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration, in a post on Telegram. Children were among the dead — a 6-year-old girl and boys aged 11 and 17 in the area of Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy's hometown, Hanzha added.

The children’s parents were killed in the same attack, but two more children were pulled alive from the rubble, Zelenskyy said.

“It was an ordinary home, blown (to) smithereens by a ballistic missile,” he said on X.

In Kyiv, Russian forces struck the capital with ballistic missiles, killing a 31-year-old man and wounding two others, the National Police press service said.

More than 56,000 people sheltered in Kyiv’s subway stations overnight, according to the Facebook post from the metro system.

A cruise missile attack struck the western city of Lviv, killing one person and wounding over 30, including children aged 6, 13 and 15, said Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv regional military administration.

In the Poltava region, a drone hit warehouses, killing one person, said regional military head Vitalii Diakivnych.

Closer to the front line, which comes under almost daily attack, Russian forces dropped three glide bombs on an industrial zone in the southern city of Kherson, killing a 56-year-old man, local officials said.

Poland says fragments indicated a Russian cruise missile

A Russian Kh-101 cruise missile crossed into Poland overnight, violating NATO airspace, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X, calling it a clear demonstration that strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses would also guarantee wider European security.

Responding to the missile alert, NATO forces in Poland scrambled two fighter jets, an attack helicopter and two other aircraft, and activated ground defenses, said Col. Michael O’Donnell, the spokesperson for the alliance’s military command in Belgium.

The missile quickly disappeared from radar, the Polish Armed Forces said. A helicopter flew to its last known location, where the crew discovered a probable impact site in a farming area in Lublin province, the command said.

Investigators found fragments indicating that the object was a Kh-101 missile, Polish news agency PAP reported.

Tusk had met with Zelenskyy in Lublin on Wednesday to discuss defense issues.

NATO military commander Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich told Poland’s Defense Chief Gen. Wiesław Kukułan the military alliance “will continue to take all necessary measures to defend NATO territory,” O’Donnell said.

Ukr

aine hits more depots of major Russian online retailer

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 258 Ukrainian drones overnight.

A depot belonging to Wildberries online retailer was set ablaze in Russia's Penza region southeast of Moscow, in the latest strike on the company's warehouses, Penza Gov. Oleg Melnichenko said.

Four people were injured and 200 workers were evacuated, he said, adding that about 100 firefighters were deployed.

Wildberries also reported its warehouse in Sarapul in the Udmurtia region, more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Ukraine, was struck by a Ukrainian drone and set ablaze. It said the workers had been safely evacuated.

The Russian online news outlet Astra reported that another Wildberries depot in the Perm region in the Urals was also set ablaze by a Ukrainian drone strike. Regional authorities reported a Ukrainian drone attack but didn’t give information about the damage.

Thursday’s attacks on Wildberries warehouses brought to 14 the number of the retailer’s depots struck by Ukrainian drones in under two weeks. Ukraine accuses Wildberries of supplying goods that can be used by the Russian military.

Ukrainian drone units destroyed four more vessels belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet” of sanctions-busting tankers, bringing the total to 205 since the operation began July 6, Robert Brovdi, commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces, said on his Telegram channel.

___

An earlier version of this story had the incorrect name for the spokesperson for NATO’s military command in Belgium. He is Col. Michael O’Donnell, not O'Connell.

AP reporter Stefanie Dazio in Berlin; Rafal Niedzielski in Warsaw, Poland; and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed.

___

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

Colin Gray’s sentencing comes days after his son, Colt Gray, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta. Colt Gray, 16, had pleaded guilty to murder and other charges.

Judge Nicholas Primm, who also sentenced Colt Gray, was blunt in addressing the elder Gray: “It is clear you failed as a parent.” But he said punishing crimes of negligence is particularly difficult because there was no intent to commit a crime.

“My heart aches for everyone that was there that day, for all of you that have been impacted by it. But the law requires that I set aside emotion. I don’t get to sentence with passion. I have the nearly impossible task of sentencing you without passion despite the immeasurable heartache that you caused,” Primm said.

Gray, 55, is one of a handful of American parents who have been criminally charged after their children were accused in shootings.

A jury in March found Colin Gray guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Georgia law defines second-degree murder as causing the death of a child by committing the crime of cruelty to children. Gray was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the killings of teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.

Another teacher and eight other students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.

Families speak their pain

Family members of those who died and victims of the shooting, many of whom also spoke during Colt Gray's sentencing, condemned what they said were Colin Gray's failures as a parent and urged the judge to give him the maximum sentence.

“This wasn’t unavoidable. This was preventable. Because of the choices made inside the Gray household, four families were handed life sentences of grief,” said Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son was killed.

“He did not pull the trigger but purchased and left a firearm accessible to a minor," said Shayna Aspinwall, whose husband was killed. She said the sentence must take into account "the families left behind who must carry the grief and trauma for the rest of our lives.”

The judge addressed those in the courtroom after announcing the sentence: “This only closes the legal chapter for this horror. The pain, the heartache, they continue. I understand that. I hope all of you know this community loves you, and I ask that God gives you peace.”

Prosecutors said Colin Gray missed red flags