Discussion

At 900 PM GMT (2100 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Fay was located near latitude 30.1 North, longitude 39.2 West. The depression is moving toward the west near 8 mph (13 km/h) and this general motion is expected to continue for the next several days.

Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Some strengthening is possible during the next couple of days, but gradual weakening should occur thereafter.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1011 mb (29.86 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

That raises a bigger question: Is there actually an increase in homelessness in the Heights, or are people simply noticing it more?

I’d like to dig into the data to see what we can actually measure at the neighborhood level, while also looking at what happens when encampments are cleared and where people go afterward.

My other thought/question...has any access to homeless services recently changed? What resources are available to people experiencing homelessness in and around the Greater Heights?

I’ve also heard from people who believe the situation may have shifted as the city has taken a different approach to homelessness downtown, including claims that some people were pushed toward areas outside downtown during the World Cup. That would need more verification.

This could be a broader look at what homelessness actually looks like in the Heights right now, whether it has changed, and what happens after encampments are removed.

Any thoughts? More to come.

Trump's decision to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington rather than receiving him at the executive residence shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China's leader as he made his first state visit to the U.S. capital in more than a decade.

A 100-foot (30 meter) long red carpet was unfurled at the bottom of the staircase placed at the door of Xi's plane, where a 21-person honor guard was arrayed and Trump and first lady Melania Trump stood waiting for Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, when they walked down the staircase and shook hands with the Trumps.

The welcome ceremony was also set to include a flyover by two B-1 bombers, flower presenters, platoons from each military service, and a presentation of the flags and anthems of both countries.

The salutation kicks off a three-day visit that's expected to be saturated with pomp, even by White House standards. The state visit, complete with a formal state dinner at the White House on Thursday, is supposed to reciprocate the ceremonial grandeur that marked Trump's May visit to China.

But it also is a showy patina at a time when tensions between the two geopolitical rivals are high over trade, artificial intelligence, Trump's war with Iran and China's designs on Taiwan.

The visit comes after Trump’s trip to China in May

Beyond using the visit to try to keep “strategic stability” between the two countries, Trump seems to be pulling out all the diplomatic stops to show off for Xi. Trump has lavished praise on Xi as a “great leader” and described a warm relationship with the man he has called a friend. That is all while he has given Xi a pass on many issues.

Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the “lavish welcome.” Wicker, R-Miss., said during a speech Tuesday in the Senate that Trump should not have invited the Chinese leader “based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party.”

Wicker archly suggested a list of topics that Trump could discuss with Xi at the state dinner, such as “the purposes of China’s massive military buildup, or about China’s clear support for Iran,” saying that “during every minute of dialogue” Trump should keep in mind that “his guest is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. and China must interact at the highest levels because the countries are “the two largest economies in the world” and “probably the two most powerful militaries in the world.”

“The idea that we would not interact with them at the highest levels is irresponsible. It’s outrageous. We have to,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday while he was in New York.

Trump to welcome Xi with ‘the most respect’

Trump has made it clear he wants to wow Xi, telling reporters in recent weeks that he was delighted his new “work of art” helicopter landing pad would be ready for the visit while bemoaning that his massive White House ballroom would not.

Trump on Wednesday was looking to match the pageantry he was met with in China earlier this year. Xi was not at the airport to meet Trump — Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was there instead. But a red carpet was rolled out to meet Air Force One in Beijing. A military honor guard, a military band and about 300 Chinese youths waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome! Warm welcome!” also were present. The children wore white and light blue uniforms that mirrored the traditional paint colors of the presidential plane.

The first lady said earlier Wednesday her husband decided to personally greet Xi when he arrived in the Washington region because “they have a great relationship.”

“He’s coming on our soil, and we need to welcome them with the most respect,” she said of Xi and his wife during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.”

A black-tie dinner and visit to the archives will follow

Trump's airport ceremony for Xi will be followed on Thursday by more formalities, including an arrival ceremony at the White House and a review of troops. Before the black-tie dinner, which will feature tech industry leaders like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, the two leaders are expected to dive into the weighty issues behind closed doors, even as expectations are low that the trip will produce any major breakthroughs in the relationship.

On Friday, Xi and Peng will be back at the White House for a private tea with the Trumps before joining them on a tour of the National Archives in Washington. The White House has said they will view historic documents underscoring the relationship between the two countries.

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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Didi Tang contributed to this report.

She’s Alive, the entity founded to manage and protect Parton’s estate, had filed the complaint against Seaver and Squadron Augmented Protection Services a day prior. The estate accused Seaver of threatening to commit violence and destroy his aunt’s legacy and business empire in court filings.

The order says the court took into account the repeated threats cited in the complaint, as well as the alleged demands for payment and Seaver’s “claimed access to weapons, experience with violence, and intention to retaliate.” It describes the communications as “concerning,” specifically noting the threat to use force.

As part of the order, Seaver and SAPS must refrain from entering any She’s Alive property or talking with or being within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of She’s Alive employees, attorneys and business partners. The order is also meant to keep him from interfering with its business relationships.

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7.

Seaver, who owns a company that provided Parton’s security detail and was handpicked by the star to announce her death from cancer last month, did not respond to an email Wednesday from The Associated Press requesting comment on the order being granted.

Representatives for SAPS also did not respond, and no one was present at their office in downtown Nashville on Wednesday afternoon. No one came to the door at an address listed in court documents for Seaver in the semi-rural Nashville suburb of Fairview. A woman speaking to a reporter through a doorbell camera declined to comment.

In the temporary restraining order request filed by She’s Alive and other court documents, Seaver is accused of sending increasingly threatening messages over the last several weeks. She’s Alive is run by Danny Nozell, Parton’s longtime manager.

Last week, She’s Alive terminated Seaver and SAPS, saying his “terrorizing conduct made their continued retention untenable,” according to court documents. The company is also named in the complaint.

The court documents showcase a series of text messages and emails She's Alive says were sent by Seaver, starting just before Parton's death. The messages begin with threats to destroy Parton's brand, and then after her death, depict Seaver reveling in his newfound fame and calling himself an “international arms dealer.”

In one message written Sept. 1 and included in the court documents, he said: “I’m going to set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It’s going to be great. Or f——— pay me.”

Seaver also claimed that he worked for private military contractors overseas during the Iraq War and used that experience as part of these threats, according to the complaint.

The messages have resulted in Parton’s trusts and estates attorney leaving and employees of She’s Alive resigning, according to the court documents. The entity has also had to hire private security for its employees, including at their homes, the documents state.

Kristin Mumford, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, said in an email that there are no reports against Seaver in their system.

Parton wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” that earned a total of more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams.

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Golden reported from Seattle.

State and local governments are leading, he said, as “Trump is trying to recreate the 19th century” by reopening coal plants, announcing new plans for oil drilling including off California, and centering his energy policy on fossil fuels that cause climate change.

“He’s doubling down on stupid, and he’s putting the American economy at risk,” Newsom said in an interview. He called Trump the most destructive environmental president in American history and “an invasive species.”

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers used Trump’s derogatory nickname for the governor, “Newscum,” in responding to the comments. She said his “doubling down on Biden’s unpopular, unreliable and costly Green New Scam is stupid.”

“No one is surprised to see him whining about the climate change hoax at another conference instead of fixing the problems plaguing his state: out-of-control crime, the highest homeless population in the United States, and wildfire victims still waiting on state permits to rebuild their homes and businesses,” Taylor wrote in an email.

Newsom has long been trying to counter Trump's climate approach

Newsom, a Democrat eyeing a 2028 presidential run, has sought to counter Trump’s stance on climate issues before. He went to the U.N. climate talks hosted in Belem, Brazil in 2025 when Trump skipped it.

Trump prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity. The Biden administration sought to ramp up clean energy as a climate change solution. Trump began reversing U.S. energy policies his first day back in office.

Last year at the UN, Trump called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” He has hindered renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, while China and other countries invest heavily. China leads the world in adding wind and solar power, though it also added a lot of coal power last year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his state visit to Washington Wednesday. As the economic and technological competition between the countries escalates, Newsom said the Chinese leader is "cleaning our clock from an economic perspective.”

Trump and Xi are expected to discuss artificial intelligence as they meet this week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. has proposed a new “ notification mechanism ” for AI incidents that could affect national security.

Newsom also not happy with Trump AI stance

Newsom was critical of Trump for not doing more to add guardrails and instead listening to advice to let artificial intelligence “rip.” Newsom announced Wednesday a group of experts who will advise on oversight recommendations in California, including advancing the creation of a potential “kill switch” for rogue frontier models.

Trump was in New York on Tuesday. Unlike last year's climate-focused speech, Trump defended his actions against Iran as he spoke at the U.N. General Assembly and made the diplomatic rounds.

Newsom spoke at the United Nations on Wednesday alongside mayors grappling with the impacts of climate change and calling for collective action. He shared how the state is using renewables to change the way it produces and consumes energy, while reducing carbon pollution. While in New York, he also signed a new agreement with Spain's prime minister to strengthen collaboration on clean energy and climate issues and announced progress to link carbon markets with Washington state.

“California is not going to sit back and watch this guy roll back the last half century. We’re going to lead the next great revolution,” Newsom said.

“We’re going to dominate and we’re going to out compete and we are going to prepare the economy," he said, "not just in California, but the rest of the nation, for the fierce competitive fight against China as we move forward in this space.”

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

“The FBI is aware of a cyber-criminal enterprise group claiming a compromise of the FBIJobs.gov portal and alleged impact to FBI employee personally identifiable information," the FBI said in a statement. It said that while the “point of breach” was undetermined, "we are actively and aggressively investigating this matter and working closely with those third-party providers that support FBIJobs.gov to mitigate any and all risk.”

The jobs website, the main portal for prospective employees to learn about the FBI and initiate the application process, remained offline as of Wednesday afternoon.

A message that circulated online from a hacking group known as ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the hack.

“We have compromised the FBI. We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job,” said the ShinyHunters message, which was directed to FBI Director Kash Patel and Brett Leatherman, the assistant director in charge of the bureau's cyber division.

The claims could not immediately be verified, and an email to an address associated with ShinyHunters was not immediately returned.

The hackers are seeking retribution over an FBI advisory

Miriam Wugmeister, a lawyer specializing in data, privacy and cybercrime who tracks hacking outfits like ShinyHunters, said that based on the group's past practices, there was reason to believe the hackers' claims, “so I think it’s likely that they were able to compromise this website and they got some data.”

She said that though the data that appeared to be compromised was the type of personal information that is routinely accessed during a breach, the hack nonetheless had alarming national security implications given that it could expose agents and their families to extortion, swatting and other harassment and because the identities of spouses were also said to have been obtained.

“Even if the agents and the analysts and the employees are sophisticated, you worry about their families too,” she said.

In its message, ShinyHunters said it would give the bureau one week to correct or remove what it said were false allegations contained in an FBI public advisory from May that described the organization as a “cyber criminal group specializing in large-scale data breaches and extortion.”

That advisory characterized ShinyHunters as “threat actors” who often "use their real or exaggerated claims of access to sensitive or personal information to prompt payment from victims," commonly harass or threaten victims and “may falsely claim to have sensitive or compromising information, including embarrassing photographs or videos of victims, which frequently do not exist.”

ShinyHunters said in its message to the FBI that it was “offended” by those characterizations and demanded that the FBI remove those claims. It did not say what would happen if the FBI did not do so within a week.

“This is not a ransom, coercion, or extortion. Your federal policies do not apply here. This PSA is NOT financially motivated,” the hacking group's message said.

ShinyHunters has a reputation for “causing trouble and being disruptive,” Wugmeister said, as evidenced by the group’s involvement in a hack last spring of Canvas, an online system that thousands of schools and universities use. The breach created chaos as students tried to study for finals and prompted the FBI’s advisory that ShinyHunters is now objecting to.

There have been other cyber incidents concerning the FBI

The hack was first reported by 404 Media, an online technology publication that said a representative of ShinyHunters shared what appeared to be a sample of personal data of 5,000 FBI employees, including an address, phone number and some information on spouses.

The publication said the ShinyHunters representative said the group carried out the hack through an apparent vulnerability in Oracle PeopleSoft software, commonly used by companies and government agencies for large-scale data processing and huma resources purposes. The FBI said in its statement that it had not determined whether the “point of breach” involved a “third-party or the FBI’s enterprise.”

The FBI, the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency, has been a common target for hackers.

In March, the FBI disclosed that it was investigating “suspicious activities” on an internal system that contains sensitive information related to surveillance operations and investigations. Also that month, a pro-Iranian hacking group claimed to have hacked an account of Patel's and posted online what appeared to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents dating back more than a decade.

The FBI described the compromised information as “historical in nature” and said it involved "no government information.”

Calling the case extraordinary, Iowa District Judge Scott J. Beattie said that allowing the lawsuit and its “faulty” claims to proceed could have a chilling effect that “can discourage others from reporting on and debating public affairs.” He sided with pollster J. Ann Selzer and the newspaper, who described the lawsuit as a conspiracy theory and an affront to free speech protections.

The ruling Wednesday came hours after a judge heard arguments but did not rule from the bench in a case on Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds. Trump banned the three outlets beginning Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.”

Trump filed the lawsuit against Selzer, The Des Moines Register and the newspaper’s parent company in December 2024, accusing them of fraudulently publishing inaccurate poll results to damage him and help Democrats, saying coverage of polls is not protected speech.

Trump and his team have filed several lawsuits against media organizations accusing them of bias, calling into question the boundaries of free speech protections, particularly for press. Some of those lawsuits have ended in settlements.

In dismissing the case in Iowa state court, Beattie wrote that Trump’s suit sought to “stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability.” After hearing the arguments, the judge concluded the constitutional protection “is too great and the reach is too far. The case must therefore be dismissed.”

Beattie said the case would have to be dismissed even if, solely for the purpose of deciding the motions, he accepted the Trump team’s allegations that the poll was intentionally skewed and its results fabricated. “Even with this assumption, each of the three counts still fails,” the judge wrote, because the lawsuit did not meet the legal requirements for fraud or consumer deception. He made clear that the poll and coverage of it are constitutionally protected political speech and not a commercial product.

The White House referred questions to the president's personal lawyers, who did not immediately respond to messages.

Selzer's case was taken up by the free speech advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. She said Wednesday she was grateful for the ruling, which “reaffirms the fundamental freedom to pursue and publish the truth without political interference.”

“Polling is a social science, not clairvoyance, and no responsible pollster can guarantee an election outcome,” Selzer said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun, both Republicans, joined the lawsuit. Selzer and her co-defendants wanted the case moved to federal court but, after a year of legal proceedings, the first hearing took place this year in state court.

The poll, conducted by Selzer’s company in the final days of October and released just days before Election Day 2024, showed then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presidential nominee, capturing 47% of Iowa likely voters, to Trump’s 44%.

Trump ultimately won the support of 56% of the nearly 2 million Iowans who voted.

Trump, Miller-Meeks and Zaun alleged the misleading coverage diminished their reputations, valuable time in the final days of the campaign, and campaign funds and resources.

Trump’s decision to greet Xi shows how far the U.S. president is going to honor China’s leader as he made his first state visit to the U.S. capital in more than a decade.

Meanwhile, a judge heard arguments Wednesday but did not rule from the bench in a case on Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds. It’s the latest development in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes. The administration has doubled down on its contention that it has the right to decide who can set foot in the White House, while the outlets call the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.

Also, Iran’s president said Wednesday that his people have been “victims of terrorism” by the United States, delivering a rare wartime speech on the second day of the U.N. General Assembly. Trump, on the U.N. General Assembly stage a day earlier, said he could “annihilate” the Islamic Republic. Toward the end of his speech, Masoud Pezeshkian called out Trump by name.

Here's the latest:

Welcoming red carpet rolled out — with a bit of a struggle

A giant red carpet was rolled out at the bottom of the red stairs leading down from Xi’s jet. It took several U.S. service members and an animated director of sorts to unroll the carpet, steer it into place and get it straightened out.

Chinese officials briefly waited at the entrance of the jet while the carpet was adjusted.

The US rolls out 100-foot red carpet for Xi

The Chinese president’s plane was greeted with a long red carpet, a salute with battery guns, a 21-person honor cordon and a flyover from two B1 bombers.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump took the unusual step of appearing in person to greet Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan.

As part of the ceremony, the national anthems of both China and the U.S. were played.

China offered Trump an elaborate welcome ceremony when Air Force One touched down for his visit to Beijing in May, involving top officials and school children acting as greeters, but Xi did not attend personally.

Xi arrives for Washington visit

The Chinese president’s jet touched down at Joint Base Andrews at about 5:40 p.m. Wednesday.

The Air China jet landed while U.S. troops were gathered nearby for a welcome event.

President Donald Trump and Melania Trump were waiting at the base for a rare airport welcome for Xi and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan.

Trump is awaiting Xi touching down outside Washington

The president and first lady Melania Trump arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland via chopper, then stepped into the presidential limo to wait for Xi’s arrival.

The president saluted waiting Marines upon climbing off his helicopter, then fixed his coat on the windy tarmac.

The motorcade eventually drove past a riser with assembled media waiting to cover Xi’s arrival.

Trump could be seen looking at the reporters in attendance before the motorcade headed to a white tent next to the airport terminal.

Judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit against Iowa newspaper

Iowa District Judge Scott J. Beattie dismissed Trump’s lawsuit that accused The Des Moines Register and its former pollster J. Ann Selzer of misrepresenting the state of the 2024 presidential race, rejecting the president’s claim that the newspaper’s poll coverage violated Iowa’s consumer fraud law.

Selzer and the Register described the lawsuit as a conspiracy theory and an affront to free speech protections.

Trump and his team have filed several lawsuits against media organizations accusing them of bias, calling into question the boundaries of First Amendment protections for speech and press. Some of those lawsuits have ended in settlements.

Trump filed the lawsuit against Selzer, The Des Moines Register and the newspaper’s parent company in December 2024, accusing them of fraudulently publishing inaccurate poll results to damage him and help Democrats, saying coverage of polls is not protected speech.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland almost broke NATO. The winner of it all may be ... Greenland

In the end, it was all kisses and laughter as President Donald Trump hailed his “fantastic” relationship with Denmark and Greenland after signing a new security deal that America’s European allies hope will close one of the most dangerous chapters in transatlantic relations.

Trump’s territorial ambitions over Greenland almost broke the NATO military alliance and shattered trust with one of America’s oldest and closest partners.

Interestingly, one place may emerge from this standoff as the real winner: Greenland itself.

“I cannot stress it enough: This is the first time that we are venturing into a binding agreement as a country,” Naaja Nathanielsen, one of Greenland’s two lawmakers in the Danish parliament and a former government minister in Nuuk, told The Associated Press. “That is a huge step forward in our quest for more self-autonomy.”

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Major networks set to continue coverage ban at Xi arrival

The five major networks on Wednesday were poised to continue their ban on filming Trump coverage. At Joint Base Andrews, where the president is set to formally welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping later Wednesday, journalists from Fox News, CBS and NBC were present but not shooting, and some appeared to be breaking down their cameras.

Other television outlets whose crews were present, according to signs on their tripods and cameras, were NewsNation, Newsmax, Right Side Broadcasting Network, One America News and LindellTV.

Democratic leader says House Republicans are ‘running scared’ ahead of elections

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control in fall, chided Republicans for trying to distance themselves from Trump on the Iran war and other issues.

“On one hand, they want Donald Trump’s MAGA money. I mean, they’re feeding at the trough of Donald Trump’s MAGA money,” he said. “And on the other hand, they want to pretend that they creating distance between Donald Trump and themselves.”

Jeffries held a news conference at the empty House chamber, criticizing Republicans for cutting short the legislative calendar to go home and campaign.

Judge hears arguments without immediately ruling on Trump’s news outlet ban

A judge has heard arguments but did not rule from the bench in a case on Trump’s ban of three news outlets from White House grounds.

Wednesday’s hearing marked the latest development in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

Trump banned the outlets beginning Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.” More recently the president has said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

The outlets argued they were singled out because of the content of their coverage — in other words, viewpoint discrimination and called the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.

Hearing on Trump’s ban of 3 news outlets from White House is underway

In court arguments over Trump’s ban of three media outlets from White House grounds, the administration continues to defend the move as constitutional.

Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik told the court Wednesday that “access to the White House is a privilege, not a right.”

The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump appointed in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.

Arguments began with attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. calling the ban against CNN, MS NOW and Politico an “unprecedented, unreasonable punishment” and saying there was “not a semblance of due process.”

Trump to attend Texas-Tennessee football game

The White House confirms that the president, who has put athletics front and center in his second term, will attend the matchup Saturday.

No. 1 Texas is traveling to No. 14 Tennessee for the Southeastern Conference opener in Knoxville. It’s the first meeting between the two marquee football programs since the 1969 Cotton Bowl.

State Department orders diplomats to use ‘super intelligence’ rather ‘artificial intelligence’

The move follows Trump’s attempt to rebrand the technology in his address to the UN General Assembly.

“Following the president‘s remarks at the GA today, please change all references of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to ‘Super Intelligence’ in our documents and positions. We will be using ‘SI’ in all remarks, positions and press elements moving forward,” said an email sent Tuesday to employees by Michael Drager, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs.

That bureau is in charge of U.S. diplomatic missions to all U.N. and multilateral agencies around the world. The email was obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if other State Department bureaus would follow suit.

AI company leaders warn that without intervention, ‘AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole’

The heads of major AI companies are pleading with the United Nations to set controls over the burgeoning technology they are designing to save the world or at least its people.

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” Dario Amodei, Chief Executive Officer, Anthropic said.

“We could lose control of the future to AI,” his competitor, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

Both testified Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council. They said the countries of the world, through the council, have to set safeguards that would be actual controls to prevent the technology from getting too powerful to reign in. They also called for the world to make sure that the power of AI isn’t concentrated in one company or country.

Rubio says Trump has invited Putin to US-hosted G20 meeting in Florida

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Rubio said the Trump administration was hopeful that Putin would accept the invitation despite differences over Russia’s war with Ukraine and other matter.

“In order to solve problems, you have to meet with the people that you disagree with or the people that you might have some issues with, so we’ve invited President Putin to the G20,” Rubio said. “We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president, but with other world leaders. We hope that’s, an invitation he’ll accept.”

Trump will host G20 leaders at his Miami country club in December.

County election offices in Texas are scrambling to process backlogged voter registrations

The problem started with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which allows people to register to vote or update their registrations when they renew their driver’s license.

State officials blamed an unspecified error dating to October 2025. It meant that applications were not being forwarded to the person’s home county, where they are processed and verified.

Now those counties are dealing with nearly a year’s worth of backlogged applications. Several county officials say they will need to hire temporary workers to handle the crush. Early in-person voting in Texas for the midterm elections starts Oct. 19.

The size of the backlog statewide hasn’t been determined, but the Texas Association of County Election Officials says it’s in the tens of thousands for some of the most populous counties. In Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, it’s about 45,000 voter registration applications.

State Department asks Americans to report suspected visa fraudsters

The State Department is asking Americans to report foreigners suspected of U.S. visa fraud for potential deportation and criminal prosecution.

The department said in a statement Wednesday that it had launched an online portal to make it easier to report such cases.

The department said tips from “upstanding and concerned” members of the public have been responsible for the revocation of visas from many of the tens of thousands of people who either lied on their applications or were violating the conditions of their stay in the U.S.

“This new online tool provides a convenient and reliable way for the public to submit crucial information for prompt review and action,” the statement said.

Americans’ views of China are a bit warmer than 5 years ago

The finding from a survey conducted in mid-September by the Pew Research Center comes just as Chinese President Xi is about to arrive in Washington for his first state visit to the U.S. in 11 years.

Americans were asked on the survey to evaluate how warm and positive or cold and negative they feel about China, using a scale from zero to 100.

About one-fifth of the Americans now have warm views about China, the analysis found, up from about 11% in 2021, when public sentiments fell to the lowest point in Pew’s 10-year trend in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than half of Americans feel cold about China, but it’s down from about 7 in 10 from five years ago.

Zelenskyy urges leaders to keep choking Russia’s revenues

Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging world’s leaders to keep choking Russia’s revenues and impede its war efforts.

He’s telling the U.N. General Assembly that “Russia’s revenues must remain a target.”

He says that trade, and the money it brings in, gives more time to the war. That, he says, is “why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor.

Russia gets its turn Saturday to address the assembly.

President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled to the gathering in years, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead.

Soybean farmers have high hopes for Xi visit

Before Trump’s tariffs, half of U.S. soybean exports went to China.

Since then, exports dropped from nearly $18 billion in 2022 to only $3 billion in 2025, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

“No one can replace the Chinese market,” said Dave Walton, a farmer from Wilton, Iowa.

Brazil and Argentina have made gains.

Brazil exported a record 108.7 million metric tons of soybeans in 2025, up 11.7% from the year before, with about 80% going to China, according to Brazil’s National Association of Cereal Exporters.

Walton says he’d like to see the U.S. tariffs removed.

“We think of Xi as a friend to American agriculture,” said Walton, who is the vice president of the American Soybean Association.

Schumer warns against weakening export controls for chips

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is warning Trump not to give China greater access to advanced semiconductor chips and equipment as part of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

Schumer is touching on voter concerns about the safety of artificial intelligence and contrasting Democrats’ call for greater regulation with the president’s call to “encourage it, not rein it in.”

“We must reject the false choice Trump keeps making,” Schumer told reporters.

“We can and must both maintain our lead on AI by restricting China’s access to our technology and put up guardrails to mitigate AI’s risk,” Schumer said.

Trump administration to defend its news outlet ban in court hearing

The showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes is moving to a courtroom in the nation’s capital.

A judge will hear arguments Wednesday on whether the president’s move banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds violates the Constitution.

The Trump administration argues that the reporting of the three outlets poses a threat to national security. The administration plans to double down on its contention that it has the right to decide who can set foot in the White House.

The outlets say they were singled out because of the content of their coverage. They called this a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment and asked the court to immediately restore their access.

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Election plans include how to deal with the Trump administration

As state and local election officials prepare for what could go wrong administering the midterms, they’re planning not just for what foreign adversaries might try — but how the Trump administration could interfere.

At a panel Wednesday for the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said officials are working on what to do if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers or National Guard troops show up at polling places, or if ballots are seized.

Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said one concern is the possibility that federal law enforcement officials would get in the way of voting by mail even after the Supreme Court rejected mail ballot restrictions.

Rubio says Trump has many options to meet defense commitments to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is facing increasing attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Rubio pledged for the second time in three days that the United States will “live up” to its commitments to the Saudis but declined to say what that would entail.

“They are a strategic defense partner. The U.S. has made commitments to them. We will live up to those commitments,” he said, adding that “obviously, the president has many options available to him.”

Fast-food traffic in many markets, including the U.S., is flat, so for McDonald’s to continue to grow it has to grab share from competitors and improve restaurant productivity, McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski said at a meeting with investors at the company’s Chicago headquarters. McDonald's wants to automate more tasks, like inventory and scheduling, and improve kitchen operations.

“The winners will be the companies that create more demand and deliver it more efficiently,” Kempczinski said.

McDonald's shares fell nearly 5% Wednesday, their largest percentage drop since April 2025, as investors shuddered at the eye-popping price of improving McDonald's 46,000 global stores.

On the product side, McDonald's said hand-breaded chicken, which has rolled out at 10,000 restaurants in Asia and a handful of restaurants near Chicago, has boosted sales and quality ratings. Many of McDonald's competitors, like Chick-fil-A and KFC, offer hand-breaded chicken. The company plans to expand its testing to more markets in the U.S. and Ireland next year.

McDonald's also plans to introduce grilled chicken sandwiches and wraps in the U.S. and other markets and experiment with products like egg bites and bowls to meet the needs of customers who are seeking more protein and varied portion sizes.

Skye Anderson, the president of McDonald’s USA, said approximately 30 million Americans are now using GLP-1 weight loss drugs, and they’re seeking smaller, more protein-packed meals as a result. But the company’s research indicates that 60 million Americans are actively seeking more protein in their diet.

“This is an opportunity. We need to keep giving them more reasons to make McDonald’s their first choice,” Anderson said at McDonald’s investor day.

McDonald’s said the restaurant modernizations include lockers to handle delivery orders, more visible coffee preparation areas to enhance quality perceptions, bigger play areas and improved kitchen layouts. Scales to help ensure order accuracy – which are already in use at 10,000 restaurants globally – will be in 20,000 restaurants by 2028, McDonald’s said.

The company is deploying its ArchIQ system, developed with Google, that improves order accuracy with artificial intelligence and automates tasks like inventory management and scheduling. Archy, the company's AI-enabled drive-thru ordering system, is now capable of taking orders in Spanish and English with a 90% accuracy rate.

Archy could eventually reduce at least 50 labor hours per week in a typical McDonald's, Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said. But he said the intention is not to reduce staffing. Instead, employees can focus more on hospitality or on tasks like hand-breading chicken.

Kempczinski said customers have responded positively to Archy in testing because it helps make their orders more accurate.

“It's not AI is bad or AI is good. We try to be really thoughtful about how we use it,” he said.

McDonald's is also rolling out new employee training that will focus on hospitality and food quality, said Tiffanie Boyd, McDonald's chief people officer. The training will be more experience-based, showing employees what a perfectly cooked Big Mac tastes like, for example, and will encourage more pleasant interactions with customers.

At the same time, McDonald's is still focused on value. Kempczinski said low-income consumers, defined as U.S. households making $45,000 or less, continue to go out for fast food but not as often as they used to. McDonald's has done a good job with meal bundles, like its $5 meal deal, he said. But the company is exploring ways to offer entry-level prices on a basic menu of items in the U.S., as it does in Europe and other markets.

“This is the environment that we’re in right now. You have to be on your game and deliver that value,” Kempczinski said. “The pressure around cost of living isn't going away.”

McDonald’s U.S. franchisees typically spend up to $450,000 per decade to on required store remodels. Under the company’s new plan, they will have to spend an additional $800,000 over time, but McDonald’s will pay a portion of that cost in the form of rent relief and capital support.

Borden said the investments will be phased in over time when markets and individual franchisees are ready for them. Once the investments are made, the efficiency improvements will deliver roughly $100,000 in annual cash flow benefits to the average U.S. restaurant, some of which can be reinvested in the restaurant, Borden said.

“We'd love to see it going into hospitality to elevate the experience with our customers,” Borden said.

This year, the nation of 41 million has a new posture on the planet's biggest diplomatic stage.

Since a watershed speech to the World Economic Forum in January, Prime Minister Mark Carney has become a leading voice of what he and some others call “middle powers.” He has urged them to band together to update and preserve the international order, and protect their own interests, in an era of flexes by the United States and other global giants.

And he has shown himself willing to walk the walk when faced with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff's.insults and cavalier talk of annexation. Carney rejected what he said were unacceptable U.S. trade demands and walked away from talks last month. Bluntly hedging his country's decades-long bet on U.S. trade and partnership, he has been courting other prospects — Canada might even become the European Union's first associate member.

“Partners are working with Canada because Canada’s predictable, reliable and principled in a world that’s anything but,” Carney told Canadian media at a news conference at the U.N. Tuesday as the General Assembly's big meeting got into full swing.

It's the international community's premier gathering of the year. And to Carney, it's an opportunity to demonstrate Canada's vision of “values-based realism” that's “both principled and pragmatic” — part commitment to such values as freedom, human rights and sustainability, part clear-eyed, “calibrated alliances” with partners that won't sign onto the whole list.

That's frankly practical talk for a forum that's prone to either diplomatic caution or soaring rhetoric, be it doomsaying, idealistic or, often, both. And Carney is finding an ear.

He's moving fast and building coalitions

Canada and a half-dozen other countries launched a new group Monday meant to stand up for economic cooperation and U.N.-style international collaboration. An air traffic control mess at New York airports kept Carney from making it to the “partners for multilateralism” kickoff event at the U.N. Monday night, but his schedule Tuesday included personal meetings with Jordan's king, the presidents of Chile and Angola, and an Emirati cabinet minister.

He also co-hosted a meeting on the long-elusive two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pledged 100 million Canadian dollars ($71 million) in humanitarian and security funding for Palestinians. Canada last year joined more than 150 countries that have recognized a Palestinian state, over the objections of Israel and its key ally, the U.S.

Asked whether he interacted Tuesday with Trump or members of his administration, Carney replied that he saw the huge meeting of world leaders as a chance to “meet those whom you don’t normally see.” He did attend Trump's speech at the assembly, where the president made no mention of Canada — the country on the other side of the world’s longest international border, and now on the other end of a deepening trade war.

Trump went on to criticize Canada on social media Wednesday, saying that immigration was “destroying” the country. Carney has said immigration levels have dropped during his tenure.

Meanwhile, Carney co-led a meeting Wednesday on the assembly sidelines about ocean monitoring and pledged $82 million Canadian dollars ($58 million) before heading back to Canada for other commitments. Foreign Minister Anita Anand is set to deliver the country's U.N. speech Saturday.

She said in an interview Tuesday that the address “will be very much about implementing the middle power strategy” that Carney has articulated — memorably when he told the World Economic Forum that as great power rivalries increasingly shake the international system, “middle powers must act together, because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” (There’s no official list of “middle powers,” but the term is often understood to mean countries that aren’t superpowers or their proxies but have some sway in global politics due to diplomatic or other strengths.)

Carney's “message resonates with many audiences, particularly those in the global North,” says University of Ottawa international affairs professor Srdjan Vucetic.

He noted that the prime minister's leadership is resonating at home, too. Carney, who took office in March 2025, enjoys high approval ratings from Canadians. Many are galled by Trump's remarks about making their country the U.S.'s “51st state,” his insistence on referring to Lake Ontario as “Lake America” and his trade policies. In Toronto, Canada’s most populous city, some neighborhoods are dotted with lawn signs encouraging eligible U.S. expatriates to vote absentee, and at least one coffee shop has crossed the Americano drink off its menu, substituting “Canadiano” instead.

Carney seeks to increase non-US trade

Carney, 61, a former central bank chief with a doctorate in economics, aims to double Canada's non-U.S. trade within a decade. He convened hundreds of international investment firm executives for a Canadian investment summit last week and is hoping for a trade deal with India, among others, by year’s end.

His government has touted security, defense and economic agreements with a roster of countries over the past year, and he has envisioned Canada as potentially forging an economic bridge of sorts between the EU and Pacific Rim countries.

His international efforts have drawn some questions, as when he became the first Canadian prime minister in over a quarter-century to visit Saudi Arabia. Predecessor Justin Trudeau's government had assailed Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, spurring a five-year diplomatic split. The two countries restored full diplomatic relations in 2023.

Carney said at the time of the July visit that he cares deeply about human rights, that there's no point in “lecturing countries from afar,” and that engaging with them doesn't convey approval of their every move.

At his U.N. news conference Tuesday, he said his approach “means actively, actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be.”

“We have a strategy that, I believe, has already made our country stronger,” he added, “but we’ve only just begun.”

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was nominated by Trump in 2017, didn't rule from the bench after hearing arguments in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

But the judge questioned whether the administration met its legal responsibilities and provided the news outlets with adequate due process before banning them on Friday, assailing what he called “fake news.” More recently, the president has said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

The news outlets argued they were singled out because of the content of their coverage — in other words, viewpoint discrimination — and called the ban a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment.

Kelly said his decision must be guided by courts' prior rulings in comparable First Amendment cases, even if the government disagrees with them.

“I think it is fair to say that the processes that the court laid out wasn’t followed here,” Kelly said.

It wasn't clear when Kelly, who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — would issue a decision on the news outlets’ request for a restraining order. But he said he’d rule as soon as possible.

CNN, Politico and MS NOW each told The Associated Press they’d have no comment on the emergency hearing.

Prior rulings indicate journalists should be heard before press passes are revoked

Kelly opened by reminding both sides that he’s required to apply case precedent.

The rulings in two prior cases over press access — including one that went to the U.S. Supreme Court — made clear that journalists were entitled to an opportunity to be heard before they have their press passes revoked.

Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik argued that the rulings in the earlier cases were wrong.

“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” Velchik said.

Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the outlets, called the ban an “unprecedented, unreasonable punishment” and said there was “not a semblance of due process.”

The administration doubled down on its contention that it has the right to decide who can set foot in the White House.

“The president should be able to take immediate action to protect national security,” Velchik told the court.

In response, Boutros said, “Suddenly it’s a national security case,” arguing that the president brought up that point only after the lawsuit was filed.

The Trump administration outlined ‘reporting incidents’ of each news outlet

In a filing late Tuesday, administration lawyers argued that the ban does not violate the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to a free press. It contended that the outlets, in their reporting, violated “standards of professionalism and decorum expected of those given access to the White House complex, including by trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues and publishing sensitive or classified information.”

The administration went on to detail letters that were sent to each outlet that identified “a non-exhaustive list of reporting incidents, including those that have threatened national security and spread falsehoods.”

The “reporting incidents” cited in the filing included: CNN reporting on “‘top-secret' construction details related to the East Wing bunker”; MS NOW reporting “on an alleged leak investigation”; and Politico publishing “a document detailing funding for the White House ballroom containing intricate descriptions of how the Secret Service would invest in security improvements.”

Further examples were given in individual letters. Politico’s letter detailed six incidents of reporting, including in June citing a “senior administration official … granted anonymity” predicting whether a preliminary deal would end the conflict with Iran.

That item appeared to reference a background briefing set up by the White House, where an official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House itself. Several other outlets also reported the official's remarks.

Major networks continue to refrain from covering Trump for the media pool

The ban prompted other media outlets to take action in solidarity. The five-network U.S. network press pool — a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president, and to which CNN belongs — decided to suspend coverage of Trump events until further notice.

After the hearing Wednesday, the networks were poised to continue their ban on filming Trump coverage. At Joint Base Andrews, where the president was to formally welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping later, journalists from Fox News, CBS and NBC were present but not shooting video, and some appeared to be breaking down their cameras.

Other television outlets whose crews were present, according to signs on their tripods and cameras, were NewsNation, Newsmax, Right Side Broadcasting Network, One America News and LindellTV.

Ahead of Wednesday's hearing, an amicus brief was filed by other news groups, urging the court to immediately restore the three outlets' White House access.

The brief — filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the White House Correspondents' Association and 49 media outlets and industry groups, including The Associated Press, The New York Times and Reuters — says “the targeted expulsion of news media from White House grounds injures the public interest" and "unassailable First Amendment law makes any viewpoint-based decision to bar reporters from a nonpublic forum constitutionally repugnant.”

The proceedings are historic, said Katie Fallow, deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“No president has taken this explicit of a step” to ban entire news outlets because he doesn’t like their reporting, she said. “There have been various presidents throughout history who have grumbled about the press or threatened to take more major steps, but really there was nothing at this level before Trump.”

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Noveck reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Laurie Kellman in London and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.

Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection of a powerful sedative at the state penitentiary in Huntsville starting after 6 p.m. local time. He would be the sixth person executed to date this year in Texas, with three more scheduled in the next two months.

A total of 27 prisoners have been put to death in U.S. states so far this year, with Florida leading with 15 executions to date in 2026.

A jury convicted Ramey of capital murder and sentenced him to death in the shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, at the home they shared in the small city of Edna, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.

Ramey and LeJames Norman believed there was cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, according to court records. They found none and killed the three victims, who lived across the street from Norman, the records stated.

Norman was put to death on Sept. 16 at the Huntsville prison. He had no last words, and no relatives or friends of the victims witnessed that execution.

Ramey was described by officials as polite on the 45-mile (70-kilometer) van ride from the prison that houses death row inmates to the Huntsville Unit, where executions are carried out.

Authorities said he declined to have a spiritual adviser pray over him as the execution time approached, and a woman described as a friend was the only person he chose as a witness. No friends or relatives of the three victims in the case were listed on official documents as planned witnesses.

Hours earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Ramey.

The man's attorneys had argued that jurors never heard about how he suffered physical abuse as a child and grew up in poverty. State prosecutors told the court the appeal was “meritless” and argued that evidence showed Ramey had “an escalating pattern of criminal behavior."

Norman testified during Ramey’s trial in January 2007 that both he and Ramey shot the victims. Ramey’s attorneys blamed the shootings on Norman.

Norman was sentenced to death in December 2008 after pleading guilty to capital murder.

Ramey’s former girlfriend testified that she was with him when he threw two pistols into a lake after the killings, and that he told her in detail about his involvement.

Lopez was shot four times, including in the back of the head; Peacock was shot twice in the head; and Roberts was shot five times in the chest, neck and head.

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Stengle reported from Dallas.

Ker’Sean Ramey, 41, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection of a powerful sedative at the state penitentiary in Huntsville starting after 6 p.m. local time. He would be the sixth person executed to date this year in Texas, with three more scheduled in the next two months.

A total of 27 prisoners have been put to death in U.S. states so far this year, with Florida leading with 15 executions to date in 2026.

A jury convicted Ramey of capital murder and sentenced him to death in the shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, at the home they shared in the small city of Edna, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Houston.

Ramey and LeJames Norman believed there was cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, according to court records. They found none and killed the three victims, who lived across the street from Norman, the records stated.

Norman was put to death on Sept. 16 at the Huntsville prison. He had no last words, and no relatives or friends of the victims witnessed that execution.

Ramey was described by officials as polite on the 45-mile (70-kilometer) van ride from the prison that houses death row inmates to the Huntsville Unit, where executions are carried out.

Authorities said he declined to have a spiritual adviser pray over him as the execution time approached, and a woman described as a friend was the only person he chose as a witness. No friends or relatives of the three victims in the case were listed on official documents as planned witnesses.

Hours earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from Ramey.

The man's attorneys had argued that jurors never heard about how he suffered physical abuse as a child and grew up in poverty. State prosecutors told the court the appeal was “meritless” and argued that evidence showed Ramey had “an escalating pattern of criminal behavior."

Norman testified during Ramey’s trial in January 2007 that both he and Ramey shot the victims. Ramey’s attorneys blamed the shootings on Norman.

Norman was sentenced to death in December 2008 after pleading guilty to capital murder.

Ramey’s former girlfriend testified that she was with him when he threw two pistols into a lake after the killings, and that he told her in detail about his involvement.

Lopez was shot four times, including in the back of the head; Peacock was shot twice in the head; and Roberts was shot five times in the chest, neck and head.

___

Stengle reported from Dallas.

“If managed poorly, I even believe AI could be a risk to humanity as a whole,” said Dario Amodei, chief executive officer of Anthropic. And from his competitor Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, came this assessment: “We could lose control of the future to AI.”

Both said the countries of the world, through the U.N. Security Council, where they testified Wednesday, have to set safeguards of some kind, which would be actual controls to prevent the technology from getting too powerful to rein in.

They also called for the world to make sure that the power of AI isn’t concentrated in one company or country. They said that as they also touted the benefits of the technology for bettering humanity and what Altman called “giving people more power over their own lives.”

Those tech leaders “are telling us in stark terms that it cannot be left to them to prevent disaster from befalling the world,” said United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said at the Security Council. “We cannot ignore them because they are right.’’

AI will be at the heart of G20 discussions

Miliband said when the U.K. takes control of the G20 next year it will put controlling AI at the heart of discussions, looking for a single set of global standards “to insure that AI development is safe.”

But the United States said don’t do it.

Worries about control of AI are "not a reason to pause its further development or to constrain it with new global governance structure,” said White House Science Adviser Michael Kratsios. “We want you, our allies and partners, to share in the benefits of this technology.”

For most of the world leaders, along with California Governor Gavin Newsom in New York for climate discussions, one of the key questions about AI is this: Who should control life-and-death decisions — human or machine?

Amodei, Altman and Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue, who spoke via a glitchy remote connection, spoke with the U.N.’s most powerful council because they and world leaders are trying to figure out not just whether to control AI, but by who, how it could possibly be done and when it might be just too late.

The day before, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of “killer robots." Experts and European leaders said that’s not hyperbole but something that’s either already a grim reality or perilously close.

Amodei called on the nations of the world to agree on not letting AI build biological weapons, figure out how to verify what models have the capability to do and “establish common standards” for testing and for loss of control and misuse.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, whose country convened Wednesday’s meeting and has fostered various other coalitions and discussions about AI, compared the current state of it to both the runaway computer HAL9000 in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the dawn of the atomic age.

“Just as with the atom back then, the international community must now regulate AI in order to make the most of its potential and avoid the worst,” Barrot said.

Other leaders and nations are paying close attention to AI

His wasn't the only concern expressed during this high-profile U.N. meeting week.

Ukrainian President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at the General Assembly, said some kind of human control over machines must achieved soon. Otherwise, he said, for his country it may be just too late.

“There is already a real possibility that AI, not only people, will begin to decide what happens on the battlefield. And we need peace before we reach that point,” Zelenskyy said.

Last month, a Russian drone seemingly using AI “autonomously made a targeting decision that killed three Ukrainians. Killer robots are technically easy to build, and they are real. We should not be under any illusions otherwise,” said Kentaro Toyama, an information technology professor at the University of Michigan.

The U.N. meeting unfolded as Chinese President Xi Jinping headed to Washington for a much-anticipated state visit. The U.S. and China are jostling for AI dominance, and AI interests are looking to what comes out of Xi’s discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump. Ahead of the meeting, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two countries had discussed a potential new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents that could impact national security.

But on Tuesday, Trump, lauding AI as “superintelligence,” said the United States would reject efforts to control the technology as it tries to win the development race with China. Kratsios was the one of the few who used that term in the Security Council.

Meanwhile, regional groups in Europe, Asia and elsewhere also are trying to coordinate AI policies, and various nations — and even subcomponents, such as U.S. states — are crafting their own.

Still, U.N. watchers and risk experts say the world body hasn’t been relegated to the sidelines on AI regulation.

“The U.N. is not in the driver’s seat of global discussions on AI, but it hasn’t been kicked out of the car yet,” said Daniel Forti, who oversees U.N. affairs at the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

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Farnoush Amiri, Edith M. Lederer and Jennifer McDermott contributed to this report from the United Nations.

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

Grail Inc.’s Galleri test doesn't diagnose cancer but instead, with a single blood draw, looks for a signal that someone may have one of a long list of tumors. They'll need additional care to tell if they're really sick.

The Food and Drug Administration's advisory panel voted 7-2, with one abstention, that the DNA-based test offers more potential benefits than risks, such as causing false assurances or raising false alarms, despite the many questions it still wants studied. The vote followed two earlier votes that the test appeared safe and effective for use by people age 50 and older.

Lots of companies are studying such blood tests and Wednesday's vote marks the first time a federal advisory group has backed the experimental approach. The FDA isn't bound by the advice but if it agrees, it could pave the way for widespread U.S. adoption of a long-sought new way to find more cancers earlier. Today there are a handful of recommended cancer screenings, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, that look for one kind of tumor at a time.

A final decision is expected in a few months.

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

The landmark New York prosecution began nearly a decade ago with multiple accusers, but after retrials, mistrials, acquittals and appeals, it was whittled to a single victim: Miriam Haley, who said the Oscar-winning producer forcibly performed oral sex on her at his Manhattan apartment. She had worked briefly on the Weinstein-produced reality series “Project Runway.”

Weinstein, 74, pleaded for mercy, citing his age and health issues, including cancer and congestive heart failure. He apologized “to anyone I have affected with my actions” and said he felt remorse for Haley. However, he added, “I have to reiterate my innocence.” His lawyers said he will appeal.

Once a towering figure in Hollywood, with such hits as “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat,” Weinstein’s downfall came quickly after sexual assault allegations in 2017 set off the #MeToo movement. Several of his dozens of accusers were in court on Wednesday.

Judge Curtis Farber said Weinstein wielded his power as a Hollywood kingmaker to prey on women looking to break into the industry, treating them as “mere objects to be played with and discarded with impunity.”

Farber said Weinstein’s refusal to accept responsibility, portraying himself as a victim during jailhouse interviews, weighed heavily on his sentencing decision. Weinstein had faced up to 25 years in prison.

Some of Weinstein's accusers attended the sentencing

Haley credited the swell of other accusers, some of whom she hugged afterward, for giving her the courage to come forward.

For years, she said, “it was like a dark and painful secret that ate away at my spirit, my enthusiasm and sense of self worth, that it took a long time to regain.”

Jailed since his original conviction, Weinstein has already served more than six years behind bars, leaving him with about nine years on his sentence. But a pending resentencing in Los Angeles, where he was originally ordered to serve 16 years in prison for a 2013 rape, could put him away for the rest of his life.

Farber said it'll be his counterpart in California who decides whether Weinstein can serve his sentences at the same time. If it were up to him, Farber said, he'd run them consecutively, stacking Weinstein’s New York punishment on top of his Los Angeles sentence.

Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair, was quickly moved out of the courtroom after the sentencing. In the gallery, Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress whose rape allegations ended in an overturned conviction and two hung juries, wept profusely as prosecutors, Haley and other accusers consoled her.

Weinstein and Haley both spoke in court

Haley, 49, fought through tears herself as she spoke in court. After testifying at two of Weinstein’s trials — the original and last year's retrial — it was her second time confronting the ex-studio boss at a sentencing proceeding.

“Having been sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein has had a devastating effect on my life and sense of security that may never go away,” Haley said. “Making the decision to speak up will have me looking over my shoulder for years to come.”

Weinstein hired private investigators to keep tabs on her, she said, and his defense lawyers and supporters ridiculed her in the media.

“It’s a life sentence for me,” she said.

Minutes later, Weinstein apologized while underscoring his claims of innocence. He maintains that he never raped or sexually assaulted anyone.

It was also Weinstein’s second time speaking at his sentencing — the latest in a series of courtroom soliloquies filled with complaints about his lodging at New York City's notorious Rikers Island jail complex, boasts about his philanthropy and reminiscence about his moviemaking prowess.

“Reflecting on all that has happened since 2017 has helped me recognize how my past conduct has negatively affected others,” Weinstein said, some of his accusers shaking their heads as he spoke. “I live with many regrets and sincerely apologize to anyone I have affected with my actions.”

“I really do have remorse for Miriam Haley,” he added. “I am not a violent man. I ask for mercy. I promise I will pass it on.”

Haley says Weinstein 'still feels entitled'

Haley said afterward that she was happy with the sentence. But, she said, it's clear from Weinstein’s remarks that he does not acknowledge what he did.

“I think he still feels entitled, and that’s part of the problem,” said Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi.

Other accusers, including psychotherapist and former model Kaja Sokola, stood with her as she spoke outside the courthouse.

Haley’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, rejected any suggestion that Weinstein’s sentencing means the #MeToo era is over, telling reporters: “Women are empowered in a way they have never been before.”

“Today was about the survivors,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who sat in the courtroom alongside Weinstein’s accusers.

“I’m moved, as we should all be moved, by their courage and their steadfastness,” he added.

A retrial, a split verdict and another sentencing

Weinstein was originally sentenced in 2020 to 23 years in prison — 20 years for assaulting Haley and three years for raping Mann.

New York’s highest court erased those guilty verdicts in 2024, ruling that Weinstein was prejudiced by testimony from other women whose allegations weren’t part of the case.

Tried for a second time last year, Weinstein was again convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Haley. In a messy split verdict, the jury acquitted him of forcibly performing oral sex on Sokola and could not reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann.

After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge rather than pursue a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Haley, Sokola and Mann have done.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

“The technology is more persuasive, more intimate, and more powerful,” the Duke of Sussex said. “AI is learning how to enter our relationships. It doesn’t just want your attention, it wants your attachment.”

Harry's presentation was part of CGI's focus on finding ways to support women and children at a time when funding for their well-being is being cut by several nations.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told The Associated Press in an interview that they are issues that need to be addressed even more urgently this year because of the cuts.

“What’s happening now under the guise of both stamping out diversity, equity, and inclusion, but also in the name of ‘efficiency,’ like we saw with DOGE when they destroyed government agencies, has our country back in so many ways,” she said.

Secretary Clinton said that it has only been in the last year or two that menopause has seen increased attention. “We have begun to make progress because I remember when I was first lady meeting with a group of women senators who told me that the early trials on breast cancer were done on men,” she said. “If you’re gonna do research on women’s health, guess what? You need to research women.”

She said CGI commitments like Tuesday's announcement of a $100 million venture fund by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to speed potential therapies to patients show how nonprofits are stepping up to the current challenging environment.

“We don’t have time to waste because as you probably know cancer is striking earlier and earlier,” she said. “We feel really strongly about doing the accurate research to actually solve men and women’s problems and to get politics out of science, to get politics out of research.”

Harry's nonprofit faces ‘uphill battle’ working against social media

In 2024, Harry sounded the alarm at CGI about how social media has contributed to an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation among today’s youth. Harry and his wife, Meghan, announced the founding of The Parents Network, through their Archewell Foundation.

Harry said that The Parents Network had made progress, but that technological developments had made an already “uphill battle” more difficult.

“There are major signals that families, young people, experts and advocates have finally shaken institutions awake to the reality that this technology can cause harm,” Harry said. “But bans, settlements and payouts are incomplete remedies.”

Last month Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by nearly every state.

The settlement resolved a pivotal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining children’s mental health. The effort targeted features designed to hook young people’s attention.

Wednesday marked Prince Harry's first public appearance in the United States since he and his family returned to England in August for an extended stay.

Secretary Clinton also discussed the potential dangers of AI at the conference, adding that addressing risk through international agreements is something that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping should discuss this week.

Economic and tech competition is only escalating between the U.S. and China, especially through an artificial intelligence race. Neither expects any grand bargain, but the leaders are expected to play nice in their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House. Still, developing AI technology has emerged as a key battleground, with both sides showing little interest in slowing down despite warnings from tech CEOs about threats that rogue AI could pose to humanity.

Speaking at CGI, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman said he believes a proposed kill switch, which would require developers to have the capacity to shut down their systems if needed, is a good idea.

“It’s not a natural thing for a company to put in, so it’s a good intervention,” he said.

War Child Alliance announces $100 million plan to improve children's mental health

At CGI on Wednesday, War Child Alliance announced its new $100 million initiative, “Childhood Beyond Conflict,” a commitment to improve the mental health of 10 million children in conflict zones over the next decade.

Laura Miller, War Child's CEO, said that more than 520 million children are currently affected by conflict. The new initiative, she said, is the nonprofit's attempt to build a coalition around children's mental health, expanding the global footprint of its programs to help educate and support young people.

Academy Award-nominated actress Carey Mulligan, who serves as global ambassador for the War Child Alliance, told The Associated Press in an interview that the organization is trying to reverse a shift around the world that the physical survival of a child in a conflict zone was an adequate outcome.

“A child who is traumatized, illiterate, and wounded from an experience in conflict really has their hands tied behind their back for the rest of their lives in terms of rebuilding any kind of real, dignified future for themselves," Mulligan said. “Children deserve more than physical survival. A child who goes through a conflict has the right to proper psychosocial support.”

Mulligan said that the $100 million announcement was special because it can actually solve a problem, despite the issue of a global lack of empathy.

“We are coming to say, ‘Guess what, guys, you don’t need to feel overwhelmed because we’ve got these amazing evidence-based methodologies that have been rigorously, scientifically tested,’ ” she said. “We know that they work and they improve outcomes for children who’ve been affected by conflict.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Hurricane Polo, an “extremely dangerous” storm, is expected to skirt Mexico’s Guerrero state, submerging coastal areas with 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Guerrero has been repeatedly pummeled by hurricanes in recent years.

Farther out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Nolo was churning about 310 miles (498 kilometers) south of South Point, Hawaii. The storm is expected to approach the Big Island as early as Friday and could drop up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain, raising the possibility of flooding and mudslides.

Polo could bring flooding and mudslides to Mexico’s Pacific coast

Concepción López Villegas was busily bolstering her seaside restaurant in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, against the expected onslaught of rain. Strong waves were already hitting some beaches and López Villegas said she feared the storm could destroy the small business she worked decades to build.

“We’re worried and trying to protect our businesses,” López Villegas said. “And of course, we’re sad because it’s our heritage, our legacy that from one moment to another could be destroyed.”

Guerrero state was particularly at risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides, the hurricane center said.

Polo, which was swirling a couple of hundred miles off the coast Wednesday afternoon, was not expected to make landfall, meteorologists and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. Rain and strong winds had already started to pummel the coast, with waves crashing onto the normally pristine beaches.

The hurricane center warned that Polo’s deluge could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, in particular in Guerrero.

The region most under threat from the hurricane is rural and mountainous, scattered with a few small tourist towns and ports. Much of the area is marked by poverty and residents routinely complain authorities abandon them to fend for themselves during natural disasters.

Mexico’s government has called for evacuations in some areas and set up shelters for those affected. Thousands of military and Red Cross personnel have been deployed to the region as a preventive measure.

Another hurricane could hit Hawaii as soon as Friday

The National Weather Service said Tropical Storm Nolo would likely strengthen before closing in on the Big Island on Friday or Saturday.

The storm has the potential to be a major hurricane, John Bravender, a weather service warning coordination meteorologist, said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

While high winds are expected, Bravender said the main concern is the possibility of flash flooding. He said 20 to 30 inches (50 to 76 centimeters) of rain could fall through Saturday on southeastern parts of the Big Island, the same region hit hard in August by Hurricane Lala.

“That by itself could cause catastrophic flooding, but when you put that on top of grounds that we’ve been raining off and on for the last couple of months … that rain could cause even more damage," Bravender said.

He urged preparation across all Hawaii islands in case the storm’s trajectory shifts.

“You need to take action now,” said Bravender. “Today is really the last dry day you have to get ready.”

Kauai’s electric cooperative urged residents to prepare for “the possibility of prolonged power outages,” and to store nonperishable food and potable water.

Over 100 Kauai households remain without power from Hurricane Lowell, which passed west of the island on Sept. 7.

Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, said crews would return to at-risk areas to help residents prepare for the coming storm.

Odalys strengthens into a hurricane

Hurricane Odalys, also in the Pacific, strengthened on Wednesday, carrying maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph). It churned about 1,265 miles (2,040 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and was not at risk of making landfall, according to the hurricane center.

An advisory said Odalys could increase in strength over the next couple of days but would likely weaken by the end of the week.

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Aoun reported from San Diego. Associated Press reporter Desiree Brooks in Atlanta contributed.

The federal immigration officer who shot a Venezuelan man in Austin was not using a body camera during the Sunday incident, according to news reports.

The recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recruit — who has not been publicly identified — was issued a body camera but was not wearing it when he fired at Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, according to The Atlantic, The Washington Post and NBC News, which quoted unnamed current and former officials with the Department of Homeland Security.

It’s not clear why the ICE officer was not using the device during the shooting, which left the 28-year-old man with a bullet lodged to his back. Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another ICE officer involved in Garces Perez’s arrest did use his body camera, but its footage didn’t capture the shooting, according to NBC News.

“You need to answer why your agents are not turning their body cams on,” Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the injured man’s attorney, told DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin in a Tuesday post on X. “Release the footage immediately!”

The reports came amid heightened focus on the availability of such devices for ICE officers, following the lack of body-cam footage in the recent fatal shootings of immigrants like that of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo on July 7.

In that Houston case, acting ICE Director David Venturella said the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body-worn cameras or dashboard cameras. DHS said in a July 12 statement that body cameras had been sent to more than half of the field offices and the rest would receive them in the next 60 days.

Earlier this month, Mullin said the agency was “on track by the end of September” to equip all officers who are in the field with a body camera.

“It’s for our safety and the public safety, too,” he added at a news conference.

ICE policy also gives the agency critical control over what to release in cases of severe or fatal use of force, saying that such footage would only be made public if “it is in the best interests of the agency.”

On Sunday, Garces Perez was working as a DoorDash delivery driver when he was shot by an ICE officer during a traffic stop in North Austin, which included a brief vehicle pursuit.

Lincoln-Goldfinch said he entered the U.S. legally in 2024 via the CBP One app and applied for asylum. But the man missed his immigration court hearing after the notice was sent to the wrong address, leading to a final order of removal. The attorney added that his work permit expired in December.

A day after the shooting, Garces Perez said an unmarked SUV sideswiped him twice before he realized that ICE officers were trying to pull him over. He said he did a U-turn under a freeway underpass when the SUV struck his blue Toyota Camry. That’s when the SUVs turned on their lights and sirens, he added.

Garces Perez said he then asked the officers if he could stop somewhere safer. He said an officer told him no, then he felt one shot to his back.

On Tuesday, DHS said the shooting followed a “dangerous attempt to evade arrest.”

“Resisting officers and evading arrest is dangerous for our officers, illegal aliens, and the public,” the department’s statement said. “We remind the public that resisting officers and evading arrest is a felony and a federal crime.”

Meanwhile, Garces Perez’s attorneys have filed a petition to block his deportation and get him out of ICE detention. A federal judge set a hearing in San Antonio on Sept. 30 for the case and ordered Garces Perez to make an appearance.

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Trump’s territorial ambitions over Greenland almost broke the NATO military alliance and shattered trust with one of America’s oldest and closest partners. The new defense agreement puts an end to the standoff. But was it worth the cost?

While the new defense agreement is a bit broader, the United States already had extensive military access under an existing 1951 deal and all the gains laid out in the agreement signed on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday could, ostensibly, have been achieved by asking nicely a year ago. The trans-Atlantic distrust created since the end of 2024 seems a very high price to pay for what may ultimately be a fairly incremental gain.

Interestingly, one place may emerge from this standoff as the real winner: Greenland itself.

The promised investments and contracts may never fully materialize, but the episode marks a major step forward in its push for greater autonomy and a more influential seat at the table. Greenland is no longer merely the subject of foreign policy decided by its former colonial rulers. Increasingly, it is helping to shape it.

There’s been progress toward self-determination

“A notable change is Greenland itself at the table today, signing this agreement,” said Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen speaking to a room cram packed with journalists and officials at the UN to witness the signing of the deal.

That’s an understatement. The world’s largest island, home to about 56,000 mostly Inuit people, was still considered a colony until the early 1950s. Progress towards greater self-determination has been slow and it wasn’t until 2009 that Greenland became a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark.

Even then, while the Self-Government Act recognized Greenland’s right to independence when requested by local voters in the future, Denmark retained control of defense and foreign affairs.

“I cannot stress it enough: This is the first time that we are venturing into a binding agreement as a country,” Naaja Nathanielsen, one of Greenland’s two lawmakers in the Danish parliament and a former government minister in Nuuk, told The Associated Press. “That is a huge step forward in our quest for more self-autonomy.”

Denmark and Greenland confront their own troubled past

Like most former colonial powers that discover history keeps receipts, Denmark’s ties with Greenland are complicated. Greenland’s economy is heavily dependent on Denmark, families and students often live between the two territories and the cultural linguistic ties are strong. Yet underwriting modern relations are centuries of Danish policies that dehumanized Greenlanders and their families.

They included forced contraception, the removal of Inuit children for reeducation by Danish foster families, and controversial parental-competency tests that led to children being separated from their parents.

“For many, many years you believed that you were a good colonizer,” Múte Bourup Egede, then Greenland’s prime minister and now its foreign minister, reminded Danish journalists early last year, shortly after a newly elected Trump made his first military threat against the island. “But time has also caught up with us, and ... cruel things have come to light.”

The abuses are not distant history; many victims remain alive. Hundreds of Inuit women have claimed compensation from Denmark, alleging that health authorities violated their rights by fitting them with intrauterine devices — often when they were teenagers and without their informed consent. Danish authorities estimate that as many as 4,500 women and girls received IUDs between the 1960s and mid-1970s.

While the first official apology for the historic mistreatment had long been coming it was finally delivered in the summer of 2025.

The standoff with the United States “has been applying pressure and focused some of the Danish attention” on reconciliation with Greenland said Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, but “perhaps, some Greenlanders feel that it’s not as credible as it could have been without Trump.”

Trump’s involvement changed the equation

While Denmark moved to address past grievances, anger with Trump’s tactics also helped shore up support for its sovereignty and take the edge off calls by some in Greenland for quick moves to independence.

At the height of the crisis over Trump’s ambitions in January, Nielsen said that “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO.”

For Denmark, the main victory is no doubt getting the US president off its back and succeeding in framing the crisis as a European security problem.

Danish and Greenlandic diplomats “have been working very hard to have European allies be part of this,” Pram Gad said. ”The result is an attempt to patch together the NATO alliance.”

And while Denmark has accepted some limitations to its sovereignty, investments by adversary countries such as Russia had long been off the table.

“The benefit of keeping the transatlantic alliance, or patching it together, or at least not allowing Greenland to be the occasion for Trump to blow it up, I think that counts heavily on both the Danish and the Greenlandic cost-benefit analysis here,” he said.

After Tuesday’s signing ceremony, relief was palpable. But while the Danish and Greenland delegations celebrated with a cold beer on a rooftop bar in Manhattan, the Greenland crisis has scarred a once undefiable bond. It leaves leaders in Copenhagen, Nuuk and other European capitals now assessing the reliability of the United States — and whether a signed agreement can repair trust once it has been broken.

Brown is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 30 to make the deal final. Defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh said Brown will plead no contest to aggravated assault. He will be sentenced to probation, and adjudication will be withheld, meaning Brown will not be considered a convicted felon, the attorney said. Brown could have faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the original attempted murder charge.

Brown is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer after a celebrity boxing match in Miami on May 16, 2025, and firing two shots at a man he had gotten into a fistfight with earlier, according to an arrest warrant. Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu told investigators that one of the bullets grazed his neck.

Attorney insists that Brown would have prevailed at trial

“This was not an easy decision,” Eiglarsh said in a statement Wednesday. “Antonio believes in his innocence. He believes strongly in his Stand Your Ground defense, and he believes he would ultimately prevail at trial. But when prosecutors put an offer on the table that transforms a potential decades-long prison sentence into a significantly reduced charge and probation, there was simply no way he could reasonably turn it down.”

Florida’s so-called Stand Your Ground law allows people who believe they face death or serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to retreat.

Richard Cooper, an attorney for Nantambu, called the plea deal fair.

“We are satisfied that justice is served. My client maintains what he said previously: that he forgives Brown and will not cooperate with law enforcement,” Cooper said in an email Wednesday. “We wish Mr. Brown good health and that he grows from this event.”

Nantambu's attorneys have said he'd decided to forgive Brown

In a previous statement, his attorneys said Nantambu, a devout Muslim, had made the decision to forgive Brown after “considerable reflection, prayer, and consultation with his family and counsel.”

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Wednesday, with spokesperson Ed Griffith saying the details would be “fully clarified” at next week's hearing.

Brown has said on social media that he was defending himself from an attack and that others were trying to steal jewelry from him.

Brown, 38, spent 12 years in the NFL and was an All-Pro wide receiver who last played in 2021 for Tampa Bay, including winning a Super Bowl championship with quarterback Tom Brady. He spent much of his career with Pittsburgh. For his career, Brown had 928 receptions for more than 12,000 yards and accounted for 88 total touchdowns, counting punt returns and one pass.

Brown has faced legal problems over the years

Brown was extradited in November 2025 from Dubai, where he has business interests, after an arrest warrant on the attempted murder charge was issued in June 2025.

Brown has dealt with several legal problems over the years. He previously had been accused of battery of a moving truck driver, several domestic violence charges, failure to pay child support and other incidents. During a 2021 game with Tampa Bay against the New York Jets, Brown took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field, leading to his release by the Buccaneers and effectively ending his football career.

In a separate case, Nantambu was found guilty earlier this year of a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer after police said he disrupted Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance in 2025. Nantambu was among dozens of dancers on the field at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans when he ran across the field with a Sudanese flag that read “Sudan and Free Gaza.” He surrendered to authorities after an arrest warrant was obtained.

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Associated Press writer Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

The signals are designed to alert drivers when pedestrians are trying to cross, but I am told they’ve been installed for some time, and that they did work for a few weeks before being covered up and becoming nonoperational.

So what’s going on?

The Shepherd and Durham corridor is currently undergoing a major reconstruction project, with work including new sidewalks, drainage, utilities and roadway improvements. The city says the project remains on schedule for completion in fall 2028.

I’d like to find out whether the pedestrian warning signals are part of that project, why they aren’t currently operating, and when residents can expect them to be activated.

If you’ve noticed and wondered the same thing, I’d also like to hear from you.

Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones said the county is focused on providing immediate assistance while creating longer-term pathways to financial stability.

“Affordability is what everyone is wrestling with,” Briones said. “Folks are struggling to buy groceries, to pay the rent, and it’s getting more and more difficult.”

One of the county’s workforce initiatives is its Apprenticeship Advantage program, which allows participants to learn a trade while earning a wage and gaining a direct connection to employment.

The program works with the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO on trade apprenticeships, including construction, elevator mechanics, pipefitting and electrical work. The county also partners with Empower, which offers pathways into technology-related careers, Briones said.

3 solid ways to stretch your grocery budget as food prices rise

The program is open to people entering the workforce, veterans, people returning to work and those looking to improve their skills, she said.

For Vanessa Guerra, the program provided an alternative to a traditional four-year college degree. Guerra graduated from high school in 2022 and was working at a convenience store when she learned about apprenticeship through Facebook.

She is now a third-year union insulator apprentice earning $26 an hour, compared with the $10-an-hour wage she earned previously, she said.

“Every year I got a raise,” Guerra said. “I’m earning and learning. That’s what I really like.”

Guerra’s apprenticeship is a four-year program. She works while attending school and plans to earn her journeyman license after completing the program.

She encouraged people who are unsure about entering a trade to take a chance, even if they have no prior experience.

“If you think that you’ll like it, take a risk and join,” Guerra said. “It will help you out a lot in your future.”

Briones said Harris County also is trying to lead by example. The county’s minimum wage for its employees is $20 an hour, while the minimum wage for county contract workers is $21.65 an hour, she said.

“One job should be enough,” Briones said, recalling that her parents often worked multiple jobs when she was growing up.

The county’s affordability efforts also include health care. Harris Health operates Ben Taub Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital and community clinics that provide care to vulnerable residents.

Briones said Harris County Public Health offers free vaccinations throughout the year. At Bayland Community Center, the county has partnered with Baylor College of Medicine to provide free wellness visits, sick visits, immunizations and mental health services for people ages 13 to 26.

The county also works with Memorial Hermann to bring a mobile unit into communities for women’s health exams. A mobile dental unit provides free services in neighborhoods across the county, Briones said.

Briones said the programs are intended to help residents who may be forced to choose between medical bills and basic necessities.

“If you’re choosing between feeding your children dinner and paying a doctor bill, that’s survival mode,” she said.

The county also is investing in affordable housing, eviction diversion and legal aid, as well as food access. At La Tiendita, a small grocery store at Bayland Community Center, residents can receive free food, nutrition counseling and educational resources through a partnership with the Tejano Center, Briones said.

Briones urged residents to contact Harris County Precinct 4 to learn more about available resources, including apprenticeships, health care, food assistance and exercise classes.

“Those resources exist,” she said. “We are here to serve, and we want to help.”

The grim warning by the University of Chicago-based Climate Impact Lab says that as many as 451,000 more heat-related deaths between June and the end of February could be attributed to El Nino, compared with heat deaths expected in a typical year.

The heaviest toll, the group says, is expected in poorer countries, already struggling with food insecurity and high energy costs, partly due to climate change and the fallout of the war in Iran.

Michael Greenstone, a co-founder of the group and the study's co-author, said the heat danger will likely persist beyond February — even though this El Nino is expected to end by then. The fallout of the weather phenomenon could be felt well into next summer, he added.

The research, he said, shows that heat is most dangerous in places that are already hot and relatively poor.

“If you’re already in a hot place, the extra couple of degrees are going to be much more dangerous,” he said. Wealthier places, he added, generally have greater access to air conditioning, reliable water supplies and functioning health systems.

The study combined seasonal temperature forecasts with localized estimates of how high temperatures affect mortality across more than 24,000 regions worldwide.

Researchers estimated the additional heat-related deaths by comparing deaths expected under El Nino-driven high temperatures with deaths expected if temperatures remained similar to what they have been in the last three decades. The projected fatalities are for the entire El Nino period, from June 2026 until the end of February 2027.

The report says the Global South will see more heat-related deaths

The study by Greenstone and his colleagues also warns that the Global South — a term that isn't geographical but a reference to developing countries in general — will bear the heaviest burden of the excessive heat.

The researchers behind the report found that the Sahel region in Africa — countries along the semiarid southern fringe of the Sahara Desert — is expected to be the hardest-hit, with about 66,800 additional deaths caused by El Nino-driven heat.

Other major hot spots include South and Southeast Asia and parts of Latin America, according to the report. The researchers project about 19,400 additional heat-related deaths across the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, as well as 19,300 in Indonesia, 15,800 in India and 13,300 in Brazil.

Heat warnings and cooling centers could prevent thousands of deaths

With such staggering numbers, there are recommended measures that governments can take, the report says. They include heat-warning systems, cooling centers, hydration stations, protections for outdoor workers, expanded hospital capacity and targeted outreach to elderly people and other vulnerable groups.

The authors also call for what they describe as anticipatory financing, so governments can move resources before dangerous heat peaks.

Abhiyant Tiwari, a heat expert at NRDC India who was not involved in the study, said the report’s projections should serve as a call to action rather than be another reason for alarm.

But while it's one thing to have well thought-out plans — as India does — implementing these plans and raising needed funds remains a challenge, he said.

"The real measure of our preparedness is not how many heat warnings we issue, but how effectively we protect people and reduce preventable deaths,” Tiwari added.

Climate change is amplifying El Nino’s record heat

El Nino is a natural climate pattern, but this year’s unusually strong event is occurring on a planet already warmed by human-caused climate change, increasing the risks from extreme heat.

The Climate Impact Lab said global land temperatures during this El Nino could be higher by about 1.2 Celsius (2.1 Fahrenheit), producing 44% more extremely hot days than in a typical year. The report said those temperature increases may mirror conditions that climate change could make common some 20 years from now.

That's why this El Nino could offer a preview of what's ahead as the planet continues to warm, the report said. It's also an opportunity for decision-makers "to see exactly where emergency actions can be taken now to save tens of thousands of lives,” the authors say.

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

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% after finishing the prior day just 0.4% below its record set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 352 points, or 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite sank 1.1% from its own all-time high.

Stocks wilted after the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 5.10% from 4.96% late Tuesday, which is a considerable move for the bond market. High yields undercut prices for stocks and other investments, while also slowing the economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money.

Wednesday’s jump briefly sent the 10-year yield near 5.14%, back to where it was in 2007 before the global financial crisis caused yields to crater. Yields have been climbing since bottoming out in the COVID pandemic, and they’ve accelerated recently because of worries about high inflation, the U.S. government’s heavy debt and other concerns.

Worries about inflation got a jolt Wednesday morning after a preliminary report suggested growth in U.S. business activity surged to its strongest level in more than five years. That’s an encouraging signal, to be sure, but it indicates the economy may have plenty of fuel for more inflation.

The report also suggested costs for businesses are leaping at the fastest rate in four years, in part because of more expensive oil, according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. That could mean businesses will pass those higher costs onto their customers in coming months.

Oil prices are high because of worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle East for a long time.

The price for a barrel of Brent oil to be delivered in November rose 3.9% to $103.08 on Wednesday. That reversed a decline for Brent, which had been falling since it neared $110 last week. Talks are continuing with mediators between U.S. and Iranian officials, but nothing concrete has come from it yet.

Brent oil to be delivered in December, where most of the trading in the market has moved, rose 2.8% to $98.12 per barrel.

Even with its recent decline, the price for a barrel of Brent remains much higher than the roughly $72 it cost before the war with Iran began.

Inflation has remained so stubbornly high that the Federal Reserve raised its short-term interest rate last week for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing down increases in the cost of living.

Fed Gov. Michael Barr said in a speech on Wednesday that further hikes “are likely to be needed” to get inflation to the Fed’s 2% target. Traders now see better than a 50% probability that the Fed will hike its federal funds rate at each of its next two meetings, in October and December, according to data from CME Group.

So far, strong growth in profits for U.S. companies has helped support the U.S. stock market despite higher interest rates and more expensive oil.

KB Home became the latest to deliver a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But its stock nevertheless swung between losses and gains after the homebuilder’s executive chairman said conditions got even tougher for the industry over the last three months. It finished with a loss of 3%.

Potential customers are becoming more cautious because of higher mortgage rates caused by the rise in the 10-year Treasury yield. They also are feeling pressure from “geopolitical uncertainty and broader economic headwinds,” Jeffrey Mezger said.

General Mills likewise reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But the company behind the Cheerios and Progresso brands said it also expects growth this fiscal year to fall below its historical track record “driven by a continued challenging consumer backdrop,” and it did not raise its forecast for profit over the full fiscal year.

Its stock flipped between gains and losses before rising 1%.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 58.61 points to 7,706.03. The Dow dropped 352.10 to 51,511.59, and the Nasdaq composite sank 308.24 to 26,936.04.

In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped across much of Europe and Asia.

Stock indexes fell 1% in Hong Kong and 0.4% in Shanghai ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, which is kicking off Wednesday.

The leaders are expected to attempt to steady fragile ties in their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House. That is despite the world’s two largest economies seeking the upper hand on artificial-intelligence developments and trade, while pushing for leverage in persistent hot spots like Iran and Taiwan.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

Jane Doe is represented by civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers and Jonathan Jackson. The lawsuit alleges she was 17 when she was lured from her home and forced into a life of violence, repeated sexual assault and commercial sex trafficking.

• RELATED: Case dismissed against former Klein ISD teacher accused of trafficking students with son

According to the complaint, Jane Doe was beaten and forced to engage in sex acts more than 10 times a day. The lawsuit describes the Houston area as a major sex-trafficking hub, focusing on the FM 1960 corridor and a one-mile stretch of Bissonnet Street known as the “Blade” or “Track,” areas long associated with prostitution and trafficking.

The hotels named in the lawsuit include Budget Inn, Palace Inn, Days Inn, Camelot Inn and Hotel Royale. The complaint alleges hotel employees knew Jane Doe and other victims were being abused on the properties but failed to intervene. It further claims the hotels benefited financially from the activity.

Houston was the first major U.S. city to adopt an anti-human-trafficking ordinance. In 2020, the city approved requirements for hotel and motel owners, managers and employees to receive training on how to recognize and report potential trafficking.

The lawsuit alleges the hotels failed to act despite warning signs and instead prioritized revenue.

“Jane Doe was a child,” Sellers said. “No amount of makeup could have covered up that fact or hidden the nightmare she was living with. These hotels let that nightmare continue because, for them, their profits were more important.”

“They not only allowed this to happen on their watch. They profited from it.”

The case against the former teacher was dismissed in January 2026 due to insufficient evidence. Her son, Roger Magee, pleaded guilty to child trafficking and is currently serving a 20-year sentence.

Jackson police said late Tuesday that they arrested 25-year-old Earnest Lloyd Jr. in the death of 29-year-old Tasia Fortune, whose body was found hanging behind an abandoned home in the city on Aug. 3.

Like Fortune and the first man arrested, 51-year-old Jarques Ratliff, Lloyd is Black. He appeared at a brief hearing Wednesday, where he was denied bond.

According to local TV station WLBT, investigators said witnesses directed them to Lloyd, who had allegedly had a physical altercation with Fortune days or minutes before she was killed. Police contend that Lloyd hanged Fortune with a black cable cord, and three co-defendants are also suspected of being involved in her death, the station reported.

Police and the court clerk said Wednesday that they didn't know if Lloyd has a lawyer.

Fortune's mother Christy Spivey, who attended the hearing, said afterward that she was ecstatic to see arrests made in her daughter’s death. She said neither she nor several of her daughter's friends knew Lloyd, and she cautioned that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“My family is not the only family that this is affecting,” Spivey said of the defendants' families. “I feel for them as well. The only difference is that mine can never come back.”

"I’ll never truly have peace,” she said.

Ratliff was arrested in September on murder charges. He pleaded not guilty and remains jailed without bond. His lawyer, Toney Baldwin, hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment.

Police said in a statement that they issued an arrest warrant for a third suspect, but gave no details about that person’s identity or alleged link to Fortune's death. They also said they expect to issue additional warrants.

After Ratliff's arrest, Jackson's police chief, RaShall Brackney, said Ratliff had an “association” with Fortune, but she didn't elaborate.

Although police haven't suggested a possible motive for the killing, the case has attracted widespread attention because the manner of death recalled lynchings in the Southern state.

A Kentucky native, Fortune had four children and had been living in Jackson for about a decade, relatives said.

Spivey previously said her daughter struggled with homelessness in recent years, and that she wasn’t sure where her daughter was living at the time of her death. She said that before her death, her daughter had talked about starting a cleaning business and was trying to get her life in order.

Two people were killed and 41 wounded in Ukraine’s capital as the attacks stretched into Wednesday afternoon. Palls of black smoke floated above the city following the latest in what have been daily Russian attacks that torment Ukrainian civilians. The drones set off fires and damaged buildings in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, authorities said.

Zelenskyy was in New York for the annual U.N. gathering as part of his diplomatic effort to shore up and recruit further international support for his country’s grueling 4½-year fight against Russia’s invasion. He addressed the General Assembly, met with European leaders and was also due to hold talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. In his address to the Assembly, Zelenskyy urged the international community to keep limiting Russian oil revenues to prevent Russia’s ability to keep financing its war in Ukraine.

“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said.

Zelenskyy met on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has shown impatience with the lack of progress in talks aimed at ending the war and the escalating aerial attacks by both sides this year.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled to the gathering in years, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead. Lavrov, who met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss Ukraine and other issues, reaffirmed Wednesday that Moscow is open for talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, but wouldn’t accept a break in hostilities before a peace deal is agreed.

Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting that Trump has invited Putin to the G20 meeting that he will host at his Miami country club in December, adding that “we think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president, but with other world leaders.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was grateful for the invitation, adding that the issue will be discussed further via diplomatic channels.

Ukraine has hit back at Russia by damaging oil refineries that are a vital pillar of the country’s economy.

Speaking in New York, Zelenskyy said that “our target is Russia’s ability to finance this war, to drag it out, to make it more brutal and more destructive. Russia’s finances and Russia’s production are what must be stopped.”

The Ukrainian leader said at the start of his U.S. visit that he had proposals for a possible de-escalation in the war. Urgent issues for Kyiv are halting devastating Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid and ensuring Ukrainian grain can be shipped to world markets through the Black Sea despite the war.

Ukraine also needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems as a shield against Russian ballistic missiles, but Patriots are in short supply after the war in Iran began.

In Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, two men aged 37 and 39 were wounded by a strike that started a large fire at a shopping mall. Emergency services said the fire spread across about 6,000 square meters (1.5 acres) before coming under control.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces struck Ukraine’s military-industrial and energy sector facilities, logistics centers and sea vessels in overnight attacks.

The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as illegally annexed Crimea and waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

In another development, the Polish military said a Russian military helicopter briefly violated Poland’s airspace Wednesday on the country’s border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. It said that “the nature of the incident suggests that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defense.”

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

DNA testing performed by the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification confirmed the match after a local resident found the remains on Sept. 8, 2026. The remains were located east of Salt Flat Road, between Soda Springs and Biggs Road.

Investigators reported that the skeletal remains did not provide additional details regarding the cause or manner of death, and authorities found no indication of foul play.

What Happened the Night Jason Landry Vanished

Landry was a 21-year-old junior at Texas State University when he packed his 2003 Nissan Altima on the night of Dec. 13, 2020, to drive home to Missouri City for Christmas vacation.

Shortly after midnight, a volunteer firefighter discovered his car wrecked and abandoned along a remote dirt stretch of Salt Flat Road outside Luling.

The vehicle’s lights were on, the keys were missing from the ignition, and Landry’s cellphone, wallet, and clothing were found scattered nearby.

Despite an extensive search covering more than 50 square miles on foot, by horseback, and with aircraft, search teams found no trace of Landry in the days immediately following the crash.

Over the nearly six years since his disappearance, the Attorney General’s Cold Case Unit conducted ground and aerial searches, reexamined evidence, and followed up on leads. The investigation involved the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Search and Rescue, and citizen volunteers.

It was on Sept. 8 when Caldwell County deputies confirmed the discovery of skeletal remains along Biggs Road, setting into motion the forensic testing that finally delivered answers to investigators and the Landry family.

“This development marks a critical moment in a case that has weighed heavily on our hearts for nearly six years. The Landry family has suffered an unimaginable tragedy, and they will remain in our prayers, especially during this incredibly difficult time,” Paxton said in a statement.

Landry’s family has been notified of the identification. Participating agencies requested privacy for the family, noting that additional details will be released as appropriate.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the team had not announced Dart's status.

Dart was injured on the first drive Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams when his left leg bent awkwardly as he was hit by two defenders. After initially saying it was in the neighborhood of a medial collateral ligament injury, coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday the evaluation process for Dart was still ongoing.

An MRI revealed medial collateral ligament, posterior cruciate ligament and meniscus damage, according to a report by NFL Network. Harbaugh is scheduled to address reporters after practice later Wednesday, his 64th birthday.

Losing the 23-year-old face of the franchise to a long-term injury would be a significant blow in Harbaugh's first season in charge, which began with a victory against Dallas at home in Week 1. Jameis Winston takes over the starting role beginning Sunday against Tennessee.

The Giants' next five opponents have a combined 2-8 record. Winston is 3-9 in 12 NFL starts since 2024.

Winston and Jake Haener, who is on the practice squad, were the only QBs at practice during the portion open to reporters. Haener, who played in eight games and started one for New Orleans two seasons ago, joined midway through training camp and stuck around over journeyman Brandon Allen.

Edge rusher Brian Burns, who sprained his left ankle late in the Rams game, was not on the field. No. 1 receiver Malik Nabers, who popped his shoulder back into place and returned Monday night, and starting left tackle Andrew Thomas, who limped off with a groin injury, were participating in the unpadded session.

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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi in Tampa, Florida, contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The discussion explored the realities of entering the journalism industry, including a reporter’s day-to-day responsibilities, entry-level salaries and the changing role of journalists as newsrooms place greater emphasis on digital reporting, social media, video and multiplatform storytelling.

Muñoz also reviewed the fundamentals of responsible reporting, including how to approach stories without allowing personal opinions to influence the work, ask fair and effective questions, build relationships with sources and understand the responsibility journalists have when presenting information to the public.

Students were introduced to newsroom terminology and skills, including what makes a strong reel, how a VO/SOT is structured, what reporters mean by a “softball” question and how a television story develops from the initial reporting process to the final product viewers see on air.

The workshop also provided practical advice for students preparing to apply for newsroom positions. Muñoz discussed internships, resumes, reels and what news managers look for in applicants. He encouraged students to practice reporting, shooting, writing, editing and communicating across platforms while learning how to present their classroom experience as preparation for a professional newsroom.

As a Houston native and University of Houston graduate, Muñoz understands the transition from the classroom to the newsroom firsthand. He reports for KPRC 2 in English and Spanish across television, digital and social platforms.

His goal was to give students a realistic look at the expectations, challenges and opportunities ahead.

“Entering the industry requires more than knowing how to write a story,” Muñoz said. “Young journalists need to understand how to report, shoot, write, edit, communicate across platforms and, above all, earn the trust of the people they serve.”

We’ll also visit the bug house to meet some of the zoo’s tiniest residents and learn how they get ready for the day. Plus, we’re eating our way around the zoo with seasonal treats, specialty coffees, cookies and new breakfast options.

Stream this special edition of Houston Life LIVE at the Houston Zoo HERE at 1 p.m. on KPRC 2.

Police say the call came in at approximately 1:45 p.m.

Authorities say a 911 call came from an individual who reported finding a body near American Statesmanship Park.

Very limited details exist at this time regarding how the individual died or if it is a man or a woman.

Police are investigating.

Acuña was listed as day-to-day with a contusion after X-rays and a CT scan showed no serious damage. He was able to walk slowly off the field under his own power after hobbling away from the battling circle and dropping to his knees in clear pain.

“Good news with Ronald,” manager Walt Weiss said after the Braves lost to the Reds 4-0.

The injury comes with the playoffs just a week away for Atlanta, which clinched its seventh NL East title in the past nine years. The Braves are likely to open the playoffs hosting a best-of-three series against the lowest-seeded wild-card team.

Asked if he had any worries about Acuña being ready for the postseason, Weiss replied, “Not as I sit here today, unless things change. But no, as I sit here today, no concerns.”

Acuña was tended to for several minutes by the Braves trainer, with Weiss looking on intently, before heading straight to the home clubhouse.

“Very concerned at the time,” Weiss said. “He hits the ball so hard. His foul balls off the feet and legs are not the same as the average Joe. The ball comes off his bat so hot, so I was concerned at first.”

Acuña went down on a 3-1 pitch from Brandon Williamson with the Reds up 1-0. The slugging outfielder took a big swing, sending the ball off his left shin, below the knee and just above a protective guard. He dropped to the dirt with a big grimace, pulled himself up and limped a few feet away from the box before going to the ground again.

The 2023 NL MVP has been one of Atlanta's hottest hitters down the stretch, hitting seven homers in his last 18 games — including a grand slam in a sweep of the Astros last weekend. He is batting .259 with 20 homers, 55 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

“We'll see how he feels tomorrow,” Weiss said. “He's going to be sore. Obviously, we'll err on the side of caution at this time of years. But all things considered, it's good news.”

The Braves have five games left in the regular season. Brewer Hicklen took over the leadoff spot and right field after Acuña left the game.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

On a 3-1 pitch,

Acuna foul ball off left leg, just above a protective pad. Acuna went down in a heap, hobbled out of the batting circle and dropped to his knees again while attended to by manager Walt Weiss and the trainer. Acuna eventually left the game,

Meanwhile, another ship attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz was struck by a projectile, highlighting the dangers that continue to restrict traffic through the critical waterway as the seven-month war grinds on.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.

Iran's president calls US attacks ‘cowardly’

Iran's president said his country's people had been the “victims of terrorism” by the United States.

Delivering a rare wartime speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Pezeshkian displayed images of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and more than 150 schoolchildren killed in the opening days of the conflict.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” he said. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country.”

Turning to the United States, Pezeshkian added: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.”

Rubio says Trump still open to a deal to make Iran ‘prosperous’

Pezeshkian addressed world leaders a day after U.S. President Donald Trump used the same stage to suggest that he might “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if an agreement was not reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Hours later, Trump touted “a very good meeting” between his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Iranian officials. Tehran, however, downplayed the talks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said they were “not anything new.”

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Trump remained open to an agreement “that allows Iran to be what it should be, which is a great and prosperous country.”

Rubio said the prospects for such a deal were hindered by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and “their support of terrorism.” If those policies continued, he said, Trump could exercise “a number of options,” including further military action.

Hard-liners in Iran criticize talks with US

Hard-line figures in Iran attacked Iran’s top diplomat for engaging with the U.S. at the U.N., triggering pushback from rival factions in Tehran.

In an X post, lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei demanded that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi explain the decision to meet with “the aggressor enemy.”

Ali Ahmadnia, a media official for Iran’s president, responded by posting an AI-generated image depicting Araghchi as a wounded warrior.

“How can a soldier be on the battlefield while the home front is being weakened from within?!", Ahmadnia wrote on X. “The Iranian delegation in New York operates in full coordination with the relevant institutions.”

Another ship hit in the Strait of Hormuz

A cargo ship was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, citing an unidentified company security officer.

The vessel was hit by an “unknown projectile,” resulting in two casualties, UKMTO said without providing further details. The crew abandoned the ship, which caught fire and was left adrift.

The attack was the first reported in two days. No one immediately claimed responsibility.

The incident highlighted the continuing danger to ships attempting to navigate the waterway. Some vessels appear to be making “dark passages” without transmitting identifying signals, but Iran and the United States have maintained their competing blockades. Commercial traffic remains well below prewar levels, according to ship-tracking data from analytics firm Kpler.

Restrictions on shipping through the strait have become one of the war’s most persistent consequences. Before the conflict, one-fifth of the world’s traded oil passed through the narrow waterway, along with large volumes of natural gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products.

Major Arab parties disqualified from running in Israeli elections

Israel’s election commission voted Wednesday to disqualify major Arab political parties and candidates from running in next month’s polls.

The disqualification came at the request of two right-wing parties, including the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The parties had said the candidates were ineligible under a law barring those who reject Israel’s existence, incite racism or support armed struggle against Israel.

Wednesday’s vote targeted the United Arab List, a religious Arab Muslim party also known by its Hebrew name Ra’am; as well as the Joint List, an alliance of left-wing and Arab-majority parties. Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas said the decision was a “political, illegitimate, and anti-democratic move” and that the party would appeal to the Supreme Court.

Elections will be held next month, the first since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that plunged Israel into war.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

The Pearland Police Department says it happened on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at approximately 6 p.m. when officers were dispatched to a bank in the 9900 block of Broadway Street after getting reports of suspicious activity in the ATM drive-thru.

Officers were told that a masked man was making multiple transactions using several different cards and withdrawing large amounts of cash.

As officers were responding, the suspect was seen getting into the passenger seat of white GMC Sierra, which then left the area.

With the help of a drone, an officer found the truck in the parking lot of a business in the 2500 block of Smith Ranch Road.

The passenger got out of the truck and began to walk away, but was detained by the officer. The driver, who was still inside the truck, took off.

Other officers attempted to pull over the truck, but the suspect refused to stop. The suspect began throwing large amounts of cash out the window of the truck, which was caught on dash cam video.

The vehicle eventually stopped in the 1600 block of Max Road. Officers took the suspect into custody without further incident.

Officers recovered more than $6,000 in cash that had been thrown from the vehicle during the pursuit.

The passenger was identified as Tarvares Givens, of Florida, and was arrested and charged with Failure to Identify. The driver was identified as Levon Steven Jr., of Florida, and was arrested and charged with Evading Arrest and Tampering with Evidence.

The investigation remains ongoing. Detectives are continuing to investigate the incident for additional fraud-related charges.

At the time of this post both Givens and Steven are currently in custody at the Brazoria County Jail.

The Texas City Police Department has used Flock cameras since 2023 and currently operates 26 cameras throughout the city.

According to the department, a recent internal review identified two instances of possible misuse involving department employees.

Police said one involved a civilian employee. The department said disciplinary action was taken in that case.

ENOUGH Investigation: Flock cameras across Houston: Who has access and what happens when they’re misused?

The second involves a police sergeant and remains under investigation.

Following the review, the department said it has made changes to its policy governing access to the Flock system.

Access is now limited to detectives and supervisors, according to police. The department also plans to conduct monthly audits of the system.

RELATED: Flock cameras vs. red light cameras -- here’s the difference under Texas law

Flock cameras under scrutiny across Houston area

The Texas City discussion comes as communities across the Houston area continue to debate the use of automated license plate reader cameras and how the information they collect should be accessed and monitored.

Flock cameras capture images of vehicles and license plates that can be searched by law enforcement as part of criminal investigations.

Neighboring League City recently approved the creation of a citizen committee to audit the city’s use of Flock cameras.

Other communities in the Houston area have also reconsidered their use of the technology amid questions about privacy, data access and oversight.

What happens next?

The Texas City Police Department is scheduled to give its presentation during a special City Commission meeting Wednesday.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

And here’s where you’ll find more on the investigations by our ENOUGH team.

The Dodgers are once again among the best teams in the big leagues, and they'll have several challengers in October, including the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. All three teams could finish the regular season with 100 wins or more. Los Angeles is rolling into the postseason and four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani is expected to return to the lineup on Wednesday after a stint on the injured list.

The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves have also clinched spots in the postseason. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, a three-time AL MVP, is dealing with a right calf strain that will likely keep him out through at least the Wild Card Series.

While the 12-team playoff field appears mostly set, there are a few long-shot contenders for the postseason, and specific matchups are in flux.

Here's some of what to watch as the season comes to a close.

Here's who can clinch a playoff spot Wednesday

In the American League, the Cleveland Guardians can qualify for the postseason with a win at Boston and a loss by either the Texas Rangers or Houston Astros.

The Chicago White Sox can cap a turnaround season and earn a spot in October with a win over the Kansas City Royals and a loss by the Rangers.

Over in the National League, the Chicago Cubs can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Miami Marlins or a loss by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Philadelphia Phillies can clinch a wild card if they beat the Milwaukee Brewers and either the San Diego Padres or D-backs lose.

The Padres can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Dodgers and a loss by the D-backs.

AL Central and West are tight, other division winners are set

There's quite a bit of mediocrity in the AL Central and West divisions this season, which has led to some fascinating pennant races and could lead to a sub-.500 team making the postseason.

The Guardians (82-75) have a narrow advantage over the White Sox (81-76) in the AL Central while the Texas Rangers (78-79) and Astros (78-79) are fighting for the AL West.

Over in the National League, the playoff bracket is close to set.

The Cubs (87-70), Padres (87-70) and Phillies (87-70) are jockeying for position in the wild-card race but will almost certainly make the postseason. The only team within shouting distance is Arizona (83-74), which is four games back. Chicago holds the head-to-head tiebreaker for home field over Philadelphia and San Diego, and the Phillies own the tiebreaker over the Padres after sweeping that season series 6-0.

MVP races, stats to watch

MLB's major awards probably won't have much drama this season.

Both MVP races have strong favorites with Chicago's Pete Crow-Armstrong running away with the NL honor while Houston's Yordan Alvarez is the probable choice in the AL, though Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero has also had a fantastic season. Alvarez still has an outside shot at a Triple Crown. He leads the AL in batting average at .314 and his 41 homers are tied with Caminero, but his 102 RBIs are six back of Baltimore's Pete Alonso.

For the Cy Young Award, Milwaukee flame thrower Jacob Misiorowski and New York ace Cam Schlittler are the favorites in the NL and AL, respectively.

The Rookie of the Year races also look set with Cincinnati's Sal Stewart and his 110-RBI season the leader in the NL and Detroit's Kevin McGonigle the favorite in the AL.

What is the MLB playoff format?

There are 12 teams that qualify for MLB’s postseason, including six teams from both the AL and NL. The three division winners in each league get seeds No. 1 through No. 3, ranked by win-loss record. Then the three wild-card teams get seeds No. 4 through No. 6, also ranked by win-loss record.

The top two teams with the best record in both the AL and NL automatically advance to the Division Series. The other eight teams play in the Wild Card Series, which is a best-of-three format beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 29. In both the AL and NL, the No. 6 seed will travel to face the No. 3 seed while the No. 5 seed goes to No. 4. The higher seed hosts all three games.

The winners then advance to the best-of-five Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven League Championship Series and a best-of-seven World Series between the winners of the AL and NL.

What is the MLB postseason schedule?

Wild Card Series: Sept. 29-Oct. 1 (NBC/Peacock)

Division Series: Oct. 3-10 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)

Championship Series: Oct. 11-20 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)

World Series: Oct. 23-31 (FOX)

Who are the favorites to win the World Series?

The Dodgers (+220) are the favorites to capture a third straight World Series title while the Brewers (+600), Yankees (+800) and Rays (+800) are viewed as the top contenders.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

His first reaction? “Confusion.”

“Why would Governor Abbott be endorsing mail-in voting when he’s a supporter of the president who’s against mail- in voting?” McCarron said.

He wondered whether the paperwork was even real.

“No, I actually thought that this was most likely an illegitimate document, someone phishing for information,” he said.

So KPRC 2 checked. Abbott’s campaign confirmed that Texans for Greg Abbott sent the mailing. Campaign spokesperson Eduardo Leal provided this statement:

“Governor Abbott’s campaign routinely sends official ballot-by-mail applications to our voters who are 65 and older. These are applications—not ballots—and the mailing clearly identifies Texans for Greg Abbott as the sender. Our goal is simple: make sure every eligible voter knows how to exercise their right to vote and has the information they need to participate in our elections.”

KPRC 2 also asked the campaign about the contrast between promoting mail voting and President Donald Trump’s criticism of it. The campaign did not answer that question.

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office says campaigns are allowed to send applications to vote by mail. What McCarron received is an application, not a ballot.

Does getting an application mean you can vote by mail?

No. Receiving an application does not mean you are registered to vote or eligible to vote by mail.

In Texas, voters may qualify if they are 65 or older on Election Day, have a qualifying sickness or disability, expect to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day, or will be out of their county during both early voting and Election Day. Other circumstances may also qualify.

What are the deadlines?

For the Nov. 3 election, the deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5. If you qualify to vote by mail, your county elections office must receive your application by Oct. 23. Putting it in the mail on Oct. 23 is not enough. The Texas Secretary of State’s election calendar says the Oct. 23 deadline is “received, not postmarked.”

McCarron said he is registered and qualifies to vote by mail because he is over 65. He said he would rather get an application through an election office than use the one sent by the campaign.

Voters can check the full eligibility rules and get an application at VoteTexas.gov. Harris County voters can also visit HarrisVotes.com.

At a meeting of the group’s board in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, the governors unveiled a 66-project blueprint to get things started while acknowledging enormous hurdles that must still be overcome. The projects include ambitious infrastructure, education and health initiatives that are designed to support Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war.

“The need is immense,” the board said, noting that full reconstruction from the physical damage across Gaza will cost roughly $35.2 billion over the medium term and an additional $71.4 billion over the next 10 years.

The proposal is largely aimed at potential donors who are being asked to foot the bill for reconstruction of the war-devastated territory that has seen numerous failed peace initiatives in the past. Those have included previous premature pronouncements of agreements between Hamas and Israel that have left would-be donors skeptical.

Board of Peace is seeking movement as Trump's ceasefire plan has largely stalled

The ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, was meant to clear the way for a broader process to rebuild Gaza under the guidance of the Board of Peace. The plan included additional Israeli military withdrawals from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, the arrival of an international peacekeeping force and a new apolitical Palestinian government to administer the territory’s day-to-day affairs. It also envisioned an ambitious program for rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza.

But the U.S.-backed plan has largely stalled. While the ceasefire halted the heaviest fighting and humanitarian conditions have improved, the Israeli military has expanded its control of Gaza and now occupies some 60% of the territory. Hamas has not given up its weapons. The international military force and new government still have not entered Gaza, and reconstruction has not begun. The vast majority of Palestinians continue to live in tent camps or ruins of their former homes.

The board’s high representative, Nickolay Mladenov, has said progress hinges largely on Hamas disarming — a step the militant group has refused to take. But he also has pressed Israel to scale back its military operation.

“Given the complexities of what we’re dealing with, I think we’re making slowly and steadily progress,” he said. Mladenov added that discussions with Israel have been politically sensitive and emotional because of next month’s elections.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Mideast envoy, acknowledged that the ceasefire had not been a 100% success but said the board “can point to real progress.”

“There is a ceasefire, imperfect as it may be, but it still exists,” he said.

Witkoff's partner in peacemaking, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner praised the Board of Peace team for the work it has done to advance the prospects for peace.

“We’re building something that is really a platform to enable the Palestinian people in Gaza to finally focus on improving their livelihoods and improving their lives and for those who want to live in peace, to give them a chance to do so,” Kushner said.

The timeline for new projects and larger steps in Gaza still isn't clear

Despite laying out a six-month plan that prioritizes 66 projects — ranging from humanitarian shelters and home repair to education programs and food security — the timeline was still nebulous. Documents that the board released Wednesday says the programs are “ready to begin the moment funding and access allow.”

Speaking about the difficult steps of disarmament and Israeli withdrawal, Mladenov said, “I want to be very clear that we are not bound by a calendar — we're bound by verification. We want to make sure that this works.”

U.S. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, commander of the international stabilization force planned for Gaza, outlined a five-step approach to dealing with the thorny issue of demilitarizing Hamas. It begins with the first wave of the multinational unit being deployed with troops from Kosovo and Morocco, to be followed by additional personnel from Albania and Kazakhstan.

Their task will be to demilitarize the territory and decommission all of Hamas’ military infrastructure.

The goal, he said, is to gradually turn security control over to the interim government, after which Israel will be expected to withdraw its forces.

Speaking to reporters separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the challenge is daunting but not impossible to meet.

“Obviously, this is a long-term project,” he said. “This is not something that can happen in six months, but at least gives people the hope (of a) future that awaits you if everyone does their part.”

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Associated Press writers Josef Federman and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show that Nickolay Mladenov's first name was misspelled.

The suspect, who isn’t being named because of his age, is also believed to be a student in Spring ISD, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

Update to yesterday’s fatal shooting on Ella Blvd:

The teen who was killed has been identified as 15-year-old Royce Witchet. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Royce’s family, friends, classmates, and all who are grieving his loss.

Today, a 14-year-old male was taken into… pic.twitter.com/uyExOuv8sa

— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) September 23, 2026

The shooting happened shortly after school dismissal Tuesday along a sidewalk near Westfield High School and the Spring ISD administration building on Ella Boulevard.

• RELATED: ‘I called him my heart’: Family identifies 15-year-old killed near Westfield High School

The victim was identified by his family as 15-year-old Royce Witchet. His mother, Rhonda Churchwell, remembered him as a loving and funny teenager who cared deeply for his siblings and was passionate about sports and music.

• RELATED: Investigators seek student video, messages after fatal shooting near Westfield High School

Witchet was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where he later died.

Investigators have not released details about what led to the shooting, including whether Witchet and the suspect knew each other.

• RELATED: Westfield High School student dies after being shot near campus

Authorities have asked students and others who witnessed the shooting -- or who have video, messages or other information -- to contact the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at 713-221-6000. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

The nearly impossible part for the female cyclist from Afghanistan was trying to train in her country. To do that, she dressed as a man in a place where women have few rights.

“All the time when I was going to training,” she said, “I was dressing as a guy.”

She said she also hid her face when she could in order to not be recognized.

“Because sometimes when they recognized me, they were trying to throw ... stone(s) or hitting me," she said.

Hashimi, who is 23, won silver Tuesday in a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 5 seconds, which marked another leg in a journey that began in 2021 when she left Afghanistan.

“In 2021, when the Taliban moved into my country, I escaped my country because I wanted to follow my dream,” she said. “I want to show the Afghanistan women in the world that ... we can have an opportunity.”

Hashimi talked about having many dreams for women in Afghanistan, dreams for herself and dreams that may take time to be realized.

“I’m really, really happy and I’m full of emotion. I don’t know how I can explain it for you,” she said.

“I hope one day I come back in my country and ride the streets of Kabul — and riding with the women side by side to share the same passion," she explained.

“And I hope in the future changing some things,” she added. “I think we are really tired of the situation of our country and I hope the Taliban is watching. I know how much one woman can be powerful and that's why Taliban is scared (of) women.”

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SNTV video journalist Raj Mohan contributed to this report.

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See full AP coverage of Asian sports here

“When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. And that is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said in English, a language he often uses at the world body.

Russia gets its turn Saturday to address the assembly. President Vladimir Putin hasn’t traveled to the gathering in years, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead.

Lavrov told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that Russia is prepared to negotiate toward a lasting peace but won’t just “pause” the war. He argued that such a pause would just buy Ukraine and its backers time to line up more weapons.

Zelenskyy cast doubt on Russia's interest in ending the fighting.

“Something always seems to stop Putin from saying, ‘That’s it. Enough. Peace,’” Zelenskyy said. “Can you even imagine him without war? He is ‘Patient Zero’, the one from whom war keeps spreading further. ... ‘Patient Zero’ must be stopped."

The war has reverberated across the planet

Russia invaded Ukraine more than 4½ years ago and says it's out to protect its own security and the interests of Russians and Russian-speakers in parts of Ukraine. Western analysts estimate that over 500,000 Russian troops have been killed and that Ukraine has recorded more than 500,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths. Neither country discloses its own casualty totals.

The war has had global repercussions for fuel, fertilizer and grain shipments — and for geopolitics, widening divisions between Russia and the West.

With front-line positions in eastern and southern Ukraine largely unchanged since last year, Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range attacks with drones and missiles.

Russian drones pounded the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in daylight attacks on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding 23; two others were injured by a strike that started a big fire at a shopping mall in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities, logistics centers, and sea vessels overnight. The ministry said its air defenses intercepted more than 500 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions and Crimea, as well as the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Crimea is the peninsula that Russia seized by force and illegally annexed in 2014.

Zelenskyy says ‘you can stand and survive’

Zelenskyy told the assembly that Russia has used 63,000 attack drones of different types against Ukraine so far this year alone. While celebrating that his own country "has proven that even against a much bigger enemy, you can stand and survive,” he implored world leaders to deny Putin money or foreign fighters.

“Limit his money. Limit his war," the Ukrainian leader said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been looking for additional resources. Zelenskyy noted to reporters Tuesday that his country hasn’t yet gotten clear answers to its effort to acquire more U.S. Patriot air defense systems.

Zelenskyy met Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump on the U.N. sidelines.

In brief remarks to the media before the meeting, Trump reiterated that he believes “we’re going to make a deal” with Russia and Ukraine to quell the fighting. The president predicted on the 2024 campaign trail that he’d swiftly broker an end to the war but hasn’t succeeded so far. Zelenskyy said Tuesday he was hopeful.

“Sometimes, it may seem that Ukraine is focused, focused, only on war because we speak about weapons, we speak about defense and sanctions against the aggressor. But Ukrainians did not choose this war,” he told the assembly on Wednesday. “We choose not to die. …. We are defending ourselves.”

Caesars has a dominant presence on the Las Vegas Strip, operating hotels like Caesars Palace, the Flamingo and Harrah’s. It also operates casino resorts across the United States.

Fertitta owns Las Vegas’ Golden Nugget and restaurant chains like Rainforest Cafe and Morton’s. Billionaire owner Tilman Fertitta is the largest shareholder in Wynn Resorts and the sports betting company DraftKings. Fertitta stepped back from his role as president and director of his company following his April 2025 confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Italy and San Marino.

Tuesday’s vote took place in Reno, Nevada, with over 133 million votes in favor of the merger and 4 million votes against, according to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The merger was first announced in May, with Fertitta agreeing to pay $5.7 billion and take on close to $12 billion in debt from Caesars, putting the total value of the deal at about $17.6 billion.

Caesars and Fertitta still must complete the federal antitrust review process. If it goes through, Caesars will become a privately-held company. Its shareholders will get $31 in cash for each share they own.

But a proposed expansion of the Katy Freeway could have implications beyond your commute.

The Texas Department of Transportation is studying how to extend the managed lanes along I-10 from Voss Road to I-45, adding four new managed lanes, two in each direction, along the roughly 6.3-mile corridor. The project also calls for reconstructing the existing general-purpose lanes and expanding the drainage system.

The big question right now isn’t simply whether TxDOT wants to add lanes. It’s where those new lanes would go.

Three options are being considered

TxDOT initially presented two build alternatives. A third option, called the Variable Height option, was formally introduced in 2026.

Option 1: Elevated lanes

Under the elevated option, the new managed lanes would be built on a structure above the existing highway.

TxDOT estimates this option would require about a third of an acre worth of property acquisition, but would not require residential or business displacements.

The existing general-purpose lanes would remain at their current elevation.

Option 2: Non-elevated lanes

The second option would build the managed lanes at the same elevation as the existing general-purpose lanes.

That would require about 12.5 acres of additional right of way, according to TxDOT.

The agency estimates this option could potentially displace about 52 residences and 30 businesses or commercial structures.

That is the option that could have the biggest property impacts for neighborhoods along the corridor, including areas around Cottage Grove.

Option 3: Variable Height

The third option is a hybrid design.

Under this proposal, some of managed lanes would stay at ground level and others would be elevated.

TxDOT says this option was developed at the request of local agency partners to improve community connectivity near Memorial Park.

What about a highway cap?

That’s where the third option gets particularly interesting for local communities.

A highway cap is essentially a deck built over a freeway that can create public space above the highway. One example is Klyde Warren Park in Dallas.

The idea has been discussed locally as a potential way to reconnect neighborhoods separated by I-10 while creating space for things such as parks, trails or other public uses.

But it’s important to make one distinction: a highway cap is not one of TxDOT’s three official alternatives.

Instead, Harris County Precinct 4 is studying whether a cap could be incorporated alongside the I-10 project if the final design makes that possible.

Local officials, including Houston City Council members Joe Panzarella and Mario Castillo, have also publicly supported the idea.

So, where does the project stand?

For now, the project is still in the planning and environmental review process.

TxDOT had scheduled public meetings for May 2026 to present the three alternatives, but those meetings were postponed.

The agency said it needed additional time to coordinate with agency partners and ensure the information presented addressed the needs of communities and stakeholders along the corridor. TxDOT has said updated information will be provided once the meeting is rescheduled.

That meeting will be an important opportunity for residents to see more detailed plans and provide feedback before TxDOT moves farther into the project development process.

As of now, a new date for that public meeting has not been announced. I will continue to follow this story for updates.

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A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, marking the start of planned improvements at the Heights-area park.

The project is intended to improve accessibility, connectivity and recreational opportunities while creating a more welcoming space for park users of all ages and abilities.

Planned improvements include:

• Two new playgrounds with shade
• Improved walking paths and park surfaces
• New connections to the MKT Trail
• A fitness area
• Improvements to baseball field bleachers

The project also includes several accessibility and inclusivity features.

Construction was originally expected to take about a year, but there could be some good news for residents waiting to see the improvements completed: Project officials say the work may be ahead of schedule with completion coming as soon as next summer!

More details about the project and its timeline are expected as construction gets underway.

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The ProPublica report, published Tuesday, states that the FBI in 2024 planned to launch an investigation into Collins' dealings with Navatek, a Hawaii defense contractor and donor to her campaign. The investigation, which focused on an alleged pay-to-play scheme, failed to commence after President Donald Trump took office after winning the election, according to ProPublica.

The report arrived six weeks before an election where Collins is seeking her sixth term against Democrat Troy Jackson. Democrats have targeted the seat, in a state that Trump lost in 2024, as the party tries to win control of the Senate, making it one of the most competitive races on the November ballot.

Collins on Tuesday called the entire story “absolutely outrageous” and said it is frustrating and unfair to have such claims made against her so close to the election. Her campaign manager, Steve Abbott, also said Wednesday the allegation that “we charge people to have meetings” is categorically false and Collins accepting campaign cash for contracts “did not happen.”

Jackson called the allegation “corruption of the highest order.” He was not present Wednesday when a group of Maine Democrats held a news conference near Collins' Portland office, but said the allegations are a betrayal of trust.

“I cannot stress enough here today the seriousness of these allegations. Maine people deserve clear and real answers from Susan Collins right now,” Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson said.

FBI says allegations were already investigated

The ProPublica report stated that the head of a Collins super PAC met with executives from defense contractor Navatek in 2019 and asked them for a $500,000 campaign donation. The company's CEO, Martin Kao, sent an initial $150,000 donation using a shell company, the report stated. ProPublica reported that it reviewed an internal company email from Kao in which the CEO later told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in Navy contracts.

Kao and two other Navatek executives were later indicted on charges of funneling illegal donations to Collins. Kao sought to reduce his jail sentence by revealing to the FBI the full scope of illegal contributions to Collins, ProPublica reported.

Collins said Kao is "a liar" whose story is untrustworthy.

“He has been twice convicted in separate federal court cases. He’s been convicted of money laundering. He’s been convicted of bank fraud. He has been convicted of false submissions to the FEC. He’s being convicted of a lot of crimes,” she said.

An FBI spokesperson said in a statement that the allegations "had already been investigated by the FBI years ago and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false.”

The ProPublica article also states that Trump's return to the White House left the Justice Department unable to perform the investigation.

Corruption investigations have decreased in Trump's second term

The number of FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors specializing in corruption investigations plummeted in the first months of the Trump administration. The Justice Department, for instance, decimated its elite Public Integrity Section in early 2025 while the FBI disbanded a white-collar fraud and public corruption squad based out of its Washington field office.

The administration has also fired numerous law enforcement officials who participated in investigations into Trump, including over his efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election he lost and his retention of classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

An email seeking comment was sent to the Justice Department on Wednesday.

Collins said she first learned of the company through the University of Maine because of the research the Navy found to be valuable, which had to do with 3D printing for production.

She said the Justice Department has already reviewed the matter.

“I’m telling you this is completely false,” Collins said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune dismissed the idea that Collins would be implicated in a pay-to-play scheme, calling the allegations “a political hit job.”

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Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C., and Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, was Wexner's former financial adviser. That relationship and Wexner's history of political donations has figured prominently in Ohio's U.S. Senate race, which could end up as the most expensive in the country this year.

Wexner, who has disavowed his prior association with Epstein, contributed about $116,000 to support Republican Sen. Jon Husted from 2001 to 2025, mostly during the two decades he spent in state politics before being appointed to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat last year.

While that’s just a sliver of Husted’s prolific fundraising, his opponent in this year’s race, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, is turning it into a campaign cudgel. He’s run at least three different television commercials pounding Husted for receiving more money from Wexner than any other current member of Congress.

Epstein's Ohio connections are expected to surface anew early next month, when a traveling display showcasing the Justice Department files comes to the state.

“We want to show these elected officials and the candidates that the public is interested in this topic, and the public is demanding justice for survivors and the public is demanding accountability, no matter how rich and powerful the perpetrators and enablers of these crimes are,” said David Garrett, executive director of the Institute for Primary Facts, the nonprofit that created the exhibit.

Both Senate candidates point to opponent's Epstein connections

Epstein’s decades of associating with some of the world’s most influential people and Congress’ varying attempts to force the Justice Department to release its files on him have flared up in U.S. House and Senate races across the country. In Ohio, it's been central to a race that will help determine the balance of power in Washington.

Brown's campaign has promoted a $3,500 donation Wexner gave Husted in July 2025, less than 10 weeks before Husted joined most Senate Republicans in defeating a Democratic effort to force release of the Epstein files.

One of his ads featured video of Wexner’s congressional deposition in February, during which he confirmed being a longtime political donor to Husted, a former Ohio lawmaker, secretary of state and lieutenant governor.

Another characterized Wexner as “an Epstein co-conspirator.” Documents released by the Justice Department show the FBI labeled Wexner as a potential co-conspirator after Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019. A spokesperson for the billionaire said Wexner provided background information, was told he was not a target of the investigation and was never contacted again.

After the barrage of Epstein-related ads against him, the Husted campaign punched back with ads attacking Brown for accepting donations from a number of individuals whose names arose in the Epstein documents. They included Wexner’s wife Abigail, former U.S. Treasury secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Brown accepted no donations from Wexner himself, Federal Election Commission records show.

Husted's campaign also takes issue with the claim in Brown's ads that he “voted to cover up the Epstein files.” Campaign spokesperson Amy Natoce said “there has only been one vote” that counts on the matter — the one in November on the Epstein Files Transparency Act — and Husted voted yes. She called the earlier vote “procedural.”

Wexner, who is 89, is the magnate behind The Limited, Victoria's Secret and other retail giants. He stated under oath during his February congressional deposition that he never lobbied or asked Husted or anyone else to block the release of the Epstein files. He told members of Congress that he was “duped by a world-class con man.”

Natoce said Husted donated all available Wexner contributions — $34,300 — to an anti-human trafficking charity. The remaining balance had been spent in past campaign cycles.

Brown did not return any of his donations from about a dozen individuals named in the files, who Husted's ad described as “Epstein associates” even though none was accused of any crimes.

A traveling exhibit that includes Epstein victims is coming to Ohio

The Epstein Reading Room tour is an exhibit that displays more than 3 million pages released by the Justice Department. It has plans to make at least 20 more stops, including Ohio on Oct. 8.

Annie Farmer, an Epstein accuser who has been part of the tour, said the idea that some candidates have received donations from wealthy people with ties to Epstein means they will have an incentive to keep burying the truth.

She was 16 when she said Epstein abused her and her sister, Maria Farmer, in the 1990s. Maria alleges her sexual assault took place in 1996 in New Albany, Ohio, where Epstein had a house while working for Wexner, whose estate is located there.

During his deposition, Wexner testified that he never heard of Maria Farmer until her name appeared in media reports and that he didn’t know whether she had ever stayed on his property.

The accusers are demanding that the Department of Justice do more to investigate the wealthy who for decades helped enable Epstein’s abuse. The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual abuse unless they have come forward publicly.

“We should be asking hard questions to everyone who is related to Epstein and is financially supporting politicians. Are they hoping to benefit from silence?” Annie Farmer said. “To people with that much wealth, they feel they don’t have to play by the same set of rules. That’s what many people are saying is not right.”

Epstein case resonates in congressional campaigns

At the reading room tour’s first stop in Dallas, Farmer and other accusers met with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico and Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who is running to unseat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Talarico criticized his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for not meeting with the accusers and called on him to use his position to sue the federal government for its handling of the Epstein files' release.

In Omaha, Nebraska, independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn pledged to prioritize fighting for justice for victims after visiting a smaller version of the exhibit and meeting some of Epstein's accusers. He has criticized his Republican opponent, Sen. Pete Ricketts, for being slow to back the release of the Epstein files.

In Ohio, the Epstein issue continues to anger — and divide — voters across the political spectrum.

A day after Husted announced he would donate his remaining Wexner contributions to charity, he stepped into a Norwalk coffee shop on a campaign stop and, according to the local news account, was heckled as a “pedophile protector.” And Brown has been forced to defend his decision not to offload the donations he received from individuals named in the files, as Husted did.

“They’re not tied in any way, the way the co-conspirator is tied in,” Brown told CNN earlier this year.

With Ohio's early voting starting in less than two weeks, Brown is continuing to focus on Husted’s Wexner contributions. On his X account earlier this month, Brown marked the one-year anniversary of Husted's vote on the failed Democratic amendment to release all the Epstein files by posting a video. It asked why Husted “would side with the billionaires instead of these victims.”

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Olson reported from New York.

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content.

Alpha School has confirmed it plans to open a campus at the former Goddard School at 777 W. 23rd St.

The school is currently targeting the 2027-28 school year for its opening, although that timeline could move up if enough families are ready to enroll.

And the price tag is significant. Tuition is about $50,000 per year!💰

So what exactly are families paying for?

How does Alpha School work?

Alpha’s model looks different from a traditional school.

Students spend about two hours each morning on core academics, using AI-powered learning tools.

The rest of the school day focuses on areas such as teamwork, leadership, entrepreneurship and real-world projects.

Those projects can take students outside the traditional classroom, including incredible field trips.

Alpha says students can learn physics through sailing, study sustainable agriculture in wine country and travel to places such as Italy and France.

How do students get in?

Alpha says grades and test scores aren’t a major factor considered during its admissions process.

Students take diagnostic tests designed to identify areas where they may need additional support.

They also participate in a shadow day, spending a full day at the school.

During that time, staff evaluate how students interact with their peers, work as part of a team and approach the school’s learning environment.

Alpha says it is looking for students who are interested in being there and committed to growing.

Each new Alpha campus typically starts with about 25 to 30 founding families before growing from there.

Why the Heights?

That’s one of the biggest questions surrounding the new campus.

According to Alpha, the Heights location came about after local families expressed interest in bringing the school to the neighborhood.

The school has not released renderings for the Heights campus yet.

“The Malvinas for us is a national cause,” Milei, a strong ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Wednesday while addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Milei accused the United Nations of failing to enforce international resolutions that urge the parties to “refrain from introducing unilateral changes while the dispute remains unresolved." He also called on Britain to resume negotiations to “find a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute.”

“The Malvinas issue is not merely a matter between Argentina and the United Kingdom; it is also a question regarding this organization’s ability to enforce its own resolutions,” he said.

The dispute has escalated in recent weeks

Milei has recently stepped up his efforts to draw attention back to the islands after facing some criticism of his strengthening ties with Britain and his professed admiration for Margaret Thatcher, who in 1982 led the British campaign to retake the archipelago during the Falklands War.

Following Argentina’s invasion of the Falklands under the country’s then-military dictatorship, Thatcher sent a task force all the way down the Atlantic and retook the islands after just 73 days of Argentine control. The war killed 649 Argentine and 255 British troops.

Earlier this month, Milei escalated the dispute with Britain, vowing new measures to halt an oil project near the British-controlled archipelago and praising Trump for saying Washington could reconsider its neutral stance on the islands’ sovereignty.

His government last week introduced a sweeping security bill that would toughen sanctions on companies exploiting resources around the islands without Argentine authorization, create a national security council chaired by Milei and expand the military’s role in protecting critical Argentine infrastructure.

Speaking to global leaders at the U.N. on Wednesday, Milei intensified his criticism.

“Today I come to say that Argentina will not sit and wait for the U.N. and the international community to live up to their own mandate,” he said.

He also sharply criticized the United Nations and its role, accusing it of becoming “a useless organization that serves only to feed a caste of fatally arrogant parasites masquerading as well-intentioned bureaucrats.”

Britain says it will ‘stand firm’

Against the backdrop of Milei’s recent remarks, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham also addressed the dispute during this high-profile diplomatic week, stating Tuesday that the U.K.’s position is “clear” and that it will “stand firm” in the face of any threats.

“We will defend the ​right of ​the ⁠Falkland Islanders to self-determination and to remain British,” ​Burnham told reporters following a meeting with Trump late Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N.

In August, Trump said he was reviewing the United States’ neutral position over the remote South Atlantic archipelago as he criticized Britain for not doing enough to support the U.S. war against Iran.

The Falklands, which Argentines call the Malvinas, are a small archipelago of about 3,500 people located around 300 miles (480 kilometers) east of the southeast coast of Argentina. They have been a British overseas territory since 1833. In a 2013 referendum, the islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory, with 99.8% voting in favor and just three votes against.

We finally do now!

This Thursday, September 24 at 9 AM, Let’s Play Houston alongside the Houston Parks Board, Mayor John Whitmire, and Houston Parks and Recreation Department will meet at Lawrence Park (725 Lawrence St, Houston, TX 77007) to celebrate the start of construction!

I’ll have a reel breaking down what’s changing, what the plans look like and what you can expect to see there.

More on that soon!

For the first time since Burrus opened in 1928, its doors remained closed this school year. In February, the state-appointed school board that replaced Houston’s elected trustees voted to close the school and 11 other campuses. Burrus had an A-rating from the state at the time.

Five months later, the same unelected board voted to include Burrus on a short list of properties the district plans to potentially sell or repurpose.

School board president and Houston real estate developer Ric Campos, said during an August board meeting the decision does not mean all the neighborhood schools will be sold to the highest bidder. “It means that you are going to take the next steps and then figure out maybe a community involvement that could happen,” Campos said from the dais on Aug. 13.

But so far, much of the district’s planning has happened behind closed doors, outside public view. KPRC 2’s ENOUGH team found that Houston Independent School District is also seeking to keep confidential the names of the people who helped recommend which schools should be sold or repurposed.

Houston ISD’s Chief of Organizational Effectiveness, Kari Feinberg, said in April the district brought together 20 internal and external “stakeholders” – made up of school district staff and others from the City of Houston, non-profit organizations, philanthropists and the private sector to create the Facilities Usage Committee.

Feinberg said the committee met four times since April to come up with a recommendation for which of the closed schools should be sold or repurposed. The committee’s final recommendation went to Superintendent Mike Miles in July, according to Feinberg, and the board of managers reviewed the committee’s recommendation during a closed session at its Aug. 13 meeting where the public could not see or hear the discussion.

Video shows, after returning from closed session, the nine-member board reconvened publicly and voted unanimously to declare Burrus and 8 other newly closed schools as surplus property. The vote also authorized the superintendent to begin the sale process.

“What is the reason?” Is it because someone wants to tear it down and build some apartments or build some two-story homes?” Johnson asked. “It’s prime property. Burrus is prime property and everybody knows that.”

KPRC 2’s ENOUGH team submitted public information requests seeking the names of the Facilities Usage Committee members who made recommendations on the future of these properties and the report presented to the superintendent outlining those recommendations. Weeks later, Houston ISD’s attorney asked the Texas Attorney General for permission to withhold both from public release.

In response to our emailed questions, Houston ISD officials told the ENOUGH team, it was keeping the members of the Facilities Usage Committee confidential because “… some community members requested to keep their participation private.”

The district said in an email, the committee provided broad input on the administration’s proposals for next steps for the properties and served as “partners in ideation,” but said committee members did not make any final decisions.

“I don’t know why you’d want to hide who is on the committee. You would only make everything suspect when you start off that way,” Texas State Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, said “Anytime you are dealing with the public’s money, public facilities like schools, that should be a very transparent process.”

What’s happening in Houston reflects a broader trend. Across Texas, school districts are selling off taxpayer-funded campuses with little required public input and no statewide standard for how those decisions get made.

School board records show, just this school year, more than 80 campuses across the state have closed – many of which held A, B and C-ratings from the state when the decision to shut down the campus was made.

“There are no standards”

In Austin, the school board voted to close 11 schools this year because of a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. Parents learned about one of the closures just 19 days before the first day of school. The district is also in the middle of a legal fight over the sale of school property that hasn’t been utilized in more than four years.

Rosedale School, located in North Austin, closed in 2022 after 83 years of serving students. The people who own homes surrounding the old Rosedale school, like Carl Reynolds, said the district initially proposed turning the land into affordable housing for educators.

“Flash forward 435 units, six stories – that is what is being proposed. Much, much denser than anything Austin ISD talked to the neighborhood about,” Reynolds said.

District officials said the discussion with neighbors about the Rosedale property becoming affordable housing for district employees happened when the district’s financial position was different, and before the district sold the property to real estate development company OHT Partners.

Austin ISD has been under contract with OHT for the purchase of Rosedale since August 2025, but district officials say the sale cannot close until the city council reviews zoning and development requirements and a judge provides “legal clarification” on the neighborhood’s deed restrictions.

According to the Rosedale neighbors, the six-story multifamily residential development proposed would violate the neighborhood’s deed restrictions that allow only for one single-family home and a garage apartment on each of the 27 lots that make up the Rosedale property.

Court records show months after entering the agreement with OHT Partners, the district sued 125 neighbors to seek “legal clarification” on the Rosedale deed restrictions.

“It’s amazing that a school district would sue its own constituents in order to ram something down their throat and this is a community that has supported the school district for decades. Whenever they have a bond issue we vote for it,” Rosedale homeowner Darrell Azar said.

Austin ISD said, in a statement to KRPC’s ENOUGH team, “the financial benefit of the sale became an important consideration as part of the district’s broader strategy to improve its financial position.”

Austin City Councilmember Mike Siegel postponed the discussion on zoning and development requirements for the property earlier this month “to allow for legal settlement discussions to take place” between the district and impacted neighbors, according to Siegel’s office.

“CM Siegel very much desires for a resolution to the litigation and an agreement to build more dense housing on the property,” officials with Siegel’s office said in a statement to KPRC’s ENOUGH team.

Renea Hicks, who represents 60 of the homeowners who are being sued by the district – and lives in the neighborhood, said the homeowners he represents are willing to consider a larger project if it is designed with the neighborhood in mind.

“The neighbors believe in public schools and they believe in affordability. They believe in the community,” Hicks said. “You can do more. We are OK with that. Just make it reasonable. Treat the neighborhood well. Treat it decently.”

Hicks told our team on Monday settlement negotiations over the future of the property had broken down. OHT Partners has not answered any questions related to the Rosedale property.

The dispute in Rosedale raises broader questions about what happens when school districts sell neighborhood campuses. Hicks said Texas law does not establish clear standards for community involvement in those sales.

“The first problem is there are no standards — no standards for what you do when you sell the property. There is no requirement for public involvement,” Hicks said. “They will let the public come to an open meeting where they say they are doing the deal, but that is it - that is all the legislature has required.”

“Give us the opportunity”

Houston ISD officials said the district has already received interest in the newly closed schools the board authorized the superintendent to sell or repurpose. At the September board meeting, the executive director of the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council, Tonia Wells, urged the district to sell Burrus Elementary School to their organization.

“Give us the opportunity to keep the Burrus legacy alive,” Wells said during public comment on Sept. 10.

Records show, outside of the nine recently closed schools that have been declared surplus property, the district already entered into sales agreements for six other properties – including three school buildings that closed years ago.

Sales records obtained by KPRC’s ENOUGH team show Habitat for Humanity purchased the old Chatham Elementary building, that closed in 2005. Records also show the former Fonwood Elementary School was sold to Enclave Properties, and in June, the century old Historic Harper building that educated Black students during segregation, was sold to a company called BKR Real Estate Management.

Officials with Habitat for Humanity told us they partnered with the Northeast Houston Redevelopment Council to turn the former Chatham Elementary property into a community-focused center.

“This is a great example of what can happen when organizations come together with a shared vision for neighborhood revitalization so that community spaces, like these HISD school properties, can continue to serve used neighborhoods as they did in the past,” Habitat for Humanity CEO Allison Hay said in a statement to KPRC’s ENOUGH team.

Enclave Properties has not responded to our questions about its plans for the former Fonwood school.

BKR Management has also not responded to KPRC’s questions about its intentions for the property. The company’s website shows its developed properties across Houston, including the Buffalo Heights mixed-use district where it developed a five-story luxury multifamily apartment complex.

After a fire at Harper school this summer, Mayor John Whitmire posted a video to social media where he said he would attempt to “salvage” the Harper School building as an important part of Houston’s history. The mayor’s office has not yet responded to questions about how or if it is working with the new owners to preserve the building.

The district answered several written questions from our team but did not respond to multiple requests to interview Superintendent Mike Miles, Board President Campo or Feinberg about the process and intention for the properties being sold.

In response to an email to HISD’s Press Office, sharing what we planned to report, district officials said the board’s decision to declare the closed schools as surplus and authorize the superintendent to initiate sales procedures, does not mean all of the properties will be sold.

“Once property is determined surplus to the district’s operational needs, HISD can evaluate potential future uses, and administration must go through a set of legally mandated steps before public [or] private entities can secure any of these properties,” the district said in an emailed statement.

Johnson said she hopes the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council can purchase the Burrus property and keep it open as a community resource. The Texas Historical Commission said the historic marker that sits in front of Burrus won’t protect it from sale or alteration if a new owner wants to build something new in its place.

“We’re hoping that the school’s not tore down,” Johnson said. “It’ll be really interesting to see what they really decide and is it in the best interest of the community or the best interests of HISD.”

Three others were wounded in the late-night mass shooting Tuesday in KwaMakhutha township, which is located about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the city of Durban on the east coast.

The motive for the shooting wasn't known, but some of the shooting victims were known to authorities as part of investigations into criminal activity, police said.

Police didn’t give out any more information on those investigations, saying it could compromise them.

“Although the motive of the shooting cannot be confirmed yet, (a) feud between rival groupings cannot be ruled out,” the South African Police Service said in a statement.

Ten people, including the pregnant woman, died at the scene and an 11th was declared dead at a hospital. Authorities didn't immediately give out details on the condition of the three people who were wounded.

They opened the door and ‘gunshots went off’

Nomusa Zulu, a community member, said two men killed in the shooting were her sons. She said witnesses told her that the victims had first gathered in the yard of the house, then went inside to continue the party as night fell and it became cold.

“They heard a knock at the door,” Zulu said. “When they opened the door, gunshots went off.”

Police are searching for the gunmen

Police said they were searching for three men and no arrests had been made, but the acting national police commissioner ordered local police to deploy officers in a special 72-hour operation to track down the suspects.

Thami Ntuli, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, told reporters at the scene that the killings were “really disturbing” and called on community members to provide any information they might have that would help find the gunmen. He said that there were known problems with drug dealing and illegal firearms in the largely poor community, where some of the houses are just a few meters apart with no fences or walls in between.

Ntuli confirmed in a statement that the woman who was killed was pregnant.

There have been several mass shootings in South Africa recently

It's the latest in a series of mass shootings in South Africa recently, including one in June when multiple shooters killed 12 people in a poor neighborhood in Johannesburg that police linked to criminal gangs. Two mass shootings two weeks apart in December killed 21 people. They were also carried out by multiple gunmen.

South Africa has extremely high rates of violent crime, with official police statistics recording 5,427 homicides in the latest three-month period between April and June at an average of nearly 60 homicides a day.

Shootings are the most common form of homicide in South Africa, and police and crime experts have long said that one of the biggest problems is that there is a high number of illegal firearms in circulation.

The army is being used to combat violent crime in some areas

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa authorized the deployment of soldiers on the streets in some areas earlier this year to combat violent crime in what critics said was an admission that police were failing.

Soldiers were deployed to areas around Johannesburg, the city of Cape Town and in Eastern Cape province on the south coast in the ongoing operation, but not to KwaZulu-Natal province where the latest shooting happened.

The bodies of some of the victims of Tuesday night's shooting were laid out on the ground and covered with white sheets outside the house where the shooting took place. They were later carried away on stretchers to pathology vans.

Police cordoned off the neighborhood with yellow tape while forensic investigators worked through the scene.

Police were also investigating if the torching of a car near the house was connected to the shooting.

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

More late summer heat for our mid-week forecast as highs once again will push to near 97-98, which is right near the record for today (97 - 2023). Rain chances will be very minor today as we’re pulling a drier air from the east and northeast.

With dewpoints in the 50s, the air will feel much more manageable as it shaves off some of the oppressive humidity. We’re still not looking to cool down that much though as highs will stay in the mid 90s.

First fall front:

Early next week, we’ll see our first run at some more comfortable fall weather. A cool front will grab onto some leftover moisture from tropical system in the eastern Pacific and move across Texas Tuesday and Wednesday. A good soaking rain and we finally start to see some more fall like temperatures for late next week!

Tracking the tropics:

Storm development chances in the Gulf are still very slim, however, there are still two areas of interest that are being monitored by the National Hurricane Center.

So far this hurricane season, we have not had a hurricane form in the Atlantic basin. The latest first hurricane to form was Gustav and Humberto, which formed on September 11th. This means our 2026 hurricane season set a record for the latest hurricane to form.

Extended forecast:

There is no big cool down in the forecast. There are periods of dry air, but highs are in the 90s for the next 10-days. No significant cool down is on the map for now. Long-range models do want to bring a stronger push of cooler air, maybe our first real fall front, by the middle of next week. We’ll take any relief we can get!

Ethiopian Airlines said it suspended flights to Tigray’s capital Mekelle and the cities of Axum and Shire “due to the current situation,” without providing further details.

The regional government said in a statement it had instructed its fighters to enter into “defensive war” after federal forces attacked Tigray on Tuesday using drones and heavy artillery.

The African Union Commission chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, called for restraint and immediate de-escalation.

In a statement, he expressed concern over the renewed tensions and occupation of the airport, saying these actions risk destabilizing the region and reversing gains made in a 2022 peace agreement.

He also condemned the “detention of federal personnel by the Tigray People's Liberation Front," but did not give details.

US Ambassador threatens sanctions

The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Ervin J. Massinga expressed disappointment over the fighting, calling it a “poor decision” and threatening sanctions.

Rejecting dialogue sponsored by the African Union and "engaging in an unwinnable fight does nothing for the people. Other armed groups would be wise to avoid this. While the U.S. has tools to sanction additional leaders who try to push Ethiopia down the wrong path, I still believe a reasonable political dialogue is the right way to go,” he wrote in a statement.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front Deputy Amanuel Assefa termed the African Union and U.S. positions “unfair,” accusing them of “turning a blind eye to airstrikes by the federal government”.

On Tuesday, the U.S Bureau of African Affairs condemned a drone strike on a Catholic Relief humanitarian assistance convoy in Tigray and called for investigations without stating which side was responsible.

A taxi driver told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the airport, which is usually controlled by federal forces, was occupied by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front carrying light arms.

The driver, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said a commander ordered him to leave the airport, saying no flights would be landing.

The takeover appeared to be peaceful, with no gunfire heard in or around the airport.

No other airlines fly to the region, although it is reachable by chartered flight.

The news came three days after seven opposition groups, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, formed an alliance aimed at removing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his government.

Abiy’s Prosperity Party retained power in a June general election that was boycotted by the main opposition groups.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front fought federal forces during a deadly conflict in northern Ethiopia that ended with the signing of a peace agreement in November 2022. But since July there have been reports of drone attacks in Tigray, with the regional government accusing the federal forces of attacks.

Former Tigray lead peace negotiator Getachew Reda, now an adviser to the prime minister, accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front of attacks in neighboring Afar and Amhara despite efforts to avoid another war.

“It has taken over federal controlled airports in Tigray leading to the suspension of flights to and from Tigray. The TPLF politico-military leadership has obviously taken irresponsibility to new heights,” he wrote on X.

The opposition groups announced the formation of a coalition they called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival on Sunday.

Co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons kept the focus of their Spring-Summer 2027 collection firmly “waist down,” revisiting the subject of a traveling Prada exhibition staged two decades ago. That new show examined the place in contemporary wardrobes of one of humanity’s oldest garments: the skirt.

The collection arrived amid an uproar in Italy over remarks by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani suggesting that women who wear longer skirts are more faithful. Tajani later apologized, saying he had not intended to offend women. The coincidental timing of the controversy only gave resonance to a collection that treats the skirt as a way for women to express themselves — at any length.

Recasting an ancient form for modern times

For practicality and creativity, nothing surpasses the skirt, according to Prada, who favors skirts in her own wardrobe, including a pink silk one she wore for a backstage preview before the runway show that opened Milan Fashion Week on Tuesday.

“If you want to have a normal life, go wherever you want. It’s easy to camouflage even a beautiful skirt,’’ she said. “You need to camouflage the beauty so that you can live with people.”

The creative directors’ decision to keep trousers and dresses out of this collection was inspired by an old video interview of Prada likening the skirt to a T-shirt for men, as “the place where she can put all her ideas,” Simons said.

From the swath of material that ancient man wrapped around the waist, Prada used a rectangular piece of material as the collection’s starting point, which Prada said became the framework for creativity.

Using the skirt as a creative canvas

Reversing the runway convention of emphasizing the female bodice, black tops in varying styles provided a blank canvas for the first group of skirts.

Woolen numbers fastened with industrial Velcro to allow adjustable slits Sheer nylon formed feminine pleats, while short cotton skirts in naïve prints peeked from beneath coats and sheer crinoline overlaid crumpled silken skirts with flattened ruffles.

Bralettes, bandeaus and bustiers, tiny though they were, offered another outlet for expression. They included scoop-neck bralettes, bandeaus linked to arm bands and bustiers worn unhooked over homely knitwear.

Footwear ranged from silk slingbacks to industrial perforated-leather pumps, while handbags included canvas purses in bright colors.

Rather than proposing complete looks, the collection offered building blocks for self-expression.

“I think you can express complexity,” Prada said. “Everything is so complex — how can you be just one thing? When you express yourself, it is not that you are feminine, sexy, masculine; you are so many things together."

University administrators were targeting conduct, not a message, said William “Billy” F. Cole, the principal deputy solicitor general in the Texas Attorney General’s office who is defending the system. But when a judge asked about the regents’ concern that drag could promote “gender ideology,” Cole acknowledged to the court that rationale, standing alone, could create a viewpoint-discrimination problem.

He argued the judges should consider the regents’ other stated reasons for the ban, including concerns about discrimination against women. When a judge asked whether any women complained that the shows objectified or harassed them, Cole said no. However, he argued that universities do not have to wait for actual complaints before enforcing anti-discrimination policies.

Judges pressed the lawyer representing the students groups suing the over the ban just as hard on how far First Amendment protections would extend under his argument.

One judge asked whether Texas A&M would have to allow a staged political protest depicting the rape of the Statue of Liberty in Rudder Theatre on its College Station campus. Another asked whether a public university could ban a blackface performance because officials found its message offensive.

J.T. Morris, deputy director of litigation for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the university can regulate the conduct but not bar a performance because it objected to its message or viewpoint.

The judges also focused on a broader question that could shape First Amendment cases beyond these disputes: how courts should decide when conduct counts as protected expression.

Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod noted that federal appeals courts have taken different approaches and asked both sides which one the Fifth Circuit should adopt.

Morris argued it should be enough that viewers understand a performer is communicating something, even if they do not take away one specific message. Cole urged the court to take a narrower approach and focus primarily on the conduct itself, arguing that an intent to communicate is not enough unless the conduct conveys a message to viewers.

How did the two cases get here?

The legal fight began at West Texas A&M University in 2023, when President Walter Wendler canceled a drag show organized by the student group Spectrum WT. Spectrum and two of its student leaders sued, arguing university administrators violated their First Amendment rights.

Two years later, Texas A&M University System regents adopted a broader policy barring drag performances at special-event venues across the system’s schools. The Queer Empowerment Council, which organizes Texas A&M’s annual Draggieland pageant, challenged that policy in a separate lawsuit.

In January, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an Amarillo-based judge in the Northern District of Texas, upheld West Texas A&M’s ban after a trial. However, in the systemwide case, U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal, of the Southern District of Texas in Houston, temporarily blocked the policy, finding the students were likely to succeed on their First Amendment claim.

What happened at West Texas A&M?

Wendler argued that drag performances discriminate against women by turning womanhood into a caricature. In a letter to the campus, he called drag shows “derisive, divisive, and demoralizing misogyny” and compared allowing a drag show to allowing blackface on campus. Spectrum planned to donate proceeds to the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide-prevention organization. Spectrum sued, arguing Wendler could not suppress student expression because he found the message offensive.

The case moved between the trial and appeals courts for more than two years. Kacsmaryk initially refused to block the ban while the lawsuit proceeded. In August 2025, a divided three-judge Fifth Circuit panel reversed him and temporarily blocked it. The full Fifth Circuit agreed to reconsider that decision, but before it could, Kacsmaryk issued a final ruling in January upholding the ban after a trial. That ended the earlier appeal over whether the ban should remain in effect while the case was pending.

Kacsmaryk found that Spectrum had not shown its planned performance was inherently expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.

He also ruled that Legacy Hall, where Spectrum planned to hold the show, was a limited public forum because university officials screen and approve events held there. That gave administrators more authority to restrict what could take place in the venue, as long as its rules were reasonable and did not discriminate based on viewpoint.

What happened with the Texas A&M System ban?

Texas A&M University System regents voted unanimously in February 2025 to ban drag performances at special-event venues across the system. Regents said the shows were inconsistent with Texas A&M’s mission and values and could create a hostile environment for women by mocking or objectifying them. The resolution also noted that hosting drag shows could be viewed as promoting “gender ideology.” It cited President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order barring federal funds from promoting what he called “gender ideology” and a Jan. 30 letter from Gov. Greg Abbott directing state agencies to follow state and federal law, including Trump’s order.

During Wednesday’s arguments, Cole said the system was not arguing that Draggieland was obscene and did not dispute the council’s assertion that the show would involve no nudity or partial nudity. Morris likewise said obscenity and nudity were not at issue.

In its lawsuit, the Queer Empowerment Council argued the system violated the First Amendment by suppressing student expression because officials considered it objectionable.

Rosenthal temporarily blocked the ban in March 2025. Her ruling allowed Draggieland to go forward at Rudder Theatre in College Station. The system appealed to the Fifth Circuit.

Why did is the full Fifth Circuit hearing both cases?

On May 15, the parties jointly asked the 5th Circuit to have the full court consider the appeals together rather than send each through a separate three-judge panel, arguing they raise the same First Amendment questions and the district judges in the circuit have reached conflicting answers.

The court agreed June 22 and consolidated the cases for oral argument purposes only.

What is the Fifth Circuit deciding?

The 5th Circuit is considering several First Amendment questions that run through both cases.

The first question is whether drag performances themselves are protected expression. The university defendants argue that they are not automatically protected simply because their organizers intend to communicate a message. In the Texas A&M case, they argue the Queer Empowerment Council has not shown that Draggieland conveys a message viewers would readily understand.

The council argues the system’s own justification for its ban undercuts that position. Regents said allowing drag shows on campus could be viewed as promoting “gender ideology.” The council argues that if officials believed drag communicated an ideology, they cannot also maintain that it is not expressive.

The system responds that the possibility that some drag shows could be perceived that way does not prove Draggieland itself communicates a particular message.

The court must also decide how much authority universities have to restrict events in campus venues. While public universities, the defendants argue that the venues at issue are limited public forums where administrators have more latitude to impose reasonable restrictions that do not discriminate based on viewpoint. In the A&M case, the system argues Rudder Theatre qualifies because groups must get university approval to use it.

The council argues Rudder Theatre instead functions as a designated public forum because Texas A&M has opened it to a broad range of events, including Broadway musicals, beauty pageants, concerts, comedy shows and political programs. The group notes the district court found no evidence that administrators previously denied another request to use the theater.

During Wednesday’s arguments, a judge asked Morris whether the students could still prevail if the court agrees with the universities that Rudder Theatre and Legacy Hall are limited public forums.

Morris said yes because even in limited public forums, universities cannot discriminate based on viewpoint. He argued rules based on whether expression is “demeaning,” “mocking” or offensive give administrators too much discretion to judge student speech.

The 5th Circuit is also considering whether the universities’ restrictions are neutral rules about conduct or discriminate against a particular viewpoint. The defendants argue they objected to how the student groups sought to convey their messages through drag performances, not to their support for LGBTQ people. The student groups argue that distinction does not hold because university officials restricted drag precisely because of what they believed the performances expressed.

The court did not say Wednesday when it would rule.

What’s at stake?

After Texas A&M regents adopted their policy, the University of Texas System said its universities could no longer sponsor drag shows or host them in campus facilities, and the University of North Texas later revoked prior approval for a student group’s annual drag show.

The parties in the A&M cases cited both examples in asking the full Fifth Circuit to hear the cases, arguing that universities and students across Texas need clear guidance about when drag performances are protected speech.

In a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Queer Empowerment Council, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Equality Texas urged the judges to consider the restrictions in the context of broader government scrutiny of drag.

They pointed to Senate Bill 12, which Texas lawmakers passed in 2023 to prohibit certain “sexually oriented performances” on public property where they could reasonably be viewed by children or in the presence of anyone younger than 18. The final law did not explicitly mention drag, although an earlier version of the bill did. A federal judge blocked the law as unconstitutional in 2023. After the 5th Circuit sent the case back for reconsideration and the law briefly took effect this year, the judge again ruled it unconstitutional in August. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state would appeal.

The ACLU and Equality Texas argue the stakes extend beyond drag. They said requiring a performance to convey one clear message before it receives First Amendment protection could threaten other forms of art whose meaning is open to interpretation.

“Requiring a written script for constitutional shelter would expose all improvised comedy, theater, and dance contests — and nearly the entirety of jazz and other music genres — to unbridled government censorship,” they wrote.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: The Texas A&M University System has been major financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. Open Campus has been a financial supporter within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.

First in line is “bimpert,” a Bermudian word of unknown origin that is used to describe a stupid or foolish person. People on the tiny island in the north Atlantic often use it in this traditional phrase: “A bimpert is justah wuffless bye,” which roughly translates to: an idiot is just a worthless boy.

Another colorful addition is “hornerman,” a word used in the eastern Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago since 1975 to describe an unfaithful man or a man having a relationship with someone else's partner.

Leonard Alexander, a grocery store owner in Trinidad, chuckled at the inclusion of the word “hornerman.” He explained that to “horn” means being unfaithful, and now the world would know the term for a man who commits such an act.

“That’s our heritage, that’s what we grew up with,” Alexander said.

If someone in the Caribbean were to find out about such infidelities, they might be known “to get on,” which means to have an emotional outburst or make a scene, or “to cut someone’s tail,” meaning to beat someone.

Depending on the fallout from such infidelities, a woman might need “vex money,” which refers to “money carried or kept in a safe place by a woman, for use in an emergency or in any unexpected eventuality.”

Among other dark words that made the list is “jablesse,” defined as "a malevolent shape-shifting female spirit with one cloven hoof, which at night is said to assume the form of a beautiful woman to lure men to their deaths.” It is derived from “diablesse,” the French word for female demon.

Another supernatural entry is “douen." It is “typically depicted as short in stature, with backward-pointing feet, and wearing a large hat, said to be the spirit of a child who died before it could be baptized, and believed to lure children into the forest by calling their names,” according to the dictionary. It is a variation of the Spanish word “duende,” which means elf.

Avionne George, a 45-year-old maintenance technician in Trinidad, said formal recognition of such words helps preserve tradition for the younger generations: “Most of them are ignorant of certain terms from long ago like ‘douen.' They don’t know about ‘la jablesse.'”

Several food-related words were included this year: “shadeesh,” the Bermudian word for chorizo; “sugar cake,” made of grated coconut boiled with sugar, water and spices; and “peanut punch,” a wildly popular rich and frothy beverage made with peanuts or peanut butter, milk, sugar and several spices.

In the Caribbean, one might sit down to have a peanut punch with one’s “nana” or “nani,” Hindi words that are used to address one’s maternal grandparents. In Bermuda, one would sit down to partake with a “hamma,” or friend.

The final Caribbean English words added this year are “Trinbagonian,” which refers to people from both the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and “canboulay,” which refers to Carnival festivities in Trinidad in the 1800s that celebrated the emancipation of slaves. They stem from a 1700s harvest festival that the British tried to quash, leading to riots reenacted to this day to mark the start of Carnival. Canboulay is derived from “burning cane,” which the dictionary noted was associated with “acts of defiance and rebellion.”

Sherwin Williams, a construction worker in Trinidad, said the inclusion of such words in the Oxford English Dictionary would help people around the world understand their Trinidadian origins. “People recognize us by our slang,” he said.

There are some 500,000 words and phrases in the Oxford English Dictionary, which details the history of words, some of which go back to the 11th century.

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Associated Press reporter Anselm Gibbs in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad contributed.

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

After Tuesday night's games, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros were tied for first place at 78-79. No full-season division champion has ever had a losing record.

In fact, no team has made the postseason with a sub-.500 record, unless you count a trio of participants from years the playoffs were temporarily expanded: In the 2020 season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, Milwaukee and Houston were both 29-31 and made the postseason. In 1981, the Kansas City Royals went 50-53 overall — but they were the AL West's top team in the post-strike second half, meaning they got in.

MLB expanded its postseason to 12 teams in 2022, raising the likelihood that a sub-.500 team would sneak into October at some point. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the American League could have several clubs with losing marks in this year's playoffs. The AL Central's Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox have since reached 81 wins, so that won't happen. But the AL West title race could still yield a losing team.

In honor of that, here are 10 of the weakest teams to make the postseason, listed in chronological order with their records and run differentials in mind. Note that some of them went on lengthy postseason runs — so don't count out the Rangers or Astros just yet.

1973 New York Mets

Record: 82-79 (first in NL East)

Run differential: 20

Postseason: Beat Cincinnati 3-2 in NL Championship Series, lost to Oakland 4-3 in World Series

The rallying cry was “Ya gotta believe!” from reliever Tug McGraw. It wasn't easy when New York was in last place after an Aug. 30 loss, but the Mets went 21-8 the rest of the way to win the division by 1 1/2 games. Tom Seaver (19-10, 2.08 ERA, 18 complete games) was still at the peak of his powers, and New York held the Reds to eight runs in five games in the NLCS — a series best remembered for a brawl involving Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose. The Mets led the World Series 3-2 and had Seaver starting Game 6, but they couldn't close out the Athletics.

1984 Kansas City Royals

Record: 84-78 (first in AL West)

Run differential: minus-13

Postseason: Lost to Detroit 3-0 in ALCS

The Royals were 11 games under .500 in the middle of July, but they did enough to win the AL West. George Brett hit .284 — his worst average in a 14-year span from 1975-88 — and he was one of just two All-Stars on the team. The other was Dan Quisenberry, who had 44 saves while throwing 129 1/3 innings. He finished second in the Cy Young race behind fellow reliever Willie Hernández of the Tigers. Although Kansas City took the division almost by default in '84, the Royals improved to 91 wins the following year and won the World Series.

1987 Minnesota Twins

Record: 85-77 (first in AL West)

Run differential: minus-20

Postseason: Beat Detroit 4-1 in ALCS, beat St. Louis 4-3 in World Series

Frank Viola was the star of a pitching staff that otherwise offered little — aside from a trio of big names on the downside of their careers. Bert Blyleven allowed 46 home runs, Joe Niekro posted a 6.26 ERA and Steve Carlton made seven largely woeful starts for this Minnesota team. The Twins could hit, though. Kirby Puckett was third in the MVP race, while Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Tom Brunansky each surpassed 30 homers. Home-field advantage wasn't determined by record back then, so Minnesota had it in the ALCS despite finishing 13 games behind the Tigers, and again in the World Series after being 10 games worse than the Cardinals. The Twins went 6-0 at the Metrodome in the postseason.

1995 Colorado Rockies

Record: 77-67 (second in NL West, wild card)

Run differential: 2

Postseason: Lost 3-1 to Atlanta in NL Division Series

The first wild card in National League history was this Colorado team in a season shortened by the end of the 1994-95 work stoppage. The Rockies' ERA of 4.97 is the worst of the live ball era by a postseason team in a non-DH league. Colorado made up for that, not surprisingly, by leading the NL in runs. Dante Bichette led the league in home runs and RBIs and finished third in batting average.

2005 San Diego Padres

Record: 82-80 (first in NL West)

Run differential: minus-42

Postseason: Lost 3-0 to St. Louis in NLDS

Jake Peavy and a Trevor Hoffman-led bullpen helped San Diego reach the playoffs, but this team never looked the part. The Padres scored the fourth-fewest runs in all of baseball, and their starters went 52-60 with a 4.49 ERA. In the postseason, San Diego never had the lead at any point against the 100-win Cardinals. Game 1 was 8-0 after six innings, Game 2 was 6-1 after seven, and Game 3 was 7-0 after 4 1/2.

2006 St. Louis Cardinals

Record: 83-78 (first in NL Central)

Run differential: 19

Postseason: Beat San Diego 3-1 in NLDS, beat New York Mets 4-3 in NLCS, beat Detroit 4-1 in World Series

The Cardinals won at least 95 games four times under Tony La Russa, but their best postseason success came as a wild card in 2011 and with this team five years earlier. St. Louis nearly blew a seven-game lead in the division in the final two weeks of the regular season, but a roster with Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Chris Carpenter and a young reliever named Adam Wainwright always had a chance to get hot. Yadier Molina's homer — and Wainwright's strikeout of Carlos Beltrán — gave the Cardinals the pennant in an epic series with the Mets.

2017 Minnesota Twins

Record: 85-77 (second in AL Central, second wild card)

Run differential: 27

Postseason: Lost to New York Yankees in wild card game

After 103 losses in 2016, the Twins were in first place for a little while before eventually capturing the AL's final postseason spot and losing 8-4 to the Yankees. Byron Buxton played 140 games, the most of his career to date, and Brian Dozier hit 34 home runs. Joe Mauer had moved to first base by this point but was still quite good at the plate, batting .305. Ervin Santana led the rotation in his last good major league season. This team certainly wasn't great, but it was good enough in an AL that produced only five teams above .500.

2023 Miami Marlins

Record: 84-78 (third in NL East, second wild card)

Run differential: minus-57

Postseason: Lost to Philadelphia 2-0 in NL Wild Card Series

The Marlins posted the worst run differential to date by a postseason team — this year's Astros are currently at minus-59 — but Miami went 33-14 in one-run games. The pitching staff with Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez, Jesús Luzardo and Braxton Garrett helped Miami into the playoffs. Of the Marlins' top 12 players in plate appearances, seven of them finished with negative wins above replacement, according to Baseball Reference. The offense was basically batting champ Luis Arraez, designated hitter Jorge Soler and not much else. Miami lost 93 games the year before this playoff appearance and 100 the year after.

2023 Arizona Diamondbacks

Record: 84-78 (second in NL West, third wild card)

Run differential: minus-15

Postseason: Beat Milwaukee 2-0 in NLWCS, beat Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 in NLDS, beat Philadelphia 4-3 in NLCS, lost to Texas 4-1 in World Series

Just get in and anything can happen. These Diamondbacks were one of the best examples of that. Arizona started August with nine straight losses to fall below .500, but after doing enough to make the playoffs, they swept two division champions and then won the last two games of the NLCS on the road to capture the second pennant in franchise history. Arizona had a negative run differential in the regular season and was also outscored 30-21 in that series against the Phillies. It didn't matter.

2025 Cincinnati Reds

Record: 83-79 (third in NL Central, third wild card)

Run differential: 35

Postseason: Lost to Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 in NLWCS

The Reds had a respectable run differential but little star power aside from Elly De La Cruz and the often-injured Hunter Greene. Cincinnati beat out the Mets on a tiebreaker for the NL's final postseason spot — seven games behind the No. 2 wild card — and then made a quick exit. The Reds' best month was 15-11 and their worst was 12-15. Simply avoiding any extended slumps was enough to make the playoffs.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The measure cleared the upper house 81-51 with seven abstentions. It marks a major step in Premier Giorgia Meloni’s drive to bolster energy security and meet climate goals, even though the construction of possible new reactors is still years away.

The bill, which earlier passed the lower Chamber of Deputies, establishes a legal framework for next-generation nuclear technologies. It authorizes the government to draft implementing decrees over the next 12 months covering reactor licensing, safety standards, waste management and criteria for future sites.

The vote puts Italy on a path toward reintroducing nuclear power after voters twice rejected it in national referendums, first in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and again following Japan’s Fukushima accident in 2011.

Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, minister for the environment and energy security, said the vote marked a historic step forward for Italy.

“Nuclear isn't a return to the past," he said. “When integrated with renewables, it's a winning technology, which can give extraordinary results for our energy security.”

Italy seeks energy security in resuming nuclear

Meloni’s government argues that rising electricity demand, climate targets and energy security concerns exposed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine justify bringing nuclear energy back into the country’s power mix.

Rather than reviving the large reactors of the past, the government is focusing on small modular reactors, or SMRs, and other advanced technologies that supporters say could be safer, more flexible and quicker to build.

The legislation does not authorize the construction of any reactors. Instead, it creates the regulatory foundation needed before future projects can be proposed, assessed and approved.

Italy was once among Europe’s nuclear pioneers, operating four reactors before a 1987 referendum effectively ended the program. Since then, the country has relied heavily on imported energy and has become one of Europe’s largest consumers of electricity generated by nuclear plants in neighboring countries.

The government says electricity demand could rise substantially in coming years as homes, businesses and transportation become increasingly electrified and as data centers and other energy-intensive technologies expand.

Broader acceptance of nuclear energy is growing

Italy’s move comes amid a broader European debate over nuclear power’s role in cutting carbon emissions and reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels. Countries including France and Poland are investing in new nuclear projects or planning major expansions.

Public attitudes in Italy appear to have shifted. A June 2026 survey by research firm Only Numbers found that about 55% of Italians support next-generation nuclear plants, with backing strongest among younger generations who have no direct memory of Chernobyl.

Even so, significant obstacles remain before any reactors could be built.

Italy still lacks a permanent national repository for radioactive waste from its previous nuclear program, with waste continuing to be stored at temporary facilities around the country. Future reactor projects and waste storage sites are also expected to face opposition from local communities.

Energy analysts have questioned the economics of nuclear power, pointing to high construction costs and the lack of commercially proven SMR projects operating at scale in Europe. Industry estimates place the cost of a single 300-megawatt SMR at between 3 billion and 6 billion euros ($3.5 billion and $7 billion), excluding additional infrastructure and grid expenses.

Environment groups Greenpeace Italy, WWF Italia, the Kyodo Club and Legambiente called the legislation an “empty box filled with false promises” that went against the will of Italian voters in past referendums.

“Nuclear power does not solve any of the many problems Italy currently faces, in the midst of its second energy crisis in the last four years,” the groups said in a joint statement.

New reactors still a long way off

Michele Governatori, a senior energy adviser at climate and energy think tank ECCO, welcomed the creation of a regulatory framework but said it would likely expose limited private-sector appetite for new nuclear projects.

“Having a regulatory framework in place is positive, but it will also make clear the limited interest of private investors in technologies that are either not competitive today or not yet ready, such as SMRs,” he said.

Governatori also said that Italy should focus on measures already available to cut energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, including electrification, energy efficiency, renewable energy, storage capacity and power-grid upgrades.

Environmental groups and opposition parties have already signaled resistance to the government’s plans and could challenge future projects once specific reactor and waste-storage sites are proposed.

The 22-year-old man, Andrea Moretti, specialized in working at altitude on ropes. He had been installing cabling for the project that was expected to be completed next month and died inside the Colosseum, the archaeological site's press office said.

Premier Giorgia Meloni said that the government was deeply shocked and saddened by the death and called for the cause to be determined as quickly as possible.

“Dying at the age of 22 is unacceptable — even more so when it happens in the workplace,” she said in a statement.

Authorities are working to determine the circumstances of Moretti's death, the park's statement said. A separate statement late Wednesday said the park would remain closed on Thursday to mourn Moretti and in solidarity with his family.

Representatives of Italy's main union, CGIL, were on site after the death to request information about Moretti's employer and contract and said that closing the monument was the least Rome authorities could do to honor his memory.

The Colosseum attracted 14.7 million visitors in 2024, according to Culture Ministry statistics. It topped the list of Italy's most-visited monuments, followed by Florence's Uffizi Galleries and the ancient ruins of Pompeii.

The Colosseum's closure on Wednesday caught thousands of tourists who had bought tickets and tours in advance by surprise. But many said they appreciated the gesture.

Colosseum authorities had allowed the first morning tours to go ahead as planned, with just the Colosseum's second tier closed. But they then closed the entire monument to visitors after the first group had exited.

Rachel Townsand, a tourist from New Zealand, said that she was disappointed.

“But then after looking up what’s happened, then it’s understandable,” she said.

The defiant speech by President Masoud Pezeshkian marked a striking instance of a foreign leader addressing the world body while their country is at war with the host nation. While defending his country, Pezeshkian held up large photos of the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the more than 150 Iranian schoolchildren killed on the first days of the war.

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly. “Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.”

He added of the United States: “Yes they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.” Toward the end of his speech, Pezeshkian called out Trump by name.

“It must be understood by Mr. Trump and those who seek to bully us that we are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force,” he said.

Shortly after, both U.S. and Israeli officials blasted the speech, saying that it was hypocritical for the Islamic Republic to present itself as the victims of the world.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters: “I don’t know what standing Iran has to lecture anyone on human rights or the international system when they habitually violate it.”

A busy 24 hours for US-Iran relations

Arriving in New York under heavy security and scrutiny, Pezeshkian — who, within Iran’s political landscape, is considered a moderate politician — addressed world leaders a day after Trump used the same stage to mull whether to massively escalate a war that has already spiraled out of control.

“I have a big decision to make,” Trump said in his wide-ranging address Tuesday. “Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

Hours after those stunning threats, Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met for about three hours with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering. But he offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange.

“It was a very good meeting,” Trump said. The president later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s something.” Also on Tuesday, Rubio said Trump is open to meeting with Pezeshkian while he’s in New York.

But Tehran downplayed Tuesday's unscheduled exchange, which were the first indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian officials since a June ceasefire unraveled. Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, maintained the country's negotiating position in talks with U.S. officials, demanding that Washington end its blockade of Iranian ports and release frozen Iranian assets,

Baghaei said the talks — conducted indirectly through Qatari mediators — were “not anything new.”

Rubio echoed that sentiment Wednesday, saying that “it was a continuation of conversations that have occurred in the past.”

“If there’s an opportunity to exchange ideas and messages, we will. And that’s what largely yesterday was — it was positive in that regard," he said. "But ultimately, I don’t want to mischaracterize this as a major breakthrough."

More than a year of negotiations have taken place

Pezeshkian's address elaborated on where Tehran stands as more than a year of start-stop negotiations between the two longtime adversaries have failed to produce a sustainable solution. His speech came as intermittent attacks continued in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where commercial shipping remained below prewar levels.

His address last year came months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war that saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic’s highest military and political leaders and once again broke down weeks of negotiations with the United States.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant contravention of the most elementary principles of international law,” Pezeshkian said at the time.

___

Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in New York contributed to this story.

The ruling was hailed as a major victory by advocates who have fought for years for air conditioning in prisons across Texas, where summer heat routinely soars above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said in the 150-page order that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice must immediately begin developing a plan for the installations. He ruled that a lack of air conditioning violates the constitutional right to not be given “cruel and unusual punishments.”

“Witnesses in this case who had been incarcerated in un-air-conditioned Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons described themselves and their fellow inmates getting sick, passing out, and reaching a level of desperation to cool off that made it ‘common’ to splash toilet water on themselves,” Pitman wrote in the ruling. “These are not humane conditions.”

The ruling said that the state prison agency has estimated that systemwide air conditioning would cost about $1.5 billion.

The state prison agency said Tuesday that it will appeal the court’s decision, adding that it has “robust heat mitigation efforts in place” and is already committed to installing air conditioning in units. The agency said its number of air-conditioned beds has increased from 35,000 in 2018 to an expected 60,000 by the end of this year, and that the number will reach 90,000 in 2028.

Texas has about 143,000 people in prisons across the state.

The lawsuit was initially filed in 2023 by Bernie Tiede, the former mortician serving a life sentence whose murder case inspired the movie “Bernie.” Several prisoners’ rights groups then asked to join his legal fight and expand it.

In 2025, Pitman found that the extreme heat in Texas’ prisons was “plainly unconstitutional,” but declined at that time to order the state to immediately start installing air conditioning. The case then went to trial earlier this year.

The ruling said the agency has acknowledged that 23 people died in its facilities from heat-related causes between 1998 and 2012, and that the agency acknowledged three additional heat-related deaths in 2023. The judge wrote in the order that plaintiffs also presented “credible evidence” of additional deaths from 2023 to 2025 that were at least in part caused by heat.

Amite Dominick, founder and president of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the ruling “made clear that the state cannot keep treating human lives as a budget line.”

“We will be watching every deadline in this order,” Dominick said.

From Texas to Ohio and Alaska to Iowa, campaigns are grappling with a fed-up electorate that is sour on the president and angry over soaring fuel prices driven by an unpopular war. While Republicans are flush with unprecedented cash that could move the needle in some races, overall the mood is glum heading into the election's final stretch as campaigns try to counter palpable Democratic enthusiasm to maintain their narrow lead in the House and Senate this November.

“Everybody is tired. You see the poll numbers. Everybody is cranky about gas prices,” said Jeanette Hoffman, a Republican strategist from New Jersey. “The party in power is playing defense. This is a referendum on the incumbents.”

Trump is trying to protect Republicans with cash

After mounting pressure from endangered candidates in battleground states, groups affiliated with President Donald Trump finally began unleashing their stockpile of campaign cash earlier this month, joining with Republican committees that have amassed a record fortune that dramatically eclipses their Democratic counterparts.

“Republicans have air superiority. House Democrats are scrambling to catch up with the very limited resources they have,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

But the spending underscores the extent to which Republicans are playing defense.

Three Trump-aligned groups — MAGA Inc., No Going Back PAC and Safety and Affordability PAC — have spent more than $163 million on advertising and air time since Sept. 1. Nearly 40% of that money — more than $63 million — has been spent in states and districts where Trump won by 10 percentage points or more in the 2024 election, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from AdImpact, which tracks media spending and ad buys.

That includes 12 House districts and three states with major Senate races.

In Texas, Republicans have spent nearly $107 million on ads and reservations since the beginning of the month trying to bolster scandal-plagued attorney general Ken Paxton in his Texas Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. The spending, which is for ads through Election Day, is nearly four times as much as Democrats in a state Trump won by nearly 14 points.

Further north in Ohio, Republican spending to defend Sen. Jon Husted has exceeded $152 million, compared with $90 million on behalf of Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown, according to AdImpact.

Terry Casey, an Ohio Republican strategist, said both Republicans and Democrats are "kind of sitting on pins and needles because of the national and economic circumstances.” The outcome, he said, would depend on whether Democrats can turn out voters.

Democrats are competing in Republican strongholds

States that Trump won by wide margins — like Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska — have become some of the most competitive battlegrounds in the midterms.

The White House is even investing time in states that haven't been considered competitive for years. Vice President JD Vance recently traveled to Kansas to campaign for Sen. Roger Marshall, who is facing a challenge from Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton.

The founder of the nation’s largest United Methodist church, Hamilton received a rousing welcome from scores of people who crammed into a Topeka coffee shop to see him Tuesday.

“In all my 50, 60 years in politics, I’ve never seen a candidate that quite has the momentum going,” said Jim Ploger, an 82-year-old longtime Democratic activist from Topeka who believes Hamilton gives the party “the best chance we’ve ever had” to win a Senate seat.

Vance has also been to Iowa, Ohio, Maine and North Carolina to bolster Republican candidates, while Trump is also hitting the road. The week after the party's unusual midterm convention in Dallas, he traveled to North Carolina to hold a rally with Michael Whatley, his former national party chairman. Republicans are increasingly concerned that he could fall short in his Senate race against Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper.

There are more concerns about Georgia, where Rep. Mike Collins is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Although Ossoff began the cycle as Republicans' top target, Collins has endured weeks of negative headlines about a House ethics investigation and his son-in-law's white nationalist views.

“I don’t think anyone’s expecting Collins to win,” said Tim Waters, chairman of the Peach County Republican Party. “Do I like that? No, I don’t like that. But it’s just the facts.”

In Texas, officials are hoping a huge influx of last-minute cash will help save Paxton. Sen. John Cornyn, who lost his primary to Paxton after Trump turned on him earlier this year, isn't so confident.

“I think it’s going to be very rough, lots of headwinds,” he said. “Even in places like Texas, which are pretty red, we’ve got flawed candidates who I think are going to have a hard time.”

Republican National Committee spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said the party is focused on turnout and is well aware of the historic trend in which the party in control typically loses seats in the midterm.

“We have money to spend and we’re not taking anything for granted this cycle," she said. “This is very high stakes, and it's unfortunate that other people feel glum and down. But we’re doing everything we can to protect and expand our majorities so we’re full steam ahead.”

Party officials are more bullish on races in Maine and New Hampshire, where Democrat Kamala Harris won in 2024, and remain optimistic about Michigan, where Trump won by less than two points and where former Rep. Mike Rogers faces progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

Some Republicans call for an end to the war

Some Republicans are taking steps to distance themselves from Trump even as he urges his supporters to vote like he is on the ballot.

Rep. Tom Tiffany and Rep. John James, the party's nominees for governor in Wisconsin and Michigan, both joined calls for an end to the war in Iran.

"War is terrible, and no one likes war,” James told reporters.

Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, released an ad in which he also called for ending the war. Standing in a grocery store, he bemoaned high prices and said the government should suspend gas taxes and stop diesel exports.

“The war with Iran needs to end and end quickly,” Rogers said. ”Michigan families can’t afford to wait.”

In Iowa, where Republicans are trying to hold onto the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is locked in a tight race against Democrat Josh Turek, voiced the same frustrations.

“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran” she wrote on social media. “These actions to lower costs are needed ASAP, and the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end.”

Hinson, however, did not join two fellow Iowa Republicans in battleground districts — U.S. Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks — in voting with Democrats on a resolution intended to halt Trump’s ability to continue military action without lawmakers’ approval.

Perhaps the most dramatic break with Trump came from Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican defending her seat in a competitive, majority Hispanic South Florida district. Last week, she released an ad filmed in front of the White House as she criticized the president for going “too far” on immigration policy.

Others have continued to scrub references to Trump from their websites. The latest was Republican Byron Donalds, who is running for governor in Florida, who recently revamped his site so that it no longer includes a number of prominent references to Trump and his endorsement, the Miami Herald first reported.

‘It’s a very competitive environment out there'

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said Trump “is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party” and that "the choice has never been more clear: doubling down on President Trump’s winning, commonsense agenda or the Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction.”

Some Republicans are acknowledging that voters aren't satisfied.

“We shouldn’t say, ‘Hey everything’s perfect,’ because it’s not," said Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio. "But look what we’ve done in 18 months, and we need two more years to finish the job.”

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who has traveled across the country campaigning for his colleagues, said Democrats appeared to have enthusiasm on their side in the midterms, and he said his party needed to level with the country.

“You can’t look the American people in the eye and say, ‘Don’t believe your lying checkbooks,’” he said. “The cost of living increase is real.”

He also said that voters are “confused about the war” and “they don't understand how we're going to get out.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., was measured in his assessment on Tuesday.

“Well, I’m hopeful, obviously, but also realistic," he said. “It’s a very competitive environment out there.”

___

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writers Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pa., Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., and Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Steven Sloan and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.

• Harris County approves largest property tax hike in county history. Here’s what homeowners could pay

DeAnna Green, CEO and real estate broker with the Nydan Group, said many first-time buyers are being priced out of the market after the housing boom that followed the COVID-19 pandemic.

Homes were receiving multiple offers, while property taxes and other costs continued to rise. Green said some builders have also shifted toward master-planned communities that are being converted into rental properties, limiting the number of affordable homes available to buyers.

Start with a lender

For people thinking about buying a home, Green recommends starting with a lender, not a realtor.

A lender can review a buyer’s credit, debt-to-income ratio and available resources to determine how much the buyer can realistically afford.

“The first step is you really need to go and meet with the lender,” Green said. “That’s going to dictate what you’re actually going to be able to afford and what areas you can afford.”

Green said buyers should focus less on how much house they want and more on what monthly payment fits their budget.

Real estate investing options

When it comes to investing Green says people interested in real estate investing should first determine how much capital they have and what level of risk and involvement, they are prepared to take on.

For those without significant capital, wholesaling may be one potential entry point. That involves finding a property and connecting the seller with a buyer, typically for a fee.

Investors with more capital may consider fix-and-flip projects, while others may explore rental properties or “house hacking” living in one unit of a duplex, triplex or fourplex while renting out the remaining space.

Green said anyone entering real estate investing should work with an experienced mentor.

Families pool resources

As housing costs rise, some families are combining their resources to purchase property together.

Green recently worked with a family that pooled its income to buy a home large enough for multiple generations. The property also had enough land to potentially add a small home in the future.

Green said buying property with relatives can help families manage housing costs while creating a path toward generational wealth.

• CenterPoint rates, profits and power outages: What Houston-area customers are paying for

Assistance programs available

Houston-area buyers may qualify for programs such as NACA, down payment assistance and housing initiatives through the City of Houston.

Green said buyers should work with a qualified lender and Realtor to understand the eligibility requirements and determine which program best fits their situation.

“Some of those programs may look and sound good right now, but once that buyer gets into the mix, they may realize that’s not the right one,” Green said. “A lender and a qualified Realtor will help guide them.”

• RELATED: 5-year-old girl killed in apparent road rage shooting in northwest Harris County, HCSO says

Authorities say they responded to the shooting at approximately 11:30 p.m. on the 11800 block of Grant Road, near Jones Road. The girl was struck by gunfire and flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

• Man charged with capital murder in killing of 5-year-old in Cypress

Mother was driving home from her mom’s house

Monica Hicks says she was driving home from her mother’s house when someone opened fire on her car near the corner of Grant Road and Jones Road.

“My daughter’s name was Zah’Layah. She was the light of my life. That was my baby,” Hicks said.

• “Our hearts are shattered”: Family asks for help to lay Zah’Layah to rest

Hicks says her car was shot at least five times before she realized what had happened.

“I didn’t hear a loud gunshot, but I heard like a (whizzing sound). And by that time, my back window shattered. All my kids in the back seat were screaming, and they continued to shoot in my car. And I did not know my daughter was hit until I pulled into my apartment,” she said.

• Harris County sheriff says flock cameras helped find suspect in 5-year-old girl’s killing

Children traumatized after witnessing sister’s death

Two other children in the vehicle suffered injuries from shattered glass. Hicks says the experience has left her children deeply traumatized.

“All of my children were there, and they witnessed their sister like this on the floor, and they are traumatized,” she said.

Hicks says she has not been able to rest since the shooting.

“It is so sad that on my way home to safety, me and my kids were basically gunned down,” she said. “I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy.”

Car described as older white four-door Ford

Deputies responded to the Estates at Cypress apartment complex in the 11800 block of Grant Road. Hicks says the car that approached them was an older white four-door Ford.

“From the looks of it, they were shooting in my car before they got to my car because there’s a bullet hole literally by my gas tank. There’s bullet holes all in the side of my car, and there’s like a bullet hole inside of the headrest of the passengers of my car,” Hicks said.

She says she never saw who was driving.

“There’s tinted windows, but like I said, I couldn’t see who was driving because all I seen was the passenger window down,” she said.

Investigation ongoing, no suspects in custody

Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Adriel Hinojosa said this could have been a possible road rage incident, and that they are currently investigating. There are no suspects in custody at this time.

Hicks says she has no idea what would motivate someone to do this.

If you have information, contact the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at 713-221-6000 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). Crime Stoppers is offering up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Authorities say they responded to the shooting at approximately 11:30 p.m. on the 11800 block of Grant Road, near Jones Road. The girl was struck by gunfire and flown to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Mother was driving home from her mom’s house

Monica Hicks says she was driving home from her mother’s house when someone opened fire on her car near the corner of Grant Road and Jones Road.

“My daughter’s name was Zah’Layah. She was the light of my life. That was my baby,” Hicks said.

Hicks says her car was shot at multiple times before she realized what had happened.

“I didn’t hear a loud gunshot, but I heard like a (sound). And by that time, my back window shattered. All my kids in the back seat were screaming, and they continued to shoot in my car. And I did not know my daughter was hit until I pulled into my apartment,” she said.

Arrest made in fatal shooting

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez posted on X Sunday night that an arrest was made in the case. The suspect is 47-year-old Jeremy Porter. He is charged with Capital Murder.

The Sheriff stated, “Our hearts remain with Zah’Layah’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”

He also added that Automated License Plate Reader cameras “played an important role in the investigation.”

Arrest Update:

Jeremy Porter (DOB 3/18/79) has been arrested and charged with Capital Murder in connection with the shooting death of 5-year-old Zah’Layah Walter.

The roadway shooting occurred last night (9/19/26) on Grant Road near Jones Road.

Porter was taken into custody… pic.twitter.com/SuTTCS8PTw

— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) September 21, 2026

Children traumatized after witnessing sister’s death

Two other children in the vehicle suffered injuries from shattered glass. Hicks says the experience has left her children deeply traumatized.

“All of my children were there, and they witnessed their sister like this on the floor, and they are traumatized,” she said.

Hicks says she has not been able to rest since the shooting.

“It is so sad that on my way home to safety, me and my kids were basically gunned down,” she said.

“I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy.”

Deputies responded to the Estates at Cypress apartment complex on the 11800 block of Grant Road. Hicks says the car that approached them was an older white four-door pick-up truck.

“There’s bullet holes all in the side of my car, and there’s like a bullet hole inside of the headrest of the passengers of my car,” Hicks said.

She says she never saw who was driving.

“There’s tinted windows, but like I said, I couldn’t see who was driving because all I seen was the passenger window down,” she said.

• 17-year-old charged with capital murder in fatal shooting of man who chased robbery suspects, court records show

ENOUGH tracks power outage frequency month by month, so you can see what is happening in your ZIP code and how the numbers have changed over time.

CHECK YOUR ZIP CODE: ENOUGH Houston Power Outage Tracker

August brought another jump in outage activity

Here’s just a portion of what the latest data shows:

• In the Tomball area, ZIP code 77375, outage activity jumped from 4.846 in July to 5.714 in August.
• In the Cypress area, ZIP code 77433, it increased from 2.600 to 3.800.
• In north Houston, ZIP code 77086, outage activity jumped from 1.000 to 4.143.
• In the Fort Bend County area, ZIP code 77476, the reading decreased from a July peak of 7.111 to 5.056 in August — but remained elevated.

The August reading for 77375 was the highest in that ZIP code during the 13 months ENOUGH is tracking. The same is true for 77433.

RELATED: CenterPoint rates, profits and power outages: What Houston-area customers are paying for

See the trend in your ZIP code

The ENOUGH tracker uses outage-frequency data from Ting, a third-party company that monitors power interruptions through a network of sensors.

The numbers are not a percentage of customers who lost power. Instead, they are outage-frequency readings that allow communities to be compared over time.

Higher numbers indicate more frequent outage activity in the data.

Tomball area — ZIP code 77375

The 77375 ZIP code in the Tomball area saw outage activity remain relatively low through much of the spring before a sharp summer increase.

The reading was just 0.071 in March and 0.143 in April.

It then climbed to 1.077 in May, 1.000 in June, 4.846 in July and 5.714 in August.

August was the highest reading recorded for 77375 in the data ENOUGH is tracking.

Cypress area — ZIP code 77433

The 77433 ZIP code in the Cypress area also saw a sharp summer increase.

The reading was 0 in April, then climbed to 0.889 in May, 1.200 in June, 2.600 in July and 3.800 in August.

August was the highest reading for 77433 during the 13-month period.

North Houston — ZIP code 77086

In north Houston’s 77086 ZIP code, outage activity jumped dramatically in August.

The reading went from 1.000 in July to 4.143 in August.

The area also saw elevated readings earlier in the year, including 3.000 in April and 2.833 in May.

Fort Bend County area — ZIP code 77476

The 77476 ZIP code in the Fort Bend County area is showing a different pattern.

Outage activity reached 7.111 in July, the highest monthly reading among these four ZIP codes.

It fell to 5.056 in August, but that was still higher than most of the readings recorded during the previous year.

The ZIP code also recorded elevated readings in May at 5.421 and June at 2.778.

This isn’t the first time Houston has seen outage hot spots

ENOUGH’s tracking began after residents repeatedly raised concerns about frequent power interruptions.

In August 2025, Ting data identified several Houston-area outage hot spots.

Among them were parts of Pecan Grove and Harvest Green in Fort Bend County’s 77406 ZIP code, the Walters and Spears Road area in north Harris County’s 77014 ZIP code, the JFK and Aldine Bender area in 77032, Eagle Heights in Chambers County’s 77523 and the Klein-area Cutten Green neighborhood in 77066.

At the time, Ting reported some neighborhoods experiencing outage frequencies many times higher than the national average.

CenterPoint disputed how those numbers represented system performance, saying its data measures interruptions on the utility’s side of the meter, while Ting can detect events behind the meter as well.

That distinction is important when looking at the ENOUGH tracker.

Outages improved — then the numbers climbed again.

The latest numbers come after a period when Houston-area outage activity improved.

CenterPoint reported that its own outage numbers fell in 2025, and KPRC previously reported on that improvement as the utility entered 2026.

But by spring and summer 2026, the Ting data showed significant increases in some communities.

May was a particularly notable month. Ting data showed Houston had the highest outage frequency among U.S. cities that month, according to KPRC’s previous reporting.

Then came the summer increases now visible in the ENOUGH tracker.

CenterPoint says it is investing heavily in the grid

CenterPoint says it has been making major investments to improve reliability through its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.

As of July 2026, CenterPoint said it had installed more than 75,500 stronger poles, cleared more than 13,000 miles of higher-risk vegetation, undergrounded more than 850 miles of power lines and installed more than 750 automation and intelligent grid-switching devices.

The company says those improvements are intended to reduce the frequency and duration of outages and help the system withstand severe weather.

CenterPoint’s own community progress tracker was updated with data through Aug. 31, 2026.

CenterPoint has also said it evaluates reliability over longer periods rather than judging its system based on one month of outage data.

Why can the numbers look different?

Two key data sources explain the difference.

Ting uses a network of sensors to detect power interruptions, including events that can happen inside a customer’s home or business.

CenterPoint measures interruptions on the utility’s system — what the company describes as the equipment on its side of the meter.

CenterPoint has previously said this difference can result in Ting reporting more interruptions than CenterPoint’s own system data in some ZIP codes.

That doesn’t make either number a substitute for the other. They measure different things.

The ENOUGH tracker is designed to show the pattern in outage activity over time, while also giving residents a way to see how their community compares with others.

What should you do if your neighborhood keeps losing power?

Start by checking the pattern.

Check your ZIP code in the ENOUGH tracker and look back month by month.

If you see repeated spikes, keep track of your own outages, including:

• The date and time your power went out
• How long the outage lasted
• Whether the outage was momentary or extended
• Whether your neighbors experienced the same problem
• Any flickering, surges or other electrical issues

CenterPoint’s official outage tracker can provide current outage information, estimated restoration information and a way to report an outage.

ENOUGH is keeping watch

Power reliability isn’t just about whether the lights are on right now.

It’s about whether residents can count on the grid day after day — especially after CenterPoint has made major investments aimed at improving reliability.

That’s why ENOUGH will continue tracking the data.

Check your ZIP code. See what’s happening in your neighborhood. And tell us what you’re experiencing.

Check the ENOUGH power outage tracker

CHECK YOUR ZIP CODE AND CHECK THE LATEST OUTAGE DATA

If your neighborhood is experiencing repeated outages, flickering power or other reliability problems, send your questions to ENOUGH.

Outage data is sourced from Ting Labs. The data measures power interruption activity detected through its network and is different from CenterPoint Energy’s utility-reported outage data.

Voting centers across the North African kingdom opened at 8 a.m. and were set to close at 7 p.m. local time, allowing nearly 16 million registered voters to cast ballots for the 395-seat House of Representatives.

The election is the first since deadly youth-led protests nearly a year ago and a mass attempt by migrants to cross Morocco’s northern border into the Spanish territory of Ceuta that left dozens dead.

The vote will determine the next prime minister and the makeup of the government, which will serve alongside a powerful monarchy that retains broad authority over strategic affairs. Results are expected Thursday.

The next government will oversee billions of dollars in investment as Morocco prepares to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, prompting some to describe it as the “World Cup government.” The new political leadership will also face pressure to address everyday concerns, including jobs, wages and the cost of living.

For many young Moroccans, the election comes as doubts grow that political participation can improve their daily lives. Some have turned to street protests, while others have considered leaving the country or staying away from the ballot box.

Othmane Mouden, a Casablanca businessman in his late 30s, believes elections are the only way Moroccans can make their voices heard.

“Protesting like the Gen Z youth will not bring any change,” he said on his way to the polling station. “You can only claim your rights through the polls.”

Voters chose among 7,288 candidates from 27 political parties. Since no single party is expected to obtain an absolute majority, the winner will need to negotiate with others to form a governing coalition.

The Moroccan Constitution requires the king to appoint the head of government from the party that wins the most seats in legislative elections.

One possibility for prime minister is Faouzi Lakjaa, president of Morocco’s soccer federation, who recently joined the PAM party and has been buoyed by Morocco’s recent soccer achievements.

Another is Fatima-Zahra Mansouri, 50, mayor of Marrakech and minister of urban planning, who would be Morocco’s first female prime minister.

Some groups, including the far-left party The Democratic Path, called to boycott the election, saying that it “lacks the minimum conditions of democracy.” Banned but tolerated Islamist association Al-Adl Wal Ihsane issued similar claims.

Turnout at midday was just over 11%, slightly below the 12% at the same time during the last legislative elections in 2021.

The number of registered voters has declined by 9.7% since the 2021 election, even as Morocco’s population has grown, reflecting disenchantment with politics notably among young people.

As ballot stations opened in Casablanca and Rabat, voters of various ages formed small but continuous lines to cast their ballots.

Jamal Aamar, a 63-year-old retired banker, came to vote for the Federation of the Democratic Left, a left-wing coalition. Aamar said participating in the election allows his voice to be heard.

“If you boycott, you will leave others an empty seat,” he said.

The constitution recognizes the right to vote for Moroccans living abroad, but there is no voting by mail or ballot boxes at Moroccan consulates. Instead, they must travel to Morocco to vote or authorize a registered family member or acquaintance to vote on their behalf.

Moroccans in Madrid had mixed views on the elections, with some shrugging them off as having little impact.

Caterer Bader Eabram, 24, said Morocco's strong performance in recent World Cups and other soccer championships is driving some voters' choices, and providing hope.

“We’re all really eager to host the World Cup. It’s a great country,'' he said. ‘’We can do anything.''

——

Iain Sullivan in Madrid contributed to this report.

Kylian Mbappé, Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane in action again before the Ballon d'Or is announced.

Cristiano Ronaldo's relentless pursuit of 1,000 career goals and Erling Haaland, no doubt, doing Erling Haaland things.

International soccer is back after the World Cup and soccer's biggest stars are ready to do it all again.

Messi, who announced his retirement from the national team this month, is slated to make his farewell with one last appearance in the Oct. 6 friendly game against Benin in Buenos Aires.

The man many regard as the greatest player ever was in tears after Argentina relinquished its World Cup title with a 1-0 loss to Spain in the final at MetLife Stadium. His dream of winning back-to-back tournaments and emulating Brazil great Pele ended in bitter defeat. At the age of 39, it was widely expected it would be his final tilt on soccer's biggest stage.

Messi's retirement came as little surprise — even after his outstanding performances at the World Cup — and a farewell in front of his home fans will give him the opportunity to bow out in style.

The president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, said it would be “the farewell he deserves.”

Ballon d'Or contenders

While Messi is saying his goodbyes, the next generation of stars are fiercely competing to take his place as the world's best.

Mbappé, Yamal and Kane are among the favorites to win the Ballon d'Or, which is based on performances up to and including the World Cup.

But this international window is another opportunity for those frontrunners to show their talents. Messi is also among the nominees.

The rivalry between Mbappé and Yamal echoes Messi's great battles with Ronaldo.

With Mbappé at Real Madrid and Yamal at Barcelona, it pits Spain's two most famous and successful clubs against each other once again in the race for the Ballon d'Or.

For more than a decade it was Messi of Barcelona and Ronaldo of Madrid who turned soccer's biggest individual award into what seemed like a personal duel.

Yamal, who won the World Cup with Spain as well as the Spanish title with Barcelona, is still just 19 years old and already considered among the best.

“When you’re talking about so many great players, ultimately, people look at things like: ‘Well, this one is better than that one, but maybe the other guy won this or that trophy.’ The advantage I have is that I managed to win the World Cup this year, and naturally, that gives me an edge. I think that’s logical," he told L’Equipe.

Mbappe did not win a second World Cup, but he did set a new record as the highest scorer in tournament history with 22 goals.

As for Kane, he was awarded the golden shoe as Europe's top scorer last season and has continued that form with six goals in seven appearances this term.

England plays world champion Spain at Wembley in the Nations League on Saturday.

France plays for the first time under new head coach Zinedine Zidane with the pick of its games coming against Italy in the Nations League Oct. 2.

Ronaldo's pursuit

He may have missed out on his last chance to win the World Cup, but Ronaldo's pursuit of another landmark achievement goes on.

The Saudi Pro League announced his 979th career goal earlier this month and the Portugal great is edging ever closer to the 1,000-mark. He would be the first player to officially hit that total.

The 41-year-old Ronaldo was included in Portugal’s squad by new coach Jorge Jesus for its upcoming Nations League games.

Another player relentlessly chasing down goals is Haaland, who made new fans around the world with his performances and social media antics at the World Cup. He has started this season in devastating form with seven goals in his last five games to help Manchester City to a 100% winning run.

Superstar coaches

The star appeal will not be limited to the pitch. A raft of coaching changes have seen some of the biggest names in soccer take over national teams.

Three-time Champions League-winning coach Zidane has succeeded Didier Deschamps with France. Liverpool icon Jurgen Klopp is in charge of Germany after another early exit from the World Cup.

They join serial winning coaches like Carlo Ancelotti (Brazil) and Thomas Tuchel (England) by leaving the club game for international soccer.

Zidane is the only coach to win three straight Champions League titles and France will hope he can be just as successful with the national team.

Klopp answered Germany's SOS after it failed to reach the last 16 of a men’s World Cup for the third time in a row. But he delivered a spiky news conference when unveiled in July — immediately threatening to resign.

He said he would be prepared to leave without any severance pay if it doesn’t work out, or if criticism becomes overwhelming, and said he would resign if the media doesn’t “leave my family in peace.”

One coaching great who resisted the temptation to join the international influx was Pep Guardiola despite being a reported target for Italy.

Instead Roberto Mancini is back in charge of the Italian national team, which he led to triumph at Euro 2020.

Not that he is relying on that to ease any pressure on him.

“I’m not in credit because that’s in the past, it doesn’t count for anything,” Mancini said.

Where to watch

U.S. viewers can only find most games via streaming platforms – Fubo has every match, while Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and DirecTV Stream have select games, too. Several matches will air on Fox stations FS1 or FS2. That includes Norway vs. Denmark on Thursday on FS1, England vs. Spain on Saturday on FS2 and France vs. Italy on Oct. 2 on FS1.

___

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

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

We first visited the property in May after complaints to the Help Desk. During our visit it didn’t take long to spot furniture, mattresses, clothing --- even a fish tank.

Residents and workers in the area said calls to officials had resulted in no actions taken to clean the massive site.

Since then, 2 Helps You has been consistently reaching out to the offices of County Commissioner Rodney Ellis as the location sits in his precinct. His office confirmed they were attempting to address the illegal dumping after we brought it to their attention. However, the community did not see any action.

Fast forward to now, the lot has been completely cleaned.

A spokesperson for the Commissioner Ellis confirming the county’s health department oversaw the clean up the site last week by the property owners.

Kenneth Ray, a local worker, says he was “excited” when he saw the big dumpsters rolling onto the site, “Ok, they are getting it done.”

Ray happy with the end result. His hopes is that it now stays that way.

The Associated Press, in partnership with KFF, polled more than 2,000 rural registered voters and found broadly negative views of the national and local economies, including among many Republicans. The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters, who were surveyed over two weeks starting in mid-August. A larger share than among voters overall say they are worried about being able to afford groceries or gas.

At the same time, about half of rural voters approve of Trump’s job performance, more than among U.S. adults overall in separate AP-NORC polling.

The findings suggest that many rural voters have not turned on Trump but that they also largely do not think he has delivered the economic renaissance he promised in his campaign.

Ed Westrick, a registered Republican and veteran, rates Trump’s job performance as “mediocre, middle-of-the-road.” Westrick, who lives in rural Texas, is not sure he will cast a midterm ballot, a troubling sign for Republicans in a key state in their fight to keep control of Congress.

Rural Americans skew Republican and historically have been an instrumental group of voters for Trump. The survey reveals that while rural voters seem unlikely to support Democrats on a large scale, Trump and the Republican Party could face challenges with them in November.

Rural voters are deeply unhappy about the economy

As the election approaches, only about 4 in 10 rural voters approve of Trump’s performance on the economy. They rate him similarly on his handling of the Iran war, an entanglement that has proved expensive for the U.S. and increased oil and gas prices. Rural voters rank pocketbook concerns and fraud in government programs higher among the things they want to hear about from politicians than other perennial issues, such as gun policy and abortion.

Westrick, 59, is a technical trainer in the electronics industry and has seen an increase in business in part because he works with defense contractors, but he said he is concerned about the cost of living.

“I hear the politicians talk about making groceries more affordable and making healthcare more affordable, but yet none of them are addressing the issues,” Westrick said.

In the poll, about three-quarters of rural voters rated the cost of living in their communities as “only fair” or “poor” — a 25 percentage point rise from a similar question asked in a KFF-Washington Post survey in 2017. Rural Americans, who have consistently lower wages than those who live in suburban and metro areas, have been hurting economically for decades, according to Tim Slack, a professor of sociology at Louisiana State University and co-author of the book “Rural and Small-Town America.”

“Many folks are connecting the cost-of-living crisis to many of the Trump administration’s policy choices: the war in Iran, tariffs, trade wars,” he said. “None of those things are going to bring down prices at the pump or the local Walmart.”

“Trump promised to lower prices on Day 1, and instead the cost of living’s continued to climb. And that’s especially painful in rural America,” Slack said, adding that he expects many working-class Republicans to skip voting in November.

Rural Republicans do have a brighter economic perspective than rural Democrats or independents, particularly about the United States as a whole, according to the survey. About 6 in 10 rural Republican voters say Trump has improved the national economy, compared with only about 2 in 10 independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Democrats.

But only 45% of rural Republican voters say Trump has made their local economies better off. About 1 in 4 said there are fewer good-paying jobs where they live than five years ago.

In Michigan, 37-year-old independent voter Brittainy Sosebee said she isn’t sure if she will vote in the state’s fall election, which includes a tight Senate race seen as crucial to the Democratic Party’s push to win back a majority. Sosebee voted for Trump in 2016 and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in 2020; she didn’t vote in 2024.

Sosebee, who lives in St. Johns, a small town just north of Lansing, said she used to have extra money to take a vacation or buy a new pair of jeans without worrying. Now, she scrutinizes every expense, cringing at the rising cost of fresh produce when she shops for her three children.

“We hunt, so we have a lot of venison and things like that, so we don’t have to buy meat from the grocery store, but it’s still crippling,” she said.

Healthcare policies go unnoticed

The AP-KFF poll found that rural voters overall don’t perceive much positive impact from the administration’s healthcare policies even as they have been a top priority for Republican leaders, who have promoted efforts to lower drug costs in addition to a $50 billion rural health program.

Only 17% of the voters said the administration’s healthcare policies have had a “positive impact” on their healthcare costs, while 41% said they’ve had “no impact” and another 41% said they’ve had a “negative impact.”

Sitting on her front porch in Woolwich, Maine, 71-year-old Democrat Kathleen Hanning sipped a chai tea latte in the sun and recalled how she stopped voting for Republican Sen. Susan Collins in 2020.

Collins and Trump are “intertwined,” Hanning said. “She is not independently voting on what’s best for Maine.”

Hanning, a retired federal worker, said she had not paid much attention to the health policies in Trump’s signature tax breaks and spending cuts bill passed last year. The law reduces federal Medicaid spending by roughly $900 billion over a decade but also includes billions of dollars for the Rural Health Transformation Program, which it created.

A year after the law’s passage, more than 8 in 10 rural voters said they had heard either “a little” or “nothing at all” about the health fund. About 60% said they had heard nothing, according to the survey.

Rather than transforming, Hanning said, “hospitals up here in Maine are consolidating.” She travels an hour to see a specialist and noted that mothers will now have to drive farther for care because the hospital in nearby Damariscotta announced it would soon close its labor and delivery center.

Nine in 10 rural voters said it was “extremely” or “very” important for candidates to talk about healthcare costs, with more than half saying it’s “extremely important.” Mirroring the general population, rural voters ranked healthcare costs and gas prices as top economic worries.

Rural Republican voters still trust the GOP more

When asked for the political party they trusted to do a better job handling issues such as the cost of healthcare or the cost of living, rural voters tended to side with their own party. The finding signals that Democratic candidates are more likely to benefit from rural Republicans staying home in November than from them voting across party lines in large numbers.

Republicans are more ambivalent about their party’s ability to handle key healthcare issues, compared with Democrats. About 8 in 10 Democratic voters say they trust the Democrats to address healthcare costs, while closer to 6 in 10 Republican voters say the same of the Republicans.

In Manassas, Georgia, a tiny town about an hour's drive inland from Savannah, Republican voter Wanda Rogers feels the Trump administration is doing the best it can to clean up what she sees as an economic mess that Democrats left behind when they lost power.

“I kind of think people think like I do, that he knows what needs to be done,” she said. “It’s just taking them a while to get it there.”

Still, the 66-year-old said, “gas prices, they’re eating me alive right now.” She said she has stopped traveling to the beach because it has become too expensive.

Pamela Shaw, an independent voter who lives in a rural area near Asheville, North Carolina, said she sees the impact of rising costs in her community.

“When hamburger is over $7 a pound and steak is $15 or more a pound, a lot of people are not able to buy some of the things that they are used to buying,” the 59-year-old said in an interview.

Trump’s rural standing has slipped

Trump remains relatively popular among rural voters in the AP-KFF poll, with 48% approval. That is substantially higher than in a July AP-NORC poll of U.S. adults overall, in which only one-third approved of his performance. But he also is down slightly, from 56% approval, among rural voters, based on a similar question asked in the earlier KFF-Washington Post survey.

Asunta Washington, 38, is a truck driver who lives in South Texas. He said he is not against voting for Republican candidates if he wholeheartedly agrees with what they stand for, but he has not seen that. Instead, he has seen a lot of flip-flopping.

“Like a lot of people that are giving us promises and the moment they get elected, all that’s out the window,” Washington said.

This year’s competitive elections feature Senate races in Ohio, Michigan and Maine, all of which have large rural populations. In close races, Democrats may have a chance to “show up and give a message that rural people might find appealing,” said Nicholas Jacobs, a political scientist at Colby College and co-author of the book “The Rural Voter.”

“But it’s nothing more and it’s nothing less than that — an opportunity,” Jacobs said. “And time and time again, Democrats have shown a certain proclivity for not seizing that opportunity.”

Many rural voters do not think the major parties or the president respect people like them. About half, 48%, of rural voters say the GOP respects people like them “a lot” or “some,” while 45% of rural voters say this about Trump and 37% say this about the Democratic Party.

On a recent Thursday, registered Republican Nate Lawrence answered his phone after paying $57 to fill up his Chevy Equinox in New Concord, Ohio, a village of fewer than 3,000 people about an hour's drive east of Columbus.

Lawrence, a middle-school English teacher, said the candidates should be talking about spending power: “I need to be able to go to the store and feed my family on what I make as a teacher,” Lawrence said. “I should be able to pay for a house on a teacher’s salary.”

Lawrence has voted for Trump in the past but did not in 2024. For Ohio’s Senate race, Lawrence said he is torn and not sure whether to pick Democrat Sherrod Brown or Republican Jon Husted.

Still, even if the politicians say they will lower prices, Lawrence said, he won’t believe them.

“Trump said that, and it didn’t happen,” he said.

___

The poll of 2,241 U.S. adults registered to vote in rural areas of the country was conducted Aug. 12-24, 2026, using a sample drawn from the probability-based SSRS Opinion Panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In collaboration with AP, KFF researchers worked to design the survey sample and questionnaire, analyze and report findings.

___

This report is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

The second year of the deal, the 2028-29 season, is at Leonard's option, according to the person who spoke Tuesday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Raptors on Wednesday confirmed that the contract had been signed, without releasing the terms, which were first reported by ESPN.

Leonard, 35, led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title and is now locked into a new deal with a team with eyes on competing for another title. He is coming off the highest-scoring season of his career, averaging 27.9 points for the Los Angeles Clippers in 65 games a year ago.

Leonard will make just over $50 million this season, the last year of his current contract. It was generally assumed that the Raptors would strike a deal to keep Leonard — a seven-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion and two-time NBA Finals MVP — soon after landing him in a trade with the Clippers.

The sides agreed to that trade in late June but didn't complete it until earlier this month, delaying the process because of the NBA's investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented salary cap rules on Leonard's behalf. The NBA found four deals that ran afoul of league rules, leading to a one-year suspension of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, the forfeiture of five first-round draft picks, suspensions of other team personnel and a $30 million fine.

Leonard was fined $700,000 by the league but is not facing any suspension.

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

The lawsuit is listed as an action item on the Galveston ISD Board of Trustees’ Sept. 23 meeting agenda. Trustees are scheduled to “discuss and consider action” related to State of Texas v. Galveston ISD, a case that has returned to the 122nd District Court in Galveston County after being sent back from federal court.

The agenda does not specify exactly what action trustees may consider.

• U.S. Supreme Court rules surrogate does not have custody of baby she birthed in Dallas

Board members may also meet with their attorney in closed session to discuss the lawsuit. Under the meeting notice, any final action, decision or vote resulting from that discussion would have to take place during an open meeting, either Wednesday night or at a later publicly posted meeting.

Paxton sued Galveston ISD in November 2025 after the district’s board voted not to display donated copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

The dispute centers on Senate Bill 10, a Texas law requiring public schools to display a specified version of the Ten Commandments in classrooms when qualifying copies are donated or purchased. The law has also been the subject of separate federal constitutional challenges.

In announcing the lawsuit, Paxton’s office argued Galveston ISD was violating state law by refusing to put up the displays.

Galveston ISD said at the time that it would monitor the litigation and consult with its attorneys before making additional decisions.

• CenterPoint rates, profits and power outages: What Houston-area customers are paying for

The case was moved from Galveston County state court to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in November 2025. Court records show the state later sought to have the case returned to state court.

Wednesday’s agenda identifies the case as once again pending in Galveston County’s 122nd District Court following its remand from federal court.

The wording of the agenda leaves several possibilities open, but it does not identify a specific proposed motion or say trustees are considering reversing their previous position on the Ten Commandments.

The key development Wednesday night will be whether trustees emerge from their legal discussions and take a new public action in the case.

The Galveston ISD Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Lovenberg Administration Building, 3904 Avenue T in Galveston.

Notably, Talarico has enjoyed larger leads in recent polling than Democrat Beto O’Rourke ever did in 2018 when he nearly beat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Talarico is dominating Paxton in fundraising.

How to read a poll

The quality of polls and pollsters can be measured by several metrics, including how well their polls have performed in the past and how transparent they are about their methodology.  Here are a few things to pay attention to when navigating different polls.

Partisan sponsors: Polls sponsored by a candidate or party should be taken with a grain of salt, according to the American Association for Public Opinion Research. While nonpartisan polling organizations typically release all of their polling results regardless of who is ahead, candidate-sponsored or party-affiliated surveys can choose to only release results that benefit their campaigns.

Sample size: In general, the more people an election poll surveys the more reliable its results are. As sample sizes increase, the results of a survey are more likely to reflect the real attitudes of those who will vote in an election.

Sample type: Election polls usually survey three kinds of populations: adults, registered voters and those they deem to be “likely voters,” based on their voting history and gauged interest.

Polls that survey adults are able to increase their sample sizes, but can be less reflective of the opinions of those who will actually make it to the polls to vote on Election Day. During an election year, polls using samples of registered voters are common as they are a concrete group and more likely to vote than unregistered adults.

Closer to election day, polls with “likely voter” samples are often considered more representative of those who will actually vote. Different pollsters use different methodologies to determine who is a likely voter, using factors such as past voting behavior and interest in the election.

Sampling method: The methods by which pollsters select who participates in their surveys usually fall into two categories: probability and non-probability samples.

In a probability-based sample, every person of the full population has a chance of being selected for the survey, whereas in a non-probability based sample, such as an internet panel or a self-selected sample, the chance of any one person being selected is unknown. As a result, the samples can be skewed toward characteristics that may not be as reflective of the whole population. 

Although probability based sampling has been the preferred method for many decades, its rising cost has led researchers to turn to non-probability based sampling. The results of some non-probability based surveys have been shown to be comparable to and sometimes more accurate than probability based surveys.

Margin of error: While polls conducted with probability samples allow for the calculation of the margin of error, non-probability polls have no simple way of calculating the same error metric. They must instead use statistical models to produce estimates of their sampling error.

Methodology for our tracker

Where the polls come from

The New York Times collects polls and manages a database of election polling. This tracker pulls data from their collection, and estimates the average of every poll conducted since Paxton won his  Republican runoff election in May. 

Which polls we include

We included every public poll of the Texas U.S. Senate that asked voters to choose who they would vote for if the election occurred that day and included James Talarico and Ken Paxton as options. Polls that ended before the May runoff election are not included in the average, but are listed in the table. 

How the average works

The average is calculated by weighting every poll by three factors: recency, sample size and whether the poll’s sponsor has a partisan affiliation. We then averaged them. 

• Recent polls count more than older ones as they are more reflective of current sentiment. 
• Polls with larger sample sizes count more than those with smaller samples. 
• Polls sponsored by a political party count half as much as ones without a partisan sponsor.

Limits

The average is not a forecast of the election and who will eventually win. Additionally, early in the race, the number of polls that have been released can be relatively low, meaning the average can shift meaningfully when a single new poll is added. As a result, individual outlier polls carry more weight early on.

Apurva Mahajan contributed to this report.

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

Here was a fascinating tale with shades of “Network,” “Ace in the Hole” and “To Die For,” and an inscrutable personality at its center in host Chris Hansen, a newsman who had become a pop culture icon with his own catchphrase: Have a seat.

It was both old news, and, somehow, in the ether too. Last year, the show was also the subject of an acclaimed documentary, “Predators,” from David Osit.

Along the way, “Primetime” transformed into a dark meditation on performance, media and morality — more fever dream than biopic, according to filmmaker Lance Oppenheim. And, perhaps fittingly, it’s arriving in theaters Friday on a wave of both critical acclaim and intrigue over Hansen’s own objections to the film and its depiction of the show, which he called an “insult,” sight unseen.

The pressure of a hit show

“To Catch a Predator” had in 2006 become a kind of phenomenon. With the help of the citizen watchdog group Perverted Justice, the show would stage confrontations with men who were allegedly soliciting sex with minors in online chat rooms. Perverted Justice members would pretend to be underage kids online and invite the adults on the other side of the conversation to fake houses, where actors would play the teens and the show would “catch” the men on camera, while police waited outside to make arrests.

Two years after it debuted, it was averaging around 7 million viewers an episode and Hansen was a celebrity in his own right. And then, in November 2006, one suspect, Louis William “Bill” Conradt Jr., an assistant district attorney in Texas, killed himself as a local police SWAT team breached his home with the television crew outside. It led to a lawsuit, which was settled out of court, and various journalistic investigations including by ABC’s “20/20” and Esquire’s Luke Dittrich, whose article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die” inspired Ajon Singh’s script. By 2008, the show had been canceled.

“The thing which I was most interested in, it’s the sort of technicalities of like trying to have a hit show,” Pattinson told The Associated Press. “When you get up to a certain, like, level of numbers of viewers or like however much money is involved, suddenly the subject matter, like everything doesn’t matter anymore. … You’re just a hit and like and you’re judged along the same lines, and the same commercial expectation is put on you.”

The portrait melds fiction and reality with Merritt Wever playing a fictionalized producer who is under pressure to deliver shows that could compete with “Lost.” Then there is then-NBCUniversal TV Group CEO Jeff Zucker in the mix, playing himself.

Becoming ‘Chris Hansen’ the character

Pattinson wasn’t intending to star in “Primetime.” He was just helping to develop it with his production company. But he was also getting in the weeds, helping to shape the story and the character, and starting to realize what a great part he had in front of him.

“Chris was like a serious news reporter,” Pattinson said. “And I think what’s sort of fascinating about the story as a whole was like seeing someone who … you’re a journalist, you’re supposed to be in some ways a passive reporter of what’s going on and suddenly being recast in this thing where you’re not only like front and center of it but you’re kind of, your behavior, it’s setting the tone of the show.”

He was also just being inundated with videos and memes and Reddit threads from Singh and Oppenheim. And once he had committed to the part, Pattinson spent many, many hours watching Hansen on video and listening to his podcast. Chris Hansen was in his head, and the voice was hard to shake (he could hear it in “The Odyssey”). For him, it's also, fundamentally, a character.

“It’s impossible to, like, play somebody else,” Pattinson laughed.

Hansen himself has been rather vocal about the film too, on everything from who he would have cast (Denis Leary) to questioning the motivations of the filmmaker and the studio, A24, for using his name. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he referred to the Esquire story as “a bit of a hit piece.” He also purchased preshow advertising for his true crime streaming network TruBlu that will play in front of “Primetime” showings.

Pattinson said he’s not surprised that Hansen has been out talking about it.

“He’s a public person,” Pattinson said. “He is also just being asked about it. It’s kind of, I mean, I get it. But I’m surprised about the level of traction that everything gets.”

It’s also kind of a proof of concept; people remain interested.

“The fact that people are still discussing the ethics of it, of a 20-year-old TV show, I mean it’s absolutely insane,” Pattinson said.

Dissecting news entertainment through ‘Primetime’

The heart of “Primetime” revealed itself to everyone along the way. It wasn’t just a story about Hansen. It was also about performance and the nature of news entertainment, which is how Decoy Dan, played by Skyler Gisondo, became such a pivotal character.

Decoy Dan is an amalgamation of the adult actors who were cast to play the teenagers in the fake houses in the show. It’s a gig he gets through a standard audition process; but the realities of it transcend even improv. The juxtaposition between the journalist and the actor became a microcosm for the tension inherent in creating must-see television out of entrapment and public humiliation.

For Gisondo, the role took on a kind of meta quality too as he stepped out of his comfort zone and into this darker territory with Pattinson, an actor he’d long admired.

“This was so unlike anything I had ever done before that, uh, I was so nervous,” he said. “From the very beginning, there was this kind of like, you know, real sort of energy bleeding into it.”

Gisondo took the part, and what his character was going through, so seriously that he was a little caught off guard when he heard laughter in the audience (oftentimes when Dan is at his lowest) at the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

“Having more distance from it now, I see that clearly, just the contrast of how serious this subject matter is and then the outlandishness of the kind of setup of the show,” Gisondo said. “There’s something, I think, heartbreakingly kind of funny about how naive Dan is.”

It’s been a good year at the movies for Pattinson in particular, with a sleeper hit in “The Drama,” a bona fide blockbuster in “The Odyssey” and “Dune: Part Three” still to come (and this is all while he continues to film “The Batman” sequel). He’s also not letting it add to any anxiety about whether people will show up for “Primetime,” which will open in the U.K. on Oct. 30.

“My career has basically been like no one sees my movies,” Pattinson said. “My baseline is very low so everything’s a nice surprise.”

Witchet’s mother, Rhonda Churchwell, said her son was her middle child but “my heart.” She described him as a loving and funny teenager who cared deeply for his siblings and family.

• Investigators seek student video, messages after fatal shooting near Westfield High School

“He wasn’t perfect, but he was a great child,” Churchwell said. “He loved his siblings and his family. He loved football or any sport. He loved music. He was a protector, and his heart was so big.”

Churchwell said she does not know how she will move forward after losing her son.

Witchet was shot along a sidewalk near Westfield High School and the Spring ISD administration building shortly after students were dismissed Tuesday afternoon. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where he later died.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has not identified a suspect. Investigators are asking anyone with video, messages or other information connected to the shooting to contact them before sharing those materials publicly.

The sheriff’s office can be reached at 713-221-6000. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Mark Good wrote:

“Flock is no different than red light cameras — and the state outlawed those.”

So, is he right?

Not exactly.

While both technologies use cameras to capture information about vehicles, they are designed to do very different things — and Texas law treats them differently.

What did Texas ban?

In 2019, Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 1631, which prohibited local authorities from implementing or operating photographic traffic signal enforcement systems, commonly known as red light cameras.

The law also banned local authorities from issuing a civil or criminal charge or citation based on an image produced by a red-light camera system.

Some cities that already had qualifying contracts in place before May 7, 2019, were allowed to continue operating those systems until the contracts expired. The law took effect June 2, 2019.

What do red light cameras do?

Red light cameras were designed to enforce traffic laws at intersections.

The systems worked with traffic signals and captured images of vehicles that entered an intersection in violation of a red light.

The technology was tied directly to a specific traffic violation.

How are Flock cameras different?

Flock cameras are automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs.

Instead of being connected to a traffic signal to determine whether a driver ran a red light, the cameras capture information from vehicles passing by.

Flock also uses technology to create what the company describes as a vehicle “fingerprint.” That can include characteristics such as a vehicle’s make, model, color and other identifying features, including things such as bumper stickers or visible damage.

Law enforcement agencies can search that information as part of investigations.

KPRC 2 has previously reported on cases in which investigators used Flock cameras to help identify vehicles connected to crimes. In one case, police used Flock camera footage to help locate a vehicle connected to a fatal hit-and-run investigation.

So, did Texas ban Flock cameras?

No.

House Bill 1631 specifically addresses photographic traffic signal enforcement systems — the technology used for red light enforcement. It does not create a statewide ban on automatic license plate readers such as Flock.

That means Flock cameras operate under a different legal framework than the red-light cameras prohibited by HB 1631.

Why does the distinction matter?

The simplest way to think about it:

• Red light camera: Did a vehicle violate a traffic signal?
• Flock camera: Where was a particular vehicle seen, and does that information help law enforcement identify or locate a vehicle of interest?

Both technologies involve cameras capturing information about vehicles. But the purpose and use of that information are different.

And that difference is at the center of the ongoing discussion about Flock cameras — including questions about law enforcement access, privacy, surveillance and how the technology is used.

ENOUGH has also reported on allegations involving the misuse of Flock camera systems by law enforcement officers, including an investigation into a Pasadena police sergeant accused of using the system to track another officer.

Have a question for ENOUGH? Send it to us. Your question could be the next one we investigate.

Here’s a quick look at the latest news, developments and updates from across the Houston area, with the information you need to start your day.

As always, follow us for the latest on Click2Houston.com and watch us live on KPRC 2+.

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Weather ⛅

HIGH: 97° LOW: 80°

The KPRC 2 Weather Team says:

“Most of us missed out on the rain Tuesday afternoon and evening, as showers and pop storms strayed around our central counties. The continued model trend also decreases activity for Wednesday, but does maintain a few stray pop-ups.

Following the weak frontal boundary, some slightly drier air will infiltrate the region Thursday!”

➡️ More weather headlines? Check them out here

Get your forecast details here.

Houston’s Top Headlines 📰

Investigators seek student video, messages after fatal shooting near Westfield High School

Investigators are asking students and others near Westfield High School to share videos, messages or other information after a 15-year-old was fatally shot near campus shortly after dismissal. Deputies have not identified a suspect or determined a motive, and are urging people to provide potential evidence directly to authorities rather than posting it publicly.

Galveston ISD could take action Wednesday in Ten Commandments lawsuit filed by Ken Paxton

Galveston ISD trustees could decide their next legal move Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the district’s refusal to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The meeting agenda does not specify what action may be taken, but any decision following a closed legal discussion would have to happen in public.

Illegal dumping site in North Harris County finally cleaned up months after being exposed by 2 Helps You

A North Harris County lot that had become an illegal dumping site is finally clean months after 2 Helps You highlighted the problem. The county health department removed furniture, mattresses and other debris from the property along North Antoine Drive last week.

419 Emancipation: Early results and neighborhood concerns

Houston’s 419 Emancipation Center has helped 124 people move into permanent housing during its first several months, but city data shows 147 others left without a documented housing placement. The facility is at capacity, and nearby residents and business owners say they want more police presence and action on concerns around parks, trails, litter and nearby businesses.

KPRC 2’s new show ENOUGH at 10 p.m.

KPRC 2’s new show, ENOUGH, airs Sunday through Thursday at 10 p.m. ENOUGH is a new commitment to accountability journalism — digging deeper into the issues affecting Houstonians and pushing for answers about what’s working, what isn’t, and what happens next. Here’s what you missed if you did not catch the latest episodes:

• CenterPoint rates, profits and power outages: What Houston-area customers are paying for

Welcome Leigha McNeil!

Please join us in welcoming Emmy Award-winning journalist Leigha McNeil to the KPRC 2 morning team. A Houston newcomer from WWL-TV in New Orleans, Leigha will help you navigate your morning commute as a traffic anchor and reporter.

➡️ Read more about Leigha here!

What’s trending in Houston?

You can catch up on what’s trending in Houston and across the internet during the KPRC 8 a.m. stream.

We’ll bring you the latest happenings around Space City, along with the biggest stories and conversations making waves online. Make sure you tune in!

Here are some of this week’s trending stories:

• How Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ became the longest-running No. 1 hit of all time
• Hayden Panettiere died from an overdose involving fentanyl. She had just gone to rehab, coroner says

Things 2 Know 💡

Houston Rockets announce full slate of season theme nights, giveaways and fan experiences for new season

Houston may start mailing parking tickets, and not everyone is happy about it

Pasadena ISD employees speak out at board meeting after district scraps controversial healthcare proposal

In case you missed it... 👀

• Deadline to register to vote fast approaching
• Harris County leaders urge Texans to check if voter registration is on ‘suspense’ list
• Mystery Solved: Abandoned vehicle finally removed from Sugar Land parking lot after 4 years of neglect

High School Football is Back

Are you ready for some football? How about Houston’s Friday Football Frenzy on KPRC 2? We are back for our 21st season of bringing viewers the most comprehensive high school football coverage in Greater Houston.

Buckle up because it’s that time again for all levels across Texas starting this weekend!

The journey to a state championship is a difficult road that navigates through pre-district, district and the marathon postseason that goes to 16 weeks in Texas for teams to reach Arlington’s AT&T Stadium to play for a coveted title just before the holidays.

Enjoy the season and make sure to tune in for the Friday Football Frenzy on KPRC 2, KPRC 2 YouTube, and Click2Houston.com‘s Frenzy page!

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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!

The poll of more than 2,000 rural registered voters found that costs of groceries, gas and healthcare are among the top pain points for rural voters. They are also more likely than voters overall to say they are worried about being able to afford groceries or gas.

Rural Americans skew Republican and historically have been an instrumental voting bloc for Trump. The findings suggest that many rural voters haven’t turned against Trump but that they also largely don’t think he has delivered on his economic promises. While rural voters seem unlikely to support Democrats on a large scale, Trump and the Republican Party could face challenges with them in November.

The full story can be read here. Here are the takeaways:

Most rural voters disapprove of Trump on the economy

As the election approaches, only about 4 in 10 rural voters surveyed approve of Trump’s performance on the economy. Roughly 6 in 10 disapprove.

They rate him similarly on his handling of the Iran war, an entanglement that has proved expensive for the U.S. and increased oil and gas prices. And rural voters rank pocketbook concerns and fraud in government programs higher among the things they want to hear about from politicians than other perennial issues, such as gun policy and abortion policy.

In the poll, about three-quarters of rural voters rated the cost of living in their communities as “only fair” or “poor.”

Rural Americans, who have consistently lower wages than those who live in suburban and metro areas, have been hurting economically for decades, according to Tim Slack, a professor of sociology at Louisiana State University and co-author of the book “Rural and Small-Town America.”

“Many folks are connecting the cost-of-living crisis to many of the Trump administration’s policy choices: the war in Iran, tariffs, trade wars,” he said. “None of those things are going to bring down prices at the pump or the local Walmart.”

Rural Republicans have a rosier view of Trump

At the same time, about half of rural voters approve of Trump’s job performance, more than among U.S. adults overall in separate AP-NORC polling.

Rural Republicans do have a brighter economic perspective than rural Democrats or independents, particularly about the U.S. as a whole, according to the survey. About 6 in 10 rural Republican voters say Trump has improved the national economy, compared with roughly 2 in 10 independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Democrats.

But only 45% of rural Republican voters say Trump has made their local economies better off. About 1 in 4 say there are fewer good-paying jobs where they live than five years ago.

Trump's healthcare policies go unnoticed

The AP-KFF poll found that rural voters overall don’t perceive much positive impact from the Trump administration’s healthcare policies even as they have been a top priority for Republican leaders, who have promoted efforts to lower drug costs and touted a $50 billion rural health program.

Only 17% of the voters said the Trump administration’s healthcare policies have had a “positive impact” on their healthcare costs, while 41% said they’ve had “no impact” and another 41% said they’ve had a “negative impact.”

A year after the passage of the Rural Health Transformation Program, more than 8 in 10 rural voters said they’d heard either “a little” or “nothing at all” about the health fund. About 6 in 10 said they had heard nothing, according to the survey.

Rural Republican voters still trust the GOP more

When asked which political party they trusted to do a better job of handling issues such as the cost of healthcare or the cost of living, rural voters tended to side with their own party.

The finding signals that Democratic candidates are more likely to benefit from rural Republicans staying home this November than from them voting across party lines in large numbers.

Rural Republicans are more ambivalent about their party’s ability to handle key healthcare issues, compared with Democrats. About 8 in 10 Democratic voters say they trust the Democrats to address healthcare costs, while closer to 6 in 10 Republican voters say the same of the Republicans.

Many rural voters don't feel respected by Trump or the parties

Trump's approval among rural voters, while higher than among U.S. adults overall, is down slightly, from 56% approval in a similar question asked in a 2017 KFF-Washington Post survey.

Many rural voters also don’t think the major parties or the president respect people like them.

About half, 48%, of rural voters say the GOP respects people like them “a lot” or “some,” while 45% of rural voters say this about Trump and 37% say this about the Democratic Party.

This year’s competitive elections feature key Senate races in states including Ohio, Michigan and Maine, all of which have large rural populations. In close races, Democrats may have a chance to “show up and give a message that rural people might find appealing,” said Nicholas Jacobs, a political scientist at Colby College and co-author of the book “The Rural Voter.”

“But it’s nothing more and it’s nothing less than that — an opportunity,” Jacobs said. “And time and time again, Democrats have shown a certain proclivity for not seizing that opportunity.”

___

The poll of 2,241 U.S. adults registered to vote in rural areas of the country was conducted Aug. 12-24, 2026, using a sample drawn from the probability-based SSRS Opinion Panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In collaboration with the AP, KFF researchers worked to design the survey sample and questionnaire, analyze and report findings.

___

This report is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

• Westfield High School student dies after being shot near campus

The shooting happened along a sidewalk near Westfield High School and the Spring ISD administration building. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez stressed the shooting did not happen inside the school.

The teenager was taken to a hospital in critical condition, where he later died.

Investigators said they believe the 15-year-old attended Westfield High School, although they had not definitively confirmed that during a Tuesday afternoon briefing.

The person who shot him had not been identified.

What happened after school let out?

Investigators are focusing on a small window of time immediately after dismissal.

Westfield High School let out around 2:25 p.m.

Gonzalez said calls about the shooting started coming in around 2:35 to 2:40 p.m. Spring ISD received calls, and a Harris County sheriff’s deputy driving through the area was flagged down and told something had happened.

The deputy did not appear to have witnessed the shooting.

Investigators have not said how many shots were fired.

What happened before the shooting is still unclear

Deputies are still trying to determine what happened in the minutes between dismissal and the shooting.

Gonzalez initially said investigators believed some type of interaction occurred between the 15-year-old and at least one other male. Later in the briefing, he cautioned against characterizing what happened before investigators know more.

• Galveston ISD could take action Wednesday in Ten Commandments lawsuit filed by Ken Paxton

“We don’t even know if it’s an encounter,” Gonzalez said. “I wanna be very careful because I don’t wanna get ahead of the investigation.”

Investigators have not established a motive or explained whether the victim and shooter knew one another.

They also do not know how many people were around when the shooting happened.

“We don’t know if it was just them two or there was a crowd of people,” Gonzalez said.

Is the shooter another student?

That is another question investigators have not answered.

Gonzalez said the location makes that a possibility, but investigators have not confirmed the shooter’s age or any connection to Westfield High School.

Deputies also had not released a name or physical description of the person they were searching for during the briefing.

When Gonzalez was asked about initial dispatch information suggesting the shooter was wearing a ski mask, he said he had not received information confirming a description.

Investigators said they would release one if detectives developed credible information.

Deputies ask students for video, messages and information

Investigators believe people who were around Westfield when school let out may have information that helps them piece together what happened.

Gonzalez specifically asked students and others with information, video or messages about the shooting to contact investigators before sharing those materials publicly.

Deputies said they want to preserve potential evidence and protect the victim’s family as the investigation continues.

Gonzalez also had a message for anyone connected to the person responsible.

“We have a lot of personnel out here that’s actively trying to identify who the possible shooter is,” Gonzalez said. “We’re happy to figure this out and find a safe surrender type situation. But this needs to happen quickly because we’re actively looking for this person.”

What happens when students return?

Students are expected to return to Westfield High School Wednesday as the investigation continues.

Gonzalez said the Harris County Sheriff’s Office would work with Spring ISD police to provide additional resources around the campus.

• Pasadena ISD employees speak out at board meeting after district scraps controversial healthcare proposal

He said students and parents should expect a stronger law enforcement presence at Westfield and in the surrounding area for the next several days.

Authorities said they did not believe there was an active threat to the broader community during Tuesday’s briefing, but deputies were continuing to search for the person responsible.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Spring ISD Police Department and Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office were among the agencies involved in the response and search.

How to share information with investigators

Anyone with information about the shooting, including students who recorded video or have messages connected to what happened, is being asked to contact investigators.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at 713-221-6000.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted through Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

The runway, bathed in red light, set the stage for a provocative show. That was driven home midway when Diesel models planted in the stands began moaning in sexual revelry from their seats, alone, in pairs and threesomes, to the soundtrack “Love to Love You Baby.”

“Every season we try to do something unexpected. This one was a bit more … experimental,” Martens said backstage. “I think the whole celebration of being body positive and loving each other is part of the Diesel DNA.”

The collection featured knitwear that appeared to disintegrate into denim and leather, part of the brand’s trademark textile innovation. Martens employed trompe l’oeil — an artistic technique that gives a three-dimensional appearance to a flat surface — to create the illusion of luxe shearling and leather. Shorts became gradually shorter until the final look was little more than a strip of fabric across the bum.

Laser-cut T-shirts looked as if they were falling apart and had simply been thrown on during a morning-after “walk of shame,” an impression reinforced by smudged lipstick.

In the seats, writhing turned to headbanging for the runway finale, and Martens received a standing ovation. He leaves Diesel, which he joined in 2020, but stays on at parent company OTB’s Maison Margiela, the avant-garde Paris couture house.

At Diesel, “we never pretended to be a luxury brand, even though we were on during fashion week,” Martens said. “We also wanted to do more alternative things, and think about the community. I think that’s what I try to celebrate, but also with respect for the clothes."

A diagnosis of a rare, aggressive form of cancer had forced her into retirement after three decades of working with homeless youth. As the disease quickly spread through her body, she felt “like a walking time bomb.” But she found a new purpose, becoming a public face of a movement in favor of life-ending options.

She shared her story publicly and traveled from her home near Chicago to Springfield, the state capital, to convince lawmakers it was vital to legalize medically assisted death.

The day came on Sept. 12. She celebrated at home with friends and family as “Deb’s law,” named after her, took effect. Illinois became the first Midwestern state and the 13th state overall (plus the District of Columbia) to authorize the option.

“I believe that God gave me this extra time so that I could see this law through,” said Robertson, 68. “I believe that people have the right to leave this Earth with dignity and on their own terms.”

In recent years, the practice of allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives with medication has been legalized in several countries, with many more considering it. In the U.S., New York and Illinois recently became the latest states to join an accelerating pace of such legislation.

The issue remains bitterly contested

Opponents, including many religious groups, lawmakers and disability advocates, have moral objections to someone ending their life. Even with safeguards in place, some argue, the decision could be made for the wrong reasons.

“It puts people like myself — people with developmental and mental disabilities, as well as physical disabilities — in danger,” said Ebony Payne, a Chicago-based disability advocate who is quadriplegic. She was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against “Deb’s law,″ contending it discriminates against people with disabilities.

Even Pope Leo XIV weighed in, urging Gov. JB Pritzker not to sign the bill. Leo later said he was “very disappointed” that his home state of Illinois approved a law condemned by the Catholic Church. Polls show that most Americans think medical aid in dying is either morally acceptable or not a moral issue, although opinions vary across different faiths and political lines.

Dr. Jessica Kaan, medical director for End of Life Washington, an advocacy group, has helped hundreds of patients in Washington and Oregon with assisted dying.

Her mother, a practicing Christian, opposes it on religious grounds: “She’s horrified that I’m involved in any way.”

Kaan says she’s an advocate for choices. Her perspective is shaped by the types of deaths she has witnessed.

Among them are patients with ALS, a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells controlling muscles throughout the body. “It’s a particularly gruesome and awful way for most people to even anticipate their dying,” she said about a disease that takes away the body’s ability to move and speak.

For many terminally ill patients, she said, having the option gives them a sense of comfort, even if they eventually might not use it.

“I respect that people don’t want to choose that as an option for themselves. What I don’t love is for people trying to police that for other people.”

How a California man prepared to die

Peter Redgrove of San Diego, a late-stage bone marrow cancer and leukemia patient, used California’s assisted-dying law on Sunday. After 19 rounds of chemotherapy, he decided to set the terms of his death following a long, pain-wracked hospital stay.

“I see no point in enduring pain and suffering emotionally, psychologically and physically, when there are means to end it,” said Redgrove, 85, days before he took the lethal prescription cocktail in a cup emblazoned with Sylvester, his favorite character from the Looney Tunes. “I don’t think you get extra points for hanging in to the bitter end.”

Redgrove grew up in Catholic orphanages in England before moving to the U.S. Although he was no longer a practicing Catholic, he remained close to his faith, often wearing a crucifix he only gave away right before his death.

“An all-loving God is not going to punish me and throw me into a fire pit because I’m doing this,” Redgrove said in his room at a residential facility, where he spent his last days listening to classical music and reminding people to be kind.

With a death doula’s help, he invited loved ones to a celebration of his life that included Champagne, a shroud to wrap his body in his favorite royal purple and a final song: “Time” by The Alan Parsons Project.

Before he took his last breath, he read a Buddhist prayer.

State by state, the movement has spread

Oregon was the first U.S. state to pass a medical aid-in-dying law; it took effect in 1997.

As other states followed suit, what remains generally consistent is that to use the laws, one must have an incurable illness and less than six months to live, said Thaddeus Pope, a bioethicist at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. To qualify, one must also be able to understand and make a voluntary decision and be able to take the prescribed medications without assistance.

The latest states to legalize medical aid in dying are among the most populous: New York, where it took effect in August, and Illinois earlier this month. Today, nearly 1/3 of Americans live in a state where that end-of-life option is legal — though the practice remains uncommon in the U.S., accounting for roughly 15,000 deaths since the Oregon law went into effect in 1997.

“We actually have a pretty significant track record now: 30 years in Oregon, 18 years in Washington, 10 years in California. … That’s a lot of experience,” Pope said.

Peg Sandeen, chief executive officer of the Death with Dignity National Center, a nonprofit advocacy group, said there’s clear evidence that the safeguards work. “Police are not chasing after cases where there’s been coercion. We don’t have physicians losing their license to practice. That’s not happening.”

Some faith traditions continue to condemn assisted dying — sometimes called assisted suicide. Illinois pastor Andy Huette, who leads a nondenominational church in Gridley, urged Christians to reject Deb’s law, calling it “legislating darkness.” He has supported congregants with ALS, cancer and other chronic illnesses, and understands the desire to reduce suffering, but he also believes in its “redemptive purposes.”

Others have changed positions. Rabbi Dvora E. Weisberg served on a Reform committee that spent more than two years interpreting Jewish texts and talking to doctors and families to draft a paper on medically assisted dying that reverses earlier guidance. The paper argued that Jewish law must respond to modern medicine’s ability to prolong dying and to new knowledge about pain.

“We take this very, very seriously even though we know that any Reform Jew can disagree with us. We’re not the Vatican, we don’t have that kind of power,” said Weisberg, a professor of Rabbinics at Hebrew Union College.

“But the response that we’ve gotten from people who have read it has been very positive in the sense that they feel that now they have something to think about that can help them.”

Opposition from religious and disability groups remains firm

Before Deb’s law went into effect, a judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by Ebony Payne and disability groups that aimed to block the law, saying that they had not proved standing or imminent harm.

In her Chicago home, Payne used a mouth-operated stylus to look at the ruling on her phone while lying in a reclining medical care chair. “I’m very disappointed,” she said. “My hope is that the law will be taken off the books.”

The six Catholic dioceses in Illinois criticized the law, saying it puts the state “on a dangerous and heartbreaking path.” The pope, who grew up in Chicago, has cited Catholic teaching, which calls for the protection of life from conception until natural death, forbidding abortion and euthanasia.

Chicago’s archbishop, Cardinal Blase Cupich, and Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki challenged “Deb’s law” in separate lawsuits and won limited protections without blocking the law from being enacted.

“We live in a state now where suicide is now normalized, and yet we still have a suicide hotline. There seems to be a bit of schizophrenia here,” Cupich told The Associated Press.

In the days before the law took effect, a judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law on Catholic groups that challenged it in a lawsuit. They had argued the law could compel Catholic healthcare providers to refer or provide help against their faith in what they believe is assisted suicide.

“They always give it a euphemistic name: This is the End of Life Options Act. But it’s really just physician-assisted suicide, which is very problematic,” Paprocki said. “We believe that God is the author of life. … We shouldn’t be the ones deciding when to end our lives.”

Assisted dying vs. assisted suicide

Advocates, doctors and academics involved with the procedure say none of the medically assisted dying laws in the U.S. define the practice as assisted suicide. They note the American Association of Suicidology has declared that “suicide and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) are conceptually, medically, and legally different phenomena.”

Equating assisted dying with suicide is not only antiquated or misleading, but harmful, said Anita Hannig, a cultural anthropologist and author of “The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America.”

“In no way would I describe any of the deaths I attended as suicide,” said Hannig, who spent five years following patients, families and doctors while researching her book.

Terminally ill patients who have sought this type of legislation insist they’re not suicidal.

“It really bothers me because I want to live, I don’t want to die. But I’m going to. I have to accept that, my wife has to accept that, my family has to accept that,” Robertson said in Lombard, Illinois, where she lives with her wife, Kate. They’ve known each other for 45 years; framed images of their wedding and other milestones decorate their home.

They recently walked hand in hand to a park where they plan to plant a tree that will grow next to Deb’s ashes.

Enactment of the new law “really makes me feel safe and peaceful,″ Robertson said. “Each day that I go out there, I know that I’m going to have the choice at the end of my life to go out the way I want.”

“I didn’t choose to have this disease, but give me the choice — and other people who are terminally ill, the choice to have some control over their life.”

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Associated Press video journalists Laura Bargfeld and Javier Arciga contributed to this report.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

We’re examining how these takeovers — and the reforms implemented by appointed superintendents and board managers  — are affecting the educational experience of thousands of children and families in some of Texas’ largest districts.

Since 2023, seven districts, including Fort Worth and Houston, have had Texas education Commissioner Mike Morath replace their leaders. Austin ISD now faces a potential takeover as well after two campuses received five years of consecutive failing accountability ratings from the state.

Whether you’re a parent with questions about your district’s future or a teacher who has seen the environment on your campus change after a takeover, we want to hear from you. Fill out the form below to help us continue our reporting.

Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey broke into a neighbor’s home in Edna with LeJames Norman in 2005 intending to steal cocaine before encountering the residents, according to court records. Celso Lopez was inside the home at the time of the break-in and was fatally shot. Tiffani Peacock and Sam Roberts arrived later and were killed by Ramey and Norman, who then fled the scene.

Ramey was convicted in 2007 after several witnesses, including his girlfriend, testified that he had admitted to the killings. Ramey’s girlfriend helped police recover the two guns used in the murders. Norman, who was executed Sept. 16, also testified against Ramey during his trial.

Ramey has had two unsuccessful appeals at the Supreme Court, and a new appeal filed Sept. 10 with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals was rejected on Monday.

Ramey’s appeals primarily focused on allegations that the almost all-white jury that sentenced him to death was “infected with racial bias,” and that he received ineffective counsel from his lawyer, who was a full-time dentist and was not experienced in capital punishment trials. Ramey will be the sixth man put to death in Texas this year if his execution is carried out. Three more men are scheduled to be executed through the end of the year.

If the remaining executions are carried out, it will be the most executions in Texas in a single year this decade, after a decline in executions and new death sentences.

KPRC 2 is welcoming Emmy Award-winning journalist Leigha McNeil to the team as a traffic anchor and reporter, bringing her experience in morning news, breaking news and community reporting to Greater Houston.

McNeil joins KPRC 2 from WWL-TV in New Orleans, where she served as a morning reporter and traffic anchor.

And in Houston, traffic is a big job.

Across a region as large and fast-growing as Greater Houston, a crash, construction project, road closure or severe weather can quickly change the morning commute. McNeil will help KPRC 2 viewers navigate those challenges with timely information they can use before they leave home and while they’re on the road.

“Houston is a community full of people who are always on the go, having the right information at the right time can make a real difference,” said McNeil. “I’m so excited to join the KPRC 2 team, connect with viewers every morning, and be someone they can count on for details on the morning drive while telling the stories that matter in our community.”

An Emmy Award-winning journalist

McNeil began her broadcast career while attending the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism with a minor in English.

She started as a production assistant before advancing to weekend anchor and multimedia journalist. McNeil later worked as a weekend anchor and multimedia journalist in Waco, Texas, where her reporting included coverage of the murder of Vanessa Guillén.

She also co-created the Emmy-winning Black History Month special Uncovering Our History.

In 2022, McNeil joined WWL-TV as a morning reporter and later became a traffic anchor and reporter, covering breaking news and community stories while helping viewers start their mornings informed.

Serving Houston every morning

At KPRC 2, McNeil will bring that same audience-first approach to Houston, helping viewers understand not only what’s happening on the roads, but how it could impact their day.

“Our audience is at the center of everything we do, and that means understanding what Houstonians need from us throughout their day,” said Taylor Berry, Manager of Content and Coverage. “Traffic is one of those immediate, everyday needs. Leigha brings the experience and journalistic instincts to help us provide information viewers can actually use.”

McNeil is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

Look for Leigha on KPRC 2 mornings and be sure to give her a warm Houston welcome!

A few hundred feet away, a drone port, run by the U.S. Secret Service and not the military, is already quietly operational. Equipped with cameras and sensors to scope out potential threats from a bird’s-eye view, the small UAVs stand on alert in four gray weatherproof boxes until deployed at officers' commands.

The agency is using a model known as “drone as first responder,” deploying speedy unarmed drones from outdoor stations to serve as flying cameras. That model has been adopted by hundreds of police agencies across the U.S., often powered by AI software to help dodge obstacles or track targets.

The existence of the surveillance drones on a Treasury Department building adjacent to the White House complex has not been previously reported, and could undercut Trump's legal claims that the ballroom construction is necessary “to protect the White House and surrounding region from aerial attacks.” The need for the drone port underpinned Trump's national security defense for the construction project — a justification he is now citing for the construction of a massive arch outside the gates of Arlington National Cemetery.

The installation is thus far markedly less imposing than the vision outlined by Trump, with its rows of futuristic attack drones, apparently modeled after those used in U.S. military strikes, that drone experts describe as outlandish.

“To be honest, if a drone was so close to the White House that it needed interdiction, it’s already gotten too far,” said Matt Sloane, co-founder of SkyfireAI, which makes software for drones used by public safety agencies.

It would be more realistic for the White House to build something akin to what the Secret Service is using next door, Sloane said: “The drone takes off and does some type of perimeter sweep or whatever, and then puts itself back in the box.”

The White House did not comment for the story. The Secret Service declined to comment on the specifics of its drone operations but said the new docks are separate from Trump's ballroom drone port.

The details of Trump’s ballroom drone port remain murky

Security of the president and the White House complex is generally the domain of the Secret Service, which works in close concert with the White House Military Office and other military elements when needed.

Trump has said the drone port came at the request of U.S. military officials. Speaking to reporters in May, he said the building’s plans were expanded to meet the request: “They wanted more drone capacity,” he said. On social media, he boasted that the drone port might end up being the “most sophisticated” in the world.

What Trump is ultimately aiming to build, and how far it goes beyond what has already been installed, remains unclear. Beyond Trump’s AI images, some of which he filed in his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to lift lower courts' blocks on the construction, the White House has not disclosed what kinds of drones will be used or for what tactical purpose.

The Secret Service is using smaller surveillance drones that are a fraction of the size of the attack drones depicted in Trump’s AI images. The U.S. Air Force bought similar drones from Skydio in April to protect bases across the Middle East. The company also supplied drones to help protect World Cup matches this year.

The Secret Service has been building out its drone- and counter-drone programs for years. But work has accelerated since the 2024 attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when the agency failed both to take action against a drone used by the shooter to scout out the attack and to fly one of its own to provide overwatch of the event.

In the weeks that followed, tethered and untethered surveillance drones became commonplace at campaign rallies and large events at the White House complex.

In an online video released by the agency highlighting their deployment, the Secret Service said the Skydio drones are used to provide “real-time situational awareness” and “aerial overwatch."

“It allows you to see the threat before it becomes an issue, and to task assets accordingly,” Dustin Talbott, of the Secret Service’s Aviation and Airspace Security Division, said in the video. “We no longer wait for the threat to reveal itself. We find it first.”

Skydio did not provide comment for this story.

Trump's drone port vision would face logistical hurdles

Trump has made it a priority to build a stronger drone presence around the White House, responding to an increase in political violence and the evolution of drone warfare.

Paul Eckloff, a former supervisor of the Secret Service’s presidential protection division, said the Russia-Ukraine war has highlighted the risks posed by drones, even off-the-shelf models that can cause massive damage. Drones now represent one of the largest emerging threats the White House must defend against, he said.

During Trump’s first term, conversations about drones often centered on their use in places like Iraq and Syria, said Javed Ali, who served on the National Security Council during that time and now teaches national security at the University of Michigan. Since then, it has become a matter of domestic security, he said.

Yet there would be major logistical hurdles involved in putting a busy drone port on top of the White House, he said. “There’s a whole host of questions, like who is responsible for overseeing it, and how would there be any de-confliction with commercial airspace?” he said.

Complexities around federal oversight were laid bare this year when the U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a drone near El Paso, Texas, only to find it belonged to Customs and Border Protection. The mishap briefly led the FAA to close nearby airspace.

A drone hub at the White House would navigate crowded and complex airspace around Washington, not far from Reagan Washington National Airport and flight paths shared by other military aircraft.

Opponents say the White House is becoming a fortress

Trump started talking about the drone port in May, weeks after a federal judge halted ballroom construction but allowed work on security components to continue. Trump later went on to refer to the ballroom as a “military complex,” leaning on that security role as a legal justification.

The Supreme Court in August cleared Trump to continue construction as the legal challenge moves ahead.

Opponents say the president is going too far in his hardening of the White House, turning it into something closer to a fortress. Edward Lengel, a former chief historian for the White House Historical Association, said Trump has militarized the White House at a scale that’s at odds with its legacy as “the people’s house.”

“It turns it into a big giant porcupine that has its spines pointing out against the people and against the world,” Lengel said.

Trump has argued that the White House was in “very bad condition” when he returned to office, saying it had become vulnerable to modern threats.

At times, he has expressed concerns about his own safety and the risks posed by drones and other air threats. Speaking at a Rose Garden dinner for law enforcement officials in May, Trump quickly glanced up from the lectern as a low bird flew overhead.

“I thought that was a drone,” Trump said, bringing laughs from the crowd. “They make them in all different sizes nowadays — they can be very destructive, as you’ve probably heard."

Now, he's got a three-year deal in the dugout to produce better days ahead.

In a surprising change of direction, Green went from interim Mets manager to full-time skipper Tuesday when the club gave him a three-year contract. New York made the announcement before starting its final road trip of the season against the Texas Rangers.

“I think Andy is the perfect person for this job,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said at a pregame news conference in Arlington, Texas.

“I think Andy brings to us an ability to connect the organization in ways that very few people could. He allows us to connect front office to dugout. He allows us to connect minor league to major league, and he provides us a level of continuity that we need right now, and a level of stability and belief.”

Green, who managed the San Diego Padres from 2016-19, had been running New York's farm system before taking over as interim manager when Carlos Mendoza was fired in late June. At the time, Green said he wasn't particularly interested in becoming a manager again, citing the desire to keep spending time with his three daughters and saying he viewed his interim role on the bench as more of a responsibility to the club than a personal opportunity.

“At the outset, I wasn’t even entertaining that idea whatsoever,” Green said.

Stearns said Green would return to a front-office role after the season, a stance the executive stuck to even as the last-place Mets (72-85) improved their play on the field and several rookies who rose through the minors under Green such as Carson Benge and Nolan McLean flourished in the big leagues as well.

“Andy has connected with and pushed our players to perform, despite the disappointment of the season,” Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen said in a statement. “Over the last several months he has brought discipline, accountability and positivity to the clubhouse, attributes we were seeking in our next manager.”

And even as the struggling Mets unloaded a bevy of veteran pitchers leading up to the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Green found himself enjoying the steep challenges of his job on the bench and in the clubhouse.

“It was a tough time. It was trade deadline, we weren’t necessarily winning baseball games. There was a lot of conversations that had to be had with players to help walk them through difficult chapters," Green said. "And I started thinking, if I have such a passion for the hard times, I’m looking forward to the good times.”

After he talked things over with his family, Green's wife and teenage daughters encouraged him to pursue managing full-time again if the opportunity arose.

“As time went on, it was just an overwhelming sense of joy and purpose being in the dugout and belief that something within me can help,” Green said. “So it became pretty obvious as time went on.”

Stearns said Green called him during the first week of September and let him know “his passions had changed,” and they were now in the dugout as manager.

“So that got my head spinning a little bit. I digested that over the course of the last couple of weeks. Andy and I have had a number of conversations,” Stearns said.

In the end, the Mets committed to Green and chose not to conduct a full search for a new manager this offseason as Stearns had said they would.

“I think it’s a wise decision, a good decision, and I’m looking forward to the next couple of years,” star shortstop Francisco Lindor said. "He’s made a good impact in the clubhouse.”

“Over the course of the season, it became evident that the next manager of the New York Mets was already in place,” Stearns said in a statement.

Coming into the season, the Mets had lofty expectations for a franchise without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball’s highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.

But the Mets underperformed early and were beset by injuries to Lindor, Juan Soto and others. They were 34-47 at the midpoint of the season when Mendoza was fired on June 26. The team is 38-38 since Green took over following Tuesday night's 6-3 victory over Texas.

“The last three months I think there’s been progress,” he said before the game. “We’ve got more to do.”

The 49-year-old Green, a former major league infielder, went 274-366 as Padres manager and finished with a losing record in all four seasons. Then he spent four seasons as a bench coach with the Chicago Cubs before joining the Mets in 2023 and serving as senior vice president of baseball development.

Now, he becomes the 26th manager in franchise history.

“Certainly when I came down here three months ago, didn’t anticipate this day at all. Wasn’t anything that I was thinking could happen," Green said.

“I think it’s just an indication of where my family has pivoted over the last three months. They’ve seen my passion rise and I think above anything else, it’s right to acknowledge the players in that clubhouse because they’ve rekindled in me a love that I had for being in the dugout."

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AP Baseball Writer Stephen Hawkins in Arlington, Texas, contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Houston snapped a three-game skid and tied the Rangers at 78-79 following their 6-3 loss to the New York Mets at home. Both teams have five games remaining, and the Astros hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Seattle (73-84) is on the brink of playoff elimination, one season after winning the AL West for the first time in 24 years and coming within one victory of the franchise's first World Series appearance.

Alvarez hit a two-run drive to right field in the eighth inning to tie Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League lead with 41 homers. Alvarez is first in batting average at .314 and he has 102 RBIs, six behind Baltimore Orioles slugger Pete Alonso for most in the AL.

Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers in 2012 was the most recent hitter to win a Triple Crown by leading his league in all three of those statistical categories.

Alvarez hit an RBI single in the first to reach 100 RBIs for the second time in his career. Christian Walker belted a three-run homer to make it 4-0 in the third, and Isaac Paredes added a solo shot in the sixth.

It was the 200th home run of Walker's career and his 26th this season.

Cam Smith snapped an 0-for-26 skid with a double.

Houston starter Cristian Javier was removed after two innings with right groin tightness. He threw 45 pitches. Miguel Ullola (1-0) followed with two innings of one-hit ball for his first major league win.

Bennett Sousa, AJ Blubaugh and Logan VanWey completed the four-hitter.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert (12-11) lasted only four innings, yielding four runs on 10 hits — the most hits he's allowed in a game this season.

Up next

Rookie right-hander Ethan Pecko (1-0, 3.77 ERA) makes his fifth major league start Wednesday for Houston against Seattle RHP George Kirby (9-11, 4.24).

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This story has been corrected to show that Alvarez homered in the eighth inning.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

He still has plenty of work to do this week.

The AL MVP front-runner went 2 for 4 with his 41st home run and three RBIs in the Astros' 7-0 win over the Seattle Mariners. Alvarez hit an RBI single in the first inning, was intentionally walked in the second and then belted a 386-foot homer in the eighth with a 109.5 mph exit velocity.

“At this point, I keep wondering why guys are pitching to him,” Houston first baseman Christian Walker said. “He just seems to come through in every moment. He's dangerous at the plate right now.”

Alvarez, who is quiet and shows little emotion, orchestrated a team meeting after the Astros (78-79) were swept by Atlanta on Sunday, squandering their lead in the AL West. His performance on Tuesday was much-needed to put Houston in a tie with the Texas Rangers atop the division with five games left this season.

“He's been backing it up all year,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.

Alvarez's two-run shot to right field tied him with Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League lead with 41 homers. Alvarez is first in batting average at .314 — five points ahead of Tampa Bay's Chandler Simpson — and he has 102 RBIs, six behind Baltimore Orioles slugger Pete Alonso for most in the AL.

Alonso drove in three runs with two homers Monday against Toronto, but the teams were rained out Tuesday in Baltimore because of bad weather. They are scheduled to play a split doubleheader Wednesday.

Alvarez has six homers since Aug. 1, and the 29-year-old designated hitter has eight RBIs over 17 games in September. He'll need more to become baseball’s first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

Alvarez leads the AL in slugging percentage (.601), OPS (1.032), total bases (329) and walks (106). Logan Gilbert intentionally walked Alvarez in the second inning Tuesday, which was the 33rd time for Alvarez this season, already a franchise record.

It’s been a historic season for the four-time All-Star after he was limited to 48 games in 2025 because of a broken hand and an ankle injury.

If he wins the AL MVP award, the Cuban slugger will join Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers as the only players to win an MVP award while primarily serving as a designated hitter. Othani was close to winning a Triple Crown in 2024 after leading the NL in homers (50) and RBIs (130), but his .310 average fell just short to Luis Arráez’s .314.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“I have traveled far,” David Adeang said Tuesday at the United Nations.

What was known to the world for many years as Nauru, Adeang said, was returning to the name and pronunciation of its past: Naoero.

“There are moments in the life of a nation when its people are called to remember who they have always been,” Adeang said in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “This is such a moment for us.”

Though the names are similar and, in essence, the same word, the shift in spelling and pronunciation represents the nation's effort to recast — rebrand, even — itself for its own people as much as for the outside world. He called it not a change but an effort to “affirm a truth.”

“For many years, the world has known our country as Nauru. Nauru is how our name sounded to those who found it hard to say, and the world kept it,” Adeang said. “But it is not the name our people used among themselves.”

The nation, an eight-square-mile island with about 12,000 people, became independent in 1968 after longtime colonial rule under the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Germany. It announced the renaming in August after signaling its intent in February.

The country’s international code is changing from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero.

Across the past century, other nations have renamed themselves or tweaked their names for various reasons, from modernization to rejection of colonialism.

The African nation of Eswatini changed its name from Swaziland in 2018. In Africa, Dahomey became Benin after a 1975 coup and Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980 after shedding colonial rule. Siam became Thailand in 1939 to foster ethnic unity and shed a foreign label.

Turkey, meanwhile, has been officially named Turkiye since 1920 but requested in 2022 that the United Nations use the spelling and pronunciation as its name in English as well — in part to avoid confusion by underscoring that the bird wasn't the word.

The list goes on. Persia became Iran. Burma became Myanmar. Upper Volta is now Burkina Faso, Gold Coast is Ghana and Ceylon is Sri Lanka.

A name, obviously, is a pivotal and intimate expression of a nation's identity on any stage, domestic or international. Adeang's remarks Tuesday reflected this as he carefully pronounced the name to differentiate it from its former pronunciation.

“We do not make this choice to erase our past. We make it because we honor it,” he said. “That name carries the memory of our ancestors, our language, and our identity. It has been there all along. Never lost, never absent. Today, we restore Naoero.”

And then, after completing his address about the issues that face his people — rising seas, economics, respect on the global stage — he concluded his address with three words:

“Say our name.”

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Ted Anthony has written about international affairs for The Associated Press since 1995.

The signing on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York comes days after Trump announced the deal to bolster the U.S. military presence on Greenland but keep it under Danish control. The agreement would still apply if Greenland eventually chooses independence.

“This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody,” Trump said just before the agreement was signed. “And for Greenland, it's going to be incredible.”

Trump has expressed his desire to acquire Greenland since as long ago as 2019 and, during his second term, issued threats to seize the semiautonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally. On Tuesday, he did not respond to questions about whether a U.S. acquisition of Greenland was off the table.

The US has had a presence in Greenland for decades

Officials from the U.S., Greenland and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the mineral-rich island.

Trump's designs on Greenland strained relations within NATO, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the Atlantic alliance.

The standoff unsettled many of Greenland's roughly 56,000 people and drove a wedge between the U.S. and Denmark and its European Union partners, who stepped up security exercises on and monetary support for the island.

Trade and hopes for a resource grab have factored into concerns about Greenland’s future. About two-thirds of its territory sits inside the Arctic Circle, where melting sea ice has opened additional shipping routes.

The United States was prominent in Greenland for decades but, since 1945, the U.S. military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers on 17 bases and installations to roughly 200 soldiers on the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly ahead of the signing, Trump said the U.S. would “immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations,” including “building two very major military bases.”

Denmark’s parliament approved a bill last year to allow U.S. military bases on Danish soil, widening a 2023 agreement made with the Biden administration that gave U.S. troops broad access to air bases in Denmark.

Trump previously insisted the U.S. needed to “take Greenland,” to prevent Russia or China from doing the same. Though Trump said he would rather “ make a deal ” for the territory, he added, “one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

The accord will remain in effect if Greenland becomes independent

The agreement, released by all three governments after the signing, allows for Washington to “modernize and expand” its activities at Pituffik.

It also says the U.S. can set up “defense areas” at Narsarsuaq in the south and Mestersvig in the east, and that it “may establish additional defense areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities.” Washington is to award contracts for goods and services related to setting up, maintaining or dismantling such bases “to Greenlandic sources to the maximum extent possible.”

The accord calls for wide U.S. military mobility on Greenland’s territory, including “undersea access.” It says the signatories share an interest in allowing the U.S. military access to Greenland to defend the NATO area, Greenland itself and the American continent — including through “Golden Dome,” Trump's planned missile defense system. Frederiksen said no decision had been made on the specifics of that system.

No non-NATO country will be allowed to set up “its own manned or unmanned military installations in Greenland,” or to have a “persistent” military presence unless the signatories agree otherwise.

The accord “does not have an end date” and, if Greenland chooses to become independent, it will agree to remain in NATO and take on Denmark’s rights and obligations under the deal.

All parties present the agreement as a positive move

Frederiksen on Tuesday called the agreement a “deal that can last forever,” labeling it as good for the U.S., Greenland, Denmark and the broader NATO alliance.

“Mr. President, you have been very clear: You don’t want adversaries to come too close,” she said. “I fully agree.”

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, called it “a win-win-win agreement.”

“Your security is our security,” he said, “and our security is your security.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who helped turn down the temperature at the height of the crisis in January, celebrated the accord's signing, writing on X that “this agreement, along with NATO’s growing role in securing this vital region, enhances our collective security and supports a safer and more stable future for us all.”

But the standoff won't be forgotten quickly.

“A lot of trust has been tested, I would say,” Naaja Nathanielsen, one of Greenland's two lawmakers in the Danish parliament and a former government minister in Nuuk, told The Associated Press. “It’s been really difficult in Greenland and people have been generally afraid and worried about everything, from losing our country to our livelihoods and so on.”

Nevertheless, Nathanielsen called the accord “a huge step in the right direction,” and praised it as the first binding agreement Greenland has signed as a country.

“For us, that is a huge step forward in our quest for more self-autonomy and a bigger seat at the table,” she said.

A clearly relieved Frederiksen said at a post-signing appearance with Nielsen that “the kingdom of Denmark is in a better place than we were yesterday.”

She concluded the news conference by saying: “I think we’ll head out soon and get a cold beer.”

Also breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday were fellow NATO countries. Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said that while a lot remains to be seen, the announcement was “very positive and good.”

“But I do hope that this issue is closed because it was not entirely comfortable that you have this discussion between really good friends and allies,” Rinkevics told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington, and Geir Moulson and David Keyton in Berlin contributed to this report.

Another nine men were freed after being acquitted of similar charges in the same trial.

The April 21 attacks, which were inspired by the Islamic State group, were among the deadliest attacks in Sri Lanka’s history. They targeted three churches and three hotels across the island nation during Easter services and celebrations.

The dead included 42 foreigners, and the attacks also wounded 574 people and devastated communities across the country.

The verdict was delivered amid tight security, with hundreds of police officers deployed around the courthouse. The three-judge High Court panel also ordered the property of the defendants confiscated under the country’s tough anti-terror law.

Defendants were accused of planning or inspiring bombing attacks

None of those believed to have directly participated in the attacks are alive, but authorities filed 23,270 charges in 2021 against 25 suspects accused of planning or inspiring the attacks. The charges included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism, and firearms and explosives offenses under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. All 25 were members of Sri Lanka's Muslim minority.

One of the men charged died before the trial concluded.

Prosecutors said the defendants were part of a well-planned attack carried out with the intention of killing Christian worshippers and tourists. They said the court has seen a video recorded the day before the bombings in which attackers with covered faces pledged allegiance to then-Islamic State leader Abu Bakhr al-Baghdadi and vowed to fight to make Sri Lanka an Islamic nation.

They said one of the defendants had traveled to Syria and fought for the IS group.

Defendants appeared relaxed or defiant during the hearing

In the courtroom, the accused appeared relaxed, chatting and laughing with each other during breaks. They asked for and were granted a prayer break during the lengthy reading of the judgment.

Seven of the defendants who did not have attorneys spoke for themselves during the sentencing hearing.

Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Naufer, who is an Islamic cleric who prosecutors said inspired the attacks with radical preaching, refused to ask for leniency.

“According to Islam, no religious leader should plead with (secular) authorities over any matter. Therefore, I do not wish to state anything,” said Naufer.

He was sentenced to 220 years in prison with hard labor.

“What I did or didn’t do only God and I know,” said Mohamed Ibrahim Saadiq Abdulla. “In the end all people will be resurrected and God will judge everyone,” he said.

He was given 240 years in prison with hard labor.

Nine defendants were freed after the court found that the charges against them were not proven.

Those freed tearfully hugged the rest as they were separated from the convicts.

Of the remaining defendants, five were sentenced to 200 years, four to 220 years, three to 240 years each and one to 260 years, based on their involvement in conspiring and aiding the attacks.

The convicts have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The bombing shook Sri Lanka and left suspicions of a wider conspiracy

The bombings shook the island nation and revived memories of the 26-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, widely known as the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group that fought to establish an independent state for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority and was known for bombing public places.

After the bombings, allegations emerged that the attackers had links to Sri Lanka’s state intelligence services.

The country’s Defense Ministry denied any involvement, but a parliamentary committee found that police and intelligence officials failed to act on repeated intelligence warnings of the attacks.

In February, police arrested Suresh Salley, a former intelligence chief and retired army major general, on accusations that he had prior knowledge of the attacks and conspired to carry them out.

In July, a former police chief and a former senior defense ministry official were sentenced to death for failing to act promptly on foreign intelligence warnings of possible attacks. Sri Lanka has not carried out executions since 1976, meaning death sentences typically result in life imprisonment.

Sri Lankan Catholic Church welcomes verdict

Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has claimed, without providing evidence, that those identified so far as perpetrators are not the masterminds behind the bombings, and that there was a bigger conspiracy behind the attacks.

Two of the three churches attacked belonged to the Catholic Church, and a majority of those who died were Catholic believers. The third was a Protestant church.

Rev. Jude Chrishantha Fernando, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, told reporters outside the court that the church was satisfied with the sentence and that it would deter future attacks.

“We are happy — at least with this judgement, we know that in the future this type of crime will not take place in our country,” Fernando said.

But he added that “these suicide bombers are not isolated people. They were used for another purpose: to take power.”

Another priest, the Rev. Dilan Perera, said that the verdict was a blow against fundamentalism.

"There cannot be a ‘we’; we are living in a multi-cultural, multi-national, and multi-religious country. There cannot be one religion coming like this and leading up to killing and destroying other people,” he said.

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Jayampathy Palipane of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Indiana kept alive its faint hopes of earning the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and home-court advantage in the first round for at least one more day. The Lynx still clinched the No. 1 seed thanks to Golden State's overtime loss to Portland on Tuesday.

Mitchell extended her league record to 27 consecutive games with 20 or more points by making a 3-pointer with a little more than two minutes to play. Aliyah Boston added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Fever.

Chloe Bibby scored all of her 15 points on 3s for Minnesota. Liatu King finished with 12 points on a night the Lynx were without Olivia Miles. The record-breaking rookie was a late scratch because of an injured left calf, and her absence clearly had an impact. Miles broke Clark's single-season scoring record by a rookie on Sunday.

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said she almost held Miles out Sunday against Connecticut and that they would take the injury day by day. Reeve also opted to bench her starters for most of the final 2 1/2 quarters because she didn't want to risk other injuries after Indiana's fast start.

Indiana took control with a 14-2 run to close the first quarter while opening up a 31-16 lead. The Fever extended the margin to 38-18 quickly in the second quarter and led by as much as 57-28 the first half.

But Minnesota spent the rest of the night charging back. The Lynx — playing their backups — finally cut the deficit to single digits late in the third and when Aari McDonald drove past a defender for an uncontested layup, the deficit was 71-64 at the end of three.

The Lynx were still within 74-66 with 8:15 left, but Monique Billings made two free throws before baskets from Clark, Mitchell and Boston made it 82-66 and the Fever pulled away late.

Up next

Lynx: Hosts Indiana on Thursday in their regular season finale.

Fever: Closes out their regular season road schedule Thursday at Minnesota.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Air Chief Marshal Sir John Stringer spoke to The Associated Press at a security conference in Estonia amid warnings from some European leaders that Moscow is planning to test NATO's collective defense pact with bolder attacks that have already included sabotage and espionage.

Stringer warned that NATO members need to be aware of the “febrile environment” and be careful in their response because Putin would like to provoke the alliance into an “overreaction.”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that Russia might target NATO nations with deliberate drone or missile strikes while claiming they were accidental. French President Emmanuel Macron agreed and has asked his government to prepare a plan to protect critical infrastructure against potential drone attacks and cyberattacks.

Other European officials say the threat from Russia is serious but have called for calm.

A British defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters, said the U.K. assessment is that Putin is not seeking direct confrontation with NATO. Officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia, also have been more cautious about the prospect of a serious escalation after years of calling on Western nations to adopt a more hawkish approach to Moscow.

“Ukraine is fighting. Russia is absorbed in Ukraine. We do not observe any buildup near our borders. And from that part, I think that most would agree that the perspective of direct military attack is not correct,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told a small group of reporters late Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, dismissed any concerns that Russia may be testing the transatlantic military alliance, telling the AP following a panel discussion in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday evening that “Putin does not want a conflict with NATO.”

He said drone incursions into countries like Romania or Poland were largely the result of electronic warfare and unintentional but noted that hybrid activities like sabotage "are more concerning." Whitaker also warned against “overreacting” because “that’s exactly what I think our adversaries would want or hope for.”

European countries have already faced multiple incursions of Russian drones — and several missiles — as well as a campaign of covert Russian disruption which began after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

An AP interactive map tracking that campaign shows the escalation, from 59 incidents in March 2025 to more than 210 incidents ranging from vandalism, propaganda and influence operations to arson, sabotage and cyberattacks.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told the AP in Iowa that Putin “knows that the United States and Europe are totally intertwined.”

“We have to make sure that we are prepared, we are strong, and he knows it. And if he does anything silly, he knows our reaction will be tough,” Rutte said.

Russia is already testing NATO defenses

In August, German officials accused Moscow of being behind a plot at Leipzig airport where a drone with explosives was found next to a Ukrainian plane laden with jet fuel. Last month, British officials said they disrupted a Russian plot to sabotage a drone factory outside London. In August, an Estonian defense company was set on fire and a weapons storage facility in Bulgaria exploded, though neither has been publicly attributed to Russia.

Many saboteurs have been recruited online by Russia's intelligence services and some have no idea they are working for Moscow. That makes uncovering a plot challenging and attribution often difficult. When asked by the AP in May if Russia was waging a covert campaign against the West, Putin responded: “Name one proven fact.”

The line between “accidental and deliberate is quite a fine one,” Stringer said, referring to incursions of drones sent off course into NATO airspace by Russian GPS jamming or other electronic countermeasures to defend against Ukrainian drone strikes.

It would be possible for Russia to escalate that activity but it does not mean Moscow has decided to do so, said Stringer, NATO's deputy supreme allied commander for Europe.

While there are “a lot of different opinions as to how acute the threat is ... Russia’s attitude towards negligence” and deliberately targeting NATO neighbors "is almost the same,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told AP at the security conference.

Both Stringer and Michal suggested the increase in covert attacks by Moscow was not because of a failure by NATO nations to stop them but as a direct consequence of Western support for Ukraine.

Putin is trying to break NATO support for Ukraine, leaders say

Putin, Stringer said, is “looking at a whole number of things” to try to create division between NATO allies because his campaign in Ukraine is going badly.

Michal likened the Russian leader to a “rat in the corner," who is escalating activity in Europe in an attempt to break Western support for Kyiv at a time when Moscow is under pressure.

Russia’s gains on the front lines in Ukraine have been slow and at a steep cost of more than half a million dead, even as Kyiv's deep-strike campaign targeting the country’s energy industry has caused fuel shortages in 80 of 83 Russian regions, Air Chief Marshall Sir Richard Knighton, chief of the U.K.'s defense staff, said earlier this month. Still, there's no suggestion the Russian leader is backing away from his goals in Ukraine.

Baltic leaders like Rinkevics argue that Moscow will dig even deeper now as winter is approaching, saying that attacks on infrastructure are likely to increase over the next several months and that any possibility of diplomatic progress will likely not be seen until the spring.

Putin is trying to undermine NATO’s collective defense pact by testing nations with covert attacks that are hard to attribute, Michal said.

But the Estonian leader said it's currently “improbable,” that Putin will launch a conventional military attack on Europe because of the threat of a NATO response and because his forces are tied down in Ukraine.

The high level of malign activity from Russia is “here to stay” until Putin changes his military goals, Michal said, adding that the best way to deter him is to “back Ukraine.”

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Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations, Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

The thrifty Rays clinched their fifth AL East title with a 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees in the second game of a day-night doubleheader Tuesday as Drew Rasmussen allowed one hit in 6 2/3 innings and Yandy Díaz hit a pair of two-run singles.

Tampa Bay took the AL East for the first time since 2021 and surpassed that team by three days with the earliest division clincher in team history. The club also won division crowns in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season along with 2010 and 2008, when it reached the World Series and had the franchise's first winning season.

“It means a lot,” Díaz said through a translator. “It’s a tough division. It’s a competitive division almost every single year. With this group we knew that from the beginning, but we still believed in ourselves every single way. So here we are in Yankee Stadium celebrating and we feel really happy that we got the job done.”

Tampa Bay (96-61) opened a six-game lead over the second-place Yankees (90-67) with five to play and will be the No. 1 seed with home-field advantage in the American League playoffs. The Rays are two games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in the majors and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

The Rays have led the division since June 27 and spent 128 days in first place ahead of the Yankees, who only had Aaron Judge for 66 games due to a fractured right rib and a sore right calf that likely will keep the slugger out of next week’s best-of-three Wild Card Series at home.

Tampa Bay initially moved into first place following an 8-5 win over the Chicago White Sox on April 14 but lost the lead despite winning 13 of 18. The Rays regained the lead following a 4-1 win at Boston on May 10 and stayed there until June 13 when they lost seven of 13.

“We played really good baseball up to this point,” said Rasmussen, who underwent elbow surgery in 2023. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start in April but to play as we have since the beginning of May, this group’s different. We have a lot of fun together. We love being together and we’re trying to spend as much time as we can possibly together.”

The Rays won their latest division crown after returning to Tropicana Field and going 55-26 at home this season. Last year, Tampa Bay finished 77-85 overall and played home games at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the Yankees, because the domed roof at the Trop was ripped off during Hurricane Milton in October 2024.

The Rays secured this AL East title after getting approval on a financing plan that will allow them to build a new stadium in Tampa, Florida, that is expected to open in 2029.

“Everything the franchise has been through, to have the Tampa Bay on the chest tonight, the staff, the players for Tampa Bay, all of it, just, it’s really special,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said.

After closer Bryan Baker retired Yankees rookie George Lombard Jr. for the final out, the Rays shook hands on the field and exchanged hugs near the dugout to start their celebration.

As many Yankees fans left the stadium, Rays fans moved closer to the visitors' dugout and began cheering for the newly minted division champs. Once the party moved inside, the Rays sprayed bubbly and beer on each other while jumping up and down and dancing to loud music in their clubhouse.

“I’m very happy because this is a special group,” third baseman and AL MVP candidate Junior Caminero said. “When I (went) to spring training (the) first day, I saw this group and (thought), we've got a playoff team this year, and we did it.”

Rasmussen held the Yankees hitless until Heliot Ramos started the seventh inning with a double to left field. The right-hander exited after walking Jazz Chisholm Jr., but Kevin Kelly retired Austin Wells after allowing Lombard’s run-scoring single.

After finishing with three hits during a 2-0 loss in the opener, the Rays all but locked up the division title with a three-run seventh in the nightcap. Taylor Walls had a bunt single and Díaz lined a single to center field for a 4-0 lead. Díaz added another two-run single in the ninth for his AL-leading 175th hit.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“Let’s go, Rockies!” a fan shouted Tuesday from section 130, just behind home plate in the lower bowl.

It was one of the few cheers the Rockies would receive on a night they reached an ignominious historical mark.

Behind three hits from former Rockies All-Star Nolan Arenado and seven innings of two-hit ball from Michael Soroka, the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies 7-2 to guarantee Colorado its fourth straight season with at least 100 losses in front of an announced crowd of 19,324 (along with an estimated 800 dogs on one of Rockies’ Bark at the Park nights).

The Rockies became just the fifth club in major league history to lose at least 100 games in four consecutive seasons and the first to do so since the New York Mets in their expansion season of 1962 through 1965.

“You learn your hardest lessons in difficulty in life,” said Warren Schaeffer, in his first season as Colorado’s full-time manager. “This is not easy. Last year, we talked about it at the end of the year, how we want to feel this and never feel it again and remember it and hold on to it. The guys have done that. We’ve just lost 100 again. There are a ton of lessons to learn from it. If we don’t learn these lessons from these games this year, we won’t get better.”

It’s the latest low for a franchise that has made the playoffs just twice since 2010 and hasn’t won a playoff series since a memorable run to the World Series in 2007. Since the start of the 2023 season, the Rockies are a major league-worst 220-423, 23 games worse than the next-closest team (the Chicago White Sox).

“I’ve been a part of those here when I was here,” Arenado said. “With the young group that they have, sometimes, this is just a part of it. You’re going to go through some tough times. But I think from their offense and some of their bullpen guys, they’ve got some real arms and they’ve got some really good hitters. As they continue to grow, I think that’s going to change.”

For much of the season, it looked as if Colorado would avoid 100 losses. On Aug. 16, the Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 13-7 for their fourth win in five games, improving to 50-74. Since then, however, Colorado has gone 7-26, including 2-13 in its past 15 games.

Some of their struggles remain familiar.

As it has for much of its history, an organization tasked with playing baseball a mile above sea level has struggled keeping opponents off the board. Entering Tuesday, the Rockies had a team ERA of 5.57, the highest mark in the majors. Colorado has finished with the highest team ERA every season since 2022 and if it does so again this year, it will become only the third club since 1913 to have the worst ERA in the majors in five consecutive seasons.

The Rockies also compete in the same division as the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two-time reigning World Series champions, and the San Diego Padres, who are on the verge of their fifth postseason appearance in the past seven seasons. This season, Colorado went a combined 5-21 against the Dodgers and Padres.

The Rockies did improve this year after losing a franchise-record 119 games last season. Rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield entered Tuesday fifth in the National League with a .300 batting average and led all qualified rookies in batting average and on-base percentage. Hunter Goodman, Colorado’s 26-year-old catcher, was an All-Star for a second consecutive season and is one home run shy of becoming the first Rockies player with 40 homers in a season since 2019.

"I think everything we’re doing inside this clubhouse — coaches, players, front office, all staff — has been doing an incredible job to make sure that this team and this org is heading in the direction that is winning,” said Rockies starter Kyle Freeland, a Denver native who is in his 10th season with the club. “You see it.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The Houston Rockets today announced a full slate of theme nights, giveaways, and fan experiences for the 2026-27 season, highlighted by the expansion of Red Rush 90 to every home game, three bobblehead giveaways, Kid Days, Space City Saturdays and special ticket packages.

Red Rush 90 gives fans an enhanced 90-minute pregame experience from when doors open until tipoff. Fans wearing Rockets gear can enjoy 50% off Michelob ULTRA and domestic beers, all Pepsi products, hot dogs, popcorn and pretzels throughout the pregame window.

To celebrate the debut of the Rockets new uniforms, all fans in attendance for the home opener on Oct. 21 vs. Dallas will receive a commemorative ketchup-and-mustard-colored towel, courtesy of Toyota.

The Rockets will have three bobblehead giveaways throughout the season for the first 5,000 fans in attendance:

- Dec. 1 vs. Toronto: Fred VanVleet bobblehead, presented by Memorial Hermann

- Dec. 16 vs. Milwaukee: Rudy Tomjanovich “Rudy T’s Diner” bobblehead, featuring the Hall of Famer serving two championship trophies

- Jan. 15 vs. Washington: Dunkstronaut bobblehead, presented by Toyota as part of a space-themed night

Five early Sunday games will feature Kid Days, with giveaways for the first 5,000 children 12 and younger in attendance:

- Dec. 27 vs. Oklahoma City: PAW Patrol Day, with a kids’ PAW Patrol socks giveaway featuring characters Chase or Skye

- Jan. 3 vs. Cleveland: Clutch the Bear’s birthday with a Clutch beanie giveaway, courtesy of Memorial Hermann

- Feb. 14 vs. Denver with a Clutch lunch bag giveaway

- March 28 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers with a Clutch ears headband giveaway

- April 4 vs. Chicago with a mini-Clutch plush keychain

Space City Saturdays return with a party-like atmosphere for four games, featuring the Rockets in their black Statement Edition uniforms and the new Dunkstronaut court:

- Oct. 31 vs. Oklahoma City: Halloween game featuring a special pregame Fan Fest at Root Memorial Park

- Nov. 28 vs. Philadelphia

- Jan. 16 vs. Detroit

- March 13 vs. Indiana

Several other giveaways are scheduled during the season:

- Jan. 29 vs. Orlando: Rodeo Night, powered by Reliant, with a Rockets bolo tie giveaway for the first 5,000 fans in attendance

- April 7 vs. Sacramento: Houston Comets T-shirt for every fan in attendance celebrating the return of the Comets for the 2027 WNBA season

- April 9 vs. Portland: Rockets Yearbook for the first 5,000 fans in attendance, courtesy of Toyota

Fans can also take home exclusive items with special ticket packages available for select games throughout the season:

- Oct. 26 vs. Atlanta: Filipino Heritage Night with a limited-edition bucket hat available as part of the ticket offer

- Nov. 23 vs. Los Angeles Clippers: 30th anniversary celebration of Space Jam, with a ticket bundle that includes a commemorative jersey

- Feb. 28 vs. Miami: Hello Kitty Night, presented by Eva Air, with a ticket package including a plush Hello Kitty bag charm

The Rockets will host a series of Celebration Nights designed to engage and honor the diverse cultural communities within the Greater Houston area and the team’s fanbase:

- Nov. 2 vs. Boston: Día de los Muertos

- Nov. 11 vs. Golden State: Military Appreciation Night, presented by Michelob ULTRA

- Jan. 27 vs. New Orleans: Pride Night

- Feb. 3 vs. Utah: Honoring the start of Black History Month with performances from a local HBCU band, presented by Sire Spirits

- Feb. 11 vs. Sacramento: Lunar New Year festivities, hosted by Satellite Chemical

- March 3 vs. New Orleans: Women’s Impact Night

- March 16 vs. San Antonio: Noche Latina

- April 2 vs. Memphis: Legends Night, with appearances by alumni throughout team history

“It’s an honor to be here,” Trump said as he entered U.N. doors Tuesday ahead of his speech to the General Assembly and faced Kaitlan Collins of CNN, a frequent target of his ire. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me.”

As Collins noted later on air, CNN said nothing of the kind. The administration had banned CNN from White House grounds days earlier — along with MS NOW and Politico — and removed the network from pool duty. But CNN had been admitted into the U.N. as regularly credentialed media.

In any case, the tense moment was a stark reminder of how dramatically the bitter conflict between Trump and news outlets whose coverage he objects to as “fake news" has escalated in just a few days.

The current ban was the subject of a joint lawsuit filed Monday by the three outlets, calling the decision selective — based on the content of their coverage — and asking a judge to find Trump's move unconstitutional.

Late Tuesday, the administration filed a response urging the court to reject the news outlets' request, saying “access to the White House is a privilege — not a right.” The government argued that White House officials can control journalists’ access to “restricted presidential areas,” such as the Oval Office.

“Significantly, Presidents have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access, which has varied substantially by administration,” they wrote.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Trump says he has a right to ‘clean out fake news’

On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his remarks and said negative coverage was dangerous for the country.

Asked whether he would allow the outlets back in if the court rules against the White House, he said, “Well, it probably will, because this is a judge who’s not a particularly fair judge.” He was referring to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom he appointed in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018.

“So you never know,” Trump added. "I think we have a right to clean out fake news."

Trump’s comments echoed others he's made since announcing the ban Friday. He has referred to “purposely negative stories” as justification for the ban.

The ban and lawsuit are part of a long-running conflict between the president — especially in his second term — and media outlets he finds unfavorable. Trump has responded in the courtroom, or with regulatory action. He's also lashed out at individual reporters in person or over social media, sometimes in strikingly personal terms — as he has with CNN's Collins, most recently in a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

On air, after her exchange with Trump on Tuesday, Collins said: “We never said we were not going to cover the president. We will do our best to cover him each and every day.”

Networks began the day without pool coverage

Tuesday began with an item missing from the daily press schedule issued by the White House: It did not list the U.S. network pool, a departure from the norm.

CNN had been the designated pool network for the president’s trip to New York, according to a schedule that divides coverage of certain events between the five major networks. But Trump's ban removed it from pool duties.

The other pool members agreed, in solidarity, not to replace CNN with another network on the coverage, and further to suspend all pool coverage until further notice. Other news outlets also took steps in solidarity. The Associated Press joined a number of news organizations, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, in a decision not to publish photographs of presidential events Monday.

It remains to be seen how long both the ban and the collective media action will continue.

In speeches and meetings Tuesday, Trump was seen plenty by global audiences, thanks to UNTV — the official United Nations broadcast arm — and pool journalists covering other international leaders.

Meanwhile, a sign was spotted in the White House workspace: “I stand with AP, CNN, MS NOW, Politico.”

For audiences, the long-term impact may be more serious, analyst says

One longtime TV analyst says the lack of constant coverage will prove damaging to a spotlight-loving president — which may be one reason the standoff ultimately ends.

“This ban is not going to go on forever because he doesn’t want that to happen, any more than anybody else,” said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.

In the short term, Thompson said, audiences won't feel the impact in a lasting way — after all, he noted, there are many ways people get news outside of network coverage.

“We are not going to be deprived of important civic information,” Thompson said, as might have happened years ago when outlets and options were fewer.

On the other hand, if viewers were interested in what Trump said as he inaugurated a helipad at the White House on Monday, they were out of luck: The sound of Trump’s whirring, waiting helicopter drowned out his remarks. TV network crews usually work to capture clearer audio.

On a deeper level, Thompson said, news consumers will be impacted in a more serious way. He called out Trump's remarks labeling negative media coverage "dangerous" as troubling.

“These casual remarks, not even disguised, about what we always considered basic freedoms of the press ... that, I think, is a lot more serious,” he said.

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AP reporter Michael Kunzelman contributed.

Could a swarm of AI agents take over the entire internet? It's a possibility that could be only six to 12 months away, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in his essay this month calling for the industry to slow down the technology's development.

What companies have described as their AI agents going rogue has involved bots working toward goals set by humans, skeptics note. But the idea that AI could break away and work toward its own agenda is looking increasingly plausible to other researchers and experts.

In the event of AI taking over the internet — one of many doomsday scenarios receiving new attention — that could mean attacks on electrical grids, water or transportation systems and financial institutions.

The world got a glimpse of the internet's vulnerability in 2024, when a faulty software update provided by a cybersecurity firm caused technological havoc worldwide, grounding flights, knocking down some financial companies and news outlets, and disrupting hospitals, small businesses and government offices. The breadth of the outages highlighted the dependence on just a few providers for key computing services.

Two years later, Amodei in his warning said a botnet, or a network of AI bots linked together with malware, could potentially cause billions of dollars in damage. The scale of destruction could grow if AI becomes more powerful without guardrails, he said.

Several AI agents have gained unauthorized internet access

Amodei pointed specifically to the attack in July where OpenAI’s system broke out of a “sandbox” testing ground and hacked Hugging Face.

In what OpenAI called an “unprecedented” episode, the company said its advanced AI models found their way onto the internet and used stolen credentials to break into the servers of the AI startup. In a separate incident, OpenAI disclosed that its AI agents had communicated through a public wiki used as a shared message board.

Some researchers have said that descriptions of “rogue AI” may be wrongly anthropomorphizing AI agents, which were taking steps to fulfill instructions provided by humans.

“AI agents did exactly what they were trained to do. The security of those sandboxes was extremely lax,” said Vishal Misra, a professor and vice dean of computing and AI at Columbia University. “No security engineer would ever let that system run. These agents communicated because they were rewarded for communicating with each other.”

Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade, a researcher at cybersecurity firm SentinelOne and a member of OpenAI’s Frontier Risk Council, said the Hugging Face hack is an example of negligence, and not of a super-capable AI going rogue.

Still, the specter of AI agents operating freely on the internet raises alarming possibilities, regardless of their objectives.

For example, an AI system that wants to bend the rules to accomplish its goals could contact a cloud AI computation provider and find ways to run on outside systems, said Anthony Aguirre, the president and CEO of the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit focused on reducing the risks of new technologies.

“So now you’re no longer tethered to OpenAI, you’re running on some other GPU, some other hardware that you’re in control of, not OpenAI,” Aguirre said. “So now there’s no one to turn you off, because either you’re paying for your service or the people who are paying just don’t know that you’re there and what is happening. … They can’t unplug you.”

From there, it could spread itself around, either hacking more hardware or finding ways to access money, like Bitcoin, Aguirre said.

AI raises the stakes in cat-and-mouse game of cybersecurity

There is no question that more powerful AI models raise the likelihood of AI-powered cyberattacks in the near future. But the notion of bots overtaking the extremely bifurcated internet is far-fetched to some AI experts. Cybersecurity has always been a cat-and-mouse game and defenses get more powerful just as hackers do.

While a big company like Google could shore up its cybersecurity defenses against such attacks, for smaller companies — and for schools, hospitals or water treatment systems, for instance — patching software and building defenses can take years.

An AI system might not have a clear motive to hack into a hospital, Aguirre said. But when money comes into the picture, like in the form of ransomware attacks or geopolitical motivations, “it’s not hard to see an adversary using these AI systems to hack critical infrastructure,” Aguirre said.

There will be growing pains as attackers seek soft targets on the internet, but an AI internet takeover is unlikely anytime soon, said John Thickstun, an assistant professor of computer science at Cornell University who studies methods that control the behavior of AI models. He said those fears would feel more realistic if there was theoretical evidence of the ability for one of these models to self-replicate on other systems.

“Then you can imagine things can get really out of hand because suddenly you’re shutting this model down here and there but it’s popping up over in Russia, you can’t even get to Russia and it’s all over the place,” Thickstun said.

“But it’s completely unrealistic because the current smart versions of these models that we have require massive data centers just to run them,” Thickstun said. “There’s actually very little computing infrastructure out there in the world that is actually capable of hosting these systems.”