“United flight 2005 from Chicago to Minneapolis landed safely in Madison, Wisconsin to address a security concern with an unruly passenger,” an airlines spokesperson wrote in an email.

Law enforcement officials on the flight restrained the passenger quickly, said Carrie Springer, a spokeswoman for the Dane County Regional Airport.

Deputies with the Dane County Sheriff's Office met the flight when it landed and removed the passenger. Federal authorities are handling the investigation, Springer said.

Air traffic control audio reviewed by The Associated Press showed an aircraft crew member told controllers before the plane landed that “it took some time” but law enforcement officers on board the flight had subdued the passenger.

The Boeing 737 had 147 passengers and six crew aboard. No injuries were reported, according to the airline.

Mike Rundle, a passenger on board the flight, told The Associated Press that the man appeared to be in his 70s and “other passengers commented that he seemed confused.”

Rundle said the man stood up as the plane was on the runway in Chicago. Flight attendants told him to sit down and asked on the intercom if anyone on the plane spoke Russian. Later, he heard a commotion and a group of men were leading the same passenger back to a seat.

“I didn’t have a clear view of what happened, but the person next to me on the aisle said they saw him ‘reach’ for a flight attendant and it took a few guys to hold him back,” Rundle said. He said the man was seated quietly for the rest of the flight. He was handcuffed and taken off the plane in Madison.

“The general vibes were calm, and the flight crew did a great job handling everything,” Rundle said.

The flight continued its journey and landed in Minneapolis early Saturday morning.

The family wedding will go forward Sunday in South Carolina, but it also will be a time to mourn the loss of Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark, a relative said Saturday.

“A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us,” Carolina Bublik said.

The Doncevs were killed when a motorcoach caused a chain-reaction crash with vehicles that had slowed down for a work zone on Interstate 95 in Stafford County around 2:35 a.m. Friday, authorities said.

The bus struck an SUV driven by Priscilla Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, whose vehicle then hit an Acura carrying the Doncev family, police said. Mafalda also died.

More people were treated for injuries, including one who was in critical condition, though most were discharged, Mary Washington Healthcare said.

The bus driver, Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and additional charges were likely, Virginia State Police said. It was not immediately known if he was in custody or had a lawyer yet.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, a monthslong task separate from the work of state police. NTSB board member Tom Chapman revealed few new details but said the bus was moving at a high rate of speed.

“It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking there wasn’t much, because of the speed and severity of the collision,” Chapman said.

The bus, which was taking people from New York to North Carolina, was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.

Chapman said the driver's language proficiency would be part of the NTSB investigation. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, citing police, said on social media that Dong, a native of China, does not speak English.

Dmitri Doncev, 45, was a nurse who worked at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecaterina Doncev, 44, was a hairstylist who spent days making desserts for the family wedding, Bublik said.

They emigrated to the U.S. from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts, she said.

Dmitri and brother Iuri tried to stay together while traveling in separate vehicles to South Carolina.

“At some point they ended up getting separated,” Bublik said. “Dmitri said, ‘You go ahead. I’ll catch up later.' It was a big shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he wasn't picking up the phone — that’s when the family started panicking.”

It took a player who could match the American's court coverage in long baseline rallies to mark the end of the road for Gauff in Paris.

That player was Anastasia Potapova, who produced a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory over Gauff in the third round on Saturday.

“She was able to finish the points and I wasn’t,” Gauff said. "Just not capitalizing on certain shots."

The match was played before mostly empty stands inside Court Philippe-Chatrier as French fans stayed away to watch the Champions League soccer final.

Gauff’s second Grand Slam title came with a victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Roland Garros a year ago.

Before her opening victory over Taylor Townsend on Tuesday, Gauff was involved in a car accident on the way to the tournament grounds. She wasn't injured, but the car wasn't drivable anymore.

The 30th-ranked Potapova, who was born in Russia but now represents Austria, improved to 3-2 in her career against Gauff. She's having quite a clay season after reaching a final in Linz, Austria, and the semifinals of the Madrid Open as a qualifier.

The fourth-ranked Gauff was coming off a run to the Italian Open final. She was beaten in Rome by Elina Svitolina — another player who can match her on long rallies.

“I lost the same way in Rome as I did here,” Gauff said. “You never want to lose the same way back-to-back times.”

When Gauff shanked a forehand wide on Potapova's first match point, Potapova fell on her back and covered her eyes as she stuck her feet up in the air in celebration. Gauff waved to the crowd and quickly walked off court when it was finished.

“Coco is such a champion. I respect her so much,” Potapova said. “I’ve been fighting for the last point and here I am.”

It wasn’t a matter of mistakes for Gauff — she hit three double-faults to her opponent’s eight and had 46 unforced errors to Potapova’s 56. It was more that Potapova controlled more in the longer rallies and wore Gauff out.

Gauff ran a total of 2,309 meters (yards) to Potapova’s 2,090.

Osaka’s fashion statement

Earlier, Naomi Osaka beat 18-year-old American opponent Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 after nearly three hours — in her 100th Grand Slam match — to set up a round-of-16 meeting with top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka beat Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5.

For her second-straight match, Osaka wore a metallic gold bomber jacket over a sequined gold playing dress during her walk-on. But this time her outfit was offset by a tannish-gold colored train that stretched all the way down to the red clay on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

“It’s a surprise every time,” Osaka said of her fashion choices.

“For me, it would be weirder to wear a normal tennis kit, almost, at this point. It’s the fun of it. For a long time, I didn’t have fun for a little bit. And you guys know that period of time in my life,” Osaka added, referring to how in 2021 she withdrew from the French Open because of issues with anxiety and depression. “Now I just want things to be fun, and I want to make it exciting for myself.”

Osaka’s outfits are planned a year and a half in advance and require at least four fittings.

“We have so many fittings throughout the year because your weight can fluctuate or the fabric can change a little bit,” she said. “There is a lot of effort that goes into it.”

Heat wave ending

For the seventh straight day of the tournament, it was hot and humid, with the temperature rising to 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat is expected to break for Sunday and the second week.

Midway through Osaka’s victory, a spectator was carried out of the stadium on a stretcher because of an apparent illness.

In men’s action, Alejandro Tabilo ended the run of 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9) victory.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo followed up his stunning victory over top-ranked Jannik Sinner with another five-set victory, beating Martin Landaluce 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8) in 5 hours, 58 minutes — the longest French Open match in six years.

Cerundolo will next meet 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, who required 5 hours, 13 minutes to defeat Francisco Comesana 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13).

Flavio Cobolli beat Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 and will next meet unsung American Zachary Svajda, who defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Later, Felix Auger-Aliassime plays American opponent Brandon Nakashima. At No. 4, Auger-Aliassime is the highest-seeded player remaining in the top half of the draw after Sinner’s defeat.

Organizers moved the small advertising boards at the back of the court to behind the line judges after complaints about safety.

___

AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.

___

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

PSG became back-to-back European champion by beating Arsenal 4-3 on penalties in a dramatic final in Budapest that ended 1-1 after extra time on Saturday.

“It’s incredible,” captain Marquinhos said. “From the very first day of this season, the coach said it’s hard to win, and winning twice is even more difficult. So we all had to get back to work. That was the mentality.”

Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes fired the last of his team’s penalties over the bar to hand PSG the shootout win.

The French giant is only the second team to retain the trophy in the modern era after all-time king of Europe Real Madrid.

Luis Enrique became a three-time winner as a coach and has moulded a team that is simply too good even for the best the continent has to offer. That includes an Arsenal team that won the Premier League last week and topped the first stage of the Champions League with a perfect winning record, finishing 10 points and 10 places ahead of PSG.

That mattered little in Puskas Arena as PSG reaffirmed its status as the dominant force in European soccer.

“It’s even more special because we knew before the match how difficult it would be,” Luis Enrique said. “I think it’s deserved over the course of the whole season, even if the final was very closely contested.”

After demolishing Inter Milan 5-0 in last year's final, PSG endured a tougher foe as Arsenal sat deep and relied on the best defense in the competition.

PSG dominated possession but created little after going behind to a Kai Havertz goal in the sixth minute. It took an Ousmane Dembélé penalty in the 65th to level the score and take the final to extra time for the first time in 10 years.

PSG coach in elite company

By going back to back, Luis Enrique achieved what his good friend Pep Guardiola could not after winning Champions Leagues at Barcelona and Manchester City. Luis Enrique joined Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Guardiola in an elite group of coaches with at least three European Cups.

The next target will be to emulate Madrid’s three in a row under Zidane from 2016-18. And with a starting lineup in Budapest with an average age of less than 24, Luis Enrique has built a team that has the potential to dominate for years.

“It’s crazy, it’s crazy. We’re going to enjoy it first, and after we’re going to work and work again because we want more. We are really hungry. We are a young team, and we know we are really ambitious. So next season we have to go again,” Désiré Doué told broadcaster TNT Sports.

Having waited 22 years to get its hands back on the Premier League trophy, Arsenal’s wait in Europe goes on.

This was its 226th game in the European Cup or Champions League without lifting the trophy. No other team has played so many without being champion.

“First of all you have to go through that pain, digest it and then turn it into fuel and improve and reach a different level because it will demand a different level with the quality that is around Europe," manager Mikel Arteta said.

“I want to congratulate PSG because they are, in my opinion, the best team in the world. What they are able to do with the ball, individual actions, I haven’t seen it (before).”

Arsenal comfortable defending

There were times when it looked as though Arsenal's Champions League losing streak would be snapped. Especially when PSG looked so short of ideas after going behind to Havertz’s breakaway early goal.

By scoring so early the tone was set and Arsenal was comfortable sitting back and soaking up pressure. PSG struggled to find openings and looked edgy in possession.

On an evening that kicked off with a pre-match show by rock band The Killers that sounded off in the acoustics of the stadium, PSG also fell a little flat and registered just one shot on target in the first half.

It was given a way back into the final when Cristhian Mosquera brought down Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the box and referee Daniel Siebert pointed to the spot.

Ballon d’Or holder Dembélé made no mistake, firing low to the left as Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya dived the wrong way.

Red flares were lit by PSG fans, likely as much in relief as celebration.

There were rare chances for PSG to win in regulation. Kvaratskhelia hit the post in the 77th after a rapid breakaway and substitute Bradley Barcola wasted another opportunity to seal it at the death when firing wide.

Arsenal was limited to a 24.7% possession average — the lowest in a final since records began in 2004, according to stats provider Opta. But Arteta's dogged and determined team pushed PSG all the way, even in the shootout.

Eberechi Eze missed an earlier spot kick for Arsenal but Raya saved from Nuno Mendes to keep the score level.

Lucas Beraldo converted the last of PSG’s spot kicks, meaning Gabriel had to convert to take it to sudden death. But he blasted high over the bar into a section of PSG fans, who erupted in celebrations along with their new two-time champion team.

It was a familiar sight as Marquinhos got his hands on the trophy for a second time and raised it aloft in the center of the field as gold confetti and fireworks exploded around the team.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted his congratulations on X: “A new star is shining over Paris!” and told PSG players they were “making all of Europe dream. France is proud.”

___

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

___

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

Enjoying the sunshine? Houston’s weather pattern did a complete 180 this week. After days of consistent downpours, sunshine and heat continue to settle in for the weekend. With more sunshine and less gloom through the weekend, temperatures will heat back to the upper 80s and low 90s.

We’re waking up with patchy fog for a select few with morning lows in the 70s and thanks to the humidity - feels-like temps in the upper 90s

But thanks to the moisture in the atmosphere, after this weekend, more rain is on the way as we start the first week of June!

And speaking of June, hurricane season officially begins June 1st. Are you ready? Many Houstonians of all financial backgrounds are still keeping a very close eye on their bottom line.

Watch: Building a hurricane kit without breaking the bank.

View this post on Instagram

To help you get prepared before the season ramps up, be sure to catch our KPRC Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide live next Wednesday at 8 p.m., where we’ll cover what you need to know heading into the 2026 season.

In the meantime, check out this list for 2026 Hurricane Names: The history of how hurricanes get named

10-DAY FORECAST:

We’re looking at a hot and dry forecast going into the weekend. If you had to cancel plans because of the rain, you should be just fine for this coming weekend!

“I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance,” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing “the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate 'Artists.'”

The group organizing the June fair on Washington's National Mall, Freedom 250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, “we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24.”

Trump's social media post twice referenced him holding a rally “Wednesday," without a specific date. The White House did not immediately clarify the discrepancy.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, emphasized the broader fair that is scheduled from June 25 through July 10 includes an array of exhibits, family friendly attractions, musical performances, flyovers and more.

Freedom 250 is billed as nonpartisan, but was launched last year by Trump and is led by a former State Department appointee from Trump's first term. Several artists, including Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride dropped out last week.

Michaels and other artists have said that they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight. McBride, in a statement on Instagram, said she had been “presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading.”

Other artists plan to attend, including Flo Rida, Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice. The latter's representative previously said that the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper was “proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!”

___

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the importance of building community trust, ensuring safe burials to prevent the spread of the outbreak and urged countries to reconsider travel bans and border closures, saying they “discourage transparency.”

“The Democratic Republic of Congo has faced Ebola before, 16 times, and has ended every outbreak. This is the 17th. That history gives me real confidence,” Tedros said during a news conference Saturday alongside Congo’s health minister.

The health organization said Friday latest official figures showed 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths. Neighboring Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, the Ugandan Health Ministry said Friday.

The Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, has no approved treatment or vaccine.

Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Bunia in Ituri province on Thursday. More shipments are expected in the coming days. The U.S. announced $80 million in additional aid on the same day, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million.

Response efforts at Bunia's Rwampara and General hospitals appeared more organized, with additional staff, protective gear and medical supplies, though patients continue arriving around the clock, according to an Associated Press reporter.

The response has not kept pace with one of the fastest-spreading outbreaks on record, Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, warned on Saturday.

“Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration,” Dr. Alan Gonzalez, MSF’s deputy director of operations, said in a statement. “Nobody knows the true scale and severity of this outbreak.”

Gonzalez called for an immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.

The dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims’ bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

“We are not here to tell people what to do, we are here to listen,” Tedros said Saturday. “Building trust takes time, and it starts with listening."

“I understand how painful it is to lose someone, and how much it means to honor them properly, but certain practices, including touching the bodies of those who have died from Ebola, can spread the virus further,” Tedros said.

Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response. The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

Uganda and Rwanda have closed their borders, while the Trump administration last week banned entry of non-U.S. passport holders who had recently visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.

“I would also ask countries that have imposed travel bans or border closures to reconsider,” Tedros said, saying such measures "discourage the transparency that saves lives.”

——

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo in Bonn, Germany, contributed to this report.

Arsenal missed two of its five spot kicks while PSG only missed one. The game was tied at 1-1 after extra time.

Arsenal was bidding to become European champion for the first time on its return to the final after a 20-year wait. Both teams were coming off winning their own domestic leagues, in France and England, respectively.

Here's the latest:

Painful loss for Arteta

“Pain.”

That’s how Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta summed up his feelings after the shootout loss.

“When you are so close in a competition, a few penalty kicks in the biggest club competition in the world, then that’s how we should feel. We have to turn this pain into fuel.”

Arteta told TNT Sports that PSG is a hard team to play against.

“That’s why they are champions two times in a row. And the individual quality they have, the manner of their coach. They are a top, top team.

Reassuring news from Dembélé

PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé says he wasn’t seriously injured when he limped off the field in the second half. The Ballon d’Or winner says he only suffered from cramps.

That will be a relief for France, with the World Cup less than two weeks away.

“In the 80th minute it was tough, everyone had cramps at the end, I think,” Dembélé said.

“We worked hard this season to achieve the back-to-back (titles). We are very happy and we’re going to enjoy it. It was difficult all season; we had to manage a lot of things, but we are once again Champions League winners.”

Stats from the final

A quick glance at the official statistics, and it’s hard to argue that PSG didn’t deserve to win the title again.

It had 64% possession, attempted 21 shots to Arsenal’s eight, and completed four times as many passes (837 to 199).

PSG midfielder Vitinha was named as the man of the match by UEFA.

Arsenal misses out on becoming European champion

Still, it has been a great season for the team, which won the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years after three runner-up finishes.

In the last three seasons, Arsenal has had the following finishes in the Champions League: Quarterfinals, semifinals, and runner-up.

Is the next step the title in 2026-27?

PSG captain Marquinhos on winning twice

“It’s incredible, back-to-back. From the very first day of this season, the coach said it’s hard to win, and winning twice is even more difficult. So we all had to get back to work. That was the mentality. Today we had the full squad, and the players who came on made their mark on this team, like Gonçalo (Ramos) and (Lucas) Beraldo, who did the job and took the penalties. Thanks to everyone who is in Paris: enjoy yourselves, but in moderation. Don’t cause trouble!”

Paris celebrates 2nd consecutive Champions League title

Flares go off in the PSG end as their fans celebrate the team successfully defending the title.

PSG becomes only the second team — after Real Madrid in 2016-18 — to do that in the Champions League era.

It's a cruel moment for Gabriel Magalhaes whose miss ended Arsenal's title hopes. He is embraced by PSG captain Marquinhos, who is likely to play alongside him at the World Cup for Brazil.

PSG wins!

The French team converted four of its five penalty kicks in the shootout.

Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes missed for Arsenal.

Paris Saint-Germain is European champion once again.

The Champions League final is going to a penalty shootout

It’s the eighth time a shootout has been needed to settle the title match since the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.

The last one was in 2016, when Cristiano Ronaldo converted the decisive kick for Real Madrid and flexed his muscles after removing his jersey.

Nearing a penalty shootout

No big chances so far in the second half of extra time.

PSG are passing the ball around but not finding paths through Arsenal’s defense.

Arsenal appear content to sit back and let this end in a penalty shootout.

No goals in the first 15 minutes of extra time

It's still 1-1 at Puskas Arena.

Boos from Arsenal fans rang around the stadium after the referee turned down a penalty appeal by Noni Madueke following a challenge by Willian Pacho.

Arsenal's Declan Rice was livid that a spot kick wasn’t given and took his disgruntlement too far, getting a yellow card from the referee.

Scuffles break out near the Champs-Élysées

In Paris, riot police have clashed with PSG supporters after a bus shelter window was smashed on the famous avenue in Paris.

There was widespread disorder across the French capital and beyond following PSG’s Champions League title last year, which led to hundreds of arrests nationwide.

Extra time has started

Goncalo Ramos has replaced Ousmane Dembélé for PSG. Dembélé appeared to be struggling with a leg injury toward the end of the second half.

The Champions League final is going into extra time

It's 1-1 after regulation time and there will be an extra 30 minutes of play.

The last time there was extra time in the Champions League final, Real Madrid was drawing 1-1 with Atletico Madrid in 2016. Real Madrid went on to win on penalties.

More subs for Arsenal and Barcola on for PSG

Wingers Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli come on for Arsenal, replacing Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.

Meanwhile, PSG makes its first chance, bringing on Bradley Barcola for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Police in riot gear make a brief appearance

Dozens of police in riot gear entered the perimeter of the field as PSG fans set off flares to celebrate the equalizer.

They formed a wall in front of the PSG section for a few minutes before retreating down the tunnel.

Just marking their presence – flares and other pyrotechnics are forbidden by UEFA.

Gyökeres on as Arsenal makes two substitutions

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has reacted to conceding the goal by making two changes: one of them being striker Viktor Gyökeres coming on for Martin Odegaard in a switch that will see Kai Havertz drop into midfield.

Also, Jurrien Timber replaces Cristhian Mosquera as right back.

Dembélé makes it 1-1

Ousmane Dembélé holds his nerve and converts his penalty kick into the bottom left corner.

PSG fans are setting off flares to celebrate.

Penalty to PSG

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been fouled by Cristhian Mosquera in the area and the referee points to the penalty spot.

The second half has started

PSG is pushing forward and Arsenal is trying to slow things down. Arsenal defender Cristhian Mosquera is dragging his feet a bit too much at a throw-in and receives a yellow card for time wasting.

What can PSG do to turn this around?

They do have potentially game-changing options on the bench, notably in France forward Bradley Barcola and Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos.

Ousmane Dembélé has been quiet – is he fully fit? – and has been snuffed out by Arsenal’s big center backs.

There’s also Senny Mayulu, a 20-year-old attacker who scored as a substitute for PSG in last year’s 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the final.

A perfect half for Arsenal

Arsenal has done a very good job of keeping PSG’s wide players quiet. Désiré Doué, the star of last year’s final, has been ineffective. So has Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

PSG is having lots of possession, but keeps coming up against a red wall with so little space around the box.

PSG’s players also look unusually nervous on the ball. Perhaps a little too afraid to get caught on the break again after falling behind early in the first half.

It's Arsenal 1, Paris Saint-Germain 0 at half-time

An early goal, then defend the lead.

This final is going just how Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta might have dreamed.

There was an element of fortune about Kai Havertz’s goal. But Arsenal fans won’t care about that.

PSG has had one shot on goal – a speculative long-range effort in the final minute of the half.

The defending champions need to improve drastically.

PSG has the possession but no shots on target

We’re past the half-hour point in the final, and PSG still hasn’t had a shot on target.

The French champions have, though, had more than 70% possession. But it’s not getting them anywhere.

Spanish coaches competing for the title

The coaches of the two finalists – PSG’s Luis Enrique and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta – are both Spanish. And they go way back.

They were together at Barcelona in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Arteta was starting his professional career and Luis Enrique was coming toward the end of his.

Arteta has said he “learnt a lot of things” from Luis Enrique as a player and now as a coach, saying he has “this unbelievable power” and an approach to life that he really likes.

Arteta had a spell on loan at PSG in 2000-01, when he played alongside Ronaldinho and Nicolas Anelka.

Safonov attended by medics

PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov needs attention from team medics after receiving a blow to the head.

Backup keeper Lucas Chevalier is warming up but Safonov remains on the field for now. Chevalier lost his starting spot in favor of Safonov earlier this season and, due to his limited playing time, was not selected for the French national team for the World Cup.

Drinks break

The teams are taking a break for drinks at the midway point of the first half.

Things are going just as Arsenal would like, still leading 1-0.

Kai Havertz joins an exclusive club

The Germany forward becomes only the third player – after Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Real Madrid) and Mario Mandzukic (Juventus and Bayern Munich) — to score in a Champions League final for two different teams, according to stats supplier Opta.

Arsenal’s players happy to defend the lead

Arsenal is sitting deep and PSG has all the possession.

Expect that to be the case while Arsenal leads.

There’s even a bit of time-wasting from Arsenal on goal kicks -- to the annoyance of PSG fans.

Arsenal take an early lead

Kai Havertz makes it 1-0 for the Gunners in the sixth minute.

Marquinhos’ attempted clearance rebounds off Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard and into the path of Havertz, who strides through on goal from near halfway. His shot from a narrow angle goes into the roof of the net.

We are go! The final is underway

The players emerge from their huddles and the Champions League is underway with Arsenal taking the kickoff.

Fan sneaks away from hospital after serious injury

An English fan was taken to hospital Saturday afternoon after suffering what police called a “life-threatening” injury in an electric scooter accident, but wasn’t willing to let the injury keep him from the final.

Budapest police said the man “left the hospital without permission because he was adamant about going to the match.”

They added that they are looking for the man and trying to contact his family “because he requires immediate medical attention.”

Going back-to-back is not easy

Only Real Madrid has successfully defended the Champions League title since the competition was rebranded in 1992.

Can PSG be the second team to do so?

The Madrid team of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale won the Champions League three times in a row (2016-18), under coach Zinedine Zidane.

Since then, no defending champion has reached the final until this PSG team, which beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich last year.

Get ready for clash of styles

PSG and Arsenal have reached the title match adopting vastly different playing approaches.

PSG is the top-scoring team in the competition with 44 goals -- that’s an average of more than three per game.

Arsenal has the Champions League’s best defense, letting in just six goals in 14 games and keeping nine clean sheets, three more than any other team has registered.

▶ Read more

Non-World Cup referee in charge

The man entrusted with being the referee for the biggest match in club soccer won’t even be going to next month's World Cup.

German ref Daniel Siebert was left off FIFA’s list of match officials for the World Cup – after going to the 2022 edition in Qatar – so handling the Champions League final is a consolation prize in a sense.

This will be the third straight round Siebert will have worked an Arsenal match.

Video review – or VAR, as it’s known in soccer circles — will be in operation for the final.

Here are lineups for Champions League final

PSG: Matvey Safonov; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, João Neves, Fabian Ruiz; Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué.

Arsenal: David Raya; Cristhian Mosquera, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Piero Hincapié; Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard; Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka.

NYC Mayor Mamdani urges beloved Arsenal to ‘enjoy moment’

Zohran Mamdani is a big Arsenal fan and the New York Mayor was seen wearing club-branded clothing when he joined residents across the city for Eid al-Adha prayers this week.

In an article he has written for The Athletic ahead of the final, Mamdani said he started supporting Arsenal from the age of 9 after his uncle “introduced me to a team with a cannon on its shirt.”

He says supporting the team “increasingly became an exercise in nostalgia” until the recent uplift under Mikel Arteta.

“Over these past two years, no matter how chaotic life became, Arsenal remained the constant,” he writes.

Mamdani acknowledges PSG is “brilliant” and “frustratingly well-managed” by Luis Enrique, but has a message for Arsenal and its fans: “Enjoy this moment, because they don’t come around often.”

Rivalry extends to fans’ chants

Fans are making their way to the stadium under a cloudy, threatening sky in Budapest, and they’ll have a role to play in the final.

Not least with the rival chants that you might get to hear in your TV broadcast.

PSG’s most notable song will see their passionate Ultras bellow “Tous ensemble on chantera” (All together we will sing).

Arsenal fans have their own chant that has grown in popularity over the last few seasons in manager Arteta’s 6 ½-year reign, with a chorus taken from “The Angel (North London Forever)” -- written by singer and Arsenal fan Louis Dunford in 2022.

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Hungary and soccer

This is the first European Cup final to be staged in Hungary and it comes at an interesting time for the Central European country, a few weeks after right-wing populist leader Viktor Orbán‘s heavy defeat in the elections.

Péter Magyar is the prime minister and is set to attend the match at the 67,000-seat Puskas Arena, a stadium that opened in 2019 and was built on the same site as the previous Ferenc Puskas Stadion — named after the Hungarian and Real Madrid great who won three European Cups as a player.

Orbán is a massive soccer fan and attempted to bring back the glory days of the 1950s, when Hungary had one of the world’s top teams.

To that end, the arena, located a few kilometers east of central Budapest, has become a well-known host for European games. The stadium staged the UEFA Super Cup in 2020, as well as a slew of Champions League group games and four European Championship matches in 2021. In 2023, it hosted the Europa League final won by Sevilla.

Somebody told me The Killers are playing...

Pre-match entertainment is being provided by American rock band The Killers, who are best known for songs like “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It” and “Somebody Told Me.”

It differs from the Super Bowl, where artists perform in a halftime show.

The Killers, who hail from Las Vegas, predicted an “epic match” when they were announced to be performing – though at the time, they didn’t know who the finalists would be.

In previous years, Linkin Park, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa have been headliners in Champions League finals.

Big gathering at Parc des Princes

Some 48,000 fans are expected to fill PSG’s stadium in Paris, the Parc des Princes, to watch the match on giant screens.

PSG said Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire is among the officials expected to attend.

Former players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Claude Makélélé and Ronaldinho, have been invited to Budapest for the final.

Capital clubs go head-to-head – and that’s rare

It’s the first time in 55 years that clubs from two different capital cities are competing in the final of Europe’s biggest club competition.

The last was Ajax (of Amsterdam) vs. Panathinaikos (of Athens) in 1971.

There were only two before that: Benfica (Lisbon) vs. Real Madrid in 1962 and Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade in 1966.

This is also the first major European final featuring teams from France and England.

The World Cup is coming. No injuries please!

It’s the last match of the European club season – and World Cup coaches will be watching on with a mixture of intrigue and nervousness.

The World Cup begins in 12 days, and the squads of both PSG and Arsenal are bulging with players heading to the tournament being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Any injuries sustained in the final could be devastating so close to the big kickoff.

Arsenal has “taste” for trophies now

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says winning the Premier League has whetted the players’ appetite for more trophies.

Nothing comes bigger than the Champions League.

“The ambition is bigger,” Arteta said in his pre-match news conference. “We have one, and we want the second one ... there has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations.”

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was the first player in the squad to get his hands on the Premier League trophy, and he liked it.

“When you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy,” Odegaard says, “you know how nice it feels. And we want to do it again.”

Dembélé, Doué, Saka ... a bunch of world’s best are on show

Many of soccer’s superstar players will be taking the field at Puskas Arena – not least PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé, the most recent world player of the year.

Désiré Doué, the 20-year-old forward who lit up last year’s final with two goals in the record 5-0 win over Inter Milan, is still a shining light for PSG along with Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and three of Cristiano Ronaldo’s top teammates with Portugal – Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves.

Arsenal has England stars Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice in midfield and the striker who has just sent Sweden to the World Cup – Viktor Gyökeres.

Fans brawl in central Budapest

Groups of fans got physical late Friday in Budapest’s frequented party area, leading police to launch an investigation over disorderly conduct.

Videos on social media showed several dozen people throwing punches and kicks, driving another group down Király street in the capital’s District 7.

One fan held a burning red flare before throwing it toward the other group, which was retreating down the street. Budapest police said in a statement that the violence erupted shortly after midnight, and that it was using surveillance footage to try to identify participants.

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

In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump fumed about the Friday decision from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper who also ordered Trump’s name removed from the center. Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was “impossible for me to be treated fairly,” tying Cooper's ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court’s rejection in February of his sweeping tariffs.

His post aimed to make the case for the project but did not clarify whether he would continue to defend it in court. Hours after Cooper's decision, Trump said he was backing away from the renovations and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president's second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The White House did not immediately clarify his position or say whether he would keep serving as the center’s board chairman.

Trump's earlier post signaling a retreat from the center gave hope to artists who had been alienated by his takeover, said Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer who is involved in a lawsuit challenging Trump's Kennedy Center plans.

“I have already heard from artists and from audience members alike who are excited about the Kennedy Center returning to non-partisan normality,” Eisen told The Associated Press in a text message on Saturday. “It’s early days yet but as and when the court’s order is implemented, including Trump’s name coming off the building and the Board otherwise complying with the law, I’m optimistic that the Center will begin the long journey back.”

Trump cites judge's wife

Without offering evidence, Trump suggested that Cooper’s wife, lawyer Amy Jeffress, was to blame in part for the ruling. The president noted that Jeffress, a partner at the Hecker Fink law firm, is a former federal prosecutor who served as a counselor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. Cooper was nominated for the bench by Obama.

Trump also noted that Hecker Fink is representing former President Joe Biden in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from the Democrat's interviews with a ghostwriter that were obtained in an investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as a senator and as vice president.

Trump asserted that the Kennedy Center, named for the late Democratic president and opened in 1971, was “rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested” and that the ”new Building would have been incomparable."

Cooper said in his ruling that the center board’s March 16 vote to close the venue was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years. Cooper’s ruling halts those plans for now.

The judge also found that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, he said. Cooper ordered that Trump’s name be removed within two weeks.

President defends adding name to the center

Trump on Saturday said it was the board, not him, that added the Trump name to the center. "They thought it would be good for this dying Institution,” he wrote.

Shortly after returning to office in January 2025, he ousted the center’s previous leadership and replaced it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman.

Cooper held hearings in late April for parallel lawsuits challenging the project. One lawsuit was filed by a group of cultural and historic preservation organizations. The other was brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who serves as an ex officio member of the board through her position in Congress. He ruled in favor of Beatty’s request but rejected the other challenge.

Trump, in his post, also noted that Jeffress' firm represented E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist whose claims against Trump won her a $5 million award in 2023 for sexual abuse and defamation after a jury agreed that Trump sexually abused her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996. Another jury in 2024 awarded Carroll an additional $83 million for defamation. Both awards are under appeal.

Jeffress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

___

Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

Carter called the situation “bigger than football" and explained he felt the need to call out Dart publicly for the decision.

“He not only represents himself and what he does, but he represents all of us and that goes for anybody who wears a Giants uniform,” Carter said Friday after an offseason workout practice. "If he chooses to align himself with a man like President Trump, it’s my responsibility based on what I believe and what I stand on to not only show my teammates that I’m against that — but to show the world.”

Carter took to social media on May 23 to criticize his teammate after realizing a video of Dart on stage with Trump was real. Hours later, Carter said he and Dart spoke and were fine. Those posts have since been deleted.

“It doesn’t mean that me and Jaxson hate each other or we have beef,” Carter said. "I sit next to Jaxson every day, every team meeting. We’re close. We talk. As long as we make sure we’ve got the same goal as a team and our goals align, which they do, then I feel like that’s all that matters.”

Trump has targeted the diversity, equity and inclusion programs that helped many Black Americans find jobs in both the federal government and a variety of private industries. He has called DEI programs “discrimination,” and he has pushed to eradicate them from the government and put pressure on the private sector to do the same.

Earlier this year, he posted and then deleted a racist video on social media that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle.

Trump thanked Dart in a post on social media Saturday, saying: “I know you’re taking some heat from the Radical Left Lunatics who are jealous of you, me, and everyone who surrounds us but, I also know that your Jersey also went to Number One, and you’re making Millions of Dollars so, YOU ARE A WINNER — THEY ARE ALL LOSERS. I’ll see you in the White House!”

Dart in his 562-word statement never invoked Trump's name and said he valued the office of the president. Dart called it “a unique opportunity, being asked and given the opportunity to introduce the president of the United States.”

Asked if he understood why the situation might bother teammates and if he thought he made a mistake, Dart referred back to his statement. Carter said Dart did not apologize for being at Trump's event.

“I don’t want him to say he’s sorry,” Carter said. “Stand on what you believe in. But it can’t be a problem when I stand on what I believe in. That’s all that matters to me. As long as we have that understanding, it’s all good.”

Dart said he addressed the situation with teammates, including Carter, as part of “honest conversations” over the past week. That included a meeting at the Giants' facility Tuesday when Carter was not present, as well as a conversation last weekend between the two players going into their second NFL season.

“We just talked," Dart said of Carter, who was also drafted in the first round last year. “Me and him are one of the closer guys on the team with each other. We’ve had a lot of conversation, and he’s my brother. I know that I’m a brother to him.”

Coach John Harbaugh and veteran backup quarterback Jameis Winston attempted to put a positive spin on going through the situation at a tense time in the U.S.

“We’ve got a blond-haired, blue-eyed white kid and a Black Muslim religion, Black kid, who are coming together and showing y’all, showing the world that we can come together,” said Winston, who is also Black. “I think this is an excellent opportunity for those two young men to realize what they represent, the platform that they have, and how they’re going to go about navigating that and standing on what they both believe in.”

Harbaugh, who has expressed support for Trump over the years, said he had no concerns about a rift in the locker room and said “it’s not going to affect what kind of football team we are.” He deferred to players about what kind of guidelines they want to set.

“I think it’s made us better, honestly,” Harbaugh said. “I’m kind of grateful for the opportunity that we had to have the conversation. But if you do things the right way, you confront everything all the time that have to do with your football team and your ability to be successful, and that was something to confront and talk about. Rather than ignore it or rather than dictate something, let’s just talk about it."

Gunner Olszewski carted off with injury

Receiver/return specialist Gunner Olszewski went down with a noncontact injury grabbing at his right leg late in practice, and teammates went down on one knee while he received medical attention. Olszewski was put on a cart and driven off the field, and it did not look good.

“We’ll find out what the situation is with that,” Harbaugh said. “That was a noncontact change-of-direction kind of a deal there in the grass, so that was disappointing.”

Arvell Reese signs his rookie contract

No. 5 pick Arvell Reese, a linebacker out of Ohio State, signed his rookie contract on Friday, becoming the final member of the draft class to do so. No. 10 pick Francis “Sisi” Mauigoa signed earlier this week.

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

On the verge of becoming the oldest U.S. player to appear in a World Cup, the 38-year-old defender was picked by coach Mauricio Pochettino to captain the Americans next month.

“Wow,” Ream said during a news conference Saturday, seated alongside Pochettino. “This is more than a dream come true. I’ve done everything possible to be a part of this group, to help this group along. I’m just really, really grateful to be sitting here, to have this honor."

Ream was not aware he was going to be appointed captain until Pochettino made the announcement during a news conference on an indoor field at the new U.S. National Soccer Training Center.

“It’s the highest honor for me in this group,” he said, his voice echoing in the gym-like room. “I’m not going to take that for granted."

A St. Louis native who plays for Charlotte in Major League Soccer, Ream will be 38 years, 250 days on the day the U.S. plays its opener against Paraguay on June 12, older than defender Fernando Clavijo when the U.S. was knocked out by Brazil in 1994. Clavijo was 37 years, 162 days or 38 years, 162 days — his birthdate was listed at Jan. 23, 1957, when he played and Jan. 23, 1956, at the time of his death in 2019.

Ream started all four games for the U.S. at the 2022 World Cup, when Tyler Adams at 23 was the youngest captain among the 32 nations and the youngest for the U.S. since 1950.

Adams said Thursday that he didn't care whether he would return as captain.

“It’s a privilege and honor, anyone that gets to wear the armband,” he said. “What I represent and how I lead, I think anybody that plays with me knows that I’m a leader. That’s just how I’ve been my entire career whether I’m wearing the armband or not.”

Ream has 80 international appearances, second on the team only to Christian Pulisic's 84, and has captained the U.S. in 17 of 24 games since Pochettino took over in October 2024.

“A great captain, not only on the field, maybe more important off the field,” Pochettino said. “He has the experience, he has a capacity to be the leader that we want, the positive leader.”

Ream played college soccer for Saint Louis University, then joined the New York Red Bulls in 2010. He moved to England with Bolton in 2012, then signed with Fulham in 2015 and spent 10 seasons at Craven Cottage. He returned to MLS with Charlotte in 2024.

“So lucky to have a player like him with his personality and his character involved and helping the young players and the players also that have lesser experience,” Pochettino said. “Playing or not playing, he is the captain. It’s not now he’s the captain, he’s going to be sure in the starting 11.”

Previous U.S. World Cup captains include 24-year-old Mike Windischmann in 1990, 25-year-old Tony Meola in 1994, 37-year-old Thomas Dooley in 1998, 28-year-old Claudio Reyna in 2002, Reyna again in 2006, 31-year-old Carlos Bocanegra in 2010 and 31-year-old Clint Dempsey in 2014.

“Of course, it’s important. The captain, you're first one out of the tunnel, especially in a home World Cup, it’s very important," retired forward Jozy Altidore said at training Thursday. “But when I see this group, I see a bunch of leaders. Maybe they didn’t start that way, but now they're most certainly leaders in terms of how they’ve played at their clubs, how they developed as young men.”

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

The process could grind to a halt, however, after the Trump administration said Friday that it intended to appeal a federal judge’s order to allow all companies that paid the invalidated duties to seek refunds, not just the ones that filed lawsuits.

Until the Department of Justice informed the judge of its planned appeal, the refund system overseen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection had been working fairly smoothly. Refunds reached the bank accounts of the first successful applicants on May 12, about three weeks after importers and their customs brokers could start submitting claims through an online system, according to CBP.

Applications for refunds totaling $85 billion — more than half of the $166 billion the agency estimated the government owes to companies that paid the tariffs on imported goods — were accepted for processing as of May 22, CBP reported in a legal filing earlier in the week. It said it had so far directed the Treasury Department to issue $20.6 billion in refunds.

The administration revealed its appeal preparations while objecting to a demand by Judge Richard K. Eaton for CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to appear in the U.S. Court of International Trade to answer questions about how long it would take to repay all 330,000 importers that might be eligible for refunds. The judge scheduled a June 9 hearing on why he shouldn't require the government do whatever it takes to speed up the process.

Justice Department lawyers asked Eaton to allow one or two of Scott's deputies to appear in his place, arguing that as a high-ranking presidential appointee, the CBP chief could not be compelled to testify. They also argued that Eaton exceeded his authority when he determined in March that the Supreme Court's ruling entitled “all importers of record’’ to refunds.

“For that reason, defendants intend to appeal the court’s universal injunction," the lawyers wrote, adding that CBP would continue to move “as quicky as it can to process refunds in a phased approach” for businesses that filed legal complaints asserting their rights to refunds.

In a written reply, Eaton said he needed to hear directly from Scott whether the government would return all of the money it collected between when Trump put what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries in April 2025 and when the Supreme Court struck them down in late February.

“It is undisputed that the remedy for this unlawful collection is for the United States government to refund the unlawfully collected duties," the judge wrote.

Refunds coming in phases

More than 1,000 companies, including large ones like Costco, Goodyear Tire, banana and pineapple distributor Dole Fresh Fruit, and department store chain Kohl’s, filed lawsuits to recoup their tariff costs. The judge said Wednesday he intended to allow cases he put on hold while CBP figured out how to handle refund claims — they numbered 485 in mid-March — to proceed.

Customs and Border Protection is handling refund claims in phases, focusing first on payments that weren't finalized before the Supreme Court handed down its 6-3 decision. CBP officials have said those later payments were more straightforward to process.

Importers are required to make estimated tariff payments when goods enter the U.S. The declared items then enter a process called “liquidation,” in which CBP determines how much in import taxes was owed. The decision becomes final after 180 days unless the payer contests the bill.

In Friday's filing, the Justice Department said the agency did not have the technological ability or the legal authority to recalculate liquidated accounts without “importer-specific orders” in each lawsuit.

Price cuts promised

Some national retail chains said they planned to use their tariff refunds refunds to lower customer prices on some items. Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told analysts last week that the company would implement price cuts even though the maximum refund it might be eligible for represented less than half of 1% of Walmart’s $483 billion in annual U.S. sales.

Costco intends to return the tariff costs that it passed on to members, CEO Ron Vachris said. How much of its refund the big-box retail chain redistributes, when and in what form, depends on factors such as the size of the refund, when it arrives, and developments in a lawsuit seeking tariff compensation for Costco customers, Vachris told investors Thursday.

Consumers could first see refunds from shipping companies such as FedEx, UPS and DHL, which acted as customs brokers when they delivered products ordered from overseas. The companies charged either the sellers that shipped the packages or the buyers who received them and turned the tariffs they collected over to CBP.

All three promised to return any refunds they get to the customers that paid the import taxes. Last week, FedEx said it was “working to swiftly process refunds and return them to the shippers and consumers who originally bore those charges.”

Putting refunds back into the business

The Supreme Court invalidated only the country-by-country tariff rates Trump set by citing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Others he imposed under different rationales remain in effect. Trump also has moved to introduce new tariffs since the court’s Feb. 20 ruling.

Some smaller companies told The Associated Press that the tariff refunds they’ve received so far would go toward paying remaining or future tariffs or getting back on solid financial footing after more than a year of uncertainty and additional costs.

Jay Foreman, CEO of toy company Basic Fun, said he received about $450,000, or 7% of his total claim, over two consecutive days. He took the repayment as a positive sign but said that after having less than $10,000 refunded since then, the process seemed like a “total slow roll.”

“It’s time to release the funds back into the economy, especially given how much we and others need these funds to support our businesses and fund our operations,” Foreman said.

Men’s grooming brand Manscaped has received about 30% of the $12 million in refunds it applied for, President Kevin Datoo said. He said the San Diego company deferred investments and took on debt to pay tariffs on imports from Indonesia, China and elsewhere in Asia last year.

“We need to shore up the balance sheet because there’s still a whole second chapter here,” Datoo said.

Melkon Khosrovian, who owns Greenbar Distillery in Los Angeles, said he applied for a tariff refund of about $90,000 for 17 different shipments and has received $18,000 covering four of them. Certain types of herbs, spices and packaging are hard to find domestically, so Khosrovian said he imports them.

The tariffs were “painful,” he said. He invested money to automate his bottling process last year so he wouldn’t have to pay as many workers. The move allowed him to reduce his 13-person staff by three, but Khosrovian noted that the White House had argued the tariffs would create more U.S. manufacturing jobs.

“Our choices were bad and worse: raise prices and lose customers, or keep prices the same and not make any money,” he said.

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AP writers Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and Lisa Leff in London contributed to this report.

Former U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra has called for “hot competence summer" in his bid for governor, promoting his decades of public service as evidence he has what it takes to be California's next governor.

Republican Steve Hilton pledged an end to a “bloated, nanny-state bureaucracy” during remarks outside the state Capitol on Wednesday.

Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer told reporters this week in Berkeley, California, that he has made it his life's work to advance progressive causes, a mission he'll bring to Sacramento.

They are seeking to stand out in a field of roughly 60 names on a single gubernatorial ballot, regardless of party, under California’s top-two primary system. The two candidates who receive the most votes Tuesday will face off in the general election to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can’t seek a third term.

The crowded race includes Democrats Becerra, Steyer, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, and Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose. Hilton, a former Fox News host backed by President Donald Trump, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the most prominent Republicans in the race.

As of Friday afternoon, 13% of voters had cast their ballots. That included 13% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans, according to a tracker by Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell. The breakdown is unusual because Democrats in recent years have tended to vote early while many Republicans wait until Election Day.

Some Democrats have been waiting to cast their ballots to see if a candidate breaks away from the pack in the final days, or because they are unimpressed with the crowded field.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass is vying for reelection under a cloud of residents' displeasure over the direction of the city, and has several stops planned Saturday to try and pull ahead of her competitors.

Those include Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican who gained a name on the reality TV show “The Hills," and Nithya Raman, a progressive city councilmember. The race is officially nonpartisan.

Candidates for governor make their final pitch

The contenders have been traveling across the state that includes roughly 23 million registered voters as they seek an edge over rivals. Becerra, Hilton, Steyer and Bianco will all be in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend. Fresno and Los Angeles have also been popular campaign stops.

Becerra has been highlighting the more than 35 years he's spent in state and federal office.

“This is not a place for on-the-job training,” he said on a podcast hosted by political commentator Ana Navarro. “You better know what you’re doing.”

He’ll hit a text-banking event with Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta in San Francisco and rally with the Service Employees International Union in San Jose.

Hilton has been selling himself as someone who would bring a fresh set of eyes to state government, reduce regulations, and bring down housing and energy costs. He thinks it'll be a unifying message, he told reporters this week in Sacramento.

“It's not ideological," Hilton said. "It's just simple, practical commonsense — $3 gas, cut your electric bills in half.”

Hilton will host a town hall in Silicon Valley on Saturday night, and he is making a social media pitch for Republican voters to rally around himself, not Bianco, to ensure they have a shot in the top two.

Hilton has been cautious not to emphasize Trump’s endorsement. If he advances to the November election, he will need to appeal to voters outside his party to win in the Democrat-dominated state that hasn’t had a Republican governor since 2011.

Steyer, a self-described “billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires," said the race was a contest between three candidates: himself, Hilton and Becerra. Steyer has described Hilton as “a hard-right Republican who’s endorsed by Donald Trump.”

Steyer on Saturday focused several social media posts on Becerra, repeating an argument he recently told a crowd of supporters at a sports bar in Berkeley. Becerra, “to my surprise, is a corporate Democrat," he said, referencing Becerra's acceptance of campaign contributions from Chevron.

“And the third person’s me,” he said. “And I am running because Californians can’t afford to live here anymore.”

Steyer’s headed to a campaign rally Saturday in San Francisco to put a finer point on his message to voters.

Mahan, meanwhile, will mingle with voters in Los Angeles, Porter will give a speech in Orange County, and Bianco will lay out his vision at a church in San Jose.

Los Angeles' mayoral candidates jostle to get the final words in

Bass is pursuing her second term after a tumultuous first, which included devastating wildfires and a rebuilding process that critics say is too slow.

The mayor has focused her reelection on the progress that has been made, such a decrease in street homelessness, but she says there is more work to do.

Pratt, one of Bass' opponents, lost his home in the wildfires, and is running a buzzy, social media driven campaign as a populist outsider with promises to rid the city of disorder and dysfunction.

Nithya Raman is campaigning on a more progressive platform, partly focused on affordability and infrastructure. Both Raman and Pratt have attacked Bass for her response to the wildfires, though their recent posts have been directed at each other.

A November runoff appears likely because there are more than a dozen names on the ballot.

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Associated Press journalist Terry Chea in Berkeley, California, contributed to this report.

The message from local officials: Don’t panic — prepare.

If you’ve been putting off hurricane prep, officials say this weekend is your window to get ahead before the rush starts. And the good news? Emergency managers say you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars overnight.

1. Turn on emergency alerts

Emergency managers say one of the most important first steps is making sure your phone is set up to receive emergency alerts.

Residents are encouraged to sign up for:

• AlertHouston
• ReadyHarris Alerts
• STEAR (State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry)

Brian Murray with Harris County Office of Emergency Management said emergency alerts can become critical during severe weather.

“This is the time when everyone needs to look at what is your plan to get through not only hurricane season, but basically all of the risks and threats that we have on almost daily basis,” Murray said.

• Is your home in a new flood zone? FEMA releases updated Harris County maps

Officials also stress that residents enrolled in STEAR should respond to check-in messages during emergencies.

“We want you to be in STEAR but during an emergency if we call you if we text you and ask if you’re okay please acknowledge that you’re ok because if not I’m gonna send a firefighter or a police officer to go knock on your door and make sure you’re OK,” Murray said.

2. Build a go-kit without overspending

Emergency officials say building a hurricane kit does not have to happen all at once.

Recommended supplies include:

• Extra canned food
• Cases of water
• Medications
• Flashlights and batteries
• A waterproof bag for important documents
• A hand-crank or battery-powered radio
• Pet supplies

Brian Mason with the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management says families can slowly build supplies during regular grocery trips.

“Every time you go to the grocery store, buy an extra item or two. Buy an extra jar of peanut butter. Buy an extra pack of batteries. Buy an extra case of water,” Mason said.

Officials recommend having enough food, water, and medications for at least seven days.

They also say battery-powered or hand-crank radios can become especially important if power or cell service goes down during a storm.

3. Know your evacuation zone

Officials also encourage residents to check evacuation maps now before hurricane season ramps up.

Residents can find evacuation zone maps and preparedness information through:

• ReadyHarris.org
• HoustonOEM.org

The websites also include multilingual emergency information and preparedness resources.

Officials say residents who need assistance before or after a disaster can dial:

• 2-1-1 for community assistance resources
• 3-1-1 for county and city resources

Houston OEM also offers website translation options in multiple languages.

Emergency managers say the key is to start preparing now — even if it’s one small step at a time.

The Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings from U.S. forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, the military said. The ship remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman and U.S. forces have not boarded it, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

With the latest action, U.S. military has stopped six ships trying to breach the blockade. One was allowed to proceed. Another 116 ships have been redirected, the military said.

The U.S. launched the blockade on April 17 in response to Iran effectively closing the strait after the war in the Middle East began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. A fragile ceasefire has held since April 7. Now the region awaits word on whether a deal can be reached to extend it by 60 days while talks would be held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Events in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between Iran and Oman, have shaken the global economy. Shipments of significant amounts of oil, natural gas and related supplies like fertilizer are largely stranded, increasing the strain on consumers and food producers.

The U.S. blockade seeks to limit Iran’s own shipments and further weaken its access to cash, creating more pain for its long-weakened economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump met with advisers on Friday but has yet to decide on whether to move ahead with a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait. Iran has said the deal had not been finalized.

Commercial traffic has quietly continued to flow through the strait, despite Iran's assertions that it must approve any transits, though at a much lower volume than before the war.

“Any violation of these regulations will place the security of their passage at serious risk,” Iran's joint military command said Saturday in a statement carried by state TV, warning that any military vessels trying to interfere with that would be targeted.

Iran has even charged tolls for transit as high as $2 million, which experts have called a violation of a principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation.

Qatar's deputy prime minister, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, said on Saturday said that the Gulf nation opposes charging fees to transit, “but for certain times when they say they are going to use it for mine clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable, and it could be something that will help the transit of the Strait of Hormuz to be back to normal stage.”

The U.S. official previously told The Associated Press that the U.S. has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait.

Deputies responded to the 6600 block of Rubilee Avenue, near Smith Road and Old Humble Road, after the call came in around 2:23 a.m.

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Investigators said they believe around 100 people were at the party when shots were fired. Most ran off before deputies could question them.

Deputies said they three people had been shot at the scene. One man in his early 20s was pronounced dead, while two other men — also in their 20s — were taken to a hospital and were expected to survive, according to the sheriff.

Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from an altercation.

Crime Scene Investigators and Homicide Detectives are processing the scene and working to determine what led up to the gunfire.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS.

Now, one of those politicians has pleaded guilty to being an illegal agent of the Chinese government. Former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang's plea, entered in federal court Friday, continues a saga that some residents of the area worry could bring unfair scrutiny on the broader Chinese and Asian American community.

Arcadia has gone under rapid demographic change in the last two decades as immigrants from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong flocked to the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. After Wang's case was made public May 11, the news made national headlines and filled the unassuming suburban city with anger, disappointment and murmurs of quiet concern. On social media, fears about spies and Chinese Communist Party influence abounded.

“We cannot allow this moment to become an excuse for people to paint entire communities with one brush or weaponize ethnicity for political gain,” acting Mayor Paul Cheng said in a statement.

Shock in heavily Chinese community

Wang agreed in April to plead guilty to doing the bidding of Chinese officials by sharing articles favorable of Beijing on a news website she ran, without notifying the U.S. government as required by law.

The 56-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person City Council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. She was born in Chengdu, China, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1995.

The San Gabriel Valley is home to the largest concentration of residents of Chinese and Taiwanese descent in the United States. Beginning in the 1970s, real estate developers marketed the region as “Chinese Beverly Hills” to woo affluent immigrants. As the population grew, it became a haven for newer immigrants who could go about life without needing English, access business opportunities, and avoid putting their children through China’s intensely competitive education system. Arcadia's population of about 53,000 is majority Asian, like many other cities in the region.

Ted Tseng, 52, arrived in Arcadia from Taiwan nearly 40 years ago with his parents, who emigrated because they feared potential conflict between Taiwan and China.

Tseng was concerned Wang's indictment would deepen animosity against Asian Americans and discredit their contributions to the region. Fears of anti-Asian racism, though hate crimes are down since the COVID-19 pandemic, still linger.

“I'm just worried our image has been damaged,” Tseng said.

Feds crack down on Chinese espionage

The U.S. Department of Justice has escalated efforts in recent years to combat Chinese espionage. In April, a man accused of running a secret Chinese spy outpost in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood was convicted of acting as an illegal foreign agent.

Wang has suggested that she was misled by her former fiance, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who pleaded guilty to the same charge last year and is now serving a four-year prison sentence. Sun was the treasurer for Wang’s 2022 election campaign.

A statement shared by Wang's lawyers references her "trust and love for apparently the wrong person who ultimately led her astray.”

April Verlato, a former City Council member who served with Wang, said Wang and Sun lived together, and Sun accompanied Wang wherever she went.

Verlato said Wang should have stepped down as soon as she came under investigation.

“She was being selfish, getting sworn in as mayor and not resigning when she knew she was going to be pleading guilty to something,” Verlato said.

Gene Sun, a long-time lawyer in Arcadia, agreed.

“I don't understand how she could have continued being a City Council member,” he said.

Beijing seeks influence overseas

It is not surprising that the Chinese government would attempt to exert political influence in the region, especially given the increased political tension and economic rivalry between China and the U.S. in recent years, said Wei Li, a professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at Arizona State University.

“A lot of countries, if they have the will and if they have the means, will try to influence their diaspora,” Li said.

According to his federal criminal complaint, Sun was in contact with John Chen, who also pleaded guilty to being an illegal agent of the Chinese government, regarding local politicians that Beijing could influence. In reports to Chinese officials, Sun and Chen called Wang a “New Political Star” and bragged about her contacts with mainstream U.S. politicians.

They also wrote of combatting “anti-China forces” such as Taiwan independence and the Falun Gong, an exiled anti-communist spiritual movement.

In a January 2023 message from Chen to Wang referenced in Sun’s criminal complaint, Chen said: “You are doing a good job, I hope you can continue the good work, make Chinese people proud.”

Some fear political repercussions for Asian Americans

Not only was the news of her guilty plea like a “slap in the face," the reaction from some community members has also been painful, said Cheng, the acting mayor.

Some residents at a May 19 City Council meeting blamed remaining council members for enabling Wang and called for their resignations.

“I’ve been called more names, been told to go back to China although that’s not where I’m from,” said Cheng, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan at age 2.

For many Arcadia residents and workers, life was as usual the day after the news broke. Many smiled apologetically when asked about the issue, saying they don’t pay attention to politics.

Aliza Mo, who emigrated from China six years ago for her children's education, said she first thought the headlines must be exaggerated.

“A lot of people wondered if it was discrimination," she said.

When she learned what Wang pleaded guilty to, she changed her mind.

“I think it would be improper for anyone to be doing something like that,” she said.

Now, the London-based singer-songwriter is using artificial intelligence tools to help him continue making Americana music after Parkinson's disease largely took away his ability to play guitar.

Smith, who was diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder in 2020, recently released his second album, “The Art of Letting Go.” For one of the eight tracks, an instrumental piece titled “Horizon,” he relied on platforms that use AI to generate music to create demo arrangements that would convey his vision to the musicians who recorded the song.

The demos he created by humming rough melodies into his phone and uploading the recordings into song generators like Suno and Udio weren't for mixing into the final studio version of “Horizon,” Smith stressed. But tremors, stiffness and fatigue, which are common symptoms of Parkinson’s, caused his guitar skills to deteriorate during the more than a year he worked on the album, he said.

“So then I’m faced with a question,” Smith, 49, said. “‘Don’t play, don’t be creative, or find a way out, find a route.’ And for me, this was the route.”

Generative AI has divided the music industry, whose artists and record labels have complained of their copyrighted work being used to train the models behind AI-powered music tools. Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records sued Suno and Udio in June 2024, although Universal later reached a settlement and partnership deal with Udio and Warner did the same with Suno.

Less discussed is what those platforms can do when employed by a serious musician like Smith, whose disease affects the tools central to his songwriting and identity as a guitarist: his hands. He released his debut album, “In the Springtime,” in 2023, saying he wanted to give his two sons a way to remember when he could perform and record music himself.

“I’d always written, I’d also played, I always sung," he said. "And immediately it became clear to me that I was in trouble, that my music was going to be seriously compromised.”

From prompts to convincing demos

AI music generators use systems trained on large datasets of recorded music and audio. The platforms analyze patterns in melody, harmony, and rhythm before generating new audio based on prompts or uploaded recordings. Users don’t need musical talent to end up with a serviceable song, or even a popular one.

Smith said producing convincing demos from the synthetic tracks the apps generated often required “50, 100, 150 attempts” and extensive editing "to get something that sounds close to my music.” After humming a song into his phone and uploading the recording, he gives prompts describing instrumentation, mood and style. .

“AI is not replacing anything for me,” he said. “It’s unlocking, it’s enabling. It’s allowing me to keep writing. I upload my lyrics; AI doesn’t create my lyrics. I upload my music; AI does not create my music.”

He added: “It then brings it to life in a way that I can play to session players and say, ‘Here, that’s what I’m thinking, that is what I’m hearing.’”

A bittersweet guitar duet

The album was produced by Grammy-winning pianist and producer Matt Rollings, who assembled a group of established roots and bluegrass musicians for the project. They included dobro player and 16-time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas, Grammy-winning banjo player Alison Brown, fiddler Stuart Duncan, guitarist Bryan Sutton, bassist Viktor Krauss and singers Jonatha Brooke and Glen Phillips.

For Smith, the experience of singing in a Nashville studio alongside musicians he had admired for decades was "an extraordinary moment.”

Grammy-nominated guitarist Julian Lage, known for his jazz and acoustic recordings with Blue Note Records, performed on the album’s title track and on “Horizon.” The latter recording became a bittersweet high point in Smith's career; despite the progression of his disease, he managed to play a guitar duet with his friend.

“I hadn’t been able to play for months, but I kept telling myself that if I wrote something to take to the studio, perhaps the clouds would part for a few minutes," Smith said. “That’s what happened. I had a window of about 10 minutes in the studio when my arm freed up. ... So in the end, I was able to capture the last breath of my guitar playing.”

New possibilities and perils

Experts said AI-assisted music tools could benefit other people with disabilities or illnesses.

Ruaidhri Mannion, a composer, music producer and sonic artist who teaches at Brunel University of London, said technology like affordable digital recording software "effectively democratized the making of music” in recent decades. By helping songwriters and musicians communicate ideas and collaborate more easily, AI tools that generate polished-sounding material from voice or text prompts could work in the same way, he said.

“If these tools are able to enable people to be able to participate with other creative groups and encourage more people to feel confident to be able to reach out to an ensemble or an orchestra or something, then I think that is all for the better,” Mannion said.

But an overreliance on technology could intefere with the trial and error, frustration and synergy that are necessary parts of a musician's artistic development, Mannion said.

“What makes a lot of music-making meaningful is the collaborative element,” he said. “There’s a lot of experimentation and development and failure that’s part of musical discovery.”

Udio and Suno have denied copyright infringement allegations and said they wanted to work with the music industry, not in opposition to it. Some musicians are unconvinced. A group of recording artists and activists, including singer-songwriter Tift Merritt, David Lowery of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, and ECR Music Group President Blake Morgan, published an open letter in February under the heading “So no to Suno.”

“Many in our community are embracing responsible AI as a tool for creation, and as a means for fans to explore and interact with our artistry. That’s wonderful,” the letter read. “But it’s not the same as creating an environment where AI-generated works sourced from our music are mass distributed to dilute our royalties or, worse yet, reward those actively seeking to commit fraud. Artists need to know the difference.”

‘Show us what you can do’

Smith said he thinks his experience demonstrated how AI could benefit society and expand creative access, if it's developed responsibly.

“My message would be that if these companies want to show they’ve got a place, a role in society, then step up,” Smith said. “Engage with health professionals, engage with music therapists, engage with society and show us what you can do.”

On May 21, Smith collaborated with the Berklee Music and Health Institute for an event in New York that brought together music industry leaders, researchers and clinicians to examine how music can support people living with neurological conditions. Smith discussed his experience living with Parkinson's and sang again alongside musicians who played on “The Art of Letting Go.”

Creating music is crucial to the legacy Smith hopes to leave for his children, ages 4 and 17.

“My 4-year-old is probably never going to remember me playing, and it’s heartbreaking,” he said. “But I’ve been able to pull this into something and refuse to be defined by this disease.”

Ultras, who was 14, spent years working alongside deputies after joining the agency in 2015. During his career, he assisted in numerous arrests and helped keep drugs off the streets, officials said. He retired in 2022.

The constable’s office described Ultras as more than a working dog — a steady partner in the field and a friend to those who handled him. Deputies also shared their appreciation for Deputy Mike Aspras, noting the close partnership the pair built over the years.

As Precinct 4 says goodbye, deputies are honoring Ultras’ contributions and the lasting mark he left on the agency and the community he helped protect.

Some just haven’t decided which of the two state lawmakers in the race fits the bill.

“I am having a lot of trouble,” said Mike Lazere, a 65-year-old Democrat who always votes on Election Day.

State Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls are seeking the nomination for the seat held by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst in the state where Republicans have an advantage but Democrats think they could have a chance.

It means the primary choice carries high stakes for Iowa's Democratic voters, who haven't had many recent examples of successful statewide candidates to help guide their decision. The last Democrat to win federal office statewide was President Barack Obama in 2012. All six members of the federal delegation are Republicans, and the GOP has had a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade. Iowa's most recent Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, was elected to his fifth term in 2008 and retired from office six years later.

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is running for the GOP nomination, and a Republican-aligned political group has already pledged $29 million to defend the seat.

Turek and Wahls say the differences between them are clear, but voters still weighing their options disagree.

“They both have strong legislative records. They both have compelling stories. I think they both share my values,” Lazere said Thursday outside of the Ames public library, where Story County Democrats had just held their monthly meeting.

“Since they’re so close, I just want the candidate who is more likely to have a chance,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle, probably, in Iowa still.”

Turek says he can win independents and GOP voters

At the Des Moines Farmers' Market last weekend, where both candidates waded through the crowds, Sundie Ruppert shouted her support for Turek as he passed by her tent, saying he had her vote.

Ruppert called the race an “embarrassment of riches,” something that’s been rare as of late. She said the two stand for “virtually everything the same,” so for her, it’s a matter of who can win the crossover support to get over the finish line in November.

Turek, a four-time wheelchair basketball Paralympian born with spina bifida, says his story of overcoming adversity and his politics appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters. He represents a state House district that supported President Donald Trump.

Turek said he’s laser-focused on securing a livable wage, health care access and drinkable water, not the culture-war issues that he said Republicans use to distract voters from the core problems they are facing.

“I’m not gonna get dragged down the rabbit hole of worrying about these distraction issues,” Turek said in an interview.

“I think that if we are going to win again in a state like Iowa, it is going be a message of economic populism,” he said. “It is going to be that we as a Democratic Party stand for the workers and for the middle class. That’s the way forward.”

Ruppert said she thinks general election voters are more likely to vote for Turek, even if they “have to hold their nose.”

“We’ve got to get the independents,” she said. “I do believe that Josh in a red district has better pull than Wahls.”

Wahls says he will stand up to leadership in both parties

About 37 miles (60 kilometers) north in Ames on Thursday, Shellie Orngard said she’s heard that logic and doesn’t buy it.

Orngard said both are good people and strong candidates, but Wahls strikes her as “somebody with real character behind his convictions.”

“I think that whether you’re Democrat or Republican or independent, you appreciate authenticity and real values,” Orngard said. “I think Zach Wahls just seems to have the character that I feel he’s the person that I want to put my vote behind.”

Wahls says he's the candidate willing to defy leadership in both parties, and he has criticized Turek for not rejecting Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer as caucus leader.

He says his anti-establishment message is winning back the working-class voters, especially common across eastern Iowa, who supported Obama before they pivoted to Trump.

“We’re not just talking about building a coalition that can win in November, we are already doing it,” he said. “These are voters who are not hardcore MAGA Trump Republicans. A lot of them are just really frustrated with both parties, they don’t trust Washington, they don’t trust the establishment.”

“And what we hear from people all the time is, ‘Even if we don’t agree on every issue, if you are willing to take them on, you’ve got my vote,’” Wahls said.

Iowa will be a tough win for either Democrat

Iowa has shifted considerably since Obama’s win in 2012, voting for Trump in the last three presidential elections. Democrats lag Republicans by roughly 200,000 registered voters statewide.

Rob Sand, state auditor and candidate for governor, was the only Democrat to win statewide in 2022.

Nearly 30,000 Democrats have already cast their ballots as of Friday, according to data from the secretary of state's office. Still, in Ellston on Wednesday, many of the two dozen southwest Iowa Democrats waiting to hear from Turek said they’d rely on a gut feeling.

“As far as I’m concerned, Ashley Hinson has got to be beat,” said Lynne Wallace, a 67-year-old from Mount Ayr. The staunch Democrat said she’d support either candidate in the general election, already eager to make calls and knock on doors, but added that she's got “shaky faith” that either Democrat can pull it off.

Lois Rose, 77, and her 79-year-old husband, John, said at the Des Moines farmers' market that they might not vote in the primary at all since they, so far, hadn't been able to make up their minds on whether one candidate is stronger than the other.

She suggested the pair could also coordinate their votes, each casting a ballot for one of the two. John liked the idea.

“They’re both so qualified,” said Lois Rose of West Des Moines. “They’re both very genuine, hence the difficulty.”

A federal judge in 11th Judicial Circuit received a “private reprimand” after a court investigation found that the judge had sex in the courthouse with a high-ranking uniformed police officer within earshot of staff, attended a partisan event and then initially lied to deny the allegations.

The court's investigation did not publicly identify the judge or the court location within the 11th Circuit's jurisdiction, which includes Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The Justice Department is relying on media reports that identify U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta as the judge in question.

The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the judge’s identity. A person who answered the phone in Ross’ chambers Friday said the judge was unavailable and referred questions about the allegations to the court’s media office which said, “Judge Ross has no comment right now.” The media office did not immediately respond Saturday to a second email seeking comment about the Justice Department motion seeking Ross’ recusal.

Federal judges are appointed for life but can be subject to disciplinary action, including censure, public or private reprimands and temporary withholding of cases. They can only be removed through impeachment by Congress.

Ross was nominated in January 2014 by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and she was confirmed by the Senate in November of that year. She had previously served as a state court judge in DeKalb County, which includes a small part of the city of Atlanta, since 2011. Prior to taking the bench, she had worked as a state and federal prosecutor, mostly in Atlanta, for more than a decade.

The election records fight

Ross is overseeing the election records case filed by the Justice Department against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The Justice Department has sued multiple states seeking statewide voter lists. Raffensperger has said that Georgia law prohibits the release of voters' confidential personal information unless certain qualifications are met and that the federal government hadn't met those conditions. He has said that he sent the public part of the voter roll to the Justice Department in December.

Ross has scheduled a hearing in the case for Wednesday, though the Justice Department has asked to delay that hearing because of its request for the judge to recuse herself.

The judicial discipline case

In the disciplinary case against the unnamed federal judge, the Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit chose in a February order to impose a private reprimand that kept the judge’s name secret. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States on May 22 affirmed that order.

An investigation report attached to the order says the judge went to an event hosted by a district attorney's campaign. The judge acknowledged having gone to the event to visit with former colleagues in the district attorney's office at a private mixer but said it was held in the same place but was separated from the prosecutor's victory party. The investigative committee found that the mixer was part of the larger partisan event that was sponsored by the district attorney's campaign or donors and that the judge should not have attended the event.

Ross previously worked in the Fulton County district attorney's office and overlapped with Willis there before Willis was district attorney.

The 2020 Georgia election case

Willis began investigating Trump and others for possible interference in the 2020 election in Fulton County soon after becoming district attorney in January 2021. Among the things she looked at was a January 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Raffensperger to help “find” the votes needed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's win in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.

Willis in August 2023 obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. That case was ultimately dismissed in November after an appeals court found an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship Willis had with the outside lawyer she had hired to lead the prosecution.

The Justice Department's arguments

“A judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President's efforts to ensure election integrity,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in their filing Friday.

The Justice Department argued that any “objective reasonable observer” would see Ross' presence at Willis' election night party as an endorsement of her election and her actions in office.

“If Judge Ross is indeed the Subject Judge, that conduct gives rise to an appearance of bias, which requires Judge Ross to recuse herself from this election-related case,” the Justice Department filing says.

The Justice Department filing makes passing mention of the allegations of improper sexual activity with a police officer in the judge's chambers and the subsequent false statements the judge made to deny those allegations, but says “those are not the subject of this Motion.”

Separately, the Atlanta Police Department has said it has opened an investigation to determine whether the “high-ranking law enforcement officer” found to have had sex with a federal judge in the judge’s chambers is a member of their department.

Lao and Thai rescue groups posted about the successful operation on social media, along with photos of the men lying on stretchers, wearing oxygen masks and being wrapped in foil blankets.

The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.

Lao organization Rescue Volunteer for People said on its Facebook page that the water level inside the cave receded low enough for them to leave with divers who had gone in to deliver food and water. They said they will continue their search for the two who remain missing.

A video posted online by a Thai rescuer at the scene, Chakkit Taengtang, showed the men being assisted one by one out of the cave's entrance, bodies covered in mud. After they got out, some collapsed on the ground and were hugged by a group of rescuers who cried in joy.

The first of the trapped group was safely evacuated on Friday. According to rescuers, that operation took about 30 minutes. Videos showed the moment he emerged from the water alongside a diver, catching his breath before struggling to crawl through a narrow, flooded passage and rising unsteadily to his feet.

The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.

Five of them were found alive Wednesday. They were identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing and Laen.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand were joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues. Indonesian, French and Australian specialists also reportedly arrived at the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane.

Several of them had taken part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach.

Rescuers are also preparing to search for the two villagers who remain missing.

Kengkaj Bongkawong, head of the Thai rescue group Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin, said Friday that the team plans to explore an area deeper inside the cave, about 20 to 25 meters (yards) beyond where the survivors were found. However, he cautioned that the section is heavily flooded.

Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region said falling drone debris sparked a fire that damaged an oil depot and tanker in the port of Taganrog, while officials in the neighboring Krasnodar region reported a fire breaking out at an oil depot in Armavir for the same reason.

“Another facility of Russia’s oil industry has been reached — Armavir,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, referring to the Krasnodar attack, and noting that Armavir is “500 kilometers from our state border.”

“We are rightfully bringing the war back to where it came from,” he wrote.

Ukraine has expanded its mid- and long-range strike capabilities, deploying drone and missile technology that it has developed domestically to battle Russia’s 4-year-old invasion. Attacks on Russian oil assets that play a key part in funding the invasion have become almost daily occurrences.

For its part, Russia has used its long-range ballistic missiles to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer its cities. The Ukrainian capital is bracing for further heavy bombardments after what the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week would be upcoming “systemic strikes” on Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that he’s being “very persistent” in pressing the United States to provide his country with more Patriot air defense missiles that can counter devastating Russian ballistic missile attacks.

The attacks on Russian oil infrastructure came a day after a Russian drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine struck an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people in the NATO member country. The incursion added to concerns that the war could spread across the alliance’s borders, and drew strong condemnation across Europe.

Meanwhile, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom said Saturday that a ​Ukrainian drone struck the Russian-controlled ‌Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

There was no damage to key equipment, but the attack left a hole in the ​wall of a turbine hall, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said. He was quoted as saying by Russian state media that the fact that the drone was controlled via fiber optics “completely rules out the possibility of an accidental impact.”

Ukraine did not immediately comment on the incident.

The plant is in an area under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest.

___

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

Southern Jerks | 2950 Gears Rd., Houston

Chris first step is an unexpected find tucked inside a Speedy Mart on Gears Road. That’s where Southern Jerks has quietly built a devoted following thanks to its Caribbean-inspired fried chicken and house-made sauces.

Owners Jabril and Jordan Riddick draw inspiration from their Virgin Islands heritage, creating what they describe as Caribbean fried chicken rather than traditional Jamaican jerk. The result is a flavor profile that’s savory, slightly sweet and incredibly approachable.

• PREVIOUS EPISODE: ‘Eat Like a Local’ finds top Houston area spots for dumplings, kebabs, and Yemeni-Mexican Pastries

Everything is made in-house, from the mac and cheese sauce and dirty rice to the hot sauces and the fan-favorite Golden Ranch, a curry-based sauce that quickly became one of Chris’ favorites.

The menu offers plenty of options, including wings, tenders, sandwiches and even burgers, all seasoned with the restaurant’s signature Caribbean influence.

Captain Mc’s Seafood |5055 Griggs Rd., Houston

Next, Chris headed to Captain Mc’s Seafood on Griggs Road, where owner and commercial fisherman Fred McBride is taking local seafood sourcing to another level.

Before opening the restaurant, McBride spent years supplying some of Houston’s top chefs with Gulf seafood. Now he’s bringing that same product directly to his own customers. The concept is simple: if it’s on the menu, Fred either caught it himself or sourced it from local Gulf fishermen.

• Watch “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd” Saturday at 10 a.m. on KPRC and KPRC 2+

Black drum, blue crab and Gulf shrimp are the backbone of the operation. While most restaurants buy pre-picked crab meat, McBride and his team process their own fresh caught blue crabs, creating crab cakes and fried crab fingers.

One of the restaurant’s most unique features is a QR code that allows guests to watch videos of the fish and seafood being caught, creating a direct connection between the water and the plate. For Chris, that’s what makes Captain Mc’s special is that it’s full circle - you know exactly who caught it and how it got to your plate.

Fountain View Fish Market | 2912 Fountain View, Houston

The final stop brought Chris to one of Houston’s longtime seafood institutions: Fountain View Fish Market. The no-frills restaurant has been serving Houstonians since the 1970s and remains one of Chris’ favorite places for fried seafood.

From the outside, it’s easy to miss. The sign simply reads “Fish Market.” Inside, however, you’ll find some of the city’s most consistently excellent fried Gulf seafood. Using locally sourced shrimp, oysters, crab and fish, the kitchen has mastered a frying technique that produces seafood that’s crispy, light and never greasy.

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Season 3 of “Eat Like a Local”

• SEASON 3, EPISODE 56: Season 3 of ‘Eat Like a Local’ launches with chefs recognized by the James Beard Awards
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 57: Beer + Bites: Discover two of the Houston-area’s best craft breweries
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 58: Hungry for a short trip? 4 flavorful restaurants to try in Baytown
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 59: Not your typical Chinese takeout! Houston’s regional Chinese restaurants serve up authenticity in every bite
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 60: From tortas to paletas: Generations of Mexican-American flavor in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 61: Farmed Fresh: Gulf Coast oysters make waves in Houston restaurants
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 62: Houston’s pizza scene is rising: Chris Shepherd explores top spots for every style
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 63: ‘Fine casual’ dining with killer cocktails | Go inside Brennan’s renovated courtyard bar in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 64: Houston eateries transform healthy dining with vibrant flavors and customizable meals everyone will love
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 65: These Greek family restaurants became Houston icons | Hear the stories behind Christie’s and Cleburne Cafeteria
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 66: Classic dishes are taken to new levels at these Houston restaurants | What to order at State of Grace & Credence
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 67: Discover Houston Asiatown’s unique snacks with Chris Shepherd
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 68: ‘Eat Like a Local’ explores Jūn’s cultural fusion and Latuli’s coastal cuisine in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 69: Chris Shepherd’s Houston-area burger picks include a hot new spot and a 50-year classic
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 70: MEET THE PITMASTERS 🔥 ‘Eat Like a Local’ gets to know the teams behind CorkScrew BBQ & Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 71: Win the Hosting Game! 🏈 Game Day recipes & crowd-pleasers from Chef Chris Shepherd
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 72: These meat markets are a cut above when it comes to quality, flavor, and tradition
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 73: ‘Top Chef’ finalist says this spot has the best corn dogs at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 74: Houston coffee gems (Matcha lovers, this one’s for you)
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 75: Craving Cajun food in Houston? These restaurants deliver big variety and flavor
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 76: Where to eat in Houston’s Heights neighborhood | Chris Shepherd visits 3 top picks
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 77: Chris Shepherd shares two of his favorite Houston-area spots for a great meal with friends
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 78: Every stop Chris Shepherd hits in this no-theme episode of ‘Eat Like a Local’
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 79: ‘Eat Like a Local’ finds top Houston area spots for dumplings, kebabs, and Yemeni-Mexican Pastries
• Watch seasons 1 & 2 of “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd”

Speaking to a group of world leaders, diplomats and top security officials at the Shangri-La defense conference in Singapore, Hegseth said that the region “has profound implications for U.S. security and prosperity” and that Washington's priority was to “achieve a lasting and favorable balance of power in the Pacific.”

It was his second time addressing the forum, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Last year, he raised the ire of Beijing by warning of rapidly developing threats from China, particularly its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. He said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan, it’s “actively training for it, every day.”

This year, however, the meeting comes only about two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump visited Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, following which Trump called Xi a “great leader” and said that they were going to have a “fantastic future together.”

Hegseth says China won't be allowed to dominate the region

Hegseth, who was with Trump in Beijing, said the two leaders had agreed that China and the U.S. should “build a constructive relationship of strategic stability, based on fairness and reciprocity, reaffirming that while our nations will vigorously protect our respective interests, we can secure practical, mutually beneficial agreements where our interests align.”

However, he said it was still an American priority to ensure that China is not allowed to dominate the Indo-Pacific.

“There is rightful alarm regarding China’s historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,” he said.

"We share a clear-eyed assessment of that security environment and a mutual understanding that a Pacific dominated by any hegemon would unravel the regional balance of power and undermine the equilibrium we all seek to preserve.”

Later in the day, Chinese Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing praised Hegseth's remarks about the meeting between Xi and Trump, saying the consensus the leaders reached “should provide strategic guidance for China-U.S. relations over the next three years and beyond.”

“During his meeting with President Trump, President Xi Jinping made it clear that such constructive strategic stability should be a positive form of stability centered on cooperation, a healthy form of stability in which competition remains within reasonable bounds, a normal state of stability in which differences are managed and kept under control, and a lasting form of stability that offers the prospect of peace,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, part of a congressional delegation to the conference, accused the Trump administration of “cozying up” to China.

“I worry that this administration is being distracted into wars that they’ve started in other parts of the world at the expense of our commitment here in the Indo-Pacific,” the Illinois Democrat told reporters on the sidelines.

“I am concerned that it seems like our president is entering into, you know, policies where he’s doing what Beijing wants him to do,” she added.

After the meetings between Xi and Trump, the American president raised questions about Washington’s willingness to defend Taiwan, calling a new $14 billion arms package that he has yet to greenlight “a very good negotiating chip for us” with China.

China claims the democratic self-governing island as its own, and Xi has not ruled out using force to take it. The U.S. is required by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though follows a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily if China were to attack the island.

Hegseth told the forum that there was “no change in our status” toward Taiwan, but would not comment on the arms deal.

“Any decision about future Taiwan arms sales, as the president said, will rest with him,” he said.

US praises countries that spent more on defense

He underscored the Trump administration's insistence that allies increase defense spending, saying “we need partners, not protectorates.”

He lauded several countries in Asia for their efforts, while reiterating criticism of European allies, without naming names, who he suggested got “distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order.”

“Our partners in Asia have long understood that the bedrock of a durable partnership is not based on idealistic values but on the concrete alignment of national interests,” he said.

“When our interests diverge, we adjust pragmatically, without the drama or the moralizing,” he added. “I think Western Europe might take note — this is a mindset we fully embrace.”

Hegseth did not mention either the war in Ukraine or Iran war in his speech. When asked about Iran, he only said that Trump had assured him that when negotiations with Tehran had concluded, “any deal will be a good deal.”

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, whose country was among those Hegseth praised for increased military spending, said that while the international rules-based order is not perfect, the “task before us, all of us, including the great powers, is the renovation of that order, not its dismemberment.”

“When the rules apply, smaller states have agency,” Marles said in a speech that followed Hegseth's. “When the rules yield to power, sovereignty becomes, as others have put it, the purview of the powerful, and no state in this room today, whatever its size, is well served by that outcome.”

UK, US and Australia announce new undersea drone initiative

At an event held outside the conference, Hegseth, Marles and British Defense Secretary John Healey announced a new initiative in their AUKUS partnership, whose primary focus has been the development and construction of nuclear-powered submarines.

Under the so-called second pillar of AUKUS, the three said they would together invest in the development of improved capabilities for underwater drones.

“Together we produce a range of cutting-edge sensors or weapons systems for undersea drones,” Healey said, adding it will help detect threats including to underwater cables and pipelines.

Deputies with Constable Mark Herman’s Office say they have located 6-year-old Kiara Hsieh safe in La Marque, Texas, following what the agency described as a rapid response and diligent investigation.

Kiara is being evaluated by EMS as a precaution and is expected to be reunited with her mother.

Deputies also took James Dean Ramirez — described as the mother’s ex-boyfriend and not the child’s biological father — into custody.

The Amber Alert has been canceled.

“Outstanding work by our Special Operations Unit, Special Victims Unit Investigators, law enforcement partners, and everyone involved in bringing this case to a safe resolution,” Herman said.

The case remains an active investigation.

ORIGINAL REPORT

DICKINSON, Texas - Authorities are investigating the abduction of 6-year-old Kiara Hsieh, according to the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a local Amber Alert at 5:50 a.m. on Saturday. Authorities said Kiara was last seen around 6:39 p.m. on Friday in the 12300 block of 2nd Street in Dickinson in Galveston County.

The Amber Alert notes Kiara is 4 feet 8 inches tall, 60 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Ramirez is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 138 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Investigators have filed kidnapping charges against James Dean Ramirez, 36, after he allegedly failed to return Kiara to her mother, deputies said. Officials added Ramirez is not the child’s biological father.

Ramirez was last known to be in the Galveston area and may be driving a brown 2012 Ford Explorer with Texas license plate SVM5598, authorities said.

Constable Mark Herman said the agency’s Special Victims Unit is actively working the case alongside federal partners.

“We are urging anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Kiara Hsieh or James Dean Ramirez to immediately contact 911 or their local law enforcement agency,” Herman said in a statement.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911. The point of contact listed in the alert is the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 4 at (281) 376-3472.

The Faculty Senate survey found about half of respondents said they changed course content on their own because of concerns about the memos from system leaders, while roughly a quarter said administrators or other university personnel asked them to.

More than half of the 367 respondents noted they were looking for jobs elsewhere because of the restrictions that started trickling down in the fall semester.

The findings complicate the picture Texas Tech System administrators presented this spring, when they said fewer than 60 of the more than 14,000 courses offered across the system’s five universities were recommended for changes after review.

The two counts measure different things. Administrators counted formal review outcomes across the system. The Faculty Senate tried to capture changes professors at the flagship campus in Lubbock said they made or were asked to make.

“We really just want to capture for posterity what’s going on here,” said Alan Barenberg, chair of the Faculty Senate committee who drafted and sent the survey, “because it may be that we can’t change or affect the outcome of things, but people ought to know what took place here.”

Chancellor Brandon Creighton has said the restrictions are meant to comply with state and federal law and to ensure students receive “degrees of value,” which he has described as degrees that prepare students for high-demand jobs with strong pay.

Erin Wilson, Creighton’s spokesperson, pushed back on the survey’s significance, saying the system relies on “sound methodology and representative data, not self-selected samples.”

“For that reason, Chancellor Creighton places greater weight on the findings of the course content review process,” Wilson said in a statement late Friday, referring to administrators’ systemwide review. “The facts simply do not support the notion that academic freedom and accountability cannot coexist.”

In September, then-Chancellor Tedd Mitchell told university presidents that faculty must comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, a letter from Gov. Greg Abbott and a new state law, all recognizing only two sexes. Mitchell directed faculty to review course materials, curricula and syllabi and make adjustments where needed.

After Creighton took over in November, he went further, telling faculty in December to submit course content related to gender identity and sexual orientation for review by the system’s regents. He barred faculty from promoting certain concepts related to race and sex, including that one race or sex is inherently superior to another or that people bear responsibility for actions committed by others of the same race or sex.

In April, Creighton issued the most sweeping memo yet, ordering the system’s universities to begin phasing out academic programs centered on sexual orientation and gender identity; barring that content from core and lower-level undergraduate courses while limiting it in upper-level courses; and restricting future graduate theses and dissertation centered on those topics.

Barenberg acknowledged the survey, conducted in May, was not scientific. However, faculty senators had limited options after university officials denied their request to email it to all faculty, he added.

The Faculty Senate posted the survey on its website and put it behind a password-protected login so only people with Texas Tech credentials could access it. Faculty could respond anonymously, he said.

Texas Tech University had 2,157 faculty as of the fall semester, the latest data available. The report noted the survey received more responses than Texas Tech’s annual IT satisfaction survey, which drew 237 faculty responses last year.

“You can say it’s not representative, fine, but I think it speaks very loudly,” Barenberg said.

The survey showed the memos hit some colleges harder than others.

Respondents from the colleges of education, media and communication, and visual and performing arts reported higher levels of changing teaching material on their own than faculty overall. Engineering faculty reported the fewest changes.

Meanwhile, about 18% of responding faculty said they changed their research because of the memos, while 7% said administrators asked them to change their research.

Earlier this month, administrators from the provost’s office met with departments and handed out written feedback from the regents’ academic, clinical and student affairs committee, multiple professors told The Texas Tribune.

In his department meeting, Barenberg said faculty were told the feedback was generated by an artificial intelligence tool. He said that tool flagged readings from his graduate seminar on European historiography, including one week focused on how historians have studied gender and sexuality.

Barenberg said the AI tool also generated feedback that mischaracterized at least one reading and initially appeared to include instructions meant for another course. After he asked the provost’s office for clarification, he said he received a corrected form telling him to teach the course without those readings. He said he was told he could not appeal the decision.

Barenberg said he is not scheduled to teach the course again in the fall. But if he teaches it again, he said he would not follow the directive.

“I’m ethically bound by my discipline to teach history to the best of my ability, and that includes not censoring particular texts because of someone’s political preferences,” Barenberg said.

In her statement, Wilson encouraged faculty concerned about a particular course to utilize the established review process.

“The fact simply do not support the notion that academic freedom and accountability cannot coexist,” she said. “At Texas Tech, they do.”

Before becoming chancellor, Creighton was a Republican state senator. He authored Senate Bill 37, which aimed to limit faculty senates roles on campuses and gave governor-appointed regents more authority over curriculum.

Texas Tech’s Faculty Senate was never especially powerful and typically worked cooperatively with administrators, Barenberg said. But the law forced the university’s senate to reorganize. And the April memo changed the mood on campus from fear to anger, he said.

Now, the Faculty Senate is using its limited advisory role to formally condemn Creighton’s latest memo.

In a resolution also passed this month, faculty senators said Creighton’s April memo would harm Texas Tech, limit what students can learn and impose viewpoint discrimination on students, staff and faculty. They also warned the chancellor’s directives infringe on free inquiry and set a precedent for political interference in academic matters.

Other Texas university leaders also have moved to restrict or reorganize programs and courses tied to race, gender and sexuality.

Texas A&M University System regents barred professors at its 12 universities from advocating for race or gender ideology or bringing up topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity unless a university president approves it in a specific, non-core or graduate course after review. Texas A&M University officials in College Station later eliminated its women’s and gender studies program and canceled or revised courses after reviewing thousands of syllabi.

University of Texas System regents passed a rule requiring its 14 universities to ensure students can graduate without taking courses that include “unnecessary controversial subjects.” The rule says instructors must take a “broad and balanced approach” when courses include controversial issues, but it does not define what that means. UT-Austin is consolidating seven ethnic and gender studies departments.

At Texas Tech, presidents have until June 15 to identify academic programs, majors, minors and certificates centered on sexual orientation and gender identity. Creighton has said universities must then freeze admissions to those programs while current students are allowed to finish their degrees.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Fenway Sports Group, the club’s American ownership, said it made a “difficult” decision after Liverpool finished fifth and trophy-less in a disappointing title defense.

“We have collectively come to the conclusion that change is necessary in order for the club to keep moving forward,” the ownership said in a statement. “Again, it must be stressed that this is not a decision which has been reached lightly, anything but.”

Slot replaced club icon Jurgen Klopp in the summer of 2024 and led Liverpool to a record-tying 20th English league title.

Liverpool spent an unprecedented $570 million to strengthen the squad for his second season but most of the expensive signings, including Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and injury-hit striker Alexander Isak, underwhelmed.

The club also was affected by the death of Portugal forward Diogo Jota last summer.

A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that the decision did “not sit easily” with Liverpool and “on a human level” did not “feel entirely fair."

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the club had already issued a public statement.

The person said it was increasingly inevitable that a change of coach was required and it was better to act sooner to avoid disrupting preparations for next season.

The process to assess Slot’s replacement has begun, with Liverpool seeking a manager who will play a more “aggressive and urgent” style of soccer. Andoni Iraola, the Spanish coach who left Bournemouth at the end of this season, would fit that description and is the frontrunner to come in.

Slot, 47, appears to have paid the price for failing to emulate a debut campaign that exceeded expectations.

Filling the boots of a club icon was always going to be an arduous task. So, for the Dutchman to match Klopp's one Premier League title at the first time of asking was a remarkable feat and emulated the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte by being crowned champion in his first year in the league.

While a fifth-place finish that secured Champions League qualification does not represent a terrible campaign, Liverpool's slump in form was notable and prompted boos from fans.

A public fallout with the legendary winger Mohamed Salah did not help either.

Slot was adamant there would be an improvement in the third and final year of his contract, but Liverpool's hierarchy was unconvinced.

“That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying,” the club statement said. “The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC in the time that he has been with us has been significant, meaningful and — most importantly of all to supporters and ourselves — successful.

“As such, our appreciation for everything he has achieved could not be greater, particularly as it was underpinned by a work ethic, a diligence and a level of expertise which further underlined our view that he is a leader in his field.”

Liverpool joins Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea as another top English team to make a coaching change ahead of next season.

Michael Carrick has been given a long-term deal to replace the fired Ruben Amorim at United and Pep Guardiola has left City after 10 trophy-laden years, with Enzo Maresca favorite to take over. Chelsea has appointed former Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso.

___

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

Constable Ryan Gable’s Criminal Investigations Division said the case was opened in May 2026 after detectives learned Alexander Marban allegedly altered the images by removing clothing and pairing the minors’ faces with nude bodies from the neck down. Investigators said they later obtained a search warrant and went to Marban’s residence on May 28, where multiple devices were seized for forensic review.

• 20-year-old man killed in northeast Harris County shooting; teenage girlfriend may have been involved, deputies say

After analyzing the devices, detectives said they developed probable cause to believe Marban created the images with the intent to possess child sexual assault material (CSAM). Marban was arrested at his home and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography, a second-degree felony, along with one count of methamphetamine possession, a state jail felony.

The investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to identify additional victims.

Anyone with information is asked to call (281) 364-4211 and request to speak with a detective, or submit a tip online through the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office website.

“Camp East Montana is nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe,” Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment that the Trump administration has inflicted on our clients.”

The Texas Tribune has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Filed by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun + Martel, the federal lawsuit comes less than a year after the opening of the sprawling tent camp.

In that time, the facility has seen at least three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak and nearly 50 detention standards violations as reported by ICE’s own inspectors, prompting calls for the camp’s closure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers.

The civil rights groups behind the lawsuit also alleged in a December letter that detained immigrants were subject to medical neglect, physical and sexual abuse by officers, insufficient food and denial of meaningful access to attorneys. In March, ICE switched out the facility’s prime operator for a more experienced contractor, saying the agency would “work closely with them” to improve services, including higher standards of medical care. Still, in a subsequent letter to ICE dated May 22, the groups said the situation “continued to deteriorate” and outlined additional complaints such as hazardous dust exposure.

Friday’s lawsuit argues that conditions at the facility are “unconstitutional punishment” and violate detainees’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. 

“These conditions are longstanding, pervasive, and well documented, and Defendants’ continued inaction in the face of known risks shows their deliberate indifference — not mere negligence — to detainees’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit said.

The petition, filed on behalf of four detainees, is also seeking approval to proceed as a class action to cover all those who are currently or will be detained in Camp East Montana.

One of the plaintiffs is Gerald Akari Angye, a detained immigrant who called the conditions at the camp “inhumane and cruel.”

Prior to this lawsuit, the 35-year-old man had filed a petition in January seeking release from ICE detention. According to the filing, Angye was a high school teacher in Cameroon but fled after being kidnapped and tortured amid a separatist conflict. He sought asylum after crossing through a New Mexico port of entry in December 2024. An immigration judge later denied his application, and Angye appealed.

In a statement provided by the civil rights groups, Angye said he had been beaten at Camp East Montana and never thought he would face “such severely violent treatments” in the United States. He was also placed into solitary confinement for 15 days, according to the lawsuit.

“No one deserves such cruel treatment,” he said. “We are all humans and deserve to be treated like it.”

Camp East Montana, first opened in August 2025, is located on Fort Bliss U.S. Army base.

Expected to ultimately reach a 5,000-bed capacity, the camp had a daily average of more than 2,500 detainees as of April 2, according to the most recent public data from ICE. The facility has also held the largest number of detained immigrants thus far in fiscal year 2026, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found.

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

"What’s the word?” Steve McCabe, an 80-year-old retired lawyer, asked Jon Bramnick, a GOP state senator.

Bramnick had no answer for Kean's unexplained medical absence that has stretched over nearly three months. But he told the audience how Kean hated to miss votes when they served together in the Legislature, even if that meant driving through a snowstorm.

“I said, ‘Tom, we should really turn around,’” he recalled.

Now Kean has missed more than 100 votes in Congress, and he has not been spotted in Washington or in his district. It is a political mystery with potentially national consequences: Kean represents a district that is among Democrats' top targets as they try to retake control of Congress.

Kean's office insists he is still running for reelection. He is not facing any challengers in Tuesday's primary while several Democrats are running for their party's nomination.

Harrison Neely, Kean’s campaign consultant, said the congressman was dealing with a medical emergency. He promised that Kean would be transparent about the issue and would return to a full schedule “very soon.”

“This was an emergency, you don’t get to plan these,” Neely said. “There’s no good timing for this.”

To Bramnick, it seems like it must be something serious.

“For him not to be there, that’s a big deal," he said.

‘We're expecting him back here soon’

Kean represents the 7th Congressional District, a mix of suburbs and small towns. It includes President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course.

Despite being redrawn after the most recent census in 2021 to become more favorable to Republicans, the district has seesawed between the parties in each of the last two midterm elections. Republican Leonard Lance lost to Democrat Tom Malinowski in 2018. Malinowski lost to Kean in 2022.

Kean's last vote in the House was March 5. Since then his absence has drawn escalating attention.

“We’re expecting him back here soon," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recently. “He’s going to be fully transparent."

Kean comes from a storied political family. His father served as governor. An ancestor was New Jersey’s first leader after the United States declared independence.

The New Jersey Globe, a local political website, said it received a call from Kean this month. He did not explain his condition, only that “my doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery.”

McCabe, the voter who asked Bramnick about Kean, said he wanted an update after reading the news about the congressman's absence.

“I hope he’s not sick,” he said.

What if Kean steps down?

Bruce Paterson, a 75-year-old retired engineer from Garwood, described himself as a “regular Democrat, not like the crazy Democrats they have today.” He attended the town hall with Bramnick and plans to support Kean in the general election.

“I hope he comes back,” he said. “I mean, will I vote for him? Probably only because we need a nice balance" in a state otherwise dominated by Democrats.

Another voter asked Bramnick if Kean steps down after Tuesday’s primary whether he would accept the Republican nomination for the 7th District. If that were to happen, party leaders in the district's counties would hold a convention to choose a replacement.

Bramnick repeatedly noted Kean is running for reelection and questioned whether his own candidacy would be a good fit in today's Republican Party. While Bramnick has criticized Trump, including during Bramnick's failed campaign for governor last year, Kean has embraced the president and features his endorsement prominently on social media accounts.

“I’m not considered the biggest fan of Donald Trump,” Bramnick said. “I don’t think that the Republican Party is interested in sending someone to Washington that may vote yes or no depending on how I feel about the issue.”

Democrats are waiting in the wings

Some Democrats running in the primary have criticized Kean over the failure to tell constituents about what is going on.

“Tom Kean disappeared from the job,” said Michael Roth, a former Small Business Administration official.

Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy pilot also in the race, wished Kean a speedy recovery but criticized his record in Congress, including the battle over money for a new railway tunnel connecting New Jersey with New York City.

“He was nowhere to be found when funding got cut for the Gateway Tunnel, which is a critical infrastructure project in our district,” she said.

Candidates Tina Shah, an intensive care unit doctor, and Brian Varela, a marketing agency founder, have also been critical of Kean during debates.

Kean, who has a cash advantage at this point over his potential Democratic opponents, still has time before the November election to connect with voters, said Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship.

“The issue is not going to be that he was out for a hundred plus votes in the spring,” he said. “The question is really, how effective is he going to get once he returns?”

Yet even after interviews with some of the highest-ranked officials to ever appear before a congressional investigation, including a former president, lawmakers have little to show in terms of criminal culpability for Epstein’s crimes or a definitive acknowledgment of government failure.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who sponsored legislation to force the release of case files on Epstein, told The Associated Press he is still asking, “Why there has not been a single investigation of people who have allegedly abused or committed financial crimes?”

Lawmakers hoped to get some answers to those questions during a transcribed interview Friday with Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump's former attorney general who oversaw the release of the files.

But the interview left Democrats fuming at Bondi's decision to defend the Trump administration's handling of that material, as well as her refusal to answer questions about the Republican president's involvement. Democratic lawmakers also singled out Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, saying he has allowed administration officials to dodge tough questions from Congress.

For survivors of Epstein's abuse, including several who traveled to Washington to confront Bondi, it was a frustrating development at a time when many are weary of pleading their case before government officials. They say the Department of Justice's chaotic release of the files, which included nude photos and personal information of potential victims, has only added to a wider failure by the criminal justice system to believe or protect them.

“The government’s refusal to acknowledge the failures that were there have led to so much harm,” said Annie Farmer. “And I think whenever you’re thinking about things from a perspective of justice or healing, without acknowledgment, it’s really hard to move forward.”

Push for accountability scrambled political lines

The committee's investigation has been remarkably bipartisan at many moments, with Democrats and Republicans joining to issue subpoenas and force witness testimony. Besides Bondi, lawmakers have interviewed former Democratic President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.

That effort shows lawmakers are willing to cross political lines when there is overwhelming public pressure to act. Dozens of women have accused Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, of sexual abuse and rape, including in the years after he reached a deal with federal prosecutors in 2008 to dispose of a federal investigation in exchange for pleading guilty to state level sex offense charges in Florida.

Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges, was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.

His case has captured the public imagination as an example of how the rich and powerful escape accountability for wrongdoing. Lawmakers took up the cause last year after the administration failed to meet promises to provide transparency on the case.

Different continents, different standards?

Despite the investigation originating in the United States, the reckoning over Epstein has been relatively mild in the country compared with Europe. There, senior figures in governments including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Slovakia have all been forced to step down over their ties to Epstein.

In its investigation, the House committee spoke to some of Epstein’s closest associates, including his former financial client Les Wexner, his lawyer Darren Indyke and his accountant Richard Kahn. The Clintons, Lutnick and others were also called to testify.

All have said more or less the same thing: They knew nothing about Epstein abusing underage girls.

Still, the release of Epstein files has had consequences. At least eight American academic and business figures have been forced from positions of power, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers from teaching at Harvard University and Kathy Ruemmler from her post as the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs.

Bank of America and Epstein’s estate have reached multimillion-dollar settlements with women who have accused the institutions of facilitating Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations.

Comer, R-Ky., said last week that the names of three people allegedly involved in abuse had come up in an interview with Epstein’s former personal assistant, Sarah Kellen. The congresswoman plans to interview six more people with connections to Epstein in the coming weeks, including billionaire Bill Gates, private equity investor Leon Black, the former CEO of Barclays Bank Jes Staley and Ruemmler.

“The government has failed the survivors. There’s no doubt about that," Comer said, adding, "What we’re trying to do is connect all the dots and see if there is a way to hold people accountable.”

But it has stung lawmakers to see a reckoning over Epstein for figures such as Britain’s former Prince Andrew at time when the administration has tried repeatedly to move past the issue.

“A prince has been taken down and here in the United States, our Department of Justice, which is sitting on millions of files, is refusing to act,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., pointing to unreleased case files that the Justice Department is withholding on the grounds that they are duplicative or illegal to make public.

“That is not a failure, that is a choice,” Stansbury said.

Survivors and Democratic lawmakers have also taken issue with the administration's decision to move Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend, to a minimum-security prison camp. She is serving a 20-year sentence for luring teenage girls for Epstein to abuse.

Will survivors be heard?

Scattered across the country and busy with lives of their own, survivors of Epstein's abuse have made repeated trips to Washington to push for government action. After years of fighting in court and sharing traumatic stories privately, they have become increasingly outspoken in their quest for accountability.

“It is very taxing to be continually focused on this case,” Farmer said. She added that even if the government's response has not met her hopes, she has seen a wider cultural movement to address sexual predation.

To Marina Lacerda, another survivor, “Accountability is kind of hard right now. But we are looking for saving the next generation."

But they also want the administration to listen to their stories. Pressing for the president's ear, several victims spoke this month at a hearing just miles away from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that was organized by Democrats on the House committee.

For some of the survivors, the return to South Florida was also an opportunity to finally be heard. Jena-Lisa Jones told the panel that she was 14 years old when she was abused by Epstein in Palm Beach.

She implored the lawmakers: “Find a way to bring closure to the story of Jeffrey Epstein to allow survivors and this country to finally begin to move forward so that one day, and I pray soon, Jeffrey Epstein’s name is no longer something we are forced to hear every single day.”

He'll do it for a 10% cut of any award, capped at $5,000 apiece.

“I think the narrative is changing” about how the history of that day is being told, Johnston said in a video he posted to social media. “I think good things are happening for us.”

Hundreds of Trump loyalists pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol, admitting under oath that they broke the law. Now pardoned by Trump, many hope to capitalize on their crimes by tapping into the $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate the Republican president's allies who believe they were politically prosecuted.

A bipartisan backlash to the fund and a legal roadblock have not dimmed the celebratory response from Jan. 6 rioters clamoring for a share of the taxpayer money. Some are staking claims even though the government has not established an application process and a judge has frozen the fund's formation, at least temporarily.

Rioters seek compensation payouts

The fund's critics see it as another vehicle for Trump and his allies to whitewash the events of Jan. 6, retroactively justify the mob's assault on a pillar of American democracy and reward some of Trump's most loyal followers.

Jason Riddle, a military veteran from New Hampshire who was sentenced to 90 days behind bars after pleading guilty to riot charges, publicly rejected a pardon from Trump. Likewise, he said it would be “ridiculous” for him or any other Jan. 6 rioter to get government compensation.

“I'd love money, but I can’t accept that. That would bother me for the rest of my life,” he said. "We weren't innocently persecuted just because of who we are or who we vote for. We were persecuted for committing criminal behavior in the Capitol of the United States."

Plenty of other “J6ers” do not share Riddle's reluctance.

A Florida man who posed for photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium argued on social media that he deserves to be compensated for the cost of his infamy. A rioter from New Jersey described by prosecutors as a Nazi sympathizer hailed the fund as “good news not just for J6ers but all victims of weaponization.” A Texas man who received a seven-year prison sentence for storming the Capitol with a metal tomahawk celebrated the fund as “payback” for “victims of Biden’s tyranny,” referring to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Oregon resident Pamela Hemphill, sentenced to 60 days in jail for her conviction, rejected a pardon from Trump but has drafted a written claim for compensation from the fund. Unlike scores of rioters who claim to be victims of a government weaponized by Democrats, Hemphill blames Trump for her legal troubles. Her claims letter says she is seeking $5 million in compensation.

“I wouldn't have been through all of this if Trump hadn't lied about the election being stolen," she said during a telephone interview. "It's a direct result of his lies that I was even there that day.”

Fund faces legal and political challenges

It is an open question whether anyone convicted of a Capitol riot-related crime could be eligible for payments from a fund created to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that possibility. Blanche said there are no limits on who can apply, but he noted that the fund’s five commissioners — all yet to be named — will decide who deserves to be compensated and why, based on factors such as “what the person did, his sentence, how much time he was in jail.”

“That's up to the commissioners,” Blanche told The Associated Press on Thursday when asked about his position on whether violent Jan. 6 defendants should be eligible for payments.

“You have to define something and then stick to it. That’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do, because it’s very fact-intensive,” Blanche said. ”Me sitting here and talking in hypotheticals is something that I don’t think is fair to the process.”

It is unclear whether Congress would block payments to Jan. 6 defendants. Senate Republicans who are angry about the settlement have said they want to place parameters on the fund as part of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill. They abruptly left town earlier this month after a tense meeting with Blanche and will return on Monday with the situation unresolved.

A federal judge in Virginia has frozen the fund's establishment and temporarily blocked any processing or paying of claims. The judge issued that ruling Friday in one of at least three lawsuits challenging the fund.

Brendan Ballou, a former prosecutor who tried several Jan. 6 cases before leaving the Department of Justice last year, sued on behalf of two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from the mob. Ballou views the fund’s creation as part of a broader Trump campaign to undermine democratic institutions and rewrite the history of Jan. 6.

“And if the president is successful in that effort, if he’s able to get people to either forget or condone that day, he knows that he can get people to accept any attack on democracy,” Ballou said.

Rioters emboldened by Trump's Jan. 6 recasting

Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump issued mass pardons and ordered the dismissal of all pending Jan. 6 cases. Trump also freed far-right extremist group members who were imprisoned for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.

The self-described “J6 community” isn’t the only pro-Trump constituency angling for cuts of the money.

Meshawn Maddock, who was charged as being a fake elector for Trump in Michigan before a judge dismissed the case last year, said she and her husband, state Rep. Matt Maddock, “absolutely” plan on making a claim. She believes the fund’s use of taxpayer money is justified because it “paid for the prosecution and investigation of the years that I was being hunted down.”

“I want vengeance and I want retribution,” Maddock said.

Trump's campaign to recast Jan. 6 as a peaceful protest seems to have emboldened many convicted rioters.

Johnston's eagerness to help other Capitol rioters with claims contrasts with his remorse at sentencing in 2022. He apologized for his “terrible lapse in judgment” before a judge sentenced him to three weeks in jail and three months of home detention. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge.

“It was a dumb, dumb thing to do,” Johnston told the judge. “I am 100% responsible for what I did that day.”

___

Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Mary Claire Jalonick and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

“I felt a disconnect right away,” she recalled.

At home, the Orlando, Florida, mom was exhausted and anxious and cried every day. She was eventually diagnosed with postpartum depression — a potentially dangerous condition that can fill a typically joyous time with deep despair.

The mood disorder has been on the rise. A 2024 study in the journal JAMA Network Open found that U.S. rates more than doubled in just over a decade, climbing from 9.4% in 2010 to 19% in 2021, partly due to improved screening and diagnosis.

It can be hard to differentiate the disorder from the much milder and more common “baby blues” brought on by plummeting hormone levels. But recognizing and treating postpartum depression is crucial, said OB-GYN Dr. Tiffany Moore Simas at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.

Moms who go untreated may have problems bonding with and caring for their babies. And they're at increased risk of suicide.

“A healthy you will ultimately be important for a healthy baby,” Moore Simas said.

___

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

___

How to tell if postpartum sadness is more than baby blues

Baby blues affects about 8 in 10 new moms, striking shortly after delivery.

“Moms will feel kind of more emotional than normal,” said Dr. Jennifer Payne, an expert in reproductive psychiatry at the University of Virginia.

But the crying jags and feelings of sadness aren’t severe enough to interfere with normal life. Moms should still be able to care for themselves and their babies.

Screening tools can help discern if the problem is more serious. A commonly used 10-item questionnaire, often given at a postpartum checkup, asks how often a mom has experienced feelings such as sadness, panic or worry. A high score points toward the need for further evaluation.

Experts say there's no single cause of postpartum depression. Genetics, physical changes and emotional issues may contribute to it.

“We’re pretty sure that having a case of the baby blues doesn’t increase your risk of postpartum depression,” Payne said. “But it does seem that both conditions can develop in the same person.”

Signs of postpartum depression to watch out for

If sadness lingers for more than two weeks, that’s one sign.

Others include intense feelings of despair, anxiety, loss of interest, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, low energy and decreased concentration and appetite. Moms may worry constantly about their babies, be unable to sleep, or stop showering for days.

They “feel negatively and badly about themselves. They’ll feel that they’re a bad mother. They might not feel attached to the baby very much,” Payne said.

They may even have thoughts of harming themselves.

Carberg, who gave birth to her daughter in 2016, had such thoughts a couple of times — once while driving with her daughter. She went to a psychiatric facility for a few days and did better for a while.

But she later had a severe breakdown. She sent text messages to her husband, Chris, saying she was sorry, then turned her phone off. Chris desperately tried to reach her, worried she'd hurt herself.

“She luckily went to the hospital ER,” he said.

Postpartum depression can be treated effectively

Ultimately, finding the right medication was the key to Jenna Carberg’s recovery.

“I felt like myself again,” she said after taking the stimulant Vyvanse.

Other medications include antidepressants such as Zoloft or Prozac, or Zurzuvae, the first pill approved for postpartum depression. Talk therapy is another common treatment, and experts also stress the importance of getting enough sleep and support from family and friends.

To help others, the Carbergs started an online information resource — postpartumdepression.org — to provide support and connect patients with professional help.

Doctors advise anyone who thinks they or a loved one may have postpartum depression to reach out to their OB-GYN, primary care doctor or mental health provider.

If necessary, be persistent, said Dr. Kerry Hudson, an OB-GYN at Newport Women’s Health Services in Rhode Island. When she suffered postpartum depression two decades ago, she said, her doctor told her she was just an overstressed medical resident. She finally got help after breaking down in front of colleagues during a presentation.

After therapy and medications, Hudson went on to have a second child. So did the Carbergs. All are doing well.

“When we get people help, I think they can have a good future ahead of them,” Hudson said. “You don’t have to suffer in silence.”

___

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

Investigators with the Houston Police Department’s Northeast Division and Vice Division, along with the Texas State Comptroller’s Office, served the warrant around 1 a.m. at La Toxica Strip Club, 12910 East Freeway.

Officials said complaints over the past several months included allegations of prostitution, illegal alcohol sales, narcotics use and other offenses. During the search, investigators located more than a dozen dancers inside the club and worked with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to determine possible charges.

Authorities also recovered suspected narcotics, illegal alcohol and additional tobacco and vape products that investigators said were not permitted. Multiple people were detained, including individuals believed to be part of the club’s management.

The investigation remains ongoing.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Louis Norman was arrested Friday following a joint probe by the sheriff’s office Major Crimes Unit and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Public Integrity Unit. The investigation began after the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office received a complaint from Norman’s former girlfriend and forwarded it to county authorities.

• MORE NEWS: Police raid targets east Houston strip club after months of complaints

Detectives allege Norman looked up sensitive records in the National Crime Information Center and the Texas Crime Information Center systems even though the searches were not tied to law enforcement work. Misusing that kind of restricted information is considered a third-degree felony in Texas, officials said.

Norman has been fired from the constable’s office and is being held at the Montgomery County Jail. Authorities said the case is still active and more details have not been released.

According to the constable’s office, investigators responded Friday, May 29, 2026, to a Missing/Runaway Juvenile call in the Eastwood Hills subdivision. Family members told detectives that Josue Perez-Martinez left the residence on May 18, 2026, and has not returned.

• MORE NEWS: Is your home in a new flood zone? FEMA releases updated Harris County maps

The missing teen is described as 17 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall and about 115 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, according to the constable’s office.

Officials said he was last seen leaving the home by his parents in Eastwood Hills. He was reported to be wearing white shorts, a blue Oak Ridge High School T-shirt, and blue New Balance athletic shoes.

Anyone with information about Josue’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office at 281-364-4211 and ask for Detective Olmedo. After hours, callers can contact 936-760-5800. Reference report number 26E022331.

This girl was fighting her classmates. A police officer at her school, near Houston, blinded her with pepper spray, then kneed her in the face.

This boy threw a punch during a lunchroom brawl. A school officer in Irving yanked him off his feet and slammed him into a metal cart.

This 14-year-old was caught with a vape at his school in Mesquite. After he was restrained, an officer smashed him into a wall. “Who else?” the officer shouted at the teenagers gathered nearby.

Since the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde in 2022, school districts across Texas have spent billions of dollars to station police officers on every campus in the state. The effort, the most ambitious in the nation, was intended to protect students from similar tragedies.

But the constant presence of officers has transformed the way many public schools manage discipline, subjecting students to heavy-handed police tactics for behavior that once would have landed them only in the principal’s office, The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News found.

Officers in Texas displayed startling belligerence at times, grabbing or tackling students a fraction of their size over misconduct that often appeared to be minor. Children in elementary school, including one as young as 6, were handcuffed. Teenagers were arrested, charged with crimes and even jailed. In the most extreme cases, they wound up in hospitals, bruised or concussed, after being body-slammed or shocked by Tasers, which are prohibited in the state’s juvenile detention facilities but allowed in its public schools.

There is no comprehensive record of use-of-force incidents across the more than 1,000 public school districts in Texas. Many districts and police agencies declined to disclose their data to our journalists; others did not respond to public records requests. More than 200 provided some information, but in most cases, it was limited.

Still, by examining even that small share of records, our reporters identified more than 2,600 use-of-force incidents that occurred from January 2022 through December 2025. About 450 of those interactions were described in detailed reports, which we reviewed. We also watched video footage from over two dozen encounters.

The records provide a first-of-its-kind look at how Texas’ initiative around school policing has played out in districts large and small, urban and rural.

Many incidents began over misbehavior such as dress-code violations, vaping or schoolyard scraps. Officers, often summoned by principals or teachers, escalated some situations by shouting obscenities or insults. They used physical takedown tactics in about 60 situations when students ignored their commands, talked back or pulled away.

In the Judson school district, which includes parts of San Antonio, an officer slammed a 15-year-old boy onto a table after he threw a cheese stick at another student, according to witnesses cited in public records. In a statement, the school district said that the student had tried to walk away from the officer, who used “necessary force to gain control of the situation.”

In the Cypress-Fairbanks district, near Houston, an officer hogtied a 10-year-old boy with a behavioral disorder who had kicked the principal, using a cord to bind his hands and feet behind his back, an internal investigation found. The officer had twice before used the same restraint technique, when the boy left campus during school, the records show. The district later banned the practice.

Tayshawn Chadwick, 17, was suspended from his school in the Aldine district for threatening to fight another student in December 2023. When he tried to retrieve his house keys from a classroom before leaving campus, a school officer pinned him against a window, according to records. Another officer pressed a Taser against his skin and shocked him repeatedly.

“It felt like a lightning bolt,” Tayshawn recalled in an interview.

Tayshawn was charged with resisting arrest and held in the county jail. The charge was dismissed after he completed an anger-management program. The school district declined to comment on the incident; records show that the officers’ supervisors deemed their actions in compliance with department policy.

In interviews, dozens of parents, teachers, principals and students said that they believed police officers were needed to keep schools safe. Many praised officers for stopping violent fights. Almost everyone cited fear of school shootings. As recently as March, a student at a high school in the San Antonio area shot a teacher and then killed himself. School officers have confiscated dozens of guns in that region alone, and some have thwarted potential attacks.

“Just look at the TV,” said LaTres Essien, who teaches third-grade math in Dallas. “There’s no school in America that should not have some kind of officer.”

Police chiefs said physical force was necessary in police work, even at schools. “We can’t be lackadaisical and say, ‘Well, we’re in a school, and maybe we shouldn’t go hands on with this student,’ and then it rises to a level that he or she does hurt someone,” said Charles Carnes, who in December retired as chief of the Northside school district’s department in San Antonio.

Some departments disciplined officers for going too far, including in the hogtie incident and the pepper-spray and vape cases shown in the videos above. (Neither the officer involved in the lunchroom brawl case nor his department provided comment.)

But in Texas, no state agency has the power to routinely review school officers’ actions and weigh in on possible overreach.

Lawmakers here have embraced school policing without establishing safeguards required for meaningful accountability, policing experts said. A 2019 law meant to keep officers out of “routine student discipline” does not define the term or detail repercussions for violations. Police departments in Texas are not required to report incidents of force in schools unless they shoot someone.

School boards and police agencies are responsible for oversight, state officials said. But in interviews, two dozen board members from across Texas said they did not consider that part of their job. “We just approve what they need to buy,” said Michael Valdez, a board member in the Edgewood school district in San Antonio.

Several said they were unaware that their officers used force on students at all.

A review of use-of-force policies from more than 200 school district police departments found that many were largely copied from those used by municipal police agencies. Some addressed how to handle livestock and animal control calls. Most provided no specific guidance on handling students.

‘Eyes Wide Open’

Police officers have been assigned to some schools in Texas for nearly a century. In the 1930s, newspaper articles show, the Houston Police Department employed part-time “school policemen” to help direct traffic.

But it was not until the 1980s and ’90s, amid concerns about drugs and violence, that the ranks of school officers began to swell. The 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado led to a larger rise.

Elsewhere in the country, school districts typically tapped the local sheriff’s office or police department for officers. Texas was unusual in that many districts formed their own departments instead.

As police presence in schools grew, some educators became wary of harsh punishment and practices that could push students into the criminal justice system. Even in law-and-order Texas, concerns seemed to break through. In 2019, the Legislature passed a law saying that school boards should not task officers with routine student discipline.

Then came Uvalde, the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, which claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers.

A year later, in 2023, lawmakers passed legislation to require at least one licensed police officer at each of the state’s public schools. While other states had taken steps to increase school security, few relied as heavily on the police.

Before the Texas law was adopted, some parents, teachers and advocates warned that it would lead to more arrests and incidents involving force. Alycia Castillo, the associate director of policy and advocacy for the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit based in Austin, said that several groups had already raised concerns about heavy-handed police tactics in schools. Lawmakers, she said in an interview, had their “eyes wide open.”

In the two years that followed, statewide annual spending on school security rose to more than $1.3 billion from about $900 million.

Today, Texas is home to nearly 400 school district police departments, more than all other states combined. Most of the remaining districts have contracts with outside police agencies. The number of officers trained to work in schools — about 11,000 — exceeds the total number of police officers in at least two dozen states.

Most of what school officers do is mundane. They secure external doors, usher students through metal detectors and monitor hallways for fights. Some mentor students and offer advice.

But routine interactions have been punctuated at times by physical encounters. Officers grabbed or tackled students hundreds of times, data and records show. They used pepper spray in dozens of cases and shocked students with Tasers in at least nine incidents. On four occasions, reporters found, officers held teenagers at gunpoint.

Some large school districts reported using force more than 100 times in a school year. In an interview, Kirby Warnke, the chief of the Corpus Christi school district police department, said that his officers got physical with students “almost every day,” often to restrain or redirect them.

Students were left with bruises, scrapes or other injuries in nearly a quarter of the 450 cases reviewed by reporters. Two teenagers suffered concussions, according to medical records and an interview with one family’s lawyer.

About two dozen of the overall cases involved children in elementary school. In the Northside school district, an officer handcuffed a 6-year-old boy who kicked a school employee during a tantrum.

State law prohibits using restraints on children in fifth grade or below in all but the most dangerous situations. In a statement, the district said that the officer had perceived an “immediate risk of harm.”

The boy was still in cuffs when his father arrived a few minutes later and began filming on his cellphone.

“The police wants me to die!” the child cried.

‘The Heavy Hand’

In May 2024, Anabelle Jaramillo rang a plastic doorbell outside a classroom at Texas City High School. The $13 bell came off and Anabelle walked away with it, according to a description of surveillance footage included in a police report.

The next day, administrators accused the 17-year-old honor student of theft and assigned her three days of in-school suspension.

Certain there had been a misunderstanding, Anabelle showed up at the office of Sonia Davis, an assistant principal. She told Ms. Davis that she had accidentally dislodged the doorbell and tucked it into a nearby planter so that she would not get in trouble, she recalled in an interview.

Still, Ms. Davis summoned the Galveston County sheriff’s deputies at the school and, body camera footage shows, asked them to speak with Anabelle about theft.

Anabelle continued to plead her case. She texted her mother, and Ms. Davis extended her suspension by two days for using a cellphone in the office. Ms. Davis told Anabelle to leave. But the teenager would not budge from her seat.

One of the deputies, Karla Rodriguez, ordered Anabelle to stand.

“You’re under arrest for theft,” she said.

Deputy Rodriguez grabbed one of Anabelle’s arms. When the teenager pulled away, a second deputy, Cipriano Ruiz, took the other.

They wrestled Anabelle, 4-foot-11, onto her belly. Deputy Ruiz gripped the back of her neck and pushed her face into the carpet. Deputy Rodriguez handcuffed her.

Deputy Rodriguez tried pulling the teenager to her feet. “You’re going to jail, young lady,” she said.

“What the heck?” Anabelle exclaimed.

Anabelle, who has panic attacks, started to pant. One of the deputies instructed her to breathe.

Ms. Davis positioned a fan toward the teenager. Then, she returned to her desk, picked up her cellphone and started eating potato chips.

Anabelle gasped for air for about three minutes before going still, body camera footage shows. Ms. Davis called for the school nurse. Deputy Ruiz took her pulse. Anabelle later told reporters that she had passed out.

Other cases reviewed by reporters similarly escalated.

A staff member called for an officer when a 17-year-old in a special education class threatened a classmate and threw a “sanitizer can” at the student, the police report said; the officer dragged the boy to the ground and, after a scuffle, punched him in the face twice, video footage shows.

A teacher alerted an officer to a 15-year-old who was swearing in a hallway; the officer took the student down, records show, and dragged him into a room by his leg.

In interviews, educators said that they sometimes needed help managing unruly students. Many feel pressure to be tough on misbehavior, said Anita Wadhwa, a former teacher who now runs a nonprofit in Houston focused on alternative approaches to school discipline.

“No adult wants to look like a kid is talking back to them,” she said.

Some school district leaders said that they had sent a clear message: Officers should get involved only if a student is accused of a serious crime or if someone is at risk of physical harm.

“Our officers are not disciplinarians, period,” said Sean Maika, who was the superintendent of the North East Independent School District in San Antonio until January.

But in many places, that message seems to have gotten lost. Michelle Parsons, who teaches a training course required for school officers in Texas, said that officers frequently described being pulled into minor disciplinary matters. At a recent training attended by a reporter, officers were told to stay out of incidents that would not otherwise prompt a 911 call. Several scoffed and said their principals would be unhappy.

Mrs. Parsons said that principals and teachers often see officers as “the heavy hand.” Texas does not require them to be trained on when to call school police.

Shortly after Anabelle’s arrest, her mother, Martha Jaramillo, arrived at the school to find her on the ground, footage shows. “She was very rude to us,” Ms. Davis, the assistant principal, told Mrs. Jaramillo.

Mrs. Jaramillo told the nurse about her daughter’s health conditions, including asthma. One of the deputies called for paramedics, who took the teenager to an emergency room.

Two weeks later, Anabelle turned herself in at the county jail for the theft charge. There, she said, she had another panic attack.

Neither Ms. Davis nor Texas City school district officials agreed to be interviewed for this article. In a statement, the district said Ms. Davis had not violated its policies. The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment. The deputies involved in the case did not respond to multiple efforts to reach them.

Kim Simon, a national expert on school policing and a former officer from Virginia who reviewed the case for The Times and The Express-News, said that Ms. Davis and the officers had escalated a minor offense unnecessarily.

“Nobody was acting in the best interest of a child,” Ms. Simon said.

Command and Control

Across the state, officers directed obscenities, insults and threats at students just before or after using physical force, records and video footage show.

“Stop crying like a little girl,” a school police officer in San Antonio ordered a seventh-grade boy who had gotten in trouble for being disruptive.

“Boy, I will hurt you,” an officer in Houston told a high school student who talked back to him.

“Get your fucking hands up before I shoot you!” an officer in Galveston shouted while pointing her gun at a 17-year-old she had cornered in a yard. The teen had run off campus after he was caught with a vape.

Most officers employed by a Texas school district previously worked for municipal police agencies, an analysis of police certification data found. More than 1,000 worked as jailers.

In those roles, officers are encouraged to have a commanding presence in order to take control of dangerous situations.

“The notion of policing requires force,” said Aaron Kupchik, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware, who writes about school policing. “It requires that you compel people to obey your authority.”

But dealing with young people, he and other law enforcement experts said, calls for a different approach. Research shows that adolescents, whose brains have not yet fully developed, often have difficulty with impulse control. Yelling at or physically dominating them, the experts added, can backfire.

In Texas, the state-mandated training for school police officers includes instruction in child psychology, conflict resolution and managing students with behavioral issues. But at only 20 hours, the program is half the minimum recommended by the National Association of School Resource Officers. Kentucky, which also mandates officers at all public schools, requires 120 hours.

When officers used force on students, department leaders almost always had the final say on whether they acted within bounds or overstepped.

Supervisors often reviewed forms describing the incidents, and they noted on some whether they approved of the officers’ actions. Reporters examined more than 100 such documents, finding that supervisors almost always determined that the force had been appropriate.

In some other cases reviewed by reporters, officers were disciplined, but received little more than verbal warnings or orders to get additional training.

In 2024, Officer Linda Holland used pepper spray to stop a group of girls from fighting and then kneed one of the girls in the face, video footage shows. She was required to complete four training courses, including one on ethics, according to an internal report. A supervisor wrote that her actions were “not a good look.”

Officer Holland hung up when a reporter called for comment. In a statement, the district described the scene as “chaotic,” adding that the officer did not intend to hurt the girl.

Some parents, records show, took concerns about officers to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which licenses all of the state’s police officers. But the commission says it cannot investigate excessive force complaints unless the officer was criminally charged.

In at least two cases, when parents have filed federal lawsuits against officers over use of force, the appellate court that covers Texas ruled against their claims. In 2023, the court ruled in favor of an officer who used a Taser on a 17-year-old boy with an intellectual disability when he tried to leave school. The court said that the officer’s actions were akin to corporal punishment, which is legal in Texas.

Alienated and withdrawn

Some students who were subject to physical force from police officers said that they had suffered lingering consequences.

Tayshawn Chadwick, who was stunned with a Taser, said he stopped leaving the house. Julian Montes, who was slammed into a lunch cart, is now afraid of police officers.

Anabelle Jaramillo said the doorbell incident led her to become withdrawn from even close friends.

Prosecutors dismissed the theft charge after she completed an online course about stealing. But she was mortified when a crime website posted her mug shot. She finished her classes from home and skipped her graduation ceremony.

Two years later, Anabelle has finally begun to put the trauma behind her. She gave birth to a son and completed community college. She plans to attend a nearby university in the fall in hopes of becoming a veterinarian. But the police episode has made her less trusting. The adults at her high school, she said, had failed her.

“I thought they’re there to hear you out, to build you up and get you into the future,” she said. Instead, “They broke me down.”

This article was reported in collaboration with The San Antonio Express-News as part of The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship. Justin Mayo, Melissa Manno, Liz Teitz, Maggie Allwein, Elizabeth Sander and Teresa Mondria Terol contributed reporting. Susan Beachy, Kitty Bennett, Alain Delaqueriere, Georgia Gee, Sheelagh McNeill and Kirsten Noyes contributed research. This article was reported in partnership with Big Local News at Stanford University.

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic was the most experienced contender left in the field, chasing a record 25th major title. But the 39-year-old Serb will have to wait until Wimbledon after losing a five-set thriller to 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca on Friday.

The result may not have been so surprising because Djokovic came into the tournament with questions over his form after losing to a Croatian qualifier at the Italian Open, his only clay-court warmup event after two months out with a right shoulder injury.

Here is a look at some of the favorites still in contention for the title:

Alexander Zverev

He will likely think this is best chance of winning his first major title. The 2024 runner-up to Alcaraz has also advanced to three semifinals and another quarterfinal in Paris. The 29-year-old German is in excellent form after reaching the final in Madrid and the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Munich. The second-seeded Zverev advanced to the fourth round with a four-set win late Friday over Frenchman Quentin Halys.

Felix Auger-Aliassime

At No. 4, the Canadian is the highest seed left in the top half of the draw and will take on Brandon Nakashima in the third round. Auger-Aliassime was two points away from defeat in the first round before rallying past Daniel Altmaier in five sets. He then got past Roman Andres Burruchaga in four sets. Auger-Aliassime’s best result at Roland Garros was the fourth round in 2022 and 2024.

Rafael Jodar

He is the latest tennis sensation from Spain. The 19-year-old Jodar is into the fourth round at a major for the first time after his five-set win over Alex Michelsen. Jodar claimed his first ATP title in Marrakech last month then made it to the semifinals in Barcelona and the quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome. His tour-level record on clay is 18-3. By comparison, 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal and Alcaraz both went 13-7 through their first 20 tour-level matches on clay.

Moise Kouame

Can the French teenager create a major surprise and emulate Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win at Roland Garros in 1983? Kouame reached the third round after a five-set, five-hour thriller that delighted the French crowd. The No. 318-ranked player next faces Chilean Alejandro Tabilo. Kouame beat Marin Cilic in straight sets in the first round, becoming the first man born in 2008 or later to win a Grand Slam match.

Casper Ruud

Ruud lost the 2022 final to Nadal and the 2023 final to Djokovic. The Norwegian has struggled in the Paris heat this week and needed five sets to prevail in the first round. Ruud also recovered from the loss of the opening two sets against Tommy Paul to reach the the fourth round.

Joao Fonseca

He has to be added to the list after a brilliant comeback win against arguably the best men’s player of all time. Fonseca became the first teenager to defeat the Serbian at a Grand Slam event. He is into the fourth round at a major for the first time.

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

Others occasionally sell in the open, like the women who preside over impossibly large baskets of squirming caterpillars at the market in Kinshasa.

For many in Congo and elsewhere in Central and West Africa wild meat is a craving and a key part of the cultural milieux. Even a disease as punishing as Ebola, currently ravaging a remote part of eastern Congo, has failed to stem demand for wild meat from the Congo Basin, an expansive forested ecosystem sometimes called Earth’s second lung.

The Congo Basin is rich in all kinds of wildlife, from great apes to serpents — both of which are hunted for their meat. One consequence for locals is exposure to zoonotic diseases such as Ebola.

Although Ebola is generally not spread by food, cases in Africa have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing meat from infected animals, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

“Once there is human, animal and environment interface, we have these kinds of outbreaks on a frequent level,” said Dr. Tolbert Geewleh Nyenswah of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. “And this is why one health approach in dealing with virus outbreaks is important, because we still interact with the bats, and our hunters are still killing monkeys, and we are close to the environment.”

The link between wild meat and Ebola

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak of Ebola on May 15. It appears the virus spread undetected for weeks, and the World Health Organization suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

Ebola, named for a tributary of the Congo River, was first discovered in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in Congo and present-day South Sudan. Outbreaks are believed to start with the virus spilling over into humans from an infected animal such as a fruit bat. These cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat, experts say.

But since Ebola outbreaks happen only sporadically in communities that regularly eat wild meat, some people “don't believe the linkage” and others are “totally ignorant” of the health threat from eating wild meat, said Dr. Misaki Wayengera, a microbiologist who advises Uganda's Ministry of Health on epidemics.

“It is very difficult to change some of these core practices,” he said.

Locals have paid a heavy price for occasional outbreaks of Ebola, whose bloody symptoms can terrorize entire villages and cause many to believe they are under an evil spell.

The Ebola virus is responsible for 17 outbreaks in Congo and many others elsewhere in the region. The deadliest outbreak, in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, infected an estimated 28,000 people and killed more than 11,300.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization — which studied the Ebola risk stemming from the eating and handling of wild meat after West Africa’s epidemic — animal-to-human spillovers of Ebola are rare, but "their consequences are nonetheless disastrous.”

Once Ebola has infected one person, the virus then spreads through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit. Health workers without sufficient protective gear are seen as highly vulnerable.

The current outbreak in eastern Congo is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola that has no approved medicines or vaccines.

The outbreak is occurring in a part of Congo that also faces armed violence by rebel groups and the displacement of large numbers of people fleeing the violence.

A need for education

While Congolese authorities have prohibited hunting endangered wildlife, including great apes sent to the brink of extinction by poachers, there is no blanket ban on the wildlife trade and illegal hunting persists for totemic creatures like the bonobo.

Many in and around the Congo Basin have wild meat as their primary source of animal protein. The yearly extraction rate of wild meat from the Congo Basin is estimated at 4.5 million tons, according to the Center for International Forestry Research.

Viande de brousse, as wild meat is known in French, is a popular food, even served in trendy restaurants. That's intensified pressure on the dwindling resources of the Congo Basin. Despite the ongoing biodiversity losses, the Congo Basin remains the world's largest carbon sink, surpassing the Amazon in its ability to capture and store carbon.

Public health campaigners need to step up education campaigns on how Ebola starts and is spread among communities that face recurring outbreaks, said Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of the Uganda-based Conservation Through Public Health group.

People need to be told that “eating meat from an unknown source, or a dead animal, is a no-no,” Kalema-Zikusoka said. “It’s a very cultural thing.”

Some fruit bats are believed to be natural hosts of the viruses that cause Ebola, according to the WHO. Yet bats are known to be a delicacy in many parts of Central and West Africa. The soup of a roasted fruit bat is highly sought after, as are the parts of a wide range of monkeys.

In Kinshasa’s Masina Market one recent morning, before the latest Ebola outbreak, traders said they sold antelope, rodent and snake meat sourced from the Congo Basin.

They said they long ago stopped selling the meat of monkeys, possible reservoirs of the Ebola virus.

One vendor, Guyva Mputu, was selling python, whose frozen flesh started to steam in the humid weather.

Another, Charles Ntanga, wielded a flywhisk to swat flies that settled on the rancid carcass of a giant rodent, with a kilogram going for about $17. Ntanga said he gets clients from all walks of life.

“We sell wild meat," he said. “We make our lives through this business.”

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Associated Press writer Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed to this report.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The 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 Texans’ Pro Bowl corner threw out the first pitch Friday night at the Sugar Land Space Cowboys game at Constellation Field.

Next up: his inaugural June 20 celebrity softball game and home run derby here with Lassiter and several teammates and players from across the NFL.

“It’s really cool,” Lassiter said. “Everything’s coming full circle.I’m just taking it all in, enjoying the moment.”

Kamari Lassiter #Texans Pro Bowl corner @kamari_lassiter throws out first pitch tonight @SLSpaceCowboys
On June 20, Lassiter and teammates and former NBA guard Nate Robinson @nate_robinson and several #NFL players including #Ravens Malaki Starks @starks_malaki @GeorgiaFootball… https://t.co/TBKTBXshLp pic.twitter.com/3joMZUoDYX

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 30, 2026

The vision behind the upcoming event: His mother made the suggestion and the idea immediately resonated with Lassiter.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I would love to,’ and she was like, ‘It’s going to be a celebrity event so you get to bring whoever you want,’” Lassiter said. “I know all my guys would love to do that. Just having that opportunity come it’s like impossible to say no.

“It’s really for me and the guys. In my eyes, they’re all celebrities. Those are the guys that I look up to.It’s going to be a lot of my teammates, a lot of my friends that are in the league, a couple guys that I know from other sports. It’s going to be a good time.”

The game, presented by Clear Vision, will include giveaways, a home run derby and community involvement.

“I’m extremely excited, extremely blessed,” Lassiter told KPRC 2 on Tuesday. “We’ve got a great group of guys coming out, a couple guests, celebrity stars. It’s gonna be a really fun day.”

The list of scheduled participants is dotted with several of Lassiter’s teammates as well as NFL players across the league. Tickets and details are available at www.k3softball.com

The game includes Texans players Jalen Pitre, Nico Collins, Azeez Al-Shaair, Calen Bullock, Tank Dell, Henry To’oTo’o, Jaylin Smity, Jaylen Reed and Jamal Kill. Several NFL players are set to attend, including Baltimore Ravens safety and former University of Georgia standout Malaki Starks along with Kamren Kinchens, Dallas Turner, Javon Bulard, Tykee Smith, Jarrian Jones and Jamal Shead along with retired NBA all-star Nate Robinson.

#Texans Pro Bowl corner Kamari Lassiter @kamari_lassiter @kamari is throwing out first pitch tonight @SLSpaceCowboys he is holding a June 20 celebrity softball game at Constellation Field https://t.co/Zm62TJ2Kkp @KPRC2 https://t.co/Rmx9fU7Ytz pic.twitter.com/D4Eer2r8ph

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 29, 2026

“I just want everyone to come out and just see us, be us,” Lassiter said. “A lot of times people see us whenever we’re on the field and they very rarely get to see us off the field. We’re just normal people.

“We like to laugh and joke. We like to play. So, it’s just gonna be a time for us to just be ourselves and have a little fun while doing it.”

Lassiter grew up playing center field as a high school senior before enrolling at the University of Georgia on a football scholarship.

“I actually really fell in love with it,” Lassiter said. “It was just too late. It was time for football, so I had to drop it.”

Bragging rights are on the line. Especially between Lassiter and Bullock, his best friend.

“Clearly, I think I’m the best, but all my friends think they’re the best, so we’re going to see who hits the most home runs,” Lassiter said. “Everybody on the team thinks they’re going to hit more home runs than me. (Bullock) thinks he’s going to hit a lot of home runs.

“We’re going to see. It’s really going to be bragging rights, because some people are going to come out here and they’re going to wet the bed. Whenever they wet the bed and get struck out in the home run derby, they’re never going to hear the end of it."

Friday afternoon, Lassiter hosted a special shopping spree for children at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Sugar Land.

Lassiter helped the kids pick out athletic gear and shoes.

“It’s probably full circle for them,” Lassiter said. “I hope the kids just see that there’s always a genuine person out there, someone who really cares about you. They don’t have to know you. You don’t have to know someone to be genuine and be kind just to impact them.

“I hope they like me coming here to hang out with them a little bit. I hope they learn a little bit from me.I’m going to learn a lot from them.”

#Texans Pro Bowl corner Kamari Lassiter @kamari_lassiter @kl3softball, partnered today with Dick's Sporting Goods @DICKS for a shopping spree for kids @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/XhjT2vrJ46

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 29, 2026

Who’s the best softball player?

No contest, according to Lassiter.

“Me, you’re looking at him,” Lassiter said. “I’m all-around. I’m a home run hitter. I’m a defensive guru.”

On and off the field, Lassiter is dedicated. And he’s inspired by the example of his parents, Kammie and Kenneth.

“It comes a lot for my family, just being raised by two hard-working, God-fearing people,” Lassiter said. “That’s instilled in me, but I feel like this event is really just something to put my name on as a staple to be in the city Houston.

“Something that I could do year in and year out. Just have people come out and just enjoy a day where we can all just be together.”

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

It took eight years, but the Hurricanes have finally broken through their Eastern Conference Final roadblock. Now comes the chance to play for the Stanley Cup for the first time in two decades.

Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Eric Robinson scored in a dominating first period that helped push the Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Friday night, closing a five-game series that sent the East's top seed on to face Vegas for the Cup.

Three times before under Brind'Amour, the Hurricanes had reached this round, only to win just a single game.

This time, they shook off an ugly series-opening loss that harkened back to those past struggles by winning four straight, steadily asserting control of the series and dominating the last two games to earn that on-ice celebration in front of a rowdy home crowd.

“I wasn't prepared for media (interviews) and I'm probably going to start crying,” veteran forward Jordan Martinook said in the locker room. "A lot of years with a lot of pain. ... It's been a crazy journey in my time here, but this team, it's been really special.”

Jackson Blake and Shayne Gostisbehere added second-period goals that pushed the Hurricanes to a 5-0 lead entering the final period, while Seth Jarvis scoring into an empty net with 3:41 left. Frederik Andersen carried a shutout until midway through the third in net, an emotional performance coming a day after his agent and former NHL player Claude Lemieux died after taking his own life.

Carolina swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, then regrouped from a 6-2 loss in Game 1 after an extended between-rounds break to win four straight. That included a run of 10 straight goals going back to Andrei Svechnikov’s overtime goal in Game 3 before Montreal finally got on the board with Cole Caufield’s power-play score midway through the third.

That made the Hurricanes the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final with only one loss since 1983, according to SportRadar, and the only team to do so since the league went to best-of-seven series in all four postseason rounds in 1987.

It was a long-awaited moment for the franchise, even for the new arrivals. That included defenseman K'Andre Miller — a summer trade addition as a missing piece — sitting near the ice afterward, holding his newborn son and shaking his head in an emotional moment of taking it all in.

“It's kind of hard to unpack right now,” Brind'Amour said. “It's a weird feeling because it's kind of where we all thought we should be.”

The Hurricanes have been a perennial contender in the East, yet they entered this series having gone 1-12 in the Eastern Conference Final under Brind’Amour — falling in sweeps to Boston in 2019 and Florida in 2023 before losing in five games to the Panthers in last year’s rematch.

But they were tested, and wounded, from those past postseason failures. Throw in their depth and talent, and the Hurricanes were finally ready to punch through for their third shot at the Cup since the former Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina before the 1997-98 season.

The last time the Hurricanes reached this point? Brind’Amour was the captain on a team that hoisted the Cup in a seven-game series against Edmonton in 2006.

After regrouping from a 6-2 loss in Game 1, the Hurricanes took control of the series from the young and skilled Canadiens — who had arrived at this round ahead of schedule after Game 7 road wins against Tampa Bay and Buffalo through the first two rounds.

“As close as it feels, we’re so far away still,” Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson said. "So much more to do to battle to get the ultimate goal. Even when you win two rounds, you still got to find another level for the next round.”

Carolina won consecutive 3-2 overtime games, then took Game 4 in a 4-0 road romp Wednesday.

Beyond the score, Carolina was getting to its smothering game in pressuring the Canadiens in their own end or shutting off most high-danger chances they could muster going the other way.

By midway through the second period, the festive and rowdy crowd was offering “Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!” chants in a mocking nod to Canadiens fans with Carolina up 4-0. By the final two minutes, they were chanting “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!” as the Hurricanes closed this one out.

“They’re a good team, a lot experience," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "You’ve got to give credit to how well they’ve played. They made it really hard on us.”

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

Uribe is appealing the suspension so he was able to pitch Friday night, getting the win in a 10-inning 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros.

The suspension comes after Uribe's behavior Tuesday night following an inning-ending strikeout in a 6-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Uribe retired Alec Burleson on a called third strike with two outs and runners on first and second in the eighth, the only inning he pitched. Uribe then made three WWE-style crotch chops while facing the Cardinals dugout.

The Cardinals challenged the call, which was close, but narrowly confirmed to be at the bottom of the strike zone.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after the game that he was embarrassed by Uribe’s antics and that it was unacceptable. He reiterated that point Friday after the suspension was announced.

“We accept the fact that the MLB has a job to do and I’ll be the first one to say what Abner did is unacceptable,” Murphy said. “I’m not going to make any other statements about what’s fair and what’s not fair. I don’t have a full view of everything and how it works or what all goes behind it. But Abner has the right to appeal. He’s done that and I support him on that.”

Uribe said through an interpreter on Tuesday that he apologized to his team. But he did not apologize to the Cardinals.

“Everyone here knows me and knows who I am, and knows I have a bit of a history of being emotional out there,” Uribe said. “I think first I owe an apology to the Brewers. I owe an apology to my teammates, to my manager, all the bosses of the team. I understand that’s unacceptable, to go out there and react in a way like that.”

Uribe pitched for the first time since the incident in the ninth inning on Friday night with the game tied. The Astros loaded the bases with one out, but he struck out Brice Matthews before retiring Isaac Paredes on a popout to send it to the 10th.

Uribe wouldn't discuss his suspension or appeal after the game but did talk about his overall mindset with everything that was going on Friday.

“No, the mentality was the same as it is any other day,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “Go to the bullpen, do my routine and prepare myself to be ready for the game.”

Murphy said Friday that they have dealt with the matter internally and added that Uribe was not available to pitch Wednesday.

“He clearly understands,” Murphy said. “He’s clearly made the apologies he needs to make. It was sincere. I know the kid very well and am happy with that.”

Uribe was stoic on the mound Friday night and was asked afterward how he can manage his emotions moving forward to avoid situations like the one on Tuesday.

“I think a lot of it just depends on the game situation,” he said. “The game will dictate a lot of those things. I’m the type of pitcher that I like to have a lot of fun out there and I like to enjoy pitching out there. So there’s some times I like to have a little bit more fun than others, but I think the game will let you know.”

Uribe was suspended for six games and fined following a benches-clearing brawl against the Tampa Bay Rays in April 2024.

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

Moscow's agents are building fake companies, recruiting middlemen and deploying cyber spies and hackers who are gathering information that could also be used to attack key infrastructure, they said.

Four years of international sanctions have hampered Moscow's ability to procure machinery, technology and research from Europe, while the grinding war in Ukraine has taxed key industries and pushed the country toward a potential financial crisis.

“They really know what they need,” and are putting “serious effort” into acquiring advanced machine tools, factory equipment, research and dual-use technology, said Christoffer Wedelin, deputy head of operations at the Swedish Security Service.

Russia seeks high-end research, defense technology and software

In Sweden, Russia is targeting the defense industry and high-end research on the country's most advanced weaponry, such as the Gripen fighter jet, Wedelin said. It is also trying to procure camera and laser technology developed for civilian purposes that could be integrated into Russian weapons systems, he said.

Moscow is also trying to steal technology to help it keep pace — or give it an edge — against the West in the decades ahead, said Juha Martelius, the director of Finland’s Security and Intelligence Service.

“We're talking about space technology, quantum ... arctic technology, marine technology,” he said, adding that space technology is something Russia needs “right now," without elaborating. Countries use such technology for satellite imaging, communications and navigation.

Russia also needs sanctioned computer technology and software updates for machine tools, Martelius said.

On Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, the director of the U.K’s signals intelligence agency, accused Russia of “relentlessly targeting” the U.K. and its European allies, by stealing technology and plotting sabotage and assassination attempts.

In May, Swedish police arrested two people on suspicion of violating sanctions relating to a company in Turkey that has made dozens of shipments of metalworking and metal-turning machine tools to Russia.

As the schemes to acquire technology grow more complex, companies need to be more aware they could unwittingly become part of Russia's war supply chain, Wedelin said.

“All of the security and intelligence services in Russia are helping out on the state’s efforts to get this," he said.

Intelligence officials say Russia cares less about getting caught

Moscow is also deploying cyberattacks against European firms and critical infrastructure in an attempt to gather information, which it could exploit “when they get the chance and when it serves their purpose,” Wedelin said. He pointed to an attack on a Swedish power plant last year.

Russia-linked actors tried to “destroy” the plant but failed because the system detected the intrusion, Wedelin said. He said the attack was partly aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine.

Before then, Sweden's security services had mostly observed reconnaissance for potential attacks, intelligence gathering or activity linked to cybercriminals. The attack marked a “switch” in Russia's modus operandi, Wedelin said.

“They’re no longer caring as much about potential attribution after their activities, so they are taking greater risks to achieve their goals,” he said.

Problems are mounting for Russia's economy

Russia's increasingly aggressive tactics may reflect mounting internal concerns about its economy, which “is not doing well at all,” said Kaupo Rosin, the head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

About a third of Russia's gross domestic product currently goes to the war effort, Martelius said. The war and ensuing sanctions have slowed growth and fueled stubborn inflation.

Russian officials planned to have a budget deficit of 3.7 trillion rubles ($52.1 billion) for the whole of 2026 and had already reached about 3.4 trillion rubles ($47.9 billion) by the end of February, Rosin said.

The Iran war that erupted on Feb. 28 has provided a boost by causing oil prices to soar. The U.S. has granted sanctions waivers for the sale of Russian oil and the U.K. watered down its sanctions in an attempt to lower global fuel costs.

Increased revenue since then has likely improved Russia’s budget, but “it doesn’t save them,” Rosin said, adding that if Western pressure persists, Moscow could face a financial crisis toward the end of the year.

Rosin said intelligence seen by his agency shows a gloomier outlook among Russian officials over the past six months, with the narrative of “total victory” in Ukraine having vanished. Keast-Butler, of British intelligence, said almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia and Ukraine have mostly kept their combat casualty figures under wraps.

Stalled progress on the battlefield and economic woes have many Russian officials privately asking “what is this all for,” Rosin said, citing the intelligence reports.

Martelius, of Finland's intelligence service, said that while some reports on the war in Ukraine may have been “sanitized” before reaching President Vladimir Putin's desk, he believes the Russian leader has a fairly clear picture of the economic challenges.

But that does not mean there will be political change.

It is “very dangerous ... to start analyzing Russia as if it is some country like ours," Martelius said. “It is not.”

“I personally have been inside that tank and near that tank many times,” said Wilson, who has lived in Longview for 56 years. “I can assure you that we all know somebody there. … The casualties are our friends and neighbors.”

The tank, which contained more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of a mixture used to break down wood for making paper, collapsed Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. The rupture expelled a flood of caustic chemicals powerful enough to overturn pickup trucks and damage buildings at the site.

The chemical disaster, one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in recent decades, has struck at the heart of a community where generations of families have worked in local mills. Longview itself was founded by a timber baron to support the first mills established there, and over its roughly century-long history, residents’ lives have become intertwined with the lumber and paper industries.

Supporting victims and worrying about the future

Amid immediate concern about supporting grieving families, there is also worry about what the accident could mean for the future of the plant: It provides crucial jobs in an industry that once powered the forested region but has dwindled in recent decades.

The plant's parent company, Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Group, said in a statement that it was assessing the accident's impact on its financial performance.

“Last night at the vigils, people who work in mills told me that they're proud of their jobs and they're proud of their work, and they don't want to lose it,” U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whose district includes Longview, told reporters Wednesday.

Residents who spoke with The Associated Press similarly highlighted how important those jobs are for the city.

”If you’re a waitress, a grocery store worker, a teacher, a paraeducator as I was for 30 years — every walk of life here knows somebody and is related to somebody from these mills,” Cindy Stiebritz said in the antiques store where she volunteers.

Generations in the mills

Stiebritz said her husband’s parents met while working at the lumber company owned by the city’s founder, Robert A. Long.

“Those mills, that is the backbone of this town,” Stiebritz added. “You feel like you’ve lost part of your family.”

Longview’s industrial zone lies along the Columbia River and hosts timber, paper and chemical businesses. Many residents in the city of nearly 40,000 can see the facilities or the steam from the boilers from their homes, or smell the sulfuric odor of the pulp and paper industry.

The city’s mill history is also imprinted on its downtown, where R. A. Long Square serves as a central landmark and gathering place, including for the vigil held after the disaster. A park around a man-made lake, another project of Long, features a burst of greenery where pedestrians enjoy its walking paths or the nearby tree-lined streets.

Authorities said the cause of the tank's collapse is still under investigation. The facility, which dates to 1953 and employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, cartons and other goods.

According to fundraisers organized for the victims’ families, those who lost their lives include a grandfather who was always willing to help anyone; two brothers, one of whom was the sole provider for his partner and three children; and a husband who left behind two children and a wife with a baby on the way.

Brianna Pesio, a server at the Mill City Grill downtown, said her father has worked at the plant for over 30 years. She described the fear Tuesday morning when her brother, who works at the lumber mill next door, told her he couldn’t get a hold of him.

“I just didn’t know if I lost my dad or not,” said Pesio, whose husband also works in a paper mill. “I drove over to my dad’s house and pounded on his door until he did wake up. He had just gotten off shift at 5 a.m.”

At the nearby Country Folks Deli, longtime server Gayle Leavitt said her in-laws also worked at the mill for decades, adding: “That’s how this town has survived.”

‘This is not the virtual world’

Officials representing the area echoed the pride residents take in the mills and the economic importance of their good-paying jobs in a region where other areas have been hit hard by the decline of the timber industry.

“This is a place where real people make real things. This is not the virtual world,” state Rep. Jim Walsh said at a news conference at the plant on Tuesday. “Real things and real industry always carries risks. But it’s our job to make sure that risk like this is well managed and, to the extent it can be, controlled.”

Stiebritz, the antiques shop volunteer, said she hopes authorities find out the cause “so it never happens again.”

“If anything comes out of it, I hope lives can be saved,” she said, tearing up as she thought of the children who have lost their parents.

“This town is family. It’s one big family,” she added. “But we’ll make it though. We’re strong. We’ve got a lot of love.”

A report from Dr. Sean Barbabella, released late Friday, says Trump underwent a CT scan and other heart imaging, along with cancer screenings and other preventative assessments carried out by 22 specialists.

Trump, 79, said after the three-hour visit Tuesday that everything checked out “PERFECTLY.”

The president weighed in at 238 pounds (108 kilograms), up 14 pounds (6 kg) from a medical exam in April 2025. His doctors gave him guidance on his diet, physical activity and weight loss, but concluded his “cognitive and physical performance are excellent.”

With his 6-foot, 3-inch (1.9-meter) frame, Trump has a body mass index of 29.7. An index of 30 is considered by doctors to be obese.

The report also documented bruising on Trump’s hands, explained as “minor soft tissue irritation related to frequent handshaking,” and said it was “a common and benign effect of aspirin therapy." Among the recommendations was a switch to low-dose aspirin.

Last year the White House said Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a fairly common condition for older adults that causes blood to pool in the president's legs. The report from his latest exam noted “slight lower leg swelling” but said there was “improvement from last year."

His doctor reported nothing abnormal, saying Trump demonstrated strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall health.

“His demanding daily schedule, including multiple high-level meetings, public engagements, and regular physical activity, continues to support his overall well-being,” Barbabella wrote.

Trump was again given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is used to screen for dementia and cognitive impairment. Trump’s doctors reported he scored 30 out of 30, the same that was reported last year and in 2018.

His cholesterol levels have improved significantly with the help of medication. Trump's total cholesterol came in at 143, down from 223 in 2018. It had been down to 140 last April. He takes rosuvastatin to help lower his bad cholesterol, known as LDL, and to raise his good cholesterol, or HDL. He also takes ezetimibe to help lower his LDL.

The exam, which Trump described as a six-month physical, was his fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term. It comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections.

Past administrations have also released selected results from presidential physicals, offering the public a glimpse at the commander in chief’s health.

But there is no law requiring presidents to disclose their full health records, and the degree of transparency has varied by administration. Trump’s past reports have been criticized for offering scant detail and for providing statistics that some medical experts have viewed with skepticism.

Trump, a Republican, turns 80 next month and was the oldest person elected U.S. president. His immediate predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was 82 when he left office, dropping out of the 2024 presidential race because of widespread concerns he was too old for the job.

Trump has tried to fight off public concern over his age and stamina. He often appears with makeup covering bruises on his hands, and photographs have shown the president with swollen feet, ankles and calves.

He has recently talked about how good he feels, even as he jokes about his fondness for fast food and his minimal exercise beyond frequent golf outings. At recent public appearances, Trump has said he feels the same as he did 50 years ago.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed the visa had been revoked. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter involves visa privacy. A State Department official confirmed there was a plan to revoke the visa.

The tit-for-tat move by the Trump administration has followed the expulsion by Beijing of Vivian Wang, a China correspondent for The New York Times, apparently over the appearance of the Taiwanese leader in a DealBook event in which Wang had no role. It was a rare occasion of the U.S. government directly retaliating against Beijing's expulsion of American journalists.

The Times, which first reported the reciprocal move by the Trump administration, said the newspaper does not ask governments to revoke media credentials or otherwise interfere with the work of any journalist. On Friday, the paper issued a statement calling for Wang to be reinstated as a credentialed journalist in China and urging both governments to “reverse this deterioration in journalist access."

“The Chinese government’s decision to expel Vivian Wang is wrong,” Joseph Kahn, the paper's executive editor, said in a statement published on the Times' corporate website. “Her expulsion will make it even harder for our global audience to get accurate, independent and in-depth reporting about the world’s second largest economy at a critical time.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US media presence in China already dwindled

Wang is leaving China when the presence of U.S. media is already thin after previous rounds of disputes over journalistic credentials, leaving several U.S. news organizations with skeleton staffing in their China bureaus.

“The number of correspondents from American media outlets allowed to work in China has now fallen to an alarmingly low level, at a time when the need for people everywhere to understand China is greater than ever,” Kahn wrote.

Beijing moved to expel Wang, a China correspondent for the newspaper since 2020, after the media group's DealBook Summit 2025 featured Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in a recorded interview with host Andrew Ross Sorkin. Sorkin called Taiwan a country, and Lai warned of Beijing's aggressive behavior in the Taiwan Strait and vowed that “Taiwan will do everything necessary to protect itself.”

The Chinese government claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 after Mao Zedong's communists won a civil war. In the latest summit with President Donald Trump in Beijing, in mid-May, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that China and the U.S. could “collide or even clash” over Taiwan if the issue is not handled properly.

Other Western media watching closely

The decision against The New York Times also has created unease among other Western media that might interview Lai, giving the self-governed island a voice, at the risk of losing their abilities to report within China.

All foreign journalists must be accredited by China's foreign ministry to report in China, and Beijing has used the accreditation and visa policy to expel or keep out foreign journalists whose work has upset the Chinese leadership or to show displeasure with what Beijing views as unfavorable or malicious coverage of China.

In 2020, for example, the Chinese government expelled three Wall Street Journal correspondents after the financial newspaper ran an opinion piece titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia” following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As U.S.-China relations soured, the U.S. State Department in 2020 designated some major Chinese news groups as “foreign missions". Xinhua, for example, is tasked by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to serve as the mouthpiece of the party and the government, which includes distributing their official news.

Beijing in turn drastically limited visas for journalists working for U.S. media.

In total, at least 18 foreign journalists working for The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were expelled in the first half of 2020, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China. Many others were given short visas ranging from one month to three months, according to the group's annual survey.

The two governments later reached a one-time agreement that allowed U.S. media to send in a small number of correspondents to mainland China. Wang was one of them.

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An earlier headline on this story said the expulsions happened days after Trump visited Beijing. The New York Times says its reporter was expelled from China in February.

Just days ago, the Republican-led state Senate shot down an effort backed by President Donald Trump to redraw the House map to oust Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina's only congressional Democrat and a party powerbroker who has been in office since 1993.

With his district still intact, Clyburn spent Friday night hosting his signature event, the “World Famous Fish Fry,” which followed the Blue Palmetto Dinner, an annual Democratic fundraiser.

"You have delivered for the people of this state and this nation in an unbelievable way,” Clyburn told a sold-out crowd at the dinner as hundreds of attendees burst into thunderous applause.

The back-to-back events often showcase potential presidential contenders. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke at the dinner, and he paid tribute to Clyburn.

“I am so proud to be here with the one and only Jim Clyburn, the man so strong that South Carolina Republicans said, ‘no thanks’ to Donald Trump on redistricting,” he said.

Beshear and California Rep. Ro Khanna joined Clyburn at the fish fry as well, where thousands chowed down on hot fried fish and sipped cold drinks.

Democratic candidates from around the state wore blue “Clyburn for Congress” T-shirts as they pitched themselves to the crowd, a political ritual that showcases his influence in South Carolina. He's running for his 18th term this year.

South Carolina's primary is June 9. Voters will choose nominees for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Had Republicans in the state Senate not rejected the plan pushed by the White House, those congressional votes would have been canceled and a new primary scheduled under revised districts.

Republicans rebuked redistricting with voting underway

The state Senate vote on redistricting failed Tuesday, the first day of early voting, with some senators saying it was simply too late to change district lines.

Clyburn, who is Black, condemned the White House-led effort, which he said had been aimed at “zeroing Democratic voters, zeroing African American voters out of the process.”

“I know the state, and I am embarrassed that so many people in our legislature will allow strangers in Washington to tell them what to do, when to do it and how to do it,” Clyburn said as he cast his vote in Orangeburg on Tuesday.

The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy to redraw voting districts to the party's advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterms. Republicans have moved quickly to try to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act.

Clyburn keeps his kingmaker role

At least for now, Clyburn's 6th congressional district has been preserved, as has his place as the Democrat to whom White House hopefuls look for guidance in navigating the state's electorate.

During the 2020 primary, Clyburn provided a crucial endorsement to Joe Biden, helping him demonstrate strength among Black voters and catapulting him to the Democratic nomination. On Friday night, Clyburn told reporters he was “open” to endorsing a presidential candidate in 2028.

But Clyburn, among the oldest Democrats serving in Washington, has called it an “open question” as to whether his next term could be his last. Whenever he leaves office, the Democratic field looking to replace him is anticipated to be massive.

South Carolina angling to reprise leadoff primary status

The conclusion of November's midterm elections will mark the unofficial start to a 2028 presidential primary season. Although the order of states for Democrats' primaries won't be set for months, the battle for attention has already begun in a variety of places that could play a pivotal role.

On Thursday, Democratic chairs in five southern states wrote a letter to Democratic National Committee officials urging them to again pick South Carolina to go first.

However, party leaders here have braced for a different spot on the calendar, saying they wouldn't see it as a loss if another state got the leadoff spot.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

The four were members of a Latvian mountaineering expedition, the group said. They were part of a seven-person team traversing a route known for its exposed sections — where many injuries and deaths have occurred over the years — when they fell Wednesday, the National Park Service has said.

McKinley stands at about 20,310 feet (6,190 meters), and the climber who was rescued was brought off the mountain from about 17,200 feet (5,240 meters) by Denali National Park and Preserve search and rescue personnel late Thursday afternoon. A long line from a helicopter was used in the rescue because the terrain and conditions prevented the helicopter from landing, the park service said Friday. The climber was later airlifted to a hospital.

The fall happened during the climb near Denali Pass, which is about 18,200 feet (5,550 meters), the park service said. It provided few other details. The three others in the climbing group helped with the rescue work and started experiencing “declining physical conditions," the park service said. Crews evacuated them from the mountain Friday.

The group was on the West Buttress route, the most popular path to the summit. It’s known for crevasses, steep ice and exposed ridges.

Over the years, many climbing injuries and deaths have occurred on the traverse between an area known as high camp at around 17,200 feet (5,240 meters) and Denali Pass, mainly resulting from unprotected falls, according to the park. Most of the deaths along the pass have happened while climbers are descending.

Park rangers and mountain guides install and maintain snow pickets — which are used to help build anchors for extra protection on areas like steep slopes — between the high camp and Denali Pass, the park has said. That area also is known as the Autobahn, a snow and ice slope that can be marked by conditions ranging from deep snow carrying avalanche risk to hard ice, the agency said.

Climbers can put in their own pickets if needed, but “you might have to bash it in through very, very dense snow and ice even,” said climber Clint Helander, who has summitted McKinley and been on the mountain numerous times.

Intense glaciation, rapid weather changes, altitude and the sheer scale of the peak make climbing McKinley “a huge undertaking," he said. Climbers also must carry a significant amount of gear for what can be long expeditions, he said.

“It’s immensely easy for something to happen and turn an otherwise straightforward trip into an epic,” Helander said.

Only about 1,000 to 1,200 climbers attempt to reach the top of Mount McKinley each year, mostly during May and June. The trip usually takes about 17 days, and less than half made it to the summit last year, according to park statistics.

More than 130 people have died on the mountain in the history of the park, including two deaths last year, according to park statistics. In 2012, four climbers from Japan were killed after a shallow avalanche pushed them into a crevasse.

There were 516 climbers on the mountain as of Thursday, said Scott Carr, a park service spokesperson.

Two others climbers who were not with the group that fell were evacuated from the mountain by helicopter Wednesday, according to the park service.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

Bob Nuelle, the father of Liz Barraza, was remembered Friday night at Burroughs Park, where a tree and bench have served as a memorial for his daughter since her 2019 murder. Nuelle passed away after a battle with cancer this month, never seeing an arrest made in his daughter’s case.

KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel was at the memorial, where the family asked for no cameras during the celebration of Nuelle’s life.

In a 2025 interview, Nuelle described what the park meant to him.

“This is a place for peace for us. When we’re struggling, when we’re trying to find what’s necessary to go forward, this is where I come,” Nuelle said.

Investigators say Barraza was shot and killed while setting up a garage sale in 2019. Surveillance video captured an unknown person in disguise exiting a Nissan Frontier truck, pulling the trigger and driving away. Investigators say the murder was calculated, but the motive remains a mystery.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Ritchie has been the lead investigator on Barraza’s case since day one. He said Nuelle’s impact on the investigation was profound.

“He was a huge impact on me as the lead investigator,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie shared the memory of one of his final conversations with Nuelle before he passed.

“He says, ‘Hey, Michael, when I pass, I’m going to get up to heaven. I’m gonna see Liz. I’ll talk to God. I will try to reach out to you from beyond and give you that tip you need to solve this case. So I’m waiting,’” Ritchie recalled.

The investigator says he is watching for any signs, and on the way to Friday’s memorial, he got a reminder.

“Not yet but actually on the way here, what vehicle was in front of me? A Nissan Frontier,” Ritchie said.

Loved ones remembered Nuelle for his big personality and his dedication to others. In one of his final recorded interviews, he left a message for other families of murder victims.

“I would tell her (Liz) we will never stop preserving your legacy. We will never stop helping people. We will never stop get the message out that if you’re affected by a murder, there are resources, there are people who can help you.” Nuelle said.

Nuelle was also an active member of Parents of Murdered Children and Crime Victims United.

Liz Barraza’s murder case remains open. A $50,000 reward is available for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with tips is encouraged to contact the Harris County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers of Houston.

The reigning U.S. Open champion believes he's getting both lined up just about right three weeks before he tries to defend his first major title.

Spaun surged with four birdies on his front nine before a couple of late bogeys in a 2-under 68 that put him at 8 under Friday, two shots behind Englishman Jordan Smith and one back of Hideki Matsuyama and three others after 36 holes at Colonial.

Smith took the lead by himself with a 31-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th, saved par from a bunker on 17 and missed a 9-footer for birdie on 18 to finish at 10 under with a second consecutive 65.

“It’s going to be a new experience for us out here leading for the first time,” said Smith, a 33-year-old PGA Tour rookie who qualified through the DP World Tour and had his best finish at third in the Valpar Championship. “Not going to force anything, not going to rush anything, just going to see what happens and enjoy it.”

Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion with 10 other tour victories, and Michael Thorbjornsen had matching 65s. They were at 9 under with Ryan Gerard (67) and 2023 Britisn Open champion Brian Harman (66).

Spaun was joined by Akshay Bhatia (65), Russell Henley (66), Brice Garnett (66) and Alex Smalley (67).

A.J. Ewart had the second hole-in-one two days at the 195-yard, par-3 16th — Brandt Snedeker aced it in the opening round — and followed an opening 70 with a career-best 63, the low round of the day. He was at 7 under with Michael Brennan (66) and Mackenzie Hughes (67).

Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, was among 11 players at 6 under at Hogan's Alley, where light winds and still-soft conditions led to 154 sub-par scores through two rounds. That tied the previous high from 2010, when Zach Johnson set the 72-hole scoring record of 21-under 259.

Temperatures reached the mid-90s with a heat index approaching 100, and conditions are supposed to stay that way through the weekend. There is almost no chance for rain.

“It’s drying up just like it probably did a little bit yesterday afternoon,” Harman said. “The fairways will get firm and these fairways will get tougher to hit, and that’s how this place protects itself.”

Defending champion Ben Griffin shot a second consecutive 68 and was 4 under along with Justin Thomas, a stroke above the cut line.

Spaun, who was among six players tied for the lead after an opening 64, missed the cut in six of his first 13 events this year, including the Masters and PGA Championship. He said he changed putters because he was losing confidence on the greens.

The highest-ranked player in the field at No. 9, Spaun kept his hot front nine going with a 15-foot par putt at 17 and was still without a bogey for the tournament before missing a pair of par putts outside 15 feet on the seventh and eight holes.

“It’s nice to see that the putter switch was a good change,” Spaun said. “I found myself kind of resenting my putter at times when I’m out on the course. That’s been the only issue all year. My ball striking’s been pretty solid. The weeks that I putt just slightly better than average, I contend.”

Spaun's other two wins are both at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, including last month. He figures the 27 holes on Sunday in a rain-altered event might have contributed to a 74-75 at the Masters, and he shot 70-76 while playing a third consecutive week at the PGA.

After playing the Memorial next week, Spaun will skip the Canadian Open before going to Shinnecock Hills.

“It will be nice to have a week off and then get to Shinnecock and kind of feel fresh, but not like I’ve taken too much time off,” said Spaun, who skipped Colonial's neighboring event, The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, last week.

Smith made 181 feet of putts, including a 40-footer from the fringe on the par-4 12th. The long putt at 16 came two holes after his only bogey of the tournament at the par-4 14th.

“The putter’s been hot the last two days, which is nice to see,” Smith said. “Swing still hasn’t felt 100%, but we’ve been hitting a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, which is key out here.”

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

The policy, often called the “SNAP sugar ban,” went into effect April 1. It limits what people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can buy; candy and sugary drinks containing five or more grams added sugars, and artificial sweeteners are banned.

But despite the name, it’s not a full sugar ban. SNAP recipients can still use their benefits to pay for chips and cookies. If they want soda, sweet tea or anything with artificial sweeteners, they’d have to pay for them out of pocket.

The change comes from Senate Bill 379, passed by Texas lawmakers in 2025.

Supporters say the goal is to encourage healthier eating habits and reduce taxpayer-funded healthcare costs tied to diet-related illness.

• RELATED: New SNAP purchase restrictions begin April 1 in Texas: What you won’t be able to buy

For many families, SNAP benefits are already limited. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the average SNAP recipient in Texas receives $188 per month.

Houston-area resident Lisa McWashington told KPRC 2 she receives about $285 a month for her child and $135 for herself.

For families living paycheck to paycheck, even small changes in what benefits cover can have a real impact.

KPRC 2 called or emailed representatives from major grocery chains — including H-E-B, Kroger, Whole Foods Market, Food Town, and La Michoacana — to ask how the change is affecting shoppers. None agreed to an on-camera interview.

• RELATED: Texas Senate passes bill prohibiting using SNAP benefits for junk food

At District Market Green Grocer, an independent grocery store in Houston, the approach is straightforward: clearly show customers what qualifies for SNAP and what does not.

Robert Thomas, the store’s owner, said many customers are asking what they can still buy and adjusting their shopping habits in response.

“A good 10 percent of my monthly revenue comes from SNAP. So what we tell customers is, adjust the way you shop. A lot of times we shop and think you have to fill up the house with food. No, you don’t. Just get what you need for that time,” said Thomas.

It’s unclear whether the policy is working. Because the law only took effect in April, there is currently no data showing improved health outcomes, and no clear evidence that people are buying fewer sugary items.

Texas Health and Human Services told KPRC2 it’s asking people on SNAP to provide feedback on the impact of the restrictions and whether their shopping and eating habits have changed. They’re asking people to fill out this confidential survey.

If you’re struggling to afford food, the Houston Food Bank says help is available. Its Community Assistance Program connects people with food resources and benefit support across the Houston area.

After the first round — and even the second — was full of newcomers who hadn't played postseason hockey in a long time, the conference finals featured some of the usual suspects.

The Vegas Golden Knights swept Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado in the West final, and the Carolina Hurricanes got past Montreal in five games. They'll meet in a final matchup of the two hottest teams in hockey over the past two months.

There will be a new champion and no three-peat after the Florida Panthers were derailed by injuries following three consecutive trips to the final. In fact, both finalists are new after Edmonton got knocked out by Anaheim.

What’s happened so far

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Vegas got through Utah and Anaheim in six, then won four in a row against the Avalanche.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:Carolina swept Ottawa and Philadelphia, then responded from a Game 1 loss to the Canadiens to advance to the final for the first time since 2006.

The matchups

The top three teams in each of the four divisions make the playoffs. The other four spots go to the next two highest-placed teams in each conference, regardless of division. All four rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven; the first team to 16 victories wins the Stanley Cup.

— Carolina vs. Vegas vs., Game 1 Tuesday night.

The favorites

Carolina is a slight favorite at just over even money.

How to watch

Every playoff game will be nationally televised in the U.S on an ESPN or Turner network. The NHL schedule is here and a streaming guide is here. Much of TNT’s coverage, which includes the Stanley Cup Final, will be simulcast on truTV and available on Max’s B/R Sports Add-On. In Canada, games will be showcased on Sportsnet and CBC.

After three rounds of best-of-seven series, the final starts Tuesday night. If it goes the distance, Game 7 could go as late as June 20.

What to know

WEST: No-nonsense John Tortorella took over coaching the Vegas Golden Knights in late March, and they've been rolling since. Mitch Marner, who was maligned for a lack of playoff success during his time in Toronto, has been arguably the best player in the postseason.

EAST: The Carolina Hurricanes have rolled through the East, getting dominant goaltending from 36-year-old Frederik Andersen and do-it-all play from 2018 league MVP Taylor Hall. After so many disappointing playoff exits, they are hoping to win the franchise's second championship and first since 2006.

Canada's Stanley Cup drought will extend one more year. No team north of the border has won it since Montreal in 1993.

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

Sergio Guel, 31, was charged as part of an ongoing investigation by Constable Precinct One’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

Court records state that Guel was charged with one count of possession of lewd visual material depicting a child, a state-jail felony punishable by up to two years confinement and a fine.

As an investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

Detectives with Constable Precinct One’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit are reviewing photos and videos which were found on an electronic device seized at his residence in Hockley.

The images are believed to have been downloaded from the internet.

Guel has previously been commissioned by the State of Texas as a private security officer and has worked in technology.

Because of the nature of some information and evidence uncovered in the case, detectives ask that anyone with information about Guel and any sexual impropriety with children, to contact them 713-222-4929.

“If you see something, say something. Together, we can keep our community safer,” Constable Rosen said.

Constable Precinct One’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit is part of the Houston-Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Hot, steamy weather expected this weekend:

Get ready for classic Houston heat this weekend. Temperatures will kick off Saturday morning in the mid-70s, with a heat index already feeling like 80 degrees by 8 a.m. Through the afternoon, highs are expected to reach 90 to 92 degrees, and the heat index climbs to 98 degrees. This means it’s going to feel extra steamy, perfect timing if you’ve been considering a pool day.

Humidity is expected to tick upward on Sunday, bumping the heat index even higher.

Hurricane season starts next week:

Hurricane season officially begins June 1, and the KPRC 2 Weather Team has you covered with a special Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide. Make a note to tune in to KPRC 2 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. for insightful tips, the newest science, and expert advice on staying safe whether you’re new to the area or have weathered decades of Gulf storms.

The guide is designed to help everyone get prepared, no matter your experience level. The forecast team will dive deep into what to watch for and how to be ready for severe weather.

The history of how hurricanes get named

Tropical rain threat looms next week:

There’s a shift in weather patterns to keep an eye on after this dry weekend. Tropical moisture is expected to move into the Gulf early next week. This system appears disorganized and is likely to send the heaviest rainfall toward Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

For Houston, afternoon showers and a few thunderstorms start Monday, and continuing off and on throughout the week. It’s not expected to be a washout, but it’s a good idea to stay Weather Ready and watch for forecast updates in case things change.

10-Day forecast:

The start of hurricane season is Monday. This day also starts the chance of afternoon thunderstorms throughout the week.

Lucas, who was married to “Star Wars” creator George Lucas from 1969 to 1983, died Wednesday from metastatic cancer, attorney Deidre Von Rock said in an email to The Associated Press. She died in Rancho Mirage, California, surrounded by loved ones, Von Rock said.

Marcia Lucas was the editor on 1983's “Return of the Jedi” and the pre-“Star Wars” George Lucas-directed films “THX 1138” and “American Graffiti.”

She was also part of the editing team for director Martin Scorsese's 1970s films “Taxi Driver,” “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore” and “New York, New York.”

Editor was a rare senior creative position where a woman could find a foothold in Hollywood. Marcia Lucas became one of several women whose work in the editing chair made sense of the work of the overwhelmingly male directors of the New Hollywood of the late 1960s through the early 1980s, including Dede Allen, editor of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Dog Day Afternoon”; Verna Fields, editor of “Paper Moon” and “Jaws"; and Thelma Schoonmaker, editor of most of Scorsese's films starting with 1980's “Raging Bull.”

Lucas was often called the unsung hero of “Star Wars,” the original film that after sequels, prequels and spinoffs has come to be known by its subtitle, “A New Hope.”

She convinced her then-husband that he should have Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, die in his lightsaber battle with Darth Vader and become a spirit guide to Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker.

And she had to make sense of raw footage that could have been a mess in the wrong hands, including the climactic rebel attack on the Death Star.

“It was extremely complex and we had 40,000 feet of dialogue footage of pilots saying this and that. And she had to cull through all that, and put in all the fighting as well,” George Lucas told Rolling Stone in an interview a few months after the film came out. “Nobody really has ever tried to interweave an actual plot story into a dogfight, and we were trying to do that."

Lucas was born Marcia Griffin in Modesto, California shortly after the end of World War II. She moved to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents divorced when she was a small child.

She began working as a film librarian and moved into working as an editor on commercials, trailers and promotional films. She was an assistant editor on the documentary “Journey to the Pacific” for Fields, who also hired George Lucas, then a film student at the University of Southern California.

The couple became engaged soon after. Their marriage would essentially end in 1982, but they kept their divorce under wraps until after the release of “Return of the Jedi” in 1983. Marcia Lucas was then married to Tom Rodrigues, a production manager at the Skywalker Ranch production center, from 1983 to 1993.

She is survived by her daughters, Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper, and grandchildren Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen and Knox Soper.

"Her influence on film is indelible, but those who knew her best will remember the way she made life feel more vivid, more beautiful, more fun, and more full of love,” a family statement said. “Her work was known for its emotional intelligence, rhythm, and humanity — a rare ability to find the truth of a scene and bring heart, momentum, and clarity to the screen.”

U.S. Southern Command announced the latest strike in the monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence.

While the military's social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this appears to be the first with the footage in color instead of black and white. The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it's hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water.

The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with two other attacks announced Tuesday and Wednesday. The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America, who on Friday also met with Cuban military leaders near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay.

An executive order from Trump directs federal agencies to align their policies behind the study, which recommended an overhaul long called for by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The study found that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than many peer nations.

The Trump administration previously moved to narrow the number of recommended childhood vaccines in response to the report, but the move was blocked by a federal judge in Massachusetts. The administration is appealing the decision.

The study recommends vaccinating all children against 11 diseases. Several others would be recommended only for high-risk groups or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.” That includes vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.

Trump's order adds weight behind the study at a time when the administration had appeared to be trying to shift focus away from Kennedy's more contentious vaccine policies and toward more mainstream topics like healthy eating.

The order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the study and “take any appropriate steps” to update its vaccine recommendations. It says the CDC should “provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors" and directs agencies to make sure all actions, regulations and funding are aligned with the study.

The order adds that any changes should ensure that Americans retain their current access to vaccines.

States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.

Trump directed HHS to carry out the study in December.

Kennedy is a longtime activist against vaccines and has sought ways to inject his skepticism about the shots into national guidance. Last year, he announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, a move questions by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.

Last June, he fired a 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee and later installed several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptics.

The January report found that vaccine recommendations for American children had increased in recent decades. It also highlighted countries where no vaccines are required to attend school.

In a trio of social media posts, Trump gave his backing to South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra and former Oklahoma state senator Mike Mazzei as primary elections approach.

Iowa’s primary is Tuesday, South Carolina’s is on June 9 and Oklahoma's is on June 16. All three states are having their first competitive Republican gubernatorial primaries in years.

For two terms, Evette has served alongside Gov. Henry McMaster, one of Trump's earliest backers during his first presidential campaign. Earlier this year, the long-serving governor endorsed his No. 2, telegraphing to some that Trump's backing could be next.

On Friday, Trump expressed both appreciation for Evette and the state she represents, noting that she stumped for him in 2024. He also said “A BIG added plus” for her campaign is that Henry McMaster Jr. — the sitting governor's son — may be Evette's running mate.

In the deep red state of South Carolina, the competition for the president’s support has been the most intense part of the primary race.

In a separate post, Trump described Feenstra as "MAGA all the way” and said he would “fight tirelessly” for the state on issues including the economy, border security and support of law enforcement.

Evette and Feenstra have been vocal about wanting Trump's endorsement, in the hopes that it would carry weight in states that helped propel Trump's return to office in 2024. Feenstra said earlier this year that he asked for Trump's support, and much of Evette's campaign media has featured photos of her next to Trump.

Along with Feenstra, four other Republicans — state Rep. Eddie Andrews, businessman and former conservative political director Zach Lahn, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former director of the state Department of Administrative Services Adam Steen — are in the primary to replace outgoing Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who opted out of a third bid.

Evette is competing for the South Carolina nomination against Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Mazzei is running to replace Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is finishing his second term. He's competing against state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, former state House Speaker Charles McCall and former state public safety secretary Chip Keating.

"Mike Mazzei has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of Oklahoma — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Trump wrote on social media.

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Hannah Fingerhut contributed reporting from Des Moines, Iowa.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she sent in state police to bring order outside Delaney Hall as the demonstrations have intensified, with violence and arrests increasing as night falls.

“It has grown unsafe, and that’s completely unacceptable,” the Democratic governor said at a news conference announcing the new measures. “We need to take this opportunity to lower the temperature.”

As police erected protest barriers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had formed an line in front of protesters moved inside the building’s perimeter fence.

New Jersey State Police Lt. Col. David Sierotowicz said ICE officers agreed to stand down with state police assuming responsibility.

Demonstrators had mixed reactions. Some staged a sit-in and refused to move into one of the new protest areas police set up using metal barriers and concrete blocks.

Rachel Cohen worried that demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights were being silenced.

“It is not helpful to quell protest for the sake of a false peace,” she said. “There is no peace while we are torturing our neighbors on government dime inside this facility.”

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, on social media, called the measures a “win for law and order" and noted that Sherrill had resisted sending state police for days.

The protests began a week earlier after immigrant advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility, which opened last May.

Demonstrators have been attempting to block people and vehicles from entering and exiting, linking their arms in a human chain and using trash cans, umbrellas and other items as makeshift shields and barricades.

ICE officers wearing helmets and tactical vests have used pepper spray and batons to try to disperse the protesters and clear the roadway for vehicles.

At least six demonstrators were arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers Wednesday night, and more have been arrested on other nights, according to DHS.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche shared images online Friday of bloody wounds and bruises sustained by ICE officers.

“These riots are clearly not ‘peaceful protests’ as you can see from the photos of these horrific wounds,” he said. “Assault a federal officer, you’ll be held accountable.”

Another demonstrator, Lisa O’Dwyer, said she was fine with the designated protest areas.

“I like to get my point across and stay safe at the same time,” the Westfield resident said.

Eyesha Marable, pastor at Mt. Zion AME Church in Millburn, agreed even while acknowledging that there were “different schools of thought” among protesters.

“There are people here who are angry. Their family members are inside. Their friends are inside. People have been taken off the streets, out of their communities,” she said.

“We have to keep the peace,” Marable said. “The goal is to get our people free, to get them liberated, and we cannot do that if we’re fighting out here.”

State Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said it was important to “de-escalate” the situation as “violence, either against protesters or by protesters, is unacceptable.”

Sherril said she did not want to give ICE a “pretext” to expand operations in the state.

“We all need to do everything we can to cool things down now,” she said.

The governor and other Democratic officials tried to visit detainees on Monday but were denied entry.

Democratic members of Congress from New York City, however, were able to tour Delaney Hall the day after that. They reported dire conditions, with detainees being fed small portions of often spoiled food and their varied medical needs going ignored.

Families and supporters of detainees also say their loved ones have also been subjected to pepper spray and physical force in retaliation for their hunger strike and the protests outside.

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Marcelo reported from New York.

Trump has warned that Cuba “is next” after U.S. military forces captured Venezuela's autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a January raid. In the months since, the Trump administration has imposed an oil blockade on Cuba, maintained warships in the Caribbean Sea and indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on federal charges.

Gen. Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, met with Lt. Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo and other Cuban military officials.

Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces said in a statement that both sides viewed "the meeting positively because it addressed security issues along the perimeter separating the military enclave, and they agreed to maintain communication between the two military commands.”

Top Trump aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA chief John Ratcliffe, also have met with Cuban officials to explore possible improvements in relations. But the U.S. side has come away unimpressed from those talks, leading to even more sanctions imposed on the Cuban government.

Besides the meeting, Donovan also assessed the security of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay and discussed the “safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X.

The U.S. maintains the base despite decades of friction with Cuba's socialist leaders, whom Trump wants removed from power.

The U.S. military has a handful of Navy ships, including at least one amphibious assault ship, in the Caribbean, a much smaller force than was present at the time of the Maduro raid.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced that a new unit of 1,300 sailors and Marines would be replacing the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which deployed to the region last summer.

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Associated Press writer Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report.

Meanwhile Trump held a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward on a deal to extend a ceasefire with Iran. Trump confirmed the high-level talks a day after the AP reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days and start new talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

And former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions on Trump’s involvement in the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she defended the administration’s actions in a closed-door interview before House lawmakers. Lawmakers have scrutinized the Justice Department’s release of the files, which was delayed and revealed the personal information of potential victims.

Here's the latest:

Trump claims he’s making food more affordable, but his examples ignore the big picture

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, the president proclaimed “TRUMP’S MAKING FOOD AFFORDABLE,” and cited falling prices for a range of groceries, including avocados, fresh berries, and a variety of pantry staples. Yet just two weeks earlier the Labor Department had released inflation figures showing grocery prices up nearly 3% in April from a year earlier.

So where’s the reality?

The graphic shared by Trump may be correct about the specific items he listed. It’s hard to know because he used data that isn’t publicly available and he didn’t specify what time frame he used.

But specific grocery items go up and down all the time, and his post ignores the broader reality consumers are facing at the supermarket: Overall, food prices have risen since his inauguration, and at a faster pace than they typically did before the pandemic. Most economists expect them to continue to do so in the coming months as a spike in diesel fuel prices lifts the cost of shipping groceries to stores around the country.

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Pentagon-led talks between Israel and Lebanon conclude

The Pentagon said the security-related talks were “productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or achievements.

The statement released late Friday said the “military-to-military talks focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability” and “tangible outcomes” from the discussions will directly inform negotiations with political leaders conducted by the State Department next week.

Talks between senior Israeli and Lebanese officials have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating and has refused to accept their results.

ICE officer arrested in shooting during Minneapolis immigration crackdown

Christian Castro, who was wanted in the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration’s crackdown, was arrested Friday in Texas, authorities said.

Castro, 52, was taken into custody 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Prosecutors in Hennepin County, Minnesota, said the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located Castro in Texas, and the Texas Rangers said they assisted in the arrest in Cameron County, which borders Mexico.

Online court records did not list an attorney for Castro, and it was not immediately clear if he has one.

Castro is the second federal agent to be charged over conduct during the Minnesota crackdown and one of two agents that ICE Director Todd Lyons said lied about the circumstances of the incident.

Prosecutors say Castro fired through a home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after Castro and another officer chased a different man to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where he and Sosa-Celis lived.

Tomatoes become latest symbol of America’s affordability squeeze

Tomatoes, ubiquitous in everything from fast-food burgers to haute cuisine, are taking on a new role beyond the plate: A nagging reminder of rising costs.

Prices for those red orbs have soared more than any other food product over the past year to cement a spot as one of the consumer headaches du jour.

Tomato prices are up about 40% over a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5%), beef roasts (up 17.8%) and frozen fish and seafood (up 12%), among other products that have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze.

Alongside crop yields, experts blame price increases for tomatoes, in part, on two pillars of President Donald Trump’s second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs. The war spiked gas prices and increased shipping costs. Meantime, the U.S. withdrew from a deal allowing duty-free imports of tomatoes from Mexico, which grows most of America’s supply.

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Trump jumps into GOP governor primaries in South Carolina and Iowa

The president waded into primary contests that have pitted allies against each other in a fierce competition for their party leader’s blessing. In a pair of social media posts, he gave his backing to South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra.

Trump expressed appreciation for Evette and her state, noting that she stumped for him in 2024. He also said “A BIG added plus” for her is that Henry McMaster Jr. — the sitting governor’s son — may be Evette’s running mate.

Separately Trump described Feenstra as “MAGA all the way” and said he would “fight tirelessly” on issues including the economy, border security and support of law enforcement.

Both Evette and Feenstra have been vocal about wanting Trump’s endorsement, in the hopes that it would carry weight in states that helped propel his return to office in 2024.

What to know about the artists backing out of the Trump-linked Freedom 250 concerts

“The Great American State Fair” is a series of concerts, exhibits, tributes and other programs scheduled for June 25 to July 10 on Washington’s National Mall. It was organized by Freedom 250, which is billed as a nonpartisan organization but was launched last year by the president and is headed by a Trump State Department appointee from his first term.

On Wednesday, Freedom 250 announced that Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride would be among the musical performers. But by late Thursday, all three dropped out, as did Morris Day and Young MC.

Michaels and others have said they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight.

Freedom 250 organizers have yet to respond to AP requests for comment. Spokesperson Rachel Reisner told The New York Times that “Freedom 250 is focused on our signature celebrations and events that honor our history and engage all Americans.”

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US and China trade journalist expulsions days after Trump visits Xi in Beijing

The Trump administration has revoked the visa of a Chinese national working for state news agency Xinhua, an apparent reciprocal act to Beijing’s decision to expel a New York Times reporter.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because it involves visa privacy confirmed the visa had been revoked. A State Department official confirmed there was a plan to revoke it.

The move followed China’s expulsion of Times correspondent Vivian Wang, apparently over the appearance of the Taiwanese leader in a DealBook event in which Wang had no role.

The Times, which first reported the reciprocal move, said it does not ask governments to revoke media credentials or otherwise interfere with the work of any journalist. It called for Wang’s reinstatement and urged both governments to “reverse this deterioration in journalist access.”

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Didi Tang and Matthew Lee

US commander meets with Cuban military officials as Trump continues pressure on island nation

The top U.S. military leader in Latin America and the Cuban officials met Friday in what Southern Command characterized as a “brief exchange on operational security matters” near the U.S. Navy base on Guantanamo Bay.

Gen. Francis L. Donovan also “led a perimeter security assessment of the naval base and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” Southern Command said on the social platform X.

The meeting comes as the U.S. military maintains a presence of warships in the Caribbean Sea and the Trump administration applies pressure on Cuba with an oil blockade. Trump has warned that Cuba “is next” after capturing Venezuela’s autocratic leader in a January military operation.

Trump says he’s backing away from Kennedy Center renovation and returning control to Congress

Hours after a federal judge ordered his name removed from the arts institution, the president said the judge “should be ashamed of himself” in a social media post.

“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,’” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump also said he has instructed his administration to “make all necessary arrangements” to have the center transferred to Congress.

Federal judge says New Hampshire must loosen requirements to prove citizenship to vote

New Hampshire must make voter registration easier by allowing applicants to attest to their U.S. citizenship if they don’t have the documents to prove it, the judge said.

The case was seen as the first major legal test of an election reform that has been pushed nationally by Trump and has gained favor among many Republicans, although U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliot said she was not deciding whether requiring proof of citizenship itself is constitutional.

Her ruling late Thursday night on a narrower question of New Hampshire law was significant, however, because it underscored the potential perils of implementing strict requirements for voters to document their U.S. citizenship so they can cast a ballot.

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Kennedy Center board broke the law putting Trump’s name on the building, judge says, and blocks its closure for renovations

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded Friday that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by unilaterally adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, he said, and only Congress can change it.

The judge also ruled that the board’s March 16 vote to close the facility was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations.

“The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” he wrote.

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Iran’s nuclear issues remain unresolved

A deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz “has not yet been finalized,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told a state broadcaster on Friday.

On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Baghaei, however, said Friday that Iranian officials were “focused on the end of war and are not discussing the details of the nuclear plan at this point.”

Trump’s Situation Room meeting on Iran ceasefire has concluded

Trump has finished his meeting with national security aides to weigh a framework of an agreement that would extend the U.S. ceasefire with Iran by 60 days and kickstart new talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a senior administration official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on whether Trump had made a decision to sign off on the tentative agreement following the roughly two-hour meeting.

— Aamer Madhani

Kennedy Center board broke the law putting Trump’s name on the building, judge says, and blocks its closure for renovations

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded Friday that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by unilaterally adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, he said, and only Congress can change it.

The judge also ruled that the board’s March 16 vote to close the facility was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations.

“The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” he wrote.

Rubio calls Lebanese president as Israel-Lebanon security talks begin at the Pentagon

The U.S. secretary of state had a phone call with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to praise him for pursuing peace talks with Israel, as Israel and Lebanon held their first security-related meeting in Washington at the Pentagon.

Rubio “commended President Aoun’s courage and vision in pursuing direct negotiations with Israel, even as Hezbollah continues its attempts to derail those talks at the expense of the Lebanese people,” the State Department said in a statement Friday.

Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused to accept their results.

Rubio told Aoun that Hezbollah “is entirely responsible for the ongoing fighting and emphasized the need for Hezbollah to immediately cease its attacks and provocations to enable de-escalation.”

Trump administration grants a rare reprieve, shielding 11,000 Lebanese from deportation

The decision on their Temporary Protected Status allows them to stay and work in the United States for another six months.

Unusually, the decision was automatic, meaning the administration missed the deadline to decide on whether to extend TPS for Lebanese people covered by the program.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that officials “were unable to make an informed determination on Lebanon’s TPS designation.” It comes amid ongoing fighting in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants.

Republicans have harshly criticized the TPS program, which was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

White House moves to give political appointees more power over federal grants

Scientists say this would put critical research funding into the hands of partisans without relevant expertise. It would be the most sweeping change to the federal grantmaking process in years.

The proposed regulations would require senior appointees to review funding to see if it complies with the law and the president’s priorities. The rules would also give administration officials more freedom to terminate grants that have already been awarded, a process that could jeopardize millions of dollars in ongoing research.

The Office of Management and Budget claims the reforms are needed for greater accountability. It says the Biden administration wasted taxpayer dollars on “woke” programs.

Published Friday, the plan will enter a public comment period before a final rule will be issued.

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Ex-Iowa school district leader who was arrested in Trump’s immigration crackdown gets 2 years in prison

Ian Roberts pleaded guilty in January to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessing firearms, which together carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

He would serve the sentence before he is likely deported to his native Guyana in South America.

His lawyers had proposed that he be put on probation “to facilitate his removal from the United States.” Prosecutors recommended a sentence of more than three years, saying his likely deportation should not be a factor.

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Louisiana lawmakers pass a new congressional map designed to pick up a Republican seat

The new map is also likely to leave the state with just one of its two majority-Black House districts represented by Democrats.

Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That decision intensified a national redistricting battle fueled by Trump’s efforts to protect the Republicans’ slim House majority in the midterm elections.

Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map giving the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more Black voters to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with losses. Some Republicans said a 5-1 map better protects U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a difficult reelection.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law.

Bondi interview concludes after 4 hours

Democratic lawmakers say former attorney general told them she would not answer questions about Trump’s involvement in the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein.

She also said Todd Blanche, her former deputy who is now the acting attorney general, had overseen the publication of case files.

Bondi refuses to answer lawmakers’ questions about Trump’s involvement in Epstein files release

Bondi was on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview in which she defended the administration’s actions before House lawmakers who are scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.

Democratic lawmakers said Bondi told them she would not speak about the president in Friday’s interview and, accompanied by a lawyer from the Department of Justice, cited her ability to decline questions because she agreed to appear before the committee voluntarily.

“It’s a sham in there. They are not answering any questions,” said Democratic Rep. Dave Min during a break in the interview.

Trump says only the US and China are capable of removing Iran’s enriched uranium

The president in his online post also turned back to his on-and-off demand that the highly-enriched uranium buried under nuclear sites badly damaged during last year’s U.S. air bombardment of Iran be removed as part of a deal.

“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump said.

Trump has offered mixed messages over the course of the three-month conflict on the importance of removing the enriched uranium. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he’d “just feel better if I got” the uranium, but that “it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”

Louisiana Republicans are poised to pass new US House districts in wider redistricting fight

The state’s Republican-controlled Senate is poised to pass a plan Friday to help the GOP maintain control of the U.S. House in November, potentially becoming the latest Southern state to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that elected a Democrat.

The state Senate is set to vote on a redistricting plan that would give Republicans a chance to pick up an additional seat in response to late April’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s congressional district map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.

An amended map overwhelmingly passed the House on Thursday. Once the final map clears the Legislature, Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign it.

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Hegseth meets with leaders of Vietnam and Singapore at Asian defense conference

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has met with leaders from Vietnam and Singapore to discuss shared security interests, the Pentagon said Friday.

The separate meetings occurred on the sidelines during the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s annual defense and security forum in Singapore.

Hegseth praised Vietnam’s decision to join the Board of Peace and for committing troops and police to the International Stabilization Force in Gaza. Hegseth also applauded the modernization of Vietnam’s military and discussed opportunities to deepen cooperation, including on unmanned naval capabilities.

Hegseth and Singapore’s leaders discussed expanding the U.S. military’s presence in Singapore with rotational deployments from the Navy and Air Force. Meanwhile, Hegseth reaffirmed the American commitment to support advanced training for Singapore’s military in the U.S.

Pam Bondi defends administration’s release of Epstein case files as she testifies before lawmakers

The former attorney general stood behind the Trump administration’s release of the case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she testified Friday before House lawmakers scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.

Bondi, who arrived Friday morning on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was defiant in previous public testimony when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. In her opening statement, she kept to the same tack.

“The bottom line is: justice and transparency in this matter have been delivered at the direction of President Trump and his administration,” she said, according to a written copy of her opening statement.

The transcribed Bondi interview gave lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

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Trump meeting with aides to make ‘final determination’ on moving forward with Iran deal

The president says he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers.

Trump confirmed the high-level White House talks Friday, a day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement.

The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

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White House declines comment on judge’s ruling blocking payouts from ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

The White House referred all questions to the Justice Department, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit claims there’s no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

At least two other lawsuits, both filed separately in Washington, also are challenging the fund’s creation.

The company fueled the hulking New Glenn rocket Thursday night, hoping to briefly ignite the engines ahead of a satellite launch next week. But the 321-foot (98-meter), rocket blew up, taking part of the pad with it.

Aerial views on Friday revealed heaps of crumpled structures on the ground, with just one tower and the water tank still standing. Emergency officials warned the public to avoid any wreckage that might wash ashore and to instead call 911. There were no reported deaths or injuries.

It’s a major setback for Blue Origin, coming just one month after the entire New Glenn fleet was grounded because of an upper-stage engine issue that dumped a satellite in the wrong orbit.

Named after John Glenn, the first American in orbit, New Glenn is the rocket that Blue Origin plans to use to launch landers to the moon under NASA's Artemis program that aims to build a sprawling base near the moon's south pole. The goal is to land the first Artemis moonwalkers as early as 2028. Earlier this week, the space agency awarded a new contract to Blue Origin worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

One of the biggest rockets to reach orbit, New Glenn has seven first-stage engines fueled by liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas, which is essentially methane. It has flown three times.

None of the assigned 48 Amazon Leo satellites were on board the newest rocket when the blast occurred. Another batch of Amazon Leo satellites — competing with SpaceX's Starlinks to provide internet service to remote locales — lifted off from another pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday night, courtesy of United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.

It was the second launch of the day. SpaceX launched more Starlinks to orbit Friday morning, within 12 hours of the explosion. CEO Elon Musk has two Florida pads in action, one on the Space Force side where the latest Falcon 9 lifted off and the other at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Blue Origin has just one Florida pad: Launch Complex 36 dating back to the early 1960s. NASA's Mariner and Pioneer interplanetary probes rocketed away from there, as well as the moon-bound Rangers and Surveyors. The Washington state-based Blue Origin spent more than $1 billion rebuilding the launch complex — taking it from double pads to a single — after leasing it from the Air Force in 2015.

The company's smaller New Shepard rockets soar from Texas, skimming space for a few minutes with tourists and science experiments. Those suborbital hops were paused in January so the company could focus on New Glenn and upcoming moonshots. All that is now on hold, pending the investigation into the explosion.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said late Thursday that the space agency will evaluate near-term impacts to the Artemis program, which saw four astronauts fly around the moon in April. That Artemis II mission was hoisted by NASA's Space Launch System rocket.

Before the explosion, Blue Origin was on track to launch a prototype lunar lander to the moon on a New Glenn this fall, with another lander due to rocket into orbit around Earth in 2027 for docking practice by the soon-to-be-announced Artemis III crew.

A touchdown by two astronauts on Artemis IV — using a Blue Moon lander or SpaceX's Starship, whichever is ready first — was targeted as early as 2028.

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

A tank containing more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of a mixture used to break down wood for making paper collapsed Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, a city of 40,000 along the Columbia River.

The collapse expelled a flood of caustic chemicals powerful enough to blow out building walls and overturn pickup trucks at the site. The liquid, called white liquor, causes severe burns on contact and lung damage if vapors are inhaled.

What happens during the recovery process

The recovery of victims has been slow and methodical, complicated by the dangers posed by the remaining chemicals and other industrial hazards, said Matt Amos, Longview fire battalion chief.

Six bodies were found on Thursday. That night, crews used vacuum trucks to siphon away much of the remaining liquid, allowing search teams to look farther into the site on Friday, Amos said.

Crews were steering clear of a zone closest to the tank and they've been working with engineers to determine which damaged buildings near it are safe to enter.

As they collect the remains, crews must decontaminate them before turning them over to the coroner’s office for identification. The searchers also must decontaminate themselves.

The cause of the disaster is under investigation. Eight people were injured, including a firefighter who was treated and released from a hospital. Authorities did not have an update on the condition of those still hospitalized.

Who was killed in the chemical tank disaster

Authorities have not released the names of those who were killed, but friends and relatives had begun confirming their names and posting online fundraisers to support their families.

Among the victims were brothers Tyler and Brad Covington, who worked together at the plant. An online effort to support Tyler Covington's family noted he “leaves behind his wife and their three beautiful children, who are now trying to navigate a future without the man who was their rock, protector, and greatest source of love and support.”

Gilbert Bernal, a grandfather who was an electrician at the plant, was the first confirmed death, his friend Todd Cornwell said.

“He was one of the most genuinely good people that you’ve ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it,” Cornwell said.

John Forsberg, who also died in the collapse, was witty, kind and “wicked smart,” said friend Kole Musgrove, who hosts a trivia night at Ashtown Brewing in Longview where Forsberg regularly competed. The brewery is renaming its trivia trophy the Forsberg Cup to honor him.

“It seemed like there was never a fact he didn't know,” Musgrove said. “He was also a tremendous sport — he was always the first to cheer for another team when they won.”

A GoFundMe post sought donations for Forsberg's two children.

CJ Doran, 26, was “the spiritual leader of their family, the joy of their home, and the family provider,” according to a GoFundMe post verified by the crowdfunding site.

Other victims included Jared Ammons, who had two children and another on the way, and Braydon Finkas, an electrician at the plant, who, along with his longtime partner, Kaitlyn Kincaid, hosted exchange students and others in need, according to their friend Rex Czuba.

Finkas moved to Cathlamet about four years ago to build a house and start a farm, Czuba said. He always was willing to help other farmers cut hay or load equipment, or buy a beer for a new face in their small town, he said.

“He really jumped in and became a part of the community so quickly,” Czuba said.

The tank failure also injured eight people, including a firefighter. Some suffered burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said.

The mill’s Japanese parent company, Nippon Paper Group, said in an updated statement Friday it was offering its “heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”

What's the impact of the spill on the area

At a press conference Friday, officials said the city’s drinking water remained safe.

The community, which was founded at the confluence of the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers by a Kansas City timber baron in the 1920s, has deep ties to paper and lumber industries.

Generations of families have worked in the mills, and many residents who spoke with The Associated Press had family members or friends connected to the Nippon Dynawave plant. The sprawling facility, which employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates and cartons. It sits along the Columbia River next to other timber, paper and chemical businesses.

Fishing and recreational activities in the Columbia River are safe, said Courtney Serad, on-scene coordinator with the state Department of Ecology. However, the agency has collected 23 fish that died in drainage ditches following the initial chemical release and anticipates that any dead fish found in the Columbia River will be from those ditches.

___

Johnson reported from Seattle and Rush from Portland, Oregon. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle and Hallie Golden in Seattle and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

The students were trapped Thursday on the Iron Shark roller coaster at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier after the ride malfunctioned and stopped just short of its highest point.

Firefighters spent more than four hours bringing the children safely back to the ground after learning the ride’s emergency evacuation elevator was out of service.

“We weren’t going to have a child fall on our watch,” Capt. John Fearrington of the Galveston Fire Department said. “We made sure everything was done by the book.”

The rescue depended on the department’s 105-foot ladder truck, which had returned to service less than 24 hours earlier after being out for maintenance for two months.

“We just so happened to get it back day before yesterday, so perfect timing,” engineer James Kothmann said.

According to firefighters, the call initially came in as a rescue at Pleasure Pier.

“We just assumed that that was going to be some type of ride issue,” Capt. Mark Morgan Jr. said.

The department had trained for a similar scenario in the past, but firefighters soon learned the ride’s evacuation equipment was not operational.

“We were going to have to switch gears and improvise,” Morgan said.

The ladder was extended to more than 100 feet, leaving firefighters with only a few feet of reach to spare.

Kothmann said positioning the truck was especially difficult because crews had to maneuver the ladder through sections of the coaster structure while avoiding overhead track components.

“It was very tight,” he said.

When firefighters reached the students, Fearrington said several were crying and asking how they would be rescued.

Rather than immediately beginning the technical portion of the operation, firefighters focused on reassuring the children.

“We just said, ‘Hey, this is who we are. This is what we’re going to do. You’re in good hands,’” Fearrington said.

Crews joked with the students and carefully explained each step of the rescue process.

“Once they see that we’re calm, they typically calm down,” Fearrington said.

Firefighters fitted each student with a safety harness before releasing the roller coaster restraints. Fearrington said every step was carefully explained and repeatedly checked before anyone was moved.

“I had at some point them clipped onto me,” Fearrington said. “I said, ‘If something happens to you, I’m going with you.’”

At one stage of the rescue, Fearrington detached from the ladder bucket and secured himself directly to the coaster.

“If something happens to our tower truck, I’m up here stuck with y’all,” he recalled telling the students.

Firefighters rescued the students one at a time using harnesses and the department’s aerial ladder, eventually bringing all eight safely back to the ground.

Kothmann said the relief on their faces was immediate.

“You could see the relief — like, ‘I made it. I’m on solid ground,’” he said.

Despite the stress of the situation, firefighters said the students eventually began joking with them.

One student told firefighters it was her first attempt at riding a roller coaster after friends convinced her to get on.

Another student left such an impression that he may have inspired a future career choice.

“He’s like, he thinks he wants to be a firefighter now,” Fearrington said.

The rescue quickly drew national and international attention as videos and images circulated online.

For the firefighters involved, however, the focus remained on safely bringing the students home.

“Anything can happen,” Morgan said. “We’re asked to do some of the most small, minute jobs, or we could come to work and it’s what happened yesterday. It’s a rewarding career and a rewarding job to be able to feel like you did something to help people.”

Fearrington said the length of the rescue reflected the department’s commitment to safety.

“One mistake could have turned an inconvenience into a tragedy,” he said. “We weren’t going to have a child fall on our watch.”

Trump said in response that he’s backing away from his proposed renovation and returning control of the arts institution to Congress.

“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Kennedy Center board’s March 16 vote to close the facility was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years, but Cooper's ruling halts those plans for now.

“The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” he wrote.

Cooper also concluded that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by unilaterally adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, he said.

The judge, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, ordered the defendants to remove Trump's name from the institution's façade and any “official materials,” such as digital or physical signs, within two weeks.

"May the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts be renamed absent Congressional authorization? The answer, plain from the face of the statute, is no. Nor can any other individual be memorialized on the front portico of the building," Cooper wrote.

Trump said the judge “should be ashamed of himself” in a social media post hours after the decision was issued.

The Republican president said he instructed his administration to “make all necessary arrangements” to have the center transferred to Congress.

Trump determined to leave his mark on DC

Trump has made it a priority of his second term to leave his personal stamp on some of the most historic spots in Washington. He demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom. His name or image has been added to government buildings, including the U.S. Institute of Peace and Justice Department headquarters. He is pushing for a triumphal arch overlooking the Potomac River.

Opponents have challenged other Trump construction projects in court — and won favorable rulings. But the district court judges likely won't have the final say as the administration pursues appeals.

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said Friday the institution is “confident that on appeal the court will uphold the Board’s will to recognize President Trump’s historic contributions to our nation’s cultural center.” She said the decision would be reviewed “carefully.”

“Though the reality remains — the Center requires an urgent and significant restoration – a truth that even the plaintiff acknowledges,” Daravi said. “With $257 million secured by President Trump and approved by Congress, the resources are in place and we remain committed to pursuing every lawful avenue to ensure the Trump Kennedy Center is restored as a national cultural landmark for all Americans to enjoy.”

Cooper held hearings in late April for parallel lawsuits challenging the project. One was filed by a group of cultural and historic preservation organizations. The other was brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who serves as an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board. He ruled in favor of Beatty’s request but rejected the other challenge.

Beatty called the decision a win for the Kennedy Center and the performing arts. “Now hopefully people can come back to work, we can continue to be the Kennedy Center that we were intended to be,” she told The Associated Press.

Justice Department attorneys said renovation plans for the building are limited in scope and well within the board’s authority to make without needing outside approvals.

How much of an overhaul is needed?

The plaintiffs worry the president and his board allies will flout preservation rules designed to maintain the building’s historic fabric. In earlier statements in court hearings, attorneys for Beatty and the preservation groups raised doubts about the limited scope of the project, pointing to Trump’s statements that he would “fully expose” the building’s steel skeleton.

Beatty has said she was “very fearful that we’ll see what happened with the East Wing and what happened with the Rose Garden” if the center is closed and the renovations allowed unsupervised, referring to major changes the president has made at the White House.

Mike Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, spent several weeks during the spring walking a bipartisan group of lawmakers and their staffs, along with journalists and Washington city officials, through the expansive building that sprawls across 1.5 million square feet.

The tours were intended to show that the Kennedy Center, which began construction in 1965, was in genuine need of an overhaul. The walkthroughs showed severe water damage, apparent in some places through discoloration and pooling. Some pieces of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the building, are decades old and in need of replacement.

Floca told reporters in April that he considered doing the repairs individually but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the building and move forward with the renovation all at once.

Trump has taken a keen interest in the Kennedy Center’s operations since he returned to the White House last year. He installed a handpicked board that named him chairman. His name was added to the façade of a building that is considered a living monument to Kennedy.

The Kennedy Center has kept up performances ahead of the closure, though at a much slower pace than in previous years. Trump attended the premiere of the musical “Chicago” in March and other shows, including “Moulin Rouge,” are slated for June.

Bill Maher, the comedian who has had an up and down relationship with Trump, is expected to be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on June 28, an event that was anticipated to be one of the final big moments at the Kennedy Center before the closure.

___

Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Collin Binkley and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

The entrance of Israel’s troops into the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people. Five were killed in an airstrike on the villages of Deir Qanoun al Nahr and Abbasiyeh, while a municipal policeman was killed in the village of Ebba, state media reported.

In Washington, a six-member Lebanese military delegation met Friday with Israeli military officials in the first direct military talks between the two countries in decades.

The Pentagon, in a statement released late Friday, said the talks were “productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or achievements. It said the talks "focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability” and the “tangible outcomes” from their discussions will directly inform the negotiations with political leaders being conducted by the State Department next week.

Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused to accept their results.

A nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17. A senior Lebanese military official told The Associated Press earlier on Friday that the Lebanese delegation, led by the army's head of operations Brig. Gen. George Rizkallah, would aim to make it comprehensive.

The official added the Lebanese delegation will request the reactivation of the committee monitoring the enforcement of an earlier U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.

Another Lebanese official, who was briefed throughout the day about the talks at the Pentagon, also said the delegation would seek the comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire and a stop to ongoing hostilities.

He said implementation would be followed by talks at a later date on matters such as deploying the Lebanese army along the border and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks in Washington.

President Joseph Aoun's office said he received a call Friday from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they discussed the situation in Lebanon and the latest developments in the Middle East. Aoun's office said the president told Rubio that efforts should concentrate on implementing the ceasefire as it is “the essential entry point for transitioning to any other issues.”

In April, Lebanon and Israel held the first direct talks in Washington in more than three decades.

The Israeli military issued several evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon on Friday, forcing hundreds of families to flee to safer areas further north.

Israeli troops fought Hezbollah fighters inside the villages of Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sahrqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the April ceasefire.

Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting Israeli troops for days in the area, said in statements that its members struck Israeli troops inside Yohmor.

The two villages are close to the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. It was not clear if Israeli troops are trying to capture the castle, which lies north of the Litani.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern front Friday where he spoke to members of the military. “I must tell you that there are very impressive results here. Our forces have crossed the Litani; they have advanced to controlling positions,” he said.

“We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa, across the entire width of the front, and we are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow,” Netanyahu said referring to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs where Israel's air force struck on Thursday.

The violence in southern Lebanon came as U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement Thursday to extend the ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.

Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah said Friday that any deal between Iran and the U.S. would stop Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. Officials in Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, have said that they insist that a deal with Washington would stop the latest Israel-Hezbollah war that started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after Israel and Iran attacked in Iran.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has left 3,200 people dead in Lebanon and over 1 million people displaced.

___

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut.

Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca beat 24-time major winner Djokovic 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 in the third round to follow Thursday’s huge upset, when No. 1 Sinner — last year's runner-up lost to 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

“Ten minutes after the match I could realize a little bit what I did, what I achieved," the 19-year-old Fonseca said. “How difficult it was and how amazing it was for me."

Djokovic’s latest quest for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title was ended and it was just the second time he lost from two sets up, the other also coming in Paris in 2010.

Along with Daniil Medvedev, Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka, all the men's major winners are out, thus guaranteeing that a new pair of hands will raise the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy aloft on June 7 on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“Of course, Jannik and Djokovic out, there’s more chances,” said Fonseca, who next faces two-time runner-up Casper Ruud, who beat Tommy Paul 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev, the 2024 runner-up, also advanced to the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 win late Friday over Frenchman Quentin Halys.

The 39-year-old Djokovic faded as the court slowed in the evening cool.

“Tough one for me to lose,” Djokovic said. “I was barely standing on my legs toward the end of the match."

In the final game, Djokovic had a break point for 6-6 but Fonseca served out with three consecutive aces and became the first teenager to beat Djokovic at a Grand Slam tournament.

“I just enjoyed being on court and what a pleasure it was. It’s my first stepping on court against him,” Fonseca said. “We still think he’s 20. At the end of the match I think he was more fit than me, that’s crazy.”

Fonseca wished his mother in the crowd happy birthday and thanked all the Brazilians who turned up to watch.

Djokovic doubts

This wasn't as big an upset as Sinner's loss because Djokovic came to Paris with doubts.

After he lost the Australian Open final to Carlos Alcaraz, a shoulder injury limited his clay-court buildup to one competitive match and Djokovic labored for at least three hours in each of his previous two rounds before facing the full fury of Fonseca's booming forehand.

“Taking everything in consideration and all the circumstances, I think the level was really good," said Djokovic, whose last major title was the 2024 U.S. Open.

The heat that stressed Sinner also got to Djokovic, who applied ice packs on both sides of his face during changeovers. Djokovic snapped at a television camera operator for getting too close to his face at one point.

By the fifth set he couldn't hide his fatigue: He hunched over the advertising boards, his forearms dangling; slumped back in his chair with a towel on his head; grabbed his head with his hands.

He was gracious in defeat.

“I told him (after the match) that he deserved to win and he should be proud of himself," Djokovic said. "We’ve all seen today why there is hype around him."

Djokovic said he was unsure if he would play at the French Open next year, although he said the same after his semifinal defeat to Sinner last year.

Kostyuk keeps going

Still unbeaten on clay this season, Marta Kostyuk reached the fourth round for the second time and set up a big match against four-time champion Iga Swiatek in the women's draw.

The 15th-ranked Ukrainian extended her winning streak on clay to 15 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Viktorija Golubic on yet another hot day in Paris.

She lost to Swiatek in the fourth round in 2021. A rematch is coming up next after Swiatek defeated fellow Polish player Magda Linette 6-4, 6-4.

Swiatek has won in straight sets all three times against Kostyuk and boasts a 43-3 record at Roland Garros.

Seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina was another Ukrainian woman to advance. She beat Tamara Korpatsch 6-2, 6-3.

A dominant win

Also advancing was 36-year-old Sorana Cirstea, who routed Solana Sierra and became the oldest player in the Open Era to claim a 6-0, 6-0 win in a Grand Slam tournament. She next faces China's Wang Xiyu, who has still not dropped a set.

Eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva progressed with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Czech opponent Marie Bouzkova and leads the women’s tour with 32 victories this season.

___

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

The one-year contract renewal approved this week carries a price tag of just over $868,000.

Community members raise privacy alarms

The vote came days before the contract’s expiration on June 6, and several residents voiced opposition during the meeting.

“There are not and can’t be enough guardrails around unauthorized use of electronic surveillance,” said Laura, a Precinct 1 resident.

Jesus, a Precinct 4 resident, pushed back on the investment. “Flock is a surveillance system that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to track and monitor communities in Harris County ... stop investing in technology that monitors our neighbors and put those tax dollars into real community resources that help us thrive.”

Others raised concerns about mass surveillance and the potential for third parties to access private information, or the possibility that U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement officers could get access to the information.

Commissioners clash before discussion begins

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Commissioner Rodney Ellis wanted to discuss the contract after hearing community concerns, but they didn’t have commissioners’ support to move forward with a discussion.

“I represent all the voters in Harris County unlike my colleagues and I oppose a lack of discussion. I myself need to be able to discuss this to figure out where I am,” Hidalgo said.

Commissioner Tom Ramsey initially resisted any discussion — moving instead to vote on the item immediately.

Back-and-forth continued before Commissioner Adrian Garcia made a motion to discuss the item, which Ramsey finally seconded.

“Y’all are playing games here, clearly, all of a sudden you’re for it,” Hidalgo said. “I don’t know what game you’re playing but I don’t trust y’all.”

Hidalgo then quipped: “They flip-flopped. The usual.”

Community demand, data privacy talks

Discussion ultimately moved forward and Commissioner Lesley Briones noted the contract covers existing technology and said she frequently hears about the Flock cameras at community meetings, which she described as being in “very high demand.”

Briones also noted that the County Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office and the purchasing department had been working to tighten language around data privacy.

According to Harris County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Anthony McConnell, who testified at the meeting, many of the cameras are funded not by tax dollars, but by homeowners associations, MUD districts or other entities. The Sheriff’s Office administers the cameras.

McConnell explained that Flock captures images of vehicles but does not store additional information such as registered owner data. Because the system photographs the back of vehicles, it is also difficult for law enforcement to identify who may be inside.

“Just this week, we stopped a robbery in progress with Flock. We found a stolen vehicle on Flock, we searched the area and found the vehicle occupied by three males that were casing a parking lot over off the Beltway,” McConnell said.

Garcia expressed confidence in how the technology is being used. “This has turned out to be a very valuable tool to help solve crimes,” he said. “While there is a concern ... I have great confidence that the technology is being used appropriately.”

Contract passes; political jabs follow

Hidalgo pushed back on what she characterized as a rushed process that didn’t include community input.

“If we are really open to accountability, then we would not be trying to ram this through,” she said, and again referenced commissioners’ failure to pass her initiative last year to place a measure on the ballot allowing voters to approve funding for early childhood education.

The contract ultimately passed with four votes. Hidalgo abstained.

Tensions carried over into the end of the discussion on the item.

“This is bizarre to not want to discuss it and then only discuss it for an hour. But it’s par for the course for my GOP three,” Hidalgo said, how she has been referring to Garcia, Briones and Ramsey.

“It’s GOP four now,” Garcia responded, appearing to include Ellis.

2 Helps You Mario Diaz went to the 8100 block of Penrod Street in NE Houston to meet with 51-year-old William Pierre, who has lived in the neighborhood for 27 years.

Pierre said the trouble started above his head. “The main problem was my roof, it was leaking,” he explained.

When word spread, help arrived at his doorstep — and Pierre said it felt meant to be. “I was shocked and like wow… God sent me some angels to help me,” he said.

One of those “angels” is Trevor Barnett with The Restoration Team, a volunteer home-repair organization born out of Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.

“I started this as a volunteer at my church,” Barnett said.

Since then, Barnett said The Restoration Team has grown into a large collaboration involving multiple churches, nonprofit partners, private donors and an army of volunteers.

• 2 Helps You: Brookshire woman demands answers after 3-year wait for commemorative brick

“This is the 500th home The Restoration Team is restoring,” Barnett said.

The project at Pierre’s home began as a roof replacement, but once crews got on site, they realized the home needed more extensive work. The group has now budgeted $45,000 to help bring the house back.

Pierre admitted he initially wondered if there was a catch. “You thought there was a catch… you thought this is too good to be true? Yes,” Pierre said. “But then you realized it was divine intervention? Yes it was.”

• 2 Helps You: Community Helping Community, DeAnda Brothers Boxing Gym

Work on the outside is expected to wrap up soon, with plans to shift next to an interior makeover.

For Pierre, the result is a safer, repaired home. For Barnett and the volunteers, it’s the reward of neighbors helping neighbors.

“There is something to be said about helping your neighbors in need and not asking for anything in return,” Barnett said.

Barnett said the experience reinforces a message he hopes others will remember: “The world and the community we live in is more generous than it appears.”

As home No. 500 nears completion, The Restoration Team says its mission continues. The organization’s goal by 2028 is to help 100 families a year in northeast Houston.

According to authorities, the derailment happened on Union Pacific tracks over Hempstead Road. Officials said 11 rail cars carrying finished vehicles on a Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) train derailed.

Police said the initial call came in around 8:55 a.m. as a crash involving only the train. Part of the train could be seen hanging off a bridge in the area.

Officials confirmed there were no reported injuries and no hazardous materials involved in the derailment.

Union Pacific said it was notified about the incident but clarified that the train involved belongs to CPKC and not Union Pacific.

Crews have responded to the scene and are working to remove the derailed rail cars.

Drivers should expect road closures and delays in the area.

Police said Old Katy Road is blocked in both directions near Hempstead Road. Additional closures near Hempstead at Washington Avenue are possible, though they have not yet been confirmed.

The crash happened at about 2:35 a.m. on southbound I-95 in Stafford County, near Quantico. All five of the people who died were in vehicles hit by the bus, and 44 people were taken to hospitals, including three in critical condition, police said.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles."

Police said there were “approximately” 34 passengers on the bus.

“We’ve got patients in multiple hospitals. We’ve got the driver at a hospital here,” said Peyton Vogel, a Federal Transit Administration spokesperson who was on the scene. “I’ve got to say, this is one of the most tragic things I’ve ever seen. Absolutely tragic.”

Four of the fatalities were in one car, which caught fire. State police said the victims were a 45-year-old male, a 44-year-old female, a 13-year-old female and a 7-year-old male, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts. Their names were not released by police, but a statement from the school the children attended in Greenfield said they were Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their daughter, Emily, and son, Mark.

“The Doncev family was a cherished part of our school community, and their loss is being felt deeply by our students, families, faculty, and staff,” Providence Christian Academy said.

The fifth victim, an unidentified 25-year-old female from Worcester, Massachusetts, was in an SUV that was struck by the bus.

State police identified the bus driver as Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York. Charges are pending, authorities said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on the social media platform X that Dong was an American citizen originally from China who got his commercial driver's license two years ago in New York.

Mary Washington Healthcare said it received 19 patients from the crash. It posted online that seven of the patients were taken to its trauma center in Fredericksburg, where four were being discharged and three remained in treatment — one in serious condition and two in critical condition. Twelve were taken to its hospital in Stafford, where they were later discharged in good condition.

The National Transportation Safety Board posted online that it was sending a “go-team” to conduct a safety investigation into the crash and that it would have a spokesperson at the scene.

The southbound lanes had reopened by noon, but traffic was still backed up for a couple of miles, according to a state transportation advisory.

Bus company had satisfactory record

The bus was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. A compliance snapshot from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration showed only one injury accident involving the company’s vehicles in the previous two years and listed its safety rating as “satisfactory.”

The company was incorporated Nov. 24, 2023, by Shuo Liu, according to records from the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office. Liu is also listed as the registered agent. The FMCSA site said the company operated four vehicles and had 11 drivers.

While it is too soon to say what caused Friday's crash, federal authorities have been grappling with interstate passenger bus safety issues for decades.

Following a series of passenger bus crashes in 2008 that killed 41 people, the U.S. Department of Transportation published a Motorcoach Safety Action Plan.

The NTSB investigated 16 fatal motorcoach crashes between June 1998 and January 2008, finding that driver-related problems such as fatigue, medical condition and inattention accounted for 56 percent of the accidents. The agency said driver-related problems were responsible for 60 percent of the fatalities in those crashes.

Among the actions recommended were creation of a pre-employment driver history screening program and a national drug- and alcohol-testing database “to enable motorcoach operators to determine if drivers have a history of violating DOT alcohol or drug rules.”

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Breed reported from Wake Forest, North Carolina, and Verduzco from Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Associated Press journalists Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, Michael Casey in Boston and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

They picked Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia over housing activist Maureen Galindo by a decisive 27-point margin, drawing a collective sigh from national Democratic groups that had spent buckets of last-second cash to counter what appeared to be a GOP-backed push to elevate Galindo.

Despite raising little money, Galindo finished first in the March primary, casting a spotlight on her past embrace of antisemitic stereotypes in social media posts that claimed Jews run Hollywood and worship the “synagogue of Satan.” Then, a few weeks before the runoff, reports emerged that she was getting support from a mysterious pop-up group, Lead Left PAC, linked to the Republican donation platform WinRed.

What followed was a flurry of outside spending that highlighted how the district, designed to elect a Republican in last summer’s mid-decade redistricting, was now shaping up to be one of Texas’ hottest congressional battlegrounds this fall. To counter Lead Left PAC, a handful of Democratic groups mobilized to spend a combined $1.7 million on TV, radio and digital ads attacking Galindo and boosting Garcia over the last three weeks of the runoff. The ads largely focused on telling voters she was being propped up by Republicans because the GOP saw her as the easier opponent in November, driving home the point with nicknames like “MAGA Maureen.”

As the spending ramped up, Garcia took to social media to sound the alarm on the “all out arms race” unfolding.

“Republicans are frightened for me to make it out of the run off,” Garcia wrote. “I stepped into this race to tell Trump and Abbott that their gerrymander was NOT going to succeed ON MY WATCH!”

The “arms race” escalated on May 13, when Galindo said in an Instagram post that, if elected, she would write legislation to turn an immigration detention center in the district into a “prison for American Zionists” and “castration processing center for pedophiles,” which she added “will probably be most of the Zionists.”

Big-name Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, disavowed the remark and slammed Galindo. She also drew criticism from Texas Reps. Greg Casar and Al Green, the latter of whom introduced a House resolution days before the runoff condemning her comments.

At the same time, Lead Left PAC continued to dump more money into the race, reporting a $500,000 ad buy on May 19, midway through early voting. By the end of the race, the PAC had spent a hair over $1 million to boost Galindo, according to its filings with the Federal Election Commission.

But Democratic outside groups parried with $1.7 million worth of TV, radio and digital ads after Lead Left PAC waded into the race, which happened about three weeks before Tuesday’s runoff, according numbers compiled by media tracking firm AdImpact. The rush of last-minute Democratic spending, combined with the cash flowing into Republicans’ District 35 runoff, meant the district hosted more ad spending during the overtime period than any other in Texas.

The Democratic cavalry was led by the Democratic super PAC Project 218 and the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, which combined for more than $1.5 million of the pro-Garcia outside spending. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats’ campaign arm which rarely spends in primaries, also went up on TV a few days before Tuesday’s election, with a spot describing Galindo as “the easiest Dem to beat” and slapping the “MAGA” label before her name. Project 218, meanwhile, promoted Garcia as the “one true Democrat in the race.”

“Republicans are so terrified of their cynical attempt to subvert the will of Texas’ voters backfiring that they’ve resorted to uplifting an openly antisemitic candidate to boost their dwindling chances,” DCCC spokesperson Madison Andrus said in a news release after Lead Left PAC’s involvement came to light.

Latino Vets for Garcia, a grassroots group supporting Garcia, put up signs at polling locations around San Antonio reading “Yolanda Saldívar would vote for Maureen Galindo,” referring to the woman who fatally shot Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla.

Galindo denied that her comments were antisemitic or that the super PAC could be linked to Republicans. In a statement posted on social media after the runoff election, she claimed a symbolic victory “because of all the corruption my campaign exposed in the world and all the people we’ve inspired.” The caption of a separate video posted on election night read, “Israel won tonight but this is only the beginning for US.”

Galindo routinely blasted Garcia for accepting money from the pro-Israel PAC Democratic Majority for Israel, characterizing him as the “Zionist-backed cop-candidate.” The PAC spent about $163,000 on Garcia through direct mail advertising, FEC filings show.

With the runoff behind him, Garcia will face Republican Carlos De La Cruz in the November general election, after De La Cruz won a runoff of his own against state Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio.

De La Cruz, the brother of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, is generally seen as the favorite: The district would have voted for Donald Trump by a 10-point margin had its boundaries existed in 2024, and the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan elections forecaster, rates the district “likely Republican.” To overcome their built-in disadvantage, Democrats are banking on a rebound with Latino voters, who make up just over half of District 35’s eligible voting population. While Latino voters shifted dramatically to the right last cycle, a steady stream of polling, in Texas and nationally, has shown the GOP losing their support due largely to economic concerns.

In a social media post after the race was called in his favor Tuesday, Garcia wrote that “Republicans tried to meddle in our election but tonight TX Democrats showed that we won’t stand for hate.” He continued, saying “No te metas con Tejas,” or Don’t mess with Texas.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the plan hours after it overwhelmingly passed the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.

Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s current map — with its two majority-Black districts — as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That decision intensified a national redistricting battle fueled by President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect Republicans’ slim U.S. House majority in the midterm elections. Louisiana is one of several Southern states now redrawing their maps to help Republicans.

Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map giving the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more registered Democrats to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with GOP losses.

The map approved Friday in a 28-10 state Senate vote along party lines reflected Republican arguments that a 5-1 map is safer for the GOP and better protects U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a difficult reelection. Republicans currently hold four of Louisiana’s six congressional seats.

‘Vicious race to the bottom’

Democrats contend that the new map is racially gerrymandered to squeeze more Black voters — who tend to be registered Democrats — into a single district.

Democratic state Sen. Royce Duplessis pointed out during floor debate Friday that some other Southern states, such as South Carolina, had refused to redraw their maps in the middle of an election year, and said Louisiana is participating in a “vicious, vicious race to the bottom.”

The bill's sponsor, Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, repeatedly insisted that party affiliation, not race, drove district boundaries.

“I purposely put more Democrats into District 2 to make the remaining districts better performing for Republicans,” Morris said at one point.

Morris said he told the map demographers to avoid including any data on race or including those statistics in information shared with lawmakers before the vote.

Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins told Morris, “I think it’s a racially gerrymandered district that's going to get us into a lot of trouble here."

“Agree to disagree,” Morris told Jenkins.

More litigation expected in Louisiana

Louisiana is currently using a map ordered by a lower court in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act by including a second district with a majority-Black population.

That map, however, was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court responded on April 30 by striking it down as an illegal racial gerrymander.

Landry postponed the state’s closed U.S. House primary slated for May 16. He later signed a law making the U.S. primary open and shifted the date to Nov. 3 to allow time for Republican lawmakers to draw and pass a new map. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will be on the ballot for voters in their district.

The new map redraws Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields' district, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. It also adds part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district based in New Orleans currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.

More lawsuits were expected over the new map.

Democrats say the map could draw a legal challenge over racial gerrymandering, and the ACLU of Louisiana suggested Friday that it could sue, calling the map a “racial gerrymander hiding behind the thin veneer of partisanship” and warning that "this fight is just beginning.”

Meanwhile, the victorious plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision criticized the Legislature's map earlier this week for leaving a majority-Black district in place.

Nationwide battle over district lines

In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision, several other Republican-controlled Southern states have seized upon a weakened federal Voting Rights Act to try to redraw their own congressional districts.

So far, Republicans are winning the redistricting contest. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will win a narrowly divided U.S. House in November. Republicans think they could gain as many as 15 seats from their redistricting efforts so far, while Democrats think they could gain six seats from new districts in California and Utah.

Meanwhile, a court decision in Wisconsin on Friday could give Democrats a new avenue to pick up seats in 2028.

The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court said it would hear an appeal of a case filed by a bipartisan coalition of business executives that seeks to redraw the state’s Republican-friendly congressional districts. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight House seats, but only two are considered competitive.

A three-judge panel dismissed the case in April. Those who filed the lawsuit weren't seeking a ruling in time for the 2026 election. Instead, they are asking the state Supreme Court to send the case back to the lower court for a trial on their claims, which would likely not take place until 2027.

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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show that Landry ultimately postponed Louisiana's closed U.S. House primary elections to Nov. 3, not “later this summer” after signing a law making the primary election open.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump said he was looking to make a “final determination.” A senior administration official later said the roughly two-hour meeting with national security aides had concluded without a decision.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump would only sign a deal that “satisfies his redlines” and curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Trump confirmed the high-level talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Trump wrote on social media that “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb.” He said the strait must be reopened for international navigation and all sea mines destroyed.

Iran’s main negotiator said Friday that it has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, underscoring lingering distrust after the U.S. and Israel have twice attacked Iran over the past year while it was engaged in nuclear negotiations.

“No step will be taken before the other side acts,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X. “We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles."

Nuclear issues remain unresolved

Later, but before Trump's meeting concluded, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told a state broadcaster that the agreement “has not been finalized yet.”

On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Baghaei, however, said Friday that Iranian officials were "focused on the end of war and are not discussing the details of the nuclear plan at this point.”

Iran also wants any deal to include a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, where fighting has intensified despite a nominal ceasefire. And the Islamic Republic has been seeking the release of billions of dollars in frozen funds.

Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission and is close to top leaders, posted on social media Friday that Iran “sets the terms: cash for cash, credit for credit, nothing for nothing.”

The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It's believed to be buried under three nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

Trump returned Friday to his on-and-off demand for the removal of the cache as part of a deal. The material would be unearthed by the U.S., in coordination with Iran and the IAEA, “and DESTROYED,” he posted.

Deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz

The proposed memorandum makes clear that Iran would not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that it would have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. would gradually lift its blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.

Baghaei said Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the strait, would manage it and “adopt mechanisms” for transit through it, "based on their own national interests and the interests of the international community.”

The two nations' foreign ministers discussed the issue by phone earlier Friday, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who wrote on X that he had expressed solidarity “in the face of any threat.”

On Wednesday, Trump had warned Oman — a U.S. ally — not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”

Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Feb. 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader and other top officials. Before then, the waterway was open to international traffic, and around a fifth of the world's oil and gas passed through it.

The closure of the strait has caused the price of fuel and other goods to soar, with the effects felt far beyond the Middle East.

Iran has said it lets some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war. But the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships and established a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.

The agency, called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, condemned the sanctions Friday but deemed them a a sign of its own “positive performance.”

Since the ceasefire began about seven weeks ago, the U.S. and Iran have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations. But they have not returned to full-scale hostilities and have kept negotiating.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York, and Matthew Lee in Washington, contributed.

Cristian Roldan tucked a phone into his pocket during a Seattle Sounders team meeting.

“I just wanted it to feel and vibrate,” he said.

American players dispersed across North America and Europe were told notification of coach Mauricio Pochettino’s World Cup picks would arrive via WhatsApp at 1 p.m. EDT on May 22.

Chris Brady, hoping to earn the No. 3 goalkeeper spot, was in the Central time zone and waited nervously with Chicago Fire teammates.

“When 12 struck, nothing came. ... What does that mean?” he remembered thinking. “But, yeah, eventually got the message.”

Gathered now at the new U.S. National Soccer Training Center and a nearby hotel in Trilith ahead of their June 12 World Cup opener against Paraguay, players relaxed after making the cut for their sport's pinnacle event.

“It was just sheer elation,” 27-year-old defender Mark McKenzie said. “Four years of hard work, sacrifice. It was obviously heartbreaking not making '22 but turned it directly into just motivation to make sure the next time around my name would hopefully be on that roster.”

In the rush to get to the U.S., McKenzie left his film camera back in France, where he plays for Toulouse.

Robinson, still the first-choice left back at age 28 after starting four years ago, hadn't allowed himself to think too far ahead during a season in which a difficult recovery from May 2025 knee surgery delayed his first Premier League start this season for Fulham until mid-December.

He was on the 13th hole of Pyford Lakes in Woking when his phone buzzed.

“I was playing bad, played bad after but I was a lot happier,” he said. “It was a massive relief just because the year I’ve had and the ups and downs personally.”

Reyna, a son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna, was notoriously almost sent home from the 2022 tournament by then-coach Gregg Berhalter for lack of hustle during training. His status was uncertain because of an unimpressive club season with German club Borussia Moenchengladbach, which didn't start him after Dec. 19.

He was outside Barvida in Norwalk, Connecticut, alongside wife Chloe and Melo, his 1-year-old Cavapoo, when Pochettino's video message flashed.

“I was sitting in the car," the 23-year-old midfielder recalled. “We didn’t want to go home because we were both a little bit nervous.”

Roldan, a member of the 2022 roster who didn't get into a match in Qatar, received an emotional hug from his brother Alex, a Sounders teammate. Cristian didn't play for the U.S. between July 2023 and his first call-up under Pochettino last September.

“There was a lot of doubt in my mind, but there was a glimmer of hope,” he said. “When your name isn’t called each and every camp and you get further into the cycle, you feel like your chances are dwindling down. So, absolutely, I started to doubt myself a little bit. And then it made me play a little more free.”

Midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, a son of the former coach, didn't make his national team debut until last June. After getting the WhatsApp video, Sebastian called his dad — now coaching the Chicago Fire — and then his mom and his sisters.

“It was barely a conversation. My mom started crying right away, and then my sister started crying, and I started crying," Sebastian said. “I was just telling them I love them, and thank you so much for all the sacrifices over the years, especially my mom. Yeah, I was crying for probably 45 seconds.”

Auston Trusty was in a Glasgow hotel with Celtic teammates ahead of the next day’s Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline and fellow defender Alex Freeman was in an apartment in Spain with his father, Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman.

“I was definitely checking my phone like every minute,” Alex Freeman said. “We were kind of just waiting on the couch. When we got the call, it was kind of a good moment with family bonding.”

Alejandro Zendejas, a 28-year-old forward, was picked after not playing for the U.S. since September. He learned of his selection while in San Antonio with his family and girlfriend. His father, Alfredo, burst into tears.

“When he hugged me and stuff, I could feel shaking in his voice,” Zendejas said. “He started tearing up and that makes me tear up.”

Zendejas was among the players on the roster bubble.

“We joked around about his number being number 26,” Roldan said of Zendejas. “Him and myself, we were probably one of the later guys on the roster and we kind of share that kind of sentiment together.”

Richards arrives

Defender Chris Richards arrived after going to Leipzig, Germany, with Crystal Palace for the UEFA Conference League final Wednesday, won by the Eagles over Rayo Vallecano.

He traveled from London to New York on Thursday, then to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Friday morning. Richards, who hasn't played since tearing two ankle ligaments on May 17, went straight to the training center for medical evaluation and is to join practice on Saturday.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball said the first group of four firefighters arrived within two minutes of the call reporting the gas leak on Thursday.

“Right before they were going to enter and evacuate, it exploded,” Ball said.

Firefighters had been on scene for about 10 minutes, conducting necessary safety protocols that include blocking off the street, finding the leak, donning protective gear and setting up a water supply, he said, describing their actions as “heroics.”

“No time was wasted,” Ball insisted. “That takes time to put all the safety protocols in place. I would be criticizing them if they had not done that."

The explosion shook nearby homes and the resulting inferno razed the two-story complex. A child and two other people were killed and at least five people were injured and sent to hospitals. No firefighters were injured, Ball said.

The building's 23 units were occupied by 19 families. Ball said authorities searched the charred wreckage late into Thursday night and early Friday morning with drones, cadaver dogs and specialized urban rescue teams, and did not expect to find any more victims.

“There is nobody unaccounted for or we’d still be searching,” Ball said.

Authorities have not released the names of the people who were killed. The local Democratic Party said one of its members was missing.

The cause of the gas leak before the explosion is still unknown and Ball said he would not speculate.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates gas pipeline accidents, is leading the probe into what happened with support from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The NTSB said initial reports indicate a contractor damaged an underground gas pipeline.

Atmos Energy, a natural gas provider in the area, said service to the neighborhood remained shut off, and company officials were working with investigators on-site.

An attorney for the apartment owner said the building was being sold to a buyer who planned to build a new housing unit. He said an engineering firm hired by that company struck the gas line while doing soil testing.

“The owner is shocked by this outcome and likewise mourns this outcome,” attorney Geoff Henley said.

Phone and email messages left with an engineering company that the complex’s owner said was doing soil testing were not immediately returned.

Jerry Knapp, the founder of the Explosive Gas Academy, which provides training for fire academies and fire departments about handling natural gas and propane leaks, said the protocols described by Ball appeared to be “100% proper.”

Gas leaks are unpredictable and firefighters must work quickly to find the leak and assess how long it has been going on, he said. Gas can be ignited suddenly and without warning.

“You go from, ‘Doesn’t look too bad,’ to 'Bang!” Knapp said.

Several blocks of streets around the explosion site were still closed off by police cars and police tape Friday.

Sherry Woods, who lives in an apartment across an alleyway from the fire site, said Friday she was sitting outside her front door when she and her boyfriend smelled what they believed to be gas.

Moments later, the explosion nearly knocked her down.

“All you heard was ‘boom.’ I shook like something was hitting me. It was scary to hear something like that. I felt the building shake,” Woods said.

Trish Thompson surveyed the site from across a grassy field Friday morning and could see the gap on the block where the apartment complex stood just 24-hours earlier.

Thompson, who lives nearby, described hearing a “loud rumble, something more like a train to me” and seeing smoke and fire.

“Pray for them,” Thompson said.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas contributed.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the Obama Presidential Center ahead of the official public opening on Juneteenth, more than a decade after the site was chosen. But the design of the roughly $850 million campus — particularly the conspicuous 225-foot high rise at its north end — still divides the city celebrated as the birthplace of the modern skyscraper.

For some, it’s a jarring choice in Barack Obama’s hometown after a grueling battle over its location in a lakefront park where classical style buildings are more common. To others, it’s a bold addition that will shape Chicago’s iconic skyline for decades to come.

Residents have compared it to a grain elevator, ship from “Star Wars” and a mausoleum.

“It doesn’t fit in at all,” said Brenda Nelms, who has lived in the area since the 1970s and leads a group that advocates for nearby Jackson Park, which spans more than 500 acres.

Leaders of the Obama Foundation, which has raised private funds, say they’ve heard it all. They enlisted “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill for cheeky promotional videos on May the 4th, a day celebrated by fans of the movie franchise.

“Part of the joy of the center is everyone is going to have their unique experience,” said Valerie Jarrett, foundation CEO and a former Obama advisor. “The design of the building was intended to be inviting and opening to people whether they live across the street or around the world.”

Chicago’s architecture is ‘spectator sport’

The bar for architectural design is high in Chicago, from Louis Sullivan’s modern skyscrapers after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 to Helmut Jahn’s post-modern office buildings.

Discourse around design is so fierce in the nation’s third-largest city that Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey calls it “a spectator sport.” His initial impression of the Obama Presidential Center was that it looked more suited to a cemetery.

The striking design has few windows, all selectively placed. Foundation officials say that decision also helps protect the artifacts inside from sunlight, including an Oval Office replica.

Bey said the museum design makes more sense in context with the other low-lying buildings on the campus, which includes a basketball court, children’s playground, public library branch and works by prominent artists.

Mixed public response has greeted other renown Chicago buildings, he said. The former John Hancock Center, a black 100-story building marked by giant X’s, was compared to an oil rig soon after it was built in the 1960s. Renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in recent years for its address, the building houses stores, condos and offices.

“As we begin to experience buildings, we begin to imprint our own impressions,” Bey said. “The John Hancock becomes less of an oil derrick and more of the building that has your doctor’s office.”

Edward Keegan, a Chicago Tribune architecture columnist, has called the presidential museum “an un-Chicago building” because of the few windows and unusual shape. Still, it offers a unique perspective of the city.

Atop the building is a glass-enclosed “Sky Room,” with panoramic views of Chicago, including north-facing perspectives of downtown, which are uncommon from that height.

“It doesn’t feel like any other place in Chicago,” he said. “It does feel unique and unexpected.”

After fights over the location, some worry about future

The road to the museum was bumpy, even though support for Obama has remained vigorous in the Democratic stronghold.

Lawsuits to stop construction started after its location was announced in 2015. Concerns about displacement of low-income and Black residents living in pockets near the museum grew. Community groups lobbied for housing protections, but area residents say they don’t go far enough as prices for homes near the museum have soared.

Construction of the museum involved tearing up nearly 20 acres of park land and scrapping a section of major thoroughfare, which residents say was critical to connect residents from other parts of the city and suburbs with downtown.

On a recent walk through a bird sanctuary near the center, activist Robin Kaufman, 82, said she couldn't fully enjoy the wildflowers by the secluded ponds as she once did. She watched as ducks paddled through a lagoon but couldn't ignore the center's tower poking out above the tree line.

“Everywhere I go, you can see it, so you’re reminded of what’s going on and that’s distressing,” she said. “I’m very distrustful of anything they say.”

She and others have anxiety about what else might come to the area because of Obama's presidential center.

“It’s a Trojan horse,” said Shannon Bennett with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. “It’s an extreme version of a scheme to transform these communities for another population.”

Obama advisor says facility outweighs costs

Several design choices were made by the former president with New York-based architects, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Obama chose a stone design and wanted a high tower for city views not far from where he raised his family and taught law at the University of Chicago.

The tower’s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot concrete capital letters, an excerpt of Obama’s 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, “You are America.”

The Obama Foundation said they have widened some roads, added a new field to the area that local schools use and the campus has a new public library branch, basketball gym for community use, a playground and gardens that have been landscaped to blend in with the park around it.

“The benefit of having this extraordinary facility far outweighs any costs,” Jarrett said. “It’s a symbol to the community of how important they are to us.”

Adam Rubin at the Chicago Architecture Center called it a successful project so far, but added that questions linger about whether the tradeoff of park land for the center was worth it.

“It really does have a sense of place,” he said of the museum. “Time will tell how people utilize it.”

Christian Castro, of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, was taken into custody 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Hennepin County, Minnesota prosecutors said the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located Castro, 52, in Texas, and the Texas Rangers said they assisted in the arrest in Cameron County, which borders Mexico in the southernmost part of the state.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General said its agents were not involved in or present for Castro’s apprehension, denying the Hennepin County Attorney’s office’s claims in press statements about the arrest.

“Any characterization that DHS OIG agents participated in or led the arrest operation is inaccurate,” the Office of Inspector General said in a statement.

Messages seeking comment were also left with ICE and the Texas Rangers.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Castro, and it wasn't immediately clear if he has one.

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty heralded the arrest as “a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro.”

Castro is the second federal agent to be charged over their conduct during the Minnesota crackdown, which was known as Operation Metro Surge. He is one of two agents that ICE Director Todd Lyons said lied about the circumstances of the incident.

According to prosecutors, Castro fired through a home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after Castro and another officer chased a different man, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where he and Sosa-Celis lived. Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were legally in the U.S., Moriarty said.

Federal authorities initially accused Sosa-Celis and Aljorna of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel. A federal judge later dismissed the charges, and ICE and the Justice Department opened an investigation into whether the officers lied about what happened.

In a statement after the charges were announced, ICE said the U.S. attorney’s office was investigating statements made by the officers, who could face disciplinary action including being fired and prosecuted. ICE called the Hennepin County attorney’s action “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt.” DHS's Inspector General's Office, which Moriarty credited with assisting in the arrest, is separate from ICE and is meant to serve as a watchdog for DHS agencies, including ICE.

Minneapolis last month released video showing the moments before Sosa-Celis’s shooting, captured from a distance by a city-owned security camera.

The video appears to show a person standing with a snow shovel outside the house, near the street, then retreating toward the house and tossing the shovel into the yard. This happens as a person being chased by another person runs up from the street, falls on the sidewalk, gets up, and keeps heading toward the house.

The three appear to scuffle near the front steps for about 10 seconds. The exact moment when Sosa-Celis is shot isn’t clear. A car with flashing lights pulls up, and another person walks up.

The Trump administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign and considered Operation Metro Surge a success.

But tensions mounted during the weekslong campaign, and the shooting deaths of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers sparked mass unrest and raised questions about officers’ conduct.

Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration have clashed over who has the authority to investigate and prosecute federal officers for on-duty conduct.

Moriarty’s office last month charged immigration agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in a car on a highway. He turned himself in last week, and his lawyer disputes the charges.

The county is also investigating Good’s and Pretti’s killings and sued the Trump administration in March to gain access to evidence in those cases and the Sosa-Celis shooting.

Tanji Patton of Goodtaste with Tanji joined Houston Life with a summer menu centered around the often-overlooked melon. Known for its sweetness and hydrating qualities, cantaloupe is being reimagined as a versatile ingredient in both sweet and savory dishes.

RELATED: Tanji Patton reveals what’s next after 11 seasons of Goodtaste TV

Tanji shared that cantaloupe is about 75% to 80% water and packed with nutrients like potassium and vitamin A.

Houston restaurants like Relish Restaurant & Bar and Squable, are using cantaloupe in everything from burrata plates to compressed melon salads paired with bold flavors like shishito peppers and chilled gazpacho.

To finish, Patton demonstrated a simple cantaloupe slushy, reinforcing the fruit’s versatility and easy appeal for summer entertaining.

Cantaloupe Slushees:

-Frozen cantaloupe

-Prosecco

-Agave

-Lemon juice

-Mint leaves for garnish

You can watch Goodtaste with Tanji this weekend on KPRC 2. Tune in Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday at 5:30 a.m.

Tanji always finds great pieces to add to her seasonal table at Kuhl-Linscomb.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order barring the government from moving forward with its “Anti-Weaponization Fund” while pending litigation challenges it. The administration created the fund to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

A Justice Department spokesperson said it's “extremely confident” that the fund is legally supported “by ample precedent,” including from settlements during the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat. "We will not allow the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The White House declined to comment on the judge’s ruling, referring questions to the Justice Department.

The judge, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, gave the government another week to respond in writing to the plaintiffs' arguments in favor of freezing the fund's creation and operation, including any payments in or out of it.

The fund has generated a fierce backlash since it was announced last week, with even Republicans pressing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the eligibility considerations and the possibility that even violent rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, would be free to seek compensation.

Also on Friday, the federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump's lawsuit against the IRS ordered Trump's attorneys to respond to “grievous allegations” by settlement critics that the president abandoned his claims to avoid the court's scrutiny of an illegal deal. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave them until June 12 to respond in writing to allegations of collusion and whether the case should be reopened because the court was the “victim of a fraud.”

The Justice Department hasn’t formed the five-member commission that will decide on payout criteria, so there has been no money paid out yet or claims accepted.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit claims there is no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

“President Trump and his allies have long accused Democrats of using the government and the legal system as political weapons,” plaintiffs' lawyers wrote. “In doing so, the (Trump) administration fails to acknowledge the unprecedented campaign of targeting individuals and entities for retribution on personal and ideological grounds that it has carried out.”

Brinkema said it’s important to maintain the status quo — for at least the next two weeks — and to ensure that no funds are “irreversibly disbursed” from the fund. Her order temporarily prohibits the Trump administration from transferring any money to the fund, considering any claims or disbursing any money from it.

The Virginia lawsuit's plaintiffs include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest.

“The unlawfulness that has imbued the Anti-Weaponization Fund from its inception requires that it be wholly dismantled,” the suit says.

At least two other lawsuits, both filed separately in Washington, also are challenging the fund's creation. A lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington refers to the fund as “a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption.” Two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters sued last week.

During a congressional hearing, Blanche wouldn’t rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 could be eligible for fund payouts.

Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump handed out mass pardons, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of every pending Jan. 6 criminal case last year.

One of the plaintiffs in the Virginia case is former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted Capitol riot cases in Washington before he was fired last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Floyd believes his firing was retaliation for his Jan. 6 work.

“The President’s targeting of me and others involved in January 6 prosecutions leaves our country in a very dark place, sending a message that insurrection and sedition will be protected (and even encouraged) as long as it is on behalf of this administration,” Floyd said in a court filing.

Another plaintiff is California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, who was acquitted of an assault charge. He was accused of throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a 2025 protest against an immigration raid at a Camarillo, California, cannabis farm.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

SAN JUAN — Yenniffer England stood behind a podium at the offices of La Union Del Pueblo Entero dressed in business attire and sporting one striking accessory — an ankle monitor.

A certified nursing assistant and mother of two, England had spent three months at an immigration detention center despite her status as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. The Obama-era policy is meant to protect immigrants who arrived in the country as children from deportation and grants them a work permit. However, hundreds of DACA recipients have been arrested since President Donald Trump returned to office. England is also a member of LUPE, a community nonprofit organization that provides education and resources to immigrants and low-income communities in the Rio Grande Valley. The group advocated for England’s release, which a federal judge granted last week.

However, England is just one of several LUPE members who have been personally impacted by enhanced immigration enforcement policies. Four LUPE members have been detained or deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and more than 20 others have had their DACA status lapse because of application processing delays, said Tania Chavez Camacho, president and executive director of LUPE.

Cases like theirs have had a chilling effect on LUPE’s more than 8,000 members — a mix of U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents and undocumented immigrants — possibly affecting the group’s ability to forcefully enact change within their community. Chavez Camacho worries many aren’t showing up for the organizations’ events due to fear that they’ll be stopped by police and possibly end up in ICE custody.

Chavez Camacho expressed concern over the fate of those members and the community at large following a roundtable discussion with U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, on the impacts of immigration enforcement on the community.

Released from detention while she appeals her case, England is constantly afraid that ICE will detain her again at any moment since they’re able to track her location through her ankle monitor. Other LUPE members are hesitant to show up to meetings and events, Chavez Camacho said, leading to a decrease in engagement, which is a major part of LUPE’s efforts to enact change. The group holds information sessions, rallies and demonstrations throughout the community. They also address lawmakers at city hall and at the state house in support or against policy.

“We continue to do the work but we can only continue to do the work if the community continues to show up,” she said.

During the roundtable, which was held behind closed doors, Padillo heard from some of those vulnerable LUPE members who the organization says are a reflection of what is happening in the community at-large because of the immigration crackdown under the Trump administration.

“We need more senators and elected officials who are willing to listen, who are willing to be part of the change of bringing accountability to ICE and CBP,” Chavez Camacho said. “DHS does not need more funding, what we need is solutions and congressional action to ensure that DACA recipients and other immigrants get relief from deportation.”

Padilla acknowledged there was broad support for a secure border despite disagreement on how to achieve that. But the impacts on immigrants who are in the country lawfully, like DACA recipients or farmworkers, often fall under the radar.

“There has to be a better way,” said Padilla, a ranking member of the senate judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and border safety.

For its members who’ve had their DACA status lapse, LUPE is providing them with cash assistance to pay for groceries since their DACA-provided work permit is no longer valid, leaving them without the ability to work legally.

Through visits from lawmakers like Padilla, Chavez Camacho said she hopes first-hand accounts from individuals affected by enforcement can be heard.

“These are the stories that we hear at LUPE every day, these are the stories of our LUPE members, these are the stories that represent the broader community of South Texas,” she said.

Chavez Camacho said she has witnessed increased enforcement at airports first-hand and said increased collaboration between the Texas Department of Public Safety and federal immigration officials has made people nervous.

England’s case served as an example of how that collaboration could play out. In February, she was detained by ICE following a traffic stop. She had been driving with an expired license, but her attorneys and advocates say the incident should have resulted in no more than a routine traffic violation because of her active status as a DACA recipient.

“We are experiencing a different Rio Grande Valley,” Chavez Camacho said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Minnesota prosecutors last week charged Christian Castro, 52, with five counts, including second-degree assault and filing a false police report in connection with the wounding of a man during an immigration operation in that state.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement that Rangers assisted in the arrest of Castro in Cameron County on the Texas-Mexico border. According to public records, Castro lives in McAllen, in neighboring Hidalgo County.

“Today’s arrest is a critical step forward in our prosecution of Mr. Castro,” Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, said in a statement.

The felony charges against Castro stem from a Jan. 14 incident in which ICE and Border Patrol agents pursued undocumented immigrants as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Castro is facing three to seven years in prison and fines of $4,200 to $14,000 if convicted of the charges, the charging document shows.

On that night, a Venezuelan man named Alfredo Aljorna led Castro and three other ICE agents on a vehicle chase that ended at his home, according to the charging document filed in a Minnesota court. Aljorna later told state investigators that the reason he fled was because the agents were in an unmarked vehicle and he didn’t know who was chasing him.

Still, he managed to enter his house where he and three other adults and three children lived. Castro then fired at the front door, striking Aljorna’s roommate, Julio C. Sosa-Celis, in the leg, according to court documents. After the shooting, Castro told federal investigators that Aljorna and Sosa-Celis attacked him with a shovel and broom to avoid being arrested, according to the court document.

Based on Castro’s statements, federal prosecutors charged Aljorna and Sosa-Celis, both of whom are in the country legally, with assaulting a law enforcement officer. But prosecutors dropped those charges after they reviewed footage of the incident that contradicted Castro’s testimony, according to court documents.

A surveillance camera operated by local police captured the incident, showing that Aljorna and Sosa-Celis didn’t attack Castro or any other agents, court documents say.

In February, ICE placed Castro on leave. And ICE’s interim director, Todd Lyons, said at the time that Castro was under investigation for appearing to have lied under oath, which is also a federal crime.

But after state prosecutors charged Castro, ICE said in a statement that Minnesota’s prosecution is “unlawful and nothing more than a political stunt.”

Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, and it’s long been considered the leading cause of preventable death.

The preliminary findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were based on survey responses from more than 24,200 adults. In the survey, CDC officials defined current cigarette smoking as smoking at least 100 cigarettes in a lifetime and now smoking every day or some days.

In the mid-1960s, 42% of U.S. adults were smokers. The rate has been gradually dropping for decades, due to cigarette taxes, tobacco product price hikes, smoking bans, public education campaigns and changes in the social acceptability of lighting up in public.

In 2024, the percentage of current adult smokers fell below 10% for the first time. Last year, it was 9%, according to the new survey.

The use of electronic cigarettes has been inching up among adults, but has held about steady in 2025, at about 7%.

“The continued decline in smoking is a monumental public health achievement that has saved millions of lives and billions in healthcare costs,” said Yolonda Richardson, president and chief executive of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy and research organization.

Richardson said current smoking-prevention efforts have been set back by cuts President Donald Trump's administration made that eliminated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office on Smoking and Health and its “Tips from Former Smokers” advertising campaign.

She cited estimates that the “Tips” campaign alone helped more than 1 million Americans quit smoking and saved over $7.3 billion in healthcare costs.

“This critical work must be restored and sustained to continue reducing smoking-related disease, death and healthcare costs nationwide,” Richardson said.

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

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an unpublished order after Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office appealed the lower court’s May 14 injunction, which had blocked most of the law a day before it was set to take effect.

Friday’s ruling, which clears the law to take effect in its entirety, is the latest in a dizzying series of seesaw rulings over the fate of the measure known as Senate Bill 4. It comes as part of a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups contending parts of the landmark immigration law are unconstitutional.

The organizations brought the current lawsuit earlier this month to stop four key sections of Senate Bill 4: the creation of a crime for re-entering the country without authorization, even if a person has since gained legal status; the establishment of magistrates’ authority to order a person’s deportation; the creation of a crime for not complying with a magistrate’s order; and the requirement that magistrates continue a prosecution even if a person has an asylum claim or other pending immigration cases. 

In a joint statement, the groups called the court’s decision “disappointing and out of step with the Constitution and the unbroken practice of other courts.”

“S.B. 4 will devastate our communities and families by turning our state’s legal system into an unconstitutional weapon to surveil, harass, and harm Texans based on their perceived immigration status,” the statement read, coming from the ACLU, the ACLU’s Texas chapter and the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Gov. Greg Abbott celebrated the decision, noting that the ruling had come on the heels of a legal brief from his office defending SB 4.

“We will keep fighting in the courts, working with President Trump, and doing everything necessary to secure our border and protect Texans,” Abbott wrote on social media.

The groups argued that the sections involving the state’s judicial system are unconstitutional because they encroach on the federal government’s sole authority over immigration laws. It also challenged the re-entry provision, saying that the law provides no defense for people who had federal permission to enter the country or those who might have pending immigration status.   

U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra previously granted the preliminary injunction against these sections of the law. The Reagan appointee had signaled during a Wednesday hearing that he considered them unconstitutional.

“Indeed, it is implausible to imagine each of the fifty United States having their own state immigration policy superseding the powers inherent in the United States as a Nation,” Ezra reiterated in his written ruling. 

At the time, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project said his decision reaffirmed that immigration laws are not up to the states, while adding that SB 4 would cause widespread racial profiling. 

“Texas cannot override the U.S. Constitution and should stop wasting time attempting to do so,” the groups said in a joint statement to The Texas Tribune. 

This lawsuit came after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed a previous legal challenge against SB 4, which was brought by immigrants and organizations that work with migrants. But instead of ruling on the constitutionality of the law, the appeals court dismissed that case last month after finding that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. 

Texas leaders, which cheered the appeals court’s dismissal as a win for public safety, have insisted that SB 4 is valid because it mirrors federal immigration law. 

In addition, they have argued that Texas has a sovereign right to defend its borders. In 2023 when the law was being proposed, there were record-high illegal border crossings, which officials said amounted to an invasion. Those figures have since dropped drastically. 

During a hearing in Ezra’s court earlier this month, David Bryant with the attorney general’s office didn’t say the state was abandoning the invasion argument despite acknowledging the slower pace of illegal border crossings. Bryant did argue that the case should be dismissed because SB 4 had not taken effect and that Department of Public Safety Director Freeman Martin, the only named defendant in the lawsuit, had not decided how state police would enforce the law. 

In the meantime, DPS and many law enforcement agencies across Texas have already partnered with federal immigration agents through the 287(g) program, including under the task force model that allows officers to question individuals about their immigration status during routine policing work.

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

Bondi, who spent roughly four hours on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was again defiant when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. In her opening statement, she stood behind the Department of Justice's handling of the case files and said that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, now the acting attorney general and Trump's former personal attorney, had overseen the process to publish them.

“The bottom line is: justice and transparency in this matter have been delivered at the direction of President Trump and his administration,” she said, according to her opening statement.

Bondi's transcribed interview presented lawmakers with an opportunity to question a Cabinet official who was central to the political firestorm over Epstein that at times has rattled Trump's Republican administration. She initially raised expectations for the full release of the Epstein case files, only to later backtrack. That reversal prompted Congress to step in and pass the law requiring the release.

But Democratic lawmakers said that Bondi told them she would not speak about the president in the interview and, consulting with a lawyer from the Department of Justice, said that she could decline those questions because she agreed to appear before the committee voluntarily.

“It's a sham in there," said Democratic Rep. Dave Min of California during a break in the interview. "They are not answering any questions.”

Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw of Virginia said he asked Bondi whether Trump had any knowledge of Epstein's crimes before they became public. Reading from his notes of the exchange, Walkinshaw told reporters that Bondi's response was, “I'm not certain of the extent of his knowledge.”

Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking and sexually abusing underage girls. Trump was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s but has said he cut ties with him years before Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state charges in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Survivors tried to confront Bondi

Several survivors of Epstein's abuse gathered outside the Capitol office where the interview was taking place. They tried to make their presence known to Bondi as she entered the room, but several said they were shoved aside by police officers.

“I just hope that she does have a moment where she remembers her own humanity and our humanity and finds her compassion and remembers that this is a bigger story than political rhetoric,” said Danielle Bensky, one of the survivors.

The survivors also implored lawmakers to hold Bondi accountable for the handling of the Epstein case files' release, which included the personal information of potential victims.

They confronted the committee chair, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, and he told them that he would press for the complete release of case files mandated by law.

“We want justice for the survivors, we do,” Comer added.

Bondi told lawmakers in her opening statement that releasing the Epstein case files was “an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process” and conceded that the Justice Department had made redaction errors. But she mostly defended the department’s work, saying that it had complied with the law and demonstrated “an unprecedented commitment to transparency.”

Even after being ousted as attorney general last month, Bondi has stayed within the Republican president's orbit.

Trump appointed Bondi, who revealed this week that she is being treated for thyroid cancer, to a White House panel on artificial intelligence this week, and she was be accompanied Friday by Justice Department officials, including Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the department's Civil Rights Division, acting as her counsel.

Democrats called that arrangement a conflict of interest.

Dhillon told reporters after the interview that she had been there to “represent the interests of the Department of Justice” because Bondi was answering questions about her time as attorney general. She said she had advised Bondi to only answer questions that were within “the ground rules laid with the committee” and not on other topics.

Interview was not videoed

Friday's interview was only the latest clash between Bondi and Democrats.

Bondi was subpoenaed by the committee in March in a bipartisan vote, but she tried to head off that demand by holding a closed-door meeting with lawmakers. The maneuver only added to the enmity between her and Democrats on the committee.

Bondi's departure from the Justice Department also raised doubts about the enforcement of the congressional subpoena. After the committee's Democrats maneuvered to press for a civil contempt of Congress resolution against Bondi, she agreed to sit for a transcribed interview rather than a sworn deposition.

Democrats on the Oversight panel criticized that arrangement, saying it allowed Bondi to decline to answer questions. They also objected to Comer's decision not to video the interview.

“We continue to be incredibly disappointed of the decision to not have this interview videotaped and then released to the American public,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel.

Comer has said he allowed Bondi to sit for a transcribed interview rather than a deposition as an incentive to cooperate. Previously, he had enforced a subpoena on former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after they resisted the demand. Both of their depositions were video-recorded.

Comer said that Bondi could face prosecution if she lies to Congress and that the committee would release a transcript of the interview.

Meanwhile, Democrats suggested they could still press to enforce the subpoena for Bondi. They also said they wanted to subpoena Blanche. Both actions would need Republican support.

“It's important that we continue to keep this pressure on them,” said Democratic Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.

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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.

The climate-disclosure rule has been on hold since last year, after the Republican-led commission said it was pausing its legal defense after legal challenges by business groups and Republican state attorneys general.

The SEC said in a statement that it is now moving to rescind the disclosure rules “in their entirety because they exceed the scope of the agency’s statutory authority." The rules, finalized in 2024, “impose substantial costs on public companies and their shareholders that are not justified by the informational benefits they may provide to some investors,” the commission said.

Eliminating the rule will “avoid the practical effect of dictating corporate behavior” and ensure that agency rules will "be imposed only when the expected benefits justify the likely costs and burdens,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement.

Environmental groups said the action would leave investors without data they need to accurately assess financial risks and other hazards related to climate change.

“The SEC’s mission is to protect investors and the public by ensuring they have access to material information,” said Kathy Fallon, director of land systems at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force. “While imperfect, the rule was an important step toward giving investors consistent information about financially material climate risks, including the use of carbon offsets.”

She urged the commission to retain the rule and enforce disclosure requirements "that give both investors and the public the transparency they need.”

Repeal of the climate-disclosure rule is among dozens of environmental rollbacks imposed in President Donald Trump's second term. The Environmental Protection Agency has eliminated major climate change programs, promoted deregulatory efforts that Trump calls the largest such move in American history and canceled billions of dollars in Biden-era environmental justice grants.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has focused on weakening or eliminating regulations perceived as climate-friendly, including revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

Zeldin has said his actions will put a “dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”

The SEC, an independent agency whose members are appointed by the president, approved the climate rule in March 2024 on a party-line vote. Three Democratic commissioners supported it and two Republicans opposed.

The commission currently has three Republican members, including Atkins, and no Democrats.

The 2024 rule was one of the most anticipated in recent years from the nation’s top financial regulator, drawing more than 24,000 comments from companies, auditors, legislators and trade groups over two years. The vote brought the U.S. closer to the European Union and states like California, which have imposed similar corporate disclosure rules.

Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who long pushed for the disclosure rule, said the SEC announcement “is the result of years of work by corporate polluters to delay, defang and decimate rules meant to protect people’s investments from risky and reckless business models.”

Americans’ retirement security, union pensions and savings should be protected by the SEC, “not put in harm’s way by companies that are exposed to climate risks or that depend on an unfettered ability to pollute in order to make money,” Markey said in an email to The Associated Press.

Tom Zimpleman, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the SEC is shirking its responsibility to protect investors. “Climate risk is financial risk,” he said.

A public comment period will remain open for 60 days following publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, expected in the next few days.

The host of Goodtaste with Tanji and longtime friend of Houston Life personality says the upcoming season will be the final one for her television series, which has spent more than a decade highlighting the best food, wine, and travel experiences across Texas.

Tanji shared with Houston Life co-hosts Derrick Shore and Lauren Kelly, reflecting on the journey, sharing that Goodtaste first began as an online concept she launched with her husband, Mike, back in 2008. What started as a digital “online magazine,” as she described it, eventually grew into a full television series that premiered in 2016 and has now run for 11 seasons.

She said the opportunity to bring the show to KPRC 2 came early in the process, when leadership at the station took a chance on a brand-new concept. That partnership helped introduce Goodtaste to a broader audience across Houston and beyond.

While the television chapter is coming to a close, Patton emphasized that this is not a farewell to storytelling or food-focused content. Instead, she is shifting her focus toward her podcast, Goodtaste for the Soul, where she plans to continue sharing conversations centered on faith, purpose, and personal transformation.

The podcast also remains a family effort, with her son Cash involved behind the scenes and in production.

Patton credited her team, producers, and editors for helping build the show into what it became, calling the experience a true collaboration.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, notching its seventh consecutive gain and ninth straight winning week — the longest such streak since 2023. The benchmark index set an all-time high for the fourth day in a row.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.2%. The Dow and Nasdaq also reached new heights after posting record highs earlier in the week.

Big technology stocks have been behind much of the market’s record-breaking streak. Their pricey stock values give them more influence in directing the market higher or lower. In May alone, technology stocks within the S&P 500 rose more than 15%, while most of the sectors in the benchmark index actually lost ground.

“The rally has been largely tech-led and supported by resilient earnings, but the key question is whether it can be sustained,” wrote Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones, in a research note.

Tech stocks also powered the market higher Friday. Microsoft rose 5.4% and Broadcom gained 4.7%.

Dell Technologies surged 32.8% to lead all stocks in the S&P 500 after delivering profits that blew past expectations. The company also raised its outlook, citing powerful demand for AI computing.

Most other sectors in the S&P 500 lost ground Friday. Among the decliners: Paramount Skydance fell 1.9%, Amazon.com dropped 1.2%, and Costco Wholesale closed 3.9% lower.

Wall Street has been gaining ground despite worries that the U.S. war with Iran is worsening inflation and jeopardizing economic growth.

The U.S. and Iran are reportedly working toward a deal to extend a ceasefire. That eased pressure on oil prices. The price for August delivery of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.7% to settle at $91.12 per barrel. It is still well above the $70 per barrel level in late February before the war began. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil for July delivery fell 1.7% to settle at $87.36.

Treasury yields held relatively steady as oil prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.44% from 4.45% late Thursday.

Still, high oil prices remain a key concern for Wall Street. The war has stifled the flow of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped through the waterway.

That has pushed up prices for gasoline and a wide range of goods, feeding inflation and squeezing consumers and businesses. Prices were already rising before the war began from the ongoing impact of tariffs.

Several reports this week reflected inflation’s rise and impact on consumers. A measure of inflation preferred by the Federal Reserve accelerated in April to its highest level in three years. Consumer confidence is slipping amid the squeeze from rising inflation.

Wall Street’s worries about rising inflation have been somewhat muted by the latest round of corporate profit reports. Companies in the S&P 500 have reported profit growth of 28% overall for the most recent quarter, according to FactSet. The overwhelming majority of companies in the S&P 500 have already reported their latest results. That could mean investors’ focus may shift back toward inflation, consumers’ behavior and the Fed’s path ahead for interest rates.

The Fed has been holding its benchmark interest rate steady as it closely watches rising inflation. It is expected to continue holding rates steady at its next meeting in June and through the year, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. Cutting interest rates could help lower borrowing costs and give the economy a jolt, but it could also worsen inflation at time when prices are already high and rising.

Despite the market turbulence caused by the conflict in the Middle East, stocks notched further gains in May. The S&P 500 closed out the month with a 5.1% gain. It’s up 10.7% so far this year.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 16.43 points to 7,580.06 on Friday. The Dow gained 363.49 points to 51,032.46, and the Nasdaq added 55.15 points to finish at 26,972.62.

Markets in Europe and Asia mostly rose.

Gordon's transfer announcement comes seven months after the NCAA's decision to eliminate the spring football portal window, opting instead for a 15-day period in January in an effort to corral offseason chaos and give programs a clearer picture of their fall roster.

Track and field athletes have two windows, one at the end of the fall and another 30-day period that begins the day after selections for Division I track and field championships are announced. This spring, the window opened on May 28 and will close on June 26.

“I am very thankful for my time as a dual-sport athlete at UCLA," Gordon wrote on social media. “I have made relationships here that will last me a lifetime. I am officially in the transfer portal as a dual sport QB/ATH and Triple Jumper. I have not committed to a school yet.”

Gordon initially signed with UCLA as a three-star quarterback out of Missouri City, Texas. He's now listed as a receiver on the Bruins' roster. He has not yet seen game action at either position.

The redshirt sophomore did not compete in the 2026 track season due to an injury. He competed in two indoor meets during his true freshman season and set a personal record in the triple jump.

The NCAA and UCLA did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

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

Everyone else did.

Plummer, a former at-large member of the Houston City Council, bested Annise Parker, the city’s former mayor and a decades-long fixture in local Democratic politics, in a stunning upset. Plummer’s win on Tuesday was propelled by voters’ desire for new voices and apathy among older white Democrats led to the upset of a longtime Houston politician in the race for Harris County judge, political experts say.

Plummer, a Houston dentist and the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council, secured 51.1% of the vote during the Tuesday runoff to defeat Parker. Plummer’s victory positions her as the Democrats’ nominee to replace outgoing Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Plummer will now face her Republican opponent, Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez, in November for a chance to become the first African American county judge in Harris County history.

Plummer, 55, said she was inspired to run for county judge after hearing the complaints of residents who come into her dentist’s office. Serving others runs in her family as her grandfather made history as the first Black judge in Texas, and when she heard others crying out for change, Plummer said she couldn’t ignore it.

“Most of the work we did on this campaign stems from us hearing our communities shouting from the rooftops to fix the problems,” she said. “I actually give a crap about what happens to my community. It’s the only reason I am doing this because I was comfortable at my practice. But I can’t unsee or unhear these things, so I decided to do something.”

Lack of voter motivation

Political experts call Plummer’s victory a stunning reversal from March, when Parker came within 4 points of securing the nomination outright. It also came in the face of a massive fundraising disparity: Parker raised more than $1 million during the campaign, seven times Plummer’s $130,000, according to campaign reports.

“None of our predicted turnout models had Plummer winning,” said Mark Jones, professor of political science at Rice University. “We weren’t expecting it to be as high as March, but the turnout in older white neighborhoods, who usually vote hell or high water in any election, was anemic.”

Jones said Parker received only 33% of the votes she had in March. He said it’s unclear whether white Democratic voters lacked interest in these specific campaigns or simply lacked motivation to go out and vote after the holiday weekend, but it was occurring statewide.

“Plummer has always been the preferred vote among Black voters, but if Parker had at least average turnout among her usually loyal white Democratic voters, she would have won,” said Jones.

Renée Cross, senior executive director of Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, said Plummer also benefited from strong Black voter turnout driven by a runoff between U.S. Reps. Christian Menefee and Al Green in the 18th Congressional District, where voters chose the younger option.

Cross said Plummer’s age probably ended up playing in her favor because voters this year appear to be looking for fresh voices in office. Parker, 70, spent 18 years in elected office at City Hall, winning a seat on Houston City Council in 1998 and eventually serving six years as mayor, until she was term-limited out in 2016.

“I think some of the generational dynamics we saw in play out in the Congressional District 18 race also went over to the county judge’s race,” Cross said, referring to the 38-year-old Menefee’s decisive win over the 78-year-old Green.

Plummer was elected to the Houston City Council as an at-large member in 2019 after she unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in the 22nd Congressional District.

During her time on the city council, Plummer made several failed attempts at progressive policies, including eliminating vacant positions in the police department to shift money from cadet training to reform initiatives such as de-escalation training and the creation of a mental health unit.

“I think there are more similarities between Judge Hidalgo and me than differences when it comes to looking at the human infrastructure,” Plummer said.”How we govern what we do may be different, but she cares about people, and I am going to do the same.”

Plummer said political experts might call it an upset, but she describes it as a groundswell of support, even though she didn’t have her opponent’s funding or endorsements.

“I just wasn’t scared of her,” she said. “All the polls looked at how much money we were raising, saying there is no way we can win, but it was palatable for us because we were on the ground. When you are on the 12th floor of some building looking at a computer, you can’t feel that, but we did.”

Both candidates emphasized issues such as public safety, infrastructure and disaster preparedness. Parker, however, offered a vision for “fiscal responsibility” and a county government more strictly focused on its core traditional roles, while Plummer positioned herself to the left.

She said it was her willingness to take on Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, and the Trump administration that resonated with voters.

“I believe (Parker’s) idea of no silly fights in this current perspective doesn’t work. We want to create, consolidate, and collaborate, but we also have to understand that we are fighting for our lives,” Plummer said. “The governor is overreaching in ways that you shouldn’t be doing, and you need someone to show that courage.”

Two different approaches

Hidalgo, a progressive Democrat whose surprise election victory gave her party control of county government for the first time in decades, decided to keep her promise to serve only two terms, which she made when she first ran in 2018. As county executive, she steered Harris County government into areas typically outside the county’s purview, like childcare and poverty, with a mix of success and disaster.

Parker offered voters a different approach. In December, just after the primary field was set, Hidalgo laid into Parker, charging that she “doesn’t represent our values” as part of a scathing social media post. The outgoing judge also bashed Parker for her alliance with Kim Ogg, the former Democratic district attorney who sparred with Hidalgo and other Democratic leaders before losing her 2024 primary in a landslide.

“Annise Parker is Kim Ogg 2.0,” Hidalgo wrote, alleging that she would “follow [Houston Mayor] John Whitmire’s playbook, capitulating to Donald Trump and Greg Abbott.” Parker told the Houston Chronicle her record “speaks for itself” and she was “running to fight Donald Trump and Greg Abbott, not to engage in Democratic infighting.”

While Jones said Plummer might be the preferred opponent for Sanchez due to her lack of experience and Muslim faith, he believes it’s not enough to offset the current negative sentiment toward the Trump administration.

“Unless Trump’s approval rating drastically changes between now and November, I don’t see Harris County flipping. I think the goal now is not to win Harris County but to lose it by as small a margin as possible, to where it doesn’t boost Democrats further,” he said.

Some of Plummer’s main policies include supporting the Harris County Flood Control District, addressing mental health access in the region, fixing the county jail and addressing healthcare issues through partnerships.

In recent years, Hidalgo has faced scrutiny from other Democrats over her behavior, which has even led to her being formally admonished by the commissioners court, a first for a Harris County Judge.

If Hidalgo had sought a third term, many political experts believed she would have faced stiff competition from Parker, who made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ leader of a large American city.

“I think people are looking for that newer attitude that Plummer brought. She is a breath of fresh air,” Hidalgo said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.

Abbott has vowed to spend heavily to flip Harris County, and Plummer is expecting a well-funded attack on her campaign and her faith. However, she believes she has already proven that money doesn’t win campaigns, and if anything, a political attack on religion will backfire in a diverse region of Harris County.

“I watched how Zohran Mamdani handled (attacks on his faith) and saw what happened to him, so I know what is coming,” Plummer said. “I’ve dealt with this my entire life. I’m ready for all of it because it’s just a distraction. We’re going to focus, and we’re going to win.”

The case was seen as the first major legal test of an election reform that has been pushed nationally by President Donald Trump and has gained favor among many Republicans, though U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliot said she was not deciding whether requiring proof of citizenship itself is constitutional. Her ruling late Thursday night on a narrower question of New Hampshire law was significant, however, because it underscored the potential perils of implementing strict requirements for voters to document their U.S. citizenship so they can cast a ballot.

Elliot found that changes in 2024 to the state voter registration law unconstitutionally removed one method of proof -- namely, a voter’s sworn affidavit attesting to citizenship.

“The evidence shows that this is the only method of proof available to a significant number of New Hampshire voters,” she wrote.

The changes took effect last year, after former Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, signed the bill two years ago. The attorney general’s office said it plans to appeal the judge’s ruling, calling the citizenship requirements a “common-sense approach to voter registration and election administration designed to protect the integrity of our elections.”

The ruling was a win for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and other plaintiffs who argued that the changes that took effect last year were burdensome and unnecessary.

“New Hampshire’s elections have always been safe, secure, and accurate — and this law could have unconstitutionally and needlessly prevented thousands of eligible voters from casting a ballot,” said Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire.

In her ruling, Elliott said eliminating the affidavit option created a significant burden for voters and did little, if anything, to further the state's interests. She noted that an expert on voter fraud found only 47 instances of wrongful voting out of roughly 8.3 million votes between 1998 and 2024. During that time, only eight noncitizens may have cast ballots, she said.

“If wrongful voting is rare in New Hampshire, wrongful voting by noncitizens is essentially non-existent,” she wrote.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Coalition for Open Democracy, the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, the Forward Foundation and five voters, called the state’s voter registration law one of the most restrictive in the nation. During town elections last fall, some voters had trouble gathering passports, birth certificates or other proof of citizenship.

New Hampshire is not the only state with a proof-of-citizenship law for voters. Arizona, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have similar laws already in effect, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Florida passed a law this year requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote, but it won’t take effect until next year.

A similar law in Kansas, which required proof of citizenship for state and federal elections, was found in 2018 to violate both the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act after it prevented more than 31,000 citizens from registering to vote.

Arizona established a two-tiered system after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the state could not require citizenship documentation for federal elections. In August 2024, the court allowed some parts of the state’s proof-of-citizenship law to be enforced as the legal fight continued in lower courts.

The ruling comes as Trump is trying to push a proof-of-citizenship bill, the SAVE America Act, through Congress. Voting rights advocates say such a federal requirement could disenfranchise millions of people. A 2025 University of Maryland study estimated that 21.3 million Americans who are eligible to vote do not have or have easy access to documents to prove their citizenship, including nearly 10% of Democrats, 7% of Republicans and 14% of people unaffiliated with either major party.

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said he will reimplement the use of voter affidavits for registrants to prove citizenship, but noted the ruling doesn't affect other 2024 changes to the law, including a requirement that those registering to vote provide documentary proof of identity, age and address. Voters also will continue to be required to show proof of identity on Election Day.

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Carr Smyth reported from Columbus, Ohio.

The drone was tracked overnight by radar in Romanian airspace, crashed onto the roof of the building in the Danube port city of Galati and sparked a fire, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The two injuries were minor and several people were evacuated.

It was the latest in a series of drones — from both Russia and Ukraine — to hit a NATO member since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The incidents have left the 32-member military alliance on edge. Friday's incursion drew strong condemnation across Europe, with leaders calling Russia's actions reckless and irresponsible.

Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter, and alerted residents of the affected areas, but the aircraft didn’t engage the drone in the city, which is located near the borders of Ukraine and Moldova.

Romania asked NATO to speed up the transfer of anti-drone capabilities to its military, the Foreign Ministry said, calling the incursion a serious violation of international law.

Asked about the drone during a state visit to Astana, Kazakhstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said its origin is yet to be determined, telling reporters that “no one can say what origin a particular aircraft has until it has been examined.” He urged Romania to turn the drone over to Russia for it to conduct “an objective investigation.”

But Romanian President Nicusor Dan identified the drone as Russian.

“We had a Russian drone, Geran-2, leaving Russia. We know the trajectory, we know where it went through Ukraine, we know where it entered Romania, part of a swarm of 43 Russian drones, of which only one reached Romanian territory,” a statement from Dan said.

He said later that investigators determined it was probably carrying at least 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of explosives.

Gen. Gheorghe Maxim, interim commander of the Romanian armed forces' joint staff, told a news conference that the drone in Galati wasn't “an attack from Russia against Romania,” but he added that “Romanians should understand that Russia is a threat to the security of the countries in the area.”

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had spoken to Dan, praising the country's “principled, prompt, and strong” response. In a social media post, he said the countries’ militaries were in contact and that "we will remain in constant communication with Romania and continue working together to protect lives from all potential Russian threats.”

Earlier drones in Romania

Romania has confirmed drone fragments landed on its territory on multiple occasions since the war began, including in Galati last month, but no one was hurt in any of those incidents, with debris falling in remote areas.

Dan convened Romania’s top defense body Friday to discuss what he called “the worst incident to hit the national territory” since the war began.

After the Supreme Council of National Defense met in Bucharest, Dan said the Russian consul in the Black Sea port of Constanta has been declared persona non grata and that the consulate will be closed. Foreign Minister Oana Toiu summoned Russian Ambassador Vladimir Lipaev and told him the consul had 72 hours to leave Romania.

Territorial violations have become so common in Romania in recent years that lawmakers adopted legislation last year allowing the army to shoot down drones entering its airspace as a last resort. But the country has remained cautious in downing errant drones, which can pose risks to populated areas.

Russia has been using long-range missiles and drones to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer cities, and Ukraine has braced for further heavy bombardments. Kyiv also has sent long-range drones deep into Russia to attack oil refineries, military bases and and other infrastructure.

Friday's incident adds to recent drone-related incursions in Europe. Ukrainian drones have hit the chimney of a power plant in Estonia and empty fuel tanks in Latvia, and also were shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania. Ukrainian officials apologized and said the drones were aimed at military targets in Russia, but veered off course by Russian electronic interference.

Poland, Croatia, Romania and non-NATO member Moldova all have reported airspace violations and found drone fragments on their territory since the war began. The airspace violations have raised questions about the state of air defenses on NATO’s eastern flank.

A senior U.S. military official recently told reporters the number of “hybrid activities” — drone incursions, hacking attacks and other acts short of military force in Europe that can be attributed to Russia — have increased in recent years and are part of a campaign to achieve strategic objectives without actually going to war.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk candidly about the ongoing situation, said it is believed that there's an opportunity for the U.S. and other NATO countries to be more aggressive in countering these actions, particularly since there is a belief that Russia won't see the responses as escalatory.

Allies' condemnation

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he had spoken to Dan and expressed “absolute solidarity” with its ally.

"NATO stands ready to defend every inch of Allied territory. We will continue to enhance our readiness to deter and defend against any threat, including from drones,” he said in a post on X.

A senior NATO military official said the alliance detected and tracked the Russian drone, but it entered Romanian airspace only minutes before striking the apartment building in Galați. It was traveling at nearly 200 kilometers per hour (nearly 124 mph) over a populated area less than 15 kilometers (less than 10 miles) from the border, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military information.

NATO is assessing what more can be done to optimize Romania's and NATO’s network of sensors and shooters to safely neutralize such threats, the official added.

NATO allies spoke informally about the incursion, but no official meeting was scheduled Friday. Romania can request formal NATO consultations if it believes its territory or security is under threat.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia "has crossed yet another line,” and that the European Union will draft a 21st set of sanctions against Moscow.

Putin also was asked in Kazakhstan about comments that NATO is capable of destroying Russian military assets in Moscow's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. He responded that Russia “has every means to raze to the ground anyone who tries to do so.”

He said nations posing a direct military threat to Russia “are legitimate targets,” responding to an earlier claim by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service that Ukraine sent troops to Latvia to launch drones at Russia. Officials in Latvia and other Baltic nations rejected Moscow’s claims.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the risk of such “serious incidents” was raised by “ Putin’s increasing nervousness, driven by military setbacks.”

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Putin’s National Security Council, told European leaders to “just shut up” about the drone.

Medvedev, known for his provocative and inflammatory statements, said in an expletive-filed post on his messaging channel MAX that the leaders were “scoundrels” and “imbeciles” and that their countries were part of the “warring nations” in the conflict.

“European drones, their spare parts, and other weapons, not to mention intelligence data, are used daily in attacks on our country,” he wrote. “Their operations result in damage to residential buildings, killing civilians.”

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This story was corrected to delete Galati being east of the borders of Ukraine and Moldova. The city is west of them.

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McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England. Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Emma Burrows in London contributed.

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

Pick your nation, customize your avatar and battle your group through fast-paced challenges: Headers, Goalie, Dribbler, Human Foosball and a chaotic Keepy Uppy finale. Every session turns into its own mini World Cup, with players across the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and Australia competing for a $10,000 grand prize.

Launching next week, the limited-time experience combines interactive soccer-inspired challenges, motion-tracking technology, and team gameplay, with players competing for a chance to win a $10,000 grand prize through the global leaderboard competition.

Also, mark your calendars for June 12, when Immersive Gamebox will host a nationwide Free Play Day where anyone wearing a soccer jersey can enjoy one complimentary Soccer Arcade session in celebration of Team USA’s first match.

Get more info, HERE.

Watch as Lauren Kelly takes us inside for a preview!

U.S. administration officials said on Thursday that the U.S. was planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to share the administration’s plans. They said the facility would be at Laikipia Air Base and would be operational with 50 quarantine beds by Friday.

The Kenyan government said it was in discussions with the U.S. on support for Ebola preparedness, but declined to address whether the country would establish a treatment facility for Americans. The U.S. government intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

The High Court in Nairobi on Friday put a stop to any deal on the Ebola facility until petitions against it are heard on Tuesday.

An organization formed to defend Kenya’s Constitution, Katiba Institute, and the Kenya Law Society separately challenged any presence of Ebola-related facilities. The Kenya Law Society asked the court to nullify any agreements signed between the U.S. and Kenya on the project, citing public health risks and a lack of public participation.

It also said that Kenya lacks “the high-containment infrastructure required to safely manage such a facility, exposing the public to serious health risks.”

A Kenyan doctors' union on Thursday issued a 48-hour strike notice should the country proceed with the deal. It said the U.S. was clear that they would not allow Ebola on their soil and that Kenya should not become a “dumping ground.”

“As the vanguard of Kenya’s healthcare system, we are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid,” the union’s chairperson, Davji Atellah, said in a statement.

Ordinary Kenyans have been angered by the plan.

“Why do they want to get infected people and bring them to Kenya? Kenya is not a dumping area for such sick people," laborer Cedric Akweyu said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Student Wycliff Otieno also expressed concern. “It is like the government has been given a lot of money by the U.S. So, it is like they are selling us,” he said.

In northeastern Congo, health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine.

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15. But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks and the WHO suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

The virus also has reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.

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Associated Press journalist Jackson Njehia in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed.

The Leeds midfielder was marrying longtime girlfriend Milana D’Ambra, a daughter of Saint Joseph’s men’s soccer coach Don D’Ambra.

Aaronson, also a member of the 2022 U.S. World Cup squad, left camp after Thursday’s session and was due back in time for training Saturday.

Unable to attend the wedding himself, fellow midfielder Gio Reyna was being represented by wife Chloe.

“We don’t know if it’s a no-phones wedding. We’re trying to get clarity on that," said Cristian Roldan, another U.S. midfielder. “Gio's wife will be FaceTiming in and we’ll all be able to watch kind of like a live stream if it is a phone wedding.”

Aaronson, 25, is part of a well-known U.S. soccer family from Medford, New Jersey. His brother Paxten is with Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids and sister Jaden played for Villanova as a freshman last fall. Their father, Rusty, is sporting director of Real Futbol Academy in Medford.

American goalkeeper Chris Brady said Aaronson was likely playing golf Friday afternoon ahead of the ceremony.

“Good luck. Don't (mess) it up,” Brady said teammates told Aaronson before he left camp. “Say I do.”

Timing for the wedding was tricky.

Players at the World Cup are supposed to get 21 days off before reporting to Premier League clubs ahead of season openers from Aug. 21-23. The U.S. finale could be as early as June 25 if the Americans are eliminated in the group stage or as late as July 19 in the unlikely event they reach the final for the first time.

The U.S. team allowed star Christian Pulisic to skip training to attend his Hershey High School prom on May 27, 2016, at the Hershey Hotel in Pennsylvania, then return for the following day’s Copa America match against Bolivia in Kansas City, Kansas.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

It’s the first vehicle my dad learned to drive, as a young boy helping with farm chores during the day and adventuring with friends at night. At the time, the 1956 International Harvester S-130 had no sentimental value. Its worth was tied to its usefulness.

Or as my dad explains, “it was just a truck.”

Pickups were made for work. Until the first purpose-built ones rolled off American assembly lines in the early 20th century, people DIY-ed their own. They became icons of a rural ideal, potent enough to inspire and populate many a country song.

Today, they are mainstays on American roadways. While they’re still used to haul things, some are more luxury than workhorse; cool enough to be lifted or lowered and comfortable enough for Sunday drives.

As for the pickup that once powered the now-defunct Meyer family farm, it will soon have just one job: to look pretty.

It’s an unexpected turnabout. If it had been planned, my dad might have picked an easier truck to restore. International’s S series from the 1950s had a blink-and-you-miss-it production life. Practically speaking, that means sourcing replacement parts is a challenge — even for my brother Andy, who is good at finding things that are hard to find.

He’s the one who spotted the truck for sale. And though it was worse for wear, he couldn’t resist hauling it back home. In the years since, he and my dad have embarked on a replacement-parts treasure hunt that's unearthed my dad’s childhood memories along the way. Stories of my dad behind the wheel as a child taking the neighbor boys on late-night hunting trips, the precarious ways he and his siblings accomplished their farm chores and the uncle whose prom date rode shotgun.

Their odyssey through online auctions and Illinois backroads has taken on a life of its own. What started with restoring one 1956 International Harvester has turned into owning five 1956 International Harvesters in various states of repair. Only one is too far gone to fix up.

I asked my dad why he keeps hauling them home. “I’m possessed,” he joked dryly.

But if I’m honest, I already knew the answer. There’s joy in the journey. So why not?

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Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

PREVIOUS REPORT: Harris County judge delays capital murder trial of Lee Gilley amid extradition limbo following recapture in Italy

Judge Angela Lancelin said she plans to hear testimony June 18 on whether it is in the children’s best interest to remain in South Carolina with Bauer’s parents. Their attorney argued the children are now established out of state. The judge also said she will allow attorneys for Gilley’s brother to argue in mid-June that he and his wife should continue to have visitation with the children.

Lancelin reiterated that she never ordered — or otherwise approved — the children leaving Texas in the first place.

The family court dispute unfolds as the criminal case against Gilley remains in limbo internationally.

Gilley, 39, is accused in the October 2024 strangulation death of his pregnant wife, Bauer, and was out on bond when authorities say he removed his ankle monitor and fled to Italy.

A Harris County judge recently delayed his capital murder trial because prosecutors are still working with the U.S. Department of Justice on a formal extradition request to Italy, and no new trial date has been set.

Since winning Miss Texas High School America and Miss Texas Junior High School America earlier this year, Peyton Robertson and Kyliegh Phillips have transformed their platforms into powerful initiatives focused on confidence, kindness, leadership and community impact.

The young titleholders recently joined Houston Life to share how they’re using their voices to empower other young people across Texas — from anti-bullying advocacy and agriculture education to supporting children in foster care.

One of the programs closest to both girls’ hearts is BRAVE, which stands for “Building Respect and Values for Everyone.” The initiative encourages young girls to build confidence, courage and kindness in themselves and others while promoting a culture of empathy and inclusion.

Robertson, who is heavily involved in agriculture, rodeo and FFA, also created “Branding a Better Future,” a platform designed to inspire young people to learn more about farming, ranching and the importance of agriculture in everyday life.

“Branding a Better Future promotes agriculture, leadership, and hard work while inspiring the next generation to share the importance of the farming and ranching industry,” Robertson explained.

And while many may picture pageant queens in heels and crowns, Robertson was just as comfortable in boots and the rodeo arena.

Deeply involved in agriculture and livestock, Robertson spends much of her time raising pigs — she currently has two she’s caring for — riding horses and promoting the importance of farming and ranching to the next generation.

Recently, she shared a powerful moment on social media from the Texas State Fair rodeo arena. In the video, her horse became unsettled and began spooking in front of the crowd, while Robertson calmly held on and rode through the challenging moment.

Underneath the post, she wrote: “Not every ride is smooth, but every ride makes you strong.”

The quote resonated with many of her followers and reflected the message Robertson hopes to share with other young people — that resilience, confidence and growth are often built through life’s most difficult moments.

Phillips’ passion project, “Kyleigh’s Kydz,” began when she was just 9 years old after witnessing the challenges foster children often face firsthand through her aunt, who is a foster mom.

“I saw children coming into her home with only the clothes on their back,” Phillips shared. “Seeing the impact she had on those children made me want to make the same impact.”

Through Kyleigh’s Kydz, Phillips collects donations including hygiene products, toys and other essentials for children entering foster care.

The pair also recently volunteered with Caring Queens, a special pageant experience designed to uplift girls in foster care by providing donated dresses, shoes and jewelry while creating a day centered around confidence and self-love.

“Kyleigh and I helped the girls by doing their hair and makeup while encouraging confidence and self-love,” Robertson said.

Together, the teens say their goal is simple: use their platforms to make other young people feel seen, supported and empowered.

And in a world that can often focus on negative headlines about younger generations, Robertson and Phillips are offering a different story — one rooted in compassion, leadership and hope for the future.

Follow Kyliegh Phillips on Instagram @official_kyleighlou

Follow Branding a Better Future on Instagram @branding_a_better_futureFollow Peyton Robertson on Instagram @peytonraeofficial

The WHO said Friday authorities have reported 125 confirmed cases in Congo, including 17 confirmed deaths. Additionally, there are 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths.

Neighboring Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, the Ugandan ministry of health said Friday.

“To come here is to really show to the community that they’re not alone," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the airport in Kinshasa late Thursday.

“Pushing orders from my comfortable office in Geneva is easy, but I’m asking my colleagues to work with the community and I am asking communities to protect themselves,” he added.

The outbreak “can be stopped,” he said, but is “very complex.”

Challenges like the high number of people displaced by armed conflict in the region and food insecurity are complicating efforts, Tedros said. Aid supplies reached the heart of the outbreak this week but medical personnel continue to struggle with a lack of equipment, a distrustful population and armed groups in the volatile region.

Containment has been particularly difficult because the disease likely spread for weeks before it was first identified in mid-May.

Outbreak spreading faster than response

The outbreak continues to spread faster than the response, despite health facilities becoming more organized and more equipment arriving.

The Bundibugyo virus, the current kind of Ebola, has no approved treatment or vaccine.

Anaïs Legand, a researcher in the WHO emergencies program, cited a patient discharged Wednesday as a “positive development” since it is the only documented recovery of a confirmed Ebola patient during the current outbreak.

Legand said at a U.N. briefing in Geneva Friday that five other infected people were also likely to recover.

The average fatality rate of Bundibugyo virus is around 30 to 50%, she said.

Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Ituri, the heart of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, on Thursday, with more shipments expected over the next eight days. The U.S. announced $80 million in additional aid on the same day, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million.

At Rwampara Hospital, where a treatment center has been established, the response looks far more organized than in previous days, with more staff deployed, stronger prevention measures and teams in protective gear visible across units — though patients continue to arrive around the clock, according to an Associated Press reporter in Bunia, the provincial capital.

The same progress was noted at Bunia General Hospital, where new medical kits, support personnel and emergency funding appear to be reinvigorating operations.

David Munkley, the eastern Congo director of World Vision, said more equipment and supplies are still needed.

“We know what is required in terms of personal protective equipment, in terms of supporting communities and ensuring proper sanitation hygiene practices,” Munkley told the AP. “So the moment of truth is, are we going to fund it or not?”

Congo’s Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told reporters Thursday night they are exploring more drugs “that can help save even more lives, because ... this disease initially presents just like any other infectious disease we’re familiar with: dizziness, headache, fever, vomiting and diarrhea.”

The continent's top public health body will “ensure that we have a vaccine and a treatment for Bundibugyo" by the end of the year, Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya said Thursday.

Distrust, travel bans could complicate response

Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims' bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.

The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

After Uganda closed its border with Congo, the WHO chief said Thursday he discourages countries from imposing travel bans. “There are ways to manage workers and to manage cases without having a strong, restricted travel ban,” Tedros said.

The Trump administration last week announced a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days. A Kenyan court Friday suspended a U.S. plan to house Ebola-exposed Americans at a facility in Kenya rather than flying them home, following backlash from medical workers and activists.

More than 230 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff are working on the Ebola response, including screeners at four U.S. airports and personnel deployed to Congo and Uganda, the agency said Friday.

But current and former staffers say many have unaddressed safety concerns, particularly over whether the Trump administration would repatriate infected personnel.

“The U.S. government refusing to repatriate first responders who may contract Ebola would be an abandonment of our government’s duty,” said the National Public Health Coalition, a group of current and former CDC workers.

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Kabumba reported from Bunia, Congo, and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Monika Pronczuk in Dakar and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.