Discussion

At 100 PM CDT (1800 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Two was located near latitude 28.6 North, longitude 85.6 West. The depression is moving erratically toward the northwest near 3 mph (6 km/h). A slow northwestward motion is expected through tonight, followed by a turn toward the west-northwest or west. On the forecast track, the depression will move near or along the northern Gulf coast during the next several days.

Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Gradual strengthening is expected for the next day or two, and the depression is expected to become a tropical storm later today or tonight.

The latest minimum central pressure reported by an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is 1005 mb (29.68 inches).

Watches and Warnings

CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY:

None.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for, * Alabama/Florida Border to the Mouth of the Mississippi River

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for, * Ochlockonee River Florida westward to the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish border in Louisiana.

A Storm Surge Watch means there is a possibility of life- threatening inundation, from rising water moving inland from the coastline, in the indicated locations during the next 48 hours. For a depiction of areas at risk, please see the National Weather Service Storm Surge Watch/Warning Graphic, available at hurricanes.gov.

A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, in this case in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Additional watches or warnings may be required later today or Tuesday.

For storm information specific to your area, including possible inland watches and warnings, please monitor products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

Land Hazards

Key messages for Tropical Depression Two can be found in the Tropical Cyclone Discussion under AWIPS header MIATCDAT2 and WMO header WTNT42 KNHC.

WIND: Tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area in the Florida Panhandle by late tonight into Tuesday. Tropical storm conditions are possible within the remainder of the watch area by late Tuesday night into Wednesday.

STORM SURGE: The combination of storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the immediate coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide,

Mouth of the Mississippi River, LA to AL/FL Border, 2-4 ft Indian Pass, FL to Chassahowitzka, FL, 1-3 ft Morgan City, LA to Mouth of the Mississippi River, LA, 1-3 ft Lake Pontchartrain, 1-3 ft

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances. For information specific to your area, please see products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

For a complete depiction of areas at risk of storm surge inundation, please see the National Weather Service Peak Storm Surge Graphic, available at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?peakSurge.

RAINFALL: The tropical depression is expected to produce rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with isolated higher totals around 8 inches through Friday along the Gulf Coast and adjacent inland locations from western Florida to the Middle Texas Coast, including southern portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. This rainfall may produce areas of flash flooding, especially in urban areas.

For a complete depiction of forecast rainfall associated with Tropical Depression Two, please see the National Weather Service Storm Total Rainfall Graphic available at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?rainqpf and the Flash Flood Risk graphic at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?ero.

TORNADOES: An isolated tornado or two are possible over the Florida Big Bend region today.

SURF: Swells generated by the depression are affecting portions of the Gulf coast of Florida and are likely to spread westward during the week. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Please consult products from your local weather office.

A depiction of rip current risk for the United States can be found at: hurricanes.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?ripCurrents

Police in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia, were called to the home early Saturday for a report of a burglary in progress. When they arrived, they said the suspects had fled. The home was occupied at the time and no one was hurt, police said.

“Mr. Barkley and his family were not harmed during this incident,” police said in a news release. They released a photo of a white SUV, saying it may be involved in the break-in.

Police said they did not receive any other reports about break-ins in the area. Police were investigating the possibility that Barkley’s home was targeted.

The Chester County District Attorney's office is assisting in the investigation.

“We are asking the public to help us identify those responsible by checking any home security cameras for suspicious activity in the area” from early Saturday, the office said in a statement.

Police and the district attorney's office did not immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment Monday.

Phone messages seeking comment also were left with representatives of the Eagles and Barkley.

In May, Argentine police arrested two Chilean citizens suspected of being part of a transnational gang that orchestrated burglaries at the homes of well-known athletes, including stars from the NBA and NFL.

According to local police, the two were part of a crime ring that targeted the homes of prominent athletes in the U.S. and Argentina, including NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and former tennis player Juan Martín del Potro.

Targets also included the homes of NBA players Luka Doncic and Mike Conley Jr.

In 2024, the NFL issued a security alert to teams and the players’ union following the burglaries involving the homes of Mahomes and Kelce.

Barkley took a step back from his record-setting 2024 season when his 2,504 yards rushing in the regular season and playoffs were the most ever, as Philadelphia’s offense was less potent last season. He still managed to rush for 1,140 yards and scored nine total touchdowns.

The trial of Lindsay Clancy, which could take several weeks, is expected to explore the complicated and rare phenomenon of postpartum psychosis, which afflicts a very small percentage of women who develop delusions and sometimes hallucinations after childbirth.

Clancy's lawyers — and her husband — say she was not responsible for her actions. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington doesn’t dispute that she killed the children, but plans to raise an insanity defense.

“This whole case is an extreme tragedy,” he said.

Prosecutors say the killings were intentional and well planned, not the work of someone who had lost control.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of her children Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, when they were killed on Jan. 24, 2023.

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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.

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On the day of the killings, Clancy, now 36, asked her husband Patrick Clancy to leave their home to get takeout food and to pick up something at a pharmacy. She strangled the children with exercise bands, then used multiple methods to try to end her own life.

She was paralyzed after falling from the home’s second-story window, and is being held at a state hospital.

Clancy’s husband is on the list of witnesses for both the prosecution and the defense. He has said in interviews that he forgives his wife.

Eighteen jurors, including six alternates, are expected to be chosen over several days for the trial in Plymouth, which is near the family’s home in Duxbury, an upscale coastal suburb about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Boston.

Clancy and her husband filed lawsuits earlier this year accusing her medical providers of failing to properly diagnose, treat and monitor her for a “severe postpartum psychiatric condition.” She spent several days at a psychiatric hospital weeks before the killings.

Lindsay Clancy’s lawsuit detailed how she was depressed, had trouble sleeping and repeatedly heard voices urging her to harm her children and herself.

“Lindsay Clancy did everything a mother in her situation could do,” the lawsuit said. “She recognized something was wrong with her. She sought medical treatment. She went to emergency rooms. She called crisis hotlines. She admitted herself to hospitals. She took the medication prescribed to her. She communicated her worsening symptoms to her providers. She told them the medications were making her worse.”

The day of the killings, Clancy said she heard voices saying, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself.” A voice told her “that her children would suffer if she was gone,” according to the lawsuit filed by Patrick Clancy, citing medical records.

In a post on GoFundMe several days after the killings, Patrick Clancy wrote that the “shock and pain is excruciating and relentless,” but he urged the public to see Lindsay Clancy as he did before the killings.

“The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring toward everyone — me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients. The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace,” it said.

“They’re real,” Greg Sankey said Monday of talks with school presidents involving the SEC separating itself from the rest of the NCAA. “They’ve opined about the frustrations that bring them to the point of saying we should look at something significantly different.”

Sankey's 45-minute meeting with reporters to kick off SEC football media days detailed the several issues that college sports is trying to find solutions for: Congressional legislation, litigation stemming from the new five-year eligibility rule, the future of the College Football Playoff and an overall lack of transparency regarding name, image and likeness payments to players.

Sankey acknowledged the conference's frustration with the handling of all those issues, but also touted the league's 13 national championships won last season across a variety of sports as a key reason it's in no rush to move away from the current framework.

“There is meaning and value and I do think a national expectation that we participate in a national organization,” he said. “But that national organization must function in a healthy manner; otherwise, that simmering will continue”.

The SEC has produced a 10-point paper about changes it would like to see to the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation in the Senate. The SEC and Big Ten are negotiating over with lawmakers over potential tweaks.

The SEC argues the bill does not go far enough in limiting the possibility of lawsuits against conferences and schools, and also needs better language to preempt state laws in favor of a national one regarding the tens of millions in NIL payments now so common at the top of college sports.

Sankey called the rollout of the recent NCAA rule that rewrote eligibility standards and has induced lawsuits — players mainly get five years to play five seasons — “magnifies frustration" among some in the SEC.

The SEC remains the Power Four's only holdout over expanding the 12-team playoff to 24. Sankey said more research is needed, especially regarding “media interest” — likely shorthand for media rights interest — in adding more games.

There is also the underlying issue of what an expanded playoff would do to conference title games. Symbolic of the wide range of opinions on that topic, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said in his own media session that he favored conference play-in games to determine CFP spots and he doesn't think title games should be put on the chopping block.

“Throwing those away so you can get a bad matchup between 24 and 18 doesn't make sense to me,” Drinkwitz said.

Sankey said he also wants more transparency about who pays players and for what. Among the SEC's proposed changes to the Senate bill would be clearer guidelines for paying players, including “NIL, pay-for-play (which is not allowed), revenue sharing and other forms of compensation.”

The commissioner conceded that the SEC is not bent on getting its way regarding every issue that college sports is trying to solve. But as one of the biggest, richest and most influential leagues in a quickly changing business, it does want to lead the way.

“I think we do a better job now than has ever been done in college athletics,” Sankey said. “But we haven't achieved that level of stability as we go through change that's needed at this point.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

The FBI said its New York Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the eruption of smoke and flames outside of 26 Federal Plaza, which has become a focal point for demonstrations against the immigration policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

The individual in custody, whose name has not been released, was carrying anti-ICE material, according to preliminary information gathered by law enforcement and described by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name.

The New York Fire Department said it was called at about 8:30 a.m., and initial reports indicated an outdoor fire. One person was transported to the hospital, but their injuries weren’t life-threatening, the department said.

“What occurred outside 26 Federal Plaza this morning was deeply disturbing,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on social media. “I’m relieved no one was seriously injured and that a suspect is in custody.”

Mamdani said his team was in touch with police and will support the federal investigation.

The building in Lower Manhattan houses several government offices — including the New York office of the FBI — and the immigration court where agents have carried out chaotic and sometimes violent arrests in the hallway as migrants leave hearings.

Videos and photos from the scene showed a fire with a plume of smoke on the sidewalk outside the building, as well as officers restraining a person and taking them away. ___

Associated Press Reporters Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

“No one wins in a war like this,” the 76-year-old Zambada said through a Spanish-language translator in Brooklyn federal court. He apologized “for the harm I caused and for the example I set.” He urged future generations to “choose a different path.”

“If there’s one thing I can say that has value today, it’s this: the violence must end,” the Sinaloa cartel co-founder said. “In Mexico and elsewhere affected by this type of crime, too many lives are lost, too many families are destroyed, and too many young people are trapped in a cycle that leads only to prison or death.”

Violence was Zambada’s “tool for more than three decades when it benefited him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Amir said.

Zambada ordered torture and plotted murders — including his own nephew’s killing — as the cartel flooded the U.S. with tons of cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs, Amir said.

More than a million Americans died of overdoses during Zambada’s reign — many from drugs flowing from Mexico or the Sinaloa cartel, the prosecutor added.

Zambada’s punishment was guaranteed by his guilty plea last year to drug trafficking charges that carry a mandatory life sentence. He also faces $15 billion in financial penalties related to proceeds from the cartel’s crimes, but prosecutors said they haven’t been able to identify or recover any assets.

“The sentence here is kind of anticlimactic because I have no discretion,” Judge Brian M. Cogan said. “He is going to spend the rest of his days in prison. He accepts that.”

His sentencing was the culmination of the U.S. government’s yearslong fight to bring the long-elusive drug lord to justice. He was arrested in 2024 after he said he was kidnapped in Mexico and flown to Texas.

Zambada “spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said. “Today, that chapter closes for good.”

Judge says Zambada should go to a prison hospital

Cogan, acting on a defense request, said he will recommend that Zambada serve his sentence at a federal prison hospital where he can be treated for what his lawyer described as a “complex of age-related health issues.”

The judge ordered Zambada’s medical records sealed from public view but said he suffers from a number of “progressive illnesses” and that his mental state is “drifting toward cognitively impaired,” Cogan said.

Judges often make recommendations about where inmates should serve time, but it’s up to the federal Bureau of Prisons to decide.

Zambada’s lawyer, Frank Perez, stressed in court on Monday that he wasn’t cooperating with prosecutors. But, in arguing to have him sent to a prison hospital, Perez contrasted Zambada’s guilty plea and Guzmán’s decision to go to trial — an 11-week ordeal that involved closing down the Brooklyn Bridge to shuttle him to and from court and jail.

In pleading guilty, Cogan said, Zambada “has spared us all an exercise that we all know would’ve been very difficult.”

Zambada, wearing a tan jail suit over an orange T-shirt, walked gingerly as deputy federal marshals escorted him to and from the courtroom, which was packed with drug enforcement agents and prosecution staff. The top federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, Miami and western Texas watched from the gallery.

At first, he said he had trouble hearing and understanding the courtroom translator and, through the translator, asked Cogan to speak slower. After an adjustment to his earpiece, Zambada indicated that he was able to follow along.

He read his remarks in Spanish from a piece of paper, coughed several times during the hearing and stared across the room, looking toward reporters and sketch artists in the jury box. He appeared to show no emotion as Cogan confirmed his sentence.

Zambada was the Sinaloa cartel’s strategist and dealmaker

Zambada was seen as the Sinaloa cartel’s strategist and dealmaker and was more involved in its day-to-day operations than his co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted in 2019 and is serving a life sentence at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Zambada was arrested in July 2024 after, according to Perez, he was beaten, tied up, abducted and driven to a private plane by one of Guzmán’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López. Their arrests touched off deadly fighting in Sinaloa that pitted Zambada’s loyalists against backers of Guzmán’s sons, dubbed the Chapitos, or “little Chapos.”

Zambada pleaded guilty in August 2025 to charges of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy, acknowledging culpability for 85 underlying crimes, after prosecutors said they wouldn’t seek the death penalty.

In pleading guilty, Zambada said that from 1980 until last year, he and his cartel were responsible for transporting at least 1.5 million kilograms (3.3 million pounds) of cocaine, “most of which went to the United States.” Zambada, the father of 16 children ranging in age from 6 to 55, said he first got into the drug trade as a marijuana grower in 1969 after leaving school with a sixth-grade education.

He acknowledged the scope of the Sinaloa operation, including underlings who built relationships with Colombian cocaine producers, oversaw importing cocaine to Mexico by boat and plane and smuggling the drug across the U.S.-Mexico border. He said the cartel raked in hundreds of millions of dollars a year and admitted that people working for him paid hefty bribes to Mexican officials “so they could operate freely.”

Months before his arrest, prosecutors said, Zambada ordered the killing of his nephew Eliseo Imperial Castro, also known as “Cheyo Antrax,” after learning that Castro was claiming to be collecting debts for Zambada and pocketing the money without Zambada’s permission.

In 2023, at least three people were killed in retaliatory violence that Zambada directed after a large cache of fentanyl pills, methamphetamine and cocaine was stolen from the cartel, prosecutors said.

“I grew up in an environment where violence and crime seemed normal, but now I know that’s no excuse,” Zambada said in court on Monday. “There comes a time when every person must take responsibility for their decisions. I didn’t, and many people paid the price.”

Even as the U.S. and Iran inch closer to all-out war again, glimmers of hope appeared on the diplomatic front, as Iran's interior minister traveled to Pakistan, a key mediator in the conflict, for talks.

The interim deal signed last month that was meant to end the fighting has crumbled. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a vital supply route for world energy supplies — has largely stalled. And as fighting intensifies, both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people.

The escalation has pushed oil prices higher in recent weeks. Benchmark Brent crude traded Monday above $86 a barrel and regular gasoline in the U.S. climbed to an average of $4 a gallon, keeping pressure on Americans' wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.

The U.S. military said its service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday during the “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. President Donald Trump took to social media on Monday to warn that “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!"

US launches ninth night of Iran strikes

The U.S. military’s Central Command said its ninth straight night of airstrikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.” Last week, the U.S. struck bridges and a tower at an Iranian port.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that the American strikes killed at least one person around Tabriz, a northwestern city about 520 kilometers (325 miles) from the capital, Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground missile bases run by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

U.S. strikes likely also hit Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan province, Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province and Konarak and Chahbahar in Sistan and Baluchistan province, IRNA reported.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said Monday evening that a second ship had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, this one off the coast of the United Arab Emirates

Earlier, a vessel caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by a projectile near the coastline of Oman. The crew abandoned the vessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later, the UKMTO said.

The route around Oman has been the one the U.S. military has encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iran’s control. The Guard later claimed it was targeting tankers in the strait.

Tehran also hit U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East.

Kuwait said its air defenses fired at an incoming barrage. Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iranian drone strikes targeting the country's air traffic systems, saying they endanger travel for civilians.

The Strait of Hormuz remains key to the conflict

A new pressure point could emerge for world energy markets as Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced on Monday a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, said they would block shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to an attack on Sanaa International Airport last week that they blamed on Saudi Arabia.

With the Strait of Hormuz blocked up, Saudi Arabia has been relying on a pipeline to the Red Sea to get millions of barrels of oil out to market. The Houthis earlier demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there when they targeted ships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked.

There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.

Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies were shipped before the war. Recent attacks suggest the U.S. military is carrying out that plan.

The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil. The military says it has redirected seven ships and disabled one since then.

A glimmer of hope for diplomacy

Pakistan has intensified diplomatic efforts in recent days to resuscitate the interim ceasefire reached last month that called for resolving remaining issues tied to the war within 60 days. The truce unraveled after both sides resumed attacks on each other’s military installations and other infrastructure.

Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni arrived in Islamabad on Monday for two days of talks. His counterpart, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, said he was optimistic the talks would bring progress. Momeni is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the U.S. is still open to negotiating with Iran but that “it has to be real.”

“If the door opens to diplomacy — if the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of that system, or take control of the negotiations — that’ll be a very positive development,” Rubio said. “That’s not where we are tonight, unfortunately.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif, a former Iranian foreign minister, said in an essay published Monday by Foreign Affairs that the interim deal "could never survive such dissonance” over the Strait of Hormuz.

“As the current conflict makes clear, Washington cannot eliminate the Iranian government,” Zarif wrote. “Only diplomacy, a new peace agreement, and a new security framework produced by regional states and for regional states will allow the United States to turn its attention elsewhere.”

However, Zarif, who helped elect the country’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, also warned the country's theocracy that “if Iran repeatedly threatens maritime traffic, it could turn much of the world against it.”

Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 517 wounded in the latest rounds of U.S. strikes. Since the war began on Feb. 28, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.

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Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

Twelve states, led by California, sued to block Paramount’s pending buyout of Warner last week— alleging that such a combination would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly moviegoers and cable customers across the U.S.

The states’ top prosecutors called on Warner and Paramount to not close the transaction until after a court had time to “fully evaluate” their claims. And when the companies refused, they filed for a temporary restraining order — which is what District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted on Monday. That opens the door to a potential preliminary injunction that the states are also seeking to effectively block the deal.

The ceremony began with tearful remarks from Wells’ parents, who described their son as a warm and gentle presence, a gifted athlete and a role model to his younger siblings.

“He had a way of making people feel seen, welcomed and valued,” said Christine Wonsley, the teenager's mother. “He could lift your confidence with just a few words and make you feel like you belong.”

In a fiery eulogy, the Rev. Al Sharpton then promised a $50,000 reward for any new information about the circumstances around Wells' death. The teenager, who was Black, traveled with a group of white friends to Horn Island, off the Gulf Coast, but did not return with them.

“There's too many unanswered questions,” Sharpton said. “We can’t have someone in law enforcement saying there was no foul play before there was an investigation.”

He then invoked the history of racist violence in Mississippi, including the lynching of Emmett Till and assassination of Medgar Evers.

"The reason why a lot of people in the nation are looking at this Nolan situation is that we’ve looked at history in Mississippi. Some of us remember what happened in Mississippi,” Sharpton continued, to loud applause in the church. “Before we can medicate and heal today, we’ve got to look at your history.”

The family's attorney, Ben Crump, then led the crowd in a chant of “Nolan's life mattered,” as Wells' mother sobbed into the shoulder of her husband, Elmore Wonsley.

Wells’ death has captured national attention, galvanizing Black leaders and touching off fraught discussions of racial tension and mistrust of law enforcement in the Deep South. Among those in attendance Monday were the director Spike Lee and the former football player Terrell Owens. Actor and producer Tyler Perry helped pay for the funeral.

Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said Wells’ friends are cooperating with the investigation, which remains ongoing. He said initial interviews suggested Wells chose to stay on the island and that his friends believed he would get a ride with someone else. His body was found off the island’s coast two days after he was last seen.

The still-unknown circumstances leading to Wells’ disappearance have fueled rampant online speculation, along with questions from his parents about why he was left behind.

Crump has said another witness reported Wells planned to leave on the boat with his friends, contradicting the sheriff’s statement. He also alleged that messages appeared to have been deleted from the phone, which was found with Wells’ friends, along with his keys.

The attorney, who is leading his own investigation into the death, said he would work alongside the local prosecutor to inspect the device. The prosecutor agreed last week to present the results of the investigation to a grand jury once it is completed, Crump said.

“Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody’s role, law enforcement’s role,” Crump said. “That is the lived experience as Black people in America.”

Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, played wide receiver on the football team at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Mississippi, and had aspirations of playing at a high-level Division I program.

“He was very sociable with everyone, didn’t meet a stranger,” his coach, Les George, told WAPT-TV. “He would pop up at my office and come sit on the couch just to hang out and talk.”

In a joint statement last week, members of the Congressional Black Caucus called for an independent and transparent investigation into Wells' death, adding that “too many questions remain unanswered.”

“We hope the outpouring of concern and support from people across the country in recent days brings them some comfort in the days ahead,” they said.

The Fulshear Simonton Fire Department said firefighters from Fulshear Simonton Fire Department, Community Volunteer Fire Department, and the Fort Bend County Hazardous Materials Team responded to the crash.

Multiple law enforcement agencies also responded, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fort Bend County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office.

Officials said the pilot was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

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Authorities are investigating what caused the plane to crash. Officials have not released information about whether anyone inside the home was injured.

According to information shared at the scene, the pilot is familiar with the airstrip and typically flies there every day, usually during the evening. Officials have not confirmed whether that played any role in the crash.

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Crews are now working to remove the aircraft from the home as the investigation continues.

No additional information has been released.

KPRC 2 will update this story as more details become available

The demands came in a letter spearheaded by Maine's Independent Sen. Angus King, signed by 38 Democratic senators and sent to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The demands follow two deadly shootings in which ICE officers shot and killed immigrants in Houston and Maine.

The Associated Press reported last week that the ICE officer in Maine who opened fire and killed a man from Colombia had a history of violent behavior toward family members that was detailed in family court records.

His first ex-wife, Ashley Brouillette, told AP he was physically violent with her, including once throwing boiling water at her while she was holding their child.

His second ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, sent a statement over the weekend alleging “a persistent pattern of abuse, intimidation, manipulation, fear, and control.”

“Throughout our marriage and in the years that followed, I have feared for a long time that his anger, aggression, and escalating behavior would eventually result in severe, life threatening violence, and I often believed I would be the one on the receiving end of it,” she wrote.

Hundreds of pages of family court documents describe their turbulent marriage, and the years after. Lucinda Brouillette told the court he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said.

“Dave needs counseling or something for his PTSD & depression,” she wrote in an application for a temporary protective order on behalf of his teenage daughter which a judge granted in 2021.

In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him.

Multiple family members told the AP the government should have never given him a gun, badge and the authority to patrol city streets as the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation agenda.

The senators' letter on Monday listed new measures to increase accountability at the agency, including transparency about whether ICE considers records from family court of domestic violence or abuse when vetting new recruits.

"We remain supportive of removing dangerous convicted criminals from our communities, but this goal can and must be achieved without endangering these very communities in the process. By no stretch could either of the victims in Texas and Maine be characterized as ‘the worst of the worst,’ making these tragic deaths even more egregious," the senators wrote. “The American people deserve clarity and accountability.”

They said ICE should immediately start wearing uniforms or vests that clearly identify them as “ICE” instead of the more generic “POLICE” or “POLICE ICE.” Civil rights groups and advocates have often criticized ICE for not wearing uniforms or clear identification on their ballistics vests identifying them as deportation officers.

Senators also demanded to know what changes were being made to how officers conduct traffic stops and vehicle pursuits.

The shootings in Maine and Houston both involved ICE officers shooting at people who were in vehicles at the time. In the wake of the Maine shooting, Homeland Security temporarily stopped officers from conducting vehicle stops except in specific situations. But just a day later, after fierce criticism from some MAGA supporters, President Donald Trump said on social media that traffic stops should continue.

Homeland Security said last week that it was adding new training in crowd-control measures, high-risk vehicle stops, live-fire exercises and medical training, in response to what they called coordinated attacks against their officers and ICE facilities.

U.S. gas prices jumped to an average of $4 a gallon again Monday, and benchmark Brent crude rose above $90 a barrel, further fueling a global energy crisis sparked by the conflict.

The Latest:

Trump threatens harsh response against Iran for targeting of US troops going forward

The president took to social media on Monday to warn that “every time Iran kills an American Soldier” going forward “they will pay for that killing many times over.”

Trump offered no further details but said his directive has been relayed to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, and other U.S. military leaders.

Trump’s warning came after the U.S. earlier Monday launched its ninth night of airstrikes on Iran after announcing the death of a U.S. service member, killed in Iraq during the “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone. Seventeen American troops have been killed since the start of the war.

British military says a second ship was attacked off the coast of UAE

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said Monday evening that a second ship had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, this one off the coast of the United Arab Emirates

Earlier, a vessel caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by a projectile near the coastline of Oman. The crew abandoned the vessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later, the UKMTO said.

The route around Oman has been the one the U.S. military has encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iran’s control. The Guard later claimed it was targeting tankers in the strait.

Tehran also hit U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens Monday morning, while Kuwait said its air defenses were firing at an incoming Iranian barrage.

Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned Iranian drone strikes targeting the country’s air traffic systems, saying they endanger travel for civilians.

Ontario’s premier says he’s frustrated with Trump’s wildfire comments

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told a news conference Monday he is frustrated with Trump’s threats to place tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke.

Ford said Ontario has contributed to fighting fires in the U.S. and offered assistance when Georgia was struck with a hurricane in 2024.

“Rather than criticize and threaten Canada, your closest friend, maybe one day you’re going to need our help,” Ford said. “I get frustrated just listening (to) that bunch of rubbish.”

Ford noted one of the largest fires started in Minnesota.

“Maybe President Trump would offer his closest allies and friends some support rather than sit there and threaten tariffs.”

Nearly 200 wildfires are currently burning across Northern Ontario, with 57 out of control.

Trump talked about wildfires with Carney at World Cup

Trump said he told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney he needs to do more to stop wildfires when they talked during Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey.

“I told them you got to stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air. Our air has been poisoned,” Trump told reporters on Sunday when he returned from the game.

“If we can help them, we’ll help them. But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs.”

Trump last week accused Canada of neglecting forest management. It is unclear under what authority Trump would rely on to impose new tariffs on Canada.

Sen. Jon Ossoff fuels reelection campaign by accusing Trump of corruption

The Democrat from Georgia is making full-throated broadsides against Trump as he runs for reelection, calling the president a “national disgrace” leading a “Mar-a-Lago mafia” and “the most corrupt administration of all time.”

The 39-year-old senator’s approach is being noticed across the Democratic spectrum, from activists hungry for the right message in the 2026 midterms to those pining for viable presidential candidates.

And now he has a 20-1 fundraising advantage against Rep. Mike Collins, who won a Republican primary runoff after Trump’s last-minute endorsement. Collins argues that Ossoff is “weak” and “woke,” just another “out-of-touch, far-left liberal.”

“The senator is definitely having a moment,” Democratic strategist Lis Smith said, adding that tying Trump’s personal financial gain to his performance on the economy is a strategy “more Democrats should adopt.”

Justice Department activates untested ‘alien terrorist’ deportation court

The Justice Department has filed a first-ever petition to a secretive and dormant court created 30 years ago to weigh government requests to deport so-called “alien terrorists” from the United States.

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until the Justice Department filed an application last week seeking the removal of an individual whose name is withheld from the single-page document posted on the court’s website.

A written response from the chief judge of the the five-member court — all appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts — indicates that a hearing was held and that the Justice Department was directed to provide more information on Wednesday.

The chief judge of wrote that “the Government could benefit from the opportunity for more thoughtful consideration.”

Trump urges review of climate change report used by judges

Trump complained that a report on climate change National Academy of Sciences included “discredited” information that created “huge losses” across the country. The report is used by the Federal Judicial Center as a resource to assist judges in considering scientific evidence.

Trump ordered “federal suspension and debarment officials” to review the research organization’s conduct, adding that taxpayers should not be funding ″climate fraud” and judges should not rely on the report.

It was not clear what officials Trump was referring to and what, exactly, he wants them to investigate.

Earlier this year, the judicial center withdrew a chapter on climate change from the newest reference manual on scientific evidence after Republican state attorneys general complained it was biased against fossil fuel companies.

The Vances are doing their part to reverse declining birth rates

Vice President JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, are celebrating the birth of their fourth child.

Born Sunday, Alec Neel Vance joins older siblings Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4. The Vances said Usha and the baby are happy and healthy. They also thanked the doctors and staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the White House medical team.

The Republican vice president has passionately advocated for Americans to have more children. He repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates as he launched his political career in 2021, and told the 2025 March for Life anti-abortion rally, “I want more babies in the United States of America.”

The story behind the Freedom Fuel Trump loves to promote

Trump and his White House have enthusiastically promoted the Freedom Fuel Network, a chain of star-spangled convenience stores selling gas at $3.47 per gallon to honor the 47th president.

Untangling exactly who is behind the Philadelphia-area venture has proven difficult. Records indicate the chain was launched last month by a collection of businessmen including an NFL kicking coach, a GOP fundraiser and a New Jersey entrepreneur who was ordered along with his brother to pay civil damages for unlawfully taking more than 200,000 gallons of fuel.

None of them want to talk about it. How the stations got Trump’s attention remains a mystery. Experts say they’re likely selling the gas for a loss.

What is clear: Trump has loved the idea of cheaper gas with average costs per gallon rising above $4 again as the war with Iran continues.

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Olympian accused of damaging Reflecting Pool gets a trial date

David Hearn, 67, has pleaded not guilty to deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool amid a troubled multimillion-dollar renovation project championed by Trump.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman set the date for Sept. 28 during a Monday hearing, Hearn’s second since a grand jury indicted him on a single felony count of property destruction.

Trump has claimed without providing evidence that damage to the pool’s lining was caused by vandals.

David Hearn, 67, a canoeist who competed in three Summer Olympics, told The Associated Press that he reached into the water to see what the peeling new coating felt like — “very rubbery” — and let go of it when a park worker told him to. At least three others have been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of the paint.

How the Tate brothers' extradition process could play out

The avid Trump supporters are currently being held in federal detention, where bail is rarely granted in international extradition cases. Their lawyer said he expects they’ll remain jailed for now.

A U.S. district judge will consider whether they meet conditions for extradition, but the ultimate decision falls to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department has some discretion to deny, but it has granted nearly every British request since ratifying a strengthened extradition treaty in 2007.

The Tates flew to Florida on a private jet last year despite a U.K. extradition request from Romania, where they also face charges. Romania’s foreign minister said at the time that a Trump administration official had expressed interest in the brothers’ legal case.

Trump said he knew “nothing about” the case when asked if his administration had pressured Romania to release the Tates.

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Tate brothers to appear in Miami court. UK wants them extradited

Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate are scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Miami on Monday after they were arrested to face rape and sex trafficking charges in the United Kingdom.

Their attorney Joseph McBride said the charges are “filth and slander” and that he’s confident the extradition request would be denied.

He also said he believed the arrests were “greenlighted by a low-level functionary” at the Justice Department, without input from leadership. But the Justice Department told The Associated Press that the arrests were approved by leadership of its Criminal Division.

The Tates’ social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities.

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Why Yemen seeks to close Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea access

There were few details, but the deputy head of the Houthi media office, Nasruddin Amer, said on X that the Bab al-Mandeb strait will be closed to Saudi vessels in response to what he called Saudi Arabia’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years.”

The Houthis are key to Iran’s regional influence and they have a large stockpile of drones, but several Houthi members previously told the AP that the group’s weapons stockpile is running low after its attacks during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iran war has further impeded the flow of weapons, said the officials, who at the time spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media.

Gulf nations warn of incoming Iranian fire

Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens Monday afternoon to warn of a possible Iranian fire, while Kuwait said its air defenses were responding to incoming Iranian missiles and drones. No damage was immediately reported in either country.

Senators want answers on ICE policies

Dozens of Democratic senators and Maine’s Independent Sen. Angus King want more details on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s vetting practices and vehicle pursuit policies following more deaths in ICE shootings.

In a letter spearheaded by King and sent to the Department of Homeland Security, the senators listed new measures to increase accountability at the agency tasked with carrying out immigration enforcement.

They said ICE should immediately start wearing uniforms or vests that clearly identify them as “ICE” instead of the more generic “POLICE” or “POLICE ICE.”

The senators also want to know whether ICE considers records of domestic violence or abuse when vetting new recruits. In Maine, the AP reported that the ICE officer who opened fire and killed a man from Colombia had a history of violent behavior detailed in family court records.

As student loan defaults surge, Trump is making borrowers pay more

Defaults are reaching record levels as borrowers struggle to pay.

The numbers have spiked since payments came due again following a lengthy pause intended to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, around 9.5 million people — 1 in 5 federal student loan borrowers — are in default, meaning their wages or Social Security payments could be garnished. The Trump administration has held off on such involuntary collections for now.

And still another wave of defaults could be coming. The Trump administration eliminated the most generous income-driven repayment plan, Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, as part of its overhaul of the federal student loan system. Millions who had been enrolled in SAVE now must pay more each month.

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Yemen’s Houthis announce a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia

A Houthi military spokesperson described the embargo on Monday, effective immediately, as an “eye for an eye” response.

Attacks by the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen last week damaged Sanaa International Airport and Abha airport in Saudi Arabia, threatening a truce that began in 2022.

Imposing an embargo could put new pressure on Saudi Arabia, which is sending oil through pipes to the Red Sea as a way of avoiding the chokehold in the Strait of Hormuz.

Houthis attacked more than 100 ships over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. It’s unclear whether the Houthis will keep up that level of attack now against Saudi Arabia.

US launches ninth night of Iran strikes

The U.S. military’s Central Command said Monday’s strikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.”

Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 517 wounded in the latest rounds of U.S. strikes. Since the war began on Feb. 28, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.

The U.S. military said the latest service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday during the “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone.

“We hit them very hard again tonight,” Trump said. “And we did that in honor” of the soldiers killed.

Another vessel is ablaze in the strait as Iran targets tankers

As the strikes began, a vessel caught fire early Monday in the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by a projectile near the coastline of Oman, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The crew abandoned the vessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later, the UKMTO said.

The route around Oman has been the one the U.S. military has encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iran’s control. The Guard later claimed it was targeting tankers in the strait.

US bombing of Iran expands as American troops killed and Tehran retaliates

The United States targeted Iran with a new round of airstrikes early Monday after announcing the death of another American service member, hitting areas around a city believed to house underground missile bases. Iran responded by attacking Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.

Step by step, the U.S. and Iran have inched closer to all-out war. Last month’s interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled. Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has largely stalled. Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people.

Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude rose Monday above $90 a barrel, further fueling a global energy crisis sparked by the conflict. An average gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. rose to $4, putting more pressure on American wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.

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The city of Galveston has launched a new online tool that allows residents, families, historians and researchers to search cemetery records that were previously buried in handwritten ledgers and historical documents.

5-year-old at center of Fort Bend County AMBER Alert found dead in Katy lake

The city and its Geographic Information Systems team spent three years digitizing and verifying those records, mapping out more than 18,000 gravesites and identifying more than 10,000 of them across six city-owned cemeteries.

But the work wasn’t easy. Time and Mother Nature have taken their toll on many of the markers.

“Some of the headstones are very hard to read,” said Jennifer Reynolds, a city spokeswoman. “They date back to the mid-1800s, and in some cases the early 1800s. Salt air and weather have worn them away. Storms and the grade raising have also played some issues with knowing where everybody is.”

It’s exactly why Reynolds says the city decided it was time to move these old records out of the ledgers and into a digital database, one that anyone can access from anywhere.

Apple Music subscription prices are going up. Here’s what you’ll pay now

“From the city’s main website, galvestontx.gov, it’s right here under GIS maps,” Reynolds said. “You click on that, and it takes you to the GIS hub. If you type in a person’s name — John Sealy, for example — it will take you to the gravesite. If you click on the name, it comes up with the person’s full name, age at the time of death, birth date, death date, and where they are located.”

The tool is designed to help families, historians, researchers and genealogists locate gravesites across the city’s six cemeteries — all from the comfort of home.

Historian Carlton Houston says this kind of work is vital to preserving history and making it accessible to everyone.

“We are seeing more people who may have always been curious about their ancestors and their family story but didn’t have the means actually to do their research,” Houston said. “The technology is making that so much more accessible. My family roots are in Texas, but we’ve scattered to both coasts of America and beyond — and so to be able to do that type of search from a distance is a game changer.”

The new tool is now available at galvestontx.gov in the GIS maps section.

A week of punishing downpours dumped more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) in some areas. The rain was expected to taper off, but another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage.

Near Ozona, a small town about 200 miles (322 kilometers) west of San Antonio, floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10. More than 50 people were rescued by boat from flooded apartments and a waterlogged RV park.

A section of a bridge also collapsed over the Nueces River in Uvalde County, where months’ worth of rain has fallen in a span of days. In Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, floodwaters rushed through Miguel Vasquez’s home twice this week, leaving a layer of mud and knocking over his refrigerator and other items.

Debris was strewn around his neighborhood, and a neighbor’s shed teetered over a washed-away section of the property. He said Friday that he’d been caught in the water’s current and nearly been swept away and drowned in trying to get to his house Wednesday.

“I had to grab on with my hands and my feet. You couldn’t swim,” he said. ”People think that when there’s a flood, you can swim. Swimming’s not going to help you. It’ll take you. The current’s too strong.”

Almost a trillion gallons of water fell in a flood-prone area

Nearly 1 trillion gallons of water fell on the three hardest-hit counties over three days — enough to fill 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools or supply 11 million homes for a year.

Uvalde County alone got more rain in that period than California has seen over the last month, according to Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area’s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before filling the narrow river basins.

Emergency personnel across a wide swath of southern and central Texas have rescued more than 570 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Gov. Greg Abbott said. Hill Country residents were beginning to clean up after floodwaters again barreled down the Guadalupe River and through communities still reeling from deadly floods a year ago.

Giant border buoys set adrift on the Rio Grande

Floodwaters on the Rio Grande temporarily closed the two international bridges on the border with Mexico at Eagle Pass, stranding a few people on the wrong side. About 600 huge buoys placed on the river to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S. illegally were set adrift by the rising waters, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said.

Cuellar said about 480 of them were captured by noon Friday. Critics have worried about the damage the buoys might do if they became untethered and got caught along banks and against bridge piers. Each is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) long and weighs 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms).

In the Hill Country, Serena Reyna woke up Thursday morning to find her Kerrville boutique, Nu Accents, covered in debris after four feet of floodwater rushed into the store. She described the store as “a total loss.”

“The floors, I mean they’re soaked in mud and still you know an inch of water in some spots,” she said.

The Texas Department of Transportation said high waters closed a 50-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 57 and that parts of the roadway were not expected to reopen until Monday.

In all, roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch at various points this week.

Residents in hard-hit Uvalde return to flooded homes

Floodwaters had overrun Uvalde and cut off most outside routes, making it one of the hardest hit cities. The waters were receding Friday, and officials said a major highway, Route 90, had reopened.

One person died while driving on a flooded road, swept away near Uvalde, authorities said.

Another victim, 65-year-old John Mark Steward of Kerrville, died after his mobile home was swept into Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River, his wife said. The same river was wrecked by flash floods last year when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic. Authorities on Thursday said summer campers were safe.

In Ozona, the seat of Crockett County, authorities used seven rescue boat teams to get people out of the hardest-hit areas. They were taken to the local civic center for shelter.

Eddie Martin, the county’s emergency management director, said the area received 6 inches of rain after midnight, on top of nearly 10 inches of rain before that.

“We have more and more accidents on the interstate,” he said. “We have more and more water pouring into the neighborhoods where we’ve been pulling people out of.”

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Stengle reported from Dallas and Hanna, from Topeka, Kansas. Also contributing reporting were Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas; Michael Phillis in Washington, and Anna Wilder in Austin, Texas.

The squad will later board an open-top bus for what is expected to be a raucous parade through central Madrid.

Hundreds of thousands of fans will greet them as they travel down Madrid's historic avenues from near Moncloa Palace, the prime minister’s official residence, to Cibeles Square.

A ceremony with the players will then be held at the square, where previous Spain teams and their supporters have traditionally gathered to celebrate.

Spain walked off with the trophy at Sunday's final after defeating now-dethroned champion Argentina 1-0 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was only the second time — after a 2010 victory in South Africa — that it had won the title.

The team was congratulated by the leaders of the three countries that co-hosted the tournament — U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

After the final whistle, Madrid erupted into celebrations, with thousands of supporters pouring into the streets from bars and restaurants, many draped in Spanish flags or wearing the team's colors.

Crowds packed the capital's Puerta de Sol and other major squares — singing, dancing and setting off flares while car horns blared.

Many celebrated Sunday’s victory long into the wee hours of Monday morning.

“I’m very happy. I’ve slept three or four hours, but for the team, I’ll do whatever it takes,” 19-year-old Victor Álvarez said.

The men's victory, combined with the Women’s World Cup won by Spain in 2023, makes the European nation the first to hold both titles simultaneously.

“Honestly, it was very exciting. We preferred not to go to any bar or anything, to experience it at home, focused and very happy, very joyful,” 59-year-old civil servant Gema Rodero said.

Celebrations were dampened, however, after local authorities reported that a 13-year-old in Salamanca, northwest of Madrid, had died after a fountain he had climbed onto with friends to mark the victory had collapsed.

For many young supporters, the triumph is their first time witnessing the men's team lift the trophy — and the national delirium that has followed.

Spain now is markedly different from 2010, when the Iberian nation was beset by a debt crisis, 20% unemployment and nationalist regions fighting to win more autonomy.

The economy is expanding, the unemployment rate has halved and the country is forecast to again be among the Eurozone’s fastest-growing major economies. Nationalist and separatist tensions have considerably cooled.

Groups of fans began securing their spots near Cibeles Square late Monday morning ahead of the team's arrival, bringing umbrellas to protect against the sun and temperatures of up to 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

According to motor club federation AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is now back to $4. The average price a year ago was $3.14 a gallon.

The price is a national average, meaning drivers in some states have been paying well over $4 a gallon for a while now, while others pay less. Prices vary between states due to factors ranging from nearby supply to differing tax rates.

People around the world are also dealing with high gas prices as a result of the war.

Gas prices first went over $4 a gallon on average at the end of March. They dipped below that in mid-June and continued to fall as crude oil prices eased when the U.S. and Iran reached an interim deal. Even then, President Donald Trump expressed frustration that gas prices weren’t falling as quickly as oil prices.

Affordability is likely to be a key issue for voters in the U.S. midterm elections, and higher gas and oil prices can help push up prices for groceries and other goods.

Oil prices have climbed again in recent days as the U.S. and Iran move closer to resuming an all-out war.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell slightly by Monday morning trading in the U.S. — down $1.64 to $86.46 per barrel. But that's still much higher than prewar levels, when crude was going for close to $70 a barrel. Meanwhile, benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.87 to $79.91 per barrel.

Speaking outside 10 Downing St. minutes after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalize industry and end street sleeping by homeless people. He said he would deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has taken wrong turns since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government eroded.

“We will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more and in doing more, build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again,” he said.

Burnham said he was “acutely conscious” of the political revolving door he was walking through.

“This is a moment for reflection and new resolution,” he said. “It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge to make politics work, to make it work better.”

One of Burnham's biggest tasks was to appoint a Cabinet, expected to happen later Monday. Several senior members of Starmer’s team posted messages on social media saying they had been fired, including Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, the architect of many of the economic plans of Burnham's predecessor, Keir Starmer.

Party changed leaders in midterm

Burnham became the seventh U.K. prime minister since 2016 in a now well-rehearsed handover after replacing Starmer as leader of the center-left governing Labour Party on Friday. Starmer announced last month he would resign.

Starmer left office just two years after winning a landslide election victory, forced out by his own party after a series of missteps and U-turns.

Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national poll does not have to be held until 2029, though Burnham can call one sooner if he wants.

Burnham was the only candidate in a contest to become the party’s new leader, securing nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.

He will confront many of the same struggles as his predecessor: a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living crisis, overstretched public services, concerns about migration and foreign affairs that include wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

He will also try to navigate relations with U.S. President Donald Trump, who first warmed to, then soured on, Starmer. Burnham's office said the prime minister spoke to Trump on Monday afternoon and “underlined his commitment to defense and security.”

The new leader pledges a new style of politics

The former mayor of Greater Manchester previously pledged to make politics “less toxic,” improve living standards across the country and “bring back the hope we have all been missing.”

Burnham said he will set out a 10-year plan for Britain later this year. Before that, he will lay out first steps “to give people some breathing space now, some help with the cost of living.”

“And I will set out some of those measures starting tomorrow, including how we pay for them,” he said.

After his speech, he told reporters that he has “always taken a very prudent approach” to the economy in previous jobs, and will not take any economic risks now.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said Labour had backed Burnham “to inject a sense of positivity, of hope, of purpose, a sense of direction.”

Burnham says “he is going to mark a big break, not just with Keir Starmer, but also with what he regards as four decades of the country going in the wrong direction,” Bale said. “But quite what that means in terms of concrete policies, in terms how much he’s going to spend and on what, and how much is going to tax ... we’re not sure yet.”

Starmer exits early but says his job was done

In the rapid-fire world of British political transitions, Burnham entered Downing Street only minutes after Starmer left.

“I go with good grace. I go with a smile, and I go proud of everything that we have achieved,” Starmer said before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the king. It was an offer the king “was graciously pleased to accept,” the palace said in a statement.

Starmer became Labour leader in 2020 after one of the party's worst election defeats, and he led Labour to a landslide victory four years later. But he was soon defeated by the challenges of governing.

“It has been the privilege of my life to serve you and this great country as prime minister,” Starmer said before leaving Downing Street, hand-in-hand with his wife, Victoria. “I am confident that Britain is now stronger and fairer than it was two years ago.”

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Associated Press journalists Sylvia Hui, Pan Pylas and Danica Kirka contributed.

A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a video statement that the maritime ban against Saudi Arabia will be effective immediately, describing it as an “equation of ‘an eye for an eye.’”

There were few details on how the embargo might work, but the deputy head of the Houthi media office, Nasruddin Amer, said on X that the Bab al-Mandeb strait will be closed to the Saudis in response to what he called the kingdom's "unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years.”

Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the gateway to the Red Sea through which around 12% of the world's trade usually passes. A fourth of global container trade transits through the 32-kilometer (20-mile)-wide strait to and from the Suez Canal.

The Houthis earlier demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there when they targeted ships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked. It is unclear whether the Houthis will resume that level of attack against neighboring Saudi Arabia.

There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia. The kingdom already faced pressure as it uses its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains in the grip that Iran imposed shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked it on Feb. 28.

The Saudis have been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through the pipeline. Now, about 2.5 million barrels of oil per day could be at risk, Texas-based Rystad Energy wrote Monday.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition against the Houthis and imposed an air and sea blockade on Yemen in 2015. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A truce was reached in 2022.

That truce has been threatened in recent days after the Houthis said the Saudis struck the Sanaa airport in an attempt to affect a flight carrying Houthi leaders back from Iran, where they attended the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane landed safely at another airport.

The Houthis then launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport in the most significant confrontation in years.

By allowing a direct international flight to land without the approval of the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis sought to establish a new reality in which they could independently make decisions over Yemen’s airspace, experts told the AP.

“We affirm the right of our great people to respond to the blockade with a blockade,” Saree emphasized on Monday, adding that Houthis are prepared to confront “any foolish act committed by the reckless Saudi enemy ... with a comprehensive and decisive escalation."

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV broadcast footage of hundreds of supporters gathering in the city of Ibb, south of Sanaa, to back the embargo against Saudi Arabia. Similar rallies were held in the governorates of Saada, Marib, Hajjah and Taiz.

The Houthis are a crucial part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which also includes militant groups in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The rebels have had a large stockpile of drones, but several Houthi members previously told the AP that the stockpile is running low after its attacks during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iran war has further impeded the flow of weapons, said the members, who at the time spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. and Israel responded to the Houthis' earlier attacks on shipping with a punishing air campaign across Houthi-held areas in Yemen until a deal that saw the rebels stop their assaults.

Disrupting transit through the Bab al-Mandeb forces shipping firms to route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope off South Africa, significantly increasing costs. The U.S. government in the past has said going around the cape would add about 2,700 miles (4,345 kilometers) to the journey from Saudi Arabia to the U.S.

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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

His death was announced Monday by former club Newcastle, where he had been both a player and coach. Keegan revealed last month that he had stage four cancer.

“One of the most iconic, influential and deeply loved figures in our club’s history,” Newcastle said.

For a time in the 1970s, Keegan transcended the English game with his celebrity status.

Keegan, one of just four Englishmen to win the Ballon d’Or, wasn’t just a brilliant soccer player who dovetailed nimbleness and an eye for goal with a relentless hunger and work rate stemming from his working-class upbringing in northern England.

He was also a trendsetter off the field, through his haircut — a perm, which other footballers across Europe started to copy — and his move into celebrity culture that saw him release a single, appear in an after-shave ad with heavyweight boxing great Henry Cooper, and go on TV shows.

Keegan was also something of a trailblazer in his sport as one of the first English players to move to a continental team when he left Liverpool, where he’d just won the European Cup, for German club Hamburger SV in 1977.

“For Hamburg fans he will remain above all a crowd favorite, an exceptional player, and one of the best footballers ever to wear the rhombus (crest) on his chest,” the Bundesliga club said.

It was in Hamburg where Keegan won the Ballon d’Or — then called the European Footballer of the Year award — in 1978 and 1979 and featured in another European Cup final, a 1980 loss to Nottingham Forest.

Keegan scored 21 times in 63 games for England and played at the 1982 World Cup, his only appearance on soccer’s biggest stage after the country failed to qualify in 1974 and 1978.

Coaching career

His 16-year coaching career from 1992-2008 was memorable for almost leading Newcastle, the team where he retired as a player, to the Premier League title in 1995-96, only for a late-season collapse which included Keegan’s unforgettable outburst of “I’d love it if we beat them, love it” in a nod toward Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United — the eventual champion.

He then showed more vulnerability in a 20-month spell in charge of England in 1999 and 2000, during which the team failed to get out of its group at the 2000 European Championship before Keegan resigned after the first game of World Cup qualifying — a 1-0 home loss to Germany in the last game at the old Wembley Stadium.

He announced his departure to Football Association officials in an emotional chat in a toilet cubicle.

Born in Doncaster on Feb. 14, 1951, Keegan first played for fourth-tier Scunthorpe in the English league before joining Liverpool in 1971 and, under iconic manager Bill Shankly, immediately forging a strong on-field relationship with John Toshack in a “big man, little man” strike partnership.

Keegan, 5-feet-8 (1.73 meters) and affectionately nicknamed “Mighty Mouse,” fed off the knockdowns and presence of the tall and slender Toshack.

That combination propelled the Reds to an English league-UEFA Cup double in 1973, and Keegan won two more league titles (1976 and 1977), an FA Cup (1974), another UEFA Cup (1976) when he scored in both legs of the final against Club Brugge, and the big one — the European Cup in 1977 — in a trophy-laden stint at Anfield.

“His legacy at Liverpool will be forever etched in history,” the club said. “He was regarded as a hero wherever he went.”

In that 1977 final, Keegan won the penalty — given after he was fouled by Berti Vogts — that was converted by Phil Neal to seal a 3-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Hamburg heights

It was widely reported that Keegan then became European soccer’s highest-paid footballer when he joined Hamburg, whose players were initially resentful of the Englishman arriving on big money. He won them round and captured his first Ballon d’Or in 1978 — despite Hamburg only finishing 10th in the German league in his first season — and then helped the club win the title in 1979, with a reward being another Ballon d’Or.

“Hamburger SV will always cherish the memory of its former championship-winning player and two-time Ballon d’Or winner," the German club said.

Off the field, Keegan’s status soared. That year, he released “Head Over Heels in Love,” which finished higher in the singles’ charts in Germany (No. 10) than in England (No. 31), and opened up his home for a behind-the-scenes documentary following his life.

In his third season at Hamburg, the team lost the European Cup final and the Bundesliga to Bayern Munich, and Keegan returned to England with Southampton. There he was the English league’s top scorer with 30 goals in the 1981-82 season — his second and last at the club before moving to Newcastle, his father’s favorite team.

With his work rate and personality, Keegan was adored at St. James’ Park — setting the seed for his later coaching roles there — until he retired in the summer of 1984, though he did put his boots back on in 1985 for a couple of guest appearances for Australian team Blacktown in the Sydney suburbs.

England star

Keegan was a star player for England from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, an underwhelming period for the national team when it failed to reach back-to-back World Cups (1974 and 1978) and the 1976 European Championship.

He was the captain for Euro 1980 when England didn’t get out of its group. His sole World Cup appearance came in the 1982 tournament, when he had a back problem and only came on as a second-half substitute in what proved to be the team’s final game.

In a coaching career that began in 1992, Keegan was regarded as tactically limited but a good man-manager — nowhere more so than in his first job at Newcastle, which he led out of the second tier and then almost to the Premier League title in the 1995-96 season.

In February, Newcastle led the league by 12 points and had picked up the nickname of “The Entertainers” under Keegan, but it collapsed in the run-in and was reeled in by Ferguson’s Man United.

In a post-match interview in the final weeks of the season, an emotional Keegan became unhappy at some comments from Ferguson — a master of the so-called “mind games” — and unleashed a finger-pointing outburst that ended with the words: “You can tell him now, we’re still fighting for this title. And he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something. And I’ll tell you ... honestly ... I will love it if we beat them, love it.”

Newcastle didn’t, finishing four points behind United in second place.

Either side of the England job, Keegan coached Fulham (1997-99) and Manchester City (2001-05). He also had another brief spell in charge of Newcastle in 2008, resigning after nine months following a breakdown in his relationship with club owner Mike Ashley.

Keegan never coached again but kept in the public eye with TV commentary work.

In early 2026, his family said he had been diagnosed with cancer, and Keegan himself said on stage at a live event a few months later that it was discovered when he had a scan for an operation following his involvement in a car crash.

“They said we have a top doctor with this new way of fighting what you have got, which is stage four cancer,” Keegan said. “He was a Liverpool supporter so I went to meet him. I knew I wouldn’t be walking alone.”

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

The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, coming off its first losing week in the last three and just its third since the end of March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 93 points, or 0.2%, as of 12:16 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% higher.

Nvidia added 1.6% and helped the market recover some of its losses, swinging back upward after its drop on Friday was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Sandisk climbed 7.4% after tumbling 29% last week.

Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.2% after announcing an expanded partnership where Microsoft will use its products for AI, including its new Helios product starting in the second half of the year.

Such stocks have been under pressure for weeks on worries that their prices shot too high in the euphoria around AI. On one hand, companies are making billions of dollars in revenue as customers pour money into AI chips and data centers. But all that spending may fizzle out if AI doesn’t produce as much profit and productivity as promised.

Wall Street may get some hints on that soon as some of the biggest spenders on AI report their latest quarterly results. On Wednesday, Alphabet will tell investors how much it made during the spring and give updates on its AI efforts.

All kinds of companies are under pressure to report strong growth in profit for the spring. They will need to in order to justify the big moves their stock prices have made. Indexes are near their records, even with the recent shakiness for AI stocks.

AMC Entertainment jumped 21.4% after the movie-theater operator reported stronger revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said some of its theaters in Los Angeles and other cities ran “The Odyssey” for more than 85 straight hours from Thursday through Sunday to meet demand.

Domino’s Pizza climbed 1.8% after delivering stronger revenue for the spring than expected. CEO Russell Weiner said the company saw growth in orders for both its carryout and delivery businesses, even with the broad industry continuing “to face pressure on consumer demand.”

Another restaurant chain, Jersey Mike's, is beginning its roadshow to raise interest in its stock, which it's planning to sell on the New York Stock Exchange for between $21 and $25 per share in an initial public offering.

It and other businesses are facing pressure in selling to U.S. households feeling crunched by still-high inflation, thanks in large part to high gasoline prices. The average cost for a gallon of gasoline in the United States is back above $4.

It's been tracking the increase in crude oil prices. After dropping below $72 early this month, roughly back to where it was before the war with Iran began, the price for a barrel of Brent crude has been jumping recently as fighting continues in the Middle East.

On Monday, the price swung between roughly $86 and $91. It was most recently at $88.78, down 0.4%.

The war with Iran is keeping oil tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf to customers, which pushes up oil's price. S&P Global counted only 127 vessels crossing the strait during the week through Sunday, down nearly 50% from the week before.

Worries about expensive oil and high inflation have sent Treasury yields higher in the bond market, which threaten to slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.60% from 4.55% late Friday and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran. Higher yields have already sent the average 30-year mortgage rate to its highest level in nearly a year.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe.

The moves were sharper in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi fell 4.5%. It’s been at the center of the huge swings for AI stocks because it’s dominated by two tech companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Stocks were stronger in China, where indexes rose 2.4% in Hong Kong and 0.9% in Shanghai.

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

Burnham replaced the unpopular Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation to end a tenure of just two years in office.

Speaking outside 10 Downing St. minutes after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham, 56, pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalize industry and end street sleeping by homeless people.

Here is the latest:

Burnham gets to work forming his government

Andy Burnham is digging into his overflowing in-tray on his first day as Britain’s prime minister.

In the coming hours he will appoint his new Cabinet, after sweeping away several senior figures from Keir Starmer’s administration, including Treasury chief Rachel Reeves and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.

And he says that on Tuesday he will announce the first of his plans to help people with the cost of living.

Burnham says fixing the care system is a must

Burnham says he “would not want to leave office” without improving Britain’s patchy access to social care for those who need it because of age, illness or disability.

It’s a pressing issue in a country with an aging population, and one that has foxed previous Labour and Conservative governments.

Burnham, who has firsthand experience of the issue because his father has Alzheimer’s, says there needs to be a “conversation with the public” about how to pay for long-term care. At present many people must spend all their savings and sell their property to pay for care.

Burnham told reporters that the status who is “not defensible. How many people have lost their homes and their savings in that time? We need to face it and fix it.”

Treasury chief and deputy prime minister announce they are not in Burnham’s government

Some of the government’s top ministers have announced they will not be serving in Burnham’s Cabinet.

David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said on X that he “would have been proud to continue serving in Cabinet, but a new Prime Minister is entitled to build his own team.”

Rachel Reeves said it was the “privilege of my life” to serve as Treasury chief, and wished her successor luck.

Burnham is expected to announce his new Cabinet in coming hours.

Burnham says he won’t take economic risks

Andy Burnham says his top priority is easing the cost of living for ordinary people, but he won’t take any risks with the economy.

Britain’s new prime minister told reporters in the garden of 10 Downing St. that he will take economic measures “that people will feel and feel quite quickly” in their pocketbooks. He said “it won’t take all of the pressure off but it just shows the direction of travel and that we’re serious about helping them out.”

Burnham has said he’ll give more details on Tuesday.

He said that he has “always taken a very prudent approach” to the economy in previous jobs, and that will continue now he is leader. He says funding plans “will be clearly set out in our budget.”

Trump and Burnham have spoken

President Donald Trump has spoken to Burnham, the White House said Monday, without providing details.

It was one of Burnham’s first phone calls since he entered No.10 Downing Street.

Burnham, who has little foreign policy experience, has said that Britain will remain a firm United States ally.

Relations with the U.S. could depend on how he interacts with a Trump, who initially gave Starmer glowing reviews only to sour on him for not supporting his war with Iran.

Zelenskyy will have phone call with Burnham later Monday

Congratulating Burnham, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that he was “looking forward to our conversation later today,” adding that the “foundation of our bilateral relations is stronger than ever, and we will continue to make each other stronger.”

Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, who stood down earlier, was a high-profile supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia. He said he had provided the country with “political, defense, and values-based support.”

Burnham, who has very little foreign policy experience, has said he will continue to provide Ukraine with the support it needs.

Burnham says his father doesn’t know he is prime minister because of Alzheimer’s

In an interview with The Times published Sunday, Burnham revealed that his father’s illness meant he was not aware his son is taking the nation’s top job.

“That’s a sadness because he would be (proud),” Burnham was quoted as saying. “It’s a family achievement … although he doesn’t know it, it still makes me feel that we’ve kind of done something together.”

He added that he recently visited his dad in his care home, alongside his two brothers and his mother. Burnham’s father Roy was a longtime Labour supporter and was a big influence in setting him on the path to politics, according to the article.

Markets unfazed by orderly change in British prime minister

Financial markets, however, will assess Andy Burnham’s actions over the coming weeks and months to see if there is a marked change in economic direction.

There is growing speculation that Burnham will appoint the current home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, rather than Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Many in the markets appear to have been spooked by the prospect of Miliband at the Treasury.

Any unease would likely be felt in the bond markets, where investors are already charging the U.K. higher interest rates than its peers for borrowing purposes. The U.K.’s public finances remain fragile and there’s not much room for higher spending unless Burnham raises taxes. However, Labour was elected on a manifesto pledge that it would not raise the key revenue-raising taxes, such as income tax.

Cabinet choices to reveal much about Burnham government

With Burnham now installed as prime minister, attention turns to his choices for Cabinet, particularly the key post of Treasury chief.

The appointment will be pivotal because the head of the Treasury Department, formally known as chancellor of the exchequer, controls tax and spending decisions.

Burnham’s choice will give clues about his plans as he faces the immense task of kick-starting a sluggish economy so that growing companies and increased output boost government revenue without raising taxes.

The decision has been considered finely balanced between Ed Miliband, the outgoing energy secretary, and Shabana Mahmood, the current home secretary.

While Miliband comes from the party’s left wing, Mahmoud is seen as more conservative and has the advantage of being something of a blank slate in terms of economic positions, allowing Burnham to fully take the lead on the economy.

The other top jobs are defense secretary, foreign secretary and home secretary, who controls immigration and policing.

Burnham says UK support for Ukraine is solid

Burnham says his first calls to foreign leaders will be to U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,

Burnham has spent a decade as mayor of Greater Manchester and has little experience of international affairs.

A big question is how he will get along with Trump, the unpredictable leader of the U.K.’s closest ally.

Burnham says he wants to reassure Ukraine that “I will be with him 100%” and “Britain’s support is steadfast, it is resolute.”

The prime minister faces facts

One of the most solemn moments of Burnham’s first day will be the realization that he has the power to launch Britain’s nuclear missiles.

That will become clear when the U.K.’s top civil servant asks him to write “last resort letters” to the captains of the country’s four nuclear-armed submarines telling them what to do if the civilian leadership is wiped out by a nuclear attack.

It is a duty unique to Britain, where there is no “nuclear football,” the briefcase containing targeting data and launch codes that accompanies U.S. presidents wherever they go.

The letters are placed on each submarine inside safes that are to be opened only if their captains are certain Britain’s civilian leaders are dead.

The letters are destroyed unread when a new prime minister takes office. But it is believed there are four options: retaliate, don’t retaliate, use your own judgment, or put your weapons under the command of the U.S. or Australia.

Burnham outlines his policy priorities

In his first speech as prime minister, Burnham sketched out some of his priorities, though he offered no details and said he would set out some of the measures on Tuesday.

Burnham said he would decentralize power and help make essentials affordable again under the cost of living squeeze.

Burnham said he would back British industry and “reindustrialize Britain.”

He pledged to bring the welfare bill down and build more social housing, as well as be more supportive of the underfunded education system.

He also vowed to “end rough sleeping in this country,” referring to homeless people sleeping in the open.

EU chief congratulates Burnham

European Council President Antonio Costa congratulated Burnham on his new job.

“In the last two years EU-UK relations gained a new, positive momentum. I look forward to continuing to further deepen our cooperation for the benefit of our citizens and businesses, he said in a message on X.

“The United Kingdom and the European Union are stronger together,” he added.

The U.K. left the European Union after a referendum a decade ago.

Clap for the leader

Prime Minister Andy Burnham entered Downing Street regaled by the applause traditional for a new leader.

The first time a prime minister walks through the uber-polished door of 10 Downing St., household staff and civil servants by custom line the entrance and clap for the new leader and his senior team.

It is Burnham’s introduction to the people he will live and work with, most of whom served his predecessor only a few hours earlier.

Burnham gives first speech as UK prime minister

Prime Minister Andy Burnham says politicians “need to be better” in his first speech as Britain’s leader.

He is promising to deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system he says has taken wrong turns since the 1980s.

Burnham spoke outside 10 Downing St. minutes after he was formally asked to form a government by King Charles III.

In a break with tradition, Burnham ditched using a lectern, speaking in front of two microphones outside the famous shiny black door of the prime minister’s residence.

Prime ministers typically speak from a lectern clad with the royal crest that features a lion and a unicorn, the national animals, respectively, of England and Scotland.

Burnham wasn't even in Parliament a month ago

In order to challenge Starmer for the Labour Party’s leadership position, Burnham had to take a big political gamble.

He first had to win a seat in Parliament and then amass the necessary support to launch a bid to topple Starmer.

As internal pressure mounted in May for Starmer to resign, Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for the seat of Makerfield near Manchester, stepped down, triggering a special election.

It was no shoe-in.

The anti-immigration Reform UK party had recently devastated Labour in local elections in the area, which had led to calls for Starmer’s resignation.

The bet paid off for Burnham, who is well-known and popular in the area, and he breezed to victory when the votes were tallied June 19.

Dozens of Labour lawmakers cheered as he was sworn in June 22.

Starmer ultimately stepped down and Burnham faced no opposition in running to become party leader.

Burnham, known as a casual dresser, opts for formal attire

Dark T-shirts and dark jeans are typically part of the work uniform for Burnham, who is seen as a more relaxed and natural communicator compared to the buttoned-up Starmer.

But he changed out of his usual casual wear on Monday, donning a dark suit, white dress shirt and blue tie as he met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace to get the formal go-ahead to become prime minister.

Andy Burnham is Britain’s new prime minister

Andy Burnham has formally accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government.

Buckingham Palace has released a photo of the two men shaking hands. The ceremony known as “kissing hands” marks the transfer of power from former leader Keir Starmer to Burnham.

Burnham replaced Starmer as leader of the center-left governing Labour Party last week.

Why there is a change of prime minister without a general election

Burnham was chosen as Labour Party leader by 379 fellow lawmakers after Starmer said he was resigning. Because Labour holds a majority in government, its leader also becomes the U.K. prime minister.

Under Britain’s parliamentary democracy system, governing parties can change leaders midterm, with the winner becoming prime minister without the need for a general election. Prime ministers can be replaced if one has resigned as leader of their party, or been forced out by a leadership challenge.

It’s not unusual for British prime ministers to come to power without a broad election. In fact, four of the six British prime ministers in the past decade took the top job by winning internal party leadership contests to replace their predecessors, not by public vote.

Andy Burnham arrives at Buckingham Palace

Andy Burnham has arrived at Buckingham Palace to be appointed Britain’s new prime minister.

Burnham is set to meet King Charles III, who will ask him to form a government.

It comes soon after Keir Starmer went to the palace and formally resigned.

The king’s role harkens back to a time when the monarch exercised supreme power and chose a prime minister to run the government.

Today, the king has no political power, but the monarch still officially offers the job to the leader of the party that can command a majority in the House of Commons.

Starmer leaves Buckingham Palace

Starmer and his family left the palace privately.

While he was seen arriving in a chauffeured black car, helicopter footage did not show Starmer leaving.

Changing of the guard outside and in

The change of British leadership happening inside Buckingham Palace coincided with the changing of the guard outside.

With King Charles III accepting Starmer’s resignation as prime minister in the Chinese drawing room, the guards who protect the palace were changing shift.

The heavily choreographed ceremony draws thousands of tourists several days a week.

A military band in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats marched from the palace to be replaced by a fresh detachment.

The economy is the first item on the agenda

One of the biggest challenges facing Britain’s new prime minister is finding a way to kickstart the U.K.’s sluggish economy so that growing companies and increased output boost government revenue without raising taxes.

It’s a problem that has bedeviled every prime minister since the financial crisis of 2008. And their failure to solve it is part of the reason that Burnham is the U.K.’s eighth prime minister in the past 16 years.

The British economy has grown an average of less than 1.5% annually since 2009, compared with an annual average of 3% in the 15 years before the financial crisis.

While devising his economic plan, Burnham will be constrained by promises to reduce government debt, which now equals more than 95% of gross domestic product, the highest since the early 1960s, while not raising taxes on working people.

King accepts Starmer’s resignation at palace

King Charles III has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Buckingham Palace said.

Starmer was accompanied by his wife, Victoria.

The palace said the king “was graciously pleased to accept” Starmer’s resignation.

Andy Burnham will soon head to the palace to get the king’s assent to become the next prime minister.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman scheduled the Sept. 28 trial date for David Hearn during a hearing on Monday. It was Hearn's second court appearance since a grand jury indicted him on a felony count of property destruction.

Hearn, who pleaded not guilty to the charge on July 9, has asked the court to dismiss the case. In a court filing, his attorneys argued the government has failed to properly preserve important physical evidence from the Reflecting Pool.

At least three other people have been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the Reflecting Pool. The felony charge against Hearn, which accuses him of causing at least $1,000 in damage to the pool, carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years upon conviction.

Trump ordered the pool's renovation work ahead of the country’s 250th independence celebrations, but the project has been plagued by problems. Trump initially suggested that pool renovations would cost $1.5 million, but the cost of the project has exceeded $16 million.

Trump, a Republican, has claimed that vandals have damaged the pool, but administration critics attribute the problems to shoddy repair work. Hearn and his supporters claim his prosecution is a politically motivated attempt by the Trump administration to deflect blame and scapegoat him and others for their own failures.

Workers recently drained the pool again, prompting Hearn's attorneys to argue that the government was destroying evidence of his innocence.

“The Constitution simply does not permit the government to charge a man with destroying an object, retain exclusive custody of that object, and then drain, disturb, and alter the object before the defense may examine it, despite a written demand for its preservation. And yet that is what has happened here,” they wrote in their dismissal request.

Hearn, 67, previously told The Associated Press that he was detained by National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police for five hours after stopping by the pool during a bike ride on June 19. He said that he reached in to examine the pool's newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool but that he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

Hearn, who's from Bethesda, Maryland, competed in three Summer Olympics, earning his best finish, ninth, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says on its website.

Smart, 58, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old boy who later fatally shot her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry.

The shooter was freed in 2015 after serving a 25-year sentence. Though Smart denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and other crimes and was sentenced to life without parole after a trial that was one of the first in the nation to be broadcast live on television from start to finish.

Smart filed a petition for habeas corpus relief in January seeking to overturn her conviction over what her lawyers claim were several constitutional violations. The state responded with a motion to dismiss the petition, resulting in Monday's hearing, which Smart attended remotely from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York.

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy took the matter under advisement. He planned to rule in 30 to 60 days.

Smart's lawyers say transcripts of recordings during trial were inaccurate

Smart's lawyers argue that prosecutors misled the jury by providing them with inaccurate transcripts of surreptitiously recorded conversations of Smart that included words that were not audible on the recordings.

Among the words they claim weren’t audible but in the transcript were the word “killed” in the sentence “you had your husband killed,” the word “busted” in the sentence “I’m gonna be busted” and the word “murder” in the sentence “this would have been the perfect murder.”

“Modern science confirms what common sense has always told us: when people are handed a script, they inevitably hear the words they are shown,” Smart’s attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, said in a statement earlier this year. “Jurors were not evaluating the recordings independently — they were being directed toward a conclusion, and that direction decided the verdict.”

In court Monday, he described a forensic study that showed providing transcripts alongside muffled audio leads listeners to believe the written text even when inaccurate.

“Adding a transcript of language to the jurors changed their interpretation of what they believed they were hearing, how confident they were in what they believed they were hearing and how clear it was to them,” he said. “There's no absolute truth about what's on the tapes. Nothing decipherable is on the tapes. But when you tell someone what they're hearing, you set this expectation ... and they will hear it.”

Smart's lawyers also argued that the verdict was tainted by the media attention and due to faulty instructions to the jury. They argued jurors were told they must find that Smart acted with premeditation, and were not told they must consider only evidence presented at trial.

They also argued the trial court gave her a mandatory life sentence without parole for being an accomplice to first-degree murder, despite New Hampshire not mandating that sentence for the charge.

Lawyers for the state say Smart's petition should be dismissed

Lawyers for the state asked the judge to dismiss the petition, saying nearly all of the claims are barred because they already were raised on appeal and resolved by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, or could have been raised on appeal with the court but were not.

They noted that during Smart's trial, the defense only expressed concern that the recording transcripts allegedly failed to account for the “doubling” of voices when two people speak at once. The judge instructed jurors that if the tapes differed from what they were reading, they should use what they heard, instead. The state Supreme Court noted that Smart's lawyers did not make any “particularized showing of inaccuracies in the transcripts relative to the recordings or how she may have been prejudiced” by them.

Assistant Attorney General John Drennan said none of Smart's claims are supported by facts, and that she appears to be using the habeas corpus process as a substitute for an appeal. He likened the discrepancies with the transcripts to someone viewing text of a transcribed voicemail and then listening to the actual message.

“Maybe cognitive bias has set in, but it doesn't mean that I can't, when listening, say, ‘Hey, I’m not sure that's right,'” he said. “I know to review it. I know to be skeptical.”

Smart's team hasn't proven other claims, such as ineffective assistance of counsel and having the case argued in New York, rather than in New Hampshire, the lawyers for the state said.

Smart's legal options are limited. She has unsuccessfully sought a sentence reduction hearing several times with an elected state council in New Hampshire that approves contracts and appointees to the courts and state agencies. She appealed one rejection to the state Supreme Court, which dismissed her petition in 2023.

Her latest petition was filed after New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte rejected her request last year to put the matter before the council again. Ayotte said she reviewed the case and decided it was not deserving of a hearing.

Smart took full responsibility for husband's death in video

In 2024, Smart took full responsibility for her husband’s death. She said in a video she spent years deflecting blame “almost as if it was a coping mechanism.”

Smart’s trial was a media circus and one of America’s first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between a school employee and a student. The student, William Flynn, testified that Smart told him she needed her husband killed because she feared she would lose everything if they divorced and that she threatened to break up with him if he didn’t kill her husband. Flynn and three other teens cooperated with prosecutors and all have since been released.

Flynn and 17-year-old Patrick Randall entered the Smarts’ Derry condominium and forced Gregory Smart to his knees in the foyer. As Randall held a knife to the man’s throat, Flynn fired a hollow-point bullet into his head. Both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to 28 years to life. They were granted parole in 2015. Two other teenagers served prison sentences and have been released.

The case inspired Joyce Maynard’s 1992 book “To Die For” and the 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

This year, 66 men and 40 women attended the three-day competition in Hayward that ended Saturday. They represented 16 states and nine countries.

Competitors take their gear seriously with custom-built chain saws, carefully sharpened axes and single buck saws that can cost upward of $400 just to sharpen.

Karolina Urbanová from the Czech Republic set world records in two events. She earned first place in the Women's Underhand Chop, cutting through 11 inches (27.9 centimeters) of white pine in 21.28 seconds. She also came in first in the Women's Standing Chop, cutting through 9 inches (22.8 centimeters) of white pine in 19.38 seconds.

Meredith Ingbretson of Hayward set a world record in the Women's Boom Run, sprinting across the water and back over eight red cedar logs in 13.78 seconds.

While women have been competing since the inaugural competition in 1960, the events they participate in have expanded significantly, organizers said. They started just competing in logrolling, and now participate in more than 20 timber sports events.

“When I started chopping I was chopping with the men,” said Nancy Zalewski, a competitor for 27 years who has trained others, including fellow participant Kate Witkowski.

The tradition of competition among lumberjacks began in the 1890s, according to the organization. The competition is held in the Lumberjack Bowl on the shores of Lake Hayward. In the past, the area had been a holding pond for log drives down the Namekagon River.

The lumberjack theme is ever-present with children in lumberjack socks, flannels and suspenders, and brands handing out blow-up axes and toy chain saws. Outside the competition bowl, there are wood-carving demonstrations, logrolling practice for kids, live music, food trucks and axe-themed events.

“The culture of it I think is really wonderful,” Witkowski said. “I don’t know any other sports where the athletes support each other like we do here because it’s such a niche sport and because the gear is so hard to come by that we’re all just trying to get better.”

___

Schmidt is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

___

Associated Press reporter Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story.

Monday, July 20

• Katherine Salom “Girl Gone Grilling”
• Christina Wells
• When a smile needs more than veneers: one Houston patient’s transformation
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, July 17

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

Thursday, July 16

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

Wednesday, July 15

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

Tuesday, July 14

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

Monday, July 13

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

Friday, July 10

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

Thursday, July 9

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

Wednesday, July 8

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

Tuesday, July 7

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

Monday, July 6

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

Thursday, July 2

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

Wednesday, July 1

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

Tuesday, June 30

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

Monday, June 29

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

Friday, June 26

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

Thursday, June 25

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

Wednesday, June 24

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

Tuesday, June 23

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

Monday, June 22

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

Thursday, June 18

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

Wednesday, June 17

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

Tuesday, June 16

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

Monday, June 15

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

Friday, June 12

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

Thursday, June 11

• FIFA Fan Festival™ Houston

Wednesday, June 10

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

Tuesday, June 9

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

Monday, June 8

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

Friday, June 5

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

Thursday, June 4

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

Wednesday, June 3

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

Tuesday, June 2

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

Monday, June 1

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

Friday, May 29

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

Thursday, May 28

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

Wednesday, May 27

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

Tuesday, May 26

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

Friday, May 22

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

Thursday, May 21

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

Wednesday, May 20

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

Tuesday, May 19

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

Monday, May 18

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

Friday, May 15

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

Thursday, May 14

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

Wednesday, May 13

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

Tuesday, May 12

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

Monday, May 11

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

Friday, May 8

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

Thursday, May 7

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

Wednesday, May 6

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

Tuesday, May 5

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

Monday, May 4

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

Friday, May 1

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

Thursday, April 30

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

Wednesday, April 29

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

Tuesday, April 28

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

Monday, April 27

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

Friday, April 24

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

Thursday, April 23

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

Wednesday, April 22

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

Tuesday, April 21

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

Monday, April 20

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

Friday, April 17

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

Thursday, April 16

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

Wednesday, April 15

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

Tuesday, April 14

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

Monday, April 13

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

Friday, April 10

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

Thursday, April 9

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

Wednesday, April 8

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

Tuesday, April 7

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

Monday, April 6

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

Friday, April 3

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

Thursday, April 2

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

Wednesday, April 1

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

Tuesday, March 31

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

Monday, March 30

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

Friday, March 27

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

Wednesday, March 25

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

Tuesday, March 24

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

Monday, March 23

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

Thursday, March 19

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

Wednesday, March 18

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

Tuesday, March 17

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

Monday, March 16

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

Friday, March 13

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

Thursday, March 12

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

Tuesday, March 10

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

Monday, March 9

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

Friday, March 6

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

Thursday, March 5

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

Wednesday, March 4

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

Tuesday, March 3

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

Monday, March 2

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

Friday, February 27

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

Thursday, February 26

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

Wednesday, February 25

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

Tuesday, February 24

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

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

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

February 6 - 20

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

Thursday, February 5

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

Wednesday, February 4

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

Tuesday, February 3

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

Monday, February 2

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

Friday, January 30

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

Thursday, January 29

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

Wednesday, January 28

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

Tuesday, January 27

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

Monday, January 26

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

Friday, January 23

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

Thursday, January 22

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

Wednesday, January 21

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

Friday, January 16

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

Thursday, January 15

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

Wednesday, January 14

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

Tuesday, January 13

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

Monday, January 12

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

Friday, January 9

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

Thursday, January 8

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

Wednesday, January 7

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

Tuesday, January 6

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

Monday, January 5

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

Friday, January 2

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

Thursday, January 1

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

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The autopsy performed on the dismembered body found in a Tesla in the Hollywood Hills had been sealed by a court order in the investigation that led to murder charges for singer D4vd. Dr. Odey Ukpo's comment with the report was his most pointed effort yet to emphasize his office’s independence from police and prosecutors, as well as his desire to make as much death information public as soon as possible.

D4vd, who has pleaded not guilty, this week faces a crucial preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial. Ukpo's agency, which determined Rivas Hernandez died from stab wounds, plays a major role, as it has in other prominent cases, including following the death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry and the killings of director Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner.

Ukpo, 46, sat for a recent interview with The Associated Press in the building where he performed autopsies for nearly a decade before getting the head role in 2023. He has always welcomed the celebrity cases that Los Angeles brings, saying the scrutiny they receive and the likelihood of misinformation spreading are strong incentives to do careful, irrefutable work. And they provide an opportunity to show what his office does and what kind of dangers the community may face.

“I should be able to anticipate the strongest arguments or the most interesting questions by the work that I’ve done,” he said. “If I haven’t, then something’s missing.”

“Life is complicated, but death is simple,” Ukpo said.

The medical examiner pushes back on police secrecy

Ukpo doesn't believe sealing autopsy reports helps police investigations, including in the killing of Celeste.

“That goes completely against our mission,” he said. “It’s so important for us to release the information that she did not die from something natural, she did not die from drugs, she was stabbed. And then we start to look back at what made her vulnerable to be in that situation.”

A court-ordered security hold still seals the Reiner autopsies. Authorities said immediately after their deaths that they had been stabbed by their son, who has pleaded not guilty, but little information has followed. Ukpo said he would discuss the findings — if he was allowed.

“The Reiners’ case is one that’s straightforward,” he said. “It’s unclear to me what sort of information we have that would ruin the case.”

Sometimes there is no good reason for secrecy, he said.

“People say: ‘Why would they get the information out there? Because then the case is just going to go awry.’ But awry? How? What information?” he said, adding: “The killer knows what they did.”

The LA County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that security holds “are rarely requested and are carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine whether temporarily withholding the autopsy report is necessary to preserve sensitive investigative information.” It said the reports can contain details “that only the person responsible would know,” meaning detectives can use that knowledge to assess the credibility of witness statements and uncover false confessions.

The Los Angeles Police Department, which handled the D4vd and Reiner cases, did not respond to a request for comment, and the district attorney's office declined comment.

A change to his title underscores Ukpo's independence

Ukpo was appointed chief medical examiner-coroner in 2023, becoming the agency's first Black leader since it was founded in 1850. His staff responds to about 13,000 sudden, unexpected and premature deaths per year.

The “coroner” part of his title was dropped soon after his appointment and Ukpo supported that change, saying a coroner is usually an elected official — often also the county sheriff — but not a doctor.

“'Coroner' just kind of confused our purpose and suggested that we were within a law enforcement agency,” Ukpo said. “It’s so important to establish our independence.”

Andrew Bernstein, a longtime New York criminal defense attorney who is not involved in any of Ukpo’s cases, said “buddy-buddy” relationships can easily develop between medical examiners and law enforcement.

“They’re dealing with the cops all the time,” he said. “They’re using the same language.”

That relationship can hurt a prosecutor's case, he said, because “jurors pick up on that all the time” and may perceive a testifying medical examiner as biased.

But, Bernstein said, “you don’t want so much independence” that the medical examiner makes decisions regardless of the wants and needs of police and prosecutors.

“You don’t want a rock star chief medical examiner,” he said.

How he decided to make autopsies his life’s work

At age 6, Ukpo — who grew up in Anaheim not far from Disneyland — had wanted to be a homicide detective.

But when he met his family physician, he “thought it was really cool how he would work with his hands, do dirty work, work with blood” but “could be very professional in his office, in a suit, in a tie.”

“There you go, that’s the formula for a forensic pathologist,” he said.

Very few medical students want to make autopsies their life's work. He said with a laugh that declaring his intentions “made for interesting medical school interviews.”

His education included stints at Loyola University in Chicago, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and with the medical examiner in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Celebrity autopsies hold meaning beyond LA County

Ukpo performed autopsies on rapper Mac Miller, actor Tommy Lister Jr., and model and actor Kim Porter, the former longtime partner of Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Perry died within months of Ukpo getting the top job, and his office determined the primary cause of death was acute ketamine toxicity.

“Matthew Perry was really an important one to notify people that ketamine is not harmless,” he said.

He said this and all his work is driven by his desire to first and foremost serve the public.

“What I’m trying to shift during my leadership here is to try to focus on community first,” he said. “Death doesn’t just happen for the family, for the individual. When a death happens, it reverberates.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is New World Screwworm?

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

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

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

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

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

Read more about the screwworm here.

The announcement on Monday followed investigations into former football coach Sherrone Moore's relationship with his executive assistant and a probe into the athletic department.

“The broader culture review has identified serious concerns that require immediate action," interim school president Domenico Grasso said.

Michigan won this year's men's basketball title and the 2023 national championship in football under Manuel, but that wasn't enough for him to keep his job. Grasso said he asked Manuel to remain in his role through the end of the year.

“I am happy President Grasso asked me to stay on to work with him to implement the recommendations for continuous improvement,” Manuel said in a statement released by the athletic department. “I promise everyone I will have more to say about my decision at the appropriate time.”

The storied athletic department has been in turmoil for years, with scandal-tinged headlines jarringly alongside general excellence across most of the school's 27 teams in Division I and the Wolverines annually among the best in the powerhouse Big Ten. It got worse last December, when Manuel fired Moore following a law firm's investigation into a relationship he had with a subordinate.

The school later chose to widen the look into the department. A law firm was paid about $12 million to do the work and it interviewed nearly 300 people, including coaches, staff members, athletes and other stakeholders. The school said more than 90 people shared information via a hotline and 20,000-plus documents were reviewed during the investigations.

The athletic department review found problems with leadership accountability, organizational structure and a culture that didn't make employees and athletes feel comfortable raising concerns.

“The culture assessment is sobering,” Grasso said. “As a great university, we simply must do better.”

The school said the investigation did not find widespread misconduct. It also said the investigations did not identify any current employee with direct evidence of Moore's relationship with his executive assistant.

The 58-year-old Manuel, who played football for the Wolverines under the late Bo Schembechler and was on the track team, was hired to lead the department in 2016. He signed a contract extension at Michigan in 2024 that was set to run through June 2030, paying him a base salary of $1.9 million a year with opportunities to make more with bonuses and merit.

He led a department with an annual budget of about $250 million, 29 teams, 950-plus athletes and about 400 staff members.

The Wolverines won the national championship in football under former coach Jim Harbaugh, who later left to lead the Los Angeles Chargers, as a sign-stealing scandal loomed over the program and Moore's tenure.

The program is on NCAA probation and has seen many former staffers have run-ins with the law, including Matt Weiss, who is charged with hacking into the computer accounts of thousands of college athletes to find intimate images.

Michigan won it all in men's basketball earlier this year with coach Dusty May, who left to lead the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. Michigan also won men's and women's gymnastics national titles with Manuel as AD.

The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame gave Manuel the John L. Toner Award in 2024, honoring him for demonstrating superior administrative abilities and dedication to college athletics, especially football. He represented Michigan and the Big Ten as member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and was chair during the 2004 season when the 12-team playoff format kicked off.

Manuel, who is from New Orleans, previously served as athletic director at UConn and Buffalo after working in Michigan's athletic department in various roles from 1996 to 2005.

Grasso said the school will conduct a national search for a new athletic director.

Potential candidates include three former Michigan athletes: Iowa Deputy Athletic Director Joe Parker, Big Ten Deputy Commissioner Diane Dietz and Katie Fraumann, a senior vice president at DePaul. Parker and Fraumann previously worked for Michigan's athletic department.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

According to the Houston Police Department, officers responded around 7:10 a.m. to the 7200 block of J.W. Peavy Drive after receiving a report of an unconscious person.

• 1 dead, several injured in apartment fire in Spring

Police said the individual was found on the edge of the bayou near 7220 J.W. Peavy Drive.

Houston police confirmed that homicide investigators are responding to the scene, though officials have not said what led to the investigation.

The circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear, and the investigation is ongoing.

KPRC 2 will update this story as more information becomes available.

One Houston-area woman says she’s been fighting for two years after her claim was denied, despite being unable to continue working because of a chronic illness.

• 1 dead, several injured in apartment fire in Spring

At 34 years old, Lydia Arleen says she lives with nearly constant pain caused by fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that can cause widespread pain, fatigue, cognitive issues and other symptoms.

In addition to severe pain, Arleen says she experiences gastrointestinal issues, brain fog, depression and muscle weakness, making it impossible to continue working as a project geologist.

After applying for long-term disability benefits through the insurance plan provided by her employer, Arleen says her claim was denied. She later lost her job and has continued fighting for benefits.

• 5-year-old at center of Fort Bend County AMBER Alert found dead in Katy lake

According to Arleen, the insurance company cited the complexity of fibromyalgia and the lack of a definitive diagnostic test as part of the reason for denying her claim.

Three ways to strengthen a long-term disability claim

Attorney Marc Whitehead, who represents workers seeking long-term disability benefits, says there are several important steps applicants can take to improve their chances of approval.

1. Thoroughly document your medical limitations

Whitehead says medical records should clearly explain not only a diagnosis but also how the condition limits a person’s ability to work.

That documentation should include physical limitations—such as difficulty bending, lifting, standing or using your hands—as well as mental or cognitive impairments, if applicable.

2. Accurately describe your job duties

Whitehead says disability claims should include a detailed description of what your job actually requires on a daily basis.

If your work responsibilities are incomplete or inaccurately documented, insurers may conclude you can still perform your job.

3. Appeal quickly if your claim is denied

If a claim is denied, Whitehead says applicants generally have 180 days to file an appeal.

During that time, it’s important to submit additional medical records, physician opinions and other evidence supporting why you cannot perform your job.

Don’t overlook a vocational expert

Whitehead also recommends hiring a vocational expert, who can evaluate the physical and mental demands of your occupation and explain why your medical condition prevents you from performing those duties.

He says that expert testimony can play an important role during the appeals process.

As more workers navigate long-term disability claims, consumer advocates say understanding the application process—and acting quickly if a claim is denied—can make a significant difference.

The Defense Department said in a statement that 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, were killed in Jordan. They were deployed to support a U.S. mission against the Islamic State group, the statement said.

The U.S. military says 17 service members have been killed in the war with Iran.

The deaths reflect the complicated reality that American soldiers don’t need to be on the ground in Iran for there to be lethal risks in a conflict that involves drones, missiles and airplanes. American forces are arrayed across the Middle East, making other nations targets of Iran and its allies as the fighting has escalated after a breakdown in peace talks.

President Donald Trump has said the war is necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Trump, a Republican, now faces political pressure to bring the war to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.

Drones and missiles are claiming lives on both sides

An American service member was also killed in northern Iraq on Saturday during a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. A second service member was wounded and was receiving medical treatment for a minor injury.

The military said it was withholding additional information until 24 hours after families had been notified.

Iranian authorities said U.S. strikes in just the past three weeks have killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 500 others, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people. Workers on ships, as well as foreign workers and others in Gulf nations, Israel and Lebanon have also died in the conflict.

The first US military fatalities came soon after the war started

Shortly after the U.S. and Israel began the war on Feb. 28, an Iranian drone strike at a civilian port in Kuwait killed six American soldiers. The soldiers were part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa who were working at a shipping container-style building that had no defenses.

A seventh soldier died more than a week after being wounded during a March 1 attack by Iran on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Later in March, six service members were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting U.S. military operations against Iran crashed in Iraq. The aircraft was in “friendly” airspace when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft took place, according to U.S. Central Command.

On Monday, the U.S. military said a Navy pilot died in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea. The Navy initially described the July 1 crash as an emergency landing and said there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.” The remaining three sailors aboard the helicopter were rescued.

Audience expectations around local media have changed. People don’t just watch the news anymore — they react to it, share it, question it, and expect interaction across platforms in real time.

The Audience Engagement Specialist monitors audience conversations, identifies meaningful trends and concerns, and helps ensure audience feedback informs content and engagement decisions.

Working closely with newsroom leadership, marketing, and Houston Life, this role helps strengthen how KPRC 2 connects with audiences across social, streaming, digital, and community platforms.

Success in this role requires strong communication instincts, sound news judgment, curiosity about audience behavior, and the ability to recognize what matters to people beyond metrics and comment counts.

Key Responsibilities:

Audience Engagement & Community Connection

• Monitor and engage with audience conversation across social platforms, streaming platforms, apps, and digital products
• Help strengthen how KPRC 2 responds to viewers, users, and community feedback across platforms
• Identify recurring audience questions, frustrations, concerns, and interests that can inform editorial and content decisions
• Surface emerging community conversations and trends that may impact coverage, engagement, or audience trust
• Help create feedback loops between audiences and internal teams, so audience insight becomes actionable
• Support audience participation opportunities tied to station initiatives, reporting, investigations, and community-focused projects

Platform & Content Support

• Help identify opportunities for engagement-first content across social, streaming, and digital platforms
• Collaborate with newsroom, Houston Life, and Audience Growth teams to help shape platform-native audience interaction strategies
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Community & Event Engagement

• Support audience-facing station events, activations, and community initiatives as needed
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Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications, marketing, media studies, or related field — or equivalent experience
• Experience in audience engagement, social media, community management, digital content, journalism, or related media roles
• Strong understanding of audience behavior across social, digital, and streaming platforms, with the ability to identify meaningful insights and trends
• Strong communication instincts and ability to engage audiences in a professional, conversational, and trustworthy way
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• Comfortable working in fast-moving news and content environments
• Ability to collaborate effectively across the newsroom, marketing, and content teams
• Experience with social publishing, analytics, and audience engagement platforms preferred
• Interest in local news, community issues, and audience behavior trends strongly preferred

Location: KPRC2

8181 Southwest Fwy, Houston, TX 77074

Application Requirements

Please submit:

• Resume
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• Examples of content, campaigns, or audience initiatives you helped support
• A brief response to the following prompt: How should a local media company build stronger relationships with audiences in today’s media environment?

Send materials and completed application to Deilia Williams, Community Impact & Partnerships Manager at dwilliams@kprc.com.

Click HERE to download and complete employment application.

Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks. You must hold a valid driver’s license and be insurable under Texas Law.

No Phone Calls Please

KPRC 2 is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition to complying with the requirements of federal law, KPRC 2 will comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Spain’s World Cup victory on Sunday added to the nation’s long list of recent triumphs across men’s, women’s and youth competitions, highlighting the dominance of a system that has stuck to a tactical identity and the development of collective talent.

The men’s team is also the current European champion, the Olympic gold medalist and has reached the Nations League final twice — winning it once. The women’s squad is the defending World Cup champion and a two-time Women's Nations League winner. It also made it to the final of the 2025 European Championship.

Spain is the first nation to hold both the men’s and women’s World Cup titles at the same time and is the only country with two men’s World Cup triumphs this century. The nation also has won several youth tournaments in recent years with both the men’s and women’s teams.

The men’s senior squad has been racking up titles since it was gradually revamped after the demise of a golden generation that won the nation’s first World Cup in 2010 with the likes of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Sergio Ramos and Gerard Piqué.

Players such as Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí, Rodri and Ferran Torres — the goal scorer in the 1-0 win over Argentina in Sunday’s final — now are the ones representing a new generation that has taken La Roja back to the top.

“I’m very emotional looking back,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “We’ve talked about it with the players; we have won everything, it’s wonderful … It’s a generation of players that has been an example for Spanish sports, for young Spaniards, for Spain. Together we are stronger.”

Spain hadn’t gone past the last 16 of the men’s World Cup since winning the title in South Africa in 2010. It has been in contention in nearly every competition it has played since De la Fuente’s arrival in 2022 and it's 38-match unbeaten streak is the longest in men’s international soccer.

Collective talent

Despite a very talented group of players, it has been Spain's collective performance that has impressed the most and the team hasn't had to rely on star players. It also has been thriving defensively, with a solid backline and a relentless pursuit to regain possession.

“We played against the best national squads in the world, but we were the best team in the world,” De la Fuente said. “I’m very proud of this generation of players. They have grown with this idea, they’ve been loyal to this idea, they have given us an example of a group, of a team, of a family. I’m very proud of them. It’s been an honor.”

How can other teams possibly replicate the Spanish system?

“Go to work,” former France player Thierry Henry, a commentator for Fox Sports, said after the final. “Think about how you want to go about it at every level and play the same way. This is why they are dominating world football on every level, men and women, it doesn't really matter, they go about it the same way.”

Youth-system success

The recent wave of success can be tracked to the surprise hiring of De la Fuente to replace Luis Enrique following the team’s elimination against Morocco in the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. De la Fuente was relatively unknown at the time, but the Spanish soccer federation knew him well.

By hiring him, Spain was actually betting on its youth system as De la Fuente had been coaching Spain’s younger national teams for some time.

He was well versed in the soccer federation’s process of instilling a tactical identity at all levels, from the bottom up and across men's and women's squads, allowing players from youth teams to go through a seamless transition to the main squads.

It was the case for players such as Yamal, Cubarsí, Nico Williams, Pedri and Gavi, who are among the youngsters set to keep Spain's men's team thriving for some time.

“When you look at everything that we've gone through, you realize how this process was important,” De la Fuente said. “Certainly, we wouldn't have been able to do what we did today if we hadn't gone through this process with these players. And it's not something that happened during this World Cup, it has been happening for several years.”

Tactical identity

Spain’s “tiki-taka” style of valuing ball-possession and focusing on quick passing, which led to the 2010 World Cup title and victories at Euro 2008 and Euro 2012, had come under attack after the national team began to struggle.

Some said the style lacked efficiency, and a few coaches made some changes to it over time. But Spain never fully abandoned the idea of controlling ball possession to dominate games.

Part of De la Fuente’s success stemmed from his ability to get his squad to successfully mix ball possession and efficiency. And it showed as Spain led this year’s World Cup in both passing and attempts on goal.

Coaching prowess

De la Fuente's recent success quickly put him in the group of Spanish coaches who have been leading national teams and helping clubs thrive across the globe.

Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Xabi Alonso and Roberto Martínez are among the successful coaches spreading Spanish tactics everywhere — another sign of the nation's prominence in global soccer.

“We are exactly where we want to be,” De la Fuente said. “We are privileged to represent a wonderful national team with exceptional players. But the real merit we have is to seek good travel companions, people with values and principles who make our lives easier and at the same time are very talented. We'll enjoy this now, because it’s historic, and then we will start thinking match by match again.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The deaths were recorded out of the 2,344 cases confirmed as of Saturday, the health ministry said.

The Ebola outbreak that was declared in eastern Congo on May 15 is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. The Bundibugyo virus responsible for the outbreak is less common than others that cause Ebola disease, and there is no approved vaccine or treatment.

Ebola is highly contagious and can be transmitted to people from wild animals. It spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing. The disease is rare but severe and often fatal.

The surge in deaths comes as safety fears have restricted the response in the worst-affected province of Ituri. A total of five provinces have been affected, all in the eastern region where rebel violence is rampant.

At least 12 attacks — mostly fueled by skepticism and rumors — have been recorded against health facilities and teams since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, authorities said Saturday. Many health workers meanwhile have walked off their jobs as they protest lack of payment.

At least 36 health workers infected with the virus have died.

The World Health Organization last week expressed concerns that 80% of new Ebola cases were emerging from unknown chains of transmission, a sign the outbreak is spreading faster than health officials can track despite an expanding response.

In the more than two months since the outbreak started, it recorded an average increase of about 272 cases and 111 deaths per week, according to data from Congo’s Health Ministry. The data also show that the weekly increases accelerated over time, particularly in July, when both reported cases and deaths rose more rapidly than in the earlier weeks.

The ministry's latest update said in its latest update that 724 patients are currently in isolation and in hospitals, and that it is intensifying response efforts in affected health zones.

“Patient care and support capacities are consolidating, with 22 new recoveries recorded in 24 hours,” the ministry said.

The Tates are being held in federal detention following their arrest on Saturday. In the coming weeks, a U.S. district judge will consider whether they meet the conditions for extradition.

An attorney for the brothers, Joseph McBride, blasted the latest charges as “filth and slander.” On Sunday, McBride said he was confident the extradition request would be denied.

Prosecutors in Britain said the new charges relate to four new victims and were brought after authorities received evidence from Bedfordshire Police in southeastern England. The allegations, spanning 2010 to 2017, include rape, assault, trafficking and offenses relating to “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.”

The brothers are already charged with rape, bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain relating to three other alleged victims in the U.K. between 2012 and 2015.

Their lawyer said in a statement Saturday that he believed the arrests were “greenlighted by a low-level functionary” at the Justice Department without input from leadership.

But the Justice Department told The Associated Press that the arrests were approved by leadership of its Criminal Division.

The new allegations are the latest in a long-running international legal saga involving the Tates that has spanned the U.S., Britain and Romania. The brothers have repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Their social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities.

The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the Romanian case hasn't gone forward because of legal and procedural problems.

Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and flew to Florida.

___

Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C., contributed.

The blitz came hours after Russia bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles in a relentless cycle of tit-for-tat strikes that make a settlement to end Moscow’s more than 4-year-old all-out invasion appear a distant possibility.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said he would hold “key talks” Monday as he tries to defuse a domestic political crisis, after last week’s government reshuffle exposed a deep split between the military’s old guard and young innovators over how to fight the war.

Zelenskyy needs to reassure Ukrainians that sacrificing 35-year-old Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister and keeping faith with 60-year-old Soviet-trained Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as armed forces chief won’t derail the fight against Russia.

Days of street protests in favor of Fedorov and against Syrskyi followed Zelenskyy's move.

Ukraine hits another Russian oil depot

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said over 400 Ukrainian drones were sent toward the Russian capital from late Sunday until early Monday, with most downed far from the city and 85 intercepted near it.

Moscow regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said 10 people were wounded by Ukrainian drones, while several residential buildings and civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged.

The attack started a fire at the Yuzhnye Vrata industrial park, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Moscow, according to Yevgeniya Khrustaleva, the head of the Domodedovo area of the Moscow region.

The Astra news outlet reported the assault also caused a fire at an oil depot in Podolsk, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Moscow, but there was no official confirmation of the strike.

Ukrainian forces hit logistics facilities and an oil depot in the Moscow region, Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv's forces hit two vessels belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet transporting sanctioned oil and four dry cargo ships in the Black Sea.

A drone struck a passenger bus in Shebekino in Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, killing five people — four women and a boy — and injuring 23 others, according to acting Gov. Alexander Shuvayev.

It was not possible to independently verify either side's claims.

Ukraine’s long-range drone technology has evolved during the war, posing a problem for Russia, whose huge land mass is hard to protect fully. Kyiv’s forces have aimed especially at Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages and embarrassing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In May, the Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 1,054 Ukrainian drones in a 24-hour period.

Russia uses ballistic missiles more frequently

As Kyiv pleads with foreign partners to supply it with sophisticated interceptors that can counter Russian ballistic missiles, which are much harder to stop than drones or cruise missiles, Moscow’s forces have sought to take advantage of the weaknesses in Ukraine’s air defenses.

Ballistic missiles fly faster than the speed of sound and can reach Kyiv in minutes, giving air defenses little time to react and civilians to reach shelter.

Russia has stepped up its use of ballistic missiles recently. Ukrainian officials said Sunday that Moscow's bombardment killed at least six people and wounded dozens.

“Russian forces have launched more ballistic missiles against Ukraine thus far in July than Russia reportedly produces each month,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Sunday.

“Russia appears to be dipping into its stockpiles to continue increasing the number of ballistic missiles it launches against Ukraine, as these missiles have a higher success rate than drones and cruise missiles,” it noted.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired two missiles and 94 long-range drones at Ukraine overnight. It said air defenses jammed or intercepted 81 drones, while nine drones and a missile caused damage at nine locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday its forces struck fuel tanks in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa overnight.

A Russian strike on Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region injured 13 people, according to military administration head Oleksandr Hanzha. Eleven people were hospitalized, including a 13-year-old girl, he added.

A cargo ship attack killed 10 sailors off Odesa

Ukraine’s Sea Ports Authority said a cargo vessel under the flag of the West African country of Guinea Bissau was hit by Russian forces on Sunday shortly after it left the port of Odesa, killing 10 of its crew, including five sailors from Syria. Eight people were rescued from the ship, which was carrying Ukrainian corn, it added.

Syria’s General Authority for Borders and Customs said it “strongly condemns the repeated attacks targeting commercial vessels with Syrian sailors and crews aboard in Ukrainian ports and nearby maritime areas in the Black Sea, and the resulting deaths and injuries among Syrian sailors.”

The Syrian statement did not mention Russia. Moscow has built relations with the new Syrian government since former President Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024 in a rebel offensive led by now-interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

——

AP reporter Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.

___

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

Apple has increased prices for all of its Apple Music subscription plans in the U.S., marking the first price increase since 2022. The new pricing took effect July 17.

According to Apple, the increase is the result of rising music licensing costs.

“As a result of rising licensing costs, Apple Music is increasing its subscription price beginning today,” the company said in a statement.

Here’s what’s changing

That means:

• Individual plan: Up $1 per month
• Family plan: Up $3 per month
• Student plan: Up $1 per month

Why did Apple raise prices?

Apple says the increase is tied to the higher cost of licensing music, which helps compensate artists, songwriters and rights holders for content available on the streaming service.

The Apple Music price hike is part of a broader round of subscription increases. Apple has also raised prices for some Apple One bundle plans, while the individual Apple One plan remains unchanged.

Current subscribers will see the updated pricing reflected in their next billing cycle.

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey Ukpo talked to The Associated Press about how his office handles its work and reaches its headline-making conclusions.

Why the cause of death is not always the most obvious option

Perry was found unresponsive in the hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023 and initial reports speculated that he had drowned.

Two months after his death, Ukpo’s office determined the main cause of his death was acute toxicity of the surgical anesthetic ketamine and that drowning was a secondary cause.

Some advocates for ketamine, which is increasingly used to treat depression and chronic pain, said drowning should have been deemed the primary cause.

Ukpo said his staffers considered how anyone could drown in a hot tub and concluded Perry would have been able to climb out safely if he hadn’t been incapacitated by the drug.

“But for the ketamine, would he have been out of it and unable to rescue himself?” Ukpo said. “That’s why ketamine is the cause of death primarily, and then the drowning contributed.”

Why ‘overdose’ never appears in an autopsy report

“A medical examiner never certifies a death as an overdose. If you look at death certificates, you’ll never see ‘methamphetamine overdose.’” Ukpo said.

“It’s just part of the culture and understanding about how drugs kill people. People can understand ‘overdose,’ but any level of methamphetamine can kill somebody. When you say overdose, it suggests that there’s an appropriate amount that someone can take. This one overdid it,” he said.

“That’s never the message that we give.”

Why toxicology reports take so long

Autopsies are generally performed and initial conclusions reached soon after a body is found, but a report revealing cause of death can take months if a toxicology test is required.

“We want to make sure that we get it right,” Ukpo said. “When someone dies, the blood specimens are different than when you’re at the hospital, so they’re harder to handle. And we also have to have certainty. In the hospital if you do a urine drug test, they tell you within a few hours. And that’s because they’re OK if it’s wrong. They’ll treat you because the treatment for cocaine, it doesn’t hurt. We’ll just assume it’s cocaine and that’s fine. But for us, it’s cause of death and has implications. And so it does take months to come back.”

In some cases, toxicology tests are needed to understand what substance may have killed the person. In others, they’re more of a check to assure conclusions are correct.

When the autopsy was performed on Rivas Hernandez, who had been dead for months when her body was found, it was fairly clear she had been stabbed.

“We knew very early on what was going on, particularly defects in the clothing and on the body itself,” Ukpo said. “It’s then we have to do toxicology as due diligence to make sure drugs didn’t also play a role in the death.”

Alcohol was found in her system, but it was produced postmortem.

“When someone dies, the bacteria can then change the glucose into alcohol. And so therefore you have a presence of alcohol, which would appear that it was real, but it was actually produced by a bacteria,” he said. “There are also other interference things that can make things look like they’re positive at the beginning, but then at the later stage are negative. We do confirmation testing.”

But just as they move in to capture them, one of the football-size birds, with bright-orange bills and long legs, scampers into a coastal salt pond. The other briefly takes to the air, sending the team running across the mile-and-a-half-long (2.4-kilometer-long) beach in pursuit.

“There is a problem. They can fly,” Alan Kneidel, a senior conservation biologist with the environmental group Manomet Conservation Sciences, said as he watched the team go after the chicks.

Eventually, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists tracked down both birds. They bundled them each into white pillow cases and gingerly carried them to a sand dune where body measurements were taken and bands clipped onto their long, peach-colored legs.

Birds starting to recover

The banding in the 787-acre (318-hectare) Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge is part of a nationwide effort to restore the oystercatcher's population along the coasts of the Americas. The birds were largely wiped out in New England by the turn of the 20th century due to hunting and egg collecting but their numbers are rising.

About $10 million was raised over a decade and 35 coastal organizations in 16 states joined in the effort. Much of the campaign focused on educating beachgoers about the presence of the quirky birds known for their piercing calls and habit of using their razor sharp bills to crack open oysters and mussels. Measures were also implemented to protect their ground nesting sites from predators and pets on beaches, sand dunes, salt marshes or tide wrack deposits.

From 2008 to 2023, oystercatcher numbers increased by 45% along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Their recovery is especially significant, given a 2023 study found that most shorebird populations in North America were declining.

“It's amazing and it's a great conservation success story,” said Maureen Durkin, a federal wildlife biologist who led the banding effort and works at the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

“It does really demonstrate how much you can accomplish when there is a dedicated group of partners that can come together and identify the needs of the species and implement conservation actions,” she said, adding that it also showed conserving imperiled species “is not easy and takes a sustained and committed effort.”

Targeting threats

Kneidel said a critical part of the conservation plan was determining that “chick survival was the big thing driving the declines.” Then, individually-tailored plans were drawn up from organizations in the American Oystercatcher Working Group, which was led by Manomet's Shiloh Schulte, a conservation biologist and field scientist who died last year in a helicopter crash in Alaska while on a mission to protect shorebirds. His initial aerial survey showed their numbers had declined by double-digits.

“At one site, it might be recreational disturbance, at another site it might be predators, at another site it might be sea level rise or loss of dune structure that’s causing overwash events that are causing nest failure,” Kneidel said as he walked along the rocky Moonstone Beach, the sky filled with squeaking, least terns.

On Martha’s Vineyard, a low-lying fence with chicken wire is installed seasonally at the entrance of a key breeding site for oystercatchers and other seabirds and shorebirds, which has kept skunks and raccoons that eat their eggs off the beach. Colorful signs have also been installed educating the public about oystercatchers.

Focused attention on oystercatchers

The birds also benefit from federal protections given to piping plovers, a threatened shorebird that nests in some of the same areas. During the nesting season of piping plovers, vehicles and dogs are limited or banned near beach nesting sites.

“With a little bit of focused effort and attention on this really charismatic bird, you can teach the public how to share the shore,” said Luanne Johnson, a wildlife biologist who founded the nonprofit BiodiversityWorks, one of the groups working on the oystercatcher's recovery. The island was the first place to have nesting oystercatchers in Massachusetts when they began to recover and has seen the numbers of breeding pairs increase 77% since 2009.

In South Carolina, nearly 30 breeding sites are roped off to protect nesting habitat. Georgia and North Carolina also rope off breeding sites along with trapping and euthanizing predators like foxes, raccoons and coyotes during breeding season.

“If you focus conservation efforts on a species, especially before it becomes endangered to the point that you’re considering listing, you can actually sort of head off trouble at the pass,” said Lindsay Addison, a coastal biologist with Audubon North Carolina, adding the state's breeding pairs have increased nearly 20% to 403. Some birds, like Dark Green 06 and Yellow 25, were banded as far back as 2004 and have become minor celebrities.

Ted Simons, a retired emeritus professor at North Carolina State University who began studying the birds on North Carolina’s Outer Banks in 1995, said their recovery was a testament to the species' resilience. He noted American oystercatchers have been found nesting on rooftops in the United States and other oystercatcher species in Europe are nesting in pastures and eating worms. One pair, he recalled, was found nesting in a bus station pothole in Iceland.

“If these were really highly specialized birds that needed an exact prescription for survival, that would have been harder,” Simons said. “But what we found is that these birds are incredibly adaptive.”

Climate change, weakened protections pose dangers

Despite their strong recovery, threats remain.

Chief among the dangers is climate change that has led to rising seas and erosion washing out oystercatcher nests. That has prompted states such as Georgia to build elevated nesting platforms of oystershells for the birds and use dredged material from shipping channels to create and maintain nesting islands. Along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, Audubon is replenishing shell rakes — beds of old oyster shells where the oystercatchers nest.

“ Climate change, sea level rise, it’s a big challenge not only for oystercatchers but for all kinds of interests on the coast,” Addison said. “There’s going to be loss of habitat due to sea level rise so we have to make sure that we do what we can to provide the habitat that we can so they can get through this next bottleneck.”

There are also concerns that changes this month to the Endangered Species Act could impact nesting sites, especially where state protections are weak. Environmental groups, which sued Tuesday to block the changes, fear breeding grounds could be disturbed by everything from vehicle traffic to unchecked development.

The changes would allow oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and other development on critical wildlife habitats so long as the animals themselves aren’t killed or injured. Environmentalists warned the move could cause some species to go extinct by opening the door to habitat destruction.

“It's a direct attack on the protections that have allowed many of these shorebird species to recover,” Kneidel said.

___

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

The police action came after thousands of demonstrators tried to breach security barricades surrounding the protest site in central New Delhi, marking one of the most serious confrontations in the movement’s campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. Despite the crackdown, many protesters continued marching toward Parliament in small groups.

Cockroach Janta Party spokesperson Saurav Das accused authorities of “brutally cracking down” on “peaceful protesters.” Delhi Police said the march had not been authorized and that restrictions were needed to maintain law and order around Parliament during the monsoon session, which began Monday.

The crowd at Jantar Mantar, a designated site for protests just a few kilometers (miles) from Parliament, included students, professionals and families with young children. As the day progressed, the gathering spilled beyond the protest site, with demonstrators filling surrounding streets and roads.

Many carried backpacks with water and food, expecting a long day. Others waved Indian flags as chants against the education minister and Modi rippled through the growing crowd.

A satirical movement grows into a youth-led campaign

The Cockroach Janta Party emerged in May, after the Supreme Court chief justice compared some unemployed young people to “cockroaches” during an unrelated hearing. Supporters embraced the remark, turning it into a satirical movement that has attracted millions of followers on social media.

The movement has gained momentum after repeated leaks of high-stakes entrance exams for medical colleges and government jobs sparked public anger. It drew wider attention after police forcibly moved hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to the hospital on Saturday.

Protesters calling themselves “cockroaches” have camped at Jantar Mantar for the past month, with members of several student groups joining Wangchuk’s hunger strike. Thousands of supporters have also turned out at universities and rallies in other cities. They are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, reforms to the examination system and compensation for the families of students who died by suicide following paper leaks.

Government outreach emerges amid a tense standoff

Senior leaders in Modi’s government have taken a hard line against the movement. Pradhan has accused the protesters of acting against the nation, while other ministers have acknowledged students’ concerns but insisted there is no need for talks or negotiations with the movement.

Though that appeared to shift Monday, when representatives of the movement held talks with Health Minister J.P. Nadda. It was the first apparent sign of government outreach to protest leaders, who sought to bring their demands directly to lawmakers, prompting authorities to tighten security around the complex.

CJP spokesperson Das, who met Nadda, said he presented the protesters’ demands, including the immediate resignation or removal of the education minister.

Separately, activist Wangchuk appealed for permission to temporarily leave the hospital and join the march.

In a handwritten note, he also said he would end his nearly three-week hunger strike only if the government took responsibility for failures in the education system and exam paper leaks, or if protesters were allowed to reach Parliament and lawmakers pledged to raise the issues in both Houses.

Protests pose a challenge to Modi’s government

The protests have become a rare public challenge to Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in its third term, drawing support from opposition parties, rights activists and some Bollywood celebrities. Protesters say space for dissent has shrunk under Modi, whose government has been criticized for suppressing public protests by jailing activists and, in some cases, using forceful police crackdowns.

Jyoti Rajput, a yoga teacher, said she joined the protests because “this rotten system refuses to take action.”

“It cannot see the pain of students, and that’s why so many people have joined this movement,” she said.

For many others the campaign has expanded into a broader protest over government accountability. Some said they were driven by frustration with what they see as a lack of transparency and responsiveness from elected leaders.

Sneha Eppili, a 26-year-old protester, said she joined the demonstration because she believes the government has a responsibility to answer their questions.

“I voted for this government, so I think it’s accountable to answer our questions. That’s the basic human right that I deserve,” she said.

Iran and some of the world’s most intractable conflicts will be high in the agenda of the annual talks held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and hosted by the Philippines, the 11-nation bloc’s current chair.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among the attendees. Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, has been invited to attend a Friday ceremony commemorating a 1976 nonaggression treaty of ASEAN, but will not be participating in the ASEAN meetings attended by Lavrov and Rubio.

Rubio and Lavrov have not announced any plans to meet each other or Sybiha while they are in Manila.

Iran war is among ASEAN's top concerns

Southeast Asia, a bustling region of more than 680 million people, relies heavily on Middle East oil and gas and was severely hit by the global supply and price shocks sparked by the Iran war. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency in March to ensure the availability of fuel, food and other basic goods and prevent hoarding and profiteering.

ASEAN foreign ministers will first meet among themselves on Tuesday to discuss the renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran and threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway where roughly 20% of global oil supplies transited before the war.

“We underscored the importance of maintaining regional peace, stability and prosperity, upholding international law … including the need for a complete and immediate cessation of hostilities across all fronts in the Middle East,” the ministers said in a draft statement of concern, which was seen by The Associated Press.

“We acknowledged the further implications of the continued tensions in the Middle East on regional trade, energy and food security, including energy markets and supply chains, agricultural production," said the statement, which will be made public after their meeting.

The ministers “called for the restoration of the safe, unimpeded and continuous transit passage of vessels and aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Rubio meeting with ASEAN and Quad envoys

Rubio’s attendance in the ASEAN meetings was apparently aimed at dispelling concerns that the war in the Middle East would deter the U.S. from focusing on the Indo-Pacific, especially China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea and its pressure on Taiwan.

“The secretary’s visit advances a clear U.S. priority: a free and open Indo-Pacific that delivers safety, security and prosperity for the region and for the American people,” State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in Washington.

Rubio is also expected to meet member of the Quad, which consists of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia, and is seen as a major component of the American strategy to counter China. It has been repeatedly criticized by Beijing as a U.S. scheme to contain its growing influence.

Myanmar's civil war and the South China Sea are among regional disputes

The foreign ministers have been under growing pressure to do more to help resolve the conflicts in their own region, primarily the civil war in Myanmar and the disputes in the South China Sea.

Since Myanmar's army wrested power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, more than 8,100 people have been killed and nearly 22,500 remained in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights-monitoring group.

A five-point peace plan issued by ASEAN leaders in 2021 has failed to end the violence, mainly due to non-compliance by its military-backed government. The bloc has banned the country’s leaders and foreign minister from attending its top-level meetings, including this week’s meetings in Manila.

In a bid to break the impasse, the foreign ministers, led by the Philippine' Theresa Lazaro, met their Myanmar counterpart for the first time in five years this month in Bangkok, where they renewed calls for an end to the violence and renewed efforts to foster dialogue.

Rights groups criticized the meeting, saying it effectively abandoned the bloc’s ban on engaging the country’s senior officials and rewarded the generals without extracting any concession.

“It was not and should not be mischaracterized as an abandonment of the five-point consensus,” Lazaro said, referring to the peace plan. “The path to peace can only be obtained through resolute diplomacy with all parties to the conflict.”

The ministers will meet Wang Yi in Manila to discuss the status of negotiations between China and the regional bloc on a proposed pact called a “code of conduct,” which aims to prevent territorial disputes in the South China Sea from spiraling out of control.

The territorial standoffs involve China, Taiwan and ASEAN members Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, but confrontations in the disputed waters have particularly spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and naval forces in recent years.

Video replays showed several players involved in a scuffle, including Argentina defender Leandro Paredes, who appeared to shove Spain’s Eric Garcia by the throat. When Spain substitute Gavi jumped in to intervene, Paredes pushed him to the ground.

Other players and Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni rushed in to deescalate the situation.

It wasn’t clear whether any of the players involved would be punished. FIFA didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Spain needed extra time to win Sunday’s final 1-0 after Argentina was reduced to 10 men when Enzo Fernandez was sent off with a second yellow card.

The Argentina players stood facing their fans, with their backs to the podium, when Spain’s squad lifted the trophy.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The incident happened around 2 a.m.

Houston Police Department Lt. Wilkens said officers responded to a shooting scene at the pool hall, but when first units arrived, the suspects had already fled.

• 2 in critical condition after shooting inside Kroger store in Cypress

The pool hall owner told police he heard banging at the back of his business and went outside armed with a pistol. A lookout working with the intruders reportedly yelled to warn a second suspect, who was positioned at the rear of the building with a crowbar, just as the owner confronted him.

“The intruder started charging at me with a crowbar,” the owner said.

The owner discharged his firearm, striking the intruder in the leg. The second suspect fled the scene on foot.

The shooting victim, a man believed to be in his 20s, was not found at the pool hall. A nearby Jack in the Box restaurant called 911 after the wounded man showed up on their property. Officers located him there, and he was taken for treatment.

The pool hall owner told police he believes the break-in was targeted. He had recently hired a contractor to dismount several televisions inside the business and suspects the contractor may have tipped off the intruders.

• Gov. Greg Abbott confirms Texas Rangers investigation into ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo

“He thinks the contractor told the intruders it would be an easy grab,” Lt. Wilkens said.

No arrests had been announced as of early Thursday morning. The investigation remains ongoing.

Investigators identified the child as Eddie Hall.

• ‘We’re looking for our own kid’: Katy neighbors unite to search for missing 5-year-old Eddie Hall

Deputies said Eddie was found in a lake just north of his home near Tamaron Trace and Tamaron Parkway in Katy.

Authorities said there are no apparent signs of foul play, but the investigation remains ongoing.

The discovery comes after an AMBER Alert was issued for the child, prompting an extensive search by law enforcement and emergency crews.

• 18-year-old killed, 20-year-old wounded in shooting outside North Freeway restaurant, HCSO says

Investigators have not released additional details about the circumstances surrounding Eddie’s death or what led to the AMBER Alert.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate.

Today we are following a tropical depression that is set to form in the Gulf and possibly be named Bertha. The soon-to-be-named storm may have some impacts on Houston, which our meteorologists are watching closely. Houston’s impacts will be determined by where the center of circulation goes. This forecast still has elements of uncertainty; the path is not set in stone. If the storm tracks farther north, it will interact with more land, which will help weaken the storm and would bring lesser impacts to southeast Texas.

• Where to find flooding resources and how to help impacted Texans

As always, follow us for the latest on Click2Houston.com and watch us live on KPRC 2+.

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TODAY: 97° TONIGHT: 81°

KPRC Meteorologist Daji Aswad says:

“Tropical Depression Two has formed in the eastern Gulf. It will upgrade to tropical storm status by Monday, taking the name of Bertha. Soon-to-be Bertha will move northwest, bringing excessive rainfall, high surf, and gusty winds along the Gulf Coast. For southeast Texas, the center of circulation doesn’t arrive until late Thursday into Friday.”

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Amber Alert issued for missing Fort Bend County 5-year-old boy; child found dead, investigators say

The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office said Edward has been located deceased. Officials said Texas EquuSearch Search & Recovery found Edward’s body at about 1:43 a.m. Monday, July 20, 2026, in a lake near his home, and his family has been notified.

1 dead, several injured in apartment fire in Spring

One person is dead, and several others were injured after a fire ripped through an apartment complex in the Spring area Monday morning, according to fire officials. The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 4600 block of Cypresswood Drive, near 4607 Cypresswood Drive.

Tropical Depression Two soon to become Bertha and tracks towards Houston late week

Tropical Depression Two has formed in the eastern Gulf. It will upgrade to tropical storm status by Monday, taking the name of Bertha. Soon-to-be Bertha will move northwest, bringing excessive rainfall, high surf, and gusty winds along the Gulf Coast. For southeast Texas, the center of circulation doesn’t arrive until late Thursday into Friday.

Maintenance worker shot after confronting group outside southeast Houston apartment complex

A maintenance worker was shot multiple times after confronting a group of young people outside an apartment complex in southeast Houston Monday, according to police. The shooting happened shortly after midnight in the 3600 block of Old Spanish Trail.

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In this week’s The Villa Verdict, Ninfa Saavedra is joined by pop culture creator Dana Omari, radio personality Young Jas and a surprise special guest to break down the Final Four, the winning couple, and the biggest moments from the Love Island USA finale.

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Pro boxer Hannah Rapp dies after being struck while riding her bike in Brazos County, sheriff says

Uvalde residents shocked by rare flooding that ripped through homes

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In the summer months, those twin imperatives can make parents anxious. How long should kids be out? How do I know they're OK? What should I avoid?

Human-caused climate change is making heat waves longer, stronger and more widespread. Much of the U.S. sweltered last week under a heat dome.

That shift makes questions about keeping babies safe more pressing, said Dr. Katherine Williamson, a pediatrician with Rady Children's Health in Orange, California.

“We talk about drowning and choking with toddlers, and now we’re starting to add in heat,” she said. “It’s become something that’s more commonplace as a potential injury.”

Here is why children are more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, and some do's and don’ts to keep them safe:

Regulating body temperature is a challenge

Children sweat less than adults and have a higher metabolism that makes them hot faster. In extreme heat, their higher surface area-to-mass ratio increases heat absorption.

Kids also tend to spend more time outdoors.

On hot days, parents need to be vigilant about the signs of heat illness. A lack of tears or regular wet diapers could indicate your baby is dehydrated. Parents should feed infants in smaller quantities more frequently to make sure they are getting enough fluid.

Though not necessarily signs of illness, fatigue and flushed skin likely mean your child needs a break to cool off. Williamson said increased irritability could also indicate your child is too hot.

Tips for keeping them safe

Avoid going out during the hottest parts of the day, dress kids in loose, light-colored clothing, apply sunscreen and make sure they are getting enough fluids. Water-rich fruits such as watermelon and strawberries are great snacks in the heat.

“If you’re hot, your baby sure is going to be hot,” said Dr. Debra Langlois, a pediatrician at the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

Langlois said parents and other caregivers should limit the amount of time infants and toddlers are outside in hot weather, but she doesn’t advise remaining strictly indoors at any point.

Don't put blankets or other covers on a stroller

That advice seems counterintuitive. After all, doesn't it make sense to shield children from the sun?

But blankets and other coverings, even thin ones, prevent air from circulating and trap heat that can raise the temperature in the stroller. Instead, use a canopy for shade.

Williamson also advises parents to check metal parts that can heat up and burn children.

Don't leave kids in the car

Even in the shade and with open windows, car temperatures can rise dramatically in a short amount of time. In 2025, 31 children died of heat stroke in vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The agency recommends caregivers leave a purse or other personal item in the back seat, write a note or place a stuffed animal on the passenger seat to ensure they don't forget a child inside.

If you return to a parked car with your baby on a hot day, ensure the metal parts of the car seat are also not too hot. For extra comfort, use a sun shade to keep the interior cooler and turn on the air conditioning in advance.

To cool a hot car, experts recommend opening the windows for 10 to 20 seconds while running the air conditioning.

The shooting happened shortly after midnight in the 3600 block of Old Spanish Trail.

• 1 dead, several injured in overnight apartment fire in Spring

Houston police said officers with the South Central Patrol Division responded to reports of a shooting and found a maintenance worker who had been shot multiple times.

According to investigators, the worker had earlier asked a group of people believed to be in their late teens or early 20s to leave the property. Police said the group later returned, confronted the worker, and opened fire.

The victim was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Police are searching for four suspects, three males and one female, who were last seen wearing dark-colored hoodies.

• Amber Alert issued for missing Fort Bend County 5-year-old boy; child found dead, investigators say

No arrests have been announced, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact the Houston Police Department or Crime Stoppers of Houston.

The development highlighted challenges faced by Chinese AI models in serving a growing user base at home and abroad at a time the U.S.-China tech race is heating up.

Chinese open-source, lower-cost advanced AI models, including DeepSeek’s latest V4, have been moving fast in gaining global attention. In early 2025, DeepSeek shook world markets and helped China to be recognized as a serious competitor to the U.S., where Chinese frontier AI models are largely open source, meaning they are made accessible for people to examine and build upon.

“Kimi K3 has received far more love than we expected,” Moonshot AI, which is Beijing-based, wrote in a X post late on Sunday. “Over the past 48 hours, demand has pushed close to the limits of our current capacity.”

Moonshot said that it’s prioritizing existing subscribers and would be temporarily pausing new ones. “We’re adding capacity as fast as we can and will reopen new subscription spots in batches," it added. The AI startup also posted a similar message on Chinese social media.

K3’s public rollout late last week, aiming at challenging more advanced AI models by Anthropic,OpenAI and others, has rattled U.S. rivals. At 2.8 trillion parameters, a measurement of an AI model’s capabilities, it's deemed as the world’s largest open-source AI model.

“New model releases generally trigger massive interest, which can strain existing compute infrastructure,” said Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia. “This does show Moonshot AI does not have sufficient compute chips to serve the current surge in demand.”

Su said that the key reason was more likely due to Moonshot not fully anticipating the surge in K3’s popularity. K3 is “very demanding” in terms of compute requirements, he said, making compute allocation challenging and expensive.

By measure of front-end coding capability, a metric for AI models’ performances, Kimi K3 topped the chart of the major advanced AI models in rankings on Arena — an AI model evaluation platform — after its public release.

K3’s release has also put pressure on stocks of American technology titans on worries that more affordable Chinese AI models may undercut the pricing power and demand at the U.S. AI companies, even as U.S.-led restrictions have already barred China from accessing some of the world’s advanced technologies, including the most cutting-edge chips.

K3 is one of the latest new Chinese AI models coming out that have drawn strong global reactions.

Over the weekend, China’s Alibaba also previewed its latest Qwen3.8 Max AI model, which the tech giant said had 2.4 trillion parameters as one of the world’s most powerful models and was second only to Anthropic’s Fable 5. Last month, Chinese startup Zhipu, or Z.ai, also rolled out its GLM-5.2 model, which saw rapid adoption across the world.

The fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in the 4600 block of Cypresswood Drive, near 4607 Cypresswood Drive.

• Amber Alert issued for missing Fort Bend County 5-year-old boy; child found dead, investigators say

The Klein Fire Department said one person was confirmed dead and multiple others were injured. Several people were transported to area hospitals, while others were treated at the scene.

Firefighters from multiple agencies responded to help battle the fire.

Initial reports indicated there may have been children trapped inside the building. One witness told authorities the children appeared to have escaped. Authorities have not confirmed those reports.

Witnesses also reported seeing CPR being performed on one fire victim. Officials have not released additional information about that person. One woman was seen being transported by EMS on a stretcher and appeared to be in stable condition.

• Pro boxer Hannah Rapp dies after being struck while riding her bike in Brazos County, sheriff says

Constables, Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and firefighters from Spring Fire Department also responded to the scene.

Investigators with the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office are expected to determine what sparked the fire. The cause remains under investigation.

Officials have not released the identity of the person who died or provided updated conditions on those who were injured.

KPRC 2 has a crew at the scene and will update this story as more information becomes available.

Soon-to-be Bertha will move northwest, bringing excessive rainfall, high surf, and gusty winds along the Gulf Coast. For southeast Texas, the center of circulation doesn’t arrive until late Thursday into Friday.

Right now, this looks more like a rain event than a major wind event but there will be tropical force winds as early as Wednesday evening across the southeast Texas coastal waters.

Impacts will be felt first across the Florida Panhandle, where there are currently Tropical Storm watches and warnings.

Houston’s impacts will be determined on where center of circulation goes. This forecast still has elements of uncertainty, the path is not set in stone. If storm tracks farther north, it will interact will more land which will help weaken the storm and would bring lesser impacts to southeast Texas.

The second scenario is that the storm tracks farther south which would allow it to spend more time over the warm Gulf waters, if this pans out it will maintain strengthen as it moves westward. This solution would bring greater impacts into southeast Texas.

Do not panic instead check on the forecast daily as we monitor the trends. In the meantime just check your hurricane supplies to make sure it is fully stocked with the basics:

KPRC 2’s 2026 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide

Monday will be partly sunny with afternoon temperatures reaching the upper 90s. The heat index will climb to around 100 degrees, so anyone spending extended time outside should take frequent breaks and stay hydrated.

Tracking the tropics: Tropical Depression Two

Tropical Depression Two has formed in the eastern Gulf. It will upgrade to a tropical storm status no later than Tuesday, taking the name of Bertha.

Soon-to-be Bertha will move northwest, bringing excessive rainfall, high surf, and gusty winds along the Gulf Coast. For southeast Texas, the center of circulation doesn’t arrive until late Thursday and Friday.

Right now, this looks more like a rain event than a major wind event.

Read more about the storm’s potential path changes: Tropical Depression Two forms in the Gulf and tracks into Houston late week

10 Day Forecast:

High temperatures are expected to reach the upper 90s, with Houston potentially hitting our first 100 degree day of the year Tuesday or Wednesday. Recent rainfall and wet soil could keep temperatures just below the century mark, but heat index values will still be uncomfortable.

Now they'll take on another streaking AL East team as the race for postseason spots begins to simmer.

The Red Sox completed a sweep of division-leading Tampa Bay on Sunday, extending their run to 13 games without a loss. The franchise record is 15 straight wins in 1946. Boston will have a chance to break that this week against a Baltimore team that arrives at Fenway Park on a seven-game winning streak of its own.

With the Aug. 3 trade deadline drawing ever closer, teams on the bubble between buying and selling might make their decisions based on what happens over the next week or so. The Red Sox (50-48) have crept above .500 and now occupy the American League's third wild card. Cleveland, which holds the second wild card, is only a game ahead of Boston.

Seattle is a game behind the Red Sox, and then it's another game back to the Orioles, who took three in a row in Houston. That sweep knocked the Astros to 4 1/2 games behind a playoff spot.

The good news for Houston is that it has more than one path to the postseason. The Astros are actually closer (four games) to the lead in the AL West than they are to a wild card.

Detroit is in a similar spot, and plenty of teams around the league will be watching how the Tigers approach the deadline with star pitcher Tarik Skubal. Detroit is 4 1/2 games out of a wild card, but also just 6 1/2 behind the AL Central-leading White Sox.

Trivia time

The American League beat the National League 4-0 on Tuesday night, and Cody Bellinger became the fourth member of the New York Yankees to win All-Star MVP honors. Who were the other three? (Hint: The All-Star MVP debuted in 1962.)

Performance of the week

Hunter Goodman homered three times in Colorado's 9-6 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. It was the second three-homer game for him in under a month. He also did it at Minnesota on June 27.

He's the first player in Rockies history — which includes plenty of homers — to hit three twice in the same season.

Comeback of the week

Arizona beat St. Louis 8-7 in 10 innings Sunday in a game the Diamondbacks trailed 7-0 in the sixth inning.

The Cardinals allowed two bases-loaded walks during Arizona's three-run sixth. Geraldo Perdomo hit a two-run inside-the-park home run an inning later. A two-run homer by Nolan Arenado tied it in the eighth.

Then St. Louis blundered its way to a scoreless top of the 10th. With men on first and third and nobody out, Jordan Walker hit a broken bat flare to Perdomo at shortstop, who charged the ball and caught it on the fly. Bryan Torres, apparently worried about the ball hitting the ground in front of Walker, was too far off first and got doubled off.

Max Kepler's hit in the bottom of the 10th won it. Arizona's win probability in the sixth was as low as 1.5% according to Baseball Savant. That makes the Diamondbacks' playoff chances — 27.4% according to FanGraphs — seem promising by comparison. Arizona is a half-game behind the Cardinals for the National League's final wild card.

Trivia answer

Giancarlo Stanton in 2022, Mariano Rivera in 2013 and Derek Jeter in 2000.

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

Texas leads the nation in exports of semiconductor chips, the small pieces that form the building blocks of all modern electronics, and the industry is currently experiencing a boom.

“It seems unprecedented relative to what I have seen since I got into the business in 1998,” said Steve Putna, director of Texas A&M’s Semiconductor Institute. “I think this ecosystem has been significantly replenished as a result of all the incentive funding we’ve seen.”

Federal investment and the flurry of data centers being built in Texas and across the country have expanded the industry even more.

In recent months, a series of new or expanded semiconductor fabrication plants, or “fabs,” have begun operating or been announced in the Lone Star State, including the launch of Texas Instruments’ $40 billion semiconductor facility in Sherman late last year, Nvidia and Winstrom Corporation’s plans for two facilities in north Fort Worth and Elon Musk’s massive “Terafab” semiconductor megafacility proposed in Grimes County.

There are currently a total of 57 individual semiconductor facilities in the state, representing more than 47,000 workers across semiconductor fabrication plants, materials manufacturing and research and development, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

The semiconductor institute, which broke ground on a $226 million research and development facility in Bryan in April, is part of the state’s $1.5 billion Texas CHIPS Act, passed in 2023, to incentivize new semiconductor manufacturing in Texas as well as the research and workforce development that goes into it at the state’s universities. From the law, Texas A&M University received the funding for the center and the University of Texas at Austin received $440 million for its own research and development center.

State leaders used the rest — $698.3 million — to create the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund, which provides grants to companies seeking to build new or expand semiconductor manufacturing and design projects in the state. That fund rose to nearly $950 million after the Legislature appropriated an additional $250 million last year.

Since its creation, the fund has paid out $512.3 million in grants to 29 separate projects, totaling $9.3 billion in capital investment in Texas, according to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. Those projects will create 2,689 direct jobs, according to the Governor’s Office.

“Texas is where the integrated circuit was born and where the future is forged,” Abbott said in a statement earlier this month, after announcing a $33.6 million grant for Texas Instruments to expand their semiconductor wafer fab in Richardson. Abbott was referencing the invention of the integrated circuit, or the earliest version of the microchip, by Texas Instruments in 1958.

A further eight innovation fund grants have been announced since the start of April across the state. A majority of the TSIF grants have gone to companies planning to operate in Central Texas, according to the Governor’s Office.

The U.S. was once the world leader in semiconductor manufacturing, producing about 40% of the world’s supply, but that share of the market has dropped to about 10% after companies sought cheaper labor overseas, primarily in Taiwan and South Korea, for the most advanced microchips.

The rapid growth of the industry is considered essential for U.S. national security by state and federal officials concerned with the nation’s dependence on foreign semiconductor manufacturing for the chips that power everyday electronics like cell phones and washing machines all the way up to the latest weapons in use by the Pentagon, Putna said.

Amid the global computer chip shortage during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden signed the federal CHIPS and Science Act three years ago, allocating $52 billion to spur semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. The law sought to encourage private investment by offering subsidies for companies that build new or expand manufacturing facilities, as well as investing in new research and development projects.

“That supply chain and the vulnerability of the Indo-Pacific to a potential military conflict and what impact that would have on our economy and national security is what got my got my attention,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and one of the lead negotiators of the law in the Senate. “We’re just a good place to do business in Texas, and we make it easier, not harder. And I think that’s been another reason why we’ve been a leader in this industry.”

At the time the law was signed, Texas already had a robust ecosystem of chip manufacturing and research, and the Legislature sought to capitalize on that with the Texas CHIPS Act in 2023.

Cornyn credited the federal government’s investment and the additional money from state lawmakers for the recent wave of new semiconductor facility announcements in Texas.

While the federal law pumped billions of dollars of investment into the industry, workforce development and training was considered necessary to support that growth, Putna said, which led to the creation of the research facilities at Texas A&M and UT Austin.

The facilities at both universities do not aim to manufacture chips for commercialization; instead, they will focus on piloting new products that meet market standards and training the future technicians, engineers and leaders of the industry, Putna said. The universities work with semiconductor companies on what to teach students to prepare them for working in the business.

The growth is unlikely to stop any time soon. Recent announcements by Nvidia and LITREON are primarily driven by the growth of AI and demand for semiconductor chips to fuel that industry, Putna said.

Texas is on the front line of the data center buildout driving the need for semiconductor chips. The state currently has the second most data centers in the country and will soon be the top market for the centers. The servers stored inside a data center use microchips to power their operations.

“The demand curb is not abating,” Putna said. “That’s always a risk, that you overbuild and demand drops. Some of the (stock) prices of these companies just seem ridiculous, but the end demand is so strong you can actually justify it.”

Cornyn said he does not believe more federal subsidies are on the way any time soon, given the national debt, but the industry’s growth will continue, largely driven by AI and the federal government’s need for semiconductor chips built in the U.S.

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

Colorful street art installed for the FIFA World Cup, which has injected good vibes and camaraderie into the sprawling 8.5 million-person region, adorned car-jammed streets. Employees holding coffee cups passed through the glass front doors of Whitacre Tower, long home to AT&T, like any other day.

But AT&T plans to leave downtown Dallas for a mega-campus in nearby Plano, one of many prominent setbacks the city faces. The Dallas Stars, the city’s National Hockey League franchise, will join them. Though the Dallas Mavericks plan to remain in city limits, the team is also leaving the city’s urban core, opting for a spot closer to the city’s northern, more suburban fringe.

Those departures from in and around downtown follow years of relative stagnation in Dallas. Last year, the city’s population fell for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic — it’s now at 1.3 million people after losing 1,800 residents — while the region and other large Texas cities boomed.

“We’re a bug floating in a sink of water, and for the first time, the water didn’t rise, the water went down a little bit,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said. “We need to deal with the fact that the sink has a leak.”

As big names depart for Dallas’ suburbs and its population stagnates, the city’s status as the region’s economic engine could be in serious jeopardy — and the suburbs once birthed by Dallas now hold the cards.

Dallas has long sustained an outflow of people to the surrounding suburbs, driven by perceptions of better schools, attainable housing, public safety and family friendliness. Officials and experts say that Dallas hasn’t built enough housing, which could stanch the bleed, and without efforts to seriously beef up the city’s population growth, observers warn that the city could wind up hollowed out.

“If you start having population decline, then you’re going to have empty housing,” said Lloyd Potter, the state demographer. “When you have empty housing, the property values start going down. If your tax base starts decreasing, you’re going to be hurting pretty bad especially with the kind of infrastructure demands that Dallas has.”

The string of recent losses has fueled an already impassioned debate over whether Dallas should demolish its iconic-but-divisive City Hall downtown in a moonshot bid to spur redevelopment — a bitter fight that has magnified the stresses of the city’s uncertain future as well as its potential reinvention.

Signs abound that Dallas could be on the verge of renewed growth, spurring some optimism amid the losses. The city’s burgeoning financial sector, dubbed “Y’all Street,” is on the rise. Pockets of vibrancy exist throughout the city in places like the Bishop Arts District and Lower Greenville. And the urban core is adding residents as developers transform long empty office towers into new residences.

“I don’t think we are going to become that city who bottoms out and has to declare bankruptcy and start over,” Council Member Paula Blackmon said. “Dallas is that can‑do city. We build stuff.”

Civic and business leaders argue the losses are potentially a blip on the way to greater growth. But they acknowledge the city could be more competitive with its neighbors to prevent a growing exodus.

“The city has reinvented itself a number of times over the decades,” said Brad Cheves, who heads the Dallas Regional Chamber. “I think we’re at one of those moments right now, and I think that’s thrilling. We should embrace it as opposed to being fearful of it.”

Flight to the suburbs

This year’s commercial purge started with AT&T, which in January announced it will relocate from downtown to a sprawling, 2.3-million-square-foot campus in suburban Plano — replete with a 280-foot tower resembling downtown Dallas’ distinctive Reunion Tower. Plano officials lured the company with a $20 million incentive package.

Months later, the Stars, the city’s National Hockey League franchise, said it too would move to Plano, setting up shop on the sprawling site of a flagging suburban mall, which the Stars plan to redevelop into a mixed-use development that includes an arena as well as apartments, shops and restaurants.

The move puts the Stars at the center of the region’s growth, Stars CEO Brad Alberts said in an interview. The team’s base of ticketholders is there, and with the growth of cities further north like Celina, Prosper and Anna, they only expect that ticket base to grow, Alberts said.

“Our fans live up this direction, and we’re betting that it’s only going to increase over time,” Alberts said.

While Dallas’ population grew by 2% from 2020 to 2025, the Dallas-Fort Worth region grew by a whopping 10%, driven largely by the suburban explosion, according to Census figures. Six cities in the region — Fort Worth, Celina, McKinney, Frisco, Denton and Princeton — added more residents than Dallas in that span. 

Companies “want a safe and secure environment, and they want to make sure that their employees are safe and secure,” said John Muns, mayor of Plano, about the suburban attraction. “They want good education for their employees’ children and they want a qualified workforce.”

And among the state’s five largest cities, Dallas has added the fewest residents since 2020.

Given the city’s growth woes, Dallas housing advocates want city officials to urgently pass a suite of potential reforms to make it easier for developers to build denser, more affordable kinds of housing including townhomes, duplexes and smaller apartment buildings. That would enable the city to absorb more of the region’s growth, advocates posit, while bringing down the city’s housing costs.

For the past five years, Collin, Tarrant and Denton counties have consistently seen more homes permitted per capita than Dallas County, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of Texas A&M University building permit data. Last year, jurisdictions in Dallas County permitted about 4.7 homes for every 1,000 residents. In Collin County, that figure was 14.7. The amount of undeveloped land on the urban fringe has enabled suburbs and exurbs to quickly put up tens of thousands of single-family homes, though the other counties also build more apartments per capita than Dallas County.

“As a city, if we value having our workforce actually live in our city, we need to make it as easy as possible to build good quality housing close to jobs, transit and schools,” said Dallas City Council Member Chad West.

Weak growth has already compounded Dallas’ budget problems, leaving the city with a potential $51 million hole in its upcoming budget. Without enabling more housing, local governments of all stripes will find themselves in an increasing financial bind, putting the rising cost of government services like public safety and infrastructure on a stagnant tax base. If that base doesn’t grow, homeowners and business owners may find themselves paying higher taxes to pay for crucial services.

“If we don’t see some growth, it’s a really bad deal for businesses and homeowners,” Jenkins said.

Downtown dreams

Some see growing downtown Dallas as the road to more robust growth for the city. It’s at the heart of the city and it’s easier to build housing there because residents are less likely to fight it as they might in parts of town dominated by single-family homes.

“If we attract young professionals and people as they move and relocate to North Texas, if we’re competitive as a place to live, we’ll put forth the best chance to retain a robust employment sector,” Scripps said.

Downtown has steadily added residents since 2010, and is now home to about 16,000 residents bolstered by conversions of empty office spaces to apartments, according to a presentation by Downtown Dallas Inc., a nonprofit that oversees the area. Those conversions have produced more than 1,100 apartments since 2020, and another 1,975 are in the works, according to CBRE Group Inc., a commercial real estate services and investment firm.

Some think downtown Dallas needs a big jolt to sustain the progress, eying the iconic City Hall, designed by the legendary brutalist architect I.M. Pei, as a site that could potentially serve as a catalyst for new development — if it were razed.

The City Council voted in June to stop making repairs on the building and explore options to relocate, citing estimates that it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make various repairs to the current building as the city faces a budget crunch.

“We must fight for the city of tomorrow rather than worship decaying, outdated government buildings from bygone eras,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, who declined an interview through a spokesperson, said in June.

That opens up the opportunity to help bring life to a long-dormant section of downtown, proponents argue. The area around City Hall is pock-marked by half-empty parking lots and vacant land as well as some low-lying commercial buildings and warehouses.

“City Hall is iconic,” Cheves, the Dallas Regional Chamber head, said. “It’s not historic.”

Others aren’t convinced such a move is necessary, and that razing what they see as an architectural gem without a clear plan for what happens to the site after would pose a huge risk.

“It’s our seat of government,” Blackmon said. “You don’t dispose of your seat of government like it is a disposable building.” 

It’s possible to reinvigorate downtown Dallas without tearing down City Hall, said Zaida Basora, an architect and co-leader of the Save Dallas City Hall Coalition. A proposal put together by architectural students at the University of Texas at Arlington shows that new high-rises, hotels and arenas could theoretically fit into the section of downtown occupied by City Hall without demolishing the building.

“There’s room for everybody,” Basora said.

Dallas’ name still carries weight

The Dallas name still has power, business groups said. It’s what created the city’s burgeoning financial sector, luring the Texas Stock Exchange and a raft of the country’s biggest financial firms to the city including Goldman Sachs, whose home in Uptown Dallas will become the financial giant’s largest presence outside New York City. Morgan Stanley is weighing a $1.3 billion office tower that would bring 4,800 jobs to Dallas proper.

Boosters see areas where Dallas outshines the suburbs, including in its presence of the arts and neighborhood character that can’t be found in the suburbs.

“We have a diversity of communities and neighborhoods in Dallas that they don’t have in other communities,” said Linda McMahon, executive director of Dallas Economic Development Corporation.

There are also signs that the city’s population is ticking up this year. Population estimates from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the agency in charge of transportation planning for the region, project the city’s population has surpassed 1.4 million as of Jan. 1.

Signs of vitality, too, abound. Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center is undergoing a $3.8 billion overhaul. A half mile away, the Dallas Farmers Market boasts more than 1,800 apartments and 200 townhomes as well as restaurants and shops.

The city’s newest deck park, the name for a greenspace built over a freeway, opened in May in southern Dallas over a portion of Interstate 35. Since then, the 2.8-acre Halperin Park has hosted a Fourth of July celebration along with musical performances and classes.

The park came about as a way to restitch a community divided when the highway was first constructed and bring renewed vibrancy to the community, said April Allen, who led the effort to build the park and now oversees it. The hope is that the park is also a proving ground for development in southern Dallas, which has long gone underdeveloped.

Allen said she’s bullish on Dallas.

“I don’t think the future of our city is going to be decided by whoever’s leaving,” Allen said. “It’s really going to be shaped by the people that are here, the places that we’re investing in, and the momentum that we’re creating.”

Officials and the city’s boosters admit that the city needs to be proactive to sustain the momentum Allen speaks of and to offset the big-name economic departures and population drop. Waiting-and-seeing is what can kill cities.

”We don’t want to wait 10 or 15 years to where we’re circling the drain to deal with it,” Jenkins said.

Disclosure: AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Linda McMahon and Texas A&M University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The supersized tournament delivered thrilling action on the field, with upsets, dramatic comebacks, spectacular goals and standout performances by the biggest stars of the game.

It also generated controversy, from political tensions surrounding Iran’s participation to criticism against innovations such as hydration breaks, which were unpopular among many fans.

Here are some key takeaways from the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

More teams, more drama

A newly expanded 48-team format raised concerns about lopsided matches and a lack of jeopardy in the group stage.

Tell that to Cape Verde, Congo and even Curaçao, which all made history and won new fans.

Cape Verde held eventual champion Spain to a draw in its opening game, advanced to the round of 32 and gave Argentina a scare before losing 3-2 in extra time in a World Cup classic. Cape Verde's goalkeeper Vozinha became a breakout star at the age of 40, gaining millions of followers on social media.

Congo also advanced beyond the group stage and pushed England before eventually losing, while Curaçao was still in with a chance of making the knockouts going into its final group match.

FIFA opened its door to more teams and they proved they could compete on soccer's biggest stage. Nonetheless, it was top-ranked nations Argentina, Spain, France and England — all former champions — that made it to the final four.

The big stars delivered

The race for the golden boot became a who's who of the world's top players with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham firing on all cylinders.

Mbappé led the way with 10 goals in the tournament and a record 22 career World Cup goals. Messi had eight at this World Cup and 21 in total.

Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't lead Portugal to success in what he said was his last World Cup, while Spain's teenage sensation Lamine Yamal — the star of the Euros two years ago — had to work his way into the tournament after overcoming injury.

Big tech, big complaints

Video reviews known as VAR were at the center of a number of contentious decisions, ruling out huge goals for Germany, Croatia and Egypt.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan launched a furious tirade after Argentina staged a spectacular comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the round of 16.

“We have suffered injustice,” he said after Egypt had a goal overturned when the score was still 1-0.

Fitted with sensors, the high-tech ball in use at the tournament cost Croatia a dramatic late equalizer against Portugal in the round of 32 when it detected the slightest of touches from Igor Mantanovic and ruled Josko Gvardiol's goal offside.

“All these decisions take the joy out of football,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić, who has since stepped down.

Exorbitant ticket prices, but fans still turned up

There were concerns going into the tournament that FIFA's introduction of dynamic pricing would make game tickets unaffordable for average fans. Some critics accused FIFA of a “monumental betrayal."

Official ticket prices on general sale ranged from $140 to $2,735 for group stage matches and up to $8,680 for the final, far beyond the prices at the previous World Cup in Qatar in 2022. After criticism FIFA said it would offer a selection of $60 tickets for every game to the 48 national federations participating.

FIFA's resale market place allowed sellers to list tickets for massively more than face value, including ones for the final for just under $2.3 million. FIFA didn't control resale pricing, but took a cut from sales.

For all the criticism, fans still turned up in big numbers, even for games that didn’t feature marquee teams or players.

After a shaky start when there were empty seats for the game between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, stadium after stadium reported full houses.

Many foreign visitors were impressed by the hospitality they experienced in the U.S.

Hydration breaks a turnoff

FIFA’s new hydration breaks midway through each half — a novelty for this World Cup — prompted loud jeers from fans inside the stadium, while former players were also critical.

"We’re in America, right? So, it’s like it is a timeout,” former Ireland international Roy Keane said on The Overlap podcast.

The breaks were introduced to help players deal with the summer heat, but FIFA stipulated they would occur regardless of the weather, venue or location.

Coaches used them like timeouts to pass on in-game tactical instructions. Broadcasters, meanwhile, used them as an opportunity to take commercial breaks.

It is unclear whether FIFA will implement hydration breaks at future World Cups, but the English Football Association said they were unlikely to be in place for the 2028 European Championship, co-hosted by England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Iran participated despite the war

It’s not unusual for politics and sport to intertwine at the World Cup. This time the biggest political tensions surrounded the national team of Iran.

The war in the Middle East raised doubts about whether the Iranian team would show up at all. It did, but only after moving its base camp from Arizona to Mexico.

Its participation was overshadowed by visa issues, with the U.S. refusing visas to several members of Iran's delegation. The Iranians also complained about travel restrictions, including having to leave the U.S. immediately after each match.

When Iran was eliminated at the group stage, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made his feelings clear. “I’m just glad they’re done and they’re not coming back,” he said.

Trump's role in focus

While the Trump administration’s travel restrictions on a series of countries prevented some fans from traveling to the U.S., there were no reports of the aggressive immigration enforcement that some human rights groups had feared could take place around World Cup stadiums.

Besides the final, Trump didn't attend any World Cup games. However, his relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino came into sharp focus when U.S. striker Folarin Balogun's one game ban for a red card was suspended ahead of the team's round of 16 game against Belgium.

Trump said he had called Infantino to ask for the decision to be reviewed before FIFA made Balogun eligible to play. FIFA insisted its disciplinary bodies acted independently, but the incident raised question about political interference.

Ultimately, the decision didn't help the U.S. as it lost 4-1 to Belgium.

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Popillia japonica, or Japanese beetle, is a familiar pest in the United States, where it arrived more than a century ago.

But it is a relative newcomer to the European continent, first detected near Milan’s Malpensa airport in 2014. In Italy, it has already swarmed through the northeastern regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta, where it appeared last year in terraced vineyards above the town of Donnas.

“We’re seeing the popillia steadily advance from terrace to terrace across our historic vineyards," said Luciano Zoppo Ronzero, a winemaker who produces Nebbiolo from the terraced vines. “We’re now about the 10th terrace and can already see the popillia attacks. This means they’re consuming and gradually moving up the mountain.”

With no natural predators and an appetite covering over 300 plants and trees, the Japanese beetle has made the European Union's list of priority pests, meaning that efforts must be made to contain and eradicate outbreaks.

The beetle is already entrenched in Italy, Switzerland and Germany, where the focus is on managing and containing expansion, while the population levels in France and Spain still allow hopes of eradication, said Daniela Lupi, an entomologist at the University of Milan.

The Japanese beetle is voracious and travels en masse as it feeds. Adult beetles also hitch a ride on trains, cars and airplanes. After spending summer months feasting, the beetles mate and their larvae feed on grasses until reaching maturity, and launch the cycle anew.

The Coldiretti agricultural lobby says the pest poses a major threat to agriculture as it makes its way through the Po River Valley, Italy’s breadbasket. But damage so far has been hard to quantify because often the beetle’s pattern of eating away the pulp of leaves weakens the plant, lowering production, without necessarily killing healthy plants.

“In some areas, the beetle has destroyed the harvest,’’ said Lorenzo Bazzana, the head of economic affairs at Coldiretti. The larvae, known as grubs, also feed on grass roots, damaging lawns, golf courses and playing fields.

Zoppo Ronzero is concerned for both his historic terraced vineyards, carved into the mountainside and stabilized by centuries-old drystone walls, and for his production. By defoliating the vines, the beetles expose grape clusters to the sun while severely reducing the plants’ ability to photosynthesize.

“What scares me is the fact that in the end the grapes don’t ripen. If the grapes don’t ripen, it means we’re not bringing home a splendid harvest, as we had hoped, but something unusable,” Ronzero said.

The best hope for eradicating the pests is attacking the larvae, according to Bazzana. The beetles were recently detected near Verona’s Valerio Catullo airport, and experts are experimenting by introducing a microscopic parasite in the surrounding area to attack the grubs.

Pheromone traps are also widely used, while the wine producers in Donnas are relying on pesticide treatments, even though the effectiveness is short-lived and labor-intensive on the steep terrain.

“If we don’t counter it, the population will continue to rise and so there will be strong damage to the fruits plants, to the grasses, to the ornamental plants,” Lupi, the entomologist, said. “There are no problems for the human population, because they are not so dangerous, but the production is really, really lowered.”

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Associated Press writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

After starting out as a teacher, she went back to school — and took out more loans — in hopes of landing a higher-paying job in the chemical processing industry. It never materialized, and then came Hurricane Harvey, a job loss and a car breakdown. By 2022, she was so broke she filed for bankruptcy.

She found work at a Texas prison and was rebuilding her life, saving up for weight-loss surgery, when this spring she heard from a credit-monitoring service. The student loans she thought had been discharged in bankruptcy had ballooned to $94,298 with interest, and she had to start making payments. She was in default.

“I absolutely broke down,” said Dreahn, 40.

Across the country, the number of borrowers with defaulted student loans jumped by more than 4.2 million from April 2025 to March 2026, according to an Associated Press analysis. The surge includes many who went off track in 2024, when loan payments started coming due again after a pandemic-era freeze.

Hundreds of thousands more are months behind on payments, and another surge in defaults could be on the way. Millions of borrowers are facing higher monthly payments as the government dismantles its most affordable income-driven repayment option, the SAVE plan, one of several changes the Education Department says are intended to simplify a fragmented system.

Borrowers enter default after missing payments for nine months, and the consequences can upend lives. It hurts credit ratings and can lead to the debt being sent to collections.

“I am seeing despair and outrage and despondency and just a very wide mix of pretty extreme emotions, the likes of which I have not seen before,” said Alan Collinge, the founder of Student Loan Justice and the author of “The Student Loan Scam.”

The federal government can garnish wages and Social Security payments from borrowers in default, but the Trump administration in January walked back plans to begin collections on their loans. A Moody’s Analytics report this spring said garnishments are likely to begin within the next year, warning of “an additional headwind in an increasingly fragile economy.”

Taking out student loans was all too easy

Dreahn enrolled at Texas Woman’s University in 2004 as the first in her family to go to college. She cobbled together jobs, babysitting and working at a call center and an automotive shop. But she still needed to borrow heavily.

“There was one point where they were like, ‘If you don’t come up with the money, we’re dropping you from your classes,’” said Dreahn, who earned a degree in history with an emphasis on education and social studies. “And it was, ‘OK, what do I need to sign?’”

She said no one explained what taking out loans truly meant.

“You just kind of trust these advisers and trust these financial aid people that this is what you’re supposed to do,” Dreahn said.

While teaching, she took out more student loans to earn a pair of associate degrees from a public community college in Texas. She received a job offer at a chemical refinery, but it was rescinded because she was over the weight limit for the company’s safety equipment.

She filed for bankruptcy in 2022 in hopes that it would “erase everything.” She checked her online credit report afterward. For each student loan, the report read: “Nice! You’ve paid off 100% of this loan.” The message is sometimes shared with borrowers when student loans are consolidated or transferred to new companies — even when the person still owes money.

Student loans are rarely discharged in bankruptcy. Borrowers must prove the loans pose an “undue hardship.” The process is cumbersome, and few qualify, advocates say.

But Dreahn didn’t know any of that.

“I was so relieved, like, ‘OK, now I can start life over,’” she said. “'I can save some money.'”

She started working last year as a supervisor at a prison in Huntsville, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) north of Houston, and was living in an RV park to save money when she received the default notice.

“I just feel like, where is that light at the end of the tunnel now that I thought I had?” Dreahn said.

The wave of defaults started after the pandemic

As a pandemic relief measure, the federal government allowed borrowers to suspend student loan payments until 2023, and President Joe Biden's administration then provided a one-year grace period. That ended in fall 2024, allowing loans to enter into default after nine months of missed payments.

A surge in defaults followed, and today around 9.5 million borrowers — over 1 in 5 — are in default, including those whose loans were well past due before the pandemic, according to the AP analysis. The previous record for borrowers in default had been 8 million in December 2019.

There are also 870,000 borrowers with loans between 181 and 270 days late, on the edge of default, according to federal data.

Meanwhile, 33% of borrowers at for-profit schools nationally were at least 90 days late on payments, more than twice the rate of borrowers at public schools, additional federal data shows.

Most private colleges that offer traditional degrees are nonprofit. For-profit colleges generally offer career-focused degrees and credentials and often serve students of color. Career Education Colleges and Universities, an association of private trade schools, has created a task force to reach out to students about the importance of loan repayment, said Jason Altmire, the group's president and CEO.

“We take it seriously,” he said.

Borrowers struggle to make sense of changes

Some borrowers are so overwhelmed by their debt and changes to the federal student loan system that they’ve stopped paying.

Barbara Howaniec, a 63-year-old psychiatric nurse practitioner from Auburn, Maine, already has defaulted. She borrowed around $62,000 for her master’s degree from New York University, graduating in 2001. But after two decades of payments, she still owes around $67,000 with interest. She had put her loans in deferment for short stints while her children were young, unaware that interest would continue to accumulate.

Howaniec had hoped to have her loan forgiven after 25 years under an income-based repayment plan. But then came a letter saying the repayment schedule had changed and she owed 355 more payments. By the time she finished paying, she would be 91.

She made call after call, but she said the advice varied by whoever picked up the phone. Last year, as she paid for her own children’s college, she quit paying her own loans.

“I had already paid what I had borrowed. I’m like, no, I’m not going to pay anymore,” Howaniec said. As a self-employed person, she said she doesn’t have to worry about the government garnishing her wages.

Shannon Khan, a 46-year-old mental health worker from Webster, Texas, hasn’t paid her student loan for two months as she investigates her options.

She did not have to pay anything while enrolled in SAVE, but she was moved last fall to another income-driven repayment plan, with a required monthly payment of $847. She thought she was close to having her remaining balance forgiven, but she recently learned her payment will jump to $1,683 a month — an amount her loan servicer said she will need to pay for nearly a decade.

She has spent hours on the phone trying to get answers.

“It’s just a bunch of chaos and confusion,” Khan said.

Some hunt pathways out of default

Dreahn had never been entirely clear how much she was borrowing when she was a student. As an adult, the process remained opaque. She had multiple loans transferred to different loan servicers. And then her loans were deferred when she went back to school.

“It’s a huge, huge mess,” Dreahn said. “It’s almost like it just gets sold off and you’re just lost in the system somewhere until you figure out that, 'Oh, they want $700 this month. What?'”

Now in default, she hopes she might one day qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It requires borrowers to make 10 years of payments while working at a nonprofit or for the government.

“I’m trying to figure out: One, how I’m going to make it work. And two, what do I give up?" Dreahn said. "How do I manage buying groceries as well as making sure the bills are covered and this payment never gets missed?”

Lately, she thinks back on the chemical processing plant job she almost got.

“That was a six-figure career that I lost due to my weight,” she said, her voice breaking. “The money that I’m trying to save now that was going to be for surgery is going to be paid to student loans instead.”

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Associated Press reporter Adriana Morga contributed to this report.

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

In most places, cash is king. But in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, having too much is gumming up the machinery of daily life. The Palestinian banking system has more Israeli shekels than it can manage. As a result, paper money has gotten harder for residents to spend and for businesses to put into their accounts.

The excess liquidity stems from a conflict between the Bank of Israel and the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which oversees Palestinian banks and financial institutions. Israel limits the amount of physical currency it takes back from the West Bank. Palestinian officials say the cap has not kept pace with growth and is one mechanism used to keep the territory in a state of economic crisis.

Unlike in Gaza, where years of an almost total blockade have caused cash shortages, banks in the West Bank are running out of vault space to store stacks of shekels. With Bank of Israel refusing to accept more notes and coins, commercial banks can’t convert the money into electronic balances to pay suppliers or process transfers on behalf of their customers.

“The banks have been shackled” in their ability to deal with the crisis, Mohammad Manasra, the deputy governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “What is being practiced in the West Bank is economic warfare.”

More cash enters the West Bank than Israel allows out

Central banks in most countries take back cash from commercial banks and credit them electronically so they can settle payments and meet customers’ needs. But in the occupied West Bank — where Palestinians have no say over monetary policies guiding the shekel — the economy runs differently.

The territory has relied predominantly on the Israeli shekel for decades and depends on Israel to facilitate trade, collect taxes and process payments for imported goods under agreements dating to the 1990s. A surfeit of cash accumulates because the Palestinian economy runs almost exclusively on physical currency, and more enters from Israel than can exit.

Why? Employers in Israel and its settlements pay Palestinian laborers in cash, and Palestinian citizens of Israel often purchase goods like cigarettes and fuel in the West Bank, bringing in even more shekels. As more cash flows in, the surplus trapped inside Palestinian banks grows, neither earning interest nor getting turned into loans, investments and bill payments.

Israel's cash transfer limit from the West Bank's banking system is 18 billion shekels ($5.9 billion) a year. Banks now accumulate an estimated 30 billion shekels a year, said Moayad Afaneh, an economist who has advised the Palestinian Authority.

In the past, Israeli officials expressed reluctance to accept more, citing concerns that returned money could be linked to laundering, tax evasion or terrorism.

Bank of Israel said in a statement that it follows the current government's policy on how many shekels to accept but that fewer Palestinians have worked in Israel since the war in Gaza started, thereby reducing the cash entering the West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich 's office did not respond to requests for comment but in September 2025 Smotrich threatened to “use all of the tools” at his disposal to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, including “economic strangulation.”

Palestinians say Israel limits taking shekel as economic leverage

Israel has imposed a series of measures that have hobbled the West Bank’s economy since Hamas-led militants attacked in October 2023, starting the war in Gaza.

It revoked most work permits for Palestinians who used to work in Israel, cutting off a major source of income in the occupied territory. It has withheld tax and customs revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, which in turn has been unable to fully pay public sector workers — including teachers and hospital staff — for more than a year.

With growing needs for vault space, banks are having to pay to store and insure cash they're unable to offload. They're accepting less from businesses and households, which in turn have to find alternative ways to store cash safely.

The excess shekel problem is “directly affecting the government’s ability and the private sector’s capacity to continue providing services to major industrial sectors and the Palestinian people,” Manasra said.

As an example, he noted most of the West Bank’s fuel and electricity is imported from Israel or purchased from Israeli utilities. When banks have too much of their assets tied up as physical cash, they don't have the funds when their clients — like the Palestinian Authority or West Bank cities — need to transfer payments to import fuel, water and electricity.

Fears of looting by Israeli soldiers conducting increasingly common home raids have made the problem worse, Afaneh, the economist, said. Palestinians are depositing more into banks because they fear soldiers will confiscate it, claiming suspiciously large sums could be used for illicit purposes or terrorism.

Having too much cash on hand also hurts the banks' bottom lines because they can't lend out money like most banks, which today do so electronically. A 2022 International Monetary Fund study estimated excess cash reduced Palestinian banks’ profits by about 20%, a figure Afaneh said is likely much higher today.

Cash-based businesses in the West Bank have money but can't pay suppliers

Inside the Ramallah headquarters of the Al-Huda Group, cigarette smoke and tea steam drift through an office where clerks feed banknotes into machines that spit out neat stacks of counted bills. The company operates filling stations, convenience, grocery and home improvement stores, car washes and other businesses that collect tens of millions of shekels each month.

Stockpiles of money that cash-based businesses can’t deposit because the banks are full has made routine operations and transactions more difficult and expensive, said Hussni Jaber, the executive manager of the Al-Huda Group.

To make electronic payments to Palestinian and foreign suppliers, for example, some businesses have resorted to taking out loans or buying other currencies while also paying more to keep their overabundance of cash on hand safely stored, Jaber said.

When they can't pay their suppliers, some gas stations have to stop filling their pumps. The Palestinian Authority in a statement pointed to the issue when gas stations temporarily closed on Saturday.

Last month, a number of gas station owners coordinated a 30-minute strike across the West Bank, including the 22 operated by Al-Huda, to draw attention to the cash crisis. It has done little to prompt a response.

With their earnings stuck outside the traditional banking system, business leaders fear the cash glut will eventually prevent West Bank companies from being able to import fuel, food and medical supplies from Israel or elsewhere abroad, Jaber said.

“All sectors will collapse if the cash problem is not resolved," he said.

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Imad Isseid contributed reporting from Ramallah, West Bank.

The two-way superstar received a lubricant injection just before the All-Star break last week and had been expected to pitch Wednesday in Philadelphia against the Phillies.

Ohtani, however, still didn’t feel 100% while playing catch this weekend, so he and the Dodgers decided not to even test the knee with a bullpen session.

The four-time MVP hasn't pitched since July 3, when he threw a season-high 110 pitches over six innings in a no-decision against San Diego. Now, it's unclear when he'll return to the mound.

“I would say that it’s going to be some time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday before his team split a day-night doubleheader with the New York Yankees. “It's not going to be a day-to-day thing.”

Roberts reiterated that Ohtani feels no knee pain when hitting. The slugger went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and a run during an 8-2 victory in the opener Sunday, and was back in the leadoff spot as the designated hitter for the nightcap.

“We just want to continue to give it the best chance to kind of get in a good spot,” Roberts said. “As he said, as we feel, it’s the pitching and the torque on landing on that leg. That kind of gets it upset. So I think that hitting doesn’t do that. So I think that for us, we’re trying to give it as much time as possible.”

Ohtani went 1 for 4 with an infield single in the nightcap and struck out with two runners aboard in the eighth inning of a 2-1 loss. He also threw in the outfield between games and ended a long day at Yankee Stadium feeling fine.

“Overall, I think a good day for Shohei,” Roberts said.

The two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers have the best record in the majors at 63-37 and an 11 1/2-game lead in the NL West. Roberts indicated that's playing into the team's approach with Ohtani, who skipped the All-Star Game last Tuesday in Philadelphia to treat and rest his balky knee.

The right-hander has been dealing with the ailment for more than a month. He had an outing cut short against Pittsburgh on June 11 because of inflammation in the knee.

“I think for us, it’s more like we’ve done many times over, erring on the side of caution,” Roberts explained. ”A lot of it is where we’re at and how we put ourselves in a good spot in the sense of, could he probably do it? Sure. But right now the benefits don’t seem to outweigh the cost of this time in the season. So I think that we still have plenty of time to kind of get him in a good spot.”

Roberts said he's sure Ohtani will return to the mound this year.

"If it’s two weeks or three weeks then that’s kind of why we’re trying to do this, so we don’t have to worry about it throughout the end of the season,” Roberts said.

Emmet Sheehan had been expected to start during the Yankees series, but his next outing was pushed back to Monday night in Philadelphia.

Los Angeles is off Thursday this week and Monday next week, providing some short-term flexibility in the rotation while left-hander Blake Snell works his way back from an injury.

Snell, sidelined since his season debut on May 9 because of loose bodies in his left elbow, made a rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Oklahoma City and threw 32 pitches in 1 1/3 innings. He’s expected to pitch again Friday and will need to get up to about five innings and 75 pitches in the minors before returning to the big league rotation, Roberts said.

“I think that once we moved Emmet, the rotation can keep going forward without Shohei for the time being. I can’t speak for how long that’s going to be,” Roberts said.

“He was on the schedule when we broke for the All-Star break and then it was more of the training staff talking to him about, `Hey, coming out of the break, how does Wednesday look? How do you feel? If you don’t feel 100%, we have the opportunity to kick the can,'" Roberts added. "I think it’s more driven by the organization saying, hey, if you’re not 100% right, we don’t have to do this.”

Ohtani is batting .290 with 22 homers, 60 RBIs and a .938 OPS. He is 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts on the mound and has won his past six decisions.

“When he does swing the bat, it’s the back knee versus the land knee where you’re kind of driving off of it to create torque when you pitch,” Roberts said. "And so there’s no feeling of any sensation or any reason why we feel he's got to stop hitting.”

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AP freelance writer Larry Fleisher contributed to this report.

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

Logano snapped a 45-race winless streak Sunday night with a dominant victory at North Wilkesboro Speedway in the first points race at the 0.625-mile track in 30 years.

After Logano wrapped up a lengthy on-track burnout, Denny Hamlin approached him and dabbed him up out of respect. Hamlin spent the second part of the race doing everything he could to catch Logano, but it proved fruitless.

The No. 22 Ford was too dominant. Logano led 323 of 450 laps.

“It’s wildly, wildly impressive what he did,” Hamlin said. “I thought it was a really impressive drive from him, how he maneuvered through (lapped) traffic and did everything we know Joey to do.”

It was Logano's 38th career Cup win, and his first since May 2025 at Texas.

The 36-year-old Logano also extended his streak of winning at least one race to 15 consecutive seasons, the longest among active drivers. The late Kyle Busch holds the record, winning in 19 straight seasons (2005-2023).

"A win anywhere at this point would have sounded great, but coming here and doing it at North Wilkesboro is awesome,” Logano said.

Hamlin finished second, followed by Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs and Shane Van Gisbergen.

It was a huge win for Logano, who entered the race outside of the top 16 in the Chase for the playoffs. He's now inside the cutline in 15th place.

“I feel like I know exactly what I need to go fast around this place,” said Logano, who won the 2024 All-Star race here in dominant fashion. “I knew coming this weekend that we’ve got to capitalize on the points.”

The track, built in 1947, sat mostly dormant for a quarter of a century following its last points race in on Sept. 29, 1996.

Speedway Motorsports undertook the monumental task of refurbishing it, including clearing the weeds and trees growing up through the middle of the racetrack. NWS hosted the All-Star race from 2023-25.

In-Season Challenge to be settled next week

Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland have reached the finals of the $1 million NASCAR In-Season Challenge. Blaney defeated Christopher Bell head-to-head in the semifinals on Sunday night, while Gilliland topped Chase Elliott.

The champion will be decided next Sunday in Indianapolis at the Brickyard 400 with the driver finishing higher in the race awarded the $1 million prize.

Bowman takes out Reddick while entering the pits

Tyler Reddick got caught up a wreck on lap 184 when Alex Bowman cut him off as he was attempting to go from the top row down into pit row, spinning out the No. 45.

Bowman told his crew chief, “I thought I had hole but maybe I didn’t.”

A tough night for pole-sitter Ryan Blaney

Ryan Blaney, who won last week at Atlanta, was set to start on the pole based on metrics after qualifying was rained out on Saturday. Instead, he was forced to start the race at the rear of the field after his No. 12 Ford Mustang had a power steering pump issue.

Things only got worst for the 2023 Cup Series champion after he received a speeding penalty on pit row on lap 365, dropping him out of the top five and costing him 15 positions.

Up next

The Cup Series heads to Indianapolis next week for the Brickyard 400. Bubba Wallace captured his first crown jewel event last year after Austin Cindric blew a tire.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing

Eddie Hall was last seen Sunday in the 3800 block of Ryans Rock Court in Katy, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office.

He was wearing black pants, a black T-shirt featuring Elmo and no shoes. He has black hair with loose curls.

Authorities said there is no indication of foul play, but time is critical as deputies, search-and-rescue teams and community volunteers work to find him.

Families have searched on foot and used drones, ATVs and other equipment to cover neighborhoods including Tamarron, Cross Creek West, Jordan Ranch and Young Ranch. Volunteers also created a WhatsApp group that quickly grew to approximately 200 members coordinating search efforts.

Many of those volunteers did not know Eddie or his family before Sunday.

“We’re such a close-knit community. It’s basically a family,” neighbor Jemeil Sawyer said. “We all have children, and some of us have autistic children. We’ve kind of put ourselves in this family’s shoes.”

Community members said Eddie is autistic and enjoys music from “Little Einsteins” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” They said he answers to Eddie, is motivated by food and may hide or enter secluded places.

Volunteers have been playing his favorite songs and calling out to him with offers of popsicles in hopes of getting his attention.

“As autism moms, we really understand their minds and kind of what they might be looking for,” Rachel McAdoo said. “We’re just trying to share that and help in any way we can.”

McAdoo said some children on the autism spectrum do not recognize danger and may be drawn to the sight or sound of water. She urged residents to inspect their yards, pools, drainage areas and other quiet or enclosed spaces where Eddie could be hiding.

The area’s numerous retention ponds are among the community’s greatest concerns. Neighbors said the ponds are connected through drainage tunnels and that alligators have been seen in the waterways.

“This community is so big that they span for miles,” Sawyer said. “It’s a dangerous situation. It really is.”

Dense tree lines and large stretches of undeveloped land are also complicating the search.

Natalia Lopez, who also has a son with autism, said she joined other mothers as soon as she learned Eddie was missing.

“We’re treating every hour like it’s the first hour,” Lopez said. “We’re not slowing down. We’re checking, rechecking and we’ll continue to check—as long as it takes. We’re looking for our own kid.”

Some parents said they wished the broader public had been alerted sooner, arguing that an earlier alert could have put more people on the lookout.

“We did what we hope other mothers would do if this was our child,” McAdoo said. “We got out there, and we just wanted to help do anything we can and look anywhere we could.”

Volunteers said they intend to continue searching through the night and return Monday if Eddie is not found.

“We’re never going to give up,” McAdoo said. “Our hope is that he’s somewhere where he could stay cool, and maybe when it cools down tonight, he’ll come out and we’ll be able to more easily locate him.”

Anyone with information about Eddie’s whereabouts should call the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency line at 281-341-4665, option 1.

Step by step, the U.S. and Iran have inched closer to all-out war as last month's interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has largely stalled. Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people, while benchmark Brent crude rose Monday above $90 a barrel, further fueling a global energy crisis sparked by the conflict.

The U.S. military said the service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday during the “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone.

“We hit them very hard again tonight,” U.S. President Donald Trump said. “And we did that in honor of the” soldiers killed, he said.

US launches ninth night of Iran strikes

Earlier, the military said its strikes targeted Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to retaliate for Friday's killing of troops in Jordan. One service member was missing after that attack, and the military's new statement said “unidentified remains” were found Sunday and were being examined. Since the war began, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.

The renewed exchanges of fire, now in their second week, have seen the U.S. target bridges and electrical facilities in Iran.

The U.S. military’s Central Command announced a new round of strikes early Monday, now into their ninth straight night. Central Command said it targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.”

There was no immediate word from Iran on any casualties or damage from the attacks. Iranian state media reported explosions being heard in southern and northwestern Iran.

As the strikes began, a ship caught fire early Monday in the Strait of Hormuz near the coastline of Oman, the British military said. It was unclear what sparked the blaze off Oman, which has been a route the U.S. military has encouraged ships to travel to avoid Iran's control. The Guard later claimed it was targeting tankers in the strait.

Tehran has retaliated by hitting U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East.

Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait again activated air defenses for incoming Iranian drones and missiles. Early Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain issued a warning saying “Iran may seek to target unspecified locations in central Manama,” the capital, without elaborating.

Iran says a nuclear site under construction was hit

Footage released Sunday by the U.S. military appeared to show strikes carried out by fighter jets and by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the sea. One target site appeared to be in a valley of a mountainous region. The Guard often has missile bases and other military equipment tucked into mountain ranges.

Iran’s atomic energy agency said U.S. strikes targeted the construction site of a planned nuclear power plant in the southwest, state television reported.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC of the Darkhovin nuclear plant site showed earth clearing but little construction as of July 9. Iran did not previously announce it as being targeted.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the site, in the “very early stages of construction,” contained no nuclear material when the U.N. watchdog last visited.

Jordan and nearly every Gulf Arab state have been targeted

Jordan's military said it shot down several Iranian missiles. The country hosts major U.S. bases and relies on U.S. air-defense systems. The missiles did not cause casualties or damage, according to Jordan's military.

Israel's military said Iranian missiles launched toward the Jordanian port city of Aqaba just across the border could spill over, warning Israelis to expect the first air-raid sirens in weeks.

Eilat, the Israeli city that neighbors Aqaba, cited security officials as saying two interceptors were launched from its outskirts to prevent the fall of debris.

During the latest fighting, Iran has focused attacks on U.S.-allied Arab states rather than Israel, which launched the war with the U.S. on Feb. 28.

Kuwait said one of its power and water desalination plants was attacked for the second time in two days, causing fires. Its Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy said the power grid remains stable. In Kuwait, about 90% of drinking water comes from desalination.

International humanitarian law generally protects civilian infrastructure such as bridges and power plants from attack, but such sites can lose protections if used for military purposes. In such cases, attacks must be proportionate and minimize civilian harm.

The Strait of Hormuz remains key to the conflict

Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, which saw one-fifth of global oil supplies transit before the war. Recent attacks suggest the U.S. military is carrying out that plan.

The U.S. in the past week reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil. The military on Saturday said it had redirected six ships and disabled one since then.

The halfway point has passed in the 60 days the deal set out to negotiate the permanent end of the war and other issues, including Iran's nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the U.S. is still open to negotiating with Iran but that “it has to be real.”

“We’re going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy — if the guys that want to do something productive for Iran win and take control of that system, or take control of the negotiations — that’ll be a very positive development," Rubio said. “That’s not where we are tonight, unfortunately.”

Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 517 wounded in the latest rounds of U.S. strikes.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Finley from Washington. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Washington and Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo contributed.

The 46-year-old woman and her 24-year-old son were found stranded on Balaloho Island, one of the small inhabited islands in Selayar, , by fishermen, officials said.

More than 200 rescuers aboard vessels were joined by Indonesian troops, police, fishermen and residents, said Andi Sultan, head of emergency response in Makassar.

“Rescue teams also faced extremely harsh weather conditions, including waves as high as 2–3 meters and strong winds,” Sultan said.

Search and rescue team retrieved five survivors on Saturday evening, including a 7-year-old girl, who were clinging to a fish trap.

At least one person was confirmed dead.

The KM Nurul Salsa, which was carrying 78 passengers and crew, experienced engine failure and sank Wednesday about 43 nautical miles (79 kilometers) from the port in the Selayar Islands, in South Sulawesi Province.

Passenger boats are a common form of transportation in Indonesia, an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands. Lax safety standards and problems with overcrowding frequently result in accidents.

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Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta contributed to this report.

And when it was over, Spain walked off with the trophy. Messi simply walked off in tears.

Spain is back atop the soccer world for a second time, after Ferran Torres’ first goal of this year's World Cup — unquestionably the goal of his life — gave his country a 1-0 win over now-dethroned champion Argentina in the final on Sunday.

“It was a goal scored by 47 million people,” Torres said, referring to Spain’s population.

Maybe not by them — but certainly for them.

The goal came with Argentina down to 10 men after Enzo Fernandez was sent off late in regulation following a reckless tackle. Tempers flared then, and flared again after the final whistle with Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni and players from both sides engaging in what appeared to be some pushing and shoving.

In the end, Spain denied Messi a second straight title in what he has indicated was his final World Cup match. Torres, a second-half substitute, pounced on a bouncing ball in the box and used his left foot to bury a shot just under the crossbar in the 106th minute.

From there, the airtight defense that dominated opponents throughout the tournament came through one final time. Spain — which also won the title in 2010 — allowed only one goal in eight matches in this World Cup run, setting a record for fewest goals allowed by a champion.

“I feel pride, to be honest,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, who at 65 is now the oldest man to lead a team to a World Cup title. "Accompanying them on this journey is an honor.”

Spain gets a World Cup 1st

This title, combined with the Women's World Cup won by Spain in 2023, makes the European nation the first to hold both the men’s and women’s titles simultaneously. And in the streets of Madrid — probably many other places in Spain as well — countless people spilled into the streets, celebrating Sunday's victory long into the wee hours of Monday morning.

The score indicates this match was close, but only one team was in command.

Spain took the game’s first 20 shots on goal before Argentina — desperate for an equalizer — got its first attempt off in the second half of extra time. Spain took nine of the game’s first 10 corner kicks, and only a World Cup final-record 12 saves by Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez gave the 2022 champions a shot at going back-to-back.

“Dibu was nothing short of exceptional,” de la Fuente said, referring to Argentina's keeper by his nickname.

Spain is now unbeaten in its last 38 matches — 29 wins, nine draws — and is the outright holder of the longest such streak by any European men's team ever. Italy went 37 matches (28 wins, nine draws) from October 2018 through September 2021, before Spain ended that streak.

And for the last two-plus years, nobody has beaten Spain. Not even Messi. An Argentina team that was the kings of the late-game rally in this tournament had no answer this time.

“We lost the game, and we accept that,” Scaloni said. “That doesn’t mean that we will forget everything we’ve done so far, so I’d like to thank my people, my players and the country. I can tell them that we played our hearts out.”

Spain survives a late push

Messi took a corner kick with about four minutes left before the final whistle and the ball took a fortunate skip toward substitute Giuliano Simeone — who sent it high and over the crossbar, holding his head in disbelief afterward.

“When you have Messi on the other side, well, you are nervous,” Torres said. "At the end of the day, we always depended on us. We always come up with our football, and we showed it again.”

After the post-match scuffles, they also paid tribute to the former champions. Spain's players lined up to form an honor guard of sorts for Argentina's squad to walk through on its way to the stage for the runner-up medals from President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

“I think now I'm in a cloud,” said Spain midfielder Rodri, the Golden Ball winner as the tournament's best player.

Argentina was forced to finish the match down a man after Fernandez was sent off in second-half stoppage time after getting his second yellow card. Fernandez was whistled for a collision that sent Spain defender Pau Cubarsi cartwheeling into the air, and the card came out immediately.

Defense led Spain to a title

It was the 104th and last match of the biggest World Cup ever, a 48-team event that played out over the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Because there were more matches than any previous World Cup, it was no surprise that there were more goals than all other editions — more than 300, nearly three per match.

Except, of course, when Spain was involved. Spain's plan was simple and flawless: Hold the ball as much as possible, denying opponents any hint of chances.

It worked, all the way to the end.

Messi is 39 and the math certainly suggests that the Inter Miami star is at the end of his international career. There have been hints — such as Messi himself declaring that a home World Cup qualifying match against Venezuela last year would be his final competitive contest for Argentina on his nation’s soil.

“I experienced a lot of things on this pitch, good and not so good,” Messi said that night. “I’ll take the good with me.”

He retired from the national team after losing a Copa America final to Chile — in the same stadium he played in Sunday — a decade ago, then came back a few weeks later after changing his mind.

Good thing he did, because in that decade he went from superstar to absolute icon.

There was the World Cup title in 2022. There were two Copa America titles, the first in 2021 and the second in 2024. He won Argentina’s player of the year award 16 times in a span of 19 years, first winning it as a teenager and continuing to win it all the way into his late 30s.

He's a legend within the game and on all corners of the globe. But Spain was better Sunday.

“I spoke to my players, and they said: ‘Look, we’ve won everything, coach. We’ve won everything,'” de la Fuente said. “And that is beautiful.”

A final unlike any other

The spectacle was not limited to simply soccer.

Madonna, Justin Bieber, BTS and Shakira were all part of a halftime show that also featured Burna Boy, Jason Sudeikis in character as “Ted Lasso” and even some of the Muppets. Jennifer Hudson, Post Malone and Tom Cruise had roles in the closing ceremony, which actually preceded the match.

A slew of actors, athletes and other celebrities were there: Spain’s Javier Bardem left happy, Luciana Barroso Damon — the wife of actor Matt Damon — probably did not, considering she was wearing the colors of her native Argentina.

They all came to see a show. So did 80,000 other people, not to mention perhaps as many as 2 billion watching around the globe.

Spain didn't disappoint. No team has won back-to-back men's World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and Spain kept Argentina from pulling off that repeat.

“As I told the lads before the game, we have to go for the game, we need to face them, we have to look to their eyes and say we want this game,” Rodri said. “And then, life gives you the World Cup or not.”

Spain took it instead.

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This story was updated to remove quotes mistakenly attributed to Lionel Messi that were actually Lionel Scaloni.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Spain was absolutely dominant in terms of possession and shot attempts. Lionel Messi and Argentina found a way to hang on and force extra time — but barely.

And in the opening moment of the second 15-minute period of extra time, Torres pounced on a bouncing ball in the box and used his left foot to bury a shot just under the crossbar and into the back of the net.

Messi weeps

Tears rolled down Lionel Messi’s cheeks as he turned toward Argentina fans after receiving his World Cup runner-up medal.

After shaking hands with President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Messi stood in front of thousands of Argentina fans still in the stands.

Trump keeps himself in the victory shot as Spain celebrates

President Trump helped hand the World Cup trophy to Spain players assembled for their victory photo, and then remained directly at their side as they jumped up and down in celebration.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino walked alongside Trump to deliver the award and then moved out of view of cameras. Trump hung closer, smiling as the team hoisted the trophy.

Trump takes the field for awards ceremony

President Trump walked onto the pitch with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and stood on a platform to hand out awards.

Alongside Trump were Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who also helped distribute awards.

Trump shook hands with players and congratulated them as they walked across the platform.

Goal scorer Ferran Torres says victory was for all of Spain

“I just want to lift that Cup and press it really hard. This is a dream of 47 million people who were on this pitch today, so I think we all deserved this and we broke our back,” Torres said.

Spain coach: ‘We are world champions’

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente is already looking to the future.

“We are world champions. I am very proud, very happy for my players,” de la Fuente said through an interpreter. “We closed a very important chapter. ... This team has a long way to go. We are already thinking what is coming next.”

Messi and Yamal embrace

Shortly after the match ended, Argentina star Lionel Messi was sitting on the field as Spain players celebrated. He then got up when 19-year-old Spain forward Lamine Yamal approached him and they shared a handshake and a hug.

Fans in Buenos Aires are upbeat and defiant after loss

Argentine fans in Buenos Aires remained upbeat even after their team’s loss to Spain in the World Cup final. Crowds at the Obelisk in the Argentine capital set off fireworks and flares. Drivers honked their horns with defiant enthusiasm and people waved Argentine flags.

A tense match spills over into Spain’s celebration

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni was held back by a Spain player while appearing to shout at someone moments after the final whistle. Leandro Paredes also shoved Spain’s Eric García and Gavi, and Nicolas Otamendi exchanged words with a few Spanish players, including Rodri.

Argentina fans dejected as they leave stadium

Argentina fans are streaming out of the stadium with looks of genuine shock and dejection as Spain fans dressed in red remain in the stands dancing, cheering and waving flags.

Ferran Torres delivers Spain’s winning goal in extra time

Spain dominated the match with its ball-control offense but couldn’t find the breakthrough goal until the 106th minute. Spain won its second World Cup title.

The loss may be the end of Argentina star Lionel Messi’s World Cup career. The 39-year-old maestro could do little to influence the match as Spain’s defense smothered him most of the day, or simply kept the ball away from his feet.

FINAL: Spain 1, Argentina 0

Spain has won its second World Cup. La Roja also won the title in 2010. This time, Spain denied Lionel Messi and Argentina a second consecutive championship.

Spain finally breaks the deadlock

Spain’s Ferran Torres smashed the ball past Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for his first goal of the World Cup to make it 1-0 in the 106th minute. Nico Williams had kept a long cross in play when he headed the ball toward Torres in front of the goal. It was Spain’s 20th shot of the match.

Torres was a substitute in the 62nd minute by coach Luis de la Fuente.

Spain 1, Argentina 0

Ferran Torres scores in the 106th minute.

Argentina and Spain reach the midway point of extra time

The World Cup final has 15 more minutes of extra time, plus however much stoppage time after that, before Spain and Argentina go to penalty kicks to decide the championship if neither team scores. Spain still has the edge with 11 players to 10, and has 19 shots to Argentina’s zero, but it remains goalless.

Extra time substitutions

Spain sent in Martín Zubimendi for Rodri and Eric García for Aymeric Laporte in the 99th minute.

Argentina subbed defender Marcos Senesi for Julián Álvarez in the 102nd, playing more defensively while down to 10 men. Spain would want to avoid a penalty shootout after dominating most of the game.

Spain goal nullified by a foul

It looked like Spain had scored in extra time, when Nico Williams finally put the ball into Argentina’s net. But the referee ruled that Mikel Merino stepped on one of Nicolás Otamendi’s feet prior to the goal, prompting a foul call.

Fourth scoreless World Cup final at 90-minute mark

Three previous World Cup finals were scoreless after 90 minutes of regulation time: Brazil against Italy in 1994, Spain against the Netherlands in 2010 and Germany against Argentina in 2014. Only the 1994 final remained scoreless after extra time, and Brazil won the penalty shootout.

Extra time at the World Cup

Argentina and Spain are scoreless after regulation. Spain has been the dominant side but has yet to find its way past Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Now comes two 15-minute periods of extra time. If the game is still undecided, it will go to penalty kicks.

Argentina won the 2022 World Cup on penalty kicks against France. Spain’s 2010 title came on a goal in the 116th minute. Argentina is down to 10 players after a late red card to Enzo Fernández.

Argentina down to 10 after Fernández red card

Argentina was down to 10 men after Enzo Fernández was shown a yellow card in stoppage time, his second of the game. That means an automatic red card and ejection. Fernández had scored the tying goal in Argentina’s semifinal win over England.

Time is running out

Spain and Argentina have reached stoppage time in the World Cup final that remains scoreless. There are four minutes on the board. If neither team scores, there will be 30 minutes of extra time in two 15-minute increments.

Frustration yellow card for Argentina

Midfielder Enzo Fernández was upset that he didn’t get a foul call and was booked for dissent with the referee.

Oyarzabal exits soon after missed chance

Spain’s leading World Cup scorer was subbed out after a missed opportunity.

Coach Luis de la Fuente took out Mikel Oyarzabal a few minutes after Oyarzabal made a nice pass to Fabián Ruiz inside Argentina’s box but then stopped running. Had Oyarzabal followed his pass, Ruiz had laid it off for what would have been a good scoring opportunity.

Oyarzabal scored from the penalty spot against France in the semifinals, his fifth goal of the tournament.

Spain’s subs include Merino

Spain putting Nico Williams and Mikel Merino into the game adds some potential scoring punch. Merino has scored two late go-ahead goals in this tournament.

Williams is on for midfielder Álex Baena, and Merino is on for midfielder Dani Olmo.

Argentina makes final substitutions after break

After a series of corner kicks for Spain, Rodrigo De Paul got a header on net, only to be denied by Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the 67th minute. The second-half hydration break followed with the score still 0-0.

After the break, Argentina forward Giuliano Simeone exited for defender Rodrigo De Paul and defender Facundo Medina was subbed out for defender Cristian Romero in 70th minute.

Spain makes its first changes in 62nd minute

Mikel Oyarzabal, who scored in the semifinal against France, has been replaced by Ferran Torres. And Fabián Ruiz came out for Pedri. The chess match is taking shape as the teams try to break a scoreless draw. Argentina has yet to take a shot.

Argentina continues making moves

Another sub for Argentina in the 58th minute. Defender Nahuel Molina is on for defender Gonzalo Montiel. That’s the third of five substitutions available to coach Lionel Scaloni and it comes as Spain continues to press the attack in Argentina’s end.

Another Argentina yellow card

Leandro Paredes, who just came on at the start of the second half, was shown a yellow card in the 52nd minute. It came after a testy confrontation and a shove on Spain’s Dani Olmo while a Spain player was down on the field.

Not much offense

There were just three total shots in the first half. That’s the fewest in the first half of a World Cup final since records are available dating to 1966, according to Opta. Argentina became the second team with no shots in the opening half of a World Cup final since the records started, after France in 2022.

Another change for Argentina

Midfielder Leandro Paredes is on for forward Nico González to start the second half. That’s two subs now for Argentina. It has three left.

Second half begins

The second half of the World Cup final has begun after a break of a little over 27 minutes. Argentina and Spain remain scoreless.

Halftime adjustments?

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has some halftime adjustments he could make after Spain controlled roughly 65% of the possession and had three shots on net and another scoring chance.

Giving Nicolás Tagliafico some help might be a good start after the defender struggled to stay in front of and contain Lamine Yamal, the 19-year-old who many think will eventually supplant Lionel Messi as the world’s best player. Argentina has zero shots of any kind, so generating more offense is also on the docket.

Spain’s coach isn’t worried about long halftime

The longer-than-usual halftime came up at Spain’s news conference on Friday. Coach Luis de la Fuente brought up how he talked to players and staff about all the peculiarities of the tournament and how they would not be affected.

“Everyone’s proud of being here,” de la Fuente said. “Everything that we consider to be strange or odd nowadays — hydration breaks, this 30-minute halftime — maybe within 30 years will become normality. Maybe football is developing that way. We don’t know. It is what it is. This is the situation we have. We need to adapt, and we need to accept those things that you cannot change. We can’t change that, so we’ll have to enjoy it.”

Is this the last time we’ll hear ‘Dai Dai’?

The song from Shakira and Burna Boy has played before all 104 kickoffs at the World Cup. The duo, who also performed at the opening ceremony in Mexico, performed it live during the halftime show.

BTS, Bieber and Ted Lasso appear at halftime

Played in by an homage to Norway’s rowing tradition, BTS performed “Dynamite.” Up next, Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt in character as Ted Lasso and Coach Beard hyped up Justin Bieber, who sang “Everything Hallelujah” with an acoustic guitar.

Madonna leads off halftime show

The first halftime show at a World Cup final started with Madonna flanked by former Brazil stars Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

They gave way to a rendition of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” performed by several Muppets and an orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

Scoreless at halftime

Spain has controlled the ball and the tempo, and has put the clamps on Argentina and Lionel Messi. The 39-year-old star has had few creative chances on the ball.

Argentina may feel lucky to not be down a goal. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez made two saves for Argentina. Spain’s Lamine Yamal had the best chance for a goal in the opening minutes.

Argentina has already made a substitution, with Nicolás Otamendi coming on for defender Lisandro Martínez just before halftime.

Argentina’s Lisandro Martínez exits late in the first half

Minutes after getting a yellow card, Lisandro Martínez is out of the game because of an injury. Argentina made the substitution late in the first half, bringing in experienced defender Nicolas Otamendi.

Argentina’s Martínez gets the first yellow card

Argentina’s Lisandro Martínez received the game’s first yellow card for a late tackle of Mikel Oyarzabal near midfield in the 41st minute.

Argentina fans come alive

With Argentina in the attacking half of the field for one of just a few times so far, its fans started singing again. The joy was short-lived, as Spain quickly recovered and went the other way.

Matt Damon at the World Cup final after big ‘Odyssey’ weekend

Matt Damon was in the stadium on a weekend when his film “The Odyssey” opened with a colossal global box office total of $264.1 million.

He was with his wife Luciana Damon, who was clad in the colors of her native Argentina.

Will Ferrell, Pharrell Williams, Mick Jagger and Adrien Brody were among the other stars in the crowd.

Hydration time

The match reached the first-half hydration break past the 23-minute mark, with no goals from Argentina or Spain. The Argentina fans who were loud and rambunctious before the game have been quieted a bit by Spain controlling much of the possession and having two corner kicks. Lionel Messi has touched the ball just six times.

Spain dominates the first 15-plus minutes

With the exception of a few plays, Spain is dominating. Lionel Messi got taken down and took a free kick for Argentina, but this has been the Lamine Yamal show early on. The 19-year-old budding star put a shot on goal and created another scoring chance.

Trump gets a close look at the World Cup trophy

The World Cup trophy was shown to President Donald Trump as he watched the game in a suite. Video footage showed Trump smiling and patting the gold trophy as someone held it up to him.

It’s not his first time seeing the trophy. FIFA president Gianni Infantino brought it to the Oval Office during a White House visit last year.

Argentina fans applaud big save

Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez turning aside Spain’s Lamine Yamal in the fifth minute happened right in front of the biggest contingent of Argentina fans, who make up at least 70% of the crowd. The back-and-forth cheering and singing from Argentina and Spain fans has stopped only for yells and groans for fouls and that save.

Spanish Brass and Maria Becerra perform national anthems

Spanish Brass, a horn quintet that has played since 1989, performed the Spanish national anthem, known as “La Marcha Real.”

Argentine pop singer Maria Becerra sang her nation’s anthem with a loud sing-along accompaniment from the audience.

Other than the opening ceremonies in each host country, the national anthems before kickoff have been piped in, with players and fans supplying the lyrics. For the final, the anthems went live.

The World Cup final has started

The match is underway. Argentina and 39-year-old Lionel Messi are facing Spain and 19-year-old Lamine Yamal to decide the World Cup champion.

Robbie Williams and Tom Cruise bring the pregame pomp

British pop singer Robbie Williams performed his World Cup-themed anthem “Desire,” wearing a blue bedazzled track suit. He was joined by Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger and Italian singer Laura Pausini.

Tom Cruise followed them with a speech. He wore a polo shirt and jeans.

“Today only two teams remain, España! y Argentina!” Cruise said. “Let us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together."

Fans dash across highways to get to World Cup final

World Cup fans were strongly urged not to walk to MetLife Stadium. Some did it anyway.

Videos being widely shared on social media showed groups of fans dashing across a multi-lane highway in between speeding cars near the venue in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The stadium is located across the Hudson River from Manhattan in a marshland known as the Meadowlands that is largely inaccessible to pedestrians.

World Cup organizers advised those attending matches not to attempt walking to the stadium. Fans were told to use mass transit, including special shuttle buses and trains.

Why children escort the players onto the field

You’ve seen them at every match. They walk onto the field before the game, often holding hands with some of the biggest stars in the sport like Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Spain’s Lamine Yamal.

The tradition has been an official part of the World Cup since 2002 when FIFA partnered with UNICEF to promote children’s rights to healthy recreation and quality education.

When the program was launched, FIFA said the children on the pitch are supposed to remind soccer enthusiasts they have a major role to play in building the world for future generations.

The children at the matches in the U.S. were chosen through a partnership between sponsor Quaker Oats and Common Goal, a collective of soccer-based community organizations across the country.

Trump booed at the end of the anthem

President Donald Trump was shown on video screens at the stadium, prompting boos from fans in attendance. Trump appeared at the end of the U.S. national anthem.

Jennifer Hudson sings the US national anthem

Jennifer Hudson sang the U.S. national anthem. The Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner wore a white suit with red, white and blue trim. She stood in front of a bank of flags of the world, singing a cappella at first before she was joined by a brass band.

Ticket prices drop in final hours

Tickets to the World Cup final, which were selling for tens of thousands of dollars, dropped to as low as $2,334.50 in the hours before the game on FIFA’s resale site. FIFA still had list price tickets on sale the morning of the game for $10,990.

Spain is favored to win

Argentina is the defending champion and has Lionel Messi, but Spain is the favorite to lift the World Cup trophy at -165. That means bettors would have to risk $165 to win $100. Anyone who likes Argentina to win in regulation time can get it at 5-2 odds.

President Trump is expected to present the World Cup trophy to the winner

The U.S. president this week called the 2026 World Cup “the most successful sports even, maybe in the history of the world,” heading into its final weekend.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum, whose country was co-host of the tournament with the U.S. and Canada, said she will also attend the final at Trump’s invitation.

Sheinbaum did not attend the World Cup’s opening match in Mexico City, when her national team beat South Africa 2-0. Instead, she gave her ticket to a young Indigenous woman.

Spain’s King Felipe VI is also expected to attend. Argentine President Javier Milei said he won’t attend because of superstition, and will watch the match from home.

Loud cheers for Spain — and louder for Argentina

Players are on the field for pregame warmups, and it’s clear who has the crowd advantage. Spain got loud applause when La Roja got introduced. Then it was thunderous applause when Lionel Messi and his Argentina teammates ran out of the tunnel. Most of the lower bowl is full with more than a half-hour till kickoff.

Trump wants the World Cup back in the US soon

Donald Trump has a message for FIFA President Gianni Infantino: Bring the World Cup back to the U.S.

“I had a great idea for Gianni: You have to do two countries. Announce us again next time, and then announce another country after that. It’ll take out some of the anger and the shock,” Trump said on Fox Sports. “I think it’s a great idea. Based on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately. ... We have to do this again, and we have to do it while I’m around. You hear that, Gianni?”

Trump flies over the stadium

The presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew over the stadium hosting the World Cup final, heralding the arrival of President Donald Trump.

The flyover of MetLife Stadium occurred roughly an hour before kickoff. Trump was given 10 tickets to the match by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

No changes to Spain lineup

Spain made no changes to its starting lineup for the final, sticking with the squad that beat France in the semifinals. That includes 19-year-old Lamine Yamal.

Unai Simón is in goal behind defenders Pedro Porro, Aymeric Laporte, Pau Cubarsí and Marc Cucurella. In midfield are Fabián Ruiz, Álex Baena and Rodri. At forward are Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal and Dani Olmo.

As the ball bounces: The final match could be a kick in the grass

The field for the final at the stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey is grass with synthetic fibers stitched in to reduce the risk of divots and tears. It has drawn mixed reviews from players through the first seven tournament games played there.

Stadium staff has had nearly two weeks to get it in the best condition possible for Sunday’s final. Neither Spain nor Argentina have played on it yet.

Teams in previous matches have said the field plays fast, but also called it hard and rigid and could be good for teams, like Spain, who like to possess the ball.

Some liked it better when it got wet. The area around the stadium was notably pelted by rain storms on Saturday.

Argentina’s lineup features three changes for final

Argentina’s lineup for the final features Emiliano Martínez in goal behind defenders Gonzalo Montiel, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martínez and Nicolás Tagliafico; midfielders Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister and Nico González; and forwards Lionel Messi and Julián Álvarez.

The changes from the semifinal win over England are Montiel for Nahuel Molina on the back line and De Paul for Giuliano Simeone and Gonzales for Leandro Paredes in midfield.

Trump says it’s ‘hard to bet against Messi’

In an interview with Fox, President Donald Trump was asked to predict a winner between Spain and Argentina. He hedged on that, but seemed enamored with Argentina star Lionel Messi.

“I would say it’s hard to bet against Messi,” Trump said, noting Messi’s assist on Argentina’s winning goal in the semifinal against England.

“The pass was exactly perfect,” Trump said. “I won’t pick sides … It’s just hard to bet against Messi.”

Spain embraces its ‘And why not?’ motto

Entering the World Cup final against Argentina, Spain’s soccer federation has released motivational videos on social media promoting the motto “¿Y por qué no?” -- “And why not?”

The phrase refers to the answer given by defender Aymeric Laporte after a reporter asked him during the 2022 World Cup whether Spain could win the tournament.

The federation released a video with players who helped Spain win the World Cup in 2010 all saying the phrase repeatedly. Another video mentions the motto while showing people wearing Spain’s jersey around New York to the beat of the song “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

New Jersey governor has no plans to meet with Trump

Democratic New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she does not expect to meet with President Donald Trump during the World Cup final. But she stressed that officials have a “really great” plan to get the Republican president in and out of MetLife Stadium with as little disruption to fans as possible.

“It’s like the wedding is here after you’ve had family in town for a week,” she said about the anticipation for the game. “We’re excited, but also looking forward to some peace when they leave.”

Sherrill said she’s rooting for Argentina and even she tried her hand at Spanish, saying it’s better than it was a few months ago but that it needed more work.

“Or something like that,” the governor said in English after tripping through her Spanish.

Former Spain player Capdevila allowed into US to watch the final

Former Spain defender Joan Capdevila has made it to the United States to watch the World Cup final after being denied authorization to travel a decade after playing in an exhibition game in Iran.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an email to The Associated Press that it received a request to allow Capdevila into the country. It said it reviewed the request and Capdevila arrived in the U.S. on Sunday.

Capdevila had addressed President Donald Trump in a social media post, saying his application for visa-free entry was denied. He also sent a message to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and tagged the Spanish government’s ministry of sport in his post.

In 2010, Capdevila helped Spain win its only World Cup title, starting in the final against the Netherlands. He was also part of the team that won the 2008 European Championship.

Hundreds gather at Buenos Aires fan fest

As rain fell in Buenos Aires at midday, hundreds of Argentines gathered ahead of the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain.

At the FIFA Fan Festival in Plaza Francisco Seeber, songs by Argentine pop groups Bandana and Miranda! played over loudspeakers. Fans waved Argentine flags, painted their faces in the nation’s blue and white colors, and lined up early to secure a spot in front of the giant screen that will broadcast the match.

“People are happy. It’s raining, but people are here together; with friends, with strangers, with foreigners,” said Franco Pavalo, 21.

Shin Truong, 20, said the final carries greater significance because it’s expected to be the last World Cup appearance for 39-year-old Lionel Messi.

“He’s mythical,” Truong said. “We couldn’t ask for anything more from him.”

Fans in Spain gather around big screens and inside Madrid arena

Big screens have been set up across Spanish cities for the World Cup final, with 20,000 people expected at the one installed at Plaza Colon in Madrid. About 15,000 fans were expected at the Madrid Rio location.

Similar viewing areas were set up in Barcelona and other cities. Fans in Madrid will also be able to watch the match at the Movistar Arena, where some 15,000 people were expected. Tickets were sold out in advance.

Excitement builds in Buenos Aires

Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, was at a near standstill Sunday morning.

Streets were adorned with blue-and-white flags. Cars were honking, announcing the arrival of the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. Businesses were closed, as were museums, theaters and cinemas. Bars opened early.

It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, but fans gathered in the chilly wind and rain in parks and plazas around the city. Street vendors blew plastic horns and hawked jerseys and umbrellas with the name of superstar Lionel Messi.

Americans are still tuning into the World Cup despite the US team’s elimination

Even after the Americans were eliminated in the round of 16 against Belgium, viewership has remained strong in the U.S.

The match between England and Mexico was the most-watched World Cup game not involving the U.S. broadcast in English in the country’s history, according to Fox. The network said an average of more than 21.7 million tuned in to watch England’s 3-2 victory in Mexico City on July 5.

The 2022 World Cup final — which was in Qatar — was viewed by a then-record 16.7 million.

Storms reduce choking hazards for players and fans

Meteorologists say the thunderstorms that passed through the New Jersey area should clear out the smoke from Canadian wildfires that left a haze over the Northeast U.S. for several days.

While experts say there could be some lingering smoke to make things a bit hazy Sunday, it will likely be faint and not cause the poor air quality warnings issued in recent days.

Temperatures are forecast to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), with light breezes and low humidity for the start of the final.

The World Cup final will be played on turf with mixed reviews. Rain might help

Players and coaches have fielded a lot of questions about the pitch in East Rutherford, New Jersey, before and after World Cup games there. Opinions have varied.

Brazil’s Vinicius Junior was not a fan. France coach Didier Deschamps called it special — and not in a good way. Norway’s Ståle Solbakken was asked several times about the surface before coaching his first game on it and came away more pleased about it than he expected.

While entirely different than the turf surface at the stadium that has been maligned by NFL players, the grass field with synthetic fibers stitched in to reduce the risk of divots and tears has drawn mixed reviews through the first seven games of the tournament there. After a nearly two-week break for staff to get it in the best condition possible, the most important game takes place there Sunday when Argentina and Spain meet in the final.

Neither team has played at the Meadowlands stadium yet, adding another element of uncertainty to the matchup.

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Lionel Messi once held baby Lamine Yamal in his arms. Now they will battle for the World Cup title

Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn’t think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal.

Now those images of the long-haired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer’s Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about — and gawked about — in the runup to Sunday’s World Cup final, when Messi’s Argentina will play Yamal’s Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport.

“I have never been a believer or thought that anything was destined to occur, but I am beginning to have my doubts. This is beyond all reasonable explanations,” Monfort told The Associated Press from his home in Barcelona on Friday.

Monfort, who works as a freelance photojournalist for the AP, took the photos in 2007 as part of a charity calendar produced by local newspaper Sport and UNICEF.

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Biggest World Cup also means biggest pot of prize money

The tournament grew from 32 teams to 48 for the 2026 World Cup and the prize money hit record amounts as well.

FIFA says the winner of the Argentina-Spain final will receive $51 million. That’s up from the $42 million paid to Argentina for winning the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

The runner-up will get $34 million.

The total prize pool for the tournament staged in the United States, Mexico and Canada is $871 million, up from $440 million in 2022.

All 48 teams were guaranteed at least $12.5 million.

Messi and Argentina will face Yamal and Spain for the title

The best offense. The best defense.

The World Cup final will be a clash of styles. Lionel Messi — the most prolific goal scorer in the tournament’s history — and defending champion Argentina will take on Spain’s defensive juggernaut on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Spain beat France in one semifinal on Tuesday; Argentina, the comeback king of this tournament, rallied to beat England 2-1 in the other semifinal on Wednesday.

Argentina is seeking its fourth title and is looking to become the first back-to-back World Cup champion since Brazil pulled off the feat in 1958 and 1962. Spain is looking for its second title, after winning in 2010.

Something will have to give on Sunday, when the biggest World Cup ever — a 48-team, 104-match extravaganza spread out over the U.S., Canada and Mexico — comes to an end.

It’s not Finalissima. It’s going to be better.

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This story was updated to remove a quote mistakenly attributed to Lionel Messi that was actually coach Lionel Scaloni.

According to a Galveston Police Department Facebook post, the break-ins happened Tuesday and Wednesday.

Investigators have found many victims on local Facebook pages and believe there may be more people who don’t know their stolen property has been recovered.

They are asking anyone who parked in that area to check their vehicles to see if there are items that are now missing.

Investigators want all victims to contact the GPD Criminal Investigations Division at 409-765-3779 so officers can return their belongings.

So on Thursday morning, as she watched her home camera feed from the safety of her parents’, she couldn’t grasp how 2 feet of water was flooding her house. Balderas never heard of flooding in her city or the neighborhood, let alone from the creek she never saw filled.

“It’s something that you don’t really know the magnitude to it until you’re actually in that position,” Balderas said.

Balderas’ home was far from the only one torn through Thursday morning when Uvalde “almost became an island” after record-breaking flooding, as Gov. Greg Abbott described it. Rushing water exposed house foundations, blew open garage doors and ripped out air conditioning units. Now assessing the damage on Friday, families said they never thought such vicious flooding was even possible in their South Texas town.

Gov,. Greg Abbott holds a major disaster declaration after signing it in Uvalde on July 17, 2026. Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune

Uvalde received heavy rain for three days, totaling more than 2 feet in certain locations, according to the National Weather Service. One rain gauge in Uvalde County measured more than 10 inches Tuesday night and an additional 6 inches Thursday morning.

The river gauge for the nearby Nueces River rose above major flood stage at 17 feet by 3 p.m. Wednesday. It crested on Thursday evening at 28 feet, surpassing the previous record of nearly 25 feet set in 1996. It remained above the flood stage until Friday morning.

During that time, water scattered debris and broke into homes.

The city was prepared, however, and Balderas’ neighborhood was evacuated Wednesday evening before water leapt from the Nueces and Leona rivers nearby. Balderas was concerned but didn’t leave when officers came the first time; when they returned two hours later, their tone told her it was urgent.

Kimberly Rubio’s family wasn’t prepared when law enforcement knocked on the door urging them to leave before flooding reached their home. They grabbed a few essentials and what was most important: a backpack and drawings from her daughter Lexi, who was killed in the 2022 Robb Elementary shooting.

“That’s what we grabbed. Everything else doesn’t matter,” Rubio said.

Rubio returned Thursday evening, wading through water to assess the damage before leaving again to avoid the additional flooding expected through that night. By Friday afternoon, she and family friends tossed ruined furniture to take to the landfill and marked wooden windowsills that would need to be replaced.

Few of those most affected by the flood navigated the aftermath alone. Families, neighbors and community members among the city’s 15,000 residents flocked to waterlogged homes to help with cleanup, bring food or just check in.

Aracely Balderas shows a photo taken by her home camera during the flood in Uvalde. Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune

Furniture in Delia Matas’ home after the July 16 flood in Uvalde on July 17, 2026. Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune

Matas spent Friday afternoon cleaning up the first floor of the family home. Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune

Julio Valdez, a restaurant owner, brought dozens of enchilada plates into Rubio’s neighborhood to hand out to those picking through debris looking for anything salvageable.

Delia Matas spent Friday afternoon cleaning up what was left in the first floor of the family home not totally destroyed by gray muck, aided by distant relatives and strangers. Kid volunteers raised different clothes up for inspection while Matas decided what could be kept as she helped wheel leather sofas away.

“It’s so hard without help,” Matas said. “These people who just came to help out, and they showed up.”

Matas, too, was shocked that the creek and Leona River had swollen enough to reach their homes. She had never heard anything like it.

Even with the disastrous flooding, though, residents’ daily lives march on.

Balderas’ first thought after the shock of seeing her home overrun with floodwater was simple: she still has to go to work. The registered nurse took comfort knowing she could do something as the flooding blocked other coworkers from reaching the hospital.

The sadness is hard to navigate on top of her responsibilities and the cleanup, she said.

“You don’t know until you’re actually put in those positions,” Balderas said. “I’m like, there’s really nothing else. Just pray and work for now.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino got some serious air time over the course of the 2026 World Cup, the tournament's most far-flung edition ever. He crisscrossed North America for matches, meetings and other appearances during the competition, which took place in three countries, 16 cities and four time zones, and ended with Sunday's final in New Jersey.

To track his travels, The Associated Press analyzed flight logs for a private business jet used by Infantino in recent years, along with photos taken by AP photographers and images posted on Instagram by FIFA and the head of world soccer's governing body himself. The analysis shows that by the time Spain defeated Argentina for the world title, he flew far enough to circle the planet almost 2 1/2 times.

Access to a Gulfstream G650 jet from the fleet of the Qatari government made Infantino's prodigious jet-setting possible. The aircraft is operated by the private charter division of Qatar Airways, a World Cup sponsor.

Since a June 9 flight from Los Angeles to Mexico City ahead of the tournament's opening match, the aircraft averaged more than one flight a day and on multiple days made more than three, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.

Along with attending matches, Infantino’s itinerary included stops in New York for an interview on Fox & Friends and in Miami for a FIFA summit attended by representatives from the organization’s 211 member associations. He also flew to Doha to attend the funeral of Qatar’s former emir before returning to the U.S. in time for the World Cup semifinals.

FIFA did not respond to an emailed request for comment about Infantino’s travel schedule and arrangements.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers racked up by the person overseeing the 39-day tournament that featured a record 104 matches spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, the largest geographic footprint in World Cup history.

44 matches

The number of World Cup matches Infantino attended during the tournament, according to AP's analysis. He was at a World Cup game on 31 of the tournament’s 34 match days but managed to squeeze in two matches on some days.

One of the two match days he missed was spent in Miami for the FIFA Executive Football Summits. FlightAware showed the Gulfstream originally was scheduled to fly from New Jersey to Miami in time for Saturday's third-place match between England and France but never took off. Thunderstorms caused flight delays at New York City area airports on Saturday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

16 stadiums

Infantino saw at least one match at all 16 World Cup venues. Miami's Hard Rock Stadium, where he attended five games, is the venue he visited the most.

13

The number of days Infantino attended two matches, often at stadiums located hundreds of miles apart.

21 airports

The Gulfstream mostly used the host cities' main international airports during the tournament but sometimes relied on smaller general and business aviation airports, including Atlanta's Fulton County Executive Airport and Miami's Opa Locka Executive Airport.

23

The number of international border crossings the jet made within North America through the semifinals.

115 flight hours

The flight time the Gulfstream amassed during the tournament, not including repositioning flights and 29 hours of travel for the funeral in Qatar, equals nearly five full days in the air and would be enough for a commercial plane traveling at typical cruising speed to fly from New York to Los Angeles 20 times.

5 hours and 44 minutes

Excluding the journey to Qatar, the flight that took the longest lasted 344 minutes and went from Miami to Seattle, where Infantino attended the Belgium-Egypt match on June 15. The flight time is the same length as three full World Cup matches from kickoff to final whistle.

28 minutes

The shortest flight time, excluding repositioning flights, was a 28-minute hop from Seattle to Vancouver on July 6 — about the length of a network TV sitcom like “Friends” with commercials. Infantino attended the United States-Belgium match in Seattle that day before watching Switzerland face Colombia in Vancouver the following day.

59,281 miles (95,403 kilometers)

The distance the jet traveled during the tournament, excluding the journey to Qatar and back for the funeral, according to the AP analysis. That's more than round-trip flights between New York and Singapore, Los Angeles and Doha, Qatar, and London and the Australian city of Perth combined.

5,772 miles (9,289 kilometers)

The most miles covered in a single day’s itinerary were flown on June 26, which started with a morning trip from Miami to Dallas. From there, the plane went to Seattle, where Infantino attended the Egypt-Iran match. The final leg departed Seattle late that night and landed the next morning in Miami. Infantino watched Colombia face Portugal there.

50%

FIFA has pledged to reduce carbon emissions from the World Cup and related activities by half by 2030 and has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2040. The organization’s 2026 World Cup sustainability and human rights strategy says it is committed to addressing climate change.

Climate researchers and environmental groups have argued that the expanded, three-country tournament was likely to produce the most atmosphere-polluting greenhouse gases of any World Cup emissions and be the most carbon-intensive World Cup ever because of the extensive air travel required for teams, fans and officials.

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Associated Press journalist Graham Dunbar in Geneva, Switzerland contributed to this report.

Eagle Pass shut down transit at two bridges for about three hours Thursday while it worked to determine whether the approximately 100 buoys posed a threat, City Manager Homero Balderas said. About 9,000 vehicles cross both bridges daily, transiting between Eagle Pass and Las Piedras. 

“The bridges are the number one funding source for the city,” Balderas said, adding the wayward buoys didn’t immediately endanger the bridges. “So it is very detrimental. Luckily, we were able to temporarily close, just to make sure that there were no safety concerns with the buoys floating downriver and obviously passing under the bridges.”

River levels at the Rio Grande began rising Thursday after relentless rain pummeled the Hill Country and parts of southeast Texas, according to the National Weather Service. 

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson said a government contractor was responsible for the buoys staged at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass and was working with the agency to retrieve them. The buoys were not ready to be deployed or anchored in the river. 

“Waterborne barriers are intended to create a safer border environment for patrolling agents, as well as deter migrants from attempting to illegally cross the border through dangerous waterways,” the spokesperson said.

State Rep. Eddie Morales Jr., D-Eagle Pass, said on social media that personnel had already begun removing the adrift buoys. Shipping containers and temporary fencing had been removed from Shelby Park, Morales said. 

In a statement, Morales said the buoys created “more unnecessary obstacles for first responders.” 

“I have always been opposed to these buoys because I did not believe they would be effective and now we are seeing even more consequences,” he said. “There is deep concern not just with the buoys, but the hundreds of miles of razor wire that may have been dislodged from the riverbank as well. We should begin to have the necessary conversations about removing these barriers and return to a sense of normalcy to our communities, while ensuring our border is both safe and secure.”

Some of the buoys still reached Laredo, a major border city that is more than 100 miles southwest from Eagle Pass.

As a result, the City of Laredo said early Sunday afternoon that federal crews were working to extract the buoys lodged at the base of the World Trade Bridge, prompting commercial traffic to be diverted to the Colombia Solidarity Bridge. The bridges were about a 40-minutes drive apart as of 4:15 p.m., with Google Maps on Sunday afternoon warning about “slower traffic than usual.”

The city’s statement added that there was no sign of structural damage to the World Trade Bridge — which is one of the busiest commercial ports of entry in the country — but the buoys needed to be removed so that engineers could fully evaluate the bridge. Hours later, the city announced that normal commercial operations will resume on Monday. 

“The safety of our community will always be our highest priority,” Laredo Mayor Victor D. Treviño said in the statement. “I appreciate the collaboration of our local, state, federal, and Mexican partners, as well as the patience of the trade community, as we worked together to protect this critical international crossing.”

Atlanta also will receive Ryan Nembhard from Dallas and the Thunder will be getting three heavily protected second-round draft picks. The NBA signed off on the trade Sunday.

The trade allows the Thunder to shed the salary needed to get below the second apron, gives the Hawks another top defender in Dort and gives the Mavericks a third No. 1 overall pick — the most currently on one roster in the NBA. Risacher will be joining 2011 top pick Kyrie Irving and 2025 top pick Cooper Flagg in Dallas.

Dort averaged 11.6 points over his first seven seasons, all with the Thunder. Risacher — a runner-up for rookie of the year in 2024-25 — averaged 11.1 points in two seasons with Atlanta and Nembhard averaged 6.6 points for Dallas as a rookie this past season.

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

“It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it’s going to remain,” Trump said Friday at a FIFA reception at Trump Tower in New York City. “This has really brought the world together.”

For the White House, Sunday’s match was the culmination of well over a year of navigating a litany of logistical challenges alongside co-hosts Canada and Mexico for what would be the biggest World Cup in history. It had to balance the Trump administration’s hard-line migration policies that barred fans from some World Cup qualifier countries from entry into the United States.

Spain won the tournament with a 1-0 victory over defending champion Argentina.

After Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented them with the trophy, Trump stood alongside the team as they jumped up and down and gold confetti shot out of a cannon.

Later, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump said he took pride in the country's success as a host, adding that “all over the world, people have come and they love our country.” He described the final as a close and exciting match, praising Spain for a dominant performance.

He arrived at Sunday's final with a flyover in the presidential helicopter, Marine One. Before the game even kicked off, Trump was already proposing another U.S. bid to host the tournament, sending a nudge to Infantino.

“I had a great idea for Gianni: You have to do two countries. Announce us again next time, and then announce another country after that. It’ll take out some of the anger and the shock,” Trump said on Fox Sports. “Based on the numbers, we will be requesting it again immediately.”

The president declined to pick sides in the final but said it would be difficult to beat Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. Trump got a close look at the World Cup trophy when it was presented to him at his box seat during the first half. Video footage showed the president smiling and patting the gold trophy as it was held up to him. Also in the box were first lady Melania Trump and Infantino, among others.

Soccer fans enjoy US culture despite warnings

The White House faced warnings from human rights groups, and the tournament confronted backlash over high ticket prices. For months, Trump flirted with the idea of moving games out of cities that did not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and in the weeks before the tournament’s start, local authorities sparred with FIFA over high transit costs, heightening tensions even more.

As the first games were preparing to begin, the administration continued to find itself under global scrutiny for its visa decisions, such as denying entry to a referee from Somalia who had won accolades for his officiating. The pressure increased after Trump launched a war with Iran, leaving the administration to grapple with an Iranian team whose fans and some supporting personnel were barred from the U.S, and that ultimately was based across the border in Tijuana.

But the broader story of the World Cup eventually shifted. Social media was flooded with tales of soccer fans from around the world enjoying the treats and traditions of the U.S., from beer to ranch dressing. Some fears about the Trump administration that circulated beforehand, such as the threat of immigration enforcement raids near the games, never materialized.

“One of the things that we talked about beforehand was, if we’re talking about what happened on the pitch, then we’ve done our job,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But I think it’s even better than that. We’re not just talking about only the incredible, athletic feats on the pitch, but we’re talking about all these incredible, incredible cultural moments.”

Still, Trump did create controversy with a phone call he made to Infantino earlier this month in which he asked for a review of a controversial referee call in Team USA’s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The referee gave a red card to U.S. star forward Folarin Balogun, meaning he wouldn’t be able to play in the subsequent match against Belgium.

Trump says he simply asked Infantino, who has cozied up to the U.S. president and faced backlash for doing so, to review the call. FIFA then reversed the call, and Trump told Infantino at the FIFA reception on Friday that “you made another great decision, if you think about it," because it allowed the U.S. to keep a key player on the field even though the team lost the match to Belgium 4-1.

Giuliani said the administration had a “duty” to ask questions and raise concerns about the officiating process, which drew scrutiny because of the use of video review and slow-motion replay to issue the red card. He noted that the Trump administration invested billions in federal funding to ensure that the World Cup was “not just a safe and secure event, not just where we welcomed the world, but an event that was filled with integrity.”

More global sporting events coming to the US

The Trump administration was under considerable pressure to pull off a successful World Cup tournament because the U.S. will soon host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The U.S. is also largely expected to be awarded the 2031 Women’s World Cup, although Giuliani said in the AP interview that part of getting those hosting duties will be “ensuring that, in fact, women and only women will play in that 2031 Women’s World Cup” — an allusion to the Trump administration’s fierce opposition to transgender women participating in women’s sports.

The U.S. faced broader tensions with its World Cup co-hosts of Canada and Mexico. Trump announced stiff tariffs on both countries in his return to the White House, and he has chosen not to renew a trade pact among the three countries, setting up a new period of negotiations.

On Friday, Trump threatened to tariff Canada over its wildfires, which have hurt air quality in parts of the U.S., including northern New Jersey where the World Cup final is being held. He joked on Friday that FIFA should choose the U.S. for the World Cup soon again, and “this time, we’ll leave Mexico and Canada out.”

Still, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended the final at Trump’s request, in a sign that soccer can overcome some geopolitical tensions.

Trump, as is generally customary for heads of state hosting the tournament, presented the trophy to the eventual winner. But he didn't tip his hand beforehand about whether he had a preferred team.

Spain is a known irritant to Trump, with its reticence to meet NATO defense spending goals and its refusal to let the U.S. launch strikes against Iran from its bases. Meanwhile, Argentine President Javier Milei is a favorite of the Trump administration, with the U.S. president going as far as to threaten to cut aid to the country if Milei’s coalition didn’t prevail in legislative elections.

Spain’s King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attended the game, although Milei — citing superstition — stayed home.

___ See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.

Shortly after winning the World Cup title Sunday, the Spaniards claimed all three individual player awards, keeping Messi from leaving with any more personal hardware.

Rodri won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, Unai Simón won the Golden Glove for the top performance by a goalkeeper, and Pau Cubarsí won the Best Young Player Award, beating out fellow 19-year-old teammate Lamine Yamal.

Messi was hoping to win a record-extending third Golden Ball, adding to his 2014 and 2022 honors. He’s already the only player to win the award multiple times since it was first given in 1978, and sparking Argentina’s run to a second straight final at age 39 gave him a strong case for another.

But the award went to Rodri for captaining Spain's run to its second World Cup title after the Manchester City midfielder struggled early after returning in May 2025 from knee surgery that sidelined him eight months.

“For me, it’s been a very tough time. I just want the new generation to see my example as an opportunity to that if you go down, you can rise again,” he said. “This is my philosophy my entire life. Of course, sometimes things go well, things go wrong. But always the positive.”

Rodri had no goals or assists in the tournament, but he was critical to Spain’s possession-heavy style of play. He completed more passes than anyone (753) with 94% accuracy. He was involved in 1,803 plays, according to FIFA stats, nearly 200 more than anyone else in this World Cup.

“I heard that at the beginning of the tournament I wasn’t able to play, now that I recovered my shape. I tried not to listen too much,” Rodri said on the eve of the final. “I’ve always been confident of myself. I think one of the big parts of my game is trying to replicate this accuracy in terms of passing and being very safe with the ball.”

Rodri became just the 11th man to win the World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d’Or — the biggest individual award in soccer, awarded for soccer's player of the year, which he won in 2024 when Spain won the European title.

FIFA says the Golden Ball was awarded to the best player in the tournament based on a ranking compiled by the FIFA Technical Study Group. Messi won the Silver Ball and Mbappé the Bronze Ball.

Simón set a record with his seven shutouts in the tournament, allowing just one goal in eight games. Cubarsí, the Barcelona defender, helped anchor Spain's record-setting defensive effort and had the most completed passes in the final.

Cubarsí and Yamal became the first teenagers to start for the winning team in the World Cup final since Mbappé was also 19 when France won the 2018 title. He won that young player award that year.

Mbappé totaled 10 goals and four assists this time for a France team that finished fourth. Messi ended up with eight goals and four assists after going without a goal or an assist Sunday for the first time in his last 12 World Cup games.

The Golden Boot is one of the few things Messi has never won in his storied career, but he went into the final weekend with the lead. Both Messi and Mbappé had eight goals through the semifinals, but Messi owned the tiebreaker with one more assist.

Mbappé then scored two goals and had an assist Saturday in France’s 6-4 loss to England in the third-place game, making him the first player with 10 goals in a World Cup since Germany great Gerd Müller had 10 in 1970. Mbappé has 22 career World Cup goals, one better than Messi for the tournament record.

Messi only had one attempt Sunday that momentarily appeared dangerous, a bending left-footed shot in the 115th minute that landed on top of the net. He came into the game with a chance to become the first Golden Boot winner to play for the champion since Ronaldo scored eight goals when Brazil won the title in 2002.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI double in the third inning and an RBI single in the eighth, when the Dodgers sent 11 batters to the plate and broke it open with five runs charged to Yankees reliever Jake Bird.

Teoscar Hernández had an RBI double, Tommy Edman delivered a two-run single and Freddie Freeman added a sacrifice fly to go with his RBI single that knocked in Ohtani with two outs in the third.

Edman scored three times from the No. 9 spot in the batting order. Andy Pages blooped an RBI double that chased Cam Schlittler (9-6), who struck out eight and walked none but needed 98 pitches to get through 4 1/3 innings.

After a rainout Saturday night, an efficient Yamamoto (10-6) easily outpitched Schlittler in a marquee matchup of All-Stars. The 2025 World Series MVP struck out seven and walked none, throwing 69 of his 102 pitches for strikes in becoming the 11th major leaguer to toss a complete game this season.

The right-hander pitched two complete games in the postseason last year, a three-hitter against Milwaukee in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series and a four-hitter against Toronto in Game 2 of the World Series.

The previous pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete game against the Yankees in the regular season was Miami right-hander Sandy Alcantara in August 2023.

New York has been outscored 65-24 while losing nine of its last 10 home games.

Los Angeles has won the first two games in a highly anticipated three-game set, its first visit to the Bronx since winning the 2024 World Series. The two-time defending champion Dodgers improved to a major league-best 63-36 while New York (54-44) dropped to 18-21 without captain Aaron Judge, who is sidelined by a fractured rib.

Yamamoto retired his first nine batters on 28 pitches before Trent Grisham homered into the second deck in right field on a 2-0 fastball leading off the fourth.

Anthony Volpe had an RBI single in the eighth after Jazz Chisholm Jr. was gifted a leadoff double when Pages lost his flyball to center in the sun.

New York also lost two popups in the sun that dropped untouched.

Between games, the Yankees optioned Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and recalled right-hander Kervin Castro.

Up next

In the nightcap, Los Angeles scheduled RHP Will Klein as the opener in a bullpen game. LHP Ryan Yarbrough was set to be the opener for New York.

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

The show at what's otherwise known as MetLife Stadium, outside New York, was an attempt to bring Super Bowl vibes to the World Cup, but the 11-minute performance was considerably more packed than the usual one-headliner, 13-minute American football counterpart. Each headliner here spent about two minutes performing.

Madonna opened the show with her 2000 dance-pop hit “Music,” joined by star Brazilian soccer players of yesteryear, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. It started with an apparently prerecorded piece in a roller rink before she rode into the stadium on a dune buggy, singing, “Music, makes the people come together.”

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel led an orchestra through the White Stripes’ sports anthem “Seven Nation Army,” while the Muppets house band — including drummer Animal in lieu of Meg White — provided furry shakes in the background.

K-pop sensations BTS took to the field in variations of red and black moments later singing “Dynamite” following a nod to Norway's Viking row.

Promoting the upcoming season of “Ted Lasso,” Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, in character, pumped up Justin Bieber, who changed the tempo with “Everything Hallelujah,” performed with an acoustic guitar and a casual feel.

“Alright young man, let’s go! It’s your big shot!” Sudeikis said to Bieber. “Go out there, don’t be nervous, nobody’s watching.”

Shakira and Burna Boy followed with their official World Cup anthem “Dai Dai,” heard before all 104 kickoffs during this tournament. The Colombian superstar was barefoot, wearing a dress of yellow and pink feathers and surrounded by similarly clad dancers — including a group of children — before the Afrobeats icon joined her in the song whose refrain is an Italian version of “Let's go!”

Shakira has virtually made a genre out of World Cup songs, including 2010's “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).”

The show wrapped with the PS22 Chorus of elementary-school students from Staten Island, backed by Dudamel and joined by Chris Martin — the Coldplay singer who curated the performance — along with Shakira and many more Muppets and “Sesame Street” characters, including Kermit, Miss Piggy, Count von Count and Cookie Monster.

Dudamel and about 40 musicians — about half from the New York Philharmonic and half from Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra — were on the field, though their music was prerecorded Wednesday at the Manhattan Center.

Afterward, Javier Bardem was among the Spanish fans at the stadium celebrating their home country's second World Cup win. Bardem danced and pumped his fist as he celebrated the win.

Other stars at the game included Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner, and Matt Damon, who was having a big weekend with the epic opening of “The Odyssey.” He was with his wife, Luciana Barroso Damon, who wore the colors of her native Argentina.

Jennifer Hudson, Post Malone and Tom Cruise opened with closing ceremony

Jennifer Hudson, Robbie Williams and others performed a slew of anthems, Post Malone brought an old hit and a new tune and Tom Cruise gave an earnest hype-'em-up speech in the pre-match closing ceremony.

British singer and former Take That member Williams performed his FIFA anthem “Desire,” wearing a blue bedazzled track suit. He was joined by Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger and Italian singer Laura Pausini in blue spangled gowns. Williams had released the song a year ago but dropped a new version with the two women earlier in the week.

The streamer IShowSpeed took the field first to perform his World Cup-themed song “Champions,” atop an image of the Empire State Building. Next was Post Malone, who walked on to the New York/New Jersey Stadium pitch covered with a tarp showing the New York skyline. He sung a brand new song, “Chrome Heartbreaker,” and was joined by Swae Lee to perform their 2018 duet “Sunflower” on a hexagon-heavy stage in the center of the field.

Cruise, who was also part of the Paris Olympics’ closing ceremony, followed them with a speech delivered in polo shirt and jeans.

“Today only two teams remain: España!” Cruise said, pausing for cheers before adding, “y Argentina!”

“Let us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together,” he said.

Most of the national anthems were piped in during the tournament, but they were performed live on Sunday. EGOT winner and talk show host Jennifer Hudson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Wearing a white suit with red, white and blue trim, she stood in front of a bank of flags of the world, singing a cappella before being joined by a brass band.

Spanish Brass played Spain's instrumental “La Marcha Real,” followed by Argentina’s “Himno Nacional Argentino,” sung by pop star María Becerra, clad in a flowing dress reminiscent of the Argentine flag.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Born Sunday, Alec Neel Vance joins older siblings Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4.

Vance announced the birth on social media with a statement signed by him and his wife.

“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother,” the statement said.

They thanked doctors and staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and with the White House medical team.

The Republican vice president’s growing family is in keeping with his passionate advocacy for Americans to have more children. He has also suggested that the 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was his friend, factored into the decision to have another child.

Vance, a former U.S. Marine, repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates in America as he launched his political career in 2021 with a bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. As vice president, he said in Washington at the 2025 March for Life anti-abortion rally, “I want more babies in the United States of America.”

The vice president, who’s 41, has been accompanied on overseas trips by Usha Vance, 40, and their children, with the kids often pajama-clad as they board Air Force Two for the overnight flights.

Usha Vance, the daughter of immigrants from India, had already been the subject of some public fascination because of her husband. Her pregnancy, which was announced in January, amplified that spotlight since it is rare for occupants of the United States’ highest public offices to add to their families while serving.

The last time a sitting vice president became a new father was in the 1800s.

Schuyler Colfax and his second wife, Ellen Wade, had a son, Schuyler Colfax III, in 1870 when Colfax was serving as vice president, according to the White House Historical Association. Decades before that, John C. Calhoun and his wife, Floride Bonneau, had a son, William, in 1829 when Calhoun was vice president, the association said.

The newest addition to Vance’s family was part of a recent mini baby boom among top members of President Donald Trump’s administration. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, recently gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had her second child with her husband, Nicholas Riccio, in May.

Usha Vance recently came under scrutiny after The New York Times’ fashion critic called attention to the stomach-hugging, coral maternity dress she wore for a Father’s Day episode of “Storytime with the Second Lady,” a video podcast she launched during the pregnancy.

The Times wrote that the attention that Vance, Miller and Leavitt had put on their pregnancies offered “an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement,” which encourages couples to have as many children as possible to counter declining birth rates.

The second lady responded on social media, writing, “Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady.” She later shared the receipt for the dress, and her husband applauded her frugality.

“She bought a $50 dress for $8.75. America: meet your next director of the federal budget!” the vice president wrote on social media.

JD Vance has said it was Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, telling them that she wished she’d had more than two children with her husband before he was assassinated last September in Utah that led him and the second lady to decide to grow their family. Usha Vance, a former attorney who once clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, concurred — in part.

“It was very powerful, what (Erika) said about her own family, and certainly very moving to both of us. I think I had already started to open my mind to the possibility,” Usha Vance said during a joint interview with her husband for “CBS Sunday Morning” that aired in June. “I wouldn’t say that this was, for me in any way, the decisive factor. But it came in the middle of a conversation that we were already having.”

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Follow the AP’s coverage of Vice President JD Vance at https://apnews.com/hub/jd-vance.

Tiny particles in the air can cause a range of short-term and chronic health issues, experts say.

Wildfire smoke can settle over cities for days — like the recent blanket over parts of the U.S. from burning fires in Canada, which has created hazardous air for millions of people across multiple states.

Health officials advise people to stay indoors — and to take steps to keep the air in your home clean.

How to safely run your AC

If you have central air conditioning, it should clean the air in your home.

Make sure filters are replaced on schedule and are of the highest level of filtration your system can handle. Filters rated MERV 13 or higher are ideal. Set the air to recirculate and close any vents that pull air from outside if you can. The University of Oregon's Center for Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice recommends running the system's fan through the entire smoke event, not just when cooling.

If you buy a portable air filter, look for a HEPA air filter or one that says it traps small particles of pollution. Ensure it does not generate ozone, another harmful air pollutant.

If you can only afford one portable air filter, use it to create a “clean room” in your house where you can spend most of your time.

“The basic message is that something is better than nothing,” said Amy Kalkbrenner, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The science behind DIY air filters

There’s good evidence that DIY filters made by duct-taping furnace air filters to a box fan work.

They’re simple, relatively affordable and scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have found they are just as good at removing fine particles of pollution from the air as a small commercial air purifier.

“The good news is they really work,” said Kalkbrenner.

All you need to have to make one is: four 20-by-20-inch (50.8-by-50.8-centimeters) furnace air filters rated MERV 13 or higher, a box fan, cardboard and duct tape. The EPA's website shows how you can modify the design to only use one or two filters. The fan should blow out, and the arrows on the filters should point in. Make sure everything is taped up airtight.

Using your window AC and cooling your air safely

Many window air conditioners, mini-split heat exchangers and portable air conditioners don’t have the filters needed to remove fine pollution particles. But heat can also be dangerous.

“When smoke and heat occur together, the impacts on your health are even greater than when they occur by themselves,” said Jess Downey, a researcher at the University of Oregon’s Center for Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice

Downey said the ideal scenario is running the AC unit and using an air purifier or a DIY box fan filter to clean the air. Make sure your AC is well-sealed in your window frame, she added.

Make sure the window units are set to recirculate air. Portable units with a single hose should be used sparingly, according to the University of Oregon wildfire smoke center.

If you don't have AC, any reprieve from hot, smoky air is important. Head to the library, shopping mall or other space with clean, cool air.

Ways to seal up a home to keep hazardous air out

Whether it's a towel, some tape, or something else — plug areas where air could enter from outside.

“Being from Chicago, I think you can liken it to trying to keep the cold air out,” said Dr. Khalilah Gates, a lung doctor with Northwestern Medicine. “Any areas in which air can come in, consider sealing up those areas to reduce the amount that's coming into the home.”

When smoke levels are high, experts recommend avoiding anything that burns — candles, fireplaces, even gas stoves — so plan ahead with some meal prep.

How wildfire smoke affects the body

Exposure to wildfire smoke can lead to shortness of breath, chest tightness, headaches, and a burning sensation in the nose and eyes.

“When you ever start to feel those symptoms and they’re not severe, it’s important to acknowledge, ‘Oh, my body is responding to this. I need to move away from it. I need to move inside,'” Gates said.

If you're wheezing, can't catch your breath or are in distress, get to the emergency room immediately, she 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 deaths reflect the complicated reality that American boots don’t need to be on the ground for there to be lethal risks in a conflict that involves drones, missiles and airplanes. American forces are arrayed across the Middle East, making other nations targets of Iran as the fighting has escalated after a breakdown in peace talks.

President Donald Trump has said the war is necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

First fatalities came soon after the war started

Shortly after the war began on Feb. 28, an Iranian drone strike at a civilian port in Kuwait killed six American soldiers. The soldiers were part of a supply and logistics unit based in Iowa who were working at a shipping container-style building that had no defenses.

A seventh soldier died more than a week after being wounded during a March 1 attack by Iran on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Later in March, six service members were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting U.S. military operations against Iran crashed in Iraq. The aircraft was in “friendly” airspace when an unspecified incident involving another aircraft took place, according to U.S. Central Command.

On Monday, the U.S. military said a Navy pilot died in a helicopter crash in the Arabian Sea. The Navy initially described the July 1 crash as an emergency landing and said there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.” The remaining three sailors aboard the helicopter were rescued.

Drones and missiles still claiming lives

On Saturday, the U.S. Central Command said two service members were killed in Jordan on Friday while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. A third service member was missing after that attack, and the military said Sunday that “unidentified remains” were found and were being examined.

The latest U.S. military death from the conflict was on Saturday in northern Iraq when an American service member in northern Iraq was killed during a “controlled detonation” of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. A second service member was wounded and was receiving medical treatment for a minor injury.

The military said it was withholding additional information, including the names of the deceased, until 24 hours after families had been notified.

The deaths in the war are not limited to Americans.

Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in U.S. strikes in the past three weeks, including eight killed in a strike on a bridge Friday.

People working on ships, as well as foreign workers and others in Gulf nations, Israel and Lebanon have also perished in the conflict.

———

Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

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This story first moved July 18, 2026. It was updated July 19, 2026, with a 17th U.S. death.

But have you ever really walked it?

Not just hurried to a destination, but looked up at the skyline and wondered what stood there before the high-rises. Or stopped to admire the historic buildings still holding their own in modern Houston.

Since 1978, Preservation Houston has worked with volunteers, grassroots organizations and community members to help protect the city’s historic places. Some buildings — like POST Houston — have been repurposed to serve Houstonians today while preserving pieces of the city’s past.

The organization shares those stories through outreach programs and walking tours across the city — including stories about areas with an unusual past. Watch the teaser below about a spirit that told a businessman to build a Houston railroad.

Upcoming Walking Tours

Westmoreland Architecture Walk

Sunday, Aug. 9

6 p.m.

Woodland Heights Architecture Walk

Sunday, Sept. 13

6 p.m.

Historic Glenwood Cemetery Part II walking tour: Houston After Oil

Saturday, Sept. 26

10 a.m.

For more information about walking tours and how you can help, visit preservationhouston.org.

For a closer look at some of the historic buildings that have shaped Houston’s story — and the efforts to make sure they’re not forgotten — watch the video above.

But the film itself, which brought in more than $260 million worldwide during its opening weekend and has received raves from many critics, left her unsatisfied.

“I want to celebrate the fact that so many more people are aware of 'The Odyssey' and were brought back to the poem,” she told The Associated Press. “But at the same time, I had the sense that Christopher Nolan was trying to pack everything in while missing themes that were essential to the poem.”

One of the year's most anticipated releases, “The Odyssey” stars Matt Damon as the returning warrior Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as his wife, Penelope, and Tom Holland as their son, Telemachus. Reviewers have praised the acting and the narrative drive, the grand scale of a movie shot entirely on IMAX film and how it weds the sensibilities of ancient Greece and the modern world, at least as Nolan perceives it.

The divide between scholars and critics seems in part a matter of whether the balance should tilt toward Nolan or Homer. Wilson and fellow translator Daniel Mendelsohn both expressed admiration for Nolan's cinematic flair and ambition, what Mendelsohn calls his “great visual panache.” Both speculated that his desire to make a “Christopher Nolan” movie led to unfortunate decisions.

Mendelsohn is an author, critic and translator and his assessment appeared Friday in The New York Review of Books, where he is an editor-at-large.

Mendelsohn had previously defended Nolan's controversial decision to cast a Black actor, Lupita Nyong’o, as Helen of Troy, calling it a worthy way to “provoke, challenge and discomfit how we think about beauty and identity.” But he faulted the director for giving us an Odysseus with “no cleverness, no humor, no wily charm.” One of the Western canon's formative tricksters has been transformed, he contended, into the kind of haunted protagonist featured in such previous Nolan movies as “Oppenheimer” and “Memento.”

“This tormented, guilt-ridden Odysseus, stripped of humor and wit, seductiveness and cleverness, is a sibling of Memento’s anguished amnesiac, of Batman, of Oppenheimer, men tormented by pasts they wrestle with in different ways,” wrote Mendelsohn, whose “Odyssey” translation came out in 2025. “Nolan has merely remade Homer’s hero in his own image.”

Author Gareth Hinds, whose graphic novel adaptation of “The Odyssey” has also received a sales bump from the movie, had a response similar to Mendelsohn's about Nolan's interpretation of Odysseus. The “wily trickster and smooth talker” is now an “everyman who appears to be honorable, except in select situations which then continue to haunt him.” For Hinds, Nolan's film raises the question of how much you can change a story's main character before the story itself is changed entirely.

“That’s one of many interesting things Nolan has left us to ponder,” says Hinds, who credits the director for creating a “powerful film.”

Wilson, a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said she didn't want to come across as a “snobby,” nitpicking expert at odds with any deviation from the original text. But she questioned a range of omissions and other choices, from the absence on screen of the Gods Zeus and Poseidon (Athena is played by Zendaya ) to the “incoherent” messaging that condemns both war and physical cowardice. She found Penelope's role so thinned out that it endangered “any possibility of believing in this marriage.” Wilson also that thought parts of the movie, notably the scenes with Odysseus' dog, Argos, “catered towards modern sentimentality.”

“Everybody's a sucker for a dog,” she said.

A spokesperson for Nolan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wilson declined to offer a grade or ranking for the movie, but said she would recommend it for others, as long as they see it in a theater.

“It was fun to be there with my kids. I didn’t feel it was pulling teeth to engage with it,” she said. “If you can see it on a big screen you should absolutely go.”

For a 39-year-old from New Zealand, the son of an All Blacks rugby star who once only dreamed of having a card on any tour, this was no time to back down.

“I did say to my caddie Dean (Smith) that we were going to take it on, that I was going to try to win the tournament, and I'd live with the consequences if I stuffed it up,” Fox said.

It turned out to be the stuff of major champions.

The drive was powerful and pure. The 9-iron from 175 yards looked good in the air and even better on the ground when it settled 12 feet below the hole. The birdie putt was the biggest of his life.

Fox closed with four birdies over his last six holes — and one bogey that felt equally important — for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot victory over hard-luck Cameron Young for his first major title.

This was pure theater to cap off a week of so much drama — three record-tying rounds of 62, Bryson DeChambeau's animated protest over a two-shot penalty, Tommy Fleetwood thrilling and teasing his hometown crowd to massive ovations on every hole.

Four players had a share of the lead at some point in the final round. Young was atop the leaderboard for two hours without hitting a shot anywhere but the range because he finished his astonishing 6-under 64 as the last few groups were on the front nine.

Young was on the range when he heard the massive roar and knew it was over. He bowed his head, lifted his driver and tapped the ground before packing up when Fox made his final birdie.

“Everyone practices on the green — you've got a putt to win a major championship, to win The Open. It's not like that in real life. It's not a very comfortable feeling,” Fox said. “It's certainly very enjoyable when you see it go in.”

He thrust those powerful arms into the air and was on the phone with his family moments later and was heard telling them, "You asked me to bring a trophy home, and I am, aren’t I?”

His name will go on the base of that shiny claret jug along with another Kiwi, Bob Charles, who won the British Open in 1963. Michael Campbell is the other New Zealand man to win a major at Pinehurst No. 2 in the 2005 U.S. Open.

Fox's sterling moment brought more disappointment for Young. The American also finished one shot behind in the British Open at St. Andrews four years ago, and he had a Sunday lead on the front nine at the Masters until Rory McIlroy overtook him.

“I gave it everything I had all the way through,” Young said when he finished. He declined interviews when Fox ended the 154th Open.

Sam Burns, the 54-hole leader who was never planning to be at the Open until his wife gave birth to their daughter earlier than expected, lost a two-shot lead and didn't make birdie over the last 12 holes to finish two shots behind.

“I just couldn’t find them today. Just didn’t have my best stuff,” Burns said. “Given the circumstances, I’m very pleased with the week. I’m looking forward to being home.”

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler somehow managed to stick around until the end, getting two bad bounces that cost him momentum, then getting one big break for a most improbable birdie. He closed with a 67 and shared fourth with Fleetwood, who fell back early but delivered a birdie-birdie finish for a 68.

Missing from all drama, remarkably, was DeChambeau. He lost a golf ball and made triple bogey on the 11th hole and didn't make a birdie until he was well out of contention. That two-shot penalty he received Friday for improving the path of his swing wasn't an issue at the end. DeChambeau shot a 72 and tied for 14th.

Fox won for the 10th time worldwide, his biggest title before Sunday coming at the BMW PGA Championship in 2023. He is the oldest first-time major champion since Henrik Stenson was 40 at Royal Troon 10 years ago.

Fox finished at 10-under 270, got his hands on the jug and heard those magic words when he was introduced as the “Champion Golfer of the Year.”

“I’m not quite sure how I hit that putt on 18. Look, it is a dream come true,” Fox said. “Looking at that trophy now, it’s the first time I’ve seen it up close. So it’s pretty amazing.”

Young was flawless until the final hole, his tee shot finding a pot bunker. He tried to open the face of a 6-iron but caught it thin and it smacked into the vetted wall and into the rough. He hit the next shot into a greenside bunker and nearly holed it for par. The bogey put him at 9-under 271.

Burns was losing ground quickly on the front nine with three straight bogeys, none more damaging than a pitch to the reachable par-4 fifth hole that went over the back of the green.

Si Woo Kim emerged as the leader going to the back nine until he made bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes, and he fell out of contention for good with a pair of late bogeys that added to a 40 on the back nine for 72.

That left Young at the top of the leaderboard, waiting to see if anyone could match him.

Fox's hopes took a nasty turn on the par-3 15th when his tee shot caromed off the side of a bunker and settled next to the lip, leaving him no stance and no shot. He smartly played away from the back pin to the fairway, chipped from 45 yards away to 6 feet and made bogey.

It was as big as any shot he hit until the last.

“To get that up-and-down really kept the momentum going,” Fox said. “I felt a whole lot better walking off that green making bogey that way than probably even if I’d have made par.”

Fox was a late bloomer, a European tour rookie at age 30 and a PGA Tour rookie when he was 37. His goal when he started was to have a tour card. Now he's a major champion.

“I said to my team last night at dinner, if you'd have given me my career up until yesterday when I turned pro, I'd have jumped at that,” Fox said, speaking with the claret jug at his side. “I don't know what to think now.”

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

Alcántara, 38, was greeted at the airport by a crowd that was cheering, singing and holding their phones high in the air to get a photo of him. They draped him in a Cuban flag, printed with the words “Patria y Vida” — “Homeland and Life” — the title of a song he shared a Grammy for that became an anthem for Cuba’s political opposition against repression.

The United States granted him parole into the country earlier this week, according to a social media page maintained by his friends and supporters. They wrote that he accepted exile as the only way to escape persecution and continue his art and activism.

Alcántara co-founded a group of Havana artists, writers and musicians called the San Isidro Movement — named for the neighborhood where Alcántara lived.

He was arrested on July 11, 2021, during a public protest. In 2022, a court sentenced him to five years in prison for public disorder, contempt and disrespect toward national symbols.

His arrest and incarceration had long been denounced by human rights organizations and the U.S. government. Groups including Amnesty International called him a political prisoner, an allegation the Cuban government rejected.

Alcántara was held in a maximum-security prison, he said, and was expected to be released last week. But for days, advocates said they still could not contact him and did not know where he was.

The organization Cubalex, which legally advises dissidents and reports human rights violations from outside of the country, filed a habeas corpus petition on his behalf Monday.

Until he boarded a plane Saturday, his advocates were not sure of his location, or if he was truly free.

His said his first stop on American soil would be at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity to make an offering.

Other political prisoners remained imprisoned, including his fellow artist Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez, his advocates said, and they hoped Alcántara's release would prompt insistence that Pérez also be set free.

Alcántara brought from Cuba a broken statue of the Virgin Mary, which he described as a symbol of hope and healing, a chance to put back together something from fragments.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake struck on Saturday at 9:24 p.m., with its epicenter located 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) west-southwest of the city of Sicaya in Huancayo province. It was 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) deep.

Peru’s National Civil Defense Institute said in a statement the total number of missing is still unknown. Several buildings collapsed or suffered structural damage, including the historic “Santiago de León” church and former convent in Chongos Bajo, which was built in 1565 and designated as national heritage site for being a 16th century “architectural gem.”

Luis Vásquez, head of the local civil defense office, told journalists that the use of rustic adobe materials in construction in that Andean area “has contributed to the greater impact and damage."

Earthquakes are frequent in Peru, which is located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

Images broadcast by local media captured the anguish of victims’ relatives in one of the hardest-hit areas, the agricultural region of Chongos Bajo, where residents huddled under blankets outside severely damaged homes. Animals were also seen under the rubble.

“My home has been destroyed,” Hermenegilda Guamalato told a local radio station as she sought a place to stay with her three children in the neighboring province of Huayucachi.

In 2007, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the province of Pisco in the Ica region, killing nearly 600 people.

Just a stone’s throw away on the 18th green, Ryan Fox had holed a 12-foot birdie putt to win the British Open.

There’d be no playoff for Young.

No chance to end his wait for a first major championship title.

The American bowed his head, swung his driver gently over his shoulder then back onto the ground, and trudged off.

Some 2½ hours earlier, Young had been on that 18th hole himself, getting up-and-down from a greenside bunker — he actually nearly holed it — to salvage bogey and shoot 64 for what would remain the lowest score of the final round.

Then came the long, agonizing wait to discover whether his 9-under 271 total would be enough to win.

Young had some food, cleared out his locker — “for efficiency’s sake,” he said — and spent some time in the players’ lounge.

By 6 p.m., he was practicing on the putting green.

And around half an hour later, the spectators in the huge grandstands lining one of the most famous walks in golf gave him the bad news.

Add Birkdale to the 29-year-old Young's close calls at the majors, following a runner-up finish at the British Open in 2022 — he made eagle on the final hole to be one stroke back from Cameron Smith at St. Andrews — and a tie for third at the Masters this year after sharing the 54-hole lead.

Now up to No. 4 in the world, the widespread belief in golfing circles is that Young's time will come. That's because he has risen to elite company this year with wins at The Players Championship in March and the Cadillac Championship at Doral, in front of President Donald Trump, a couple of months later.

Young says his score ‘could have been 60’

Speaking after his round, Young said he thought 10-under par would have a “decent chance” of victory.

So it proved.

And he would have got there — or maybe better — had he not found a fairway bunker on No. 18 after choosing to hit driver. He barely got out of the sand with his second shot that struck the top of the bunker wall and spilled out 20 yards forward, and went on to scramble bogey.

A par there would have seen him match the lowest final-round score in a major.

A birdie? Well, that would have won him the whole thing.

“It could have been 60,” Young said of his round that included a front-nine 29.

“I played a great round of golf,” he added, “and I did it in a really good way.”

Young's thoughts after Fox completed victory are a mystery because he declined to talk to the media.

He surely will regret his 3-over 73 on Saturday that came after two 67s and dropped him to a tie for 20th overnight.

“I had a chance to win with not everything I’ve got,” he said. “So I think that’s a good takeaway.”

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

All he could think about Sunday when he finished were the bounces that didn't go his way.

Scheffler managed to stay in the game until the very end and capitalized on a huge break — which followed another unfortunate bounce — with a birdie on the par-5 17th hole. Needing birdie to have any chance of a playoff, he missed a putt from off the green, missed the par putt that followed and settled for a 3-under 67 to tie for fourth behind Ryan Fox.

“I guess it just wasn't my week,” said Scheffler, who had top 4-finishes in three of the four majors.

Scheffler, who began the final round six shots out of the lead, quickly made up ground with three birdies in five holes — as many birdies as he had made in the previous two rounds combined. And when he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 12th, he was at 8 under and closing.

And then he was chasing after a few frustrating bounces.

His tee shot right of the fairway on the 13th headed for the wispy grass but wound up in a deep hole, leaving him no chance but to advance it about 5 feet. Scheffler did well to make an 8-foot putt to escape with bogey.

Scheffler thought his drive was ideal on the par-5 14th until it bounced just enough to the left to catch a pot bunker, leaving him no shot at the green. A potential birdie turned into par.

“That stuff hurts,” he said. "My ball on 13 goes into that hole. It wasn’t my best tee shot, but it was a time where I needed to be aggressive, and I saw some good stuff happening with guys that hit the ball over there the last few days, and it didn’t happen for me today. Just those little bounces.

“My ball on 14 I think is in the fairway, I come up there, it’s in the pot bunker,” he said. “Little stuff like that over the course of the week tends to add up.”

His frustration boiled over on the par-5 17th when his tee shot moving left-to-right looked as though it would kick into the fairway leaving him a shot at the green. But it bounced left and stayed in the rough in front of a steep mound.

“WHY?” Scheffler screamed at himself. “Why does this happen?”

Welcome to links golf, which he conquered a year ago at Royal Portrush.

Remarkably, the bad bounce led to birdie. He tried to go over the mound and the ball went so far to the left that he figured it was never to be found, He hit a provisional for a lost ball, and that wasn't much better, And then luck seemed to finally show up.

The entire area near a massive hospitality structure was deemed a temporary immovable obstruction. Spectators said they saw the ball disappear into gorse and rough. A security guard and NBC reporter John Wood began searching.

But once a golf ball has been identified going into the TIO, it does not have to be found.

“We tried to figure it out. I said: ‘If I find it, does that help me? Can I drop it since that would be about 50 yards closer to the hole?'” Scheffler said about his conversation with the rules official. “He said, ‘Yes, you can then use that spot, but you might have to go to the other side of the TIO.’ I didn’t know exactly where that would be, and that’s not a great angle coming across there. So I decided to drop the search.”

Scheffler received a free drop 94 yards away on a baked, dusty lie. He hit wedge to 10 feet and made birdie.

The hope didn't last long, and he walked off the 18th green knowing he would not get his hands on the claret jug he won last year, and it would be eight-plus months before the next major.

“I felt like this was a week I played a lot better than my score,” Scheffler said. “Thirteen and 14 really hurt, not being able to advance the ball. I feel good that I could compete when things weren't going my way.”

Padraig Harrington remains the last player to win back-to-back in the British Open, in 2007 and 2008. It's the longest such stretch in the majors. And now it falls to Fox near year at St. Andrews.

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

The MV Barima was sailing from the capital, Georgetown, along the North Atlantic coast to Port Kaituma, said Guyanese Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who is leading the government’s response.

Phillips said the group that had been rescued included 41 men, 11 women and 15 children. He did not say whether authorities feared the missing passengers were dead or not. Helicopters, planes and fishing vessels are scanning a 1,000-square-mile area in search efforts.

The MV Barima departed shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday and ran into trouble shortly before midnight, officials said. A distress call was received at 11:01 p.m. (0301 GMT), which prompted a search and rescue operation involving state and private boats, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill said on Facebook.

Authorities said the vessel, which makes weekly trips to the largely Indigenous communities near Venezuela, capsized near the Pomeroon River.

Edghill said the vessel was fitted with 250 life jackets, two rigid life rafts and six inflatable life rafts. He denied claims that it could have capsized because it was overloaded with passengers or cargo.

"It had to do with the tide,” the minister said, referencing statements from rescued passengers.

Antonelli saw off a challenge from Charles Leclerc to get back to winning ways at the Belgian Grand Prix after reliability issues had allowed Russell to whittle down his lead in recent weeks. Russell was left fuming in a gravel trap at his Mercedes car's shortcomings.

Antonelli started on pole but lost the lead to Leclerc when a virtual safety car slowdown allowed the Ferrari driver to save time during his pit stop.

Antonelli sped back past Leclerc with 10 laps remaining and cruised from there to his sixth win of the season — and his F1 career — and first since last month's Monaco Grand Prix. It gives him a 45-point overall lead after recent reliability problems and keeps the 19-year-old firmly on target to become F1's youngest-ever champion.

“The momentum has always been there despite what happened in the previous races, and that’s why you just need to take one weekend at a time, because you never know what can happen,” Antonelli said. “With these new cars, new regs, there’s so much going on and so much unpredictable.”

With six wins, Antonelli is now joint-second all time among Italian F1 drivers, behind only Alberto Ascari, a 13-time Grand Prix winner and two-time champion in the early 1950s. In a marker-pen message on a champagne bottle, Antonelli dedicated the win to his father, former sportscar racer Marco Antonelli, whose birthday was on Saturday.

Leclerc strong again

Leclerc was second after avoiding a penalty for a collision which damaged Oscar Piastri's McLaren, and Max Verstappen was third after briefly taking, then losing, the lead from Antonelli on a hectic opening lap.

The Italian stretched his standings lead after Russell was left stuck in the gravel on the first lap after he was pushed into a spin by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

Antonelli went into the race with a 25-point lead over Russell after recent reliability issues for the Italian had cut his advantage. That has now nearly doubled. Antonelli will leave Belgium with a 45-point gap over Hamilton, who moved up to second, and is 50 ahead of Russell.

In a sign of tension at Mercedes after a heavy blow to his title chances, Russell seemed to blame his car, rather than Hamilton, for the incident. Russell said the incident wouldn't have happened if his car hadn't lost speed on the straight into the corner, dropping him behind Hamilton. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff suggested it was a software problem affecting multiple cars with Mercedes engines.

Hamilton not at fault after crew member struck

Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari after an eventful race including a five-second penalty for colliding with Russell, verbal spats with Ferrari over strategy and car setups over the radio, and knocking over a Ferrari mechanic as his car started to leave the pits.

Hamilton immediately asked after the team member’s health and was told he was OK. A post-race inquiry by the stewards found Hamilton was “in no respect at fault” and fined Ferrari 30,000 euros ($34,300), with 10,000 euros of that suspended for a year.

Oscar Piastri was fifth for McLaren and Isack Hadjar was a strong sixth for Red Bull despite starting at the back of the field because of a penalty.

Lando Norris started 13th for McLaren thanks to a grid penalty but sliced through the field and even briefly led the race when others pitted. A pit stop delay dropped him back but he still finished seventh.

Gabriel Bortoleto placed eighth for Audi, Arvid Lindblad ninth for Racing Bulls and Alpine's Franco Colapinto took the final point in 10th.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and partner agencies are also responding.

The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office is on scene investigating.

This is a developing story. Updates will be added as they are made available.

Nolan flexed his singular box-office might with a global debut unlike any other. Few filmmakers alive could pull off a starry, big-budget adaptation of Homer’s epic poem. But in a Hollywood where intellectual property rights rule most hits, Nolan turned one of the world’s oldest works of literature into an unlikely summer blockbuster.

The Universal production was no small gamble on Nolan, coming off the 2023 best picture-winning “Oppenheimer.” With a production budget of $250 million, it’s among the most expensive R-rated movies ever made. Universal is spending some $125 million to market it.

But no behind-the-camera name turns out audiences more than Nolan's. So great was the hype on “The Odyssey” that IMAX put tickets on sale for some 70 mm showtimes a full year in advance. To satisfy the extraordinary demand for Nolan's preferred format, IMAX 70 mm, some theaters added midnight and 3 a.m. screenings — and sold them out.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see the palpable excitement in theaters this weekend,” said Jim Orr, head of domestic distribution for Universal. “Nolan has crafted an epic adventure. It’s on a scale that audiences have responded to extraordinarily well.”

IMAX drives ticket sales

Billed as Nolan’s first feature shot entirely with IMAX cameras, the format drove a huge slice of ticket sales. That included $29.6 million domestically on IMAX and $51.8 million globally, leading to the company's best weekend ever. IMAX is dedicating its screens entirely to “The Odyssey” for three weeks. Though only 41 IMAX screens can screen “The Odyssey” in 70 mm, they accounted for $6.3 million in ticket sales.

“The IMAX of it all helped turn it from not only a blockbuster, but a global cultural event,” said Rich Gelfond, chief executive of IMAX. “We have tickets on sale for week five in some theaters and some of them have already sold out.”

Since the pandemic, Nolan has been at the forefront of reviving cinemas. His “Tenet” was one of the first big releases to wade back into theaters in 2020. Three years later, “Oppenheimer” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” combined to create arguably the movies’ signature moment of the decade. “Oppenheimer” ultimately grossed $975 million worldwide.

“The Odyssey” arrived in theaters during Hollywood’s best summer since 2019. Ticket sales are running 10.4% ahead of last year, according to Rentrak. The industry is expecting the first $10 billion year at the domestic box office since the pandemic.

Universal sees ‘The Odyssey’ playing into the fall

The only question for “The Odyssey” will be how front-loaded it is, given that many moviegoers have had this weekend circled for months. The film faced no new-release competition over the weekend, and it won’t next weekend, either.

Gelfond said that presales for the movie's second weekend would rank among their 10 best presales, proof that many moviegoers are waiting to see the film in their preferred format. IMAX 70mm screenings, he said, are largely sold out for the next month, except for some front row seats.

“Christopher Nolan and Tom Cruise may be the two most high-profile ambassadors for the big-screen experience,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak. “Nolan is a director who’s a star as much as any movie star in front of the camera.”

The audience for “The Odyssey” was notably male, accounting for 59% of tickets sold. But Orr said moviegoers were otherwise “ridiculously broad,” playing across demographics and geography.

“It’s delivering for a 17-year-old dude and it’s delivering for a female that’s 55 and up,” said Orr. “It points to what I’m convinced will be a very long, very successful run throughout not only the rest of the summer but into the fall, too.”

The next movie to pose any competition, ironically, also stars Tom Holland and Zendaya: Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” on July 31.

Casting controversy has no apparent effect

“The Odyssey” stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and features Holland as his son, Telemachus; Anne Hathaway as Penelope; Zendaya as Athena; Robert Pattinson as the suitor Antinous and Charlize Theron as the sea nymph Calypso.

Nolan’s casting of “The Odyssey,” including Lupita Nyong’o as Helen and Elliot Page as a soldier, was controversial to some conservative commentators. Elon Musk called Nolan a “coward” over Nyong’o’s casting.

But that criticism had little to no effect on “The Odyssey” becoming one of the big-screen cultural events of the year. Reviews (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) are among the best of Nolan’s career. Audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore.

PG-rated films followed in the wake of “The Odyssey.” The Walt Disney Co.’s “Moana” landed in a distant second place with $19 million in its third weekend. Following its disappointing $43 million launch, the live-action remake slid 56% on its second weekend. In two weeks it collected $178 million worldwide, a poor result for a film that cost $250 million to make.

“Moana” was trailed by Universal's “Minions & Monsters” and Disney's “Toy Story 5,” both of which grossed about $15 million.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. “The Odyssey,” $124.5 million.

2. “Moana,” $19 million.

3. “Minions & Monsters,” $14.8 million.

4. “Toy Story 5,” $14.8 million.

5. “Evil Dead Burn,” $5 million.

6. “The Invite,” $3.9 million.

7. “Young Washington,” $3.7 million.

8. “Obsession,” $2.5 million.

9. “Supergirl,” $1.5 million.

10. “Disclosure Day,” $1.5 million.

Vingegaard fell about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the end of the 184-kilometer (114-mile) trek, which ended with a big climb. His Visma–Lease a Bike team said in a statement posted on X that he sustained a fractured collarbone, which will require surgery in the coming days, and multiple abrasions.

“I’m really sad to see Jonas crash out. Without him the Tour will not be the same,” Pogacar said. “We go back a long way.”

Belgian rider Evenepoel withstood two attacks from Del Toro in the last 800 meters and then beat Pogacar in a dash to the line for his first stage win of this year's race and third overall on the Tour. Del Toro finished a few seconds behind them in third.

“It’s amazing, I’m literally trembling from emotions,” Evenepoel said. “You have to understand, I’m racing with the best rider ever and he’s been doing a hell of a climb. For me it’s a big step forward that I can follow this pace.”

Vinegaard's retirement means that Evenepoel climbed to second overall, five minutes behind four-time Tour champion Pogacar, with the 22-year-old Mexican Del Toro 5:58 back from Pogacar in third place.

Barring mishap, a fifth Tour crown looks inevitable for Pogacar, who has won four stages so far in this year's race.

Only Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have won the overall Tour five times.

Vingegaard crashes before final climb

Sunday's trek featured one Category 1 (the second-hardest category) up Col de la Croisette and concluded with a HC climb (the hardest category) up Plateau de Solaison in the French Alps — an 11-kilometer slog with a punishing 9% gradient.

It was a special stage for the 19-year-old rising French star Paul Seixas, whose grandparents' house was about 15 kilometers from the finish. Seixas credits his grandfather, José Manuel Seixas, for introducing him to cycling when he was a youngster. Seixas finished fourth and is fourth in the standings, 6:23 behind Pogacar.

A lead group of nine riders, including Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock and American Quinn Simmons, headed up the sharp 4.7 kilometers of Col de la Croisette, with Simmons moving ahead.

Shortly after Vingegaard's crash, which saw the Danish rider tumble close to a roadside kerb after losing control of his front wheel, riders reached the Solaison ascent.

Pogacar caught Simmons with just under 5 kilometers remaining, with Del Toro and Evenepoel the only ones able to stick with him.

“I just kept my momentum and tried to go as hard as possible to the finish line,” said Evenepoel, who said his win will silence detractors who said he could not climb well. “On hard mountains like this, it’s really hard to beat guys like Tadej.”

Monday is the second rest day of the race, which concludes on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 26.

Tuesday's 16th stage is an individual time trial and offers Evenepoel, the reigning time trial Olympic and world champion, a good chance for another stage win.

“We have a good rest day and then a beautiful day on Tuesday where I will try to go again for a stage win," Evenepoel said. "It’s amazing that I find my best legs for this Tour.”

He won the Tour time trial last year with a stunning ride.

Doping checks

Pogacar and Vingegaard were woken up in the early hours of Sunday morning by officials carrying out unannounced anti-doping tests.

Pogacar said his test was carried out at 5 a.m. and that Vingegaard’s was at 2 a.m.

The Slovenian star suggested fatigue may have led to his rival crashing.

“Me, I had a control (test) at 5 in the morning (and) Jonas did a control at 2 in the morning,” Pogacar said in a post-race interview on French television. “So you never know, maybe this was also the consequences of one bad sleep.”

Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, entrusts testing to the Swiss-based International Testing Agency.

Trust needed rebuilding

Cycling’s reputation was heavily damaged when American Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles (1999-2005) after confessing in 2013 to having used performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

Two years later, a 227-page report detailed cycling’s historic culture of drug use and investigated alleged mismanagement by the UCI.

The year-long probe was ordered by the governing body’s new leadership in a bid to rebuild trust in cycling as a clean sport. ___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

In the 22 previous World Cup men's finals (which would include the 1950 match between Uruguay and Brazil that technically wasn’t a final, but decided who won the World Cup), the winning team has averaged 2.6 goals in the title matchup. The losing team has averaged 1.1 goals.

The two most recent World Cup finals have been offensive slugfests, with a combined 12 goals. France beat Croatia 4-2 in 2018, while Argentina and France tied 3-3 in 2022 (before Argentina prevailed in a penalty shootout).

Teams scoring at least two goals have won the World Cup title 17 times; there have been eight instances of a team scoring at least two goals in the final and still falling short.

There have been three 1-0 wins: West Germany over Argentina in 1990, Spain over Netherlands in 2010 and Germany over Argentina in 2014. And there was one 0-0 tie in a final; Brazil wound up winning over Italy in a penalty shootout the 1994 final, which had been the only one played on U.S. soil before now.

Scaloni looking to join elite club

If Argentina wins Sunday, Lionel Scaloni — who led the team’s push to the 2022 title — would be just the second person to coach two World Cup championship clubs.

Italy went back-to-back as World Cup champions in 1934 and 1938, with both those clubs coached by Vittorio Pozzo.

Nobody else has two titles as a coach. There are three men — Brazil’s Mário Zagallo, West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and France’s Didier Deschamps — to have won World Cups as both a player and a coach.

Messi matters

When he takes the field Sunday, Argentina star Lionel Messi will be the oldest field player to appear in a World Cup final.

Messi is 39. Sweden’s Gunnar Gren was 37 when he played against Brazil in the 1958 final.

The only player older than Messi to play in a final was Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff — who was 40 when his club beat West Germany for the 1982 crown. But among field players, Messi will stand alone as the oldest after Sunday.

Messi is also in position to join Brazil’s Cafu as the only person to play in three World Cup men’s finals. And since Cafu was a reserve in one of his appearances, Messi would be the first to start the title game on three occasions.

For Spain, youth may be served. Experience may, too.

Youth may be served by Spain in this World Cup final. And if La Roja prevails, experience would also have paid off.

It’s an interesting mix.

Spain is slated to have two teenagers — Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, a pair of 19-year-olds — play Sunday against Argentina in the World Cup final, and no team has ever had more than one teen in the lineup and won the title.

So, that's the power of youth.

Here’s the flip side of that: If Spain wins, coach Luis de la Fuente — who is 65 — would become the oldest World Cup-winning sideline boss, passing Vicente del Bosque, who was 59 when Spain won its first title in 2010.

For the record, teenagers enter Sunday unbeaten in World Cup finals, according to FIFA, which says only three have ever played in soccer’s biggest game. Pelé was 17 when he helped Brazil win the final over Sweden in 1958, Giuseppe Bergomi was 18 when Italy beat West Germany in 1982, and Kylian Mbappé was 19 when France beat Croatia in 2018.

Spain seeking record streak

Spain is 28-0-9 in its last 37 matches, which has tied Italy for the longest unbeaten run by a European men’s national team.

Italy also went 28-0-9 from October 2018 through September 2021 — before losing to Spain 2-1 on Oct. 6, 2021 in Milan.

Argentina has a streak worth noting as well. It has won seven consecutive World Cup matches, tied with Italy for the second-longest such run in men's tournament history. Only Brazil, which won 11 straight spanning 2002 and 2006, has a longer World Cup winning streak.

Argentina-Spain history

The game is just the second head-to-head meeting in a World Cup between Argentina and Spain. Argentina won 2-1 in the 1966 group stage.

Across all competitions and friendlies, the sides have played 14 times. Each has won six times and they tied twice.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Moscow has in recent weeks stepped up its use of ballistic missiles as it seeks to choke off Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities deep inside Russia that have caused critical fuel shortages affecting both the military and the civilian population.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is prepared to grant Ukraine licenses to produce Patriots, the most effective means of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, potentially bolstering Kyiv’s defenses. However, the details and timeline remain unclear, and full production could take years.

The latest attack on Kyiv began at around 1:30 a.m. and continued for several hours, with explosions echoing across the city.

Russia launched 41 missiles and 125 drones across Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said most of the missiles had targeted the capital.

Later Sunday, a Russian attack on a postal facility near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed three people and wounded at least 20, according to the regional administration.

Russian guided bombs also hit the cities of Kherson and Sumy, local authorities and Ukraine’s emergency service reported, with each of the strikes leaving at least one person dead.

Ballistic missile strikes are becoming more frequent

The strikes on Kyiv sparked fires in five districts, damaging residential buildings, office and industrial sites, a dormitory and vehicles, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

Viktoria Shejko, 32, was taking shelter in the corridor of her apartment block with her seven children and husband when they heard the loud explosions.

“When the alarm started, we checked that there were ballistics, then went into the corridor. Then it started exploding one missile after another,” she said.

The strain of constant bombardment is “very difficult psychologically,” she said. “It used to be once a week or even more rarely, but now if not every day, then every other day.”

Rescuers pulled four people from a burning home in the Sviatoshynskyi district, while in the Shevchenkivskyi district, they rushed to save residents from a three-story building on fire. One person was found dead. Firefighters also responded to blazes in the Solomyanskyi, Desnianskyi and Dnipro districts.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed the attack on Kyiv targeted sites linked to the Ukrainian military — including plants producing Flamingo drones and parts for Neptune guided missiles, as well as a postal terminal used for storing dual-use goods and assembling drones, robotic systems and electronic warfare equipment.

Oil tankers hit at key terminal off Russia's coast

Separately, a strike on two oil tankers at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) ‌terminal off Russia’s Black Sea halted oil loadings at the site, the CPC said Sunday.

The attack on the ASIA and NISSOS tankers in the port of Novorossiysk sparked a fire aboard the ASIA, which was extinguished. The company did not say who was responsible for the attack. It added there were no casualties or oil spills, and the tankers — sailing under the flags of Liberia and the Marshall respectively — remained afloat.

Both Russia and Ukraine have sharply ramped up strikes on ships in the Black and Azov seas over the past week. Ukraine's strikes on oil tankers there are part of its efforts to cut fuel supplies to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. Kyiv also says it targets Russia's so-called shadow fleet, which ships oil in violation of international sanctions over the Kremlin's invasion of its neighbor.

Kyiv has for months been targeting Russia's oil industry, which it says both directly fuels Moscow's war effort and funds it through export revenues, triggering acute fuel shortages in a country that is one of the world's top oil producers.

The CPC is a 940-mile (1,510-kilometer) oil pipeline ​connecting Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea oil ​deposits ⁠with Novorossiysk, where the oil is loaded and shipped by tanker to world markets. The pipeline accounts for about 80% of oil-rich Kazakhstan's crude exports, with the Russian government and Russian state oil firms holding a combined 31% stake in the enterprise.

Russia's energy sector under attack

Zelenskyy announced on Sunday that Ukrainian units struck more energy infrastructure in Russian territory.

He said units of Ukraine’s Security Service agency struck three oil depots in the Stavropol region, while a separate unit of the army hit another fuel-related facility in the same region. Three Russian tankers were also struck in the Black Sea, he said.

Stavropol Gov. Vladimir Vladimirov earlier referenced Ukrainian drone attacks igniting fires at “industrial facilities” in two locations within the region. He did not specify what the facilities were, but said nobody was hurt.

Russian news outlet Astra on Sunday reported that three oil depots may be burning in Stavropol, based on its analysis of photos and videos sent in by locals after the attack.

Russian air defense systems shot down 140 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian regions, annexed Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas overnight into Sunday, Russia's Defense Ministry reported. It did not say how many were launched or reached their targets.

In Russia's Kursk region near the Ukrainian border, Ukrainian drones struck four apartment buildings, setting off a fire and injuring one person, according to local Gov. Alexander Khinshtein.

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

Deputies were called around 1:30 a.m. to the 12901 block of the North Freeway near Airtex, where they found two male victims — ages 18 and 20 — suffering from gunshot wounds, investigators said. Both were taken to a hospital, but the 18-year-old was pronounced dead. The 20-year-old was listed in stable condition.

Investigators said two groups were involved in an argument in a parking lot after leaving a cantina. At some point, the dispute escalated when one person retrieved a firearm from a vehicle and began firing. Witnesses told deputies there was a single shooter, and that person drove away from the scene.

• Passenger killed in rear-end crash on Southwest Freeway after driver stopped to retrieve bumper, HPD says

Authorities said a witness followed the suspect’s vehicle while providing updates to 911, which helped deputies locate and detain the individual. The suspect was taken into custody and transported to the HCSO homicide office for questioning.

Detectives believe the victims are related, possibly cousins. Charges had not been filed as of early Sunday, but investigators said a murder charge is expected.

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until this past Wednesday, when the Justice Department filed an application seeking the removal of an individual whose name is withheld from the single-page document posted on the court’s website.

The chief judge of the five-member court, Joan Ericksen, said in a written response to the petition that a hearing was held on Thursday during which the court had “questions about the nexus that the government alleges between the actions of the respondent and the specific sections and subsections it invokes with respect to those actions.

“The answers persuaded the Court that the Government could benefit from the opportunity for more thoughtful consideration,” wrote Ericksen, a federal judge in Minnesota.

She directed the Justice Department to provide more information by Wednesday.

The court's authorities emerged from the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which permits the attorney general to file under seal applications for the deportation of a suspected “alien terrorist.” If an application is granted, the court must hold a public hearing at which the government has the burden to prove that the individual satisfies that definition. Applications must be approved by the attorney general or deputy attorney general.

Federal law says that an individual could qualify as an “alien terrorist” by, among other factors, having “engaged in a terrorist activity,” endorsing or espousing terrorist activities and by belonging to a political or social group that encourages terrorist activity.

The court has been dormant since its creation, having received — until last week — no applications and conducting no hearings, according to a summary posted on the Federal Judicial Center website. It is comprised of five judges selected by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Trump administration has moved aggressively over the last year to carry out deportations, including invoking a 1798 wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to remove Venezuelan migrants who officials accuse of being part of a terrorist gang. During a hearing in that case last year, the Washington judge presiding over it, James Boasberg, indicated that the Alien Terrorist Removal Court would be the natural forum to consider a request for deportation on national security grounds.

“In fact, Congress has an answer for us, doesn’t it? Because they created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court,” he said. “So if there's a national security concern with having these hearings...you can always go to the ATRC, which would be a first, but that’s what it’s there for, right?”

The petition was first reported by Court Watch, an independent news site.

Russell was trying to retake fourth place from Lewis Hamilton around the outside when the Ferrari driver clipped his rear wheel and sent him spinning into the gravel trap, putting him out of the race on the first lap.

In an expletive-filled message to Mercedes over the radio, Russell directed the blame at the car, not Hamilton, saying it was “unacceptable” he'd had a dramatic loss of speed on the previous straight, dropping him from third to fifth behind Hamilton.

“It was a new problem but it wasn’t only on George’s side. Instead, it affected all the Mercedes engines, some more, some less, and Kimi (Antonelli) too," Wolff told Sky Sport Germany, suggesting a software problem was to blame.

"We have an engine that’s incredibly strong, a car that is fast but simply not stable enough and we need to get on top of that because we’re losing valuable points in the constructors’ championship.”

Wolff added: “We just need to try to make the best possible equipment available for him. That’s not just a fast car and a good engine but something that holds up and gives him confidence in the car again.”

Antonelli went on to win the race, doubling his advantage over Russell to 50 points. Russell is now third in the standings, five points behind Hamilton, who got a five-second penalty for causing their collision.

“Car crossed over right in front of me,” Hamilton said, adding he'd lacked front-end grip to avoid the collision because he was following another car closely.

Russell has been struggling to match Antonelli's pace in recent races and, even before Sunday's race, had suggested an issue with the Mercedes car may be holding him back after he lost out in straight-line speed to Antonelli in qualifying.

Russell told Sky Sports he had “no words at the moment” after the incident, when asked about the impact on the title race.

“The incident shouldn’t have happened if I had the speed down the straight,” he said.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The survey of 1,022 Jewish adults — including people who identify as Jewish by religion and religiously unaffiliated people who identify as Jewish through culture, ethnicity or family background — offers a rare detailed accounting of a key demographic that sits at the very center of some of the nation’s most divisive political debates.

Here are five takeaways from the AP-NORC survey:

Jewish adults have complicated views about Israel and the war in Gaza

Among Jews with a religious affiliation, views on Israel’s recent military actions are far from uniform or uncritical.

About 7 in 10 Jewish adults overall identify as Jewish when asked about their religious affiliation. The rest, about 3 in 10 Jewish adults, say they are atheists, agnostics, or have no particular religious affiliation, but still identify as Jewish in other ways.

While about 8 in 10 of those with a religious affiliation say Israel’s immediate military response to Hamas’ attack on October 7 was “justified,” only about half say Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza are justified. Among Jewish adults without a religious affiliation, only about half saw Israel's immediate response as justifiable. Now, only about 2 in 10 say the ongoing military operations are acceptable.

About one-quarter of Jewish adults with a religious association believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, an accusation that’s been leveled by some major human rights organizations and a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations. That accusation has been vehemently denied by Israel and the U.S. government. Roughly 4 in 10 Jewish adults without a religious affiliation say Israel has committed genocide.

Many Jewish adults feel unsafe in the United States

About 6 in 10 Jewish adults say prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the United States today.

About one-third of Jewish adults in the survey say they feel “very” or “somewhat” safe as a Jewish person in the U.S. today, while about one-third feel “very” or “somewhat” unsafe. The remaining roughly 3 in 10 say they feel neither safe nor unsafe.

A significant share of Jewish adults, about 3 in 10, say they or someone in their household has experienced physical assault, verbal abuse, online harassment or damaged property because of their Jewish background over the last year, according to the survey.

The survey points to how Jewish adults’ attitudes toward their own personal safety have changed over a relatively short period as more Americans became critical of the United States’ close alliance with Israel and the war in Gaza. The poll found that Jewish adults who feel a close emotional tie to Israel are particularly likely to feel unsafe in the country today.

Most American Jews don’t feel politicians are supporting Jewish people

Few Jewish adults believe that President Donald Trump — or the Democratic or Republican parties — are doing a good job supporting Jewish people in the U.S.

Only about 2 in 10 Jewish adults say Trump supports Jewish people in this country “extremely” or “very” well. That’s similar to the slight share who find the Republican Party and the Democratic Party highly supportive, but Jewish adults are more likely to say the Democratic Party is at least “somewhat” supportive.

Americans overall are more likely than Jewish adults to see Trump as “extremely” or “very” supportive of Jewish people in the United States. About 3 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump is highly supportive of Jewish people, compared to about 2 in 10 Jewish adults.

The poll also found most Jewish adults have negative views of Trump. About 7 in 10 Jewish adults have a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable opinion of Trump, compared to about 3 in 10 who have a favorable view.

Jewish adults are divided over whether protesting Israel is a form of antisemitism

Protests around events conducted in support of Israel became more common following the backlash over Israel’s military action in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people, most of them civilians. Israel responded with a yearslong counterattack that killed more than 73,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the territory's Hamas-run government. Its casualty figures are viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations but don’t distinguish between civilians and militants.

The poll found that about half of Jewish adults say protesting an event that is supportive of Israel is not a form of antisemitism, but roughly 4 in 10 say it is. About 1 in 10 are uncertain.

Jewish adults are more unified in deeming some actions as definitively antisemitic. The overwhelming majority say vandalizing synagogues or Jewish-owned businesses because of Israel’s actions is antisemitism. The same goes for denying the reality or scope of the Holocaust, putting responsibility for Israel’s actions on Jewish people in the United States or saying Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state.

Support for Israel is less of a priority for younger Jewish adults

Support for Israel is a key component of the religious identity of many older Jewish adults in the United States, but younger Jewish adults appear less likely to prioritize it.

About half of older religious Jewish adults — those 45 and older — say that supporting Israel is “extremely” or “very” important for their Jewish identity. By contrast, only about 4 in 10 younger religious Jewish adults emphasize support for Israel.

Younger Jewish adults are more likely to prioritize other forms of connection, like celebrating Jewish holidays. About 7 in 10 Jewish adults under 45 say celebrating Jewish holidays is at least “very” important to their Jewish identity, compared to about half of older Jewish adults.