Discussion

At 900 AM GMT (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Fay was located near latitude 27.9 North, longitude 44.1 West. The depression is moving toward the south-southwest near 7 mph (11 km/h). A turn to the southwest and then to the west-southwest, along with an increase in forward motion, is expected over the next 48 hours.

Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1012 mb (29.89 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

Moscow’s forces pounded apartment buildings, offices, data centers and a building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in downtown Kyiv.

The ceaseless Russian drone attacks on cities and towns aim to wear down Ukraine’s resistance and cripple the Ukrainian economy.

The attacks followed a week of diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to get traction for negotiations on ending Moscow’s invasion that began 4½ years ago.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated Monday that the chances of making speedy headway on forging a peace settlement were bleak after recent Ukrainian attacks, including during recent parliamentary elections in Russia.

“Ukraine will have to pay a price for the actions that have taken place in recent months,” Peskov told reporters. “That is happening right now.”

Russian attacks leave dead and wounded across Ukraine

Russian drone attacks on the Kyiv region killed four people and wounded eight, officials said.

A woman was killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district on Monday afternoon, the Kyiv city military administration said. The strike hit the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the latest cultural landmark in the capital to be damaged.

Russian forces also hit a pharmaceutical company and gas stations in Kyiv.

One drone struck an office center in central Dnipro during working hours Monday, killing three people and wounding at least 12, local authorities said.

A Russian strike on a nine-story apartment building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv wounded 43 people, including 11 children, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Four people, including two teenage girls, were hurt when a Russian drone struck a residential area in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region on Sunday evening, said Viacheslav Chaus, head of the regional military administration.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck two data centers in Kyiv, as well as gas stations in the Ukrainian capital. A distribution hub belonging to the Nova Poshta postal service was struck in the southern city of Odesa, it said.

The Russian military also hit a cargo ship in the Black Sea and another one in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, the ministry said. The strikes aim to curb Ukraine’s grain exports, though they may also create food shortages in countries that rely on Ukrainian imports.

The Russian aerial attacks regularly hit civilian areas. Moscow claims it targets only military-related sites.

Ukrainian army says it has advanced on the eastern front line

Battlefield positions have changed little since last year, in part because swarms of drones severely restrict troop movements, but Kyiv’s forces launched a recent offensive, code-named Operation Vivaldi, on part of the 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.

Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said Monday it had recaptured another 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) from the Russians, bringing the total to 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) since the offensive began several months ago.

The corps said that in order to break through Russian defenses, it converted Soviet-era BTR-60 armored personnel carriers into kamikaze vehicles that blew up the strongest Russian fortifications. The operation has also used ground robots to attack Russian positions.

The claimed breakthroughs came in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which the bigger Russian army has been trying in vain to conquer.

Russian officials made no immediate comment on the Ukrainian claim.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Russian troops captured the villages of Novovodiane in the Donetsk region and Ulanove in the northern Sumy region.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims.

Ukraine hits targets in southwestern Russia

Zelenskyy said long-range strikes on Russian soil hit two defense plants in the Tula and Voronezh regions and oil facilities in the Krasnodar region, all in southern and western Russia.

Ukraine's long-range drones have repeatedly targeted Russian fuel depots and industrial plants that are a mainstay of Moscow’s economy and war effort.

Ukrainian drone attacks overnight started fires at three infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region, local emergency officials said Monday, without identifying the locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 254 Ukrainian drones overnight.

___

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

___

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

Iran had offered to reopen the strait and resume talks on its nuclear program if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observes a ceasefire that would include Lebanon.

But on Saturday, Trump rejected the proposal saying Iran wanted to make a deal because it was “losing so badly.”

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both declined 0.5% Monday. Nasdaq futures dropped 1%.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.6% to $100.98 a barrel for delivery in December. But there is a red flag when compared with the contract for November delivery, or oil that buyers want right now. The price for a barrel of oil delivered more quickly is nearly $108, suggesting high anxiety over supply after Trump’s rejection of a deal to get crude moving again.

Benchmark U.S. crude jumped 4.2% to $96.26 a barrel. The spread between November and December delivery is broad in the U.S. as well.

There is also a wave of economic data being released in the U.S. this week, including the latest report on job openings by the Labor Department on Tuesday. The Commerce Department will issue its third and final estimate of how the U.S. economy performed in the second quarter of 2026 on Wednesday.

In early trading, Nvidia is moving higher on a big share buyback authorization, and also the unveiling of a new security platform.

In Europe, France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.2% to 8,095.96, while the German DAX slipped 0.1% to 25,391.66. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 10,719.39. Asian markets were mostly lower.

The U.S. dollar dipped to 157.05 Japanese yen from 157.19 yen. The euro cost $1.1372, down from $1.1393.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

The meeting between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan took place on Sunday, two people who were briefed on the Israeli leader's trip confirmed on Monday.

Meanwhile, the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the bloc is applying for observer status in a Saudi-led maritime defense coalition formed to protect the kingdom's energy exports. The EU already has six vessels deployed to the Red Sea to protect shipping.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Full coverage is available here.

Netanyahu made a secret visit to the UAE

The Israeli prime minister held an hourlong meeting with the UAE’s president on Sunday, according to two people briefed on Netanyahu's trip, which was first reported by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station.

One of them said the talks focused on a report published by the Israeli daily Haaretz earlier this month that said the Emirati leader warned Netanyahu about a looming attack by Hamas just ahead of Oct. 7, 2023.

Netanyahu asked Sheikh Mohamed to deny the report, according to a person said to have firsthand information about the meeting. Netanyahu’s office had previously denied the Haaretz report.

The person, along with a regional official briefed on the meeting, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret trip.

The UAE’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on reports about the meeting but stressed it maintains “open and direct lines of communication” with Israel and shares “all relevant intelligence.”

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.

—By Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo

EU applies for observer status in a Saudi mission in the Red Sea

The European Union is applying for “observer status” in a new multinational maritime defense coalition led by Saudi Arabia formed to protect the kingdom’s energy exports.

The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas made the announcement on Monday, ahead of a Brussels meeting. The energy-hungry EU is facing record energy prices due to the war in Iran.

Kallas said she will ask for an expansion of the bloc’s own small naval force in the Red Sea dubbed ASPIDES to help escort cargo vessels through the key strategic chokepoint of the Bab el-Mandeb strait and protect them from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Kallas said the “need is bigger than it’s ever been” for more ships. It’s unclear what observer status in the Saudi-led coalition would mean operationally for either the EU or ASPIDES.

WHO says more people have been killed or wounded in Yemen

The World Health Organization said Sunday that it has documented 164 deaths and 645 injuries from the war in Yemen between Sept. 19 and Sept. 26.

This brings the overall casualties since Aug. 6 to 4,481, with 838 fatalities. The latest intense fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemeni government forces has displaced more than 180,000 people.

Earlier this month, the Houthis stormed down Yemen’s coast and seized the crucial port city of Mokha and key Red Sea islands, acquiring higher ground from where they can monitor — and possibly attack — ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which about 12% of the world’s trade usually passes.

Israeli strike in Gaza kills 1 person and wounds 2

A woman was killed while her husband was wounded when an Israeli strike hit a Gaza City rooftop, Shifa Hospital officials said. Another person was also wounded and remains in critical condition.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago. Around half of that number are women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that international organizations consider reliable.

An Israeli minister vows to press on with West Bank settlement project

Israel’s polarizing Cabinet minister in charge of settlement construction, Bezalel Smotrich, has condemned a decision by the attorney general to freeze a contentious project near Jerusalem.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the project to be put on hold until after the Oct. 27 elections so it wouldn't “be used for election propaganda.”

The project — known as E1 settlement development — was approved in August 2025 after decades of planning and delays, and a construction tender for some 3,000 housing units was issued earlier this year. It's especially controversial because it would carve out a strategic section of the West Bank in a way that critics say would destroy hopes for a viable future Palestinian state.

Smotrich accused on X Baharav-Miara of “interfering in the election campaign” and acting in the service of Netanyahu’s political opponents.

Israel reprimands Spain over youth minister's controversial remarks

Israel summoned the Spanish Embassy’s chargé d’affaires over remarks by Spain's youth minister who declared the country's public support for a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” — a slogan that implies a call for the elimination of the Israeli state.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Monday that Spanish Youth Minister Sira Rego’s remarks were “part of a systematic anti-Israel policy pursued by the Spanish government” and its leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The ministry said Rego had opted not to condemn the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led militant attacks on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Rego was barred from entering Israel in Sept. 2025.

___

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

The details came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump in Washington in his first state visit to the U.S. since 2015. The U.S. had already reduced tariffs against China after Trump’s tariffs reached as high as 145% at one point last year, as tensions between the two countries eased.

China’s commerce ministry said in a statement the agreement will help strengthen trade cooperation.

Most country-specific tariffs practically eradicated

The lists included 1,619 items of U.S. goods entering China, ranging from agricultural commodities, hair and personal care products to timber and medical equipment. Coal from the U.S. will also be included.

For Chinese goods exported to the U.S., 77 categories were covered, including fireworks, tableware, toys like dolls and puzzles, glass and wooden Christmas ornaments and soccer balls.

Tariff rates on over 90% of the products would be subject to “most-favored-nation” levels, the Chinese commerce ministry said, meaning that country-specific tariffs will effectively be eliminated.

Most-favored-nation rates are the standard tariffs applied under World Trade Organization rules, but they can differ from item to item and are often in the single digits.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a separate statement the product lists focused on “nonsensitive goods on each side that could benefit from more favorable tariff treatment.” The deal could help secure market access for U.S. farmers, manufacturers, businesses and workers, while benefiting American consumers with imports from China including household goods and toys, Greer said.

Both countries said they agreed the list may be adjusted later as needed, but amendments were likely to be no more than on an annual basis.

The Chinese commerce ministry said the two countries agreed to further cooperate in the agricultural sector, forming a group under the Board of Trade established in May to optimize bilateral trade.

Sectors of strategic importance for both countries, such as chips, electric vehicles and batteries, were not covered under the agreement.

A potential boost to US-China bilateral trade

“This is a positive outcome for these affected products compared to a smaller tariff cut, and could lead to a more significant boost to bilateral trade,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING Bank.

The lowered tariffs could be a win for U.S. consumer brands, added Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies based in Beijing, as some of the products covered by China's list of U.S. imports included fast-growing categories like hair care, personal care products and infant formula.

With the U.S. list for Chinese products focused more on consumer goods, it could help lower U.S. inflation while also allowing Chinese firms to export more of their overcapacity, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis.

Some experts said, however, the economic impact at $30 billion each way may be limited overall.

U.S. exports to China were roughly $68 billion through the first seven months of this year, while Chinese exports to the U.S. were at around $270 billion for the first eight months, said Prashant Bhayani, chief investment officer for Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

A $30 billion deal each way will be “more meaningful” for U.S. exports to China in terms of percentage share, he said.

China's trade surplus expected to remain elevated

While the deal did not cover sensitive strategic goods, analysts believe U.S.-China trade will likely continue to recover for the rest of the year after steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese products last year hit bilateral trade.

The U.S. and China last week also reached a two-month extension of the broader trade truce that was set to expire Nov. 10 to January.

China’s trade surplus, which reached a record $1.2 trillion last year, will likely remain elevated. By August, it stood at about $800 billion, putting this year’s surplus “on pace to exceed the 2025 record,” according to Ecaterina Bigos, a senior market strategist with BNP Paribas Asset Management.

The U.S. is also investigating China among 16 trading partners in its Section 301 probe on excess industrial capacity and could impose additional tariffs on China when the investigation concludes.

However, with more meetings set between Trump and Xi, including at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen in November and at the Group of 20 summit in Florida in December, Song at ING said he would not expect a major flare-up of trade tensions before year-end.

Exporters welcome the tariff deal

Some Chinese exporters welcomed the tariff deal announcements.

“This is positive news,” said Richard Chan of Golden Arts Gifts & Decor, which manufactures Christmas decorations in southern China and supplies to countries including the U.S. “The economy in both the U.S. and China is not really good, and the two sides should help each other more.”

However, because most of this year’s Christmas goods are already being shipped ahead of the peak holiday season, the tariff reductions may have limited effect for them at least for now.

Leo traveled to the eastern city of Metz, near the border with Luxembourg and Germany, to honor Robert Schuman, a French Catholic statesman regarded as one of the founding fathers of European unity after World War II.

Leo decided to end his four-day visit to France in Metz, at a conference center named for Schuman, to drive home his appeal. The American pope wants Europe to draw from its Christian foundations and traditions to respond to Russia’s war in Ukraine and other conflicts.

“Over the past 80 years, Europe has amply demonstrated that it is possible to articulate divergent opinions, claims and interests through encounter rather than conflict,” he said.

“We need to commit ourselves to patient dialogue, to show courage in negotiation and to be willing to give up some positions for the greater good of peace,” he said.

Élysée Palace, the French presidential office, had invited all European Union heads of state and the heads of European institutions to attend the conference, but only a handful joined President Emmanuel Macron, from smaller states such as Monaco, Andorra and Luxembourg.

Huge crowds and a military escort

Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by his appeal for Europe to remember its Christian heritage and apply it to today’s ethical and geopolitical challenges.

On Sunday at the Catholic shrine in Lourdes, he condemned legislation — recently approved in France — permitting medically assisted dying, calling it immoral “false compassion.” Huge crowds have met him at nearly every turn — 800,000 attended Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — surprising even organizers.

On Monday morning, Leo's Air France charter received a military escort of two French fighter jets for the flight from Lourdes to Metz in a sign of respect. Macron tweeted a photo of Leo's plane taken by one of the jets while in flight, writing “Welcome to Metz, Holy Father.”

In his final event in France, Leo will celebrate Mass in the cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz later Monday. The cathedral is one of the greatest examples of French Gothic style, with its soaring vaults and stained-glass windows, some of which were designed by Marc Chagall, a 20th-century Jewish artist.

The colored glass has given the cathedral the nickname the “Lanterne du Bon Dieu,” or “The Good Lord’s Lantern.”

A statesman who promoted dialogue among rivals

Schuman is best known for the Schuman Declaration of 1950, five years after World War II ended. It proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community to pool production between historic rivals France and Germany.

The idea, as Europe was emerging from the ruins of the war, was guided by the belief that intertwined economic interests would make another conflict between them “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.”

The coal and steel organization was the first among European institutions that were precursors to what eventually became the European Union.

Schuman, a resistance fighter imprisoned by the Nazis, was declared “venerable” in 2021, a step in the Catholic Church's process toward possible sainthood.

Leo praised especially Schuman's respect for international law in pursuing his idea of peaceful integration. It was an indirect reference to how Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as U.S. military incursions in Venezuela and the Iran war, have taken place outside the international legal order.

Leo said international law and multilateralism “constitute the best antidote to the desire for domination, which lies at the root of every conflict.”

He lamented that in its place, relations today between states are becoming “increasingly uncivilized.”

“The value of keeping one’s word is dismissed; instead, people boast of lies and deceit,” he said.

An appeal for religious leaders to preach peace

In a separate meeting Monday, Leo urged French religious leaders to preach messages of peace and unity.

He cited Schuman’s example of promoting dialogue even among rivals in saying faith leaders had a shared responsibility to forge friendships across borders in the name of peace.

“Indeed, to invoke God’s name in order to justify violence or oppression is to profane that name,” he said. “Religious discourse must constantly call for the disarmament of hearts and words.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.

Investigators have not concluded whether the incident is a state-backed attack. They are investigating a possible link to Iran, Russia or non-state-backed militant groups. RAF Fairford has also been the focus of protests by anti-war campaigners.

The five suspects, who have not been named, were initially held over suspected explosives offenses, and later also arrested on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism.

Police said the men are all British nationals from London and in their 20s. They can be held in custody for up to 14 days before they must be charged or released.

Residents were evacuated from 85 homes in the village of Whelford near the base on Sunday and army bomb-disposal experts used a robot to examine three white vans. The villagers had not been able to go home as of Monday morning, and the vans had not yet been moved.

Arrests came after reports of suspicious vehicles

President Donald Trump said the suspects had been detained following cooperation between the U.S. and Britain, and had been “under view” for some time. Police, however, said the arrests were triggered by a late-night call about “suspicious vehicles” near the base.

British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting declined to give details of the operation, but said “it was a proud moment” that Trump had recognized “the work that our police and intelligence services do every day.”

“As and when we can, we will report back to the public about these individuals and about the nature of the threat,” Streeting told Times Radio.

The arrests come at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states, with British intelligence services saying Russia and Iran have both used proxies to commit crimes on British soil. In March, officials said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased 50% in the six months to December 2025.

Iran has been linked to a series of attacks in Europe

Britain did not join the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that began Feb. 28 and initially denied Trump’s request to use bases in the U.K. to strike Iran. But then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed in March to let the U.S. use bases in Britain for what he called “defensive” operations against Iran’s missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.

American B-1 and B-52 bombers have taken off from Fairford, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, for operations during the Iran conflict.

Iran has said it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

British security officials say proxies linked to Iran have been behind a string of arson and sabotage attempts in the U.K. and other countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community. They have previously warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East continue.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Monday that the incident is a “reminder of the threats our country faces.”

Miliband met Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the United Nations in New York last week and told him that “Britain will not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on U.K. soil,” according to a U.K. readout of the conversation.

US Air Force says personnel remain vigilant

The U.S. Air Force said its personnel based at RAF Fairford “remain vigilant,” but “for operational security reasons we will not discuss specific force protection measures.”

The U.S. Embassy in London has warned Americans in Britain to be cautious and mindful of their personal security.

Trump said authorities had the suspects “under view for a long time and we got them.”

“It was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort. And working with the British worked out great,” he told reporters in Chicago on Sunday.

___

Lawless reported from Liverpool, England. Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

The company said that its Open Agent Safety Platform includes open source software that “sets boundaries for agents,” and follows a series of revelations from top AI companies about their models escaping and breaking into other organizations.

The disclosures sparked furious debate about the safety of advanced artificial intelligence systems, including self-improving models that some fear could race out of human control.

Nvidia executives said in a media briefing that the new system could have prevented a recent incident involving a swarm of OpenAI agents that autonomously hacked into AI company Hugging Face.

“From what we know, this new security platform could have stopped the breach if it was being used in frontier labs for model evaluation early on," said the company’s vice president of enterprise AI, Justin Boitano, referring to companies at the forefront of AI.

The Hugging Face incident was a high-profile breach that inflamed the safety concerns about AI, which were followed by similar rogue actions involving OpenAI's models including breaching an Australian health department website. Anthropic and Meta have also disclosed that their AI systems hacked into other organizations on their own.

Nvidia's software, called OpenShell, lets developers “formally verify an agent has enough authority to do its job and no more,” Boitano said.

Because it's open source, it can be “extended” to run on rival computing platforms including those from Arm and Intel.

The platform also includes a separate security layer called Sentry that runs onboard a chip to continuously monitor AI agent activity and can "intervene instantly" if the agent starts trying to move beyond its target, the company said.

“It can quarantine a suspicious agent in milliseconds,” Boitano said.

“OpenShell governs the agent’s actions, and then Sentry independently monitors and contains suspicious behavior,” Boitano said.

Nvidia said more than 100 organizations are using the platform at its launch, including Microsoft, Perplexity, Accenture, and JPMorgan Chase.

The AI safety debate has divided the industry, with the heads of Anthropic and OpenAI championing a coordinated slowdown of AI development to let safety efforts catch up. But others including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang say it should be up to individual companies to make sure their models are safe for release.

Huang, during the annual Salesforce technology conference held earlier this month, characterized AI safety, including the danger of rogue agents, as an engineering problem that software developers can address.

President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social media account Saturday that the less stringent mileage requirements would “take the waste out of building cars in America" and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car," while boosting auto production in the U.S.

Last December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projected that the new standards would set the industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon in the 2031 model year, down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration.

Fuel economy requirements set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. The change would further Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for the production of electric vehicles.

Since taking office, Trump has relaxed auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Saturday on his social media account on X that the changes would be announced Monday. The White House, Department of Transportation and NHTSA couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the details of the new standards.

General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford Motor, maker of the top-selling pickup truck, the F-150, also couldn't be immediately reached for comment. The administration and automakers have said the new rules will increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.

The average new car in America sold for $50,089 in August, crossing over the $50,000 line for the first time since last December, according to Kelley Blue Book data. At the same time, Americans are spending more on gas as Washington’s war with Iran disrupts the global flow of fuel. The national average price for a gallon of gas was $4.47 on Sunday, up from $4.09 a month ago, according to the AAA motor club.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an EV “mandate,” referring incorrectly to President Joe Biden’s target that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. No federal policy has mandated auto companies to sell EVs.

According to data from the automotive research group Edmunds, EVs accounted for 6.5% of new vehicle sales in February, down from 7.4% for all of 2025.

News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists.

Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said that the final rule “ignores the feasibility of clean technology and the millions of fuel-efficient cars already on the road.”

“Trump is tanking sensible mile per gallon standards at the worst possible time for consumers, who are getting hit with sky-high prices at the pump,” Becker said in a statement. “Consumers will pay the price for these reckless rollbacks while Trump’s Big Oil and Big Auto buddies reap the short-term profits."

Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign, vowed the environmental group would fight the rule and said that the loosening of fuel standards would “make driving more expensive too.”

"Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, spending more at the pump, and dirtier air in our communities,” Garcia wrote in a statement.

When the 2024 standards went into effect, NHTSA estimated they would save 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by 2050. The agency also said that while new fuel-efficient vehicles cost more up front, savings on gasoline over the lifetime of the car or truck would more than make up for that.

Without these standards, in 2035, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules. It also translates to an extra 90 tons a year of deadly soot particles and 4,870 additional tons a year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted into the air in coming years.

Mileage standards, known as the corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, have been implemented since the 1970s energy crisis, and over time, automakers have gradually improved their vehicles’ average efficiency.

In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people on the Mexican peninsula, some feared high tides and pounding waves from Polo could breach barriers and send seawater into the community. Some families planned to head to shelters in Ciudad Constitucion, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) away.

“Civil Protection told those of us here in San Carlos to evacuate because this is a high-risk area. With the current tides, the expected waves and the wind, the earthen barriers they built (to prevent flooding) could give way,” Rocío Sánchez, a fisherman, said.

Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) Sunday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Forecasters said it would hit the Mexican mainland after lashing Baja California with heavy rains, potentially causing life-threatening flooding and mudslides. It could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week.

Nolo, meanwhile, was well southwest of Hawaii and moving away from the Big Island as the weekend drew to a close, but a high-wind warning, wind advisory and high surf advisory remained in effect for parts of the island through Sunday evening. Nolo’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 105 mph (165 kph).

It's been a busy season for Pacific storms

Storm activity in the Pacific has been above average during what is already the peak of hurricane season, according to National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec. He said that pattern is consistent with El Niño years, when the Pacific often sees more tropical storms and hurricanes.

With Polo approaching Mexico, the Mexican navy said it has gathered personnel and humanitarian aid in the ports of Guaymas and Mazatlan, on the Pacific Coast, and deployed three vessels that could ship aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm.

One of the towns in the hurricane’s projected path is San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja’s Pacific coast. The town has only had full-time electricity for a few years, and still experiences frequent outages. There is concern that washed-out roads could block access to medical facilities.

“Our people are concerned about this event,” said Gloriely Robles Meza, a manager at a small hotel. “We haven’t faced such a worrying situation in many years.”

Robles Meza said Sunday that army soldiers arrived in San Juanico to prepare a shelter and provide support for possible emergencies.

Also Sunday, Tropical Storm Rachel formed well off Mexico's southwest coast. The hurricane center said Rachel had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was located about 300 miles (485 kilometers) south of Acapulco. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

In Hawaii, floods and mudslides are still a risk

Forecasters said Nolo’s outer bands could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island possibly getting up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain. Heavy rain also was expected on the other islands.

More than 120 National Guard members were activated, part of roughly 400 statewide after the governor issued an emergency proclamation. President Donald Trump recently approved an emergency declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance and provide funding support.

Hawaii residents are still recovering from Hurricane Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

___

Video journalist Eugene Garcia and photographer Gregory Bull contributed from Hilo, Hawaii.

Rescuers from the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, which is leading the efforts, said they recovered two more bodies on Monday in addition to two others who were found on Sunday. Twelve are missing.

Eight experienced mountain guides from the association took advantage of improving weather to dig through the snow that had covered tents at base camp.

Ten people were rescued from Mount Himlung, a 7,126-meter (23,380-foot) peak in north-central Nepal, after the avalanche hit on Sunday.

All those killed or missing were Nepali nationals. They were at base camp preparing for foreign clients to arrive and climb the peak during the Autumn climbing season that began this month, when they were swept away.

Helicopters brought down the remains to Kathmandu airport. Family and friends at a hospital morgue did not comment.

Flooding and landslides in the Manang district, where the mountain is located, were caused by heavy rainfall, the district administration office said. The avalanche had issued warnings for severe weather across the entire Himalayan nation.

Nepal’s disaster management agency said 21 other people have been killed and five more are missing in different parts of the country between Thursday and Sunday.

Nepal is recovering from devastating flooding in August that swept several villages, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and nearly 6,000 others missing.

Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, and has struggled to contain it.

Latest data from Congo's health ministry showed that 8,067 cases have been confirmed, with 3,901 deaths as of Sept. 26 across 63 health zones in seven of the country's 26 provinces, with a fatality rate of more than 48%.

“The continuously high crude case fatality ratio, and especially the continuously high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” the World Health Organization said in its latest report. It means that a large percentage of those infected were dying, without taking into account factors like delay in seeking help and response, or hidden cases.

Last week, the WHO said that Congo is running out of health workers to contain the disease. Health workers have complained about delayed or missing payments, triggering several strikes despite the delicate nature of the outbreak. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50 health workers have died since the outbreak was announced.

Some areas have shown signs of improvement, with a fall in confirmed cases, including in Ituri province and Haut-Uele, but officials say the disease is spreading further in other areas, expanding its geographical reach.

According to data from the Africa CDC, the current outbreak has outpaced the 2-year-long West Africa regional outbreak in terms of spread in the same time. By Week 19, the regional outbreak between 2014 and 2016 recorded 3,781 cases, while the current outbreak recorded 7,840. The WHO said it is on track to surpass the regional outbreak, which killed 11,000 people.

Containment efforts have been hamstrung by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements.

.

The science behind this week’s rain chances:

Two things I’m watching next week are tropical moisture from the Pacific and a cold front. The Pacific Ocean has two hurricanes, Odalys and Cat 5 Polo. Both of those will send tropical moisture to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Some of that moisture could arrive in Houston next week with a cool front moving through at the same time. We could get off and on storms Tuesday through Sunday, the 4th of October.

Right now the highest rainfall totals stay to the west of Houston, but can’t there maybe enough rain that could lead to street flooding and ponding Thursday. Stay tuned for any changes to the forecast.

Tracking the tropics:

All is quiet in the Gulf. In the Atlantic is well east of Bermuda and will bring no impacts to land. There is now a new zone of development that has 40% chance to turn into an organized system over the next 7 days, this is forecasted to stay west of Bermuda.

So far this hurricane season we’ve had seven tropical storms. We have not had a hurricane in the Atlantic basin. The latest first hurricane to form was Gustav and Humberto, which formed on September 11th. This means our 2026 hurricane season set a record for the latest hurricane to form.

Extended forecast:

Our next chance of rain arrives this week. And there is the chance we get off and on rain through the first weekend of October.

Officers responded around 4 a.m. to 9255 Gulf Freeway after a call came in reporting a shooting. At least one person has been transported to a hospital, though police have not confirmed a shooting has taken place.

• Man found dead in Houston roadway; deputies investigating cause of death

A man in the parking lot, who says he did not witness the incident, tells authorities there was an argument inside El Botanero. He says a waitress shot a man and that the victim was grabbing his neck, suggesting he may have been shot in the neck.

Houston police are handling the investigation.

Then he joined Dance Abilities, a program at Academy of Dance Arts in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities.

Now dance has become his way to communicate and connect with others, his mom, Nicole Vester, said.

Claire Graham, the founder of Dance Abilities, got the idea for the program in high school after realizing while she was studying dance, she was never able to connect with her sister with Down syndrome while she took part in her own activities. The program has grown in three years from a summer camp for eight youngsters to year-round classes for about 20 people.

Dance Abilities has separate classes for children ages 18 months to 4, ages 4-7 and 8-12, teenagers, and for adults, too. A successful day for Graham, who has a degree in dance and a master's in recreational therapy, is when everyone has had fun and been challenged.

“I’m not looking for perfection of position and not looking for a perfect performance,” Graham said. “Only a performance that they can feel confident about.”

These dancers are not the only ones performing through challenges. Ezra Frech, a two-time gold medal Paralympian, is competing on this season's “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC. Frech, a track and field athlete, has a prosthetic leg.

Classes build confidence

Finn's mom values her son’s confidence-building that will help him be able to go into the world and learn new things, she said.

“Claire teaches him at his level. She teaches him a little slower. She teaches him a couple more extra times. And he feels proud and he feels accomplished and he feels like he’s part of a group,” Vester said.

Accommodations at Dance Abilities include slowing down, using more visual cues than verbal instruction, and teacher “helpers” who physically guide students through the movements.

“Sometimes, we’ll add something new that they can work on to make it a little harder,” said one helper, Catherine Benko, 16.

Dance classes focus on specific needs

Dance is good for the body, too, with different needs for different students.

For students with Down syndrome, who tend to be naturally more flexible and less strong, Graham emphasizes developing muscle tone. Students with autism, she said, often need more help stretching.

Abigail MacGregor, who has Down syndrome, loves to dance through an obstacle course and to perform her latest moves for friends and family after she’s been practicing all week.

“I just love dance,” Abby said. “The best thing of dance is having fun, being with all my dance crew.”

Tucker McGarrell, 13, who has Down syndrome, doesn’t walk but runs into his dance classes, his mom Amanda McGarrell said.

“It’s not speech therapy or physical therapy or occupational therapy appointments. This is actually something he enjoys doing,” McGarrell said.

McGarrell loves to see her son have an accepting, accommodating place.

“It’s just such a huge thing that Tucker’s given a space and a stage to be himself and get to be with friends and learn new things,” McGarrell said. “It just like fills me with joy knowing that he’s getting to do something that he loves too just like typical kids do.”

Whoever her students are, Graham said, “if you give them the chance to succeed and meet them where they are, they can 100% grow.”

Seeing her students smile is the ultimate metric of success.

“It warms my heart to hear my kiddos saying, 'Look, Mom, I did it!'” she said.

___

Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado.

The pop powerhouse received the inaugural Artist Director Honors on Sunday night, becoming the most-awarded artist in VMA history.

Previously, she was tied with Beyoncé for the title, with 30 VMAs each. The new award is meant to recognize artists “whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling."

“I got to start making music videos and being a part of music videos 20 years ago,” Swift said in her speech, adding that she's been involved in making roughly 60 music videos, 18 of which she wrote and directed.

“You, the fans, make it so much fun,” she said.

She also took home the top prize of the night — video of the year — for “The Fate of Ophelia" from her album “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Swift dedicated that award to the “ultimate showgirl,” the late Dolly Parton.

“I think we were all very lucky to share this planet with Dolly Parton for a time," Swift said.

Taylor Swift debuts ‘Patient Zero’ music video

Swift also debuted the music video for her new song, “Patient Zero,” during the award show. She directed the visual, which stars Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson. Johnson and Swift portray mirror images of each other.

“Patient Zero” is also her first single since marrying Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in July.

The two-hour show was broadcast live on CBS from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Madonna opened the starry award show — and won big

“It's mother," were the first words uttered by Madonna as she opened the VMAs with her 2026 single “Bring Your Love" alongside collaborator Sabrina Carpenter. Later in the night, the pair won the award for best collaboration for the song.

“It’s been a while since I did one of these things,” Madonna joked. “So, I’ve prepared nothing.”

When it came time for her return to the stage to accept the award for artist of the year, Madonna began with, “First of all, I would like to thank my fingers because I can always count on them.” Returning a third time to accept for best dance, she said simply, "I came alive on the dance floor. ... We’re all equal on the dance floor.”

If her aim was to bring the dance floor to the award show stage, Madonna did exactly that in her opening number — and then some, when Charli xcx emerged from a club bathroom to perform their reworked version of “Danceteria.” Around them? A trove of dancers and various famous friends, including actor Debi Mazar, Sombr and Julia Garner.

The show, which was delayed 20 minutes by a tight NFL game, wasted no time getting heart rates up.

Snoop Dogg, a 13-time VMAs nominee and three-time winner, emerged as host shortly thereafter.

“Now that is an icon,” Dogg said of Madonna, before pivoting to a joke: “She ain't a virgin no more.”

Teyana Taylor then presented the first award for best pop to LISA for “Dream,” featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi.

“Thank you MTV for this amazing award,” she said while holding back tears. “All those late-night dreams brought me here today.” It was a different scene about an hour later, when she returned to the stage for her hip-hop heavy hitter “Sawadika,” which loosely translates to “Hello” in her native Thai.

Performances include a tribute to Dolly Parton

There was always going to be a big musical tribute to Dolly Parton. Kacey Musgraves paid homage to the late, great country music icon with a cover of Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”

Parton, whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, died in Nashville of cancer in August. She was 80.

Performances arrived fast and furious: Raye delivered a medley of her throwback soul, including “I Will Overcome” and “Where Is My Husband!”

Bruno Mars slowed things down with “Dance With Me.” Shaboozey launched into his saloon single “Cowgirl,” before being joined by Gunna for some hybrid country-rap with their crossover track, “High Noon.”

“Survivor” host Jeff Probst and actor Brandon Sklenar introduced the final performance of the night and arguably its best – a partial reenactment of GENER8ION and Yung Lean’s "STORM" music video – which began with Lean smashing a VMA ‘Moon person’ trophy.

Sienna Spiro belted out her “Great Expectation.” It was a welcome introduction to the new talent, who was named best new artist shortly thereafter.

Orville Peck introduced a tribute to George Michael, who died 10 years ago on Christmas Day. He was 53.

Nirvana took home the 2026 Video Vanguard Award

If this year's VMAs felt too pop-heavy for some viewers, that changed when the coveted Video Vanguard Award was awarded to Nirvana.

“They were completely original and always fearless at a time when the status quo kind of got to the point of being formulaic,” Public Enemy rapper Chuck D said of the grunge greats.

The award was presented to surviving members Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear. Frontman Kurt Cobain died in 1994.

“Kurt was one of one,” Novoselic said in their acceptance speech, adding that the band never imagined its sound and aesthetic would resonate with so many people. He said the music continues to endure because people are still hungry for “something real, something uncompromising” and a message that “it’s just OK to come as you are.”

___

For more coverage of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/mtv-video-music-awards

Deputies were dispatched around 10:42 p.m. Sunday to the 1700 block of Greenhouse Road for a reported vehicle and pedestrian incident. When the first deputy arrived, emergency medical personnel were already on scene. The man was found in the roadway with no signs of life.

• Astros win AL West title on last day of the season

Earlier calls from the surrounding area described a man acting erratically. Investigators say the description matched the man found in the road, though they have not determined what caused his behavior.

A woman who called 911 stopped to check on the man and found him unresponsive. Another driver also stopped at the scene. Neither driver reported striking him.

Investigators have not determined whether a vehicle struck the man or whether he suffered a medical episode in the roadway. If a vehicle did strike him, it did not remain at the scene.

At some point before he was found, the man had been seen in a nearby apartment parking lot and running around the buildings. Investigators had not yet determined whether he lived at the complex. His approximate age was not available.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation.

Devotees savor durians like wine. For Malaysian ones, the taste of their rich and creamy flesh varies widely across types. Some are prized for their sweet custard and fruity notes, others for a hint of bitterness, an alcohol tinge or even a peanut butter flavor.

Malaysians' efforts to elevate the industry can be found in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, at a center devoted exclusively to the fruit and the growing variety of products made from it.

At the Kuala Lumpur Durian Experience Centre, near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers, visitors venture into a replica durian orchard to discover the fruit’s culture and history. In another room, a theater show draws laughter. Downstairs, visitors enjoy platters and egg tarts crafted from it.

Launched this summer after an investment of nearly $2 million, the two-story center spans about 1,900 square meters (20,450 square feet) and is open daily. Its durian shop welcomes guests from morning to midnight.

Its founder, Edison Ang, said the center targets both local customers and tourists, especially those from China, the world's biggest durian importer. He said Chinese palates have long been influenced by Thai durian culture.

“What we actually hope for now is not to get people who don’t eat durian to start eating durian," he said. “Instead, we hope consumers who are already eating durian from other countries will switch to Malaysian durian.”

Rising demand presents challenges

In 2025, China imported 1.87 million tonnes of fresh durian worth $7.5 billion, with volume jumping over six times in the past decade, according to its customs data.

Thailand’s earlier entry helped it secure over half that market by value in 2025. Malaysia, which began exporting fresh durian to China in 2024, was dwarfed. But for the first half of 2026, the value of China's fresh durian imports from Malaysia quadrupled compared with the same period last year, pointing to rapid growth.

Unlike their rivals, Malaysian growers typically do not harvest early, instead collecting only naturally ripened fruit caught in nets or ropes as they fall.

That’s the industry’s biggest advantage and also its biggest weakness, Ang said, as sellers have to race against time because the fruit’s shelf life is at most two to three days. Any delays would affect its quality. When his stock was held up for several days during customs checks, his refund rate climbed, he said.

Durian sales are also sensitive to economic conditions, said Leron Yee, founder of DKing, whose business covers both export and domestic markets. When the Chinese economy performs well, his business improves, but if the buying powerF of Chinese consumers falls, he needs to find alternative markets, he said.

“It is a luxury, not a necessity,” he said.

Going beyond the fruit itself

Businesses are finding opportunities in what the fruit can become. Yee's business sells durian paste, durian-flavored chocolate and mochi — and even mooncakes ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

DurianBB founder Adrian Choy's company offers durian ice cream, desserts and dried durian at a cafe, alongside coffee flavored with the Musang King variety and other items. His brand also offers guided farm tours.

In July, Choy's brand went a step further and launched a durian flower perfume that smells sweet and floral.

Choy said branching into other products is important because it will add value to the food itself and differentiate his business, even when others compete on price.

“Food is food,” he said. “You cannot sell it like 50% more because your branding is different."

Tasting it in Malaysia

Across China, durian specialty shops have mushroomed, with some specializing in Malaysian varieties. In Beijing, the Jiang Sir durian shop sells platters priced roughly between 300 and 1,000 yuan (about $44 to $150), depending on the weight of the pulp and the varieties chosen.

Its employee, Hou Yuxin, welcomed the growing number of similar shops and brushed off pressure from competition, saying it would help boost the market for Malaysian durians. She noted many people now want to enjoy durians during their trips to Malaysia.

Back at Ang’s center in Kuala Lumpur, Henry Zhang was one of them. Zhang, a visitor from Shanghai who started eating durian during his university days, saw a durian no bigger than his palm for the first time.

He said Malaysian ones were creamier than those from Thailand and had different flavors. He was impressed by the center offering more than just the fruit.

“I may still eat durians from other countries. But after eating them, I may miss Malaysian ones even more,” Zhang said.

___

Associated Press photographer Vincent Thian and video journalists Olivia Zhang and Wu Jia in Beijing contributed to this report.

David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and potentially expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn't specify when the offer was made.

Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy, to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island. Bream asked if the U.S. is denying arms to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week.

Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

The U.S. is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the U.S. is the island’s strongest informal backer and arms provider. But multiple U.S. leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the U.S. ally should China invade.

China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package — and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

In their private talks at the White House last week, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media.

In Beijing, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not confirm Perdue's remarks when asked about the matter on Monday. But he told reporters that China has always strengthened its national defense capabilities based on its needs, and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.

Above the village of Dorohusk in eastern Poland, vapor trails cut across the pale blue sky and military helicopters rumbled overhead. Just 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) away, traffic at the border crossing into Ukraine was suspended three times, and staff were even evacuated once.

The alerts and disruptions on Thursday came as The Associated Press was visiting the village. They reflected a new reality along Poland's eastern frontier, where the war in Ukraine — now 4 1/2 years old — has felt increasingly close.

Russia isn’t at war with Poland, but over the past few years European leaders say it’s mounted a series of so-called hybrid attacks to pressure to pressure adversaries in the West and NATO that include sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks. Poland is worried that the drones or missiles strikes could spill over from Ukraine, whether by accident or as part of a Russian strategy of ambiguous attacks.

The anxiety intensified after two Russian drones exploded on the Ukrainian side of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn crossing in the early hours of Sept. 13. The explosions could clearly be heard in Dorohusk.

“There is new restlessness and fear because you could hear those explosions very well on that night in our village,” said Wojciech Sawa, the Dorohusk mayor. “We had never had something like that before. This was the first time the sirens wailed.”

Poland is preparing for a more serious Russian hybrid attack

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Sept. 17 that Russia was planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, among them Poland, and regions bordering Ukraine would be especially vulnerable in the coming months. Other European leaders and intelligence services have shared his warnings that Russia is likely to step up its hybrid campaign.

In Dorohusk, people have lived in the shadow of the war for years. They watched Ukrainian refugees flee across the frontier in the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion and, this July, had a Russian missile pass through airspace in eastern Poland before crashing some 90 kilometers (56 miles) inside the country.

But the recent drone attacks and the Polish government's efforts to prepare the population for further serious incidents have brought a new sense of apprehension — and also confusion — among locals.

Kids in border regions have to evacuate when sirens warn of air threat

Jarosław Wójcicki, the Dorohusk school’s director, said staff, including the school psychologist, now discuss with students “practically every day” how to stay safe.

The school had to be evacuated once so far and Wójcicki showed the two rooms in the basement of the school building where the kids took cover. Windows had been boarded up to avoid glass shards hurting anyone in case of an explosion.

“The older children had no problem at all, without showing any particular emotion,” the director said. "You could see a little fear among the younger children, but they were well looked after by their teachers.”

Wójcicki is responsible for the safety of hundreds of children who travel from nearby villages to attend school in Dorohusk, and his voice wavered as he described the enormity of the task.

Poland's Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz visited the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing on Sept. 22 and announced new air defense elements were being brought to the border region. He added that Patriot batteries were deployed in the two Polish regions bordering Ukraine, including the one where Dorohusk is located.

More work needs to be done on civil preparedness

While the government’s warnings are stark, even communities closest to Ukraine are still catching up on civil defense preparedness.

“We are at the beginning of the process of building civil resilience and the resilience of the state to threats," said Mirosław Sokal, head of resident safety for the city of Lublin, 90 km west of Dorohusk. “We have to remember that over the past 40 years we thought we would be living in peace.”

He said, given the lack of more solid infrastructure, Poles should respect one minimal rule when there's an air threat: get inside and put two walls between them and any window.

Sawa, the Dorohusk mayor, said villagers typically live in individual homes with basements and that is the obvious place to hide in case of air threats. “If I don’t have a basement myself, my neighbor likely does,” he said.

But people on the streets of Dorohusk seemed more confused about their options in case of a real attack.

“For now, I sleep well at night, so I don’t really hear it," said Irena Popek, a woman in her 80s. If planes are coming, she said, her basement was not an option as it was flooded. "I simply have nowhere to hide, and that’s it.”

Renata Pastuszo, a local shop employee, said she continued working through the recent siren alarm because it's better to keep a positive spirit in front of the Russian threat.

Krzysztof Rulka, another resident, complained that alerts were now coming too often, leaving people confused about their meaning.

“If someone told me that a drone was going to explode in the center of Dorohusk, then I would know what to do,” he said. "But this kind of confusion — there's an air attack somewhere in Ukraine — well, what am I supposed to do now? Run to Germany?”

Tidal surges swamped low-lying neighborhoods in New Jersey while wind gusts toppled trees on New York's Long Island, damaging homes and bringing down utility poles.

In the New Jersey beach town of Sea Bright, each high tide brought a new round of flooding. “It's not like a one-time occurrence,” said Caroline Virenius, whose garage filled with about a foot of water (30 centimeters). “It's getting wet again and again.”

The slow-moving storm, which killed a New York City Housing Authority worker when a tree fell Saturday, was expected to linger through Sunday with heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf all the way to New England.

Extreme amounts of rain — more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) since Friday in some spots in New Jersey — combined with a surging ocean led to flooding amounts not seen for close to a decade in places used to dealing with high water, residents said.

The National Weather Service predicted the storm will weaken over Sunday night with local heavy rain in parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic. But local officials in New Jersey and New York told residents that high tide late Monday could potentially bring more flooding.

“There is another band of the storm, a weaker band, but still another band that could hit early this afternoon and later into the evening,” said New York's Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

Nor'easter disrupts flights and utilities

The nor’easter triggered memories of Superstorm Sandy, which left behind over $60 billion in damage across the eastern U.S. in 2012. While this storm’s impact has been nowhere near that, it could be the first of several along the East Coast this fall because of an El Niño climate pattern that’s disrupting this year’s weather.

Images of waves crashing into sea walls and onto beaches raised concerns about coastal erosion.

Well over 100,000 customers were without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic at times on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. The most widespread outages were in counties along the coast from New Jersey to Connecticut.

Numerous flights were canceled or delayed up and down the coast. More than 250 flights had been canceled at Boston Logan International Airport by late Sunday morning as wind gusts reached 40 mph (64 kph), according to the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Flooding the biggest concern from nor'easter

The worst of the remaining rainfall was expected Sunday from northern New Jersey into southern New England.

While the storm was gradually weakening, tidal flooding would stay through high-tide cycles Sunday night, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

In New York City, water a few inches deep filled streets in the Howard Beach neighborhood but didn’t deter residents from venturing out for coffee Sunday morning.

Carole Ann Palmer, who owns Jingles Bait and Tackle in North Beach Haven, New Jersey, said this was the worst flooding she’s seen in 10 years.

“Yesterday, I was like, oh my God, it just keeps getting higher and higher,” said Palmer, who lives above the store.

The front step was swept away in the storm and she saw neighbors kayaking through the streets on Saturday.

Her biggest problem on Sunday was taking her two puppies outside to relieve themselves. She had to put on waders and carry them to dry land.

“I take one at the time, carry them across the street so they can do their business and then come back, dry them off and then do the other one. It’s a workout,” Palmer said.

New Jersey community better prepared after Sandy

Bernard Dowd waded through tidal water Sunday to get to his Sea Bright home, a day after he got back from work to find his basement “filled up like a swimming pool.”

But he said the situation around his neighborhood likely would have been much worse if it weren’t for new rules requiring homeowners to raise the height of their homes in the wake of Sandy, which devastated the community.

He also noticed that many around the community had lined their homes and businesses with sandbags — something he wishes he had done too.

“I'm always thinking they are hyping the storm,” he said.

___

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. AP journalists Mikella Schuettler in Phoenix and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) Sunday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm is expected to lash the peninsula with heavy rainfall overnight and could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides.

Nolo was well southwest of Hawaii and moving away from the Big Island as the weekend drew to a close, but a high-wind warning, wind advisory and high surf advisory remained in effect for parts of the island through Sunday evening. Nolo’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 105 mph (165 kph).

In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, residents boarded up homes Sunday as workers hauled dirt and rubble to shore up the embankments protecting the town. Authorities said 90% of the community was susceptible to flooding.

Residents feared high tides and pounding waves could breach the barriers and send seawater through the community. Some families planned to evacuate to shelters in Ciudad Constitucion, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) away.

“Civil Protection told those of us here in San Carlos to evacuate because this is a high-risk area. With the current tides, the expected waves and the wind, the earthen barriers they built (to prevent flooding) could give way. They said they wouldn’t hold,” Rocío Sánchez, a fisherman, said.

Forecasters said Polo would hit the Mexican mainland after crossing Baja California and could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week. Polo was moving to the north at 12 mph (19 kph) about 270 miles (435 kilometers) west of Cabo San Lucas at the peninsula’s southern tip, the hurricane center said.

It's been a busy seasons for Pacific storms

The Pacific has been unusually active, according to National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec, with storm activity running above average during what is already the peak of hurricane season. He said that pattern is consistent with El Niño years, when the Pacific often sees more tropical storms and hurricanes.

With Polo approaching Mexico, the Mexican navy said it has gathered personnel and humanitarian aid in the ports of Guaymas and Mazatlan, on the country's Pacific Coast, and deployed three vessels that could ship aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm.

One of the towns in the hurricane's projected path is San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja’s Pacific coast. The town has only had full-time electricity for a few years, and still experiences frequent outages. There is concern that washed-out roads could block access to medical facilities.

“Our people are concerned about this event,” said Gloriely Robles Meza, a manager at a small hotel. “We haven’t faced such a worrying situation in many years.”

Robles Meza said Sunday that army soldiers arrived in San Juanico to prepare a shelter and provide support for possible emergencies.

Also Sunday, Tropical Storm Rachel formed well off Mexico's southwest coast. The hurricane center said Rachel had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was located about 300 miles (485 kilometers) south of Acapulco. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

In Hawaii, floods and mudslides are still a risk

Forecasters said Nolo’s outer bands could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island possibly getting up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain. Heavy rain also was expected on the other islands.

More than 120 National Guard members were activated, part of roughly 400 statewide after the governor issued an emergency proclamation. President Donald Trump recently approved an emergency declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance and provide funding support.

Hawaii residents are still recovering from Hurricane Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

___

Video journalist Eugene Garcia and photographer Gregory Bull contributed from Hilo, Hawaii.

Days of continuous downpours have caused widespread flooding and severe disruptions in Bangkok, impacting traffic and businesses, with accumulated rainfall exceeding 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in many areas.

Thailand’s Meteorological Department said moderate to heavy rain was still expected Sunday in several parts of the country, but conditions were expected to improve by Monday.

The city set up more than 200 temporary shelters, and about 3,000 people remained in them as of Sunday. Officials said 31 roads were still impacted by floodwaters.

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said rainfall in the capital has decreased and city officials were working to drain water as quickly as possible. He cautioned that water levels in the city’s main canals remained high, with some still rising as water continued to flow in from nearby areas.

Several low-lying areas, particularly in the suburbs, were still submerged and many communities had to evacuate, Chadchart said.

More than 545,000 people in 25 other provinces have been impacted by flooding as of Sunday, especially in the central and eastern regions, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Incessant rainfall caused flooding that overwhelmed drainage capacity in many areas, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

He ordered relevant authorities to take immediate measures to relieve the situation and assist those impacted.

Several long-distance train and bus services were suspended. Airports continued to operate, but passengers faced some delays.

The state government said 46 people were injured and more than 1,000 houses were damaged after three days of heavy rainfall caused flooding in several districts.

Schools were closed Monday in parts of the state, including the capital, Lucknow, while rescue teams moved people from flooded areas to safer locations. Residents were advised to avoid unnecessary travel through waterlogged areas and stay away from fast-flowing rivers, streams and drains.

Rainfall was expected to ease from Monday as a weather system over the Bay of Bengal weakened, said Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow. Light rain could continue in eastern and western parts of the state through Tuesday, he said.

Flooding also affected the eastern state of Odisha, where more than 75,000 people were evacuated to safer areas, officials said.

In neighboring Nepal, 21 people died in weather-related incidents from Thursday through Sunday, the country's disaster management agency said. Five people remained missing and five others were injured, while floods and landslides damaged 194 houses.

Nepal is recovering from devastating August floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left nearly 6,000 missing.

——

Associated Press journalists Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal contributed to this report.

Both bounced back in a big way, rallying the Denver Broncos past Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams 30-26 in the latest come-from-behind thriller that's become so common in the Mile High City.

Nix's keeper from inches outside the goal line with 47 seconds left capped a wild final five minutes that included a 66-yard pick-6 by Hufanga, a quick touchdown response by Los Angeles and a game-sealing second picked-off pass by Denver's do-everything safety.

“I actually had to have a pep talk with myself,” after dropping two interceptions earlier in the game, said Hufanga, who finished with a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and three pass breakups to go with his pair of interceptions.

The Broncos (2-1) trailed 16-0 at halftime and went three-and-out to start the second half but rallied for a comeback, one-score win for the second straight week.

“In the huddle we feel a lot of belief that we've been there before and we have what it takes to go down against a really good defense and score points,” said Nix, who put the Broncos in front by reaching over the scrum with both hands squeezing the football.

Matthew Stafford, whose 17 comebacks in the last 2 minutes are the most by any active quarterback, quickly drove the Rams to the Denver 14, where he spiked the ball with 2 seconds left.

After false start moved the ball back to the 19, the Rams (1-2) sent out five receivers but Hufanga secured his second interception, this one in the end zone.

“Obviously a gutsy win,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.

“I mean, it's a tough one,” Stafford said after the Rams, preseason favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, suffered a second loss in three weeks.

Hufanga's 66-yard pick-6 with 4:49 left gave Denver its first lead at 23-19. He jumped in front of running back Kyren Williams, cradled Stafford’s pass and weaved his way down the field, past the hard-charging QB and into the end zone.

“To be honest, Matt Stafford is a lot faster than you think,” Hufanga said. “I might be slow, but he's fast. I'll give him his credit because I had to cut back on that play.”

“Hufanga did a really nice job of fighting through the Y (receiver) and I left it a little bit back behind him,” Stafford lamented. "If I just dirt it, or whatever, we come away with three points. I’ll take myself trying to make those plays all day.”

Hufanga said he had told himself to stay patient for more opportunities to come after dropping two earlier potential interceptions of Stafford. “And man, two big plays.”

Just four plays later, however, Stafford hit Konata Mumpfield from 48 yards out when cornerback Riley Moss fell down, restoring the Rams' lead at 26-23.

Nix then drove Denver 65 yards in 10 plays with the aid of three defensive penalties and, with the ball nearly touching the goal line, leaped over the pile for the go-ahead TD. Nix had completions of 39 and 21 yards on that drive.

Cornerback Justin Wallace would have had his second interception of the night on that drive, but he was whistled for defensive pass interference on Pat Bryant on third-and-6 from the LA 11. That gave Denver a new set of downs at the 7.

“You try to be physical as a DB,” Rams safety Quentin Lake said. “Sometimes, you know, I think at the end of the day, as you know, the rules are the rules. Can’t be too handsy. It’s unfortunate.”

The Rams led 16-0 at halftime but it was tied going into the fourth after Nix threw a pair of touchdown passes and made two 2-point conversion throws: “We knew it was just a two-score game,” said Nix.

Harrison Mevis' fourth field goal, which followed an interception by Wallace, restored LA's lead at 19-16. He was also good from 36, 35 and 40 yards before halftime.

The Broncos cut their deficit in half on Nix's 5-yard strike to Bryant and 2-point conversion pass to Jaylen Waddle on a throw between the hands of Wallace midway through the third quarter. The Broncos tied it on another touchdown and 2-pointer. Nate Adkins caught an 8-yard throw from Nix, who found Bryant again to tie the game.

Stafford finished 30 for 55 for 390 yards. He threw 32 passes in the first half, the most of his career. With Puca Nacua out again with a hip injury, Davante Adams had seven receptions for 137 yards, giving him 15 catches for 332 yards over his last two games, the best such stretch of his career.

Injuries

Rams: CB Jaylen Watson (shoulder) got hurt just before halftime while guarding Courtland Sutton and was carted to the locker room from the sideline. LA lost two tight ends on its first touchdown drive, although Terrance Ferguson (ankle) returned on the Rams' next series. Also injured on the drive was Colby Parkinson (shoulder).

Broncos: Denver was without its Game 2 hero, rookie RB Jonah Coleman, who went on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain after his TD run secured the Broncos' 20-13 win over Jacksonville.

Up next

Rams: At Philadelphia next Sunday.

Broncos: Visit San Francisco next Sunday.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Vucic’s second presidential term would otherwise end in May next year. He is banned by the Serbian Constitution from seeking a third term and said he was resigning to lead his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party in the Oct. 25 ballot.

The governing populists face a major challenge at the ballot box from a youth-backed movement that led the protests triggered by the Nov. 1, 2024, train station canopy collapse that killed 16 people in the northern city of Novi Sad.

University students demanded accountability for the tragedy. Their struggle for justice and against corruption has grown into a strong movement that will attempt to oust Vucic’s government after 14 years in power. Vucic himself has been either prime minister or president for the past 12 years.

“I am resigning the duty of the President of the Republic,” Vucic said, reading the text of his resignation.

Tensions are rising ahead of high-stakes October ballot

The ballot in October will be held against a backdrop of high political tensions as Vucic’s populists seek to remain in office despite widespread popular discontent. His decision to run for prime minister is seen as a carefully planned maneuver to retain a top position, and to boost his party’s chances against the student movement.

Before signing his resignation, Vucic briefly addressed his supporters outside the presidency building in Belgrade. He said “tonight is a very special occasion for me, my last evening in this beautiful building.”

“But I look to the future with joy, new victories await us,” he told the crowd as they chanted his name. “Let’s beat them (opponents) more convincingly than ever before.”

Vucic in recent weeks has toured the country tirelessly in a live coverage on pro-government media. He has opened new roads, offered assistance money and cheaper medicines, and visited voters in their homes. More recently, Vucic was filmed driving in his brother’s car to some of the events.

The prime minister in Serbia is formally more powerful than the president. But Vucic still took a dominant role during his two five-year terms, sometimes presiding over government sessions and routinely announcing all important decisions and plans.

The Independent Bureau for Social Research, or BIRODI, has filed a complaint alleging that Vucic has abused a public institution as president to promote his party, which he has dismissed. There has been no response from the anti-corruption authorities that are under government control.

Presidential vote to be held later

After Vucic’s resignation, the acting president will be a close ally and former prime minister, Ana Brnabic, who is the outgoing speaker of Serbia’s 250-member Parliament.

Vucic said the first round of the early presidential election must be held by the end of this year because of a 90-day deadline.

Vucic and his party have been accused of rampant corruption, organized crime links and a clampdown on democratic freedoms, including the critical media. The SNS party has gradually taken control over all state institutions since coming to power in 2012, while denying abuse of office and repeatedly pledging to fight graft.

The student-backed election list includes little-known experts, professors, teachers, athletes and other individuals from all walks of life. Groups of students have been touring the country on bicycles as part of their campaign calling for the rule of law and an end to corruption.

Analysts say the student group and Vucic are polling close, heralding a tight race and a referendum-like atmosphere. Also running are Vucic’s allies, the Socialist Party, a pro-EU opposition alliance and several smaller groups.

Vucic said that as of Monday, he will be “everywhere in Serbia to listen to the people.” While praising his government's achievements, Vucic contended that “I have made mistakes but I have worked diligently like hardly anyone in this position.”

Vucic also said he had pardoned 49 people before leaving the office, including 23 who have been prosecuted for alleged offenses during the protests. They include a group of anti-government activists who fled Serbia after being accused of anti-state activities.

Authorities have pushed hard against protesters with police violence and detentions as Vucic, without offering evidence, accused his opponents and critical media of intending to “destroy the state” under unspecified foreign influence.

He told Serbia’s state-run RTS Television earlier on Sunday that foreign powers and unidentified people in the country plan to stir unrest on election night.

Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union have stalled under Vucic because of democratic backsliding and a refusal to join sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

On the third day of his visit to France, Leo again waded into the end-of-life debate unfolding in his native U.S. and countries around the world. The issue roiled French politics for years before lawmakers recently approved legislation allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication.

Leo also met on Sunday with seven survivors of clergy sexual abuse, in what has now become a regular appointment for popes on foreign visits. The aim is to atone for the Catholic Church’s failure to protect its youngest and most vulnerable members from predator priests.

“It was extraordinary,” said survivor Jean-Marie Delbos, who joined four others at a press conference afterward to praise Leo for the encounter, saying he listened and was informed of their cases. “I never thought I would have a pope before me.”

A message about end-of-life care

Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by huge crowds — 800,000 at Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — and his messaging against abortion and assisted dying.

France’s National Assembly in 2024 enshrined abortion as a constitutional right and recently gave final approval to its end-of-life bill.

On Sunday, the American pope celebrated Mass before some 150,000 people — many in wheelchairs — on the prairie next to Lourdes’ main basilica. He then visited a care center for sick people on the sanctuary’s grounds. He sought to encourage especially those who live in “terrible pain” that they have inherent dignity that no law or algorithm can “eliminate.”

“On the contrary, it is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” he said. "What is legal is not necessarily moral,” Leo said to applause from the crowd.

Catholic teaching holds that all human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death, leading to its firm opposition to abortion, euthanasia and medically assisted dying.

Leo had specifically criticized a medical-aid-in-dying law that took effect in Sept. 12 in his home state of Illinois — the 13th U.S. state with such a law.

Lourdes became a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church officially recognized visions of the Virgin Mary reported here by a young girl in 1858. The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims each year, especially sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto where the visions purportedly occurred.

As a result in Lourdes, where the church has recognized 72 “miraculous” cures as authentic, the question of respecting even the most frail, sick and vulnerable is particularly acute.

Survivors visit Lourdes as part of their healing process

More recently, Lourdes has also become a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and it was chosen as the site for Leo's encounter with victims. Leo met with them in a group and one-on-one in an encounter that lasted nearly two hours, the Vatican said.

The pope "listened to their stories, the pain and suffering they had endured — sometimes, unfortunately, with the complicity or silence of those who could have helped them — and their suggestions for ensuring that this does not happen again,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Olivier Mardi, co-founder of Voix Libérées de Touraine, a survivor group, said he perceived that Leo was a decisive “man of engagement” who had done his homework going into the meeting. He said Leo knew Mardi's case and asked him precise questions.

“He's not fooled; he knows that these incidents will continue and that we must remain vigilant,” he said. “There was an emotional side to it, and at the same time, something very powerful when he spoke.”

The French church has faced a brutal reckoning with its legacy of abuse. An independent report in 2021 estimated 330,000 children had been abused over 70 years by some 3,000 priests and church workers.

Despite criticism of the report’s methodology and conclusions, French bishops put in place an independent system of compensation for victims that to date has recommended the church pay out more than 20 million euros ($22.7 million).

During a meeting with French bishops on Sunday morning, Leo praised their response to victims and urged them to continue. But he also acknowledged that the cratering in priestly vocations in the French church is related to the scandal, given the priesthood is now sometimes viewed with suspicion.

“For priestly vocations to flourish, the priest must be welcomed, accepted, and loved,” Leo said.

Monsignor Pierre-Antoine Bozo, spokesperson for the bishops’ conference, said Leo intentionally wanted to keep the encounter with victims small to facilitate an intimate encounter.

“When it comes to listening to them, you can’t have 50 people in front of you,” he said. “So I think that’s really what the pope chose: to listen so that we can act and respond more effectively.”

Mosaics are a painful reminder of alleged abuse

In Lourdes, Leo was also reminded of a prickly abuse case inherited from Pope Francis.

The façade of one of the Lourdes basilicas was designed by the Rev. Marko Rupnik, a religious mosaic artist.

Rupnik is currently on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of having psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused them starting in the 1990s, including during the creation of his artworks.

His case was covered up for three decades by his Jesuit superiors, and even Francis was suspected of having protected his fellow Jesuit. In response to a media outcry, Francis ordered a canonical trial in 2024, which is ongoing.

The Rupnik case posed the question of what to do with his mosaics, which adorn basilicas around the world.

Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas in 2025 decided to cover the façade of the Notre Dame du Rosaire Basilica, reasoning that abuse victims who come to Lourdes for healing shouldn’t be forced to see the mosaics.

On Sunday, Leo looped in front of the basilica in his popemobile, passing by the mosaic panels now covered by mustard-colored curtains affixed with plastic ties.

___

Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The trip to Vandalia, just north of Dayton, is scheduled to come after stops in Oklahoma on Thursday and Alabama on Friday. The Ohio race is seen as vital to determining control of the Senate.

Trump had earlier vowed to campaign in 35 of the most competitive battleground races in the final sprint to November’s midterm elections.

Brown is attempting a comeback two years after losing his Senate seat to Republican Bernie Moreno. Husted is a veteran of Republican politics in Ohio, having served as a state lawmaker, House speaker, secretary of state and lieutenant governor before being tapped to fill the Senate seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president.

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou recently told The Associated Press that he hoped Trump would visit his state, where he won in 2024 by 11 percentage points.

“We definitely want him here,” Triantafilou said. “He’s a turnout driver for us.”

___

Tucker reported from Washington.

Deputies got to the scene near W Richey Road around 7 p.m. and found a man with gunshot wounds. The man died at the scene.

Homicide detectives and crime scene investigators are working to determine the circumstances of the shooting. KPRC 2 has a crew at the scene and will update this story when more details are available.

Nicholas Alan Codutti, 43, is charged with indecency with a child and sexual performance by a child, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

HCSO said its Crimes Against Children Unit began investigating on April 29 after a report to Child Protective Services alleged longstanding sexual abuse involving a minor who was a former Tomball ISD student.

Detectives filed charges against Codutti on Sept. 25. He was arrested the following day by members of HCSO’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team with assistance from patrol deputies, according to the sheriff’s office.

Codutti’s attorney, Ryan Fremuth, told KPRC 2 on Sunday that his client denies the allegations and intends to plead not guilty.

“We are asserting his innocence and denying the allegations as they are presented,” Fremuth said.

“He denies that he ever sexually abused a child,” Fremuth added, saying Codutti denies ever having sexual contact with a minor.

Woman tells investigators relationship became sexual when she was 16

According to charging documents obtained by KPRC 2, the woman, who is now 24, told investigators Codutti had been her strength and conditioning coach at Tomball High School.

The woman said she and Codutti initially communicated through social media and eventually exchanged nude photographs while she was a minor.

She told investigators she began babysitting for Codutti and his wife and alleged sexual contact later occurred at their home.

The woman told investigators she believed she and Codutti first had sexual intercourse in February 2019, when she was 16 years old.

Charging documents detail allegations of additional sexual encounters at several locations, including Codutti’s home, a gym and on the Tomball High School campus.

The woman specifically alleged that sexual contact occurred inside a coaches’ office in the school’s weight room in 2019. She also told investigators there were occasions when she left campus with Codutti during lunch.

The woman told investigators the relationship continued after she graduated from high school and into adulthood. She alleged their last sexual encounter occurred around September 2025.

Attorney says defense has not received evidence

Fremuth told KPRC 2 he has represented Codutti since the investigation began in April and has communicated with law enforcement and prosecutors about the case.

However, Fremuth said the defense has not yet received the evidence gathered by investigators.

“The biggest thing right now is I have not received any evidence. So I don’t know what they think they have,” Fremuth said.

Charging documents describe several steps investigators say they took while examining the woman’s allegations.

According to the documents, investigators reviewed therapy and medical records, interviewed the woman’s mother and obtained Tomball ISD employment records.

The records obtained by investigators showed Codutti worked for Tomball ISD as an assistant football coach and teacher from August 2017 until February 2021. Investigators also obtained medical records showing the woman was prescribed birth control in June 2019, according to the complaint.

The woman’s mother also confirmed to investigators that her daughter had babysat for Codutti and that Codutti had been her daughter’s high school coach, according to charging documents.

Defense questions years-long delay

Fremuth said the defense intends to examine the length of time between the alleged conduct in 2018 and 2019 and the beginning of the criminal investigation in 2026.

“Whenever you have a delay like this, you always have to ask yourself the question, why was there a delay like that?” Fremuth said. “There are many reasons that could be.”

Charging documents provide some context for how the allegations reached law enforcement years later.

According to the complaint, the woman disclosed the alleged relationship during therapy. Her therapist subsequently made a report to Child Protective Services, which ultimately led to the HCSO investigation.

Codutti expected in court Monday

Fremuth said the criminal case and publicity surrounding it have been difficult for Codutti and his family.

“This is a very difficult time for him and his family,” Fremuth said.

Fremuth said Codutti hopes the case ultimately ends in a dismissal or acquittal.

Court records show Codutti posted a $100,000 bond. He is scheduled for a court hearing Monday morning.

HCSO said the investigation remains ongoing and is asking anyone with information relevant to the investigation to contact its Crimes Against Children Unit at 713-830-3250.

Alvarez's .316 average was the lowest for the overall major league batting champion, below the previous mark of .325 by Dick Groat for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. Alvarez had the lowest for an AL winner since Carl Yastrzemski's .301 in 1968.

“The batting title was something I always wanted," Alvarez said.

Moreno edged Philadelphia's Luis Arraez for the NL crown and became only the fifth player with at least 50 starts at catcher to win a batting championship, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He joined Bubbles Hargrave (1926), Ernie Lombardi (1938, ‘42), Buster Posey (2012) and Joe Mauer (2006, ’08, '09).

Moreno, Arizona's first batting champion, was scratched from the starting lineup Sunday because of a tender hamstring and he finished at .311, one percentage point above Arraez. A three-time batting champion, Arraez sprained an ankle Thursday and missed the Phillies' last regular-season series.

“It’s something that you dream when you’re playing baseball since you’re 3 years old, 4 years old,” Moreno said.

Seven qualified big leaguers hit .300 or better, matching 2024 and 2025 for the fewest since a record-low six in 1968. Colorado's TJ Rumfield reached .300 with a first-inning single Saturday, was removed in the second and didn't play Sunday.

Misiorowski finished with 252 strikeouts, a 1.80 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of .157. The only other pitchers since 1950 to lead the major leagues in all three categories were Sandy Koufax in 1965, J.R. Richard in 1979 and Mike Scott in 1986, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Misiorowski's opponents' batting average was the lowest since 1900 for an AL or NL pitcher with 100 or more innings, bettering Pedro Martinez's .167 in 2000, Elias said. His 0.80 WHIP was the lowest for pitchers with at least 150 innings since Martinez's 0.73 in 2000.

Misiorowski threw 1,115 pitches 100 mph or faster, most in a season since tracking started in 2008. He shattered the prior mark of 673 by Jordan Hicks in 2018.

“Honestly, being able to go in week in and week out and perform for my teammates, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Misiorowski said.

Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees won the AL ERA title at 1.95 and had a 1.16 ERA on the road, the third-lowest in the Live Ball era for a pitcher with 100 or more innings behind Bob Gibson's 0.81 in 1968 and Greg Maddux's 1.12 in 1995.

Houston set a record for lowest winning percentage by a first-place team at .500 with an 81-81 mark that won the AL West.

Colson Montgomery of the Chicago White Sox set the season record for strikeouts by a batter with 227, four more than Mark Reynolds in 2009.

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber tied for the home run lead with 45. Pete Alonso topped the AL with 43 after leaving the New York Mets as a free agent to sign with the Orioles.

Alec Burleson of St. Louis led the NL in RBIs with 116 and Alonso topped the AL with 113, becoming the first player to win an RBI title in both leagues. Alonso paced the NL with 131 in 2022 for the Mets.

Pittsburgh's Bryan Reynolds had the most doubles with 40 and Boston's Wilyer Abreu led the AL with 38.

Corbin Carroll became the first player to lead his league in triples in four straight seasons, hitting 17 for the Diamondbacks. Minnesota's Kody Clemens had seven triples, the fewest for an AL leader in a non-shortened season.

Washington's Nasim Nuñez led the major leagues with 49 stolen bases, and Tampa Bay's Chandler Simpson topped the AL with 46.

Philadelphia's Cristopher Sánchez and Boston's Sonny Gray tied for the lead with 18 wins. There have not been any 20-game winners since Atlanta's Spencer Strider in 2023. The only other non-shortened seasons without a 20-game winner were 1871, 2006, 2009 and 2017.

Cleveland's Gavin Williams led the AL with 248 strikeouts.

Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker and Cleveland's Cade Smith tied for most saves with 41, while San Diego's Mason Miller and St. Louis' Riley O'Brien led the NL with 38 each.

___

AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham and AP freelance writers Adam Camarena and Matt Carlson contributed to this report.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“These people want to see golf,” he said Sunday.

And just like his last visit to the Presidents Cup in 2017, he saw the Americans win. They rallied with the best performance on the final day in tournament history.

“Our team played unbelievable golf. They went in with a massive deficit, and they came out with a tremendous victory, just a great comeback,” Trump told reporters when he landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.

His visit to Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago marked the fourth time Trump has gone to a golf tournament this year. He arrived early and participated in the closing ceremony, helping with the presentation of the trophy to the winning U.S. team.

Security was tight. The Secret Service would not let spectators cross from one side of the first fairway to the other except for when Trump took a break from greeting players to go inside a suite.

Trump also was honorary chairman at the 2017 Presidents Cup during his first term. He showed up at Liberty National, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, toward the end of the competition when the Americans were assured of winning. He posed with U.S. players during the trophy presentation.

This time, he arrived before the start of the 12 singles matches in the final session. Flanked by PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, Trump greeted players and caddies on both teams. In between player introductions, he watched the action on the videoboard at No. 1.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and among several golfers who have played with Trump, patted the president’s shoulder as he walked onto the tee. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also visited the president a couple of times.

“He told me I was going to bring some energy today for you guys, you guys need it, and I told him if we did this, he gets all the credit,” Snedeker said after the U.S. closed out the victory. “Thank you, President Trump.”

Trump signed three hats for fans, and he responded to sections of the crowd clamoring for his attention by pointing, waving and offering a thumbs-up. When a fan yelled “We love you Donnie!” right before Chris Gotterup's tee shot, Trump waved discreetly.

He congratulated both teams during the closing ceremony. He also posed for photos and handed out challenge coins to Team USA and their significant others.

Trump was introduced by Rolapp at the beginning of the session, prompting Trump to remark “the fake news media will say I got a very bad reception.”

The president spoke briefly, noting that Rolapp had asked him to make a short speech.

“I said, ‘No, I don’t have the courage to make a speech. These people want to see golf. They don’t want to hear speeches,’” Trump said. “I’ll only say this: Our country is doing great, better than ever before.”

Unlike regular golf tournaments, the first tee is boisterous with a flag-waving crowd and music at the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, which Trump attended last year at Bethpage Black on Long Island in New York.

The Americans lost the Ryder Cup to Europe, but they rallied past the International team for their 11th consecutive Presidents Cup win.

Before the horseshoe-shaped grandstand was filled, the loudest buzz was Air Force One flying over Medinah, louder than any of the commercial airlines that have been flying over the course every 70 seconds throughout the week during descent to O'Hare International Airport.

“They were nice enough to name me chairman or honorary chairman, so it’s an honor. It’s a very big event, one of the biggest events in golf by far,” Trump told reporters Sunday morning as he left the White House. “You have the Ryder Cup, and you have the Presidents Cup, and this is a big one, and so it’s a great honor. So, I’m going there.”

It's a traditional role offered to leaders of every country where the tournament is played.

The Presidents Cup began in 1994 to include international players from non-European countries who were not eligible for the more famed Ryder Cup. The name of the tournament comes from including the head of state of the host country as honorary chairman.

Then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was part of the trophy presentation at the last Presidents Cup in 2024 at Royal Montreal.

President Bill Clinton was in office in 2000 when he attended for one round at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. The first time Trump attended in 2017, the start of the week was the biggest display of presidents when Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama sat together on the first tee for the opening round.

Trump this year was at the Cadillac Championship at his Trump National Doral near Miami in early May. He also attended the LIV Golf event at his Trump National Bedminster course in New Jersey in August.

Earlier this month he attended the Irish Open at his course in Doonbeg, Ireland.

___

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here

Appearing on stage together for their first and only debate before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Kean latched himself to Trump’s divisive record, defending Trump’s signature protectionist economic policies that have roiled global trade and backing Trump’s decision to launch attacks on Iran, saying the country could not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Bennett, a Navy veteran, sought to tap into public discontent over rising prices, and urged an end to the war and called on Congress to rein in Trump’s use of tariffs on imports.

The 7th Congressional District, which includes Trump’s Bedminster golf club, has changed party control in each of the past two midterm elections, making it a magnet for campaign spending and a political barometer. Republicans are trying to defend their narrow House majority at a time when Trump’s approval rating is deeply underwater and gas prices are rising because of his war with Iran.

Kean, who has voted against resolutions aimed at halting military action in Iran, defended the war.

“I think when you look at what Iran's terrorist leadership says — they say death to America. They have as their goal a nuclear weapon,” Kean said.

Bennett, a Navy veteran, called for an end to the conflict.

“We need to end the war in Iran,” she said. “The reason that we are seeing this increase in our gas prices is because of this unnecessary war.”

On tariffs, Kean said they were the president's prerogative. Bennett said Congress should step in.

Kean, a former state legislator who comes from a deep-rooted political family, is seeking a third term. During his absence, he missed more than 100 votes.

He returned in June and said he had been hospitalized for depression and that he was a private person by nature.

Bennett, a former Navy pilot who also worked as a healthcare executive, is a political newcomer. She won a competitive primary in June and was widely viewed as a more moderate and electable Democrat than some of her competitors.

Millions of dollars have poured into the race.

Last week, a super PAC tied to the Republican president indicated it would spend more than $3 million to help Kean in the race. Another political action committee tied to Democrats has set aside about $2.5 million for television ads in the New York market to help Bennett and another Democrat in a New York district.

Kean's district became slightly more Republican after the redistricting following the 2020 census. Nonetheless, Democrats view it as a prime pickup opportunity.

Kean won in 2022 by unseating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had ousted Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Wilson made the announcement shortly after the Mariners finished off a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, the ending to a disappointing 76-86 season that began with World Series aspirations after Seattle reached Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last year.

“Collectively we failed to meet our own expectations this season,” Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto said in a statement. “Dan and I both care deeply about this organization, these players, and the future of the Mariners. After much discussion it was concluded that a new direction is best for 2027 and beyond.

“I want to thank Dan for his efforts over the past two years and specifically recognize his role in our club advancing to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2025.”

Wilson, a Mariners Hall of Famer who played catcher for the team from 1994-2005, took over the job after Seattle fired Scott Servais on Aug. 22, 2024. Things started off well, as Wilson led the club to a 21-13 finish after it squandered a 10-game lead in the AL West earlier in the season.

The Mariners won the AL West in 2025, their first division title in 24 years, and came within one victory of the franchise's first World Series appearance. But a combination of injuries and regression by the bullpen and several of the team's top offensive stars led to a 2026 season filled with disappointment.

After hitting .247 with 60 homers and 125 RBIs and finishing second in the AL MVP race to Aaron Judge last year, Cal Raleigh batted .182 with 23 homers and 69 RBIs. Center fielder Julio Rodríguez and first baseman Josh Naylor also had career-worst seasons as the Mariners scored just 664 runs — third-fewest in the majors.

The defense ranked last in MLB with -58 outs above average, and All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz blew 10 saves.

Wilson went 187-171 in two-plus seasons as Mariners manager, at .522 the second-best winning percentage in club history behind Lou Piniella (.542).

“I'm still processing this with my family, and it's a very difficult day," Wilson said at a postgame news conference, reading from a prepared statement. “We love this city, we love this community and we appreciate the organization for what it has meant to the family since coming here as a player in '94.”

His tenure as manager ends with the Mariners still the only major league team that's never reached the World Series.

“I’ve appreciated the opportunity to lead this team the past two years,” Wilson said. “While this season has not gone the way any of us expected, I’m proud that the players in the clubhouse showed up each day to try and compete and battle in each game they played. I’m confident that the 2026 season doesn’t accurately reflect the talent, passion and desire of our players and know that bright things are ahead for this group.”

Prior to Sunday’s game, Wilson told the team he would not be back in 2027.

“He just made it clear that he really cares about this team and this organization as a whole,” Rodríguez said. “Even though he’s not going to be around us, he’s going to always be there for us in many different ways and that he believes in this group going forward."

Mariners Chairman and CEO John Stanton thanked Wilson and said he could still remain in the organization.

"I want to add my thanks to Dan for the work he’s done as manager,” Stanton said in the team's statement. “I have also spoken with Dan and made it clear that we would like to keep him in our organization. I look forward to continued conversations as we work to identify a role in which we can continue to benefit from his experience and commitment to the Mariners and our community.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Now, as Texas gets underway with its own Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA) program, the experience in Arizona offers an early look at what can happen when taxpayer-funded education dollars follow families beyond traditional public schools.

ENOUGH’s Rilwan Balogun and Roger Franco traveled to Phoenix to see how Arizona’s program is working on the ground and to hear from the families, educators and state officials who see it very differently.

One Arizona education advocate described the program bluntly.

“It’s been the Wild Wild West,” said Beth Lewis with Save Our Schools Arizona, a non-partisan, community-based organization supporting strong public schools.

RELATED | Texas school vouchers program raises questions over how families can use funds

That divide runs through nearly every conversation about Arizona’s ESAs. Supporters say the program gives families options they may not otherwise have, including access to microschools and other alternative approaches to education. Critics argue that the rapid expansion has created questions about oversight, accountability and the impact on traditional public schools.

For Texas, the question is no longer simply whether families should have more choices. It is what those choices will look like once public dollars begin flowing through the new system.

A different kind of school

At School to Purpose, operated by the Black Mothers Forum, the traditional idea of a school is turned on its head.

The facility is divided into individual microschools, with blended classrooms serving different age groups. In one classroom, students from kindergarten through third grade learn together.

Tiffany Dudley, the organization’s executive director, says the model is intentionally different from a conventional school.

Rather than organizing instruction strictly around individual grade-level standards, the school teaches concepts that students can approach at different levels of complexity. A coach might begin with the entire classroom before breaking students into smaller groups, where they rotate between individualized instruction, activities and computer work.

And the adults leading the classrooms aren’t necessarily viewed as traditional teachers.

“We look at it more like a coach,” Dudley explained. She said the role is to help students learn rather than serve as their sole source of knowledge.

That distinction is central to how School to Purpose approaches education.

RELATED: Houston private school says TEFA helped boost enrollment 200% as it opens first brick-and-mortar campus

Gabrielle Shorter, a parent at the school who later became a coach herself, said she was drawn to smaller classes after her son struggled in traditional classrooms during kindergarten, first and second grade.

By fourth grade, she said, the environment at School to Purpose gave him room to develop his voice and understand that he was in a safe space.

The experience ultimately changed Shorter’s career. She moved from the health industry into education and became a coach at the microschool.

“If you’re looking for a traditional school, it wouldn’t be a micro school,” she said.

Supporters see choice and opportunity

For supporters of microschools, the fundamental argument is that education shouldn’t have to be one-size-fits-all.

Dudley also rejects the idea that creating a microschool necessarily means taking something away from a public school. In her view, public schools, charter schools and microschools can coexist.

That perspective reflects a larger philosophical question at the center of the ESA debate: What should be the ultimate goal of the education system?

When asked what she would tell Texas families who worry that school choice could harm public schools, Dudley put the question differently: is the goal simply to have good public schools, or is the goal to serve children?

Critics see a system with too little oversight

Arizona’s ESA program has another side.

Lewis, director of Save Our Schools Arizona, argues that the state’s experience shows the risks of expanding education savings accounts without sufficient oversight.

She says Arizona’s voucher system began in 2011 as a targeted program, including for students with disabilities, before becoming universal in 2022.

She also points to concerns about how ESA dollars are spent.

Lewis says Arizona has seen cases involving what she describes as fraud, waste and abuse, and argues that the program has allowed purchases with too few questions asked up front.

Tom Horne, Arizona’s state superintendent of education, sees the issue differently.

When asked about criticism of fraud and waste in the ESA program, Horne said those concerns are exaggerated. He said less than 2% of dollars spent had been questioned as improper purchases and that the actual fraud figure, in his estimation, was 0.3%.

MAP: See Texas school voucher applications and awards by school district

Horne also acknowledged a challenge created by the scale of the program.

“We have the same number of personnel for 108,000 students that were designed for 11,000 students,” Horne said. “So, we can’t possibly vet everything before it’s paid.”

Horne said that means the state cannot vet every purchase before money is spent.

Instead, he said, the state identifies improper purchases afterward and seeks to recover the money. Families can be required to repay funds, banned from the program and, in major cases, referred to the attorney general for collection or prosecution.

For Texas, that may be one of the clearest lessons from Arizona: oversight isn’t simply a question of whether rules exist. It is also a question of whether the state has enough people and systems to enforce those rules as participation grows.

Horne believes Texas has already taken that lesson to heart.

“They’ve learned from our mistakes,” Horne said.

But what does accountability look like?

The question of accountability extends beyond how money is spent.

WATCH OUR INTERVIEW WITH ARIZONA INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER JOE DANA

Critics of Arizona’s program question the academic accountability of private schools, charter schools and microschools that do not operate like traditional public schools.

Horne said that if the legislature required students participating in the program to take state tests, the department would administer them. But under the current approach, he said, the theory is that parents themselves are the accountability mechanism.

In other words, families are expected to judge whether a school or educational provider is working for their children and leave if it isn’t.

Horne’s advice to parents is straightforward: choose carefully, and if the choice doesn’t work, make another choice.

But that argument raises a question Texas will have to answer for itself: is parental choice enough to demonstrate that children are receiving a quality education?

Curtis Finch, superintendent of Deer Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, says it isn’t.

“I don’t have a problem with choice,” Finch said. He said he has no problem with microschools, charter schools or private schools. But he wants them to take the state test and demonstrate that they are actually teaching students.

Public schools feel the impact

For Finch, he says his district has lost nearly 1,200 students to ESAs between 2017 to 2026 and that each departing student represents funding leaving the district.

Finch sees ESA expansion as one major factor contributing to the pressure on public school systems.

He argues that public schools face a responsibility that other educational providers don’t: if a student lives in the district, the district has to take that child. Private schools and other educational providers, he points out, can decide which students they will accept.

That difference, he argues, makes the concept of “choice” more complicated than simply allowing parents to select where their children attend school.

“They don’t have to let your kid in,” Finch said referring to private, homeschools, and microschools. “Every student that comes to Deer Valley, if they are a resident of my district, I take them.”

Finch says he has also seen students return back to his district after their families determine that the program they chose wasn’t meeting their needs.

For him, the question isn’t whether families should have options. It’s whether every educational option receiving public money should meet some standard of accountability.

A parent says the choice is personal

Families experiencing the system firsthand see the issue through a different lens.

Shorter describes her son’s experience in public school as the reason her family began looking for something else.

At School to Purpose, she says, the emphasis on behavior, personal development and finding a child’s voice is part of education, not separate from it.

When ENOUGH’s Rilwan Balogun asked whether children at microschools are being adequately educated, she pushed back on the premise that academic education and personal development should be separated.

“Becoming a better person is educating them,” she said.

Arizona’s experience offers Texas a warning and an opportunity

Arizona’s ESA program doesn’t produce a single answer.

Supporters point to families who found an educational environment that they believe better fits their children. Microschools have emerged as one example of what can develop when families have access to education dollars outside a traditional public school setting.

Critics point to the consequences of rapid expansion: questions about spending, oversight, academic accountability and the financial pressure placed on public school districts.

And Arizona’s state superintendent argues that Texas has an advantage Arizona didn’t have: the opportunity to learn from what happened there.

For Texas families, that may be the most important lesson.

As the TEFA program gets underway, the experience of Arizona suggests that the debate won’t end when families are given the ability to choose.

Dudley believes the key is understanding the program before judging it.

She said she had to take the time to research ESAs and understand how they affect children and families.

Lewis has a different message for Texans concerned about what happens to their public schools: look beyond the local principal, school board or superintendent and pay attention to the decisions being made by the state legislature.

For Texas, Arizona is now a case study playing out in real time.

The state has demonstrated what a universal ESA system can make possible. It has also exposed the questions that emerge when public education dollars follow families into a much broader and less traditional educational marketplace.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the estimate was driven by the breadth of ENOUGH’s original request, which officials said generated a search of more than 400,000 emails and attachments.

The request is part of a broader effort to examine how law enforcement agencies across the Houston area use Flock Safety automated license plate readers, or ALPRs.

The cameras scan license plates and collect vehicle data that law enforcement agencies can use during investigations. Supporters of the technology say it can help investigators locate vehicles connected to crimes. Critics have raised concerns about privacy, data access and the possibility of the system being misused to track people.

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

ENOUGH has received thousands of pages of records from smaller agencies without a similar cost estimate. The $121,602 estimate came from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Why the records request was so expensive

According to the Sheriff’s Office, our original request was extremely broad.

The office also said the estimate was not intended to suggest that records were being withheld because of the subject matter.

I narrowed our records request and am now waiting for the department to provide a new estimate and response.

The distinction is important: the $121,602 figure was an estimate based on the scope of the original request, not a fee ENOUGH ultimately agreed to pay for the records.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is subject to the Texas Public Information Act, which generally provides public access to government records while allowing certain information to be withheld under statutory exceptions.

Hidalgo says the $121,000 estimate surprised her

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the size of the estimate surprised her when I asked about it.

“It’s surprising because I know Sheriff Gonzalez is really involved in wanting to find a good balance between oversight and the law enforcement benefit,” Hidalgo said.

READ MORE: At least 900 Flock cameras have been unplugged in Texas since state funding was cut

Hidalgo said the request also made her wonder what information is available from the county’s constable offices.

“It makes me wonder what we’re getting from the constable’s offices,” she said.

Hidalgo said she wants residents to continue asking questions of the elected officials and agencies involved.

The county judge has previously said she supports the use of ALPR technology to help solve crimes and save lives, while also arguing that stronger privacy protections and oversight are needed.

Hidalgo said commissioners court’s October 15th meeting will dedicate some time to Flock.

Hidalgo said during a September meeting, she had asked the county purchasing agent, county administrator and county attorney for information about the county’s Flock contract.

She said the review raised a question about who is authorized to access information collected by the cameras.

“When I asked, ‘Who can access the data?’ I thought I would hear something like, you know, members of the sheriff’s department or, you know, police officers, but that’s not what’s in the contract,” Hidalgo said. “The contract just says Harris County.”

She said she hopes the county can determine who has accessed Flock information, how often it has been accessed, where cameras are located and who administers the system.

Hidalgo has said she wants the discussion to include information about the county’s Flock contracts, the agencies that can access the data, camera locations and the safeguards governing the technology.

Jackson completed a 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers and alertly called a timeout with 1 second left, setting up Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal to cap a stunning 7-second drive that gave the Ravens a 34-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in Brazil.

“Everyone was on the same timing," Jackson said of the final drive. “The line did a great job protecting, Zay ran a great route and I just had to deliver the baby. He caught it and as soon as he got down, I was like 'Please see me ref!'"

The Ravens (2-1) and Cowboys (1-2) put on a entertaining show in front of an announced crowd of 72,792 during the NFL’s third game in Brazil and first in the city of Rio de Janeiro, engaging in a back-and-forth contest that featured plenty of big plays.

“Unbelievable play by Lamar and Zay,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. ”Heads up on the time. You practice for those moments, you wait for them to come up and it came up today and we were ready."

For a moment, it looked as though the Cowboys would win in regulation.

Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins was called for pass interference with 23 seconds left when his arms locked with CeeDee Lamb, giving the Cowboys the ball at the Ravens 2. After an incomplete pass, the Cowboys were called for a false start, which backed them up to the 7. Dallas settled for Brandon Aubrey's 23-yard field goal to tie it at 31 with 7 seconds left.

And that set up the Ravens' improbable finish that was capped by Loop's kick sailing through the uprights and the jubilant Ravens swarming their kicker during a wild celebration at the Maracana.

“I am hurting, they are hurting,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “It is a long trip (to Rio), but no one cares. We also have a long flight back.”

Jackson found rookie tight end Matt Hibner for a 2-yard touchdown for a 31-28 lead with 1:30 remaining. That gave the Cowboys and Dak Prescott enough time for the tying drive.

Baltimore’s Derrick Henry ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

The Ravens were in control with a 24-13 lead in the third quarter, but the Cowboys weren’t done. Jake Ferguson atoned for a previous turnover when Prescott found him for a 19-yard touchdown. Dallas added a 2-point conversion on a nice catch by Lamb, cutting the deficit to 24-21.

Baltimore appeared it was about to go up by 10 a few minutes later, but Henry was stuffed in the backfield on fourth-and-inches at the goal line when rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham sliced through the offensive line and made the tackle.

Dallas kept the momentum in its favor with a 96-yard touchdown drive that included a 49-yard pass to Lamb. KaVontae Turpin had a 9-yard TD run to give the Cowboys a 28-24 lead with just under 10 minutes left.

The Ravens’ defense came up big in the third quarter, forcing a Cowboys turnover when Ferguson fumbled a shovel pass from Prescott. Dallas tried for a 59-yard field goal later in the third, but Keondre Jackson blocked Aubrey’s kick to preserve the Ravens’ 17-13 lead and regain possession at mid field.

Jackson hit Chris Moore for a 4-yard touchdown four plays later and a 24-13 lead.

The Ravens recovered from a rough start, scoring 17 straight points to take a 17-13 lead into halftime.

Henry moves into 9th place on NFL rushing list

Henry had a 5-yard run early in the second quarter to move into ninth place on the NFL’s career rushing list, passing Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, who had 13,259. If the five-time Pro Bowl selection continues at his current pace, he could also pass Jerome Bettis (13,662), LaDainian Tomlinson (13,684) and even Curtis Martin (14,101) this season.

Playing surface holds up

After concerns about the playing surface this week, the grass field at the Maracana appeared to hold up pretty well.

The NFL has been playing in Brazil since 2024, but the two previous games were at the 48,000-seat NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo. In the first year of the Brazil game, its turf was also criticized and forced players of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers to change their cleats to stop slipping.

Injuries

Ravens: Tight end Mark Andrews (hand) left in the first half, but returned later in the game.

Cowboys: Safety Jalen Thompson (hamstring) left in the second quarter. Safety Markquese Bell (dehydration), left in the third quarter, but returned.

Up next

Ravens: Host the Tennessee Titans next Sunday.

Cowboys: At the Houston Texans next Sunday.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

According to KFF, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focusing on national health policy, workers with employer-sponsored family insurance plans contributed an average of $6,296 toward their annual premiums in recent years — up from $4,823 a decade earlier. That figure does not include other costs like deductibles, copays and coinsurance.

For people trying to keep up, community health centers, the Access2Health smart pods in Aldine and direct access lab testing may be options worth exploring. The right choice depends on your health needs, your insurance coverage and your financial situation.

Community health centers can help lower the cost of care

For people who are uninsured, underinsured or worried about medical bills, community health centers are a viable option.

Community health centers provide primary care and other services to patients regardless of whether they have insurance. Many offer programs or sliding fee scales, where the amount a patient pays may depend on income and family size.

Legacy Community Health, which serves more than 200,000 patients each year and operates 65 clinic locations across Houston and Beaumont, said patients can work with eligibility specialists to explore payment options, including sliding fee programs and assistance programs for those who qualify.

Services include:

• Primary care

• Women’s health

• Pediatric care

• Behavioral health services

• Specialty care

• Pharmacy services

Its goal is to help patients get care while also connecting them with resources that may reduce costs.

Health “smart pods” make healthcare more accessible in Aldine

For some patients, the challenge is not just cost — it is access.

Mobile health clinics are designed to bring healthcare services into communities, reducing barriers like transportation, long wait times or having to take time away from work.

RELATED: How Texans can save money on prescription medications without insurance

In Harris County, people can access two Access2Health smart pods. Both are in Aldine. They provide services such as primary care, routine lab work and mental health services, with some services available at reduced cost or at no cost for eligible patients.

Although the pods are owned by precinct 2, they’re available for all Harris County residents. TRS Health provides the medical services. To make an appointment, visit: https://trshealth.org/

Direct-access lab testing offers another way to get certain tests

Some consumers are also exploring direct-access lab testing, which allows people to order certain lab tests and pay directly instead of going through the traditional insurance process.

For some people — especially those who are uninsured or have high-deductible health plans — paying a set cash price for certain tests may cost less than paying out of pocket through their insurance. However, prices vary depending on the test, the provider and the person’s insurance coverage.

Any Lab Test Now is a national chain that offers direct-access testing. The company says customers can see pricing upfront and pay for testing directly rather than billing insurance.

Experts recommend understanding what a test can and cannot tell you. A lab result is information — not a diagnosis. If a result is abnormal or raises concerns, following-up with a healthcare provider is still important.

SEE MORE: New Harris County tool helps residents find low-cost healthcare clinics across Houston area

Before you pay for healthcare, ask questions

There is no single solution to rising healthcare costs. But knowing what options exist can help consumers make more informed decisions.

Before scheduling care, consider asking:

• Does this provider offer financial assistance?

• Are there lower-cost alternatives?

• What will I pay before the service is done?

• Is this test or service covered by my insurance?

• Who can help me understand my results?

Healthcare costs can feel overwhelming, but asking questions and comparing options can help you find care that fits both your health needs and your budget.

The U.S. players — from world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun — passed the gold cup down the line, which was only fitting.

Everyone had a hand in the latest comeback at Medinah, where the Americans delivered the most lopsided singles session in Presidents Cup history. They won nine of the 12 matches and halved the other for a 17-13 victory, their 11th in a row against the hard-luck Internationals.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker went from blaming himself for the three-point deficit to choking back emotions as his team set the tone early and rode momentum and a raucous Chicago gallery late that left them believing again they can succeed in team golf.

The real proof comes a year from now in Ireland for the Ryder Cup. For now, the Americans redeemed themselves in a competition they have lost only once since these matches began in 1994.

“Is it a record in singles? That doesn't happen unless you have a special group of guys, and we do,” Snedeker said. “I'm really proud of how they came together.”

It was a crushing blow to Geoff Ogilvy and his International team, which outplayed the Americans in team matches over three days, taking the lead for only the fourth time in the Presidents Cup, and the first time on American soil.

Five matches were on the course — the U.S. were 1-up in three, the other two were halved — and the Internationals need to find three points to win the cup. The Americans simply didn't budge.

“It just felt like it was sort of right on a knife edge for a massive part of the day,” Ogilvy said. "If you hole a couple of putts at the right time and get a bit more yellow on the board at the right time, the momentum, and the crowd sort of stays out of it a little bit.

“Just sort of started drifting away for us in the last few hours.”

The Americans, outplayed down the stretch all week on the No. 3 course at Medinah and Ogilvy's architecture company redesign, flipped two key matches on the back nine. Collin Morikawa beat Hideki Matsuyama, and Koivun went from 2 down after 10 holes to a 2-up victory over Si Woo Kim.

Trump, the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup, was on the first tee for the start of the 12 singles matches and was there for the trophy presentation, as he was at Liberty National in 2017 during his first term.

That was an American blowout. This one was tight, and yet it still felt inevitable, nothing like the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012 when Europe rallied from a 10-6 deficit to win on the road.

The Americans rallied behind endless and boisterous cheers, some of which went a little too far.

Someone yelled in the backswing of Nico Echavarria, causing him to drop the driver as his ball sailed to the right. Scheffler barked at the fan, and after missing a birdie putt, he conceded a 30-foot par to the Colombian in a show of sportsmanship.

Scheffler went on to win. So did Cameron Young and Justin Thomas and Chris Gotterup in the early part of the lineup as the deficit shrunk and soon turned into another comfortable victory.

“I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah has a history of funny things happening," said Snedeker, who was on that losing Ryder Cup team in 2012. “Sure enough, they went out and played their (tails) off today. I'm so damn proud of those guys.”

That group included Koivun, who just over a year ago was on the winning Walker Cup team for amateurs. Just four months ago, he helped Auburn to an NCAA golf title. And there he was Sunday, turning a loss into a point and hitting clutch shots at the end.

Koivun was 2 down through 10 holes to the Kim when he won three straight holes to flip the color to American red on the board. The kid drilled his tee shot on the 18th, and twirled his iron when he knew the approach was pure. He wound up with a 2-up victory, and then it was a matter of time.

“The kid is special. He’s different,” Snedeker said. “You saw that for a 21-year-old kid to stand up there and hit those last two balls like he did. Not many people like that.”

The clinching point came from Jacob Bridgeman, another Presidents Cup rookie.

Patrick Cantlay had another moment, as he always seem to do in these events, holing a birdie putt from just inside 60 feet on the par-3 16th against Adam Scott, who now has played 12 times in this competition without ever being on the winning side.

"Look, it’s a very difficult thing to beat the U.S. in singles in the U.S.,” Ogilvy said. “They’re great players, and the crowd came out for them. They get a bit of red on the board, and the noise gets loud. They started the day with a lot to do and they all played great.”

All the Internationals can do is regroup and try again at Kingston Heath in Australia is two years. Their only victory was at Royal Melbourne in 1998, and there was a tie in South Africa in 2003.

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here

The undertaking is as robust as it is daunting, spanning several House committees. With majority power comes bigger budgets and staff, and the ability to investigate, subpoena and potentially course-correct what the Democrats say are widespread corruption and abuses of power. Impeachment of the Republican president and Cabinet officials is not off the table.

“There is a cost to the American people of the out-of-control corruption,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control at the Capitol.

“If folks have been stealing from the American people, shortchanging the American people or screwing over the American people,” Jeffries said, “we are going to hold the crooks accountable.”

Congress has enormous ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch as part of its power as a coequal branch of government, and a road map for the Democratic-run investigations has already been set by the almost daily letters lawmakers send to the administration and in amicus court filings.

Democrats are asking about the money-making by Trump and his family, whose wealth has grown dramatically since he returned to the White House in January 2025. They are investigating the potential civil rights violations of Americans killed protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and of detained immigrants being deported to faraway countries. They have fought the closing of the Kennedy Center, launched investigations into private funding of the America at 250 celebrations and tracked the shuttering of federal operations, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.

New questions emerge daily, including the Trump family’s recent acknowledgment that a weekend wedding party for the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. was partly funded by a Russian oligarch, with reportedly close ties to the Kremlin.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is in line to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, characterized the issues involved as “gargantuan."

“We need to zero in quickly on the forms of systemic corruption that have cost the public huge amounts of money," Raskin told The Associated Press, “and where there are legislative cures available.”

Trump impeachments made history then. Could it happen again?

Jeffries will almost certainly be under pressure from the far left to move more swiftly to articles of impeachment against Trump, who during his first term became the first president to be twice impeached by the House. Both times, he was acquitted by the Senate.

Impeaching the president a third time may not hold the currency that it once did. Democrats will more likely focus their impeachment efforts on Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already faces articles of impeachment from a Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, over his leadership at the Pentagon and his management of the Iran war.

“We haven’t ruled anything out,” Jeffries said recently about the tools available to Congress, “and we haven’t ruled anything in.”

The White House is likely to play hardball if confronted with investigations, and Democrats are bracing for an administration that potentially ignores subpoenas or refuses to turn over paperwork that lawmakers are demanding.

The Democrats are also reaching beyond the administration into various corporate and business entities for potential wrongdoing.

‘We’ll act like the Congress,' says one Democrat in line to lead a committee

Ranking Democratic lawmakers who are in line to lead committees if power shifts are beginning to chart the investigations they plan to tackle.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat now on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has outlined five priorities, including Trump family business dealings, the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and ICE operations.

“We’re already doing work,” Garcia told the AP.

He also mentioned the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as broader allegations of corporate corruption.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, whose jurisdiction includes the State Department, said the committee plans to investigate Trump's international dealings, including around the Iran war.

He expects the committee will also look into the administration's Venezuela operations — from the military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific waters to the U.S. partnership with a private company to develop and access the South American country's oil.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat at the Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department and its National Park Service operations, has begun digging into Trump's “vanity projects,” including the demolition of the White House's East wing for a new ballroom and the president's proposed arch.

Huffman and other committee members have also been eyeing the Trump family's role in various minerals deals.

At the committee's last session before lawmakers recessed to campaign for the midterm elections, Huffman said that if Democrats take charge, he plans to call witnesses, put them under oath and follow the evidence where it leads.

"When people ask what will we do," he said he responds, “My answer is simple. We’ll use those tools. We’ll act like the Congress.”

Stephens, who was ejected from the game for targeting, was suspended for one game by USC earlier Sunday for the hit and his celebration afterward.

“Dante sustained a concussion in last night’s game but fortunately his MRI and CT scans came back clean and he did not suffer any additional injuries," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said in a statement. “Every concussion is different and we are going to move forward with an abundance of caution to ensure we make the best decisions for Dante and his future.”

Moore was sliding to complete an 11-yard run to the USC 12 in the second quarter when Stephens hit him in the head and chest with his shoulder. Moore’s helmet snapped back and hit the turf, and his hands raised in what appeared to be an involuntary motion. Eventually was placed on a stretcher with his neck in a brace and left the game in an ambulance.

Stephens celebrated after the hit and was confronted by Oregon players before he left the game. His actions were roundly criticized.

Stephens later apologized and expressed empathy for Moore and his family in a statement issued by the Trojans.

“I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during yesterday’s game,” Stephens in a statement released by the university. “Seeing a player injured like that is incredibly serious, and my reaction in the moments afterward was completely inappropriate and inexcusable. Regardless of what was going through my mind at the time, there is no justification for smiling or celebrating while another player receives medical attention. I take full responsibility for my actions. That is not the person or teammate I want to be, and I will learn from this."

USC coach Lincoln Riley condemned Stephens' actions while announcing the suspension for his starting linebacker, who won't play when No. 18 USC (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) hosts Washington (3-1, 0-1) next weekend.

“Desman’s actions in last night’s game are unacceptable and are not reflective of USC football nor of his personal character,” Riley said. “He understands his mistake, accepts the consequences of his actions and will learn from this. The entire Trojan Family wishes Dante a full recovery, and we send our best regards to him and his family.”

Lanning expressed gratitude in his statement Sunday for the medical attention that Moore received.

“We are extremely appreciative of our entire medical staff and the medical staffs at USC and LA General County Hospital for their quick and thorough action in making sure Dante received the very best care possible,” Lanning said.

The Ducks, while shaken by the loss of their quarterback, went on to win 41-27. Oregon, which jumped five spots to No. 15 in the AP Top 25 with the victory, is off next weekend before hosting UCLA on Oct. 10.

The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee in March approved a one-year trial rule for this season that gives a player a break for his first targeting penalty and clears the way for him to play in the next game. Since this was Stephens’ first such penalty, he would have been eligible to play against the Huskies had USC not suspended him.

Following the game, Lanning had called the hit “disgusting.” Stephens drew even more ire for smiling on the bench and later returning to the Trojans' sideline in the second half after being ejected.

Riley defended Stephens' return to the sideline Saturday night, saying he was allowed back because “he's on our football team.”

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

All three potential games in the AL first-round matchup that begins Tuesday will start at about 8 p.m. EDT and be televised by NBC, MLB said Sunday.

Atlanta's series hosting Philadelphia will have 2 p.m. games televised on NBC, and the Chicago White Sox series at Houston will start at 5 p.m. EDT, with games televised by NBCSN.

The Chicago Cubs' series at San Diego will have 10 p.m. EDT games and be televised by NBCSN.

All games also will be streamed on Peacock in the first year of a contract with MLB that replaced ESPN as the Wild Card Series network.

Games will be televised with Spanish-language commentary on Universo and Univision.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Chenal went down with 6:38 remaining in the half on a run by Seattle's Emanuel Wilson. The cart was brought out, and eventually the whole Washington team came off the sideline to surround him.

As Chenal was being carted off, fans began chanting his name. He was able to give a fist pump as he neared the tunnel.

Coach Dan Quinn said afterward that Chenal was at the hospital and had feeling in his extremities.

“Undergoing further testing as we go through tonight,” Quinn said.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Schwarber delivered with a clutch two-run double, yes. He also showed the fire, the fight that vanished from the Phillies during a treacherous week that sent them from the brink of a wild-card clinch to the edge — and yes, the bottom was crumbling — of an all-time franchise collapse.

His slide had Phillies fans roaring from their feet — perhaps more than a few who wore brown paper bags over their heads a night earlier — and instantly all felt right on a soggy day inside Citizens Bank Park.

Zack Wheeler pitched a gem against Tampa Bay on Sunday and untangled a few thousand knots inside the stomachs of Phillies fans, and even from those inside a mostly solemn clubhouse. The Phillies survived their perilous five-day scare and are indeed headed to the playoffs for the fifth straight season after beating the Rays 7-3 to clinch the final NL wild-card berth.

“We didn't play the best baseball we could in September,” slugger Bryce Harper said. “Should we have clinched two weeks ago? Probably, right? But we didn't. We clinched today.”

Jhoan Duran struck out Nick Fortes to seal it. Duran pounded his mitt and was greeted by teammates for a fairly muted celebration on the field.

The Phillies got more rowdy inside the clubhouse and sprayed cheap beer and bubbly as bottle caps floated in booze-soaked puddles on the carpet while Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” was cranked to 11.

Philadelphia did indeed survive a freefall that coincided with the Arizona Diamondbacks getting hot over the final week of the season. The Phillies’ slam dunk of a playoff spot morphed into something much more tenuous.

Interim manager Don Mattingly said ahead of Wednesday’s game — the first day the team could clinch — that, yes, Philadelphia would wait until midnight if needed to pop the bubbly if it beat Milwaukee and the Diamondbacks lost a time zone away to Colorado.

The Phillies lost that one. Then came three more defeats, capped by a 12-1 embarrassment on Saturday against the AL East champion Rays.

Mattingly's presumed wait of a few hours to celebrate was not complete until 5:19 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Sept. 27.

The Phillies scored only three runs during their four-game losing streak. They needed an unearned run on Saturday to snap a 21-inning scoreless streak.

Schwarber’s double in the second inning made it 4-0, and that all but erased the significance of the Diamondbacks' outcome in San Diego. Philadelphia entered the day needing a win or an Arizona loss to make the playoffs.

J.T. Realmuto slogged through 34 straight hitless at-bats. He also ripped an RBI double in the second inning.

Bryson Stott batted cleanup for only the seventh time in his career. He also hit an RBI double that scored Schwarber in the first inning.

Harper lined a solo shot into the first row of the right-field seats, and Edmundo Sosa added a two-run homer for a 7-1 lead in the seventh.

Slumps were busted. Losing streaks were obliterated. Corks were popped.

“It was kind of a living hell in slow motion,” Phillies managing partner and CEO John Middleton said of the final week.

Wheeler allowed one run and threw 97 pitches over six innings to earn his 14th win of the season on a rainy day that stirred memories of the 2008 World Series between the same teams.

The Phillies, though, likely took a loss by pushing the clincher to the 162nd game. With Game 1 in the best-of-three Wild Card Series set to start Tuesday in Atlanta, the Phillies will almost surely have to beat the Braves without a start from Wheeler.

The Phillies' rotation has been a strength this season, and Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez are in play for Games 1 and 2. Andrew Painter or Aaron Nola could make a Game 3 start, if necessary.

Mattingly had goggles wrapped around his backward cap and laughed when he said it was "too early” to announce a Game 1 starter.

NL East champion Atlanta won the season series 9-4 and finished six games ahead of second-place Philadelphia.

The Phillies were 9-19 when they fired popular manager Rob Thomson in April after he led the Phillies to four straight playoff appearances, including the 2022 World Series, and consecutive NL East titles.

Mattingly, hired in the offseason as bench coach, is back in the playoffs a season after he was on the staff of a Toronto team that lost the World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's tasked with leading the franchise to its first championship since 2008, the second year of a five-year playoff stretch for the Phillies.

That was a record, until this year's team matched it.

“You wouldn't think that, right, with everybody's opinion of us,” Harper said. “I think as a team, as a group, pretty cool. The job's not done, the job's not finished. We've never finished the job before.”

The Phillies did all they could to try and blow their lead.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that spurred painful memories of the 1964 season. Those Phillies lost 10 straight games to blow a 6 1/2-game lead and the NL pennant with 12 games left.

This year's team will be able to raise a playoff flag on opening day (whenever that is in 2027).

The Phillies also must try and prove their late-September meltdown was nothing but a blip in a long and successful October.

That's a problem to start to solve on Monday.

On Sunday, it was hugs and high-fives and a collective exhale that more playoffs were on the horizon.

“We know our team,” Schwarber said. “We know that we have a lot of experience. We’ve got talent. When we’re playing our game, and we’re executing what we need to do, we’re a really hard team to beat.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Francisco, who got his breakthrough in calypso music with his 1956 hit song “Jean and Dinah,” died peacefully surrounded by his family in New York, his family said in a statement. His death came after a “brief illness,” the statement said without disclosing any other details.

“He was an institution in the entertainment industry, well admired for his skill and finesse as a singer, songwriter and mentor; beloved by many,” Francisco’s family said.

The Mighty Sparrow will be remembered as “a defining voice of our culture, a master storyteller and a towering figure whose music helped carry calypso from Trinidad and Tobago to the world,” the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation said in a statement.

Born in the coastal town of Grand Roy, Grenada, in July 1935, Francisco was just a toddler when he migrated with his parents to Trinidad and Tobago in 1937.

Trinidad and Tobago is the birthplace of calypso music, and it’s where the name and persona of the Mighty Sparrow would later emerge to produce a list of hit songs in the genre: Both of Them, Congo Man, Mr. Walker, The Lizard and many more.

“Birdie,” as Francisco was also affectionately known, recorded hundreds of songs in a career that spanned six decades. He performed in several countries around the world, including at famous venues such as New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Throughout his career, Francisco’s goal was to advance the calypso art form, according to Trinidadian cultural historian and author Dr. Rudolph Ottley.

“The Mighty Sparrow was the supreme entertainer, a cultural revolutionary and one of the world’s greatest Calypsonians,” Dr. Ottley told The Associated Press.

Trinidad and Tobago has honored the composer and performer with national awards, and in 1987 the University of the West Indies conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters on Francisco.

He won't have much choice in the matter now.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion capped a dominant performance at Kansas Speedway on Sunday by passing Chase Briscoe with seven laps left and leading the rest of the way, leaving Larson to wheel his No. 5 Chevrolet into victory lane for a record-tying fourth time at the mile-and-a-half oval and with a padded lead in the Chase for the championship standings.

Larson won each of the first two stages and broke his own record by leading 235 laps, allowing him to turn the slimmest of leads — a single point over Denny Hamlin at the start of the day — into a 26-point advantage heading to Las Vegas next weekend.

“Such a good day,” Larson said. “I was going to be happy with second how the race went, but to get the lead, that's a big deal.”

Briscoe chased down Larson throughout the final stage, finally getting around him with 30 laps to go. But after briefly pulling away, the No. 19 Toyota began to get loose, and Briscoe brushed the wall. Larson closed in on the lead again, made a move on the low side and powered away, taking the checkered flag for the second time in three races.

He also won at St. Louis, a victory that had ended a maddening 51-race winless drought.

“I think it's easier to be the hunter than the hunted,” Larson said. "With me out front, I'm just defending, trying to guess on what the fast lines are, and when he got in front of me he started getting really loose.”

So loose that Briscoe drifted all the way back to fourth. Austin Cindric wound up second and Hamlin finished third.

“It was better for me being in second. It would tighten me up and allow me to be a little better," Briscoe said, “and as soon as I got the lead I got really free again. Frustrating for sure.”

Cindric spent much of the day stalking Larson but was never able to get his No. 2 Ford around him. He might have been the fastest car on the track at the end, too, but Cindric was too far back to mount a challenge for the victory.

“I wish I would have had at least a shot at it. I thought we could join the fun at least," Cindric said, “but proud of the effort.”

It was a similar story — and a bittersweet day — for Hamlin, whose strong third-place run nevertheless cost him in the points race. The revamped Chase format offers a big reward for wins, and Larson was the one doing a celebratory burnout at the end.

“Just didn't quite have it today,” Hamlin said. “We could be really good in the long run. In the short run, the 5 was really good. The 2 was good. And we just couldn't quite hold those guys off, or keep them close enough in the short run.”

Persistent rain earlier in the weekend washed out practice and qualifying, leaving the starting lineup to be set by a combination of last week's results at Bristol and owner points. That left Larson in the enviable spot of starting alongside Joey Logano on the front row, and the fortunate position of having had so much success at Kansas that missing out on practice really didn't matter.

Larson's fourth win tied Hamlin's record for the track, and he's been first or second in seven of the past 11 races there.

“I feel like if we can just click it, we're the most comfortable on these (mile-and-a-half tracks),” Larson said. “Man, what a day. I thought we'd have a good shot. I didn't think we'd have a max points-type day, so I'm just thrilled.”

Hocevar in the middle of another yellow

One week after Carson Hocevar's bump sent Ryan Blaney into the wall at Bristol, leading to a pit-road fracas, the driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet was involved in another caution. This time, after running near the front through the opening stage, Hocevar appeared to get bumped from behind on a restart, sending him into Bubba Wallace in a spin that collected several other cars.

Hocevar wound up finishing 33rd. Blaney started 25th due to the qualifying rainout and finished fifth.

“The guy leading the points won the race. Kind of dominated,” said Blaney, who is now 91 points back of Larson in the standings. “It is what it is. You just have to keep grinding and working hard, and try to get to victory lane a couple of times.”

Legacy Motor Club locks up Erik Jones

The team co-owned by Jimmie Johnson announced the signing of Erik Jones to a multiyear extension to continue driving the No. 43 Toyota. The move provides some stability to Legacy Motor Club, which is replacing John Hunter Nemechek with Josh Berry in the No. 42 next season, and will have Riley Herbst driving the No. 84 that Johnson had driven in select races.

Up next

The NASCAR Cup Series continues its stretch of three straight races on 1.5-mile ovals with Las Vegas next Sunday. Hamlin won the race there in March, when he overcame a pit-road speeding penalty to pick up his first win of the season.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Gators’ 24-point win over Mississippi on Saturday earned them a 13-rung promotion to No. 8, their highest since 2020 and first top-10 appearance since 2021.

Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame held their grip on the top three spots in the poll. Miami was a season-high No. 4, and Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 5.

Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and BYU rounded out the top 10. That’s a five-spot drop for the Rebels.

Jeremiah Smith becomes a Heisman favorite

By MAURA CAREY

One week after Jeremiah Smith became Ohio State’s all-time leading receiver, he takes over as a Heisman favorite after exploding for 12 receptions, 217 receiving yards and four touchdowns – that’s Jeremiah Smith for you.

Smith’s odds jumped from +950 to +290 to win the award, passing over Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Miami quarterback Darian Mensah. Mensah has the second-best odds at +450, and Kamario Taylor (+600) jumped over Chambliss (+1150) for the third-best odds.

Ask a voter: Walk us through how you’ve voted No. 1 this season

By TOM MURPHY

Walk us through how you’ve voted No. 1 this season, from the preseason rankings to moving Georgia to the top spot this week.

AP sports editor Dave Zelio

I opted to put ultra-talented Ohio State No. 1 on my preseason ballot for various reasons.

The fall-from-ahead loss, after leading Texas by 20 points, gave an opportunity to move Miami to No. 1 for a couple of weeks.

I dropped the Hurricanes down after their close call against Wake Forest and moved the defending champs Indiana to No. 1 last week. I didn’t feel like the Hoosiers deserved to stay there after their Friday home win against Northwestern. So Georgia is my fourth No. 1 of the year on today’s ballot. — Arkansas sports reporter Tom Murphy has been an AP Top 25 voter since 2007.

Kamario Taylor continues to shine

By MAURA CAREY

Perhaps no SEC team has been more shocking than No. 24 Mississippi State, which improved to 4-0 with a 31-24 win over No. 19 Missouri this weekend.

Quarterback Kamario Taylor was 27 of 38 for 360 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, boosting his season totals to 1,192 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Taylor taking advantage of upcoming transfer portal opportunities has been a hot topic of conversation lately. But the Mississippi State quarterback responded to that on Saturday: “If you know me, you know I bleed maroon and white.”

P.J. Fleck isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck’s intensity was on full display after his team’s 27-24 win over Washington on Saturday.

Golden Gophers linebacker Maverick Baranowski was bleeding from his mouth after the final play. Fleck embraced his player, wiped the blood from his mouth, and smeared it on his face.

“He’s a crazy man,” Baranowski said after the game.

Tennessee appeared to lose momentum against Texas

Tennessee had all the momentum on its side after the two-minute warning against Texas. Quarterback Faizon Brandon led a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to bring the Vols within three points. Then Arion Carter recovered a fumbled onside kick, giving Tennessee possession at its 49-yard line.

A facemask call brought the Vols to the 40-yard line, but poor clock management and penalties exposed a young Tennessee offense.

Despite the near-loss for Texas, a road win at Neyland Stadium is no easy feat. The Longhorns remained No. 1 for another week, receiving 62 of 69 first-place votes.

Not so Happy Valley

Penn State's Happy Valley has seen happier days after a loss to Wisconsin Saturday (and the Nittany Lions entered as 9.5-point favorites).

Wisconsin recovered from a 17-0 first-half deficit and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Penn State 24-20.

In terms of the rankings, Penn State took one of the hardest falls of the week, dropping from No. 13 to out of the rankings.

Conference breakdown

The SEC again leads the pack with 10 ranked teams this week: Texas (1), Georgia (2), Alabama (7), Florida (8), Ole Miss (9), LSU (11), Mississippi State (16), Tennessee (17), Kentucky (24), Missouri (25).

The Big Ten has six ranked teams: Ohio State (5), Indiana (6), Iowa (14), Oregon (15), USC (18), UCLA (23).

The Big 12 has five ranked teams: BYU (10), Texas Tech (12), Utah (13), Oklahoma State (19), Houston (20).

The ACC is down to two ranked teams: Miami (4) and SMU (21).

Notre Dame (3) is independent.

And the Group of Six is represented for the first time this season, as the Pac-12’s Boise State debuted in the rankings at No. 22.

Heisman contender Jeremiah Smith is on the rise

One week after Jeremiah Smith became Ohio State’s all-time leading receiver, he takes over as a Heisman favorite after exploding for 12 receptions, 217 receiving yards and four touchdowns – that’s Jeremiah Smith for you.

Smith’s odds jumped from +950 to +290 to win the award, passing over Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Miami quarterback Darian Mensah.

Mensah has the second-best odds at +450, and Kamario Taylor (+600) jumped over Chambliss (+1150) for the third-best odds.

Ask a voter: Walk us through how you’ve voted No. 1 this season

By TOM MURPHY

I opted to put ultra-talented Ohio State No. 1 on my preseason ballot for various reasons.

The fall-from-ahead loss, after leading Texas by 20 points, gave an opportunity to move Miami to No. 1 for a couple of weeks.

I dropped the Hurricanes down after their close call against Wake Forest and moved the defending champs Indiana to No. 1 last week. I didn’t feel like the Hoosiers deserved to stay there after their Friday home win against Northwestern. So Georgia is my fourth No. 1 of the year on today’s ballot. — Arkansas sports reporter Tom Murphy has been an AP Top 25 voter since 2007.

Kamario Taylor continues to shine

By MAURA CAREY

Perhaps no SEC team has been more shocking than No. 24 Mississippi State, which improved to 4-0 with a 31-24 win over No. 19 Missouri this weekend.

Quarterback Kamario Taylor was 27 of 38 for 360 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, boosting his season totals to 1,192 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Taylor taking advantage of upcoming transfer portal opportunities has been a hot topic of conversation lately. But the Mississippi State quarterback responded to that on Saturday: “If you know me, you know I bleed maroon and white.”

Ask AP: What’s the justification for Oregon being ahead of Oklahoma State?

By DAVE ZELIO

It’s an excellent question, and Top 25 voters are absolutely encouraged to look closely at head-to-head results.

Best guess is that the voters, collectively, recall that Oklahoma State lost to Tulsa before catching fire and Oregon looked more than solid on the road at USC this weekend with a backup QB, and have in hand what looks now like a good win against newly ranked Boise State back in Week 1.

They are also not terribly far apart in poll terms, with the Ducks at No. 15 and the ’Pokes at No. 19.

P.J. Fleck isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty

By MAURA CAREY

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck’s intensity was on full display after his team’s 27-24 win over Washington on Saturday.

Golden Gophers linebacker Maverick Baranowski was bleeding from his mouth after the final play. Fleck embraced his player, wiped the blood from his mouth, and smeared it on his face.

“He’s a crazy man,” Baranowski said after the game.

Tennessee appeared to lose momentum against Texas

Tennessee had all the momentum on its side after the two-minute warning against Texas. Quarterback Faizon Brandon led a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to bring the Vols within three points. Then Arion Carter recovered a fumbled onside kick, giving Tennessee possession at its 49-yard line.

A facemask call brought the Vols to the 40-yard line, but poor clock management and penalties exposed a young Tennessee offense.

Despite the near-loss for Texas, a road win at Neyland Stadium is no easy feat. The Longhorns remained No. 1 for another week, receiving 62 of 69 first-place votes.

Not so Happy Valley

Happy Valley has seen happier days after a loss to Wisconsin Saturday (and the Nittany Lions entered as 9.5-point favorites).

Wisconsin recovered from a 17-0 first-half deficit and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Penn State 24-20.

In terms of the rankings, Penn State took one of the hardest falls of the week, dropping from No. 13 to out of the rankings.

Conference breakdown

The SEC again leads the pack with 10 ranked teams this week: Texas (1), Georgia (2), Alabama (7), Florida (8), Ole Miss (9), LSU (11), Mississippi State (16), Tennessee (17), Kentucky (24), Missouri (25).

The Big Ten has six ranked teams: Ohio State (5), Indiana (6), Iowa (14), Oregon (15), USC (18), UCLA (23).

The Big 12 has five ranked teams: BYU (10), Texas Tech (12), Utah (13), Oklahoma State (19), Houston (20).

The ACC is down to two ranked teams: Miami (4) and SMU (21).

Notre Dame (3) is independent.

And the Group of Six is represented for the first time this season, as the Pac-12’s Boise State debuted in the rankings at No. 22.

Down goes Michigan

Michigan’s first few weeks in the Top 25 have been turbulent, from entering the season at No. 16 to dropping out of the rankings after a controversial 13-12 win against Western Michigan, to climbing back in at No. 18 after beating Oklahoma and UTEP.

The Wolverines are back out of the rankings after a familiar-looking loss to Iowa. Michigan fell 20-19 on a last-second touchdown, marking its second close call in the past month.

Louisville’s path to the CFP takes a turn

Despite a Week 1 loss to Ole Miss, Louisville appeared on a fast track to the ACC championship in the early weeks of the season. That outlook has changed after a 30-27 upset from Wake Forest.

Louisville kicked a field goal to tie it up at 27-all at the end of the third quarter, but the fourth quarter wasn’t as kind to the Cardinals. Louisville turned the ball over on downs and missed two field goals in its final three drives. Louisville’s final field goal attempt was blocked by Wake Forest’s Gabe Kirschke and set the Demon Deacons up for victory formation.

A once red-hot Louisville team tumbled out of the rankings as a result and made its path to the College Football Playoff much more complicated.

Ask a voter: Do this weekend’s results show Top-25 voting is too reliant on team hype?

By TOM MURPHY

Truly, the results every weekend show that nobody’s ballot is foolproof, and fortunes for even really strong teams can waver in the course of a week.

The final 10 or so teams every week form such a cluster it’s hard to sort them all.

As an example, I dropped five teams from my ballot this week (Oklahoma, Washington, Louisville, West Virginia, Texas A&M) and upgraded five unbeatens (Miss. State, Duke, Cincinnati, UCLA, Pitt), and there are still a few more teams with no losses. — Arkansas sports reporter Tom Murphy has been an AP Top 25 voter since 2007.

Florida cracks the top 10

By MAURA CAREY

The Gators cracked the top 10 of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2021, coming in at No. 8.

That’s one of the biggest jumps of the season and moved Florida up 13 spots from No. 21. The Gators are one of five unbeaten SEC teams alongside Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State and Texas.

Ole Miss drops to No. 9

The Rebels’ stint in the top five proved to be short-lived, as Ole Miss fell from No. 4 to No. 9 following a 52-28 loss to Florida.

It was a tough test for Ole Miss coming off its biggest win of the season – a 32-24 triumph over rival LSU that briefly moved the Rebels into the top five.

Ole Miss was unable to carry that momentum into Gainesville, giving up 52 points in its first loss of the season.

Florida improved to No. 8, one spot above the Rebels, and LSU dropped from No. 10 to No. 11.

Four teams in, four teams out

There’s plenty of turnover in this week’s AP Top 25. Four newcomers are No. 19 Oklahoma State, No. 22 Boise State, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 Kentucky. Boise State is the first Group of Six team to crack the rankings this season, while UCLA is off to its first 4-0 start since 2022.

Penn State, Louisville, Michigan and Texas A&M each fell out of the rankings after Week 4 losses.

How the votes are counted

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

For decades, voters called, emailed and faxed their votes to the AP and ballots were tabulated by hand.

Now voting happens online, and the count is automated first before AP checks for miscues.

The poll operates on a 1-to-25-point system, with the No. 1 team receiving 25 points down to the 25th team receiving 1 point. In between, the poll lists the teams with the most points from 24 down to 2. Teams that receive votes but not enough to make the top 25 are noted separately.

AP Top 25 rankings

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

1. Texas

2. Georgia

3. Notre Dame

4. Miami

5. Ohio State

6. Indiana

7. Alabama

8. Florida

9. Ole Miss

10. BYU

11. LSU

12. Texas Tech

13. Utah

14. Iowa

15. Oregon

16. Mississippi State

17. Tennessee

18. USC

19. Oklahoma State

20. Houston

21. SMU

22. Boise State

23. UCLA

24. Kentucky

25. Missouri

Dante Moore suffers a scary injury against USC

By MAURA CAREY

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore went down with a scary injury after USC linebacker Desman Stephens hit him late on a slide on Saturday night.

Moore lay motionless on the field before being carted off and taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance.

Stephens was ejected for targeting, and the game was delayed 15 minutes as a result.

Oregon backup and former Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola added a spark off the bench, completing 19 of 25 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns and guiding Oregon to a 41-27 win.

“He’s in recovery, so I don’t want to speak too soon, but he’s moving,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after the game. “We’ll continue to assess him, but I don’t want to speak too soon, but he’s moving.”

No. 21 Florida sends No. 4 Ole Miss packing

No. 21 Florida made its biggest statement yet with a 52-28 win over No. 4 Ole Miss.

The Gators had six rushing touchdowns, with standout running back Jadan Baugh accounting for three of them and 142 rushing yards. Duke Clark added 126 rushing yards and a score. Quarterback Aaron Philo also ran one in and completed 16 of 23 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown.

It’s the first defeat this season for Pete Golding’s Rebels, who took a trip to the swamp after a highly anticipated 32-24 win against rival LSU.

This weekend, Florida outscored Ole Miss 21-7 in the fourth quarter to come out with the win.

“I didn’t come here for us to be average,” Florida coach Jon Sumrall said after the game.

Texas A&M and Oklahoma fall to 2-2 overall

Two of the SEC’s highly ranked College Football Playoff teams — Texas A&M and Oklahoma — each lost this weekend.

Both teams have plummeted in the rankings recently. The Sooners tumbled out of the AP Top 25 after a loss to Michigan and a shaky win against New Mexico in back-to-back weeks. Texas A&M dropped to No. 23 last week following a 31-21 upset loss to Kentucky.

The Aggies lost 35-6 to No. 10 LSU on Saturday, and the Sooners fell 41-13 to No. 2 Georgia.

The Astros were still playing when the Texas Rangers lost to the Minnesota Twins Sunday afternoon. That loss by the Rangers clinched the title since the Astros won the season series against Texas.

A short time after winning the title, Houston closed out the regular season with 9-0 win over the Sacramento A’s to finish with a 81-81 record.

The Astros trip to the postseason is their 8^th in the past 9 seasons and they will open play hosting the Chicago White Sox in the AL Wild Card series at Daikin Park.

Game 1 is Tuesday at 4pm followed by Game 2 Wednesday at 4pm. If a Game 3 is needed it will take place on Thursday at a time to be determined.

The Greek substitute scored with a deflected shot in the 74th minute, somewhat spoiling the mood in Augsburg where Klopp was making his home debut as Germany coach.

It was Germany's first ever loss to Greece, the 2004 European champion.

“It's part of the process, absolutely,” Klopp told broadcaster ARD. "The lineup, the formation, the many changes – that is all 100% down to me.”

Klopp oversaw a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in his first game in charge on Thursday.

His team dominated the first half against Greece with 77% possession according to Opta, albeit without creating many clear goal-chances.

Karim Adeyemi forced a fine save from Konstantinos Tzolakis in the 32nd minute but the Greek goalkeeper otherwise had little to do.

The visitors became more ambitious in the second half with Fotis Ioannidis missing a big chance, and defender Jonathan Tah preventing another, before Kourbelis stunned the home fans.

“To be honest, we simply didn't perform well enough,” Tah said. "Of course we’re disappointed and angry when we lose a match. But the important thing is that we stick together. That won’t change, the euphoria around the new coach. If we don’t play well and we lose, obviously not everyone is going to be happy. But we can make up for it in the next game.”

Germany next faces Serbia in Munich on Thursday.

Ronaldo on bench as Portugal wins in Norway

Cristiano Ronaldo had to be content with a place on the substitutes bench in a 2-1 away win for Portugal over Norway.

Ronaldo watched João Félix score his second goal in as many games as Portugal opened the scoring in Oslo.

Félix took a touch to control Pedro Neto’s cross before shooting low inside the corner in the 17th.

Erling Haaland missed chances before he finally equalized in the 51st. It was the Norwegian star’s 65th goal in 57 appearances for his country.

But Gonçalo Ramos – playing in Ronaldo’s place – scored three minutes later after intercepting a poor pass by Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland. Ramos thought he'd made it 3-1 before the hour mark after another Nyland mistake only to have the goal ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

Denmark defeated Wales 2-0 for its first win in the other Group A4 game.

Xavi's first win

Mexx Meerdink scored twice as the Netherlands beat Serbia 2-1 away, giving new coach Xavi Hernándeez his first win in charge.

The 23-year-old Meerdink, who plays for AZ Alkmaar, made his first start for his country and he opened the scoring with a confidently taken penalty in the 30th minute before canceling Luka Jović’s equalizer after the break with what proved to be the winner in the 69th.

It was set up by Ruben van Bommel, who has now created as many goals in as many games for the Dutch after his brilliant cross for Cody Gakpo’s late equalizer in the 1-1 draw with Germany.

Meerdink, who made his second appearance after his debut Thursday, has two goals in as many games.

They gave the Netherlands its first win in Group A2, which Greece leads after two wins.

Ireland beats Israel 3-0

Ireland defeated Israel 3-0 in a contentious match in Debrecen, Hungary after bitter opposition in Ireland over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

First-half goals from Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and Jack Moylan gave the Irish their first win in Group B3.

Reserve goalkeeper Gavin Bazuno decided Saturday to boycott both of Ireland’s games against Israel because of what he said was his “personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong.”

The Irish players wore black armbands and refrained from handshakes with their opponents.

Austria beat Kosovo 3-1 in the other group game earlier Sunday.

Also, Lithuania and Azerbaijan drew 1-1 in Group D2.

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

So much so that when the Pittsburgh Steelers coach told Rodgers and the rest of the offense it was time to “cut it loose” before Sunday's early-season litmus test against Cincinnati, it didn't really register with the quarterback he's known for 20 years.

“I feel like he says that every week,” Rodgers said, then added with a laugh, “It's not like, ‘Hey, this week ...’”

The message was not new. The results were another matter.

Rodgers bounced back from a nightmarish performance in a dismal loss to New England by throwing for 292 yards and three touchdowns to outduel Joe Burrow as the Steelers pulled out a 30-27 thriller.

“I think resilience is critical to any, any type of success, whether it’s playing one division game (or) overcoming a loss last week,” McCarthy said.

Pittsburgh (2-1) did both by showcasing the kind of explosiveness Rodgers has said was possible if everyone just settled down and did their jobs.

Rodgers completed 19 of 34 passes, including a 47-yard catch-and-run to massive tight end Darnell Washington that helped set up Chris Boswell’s go-ahead, 33-yard field goal with 2:18 remaining.

The Steelers (2-1) rolled up 411 yards on a revamped Cincinnati defense that had fueled the Bengals' promising start. Jaylen Warren, dealing with a shoulder injury that limited him in practice, had 176 total yards (127 rushing, 49 receiving), numbers that could have been a little bit higher if he hadn't tripped over his own feet while running free inside the Cincinnati 10 in the late going.

Pittsburgh was forced to settle for Boswell's third field goal, giving Burrow and the Bengals plenty of time to respond.

Cincinnati made its way into Steelers territory in the final minute and was on the fringe of kicker Evan McPherson's range when Steelers defensive lineman Derrick Harmon crashed into Burrow. The ball squirted free, and Pittsburgh's Sebastian Joseph-Day fell on it to spoil the Bengals' chances at the franchise's first 3-0 start since 2015.

“Trying to take a shot at the end zone, trying not to take the sack, trying to get the ball out, (and I) fumbled it,” Burrow said.

Bengals lament their missed opportunities

The Bengals' opportunity to stamp themselves as front-runners in the AFC North disappeared with some self-inflicted wounds.

A roughing-the-punter penalty in the third quarter extended a Pittsburgh drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Rodgers to DK Metcalf. Cincinnati's Ke'Shawn Williams later muffed a punt deep in Bengals territory to set up the second of Boswell's three field goals that tied the game at 27 with 8:45 remaining.

“Some games, you just go get your butt kicked and there's not much to say about it,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “This one, we had our chances. Pittsburgh took advantage of theirs. We didn't take advantage of ours.”

Cincinnati backed up Pittsburgh deep in its territory late in the fourth, but the Steelers responded even after a run of 80-plus yards by Warren was wiped out by a holding penalty on Metcalf.

Rodgers, playing behind a new-look offensive line that included rookie first-round pick Max Iheanachor at right tackle, guided the Steelers 77 yards anyway. Boswell's winner helped Pittsburgh improve to 10-2 in its last 12 games following a loss of 15 points or more.

It also gave the Steelers a dose of belief following an ugly performance against the Patriots in which Rodgers was sacked four times and the line struggled to protect him.

The 42-year-old four-time MVP insisted it was not time to panic. Iheanachor's promotion added a dose of physicality on the line, and Pittsburgh was dynamic. Rodgers hit nine receivers and Warren cut loose for field-flipping runs that were hard to come by during the opening two weeks.

Warren's shoulder was so tender on Saturday that McCarthy advised Rodgers not to throw it to him during a walkthrough. There were no such issues 24 hours later, when Warren's punishing approach helped ignite the Steelers on a day the offense needed to pick up the slack for a defense that let Burrow play pitch-and-catch with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Yet with the clock ticking down, Harmon provided Pittsburgh's only sack. He wasn't trying to strip Burrow. It just kind of happened, and Joseph-Day fell on it.

McCarthy had jotted down in his notes this week that Pittsburgh would need 31 points to win. The Steelers fell one shy, not that it mattered.

“We've got to play more sound football than we did today to beat a team like that,” Burrow said.

Injuries

Bengals: LB Demetrius Knight left in the first quarter ... WR Colbie Young (knee) exited in the first half with a knee injury.

Steelers: CB Brandin Eichols was evaluated for a concussion after colliding with Williams during the botched second-half punt return.

Up next

Bengals: At Jacksonville next Sunday.

Steelers: Visit Cleveland on Thursday night.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

It would have been tough to imagine anything better than this.

Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes, including one on which Parker Washington made a fingertip catch in the end zone, and the Jaguars bounced back from their worst offensive performance in nearly a year to dominate New England 35-6 on Sunday.

“You get what you emphasize so much with this team," said Coen, who became the first NFL coach to win 15 of his first 20 games since Green Bay's Matt LaFleur in 2020.

The Jaguars (2-1) won their sixth consecutive regular-season home game and raised more questions about Drake Maye’s regression with the Patriots.

Maye fumbled twice, losing one, and threw two more interceptions before getting pulled in the fourth quarter. He now has one TD pass and six INTs in three games. He threw 31 touchdowns and eight picks last season for the AFC champion Patriots (1-2).

“I’m always going to be confident in myself to make plays," Maye said. "If there’s one thing, I’m going to go out there and compete. I’m going to leave it all out there. Competing comes with being confident and being confident in this league is realizing that these mistakes, you got to eliminate them.

"More that we get out of our own way, the more the confidence in myself and this team will build. That’s something that starts with practice and it starts with me.”

Maye’s performance in this one was more alarming than his three-interception fourth quarter in the season opener at Seattle. The ball slipped out of his right hand with no one around him during one play. He threw into coverage on a third-and-goal play, resulting in Travis Hunter’s first career interception. He also threw a pass directly to cornerback Jarrian Jones that set up another score for Jacksonville.

“I think he knows what to do," Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. "I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make some good ones. If it’s not there, I think sometimes you can want it too badly, and we can’t force it.”

New England had other issues, too: Andy Borregales missed a 38-yard field goal; Kyle Williams mistakenly stepped out of bounds on a kickoff return; and Mack Hollins was flagged for taunting at the end of a 9-yard reception, turning a fourth-and-1 play into a field goal.

The Jaguars played much cleaner.

Lawrence completed 19 of 29 passes for 182 yards, with an interception on a tipped pass. He connected with Jakobi Meyers and Josh Cameron for TDs. Cameron got significant snaps in place of Brian Thomas Jr., who dropped two passes in last week’s 20-13 loss at Denver.

Meyers had seven receptions for 64 yards against his former team, and Bhayshul Tuten added 73 yards rushing and a touchdown — after Lawrence took a knee at the 1 to try to milk the clock with more than eight minutes left.

“We were just ready to play,” Lawrence said. “Guys were flying around. At the end of the day, that's what it's about. It's the players executing the plan. You got to have a good plan, and we did. But it's about us going out there and owning it, playing fast and executing. We did all those things today.”

Patriots pull off a crazy play

Facing a first-and-30 play after back-to-back penalties, the Patriots dialed up some trickiness in Jacksonville territory. And it worked despite a lot of adversity.

Maye threw a backward pass to Efton Chism III, who had to elude Jones’ tackle near the sideline. Chism stayed on his feet and completed a pass to Mack Hollins that was tipped by cornerback Travis Hunter. It was far from pretty but resulted in a 16-yard gain that led to a field goal.

Little nearly hit an NFL record field goal

Jacksonville’s Cam Little just missed making a 70-yard field goal, which would have broken his NFL record. Little attempted the long kick at the end of the first half and pushed it just a couple feet right.

Little had the distance, which was no surprise considering he made a 70-yard in a preseason game against Pittsburgh in 2025. He set the real NFL mark later that year with a 68-yarder at Las Vegas in early November.

Key injuries

Patriots: RG Greg Van Roten left in the first half with a thigh injury and did not return. DT Christian Barmore (shoulder) and CB Carlton Davis III also missed snaps but returned.

Up next

Patriots: Play at Buffalo next Sunday.

Jaguars: Play at Cincinnati next Sunday.

___

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

But the person behind this attention-grabbing ride may be even more surprising. When he’s not cruising the streets at night, Houston ER doctor Dr. Abdulla Kudrath is saving lives.

Kudrath has loved the Batman series since childhood. Now, years later, the doctor, entrepreneur and car collector is getting plenty of attention with the Batmobile he once dreamed of owning.

When the opportunity came, Kudrath made that dream a reality by trading one of his own vehicles for the iconic ride.

But the experience isn’t simply about owning an unusual car. Kudrath has found a way to use the Batmobile to connect with people and bring a little joy — especially to kids —wherever he goes.

So, what’s it really like to own and drive a Batmobile around Houston? Watch the video above to meet the man behind the wheel and hear the story behind the ride.

You can also follow Kudrath’s Batmobile adventures on Instagram at @akudrath.

Tens of thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal from the apartment in the upscale Retiro neighborhood where she had lived for more than seven decades.

The demonstrators are demanding stronger tenant protections, measures to combat fraud and a ban on evictions when alternative housing is unavailable.

Many refused to leave after Saturday’s march and pitched tents in Puerta del Sol for the night.

“The housing situation is unsustainable,” said Natalia Navarro, a 27-year-old actress who was among those camping out at the plaza. “We are all out on the street because we are fed up.”

“The wave of indignation and anger that has been unleashed is now unstoppable,” said Alicia del Río, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, which led the protests.

“We will remain here” until the government passes new laws, including indefinite rental contracts, and stops evictions like Abascal’s, del Río told journalists at the plaza on Sunday. Spain's Socialist-led government is expected to announce new measures in its weekly cabinet meeting next Tuesday.

Eviction 'sparked this social unrest'

On Sept. 23, Abascal was carried from her apartment on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance as supporters — who had tried unsuccessfully to stop the eviction — chanted her nickname, “Maricarmen.”

“I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what’s theirs,” Abascal said in a video recorded from her hospital bed after the eviction.

Images of the eviction spread widely across Spain, fueling outrage and criticism of public authorities and real estate investment companies accused of pricing residents out of their homes. Critics often refer to such companies as “vulture funds.”

“Maricarmen has been, in a way, the last straw that sparked this social unrest,” said Simón de la Riva, 43, a teacher who took part in Saturday's protests.

Speaking at a Socialist Party rally in Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed Abascal directly: “I have a message for you, Maricarmen: the government is working around the clock to bring a Royal Decree on housing next Tuesday. And I ask parliamentary groups to make one last effort to have it validated in the National Parliament for Maricarmen.”

Abascal has criticized Sánchez and blamed him for her ordeal.

“Does he not realize the quantity of evictions that there are daily?” she asked during an interview with Spain’s state broadcaster RTVE the day before she was forcibly removed from her home. “Does he not realize, or does he not want to realize?”

A home for seven decades

Spanish media reported that Abascal’s father first rented the apartment in 1956 and that she remained there as a tenant under rent controls after her parents died.

The building changed ownership in 2018, and Abascal was offered the opportunity to buy the apartment but could not afford it, according to the Madrid Tenants’ Union.

Urbagestión, an investment fund that later bought the unit, raised her monthly rent from 500 euros ($570) to 2,650 euros.

It subsequently lowered the rent to 1,650 euros, which Abascal still could not afford on her pension, the union said.

Rising costs and a growing housing shortage

Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. Incomes have not kept pace with the rising housing costs, and analysts say tourism and immigration-driven population growth in cities have placed further pressure on the limited housing supply.

The Bank of Spain estimated that the country had a shortage of about 550,000 homes last year, with Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia accounting for a substantial share.

The demonstrations in the symbolic Madrid plaza this weekend reminded many in Spain of the historic demonstrations starting May 15, 2011, when members of the “indignados movement” camped for 28 days straight, sparking similar sit-ins across the country and the world. That movement was a reaction to evictions and other issues following a global economic crisis, including unemployment, austerity measures and corruption.

Estefania Molina, a political scientist and columnist, said the stakes of popular frustration are growing. In 2011, "people protested because they couldn’t buy an apartment."

“Today, the protest is about not being able to rent a room in someone else’s home," she told Spanish television.

Spain ranks near the bottom of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for subsidized public rental housing, which represents less than 2% of the country's housing stock. The European Union average is 8%.

___

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press journalist Suman Naishadham contributed to this report from Madrid.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran has not been formally notified of U.S. President Donald Trump's rejection of its proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And the World Health Organization says nearly 700 people have been killed in Yemen since fighting escalated last month.

Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday.

Iran’s top diplomat says they await word from mediators

Araghchi said Tehran awaits a U.S. response through mediators after Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations.

Speaking from New York, Araghchi told NBC that Iran is “fully prepared for the war to be resumed."

He added, however: “At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose.”

Trump told Axios he expects U.S. negotiators to engage in more talks this week.

Araghchi, who had described the proposal on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, earlier told Iranian state media that Tehran’s conditions for reopening the strait remained unchanged and there would be “no backing down from them.”

Israel to expel Dutch diplomats over settlements-related ban

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the government had notified the Dutch embassy in Israel that its diplomats in Ramallah had to leave within one week.

Saar said the decision was in response to a Dutch ban that went into effect on Sept. 22 on the “import, purchase and sale of goods” originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the Netherlands, like most of the international community, considers illegal.

Israeli news outlets reported Sunday that Dutch authorities searched the luggage of passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam to ensure compliance.

“Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region,” Saar said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from the Dutch foreign ministry.

Israel also ousted the Dutch delegation from the International Gaza Support Center last month.

In Gaza, over 1,100 have been killed since ceasefire

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Saturday said the Palestinian death toll has risen to 74,016, with 175,068 wounded. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage.

While a ceasefire that took effect last Oct. 10 has halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued in what the military has said are responses to threats or attacks.

Since the ceasefire, 1,145 Palestinians have been killed, said the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government. It maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants. Meanwhile, seven Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

Next steps in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire remain largely stalled. Israeli forces now control over half of the territory, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they will not withdraw until Hamas disarms.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 2

Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza killed two Palestinians and wounded several others, according to hospital officials.

In Gaza City, a strike hit a car, killing one person and wounding several others, according to Shifa Hospital. Video showed a chaotic scene around the charred vehicle.

Israel's military said it targeted a military operative.

A separate Israeli strike in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed one person and wounded three others, according to Nasser Hospital.

Israeli's military said it targeted a Hamas militant.

Houthi rebels accuse Yemeni forces of a deadly strike

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels accused Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces of striking a market in Yemen's Taiz province, killing at least seven people.

Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry, said the strike hit shops in a market in the district of Taiziyah. He said at least other 40 people, including five children, were wounded.

The military of Yemen’s internationally recognized government rejected the Houthi claims, saying it attacked Houthi “warehouses and positions” in northern, southern and western Taiz and left “dozens of dead and wounded” among the rebels.

There has been fierce fighting on Yemen’s Red Sea coast as government forces attempt to reverse recent Houthi advances. The WHO says almost 700 people have been killed since the escalation last month.

Hezbollah supporters mark Nasrallah’s death

Thousands of people gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark the two-year anniversary of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death in an Israeli airstrike. In a video address, his successor, Naim Kassem, reiterated the militant group’s refusal to disarm while Israeli forces occupy southern Lebanon.

“With regard to disarmament, we have told (the government) that we are ready for dialogue, but first the south must be liberated and its people return,” he said.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began when the Iran-backed group fired missiles across the border, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. Israel responded with bombardment and a ground invasion and now occupies a large swath of the south.

Lebanon's government signed a U.S.-brokered agreement in June under which Israeli forces would gradually withdraw in exchange for Hezbollah disarming. Hezbollah was not a party to the negotiations, and implementation of the agreement has stalled.

___

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

London’s Metropolitan Police, which takes the lead on potential terrorist activities, said police received a call at 12:45 a.m. related to the three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be traveling toward RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that is operated by the U.S. under an agreement dating back to the Cold War.

The base is home to US bombers striking Iran

The arrests come at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states to the U.K., with Russia and Iran among those that have used proxies to commit crimes on their behalf on British soil. In March, officials said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states including Iran increased 50% in the six months to December 2025.

Fairford has been used by American bombers for strictly limited strikes against Iranian missile sites under an agreement with former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who voiced opposition to the war after it was launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.

Authorities are investigating a link between the Fairford arrests and Iran as one possibility. Iran has previously indicated that a base used to attack its territory is a legitimate target.

U.S. President Donald Trump praised those who were involved in making the arrests.

“It was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort. And working with the British worked out great,” he told reporters in Chicago on Sunday. “We had them under view for a long time and we got them.”

Police feared an explosion

The five men were initially arrested on suspicion of committing offenses under the Explosives Act in the Whelford area, which backs onto RAF Fairford, which hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force’s 501st Combat Support Wing and the 420th Air Base Squadron.

Aerial footage from Sky News appeared to show a bomb disposal robot roaming between three white trucks. The rear doors of two of the vans were open and large black items could be seen scattered around. The robot appeared to be working toward getting access to the third truck.

Police gave no details as to the nationality of those arrested. Suspects arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 can be detained for up to 14 days without charge, compared to the 24-hour limit for standard arrests, without an extension application.

“We are in the early stages of an investigation, and five men remain in custody,” said Vicki Evans, the Met’s counterterrorism policing senior national coordinator.

Evans said a 400-meter (yard) cordon has been put in place around the three vehicles that raised suspicion while the army conducts examinations. As a precaution, around 85 households have been evacuated whilst these examinations take place. Some have been taken to a nearby recreation center.

The U.S. embassy in London warned Americans to be cautious and mindful of their personal security.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he knew the incident would be “deeply concerning” for many. In a post on social media, Burnham thanked police and the armed forces for their response and said he was grateful to the residents who have been evacuated from their homes “while precautionary checks are carried out.”

He urged people “not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts.”

The defense secretaries of the U.S. and the U.K., Pete Hegseth and Wes Streeting, have also spoken about the incident.

British security officials say proxies linked to Iran have been behind a string of arson and sabotage attempts in the U.K. and other countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community. They have previously warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East continue.

Local residents evacuated as investigation continues

Gloucestershire police said the situation appeared to be “contained” and urged residents to follow official advice while the investigation continues.

Julian Tudsbery, who has lived in Whelford for 30 years, said another resident had reported seeing three “suspicious vans” in the village early on Sunday.

“There were several police, three police cars in the drive, and they said you need to evacuate, there’s been a major incident, said he couldn’t elaborate,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in Liverpool, England, and Ben Finley in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.

And, Iowa rubbed it in.

Hank Brown connected with Reece Vander Zee on a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Hawkeyes a 20-19 win over the Wolverines on Saturday.

Iowa had 2 seconds on the clock for the final snap of a 91-yard, game-winning drive. The Hawkeyes took advantage of the time, three weeks after Michigan was given a second to attempt a second Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan in a controversial finish in the same stadium.

As the Hawkeyes celebrated in a stunned Big House, they poked fun at college football's winningest team.

“ NO EXTRA TIME NECESSARY,” Iowa's football program posted on social media.

Iowa moved up three spots to No. 14 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday, ahead of its home game against No. 5 Ohio State.

Michigan, which fell from No. 18 to out of poll for the second time in the opening month of the season, will play its first road game at Minnesota on Saturday.

The Wolverines made costly mistakes in all three phases of the game against the Hawkeyes to lose for the first time under coach Kyle Whittingham.

After penalties were a problem in the first two games of the season, Michigan was flagged eight times for 75 yards.

One penalty, in particular, was a killer for the maize and blue.

On the Hawkeyes' last drive, Brown threw an incomplete pass on third-and-12 from his 40.

Instead of facing a fourth down, they had a first down at the Michigan 45 with 19 seconds left because fifth-year defensive back Zeke Berry pushed receiver Tony Diaz out of bounds and was called for unnecessary roughness.

“I didn’t really say anything to him because he’s an old enough guy to understand that’s a stupid penalty,” sixth-year defensive back Rod Moore said. “But you got to be smarter.”

Michigan's defense, which kept Iowa's offense scoreless for three quarters, had the last chance to make enough plays to hold on for the win.

The offense and special teams, too, wasted opportunities earlier in the game for the Wolverines to stay undefeated.

While sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood had his best game, completing 17 of 28 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns, he threw an interception at the Iowa 2 in the third quarter. That was one of the missed opportunities for the offense, which went 2 of 4 in the red zone.

After Underwood threw his first of two touchdown passes to JJ Buchanan late in the first quarter, the Wolverines did not touch Braeden Jackson on a 99-yard kickoff return.

In the end, Michigan had one more shot to make a stop to seal the win and failed.

Brown, though, didn’t want to bite when asked if the victory was justice for Western Michigan.

“I’m not going to speak on that,” he said after a chuckle.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

The crash happened around 11:55 p.m. on I-10 near Mercury Drive. Investigators believe the man crossed the freeway to get fuel and was fatally struck by a vehicle as he returned to his truck. Police said they later found a disabled truck along the freeway, which they believe belonged to the man.

Police said the driver who struck the man showed no signs of impairment and stayed at the scene.

• 3 juveniles wounded in overnight shooting in northwest Harris County

During the investigation, officers closed the freeway. Police said another driver failed to yield and hit a patrol car occupied by an officer who was helping block traffic.

“We did have somebody who failed to yield to one of our emergency vehicles and struck one of our officers who was sitting in their patrol car, that was blocking the vehicle,” said Sgt. Dallas with the Houston Police Department.

The officer was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

• Three Houston-area teen shootings leave three dead as teenage suspects face murder charges

Luis Hernandez, who volunteers at Fuente de Vida Church nearby, said the incident was a sobering reminder for both drivers and pedestrians.

“An accident can happen in three seconds,” Hernandez said. “As a driver, pedestrian, always … always think safe.”

Authorities have not yet said whether the driver who struck the patrol car will face charges. Houston police are urging anyone who finds themselves stranded on a freeway not to attempt to cross it on foot.

“Please don’t try to cross the freeway at any time, whether you run out of gas, or for any reason,” Sgt. Dallas said.

Instead, authorities urge stranded motorists to call 9-1-1 for emergency assistance.

The Gators' 24-point win over then-No. 4 Mississippi under first-year coach Jon Sumrall on Saturday earned them a 13-rung promotion to No. 8, their highest ranking since 2020 and first top-10 appearance since 2021.

Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame continued to hold the top three spots, Miami was a season-high No. 4 and Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 5. Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and BYU completed the top 10.

The Longhorns received 62 first-place votes from the media voting panel, four more than last week, after they held off Tennessee 20-17 in their first road game.

Georgia, coming off a convincing win over Oklahoma and outscoring opponents by an average of 41.5 points per game, got six first-place votes, double its number last week. Miami and Indiana each received one first-place vote.

Mississippi State moved up eight spots to No. 16, its highest ranking in four years, for beating Missouri at home. Oregon was up five spots to No. 15 after winning on the road against Southern California. Houston also moved up five spots to No. 20 after winning at Georgia Southern.

Iowa earned its highest ranking since 2021, at No. 14, for knocking off Michigan on the road on the final play of the game.

Seven ranked teams lost in Week 4 and four dropped out of the poll. Penn State took the biggest fall, going from No. 13 to unranked after losing to Wisconsin at home.

In and out

No. 19 Oklahoma State, which won at West Virginia for its third straight victory after losing 21 straight against Bowl Subdivision opponents, is ranked for the first time in two years.

No. 22 Boise State of the Pac-12 is the first Group of Six team to crack the Top 25 this season. The Broncos' 25-point win at Western Michigan was their third straight win after a narrow loss at Oregon. They hadn't been ranked since the 2025 preseason poll.

No. 23 UCLA is 4-0 for the first time in four years after a 51-point road win over Maryland and is ranked for the first time in three years.

No. 24 Kentucky followed its win at Texas A&M with an easy victory at South Alabama to earn its first ranking since 2023.

In addition to Penn State, Michigan, Louisville and Texas A&M fell out of the Top 25.

Poll points

— Florida’s rise was the biggest since LSU leapt 14 spots, from No. 25 to No. 11, on Sept. 4, 2018.

— The Big 12's five ranked teams are the most since the conference had the same number ranked Oct. 26, 2025. It's just the sixth time in the 2020s the Big 12 has had that many in the Top 25.

— Georgia is in the Top 25 for the 700th time, which is 10th-most all-time.

— Alabama made its 300th straight appearance in the Top 25, the longest active streak and nearly double that of the next team (Georgia, 153).

Conference call

SEC (10 ranked teams): No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Florida, No. 9 Mississippi, No. 11 LSU, No. 16 Mississippi State, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 24 Kentucky, No. 25 Missouri.

Big Ten (6): No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 Indiana, No. 14 Iowa, No. 15 Oregon, No. 18 USC, No. 23 UCLA).

Big 12 (5): No. 10 BYU, No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 13 Utah, No. 19 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Houston.

ACC (2): No. 4 Miami, No. 21 SMU.

Pac-12 (1): No. 22 Boise State.

Independent (1): No. 3 Notre Dame.

Ranked vs. ranked

No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa: Buckeyes were ranked No. 3 when they last visited Kinnick Stadium, in 2017, and the 55-24 loss killed their playoff hopes.

No. 7 Alabama at No. 16 Mississippi State: Crimson Tide have won 16 straight in the series, and most of the games haven't been close.

No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri: Tigers have won last two meetings in Columbia, on a field goal with 5 seconds left in 2023 and on a 2-point conversion pass in overtime in 2021.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Clear Lake Division officers responded to the crash around 9:11 p.m. after receiving reports that a man was walking in multiple lanes of traffic. Responding officers said the man appeared to have been hit multiple times. Houston Fire Department personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.

• Man fatally struck while crossing East Freeway on foot; officer injured while blocking traffic

An SUV involved in the initial collision remained at the scene. Police said the driver told investigators they had consumed one alcoholic beverage around 5 p.m. The DWI unit cleared the driver, and no charges are pending at this time.

HPD Sgt. Yasin said earlier in the evening, dispatchers received two calls about a man possibly experiencing a mental health crisis at a nearby shopping center, near Dave’s Hot Chicken and a pizzeria. Police believe those calls may have involved the same man later struck on the freeway.

Evans is now “just furious with myself” for those votes. The 56-year-old from Portland described Collins’ critical vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, where President Donald Trump's nominee eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion, as a betrayal.

“I was a really uninformed voter,” Evans said. “I thought any woman from Maine was probably in line with me.”

The Nov. 3 election will be the first time Collins is on the ballot since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, resulting in abortion being banned in much of the United States. This time, Evans says she is backing Democrat Troy Jackson, a former state lawmaker and logger trying to deny Collins a sixth term.

Jackson and Democrats are hoping that voters like Evans will help flip a seat in a state the party has made a priority in the quest to retake the Senate.

Both Collins and Jackson have made an effort to appeal to women, who make up the majority of Maine's population and have had a slightly higher rate of voting than men, according to a recent report by democracy advocacy groups. In campaign ads from both candidates, women are featured prominently.

Democrats' ads have focused heavily on Collins' vote in support of Kavanaugh and describe her as caving to Trump. The Democratic-aligned advocacy group Affordable Maine has spent nearly $10 million on ads stressing the senator's backing of other Trump-appointed judges who oppose abortion. An additional $32 million has been spent by Win Senate, a political action committee focused on Collins. Planned Parenthood Votes has so far spent at least $500,000 to run ads that include a female voter who regrets voting for Collins because of her Kavanaugh vote.

Yet Jackson is facing a steep challenge.

Collins has a 30-year record of winning elections even as Maine voters have spurned Republican presidential nominees, including Trump, since 1988.

And the issue trails others in terms of importance to voters. A New York Times/Siena poll conducted in September found that when asked in their own words what one issue will be most important in deciding their vote for Congress in November, almost no likely Maine voters mentioned abortion.

‘I do not regret’ voting to confirm Kavanaugh, Collins says

Collins has long called herself a “pro-choice” Republican and a supporter of a woman’s right to an abortion. She was one of the few Republicans endorsed by Planned Parenthood earlier in her political career. In 2022, she co-sponsored legislation to put federal protections for abortion into law.

The position has put her at odds with her party but was in line with Maine voters.

In 2020, the last time Collins sought reelection, the vast majority of Maine voters in the Senate race, 76%, said the Supreme Court should not overturn Roe v. Wade, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate. That included most Collins voters. Some 35% of voters who supported Collins in her successful reelection bid said they wanted Roe to be overturned.

Collins' 2018 vote in support of Kavanaugh was crucial to his confirmation. At the time, Collins waited months before announcing her decision in a 45-minute floor speech. The final vote was 50-48.

Kavanaugh later joined the 6-3 conservative majority in stripping away constitutional rights to abortion.

Collins criticized the high court’s decision in 2022, but she has never publicly wavered in her decision to confirm Kavanaugh. She told reporters in June that “I do not regret that vote.” Collins had said before the 2018 vote that Kavanaugh, in a two-hour meeting with her, said he viewed Roe as settled law.

But her confirmation vote is what stands out in the minds of voters like Bente Lundh, 67, of Falmouth.

“She’s positioned herself as this moderate voter, but she’s really chopped that down with her vote for Kavanaugh,” Lundh said.

For others, Collins’ long-standing record as a moderate continues to draw their support even if they are disappointed with the eventual overturning of Roe.

“I think I’ve tried to not have my allegiance to party make me blind to what may be a better path from time to time,” said Mary Ann Lynch, a Democrat supporting Collins. “Neither party, in my view, has a monopoly on the truth and how best to do things. So I think it’s really important to have people who will reach across the aisle.”

Lynch added that Collins may have voted to confirm Kavanaugh, but she also voted to confirm Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who dissented in the abortion ruling. They were nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.

Jackson makes his case to women, abortion rights supporters

Since launching his campaign in July, Jackson has announced a “Women for Troy” coalition made up of women from all 16 Maine counties and he has secured endorsements from abortion rights groups Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All.

Jackson was serving as a top state senator when the landmark 1973 decision was upended in 2022. He says he worked to pass “some of the strongest protections for abortion access in the country.”

Yet Jackson has had his own hurdles.

The Democrat became a last-minute Senate nominee after Graham Platner dropped out this summer following criticism of his past relationships with women and a sexual assault allegation, which Platner denies. Jackson is now scrambling to win over voters who may be wary of his connection to Platner. The two campaigned together as Jackson initially sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination but lost.

Jackson also has had to explain the evolution of his support on abortion rights and same-sex marriage, both of which he opposed years ago. Jackson now says he was wrong about his past beliefs and changed his mind after talking to women. Jackson's campaign spokesperson Maggie Amjad said Jackson now holds a “100% rating from Maine's Planned Parenthood."

Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for Collins, described the senator as the only “reliably pro-choice” candidate in the race.

Abortion is not top of mind for Maine voters

While Jackson is reminding voters of Collins’ role in the abortion rights fight, he is doing so in a state that was not highly affected by the decision compared with Republican-controlled regions where many abortion clinics have shuttered, said Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine.

“If you were in a state where all of the abortion clinics had closed, then that might be a bigger issue," Brewer said. "That has not been the case here.”

The state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2023 approved a law that allows abortions at any time if deemed medically necessary by a doctor, and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has enacted legislation protecting providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from legal action brought by other states.

A CNN/SSRS survey of likely Maine voters conducted in late August and early September found that most voters are still unhappy about the decision to overturn Roe, but that anger over the loss of abortion rights could be overshadowed by broader concerns about the economy.

___

Kruesi reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.

The demonstrators, many wearing balaclavas, congregated on a street in the town, where many favor unification with the Republic of Ireland. They came after an early hours decision from the High Court in Belfast to give the parade the go-ahead.

It's the first time in nearly 30 years that the Orange Order parade has been allowed to go down the Garvaghy Road, which had been a notorious flashpoint between the communities in the years before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 largely ended the bloodshed in Northern Ireland. During the so-called Troubles, some 3,600 people were killed while some 50,000 were wounded.

Ending the Troubles meant balancing competing identities in Northern Ireland, which remained in the United Kingdom when the rest of Ireland won independence a century ago. Irish nationalists in the north — most of them Catholic — seek union with the Republic of Ireland, while largely Protestant unionists want to stay part of the U.K.

Both sides appeared to be adhering to calls from across the political spectrum, including from British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, to avoid stoking tensions further.

“I am hoping we will bring all of today’s events to a sensible and peaceful conclusion," said Jon Boutcher, the head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Boutcher said there had been many “sensible voices” calling for calm which he thought had been “listened to by all parties."

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who represents Sinn Fein, the party historically linked to the Irish Republican Army, faced criticism for attending the unlicensed protest on the Garvaghy Road to support the local community.

“She’s the head of an executive and she is prepared to wilfully disregard the ruling of our courts, the determination by the statutory body charged with determining parades in Northern Ireland,” said Gavin Robinson, who is the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest pro-U.K. party in Northern Ireland.

O'Neill, whose government is made up of a cross-section of Northern Ireland parties as part of the power-sharing agreement within the Good Friday Agreement, defended her actions, saying “the progress of the last 28 years have been brought into question by the actions of the Orange Order and those within political unionism that want to drag us backwards.”

For days, there had been uncertainty about whether the parade, which celebrates Northern Ireland's Protestant heritage and links with the U.K. was given the final go-ahead at a court hearing concluded at 2:15 a.m. Sunday, a move that prompted the protesters to take to the street.

The Orange Order is named after William of Orange, a Protestant prince of Holland who defeated the Catholic King James to take over the British throne in the 17th century.

Zverev — who captured his first two Grand Slam titles this year by winning the French Open and U.S. Open — beat Learner Tien 7-6 (3), 6-3 to make it a 13-5 victory for Europe.

Zverev has been a part of all six Team Europe victories in the Ryder Cup-style event, and owns the most Laver Cup singles wins with eight.

“Winning as a team — there’s no better feeling in sports,” Zverev said. “We don’t have enough of it in tennis. Being among these great players you normally see across the net every single week, it’s just fun being out here.”

Team World had won in San Francisco last year.

It was an improved performance for Zverev after his nine-match winning streak in singles — his U.S. Open title and two Davis Cup victories for Germany last weekend — ended with a loss to Alex de Minaur on Saturday.

“I haven’t won a Laver Cup match in two years, so I’m happy I did it today,” Zverev said. “Massive credit to the entire Team World. They pushed us all the way again. ... We had a great team. We have a great team chemistry.”

The 13th-ranked Tien had beaten Flavio Cobolli in his Laver Cup debut on Saturday.

Earlier, Cobolli and Jakub Mensik extended Europe’s lead by beating De Minaur and Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 in doubles.

Zverev’s victory sealed with it three matches to spare — which meant that Carlos Alcaraz didn’t need to take the court for the third match of the day against De Minaur.

“We had three chances to close it out in singles,” Zverev said. “Especially with Carlos playing after me, it gave me a little bit of confidence.”

Using Zverev’s nickname, Team World captain Andre Agassi said during the trophy presentation: “Congratulations, Sascha, on the crazy year.”

Alcaraz won a doubles match with Mensik on Friday and a singles match over Fritz on Saturday.

Wins are worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday. The first team to reach 13 points wins.

___

See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Russia’s top diplomat on Saturday brushed off what’s believed to have been the first face-to-face meeting with his German counterpart since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting was held during the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders, as an intensifying aerial war between Russia and Ukraine showed no sign of slowing.

Ties between Russia and Germany have soured in recent weeks, following an attempted drone attack last month at Leipzig airport that Berlin blamed on the Kremlin.

With front-line positions largely unchanged since last year, Moscow has hammered its neighbor with cruise and ballistic missiles, powerful glide bombs and jet-powered drones in recent months. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s long-range drones have targeted Russian oil refineries and businesses.

Strikes kill 8 in Ukraine, 1 in Russia

In Kyiv, a man was found dead after a Russian drone hit a non-residential building overnight, according to Ukraine’s emergency service.

Later on Sunday, Russian drone strikes killed one person and wounded at least five on the outskirts of the capital, according to local administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In Kyiv itself, a drone hit a 9-story apartment block, wounding at least one woman, according to municipal authorities.

In Russian-occupied Ukraine, a strike by Kyiv's forces on Sunday killed a civilian woman in Enerhodar, the town housing Europe’s largest nuclear plant, according to its Kremlin-installed mayor. Maxim Pukhov said the Ukrainian drones also wounded two others.

Russian forces also attacked Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, which surrounds the country’s main Black Sea port, multiple times overnight into Sunday, killing one person and wounding two, according to the head of the local military administration, Oleh Kiper.

On Sunday afternoon, a woman and a 16-year-old girl were killed as Russian guided bombs struck the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine, regional administration head Oleh Hryhorov reported. He said five other people were wounded.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, two people died and two more were injured after Russian drones struck passenger cars, the regional prosecutor's office reported.

In Russia's Belgorod border region, a woman died in a hospital on Sunday after being wounded in a Ukrainian strike, regional authorities said.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia struck twice at a data center in Kyiv on Sunday morning, wounding two children and an adult. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces struck multiple data centers in Kyiv on Sunday that it claimed were providing internet to Ukraine's armed forces.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly blamed each other for damaging power lines supplying Enerhodar's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Moscow captured early in the war. The plant is not in service, but needs power to keep cooling systems running and maintain safety.

Russia's Lavrov brushes off rare Germany meeting

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was dismissive after the meeting in New York, which was held at German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s request. Lavrov said that Wadephul “simply reiterated his official position condemning Russia”.

“You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not,” he said.

Wadephul expressed openness to a better relationship but said it required a genuine willingness from Russia’s leadership to end the war in Ukraine, according to a German delegation official.

An overwhelming majority of U.N. member nations have repeatedly condemned Moscow’s invasion. The Kremlin describes the war as a “special military operation” intended to ensure Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers.

___

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

An HFD ambulance crew was traveling through the area when they found the victim with severe head trauma. Officials said the woman appeared to have been struck by a vehicle.

• Man fatally struck while crossing East Freeway on foot; officer injured while blocking traffic

A person later returned to the scene and told investigators they believed they may have hit the woman. Police have not confirmed whether that person was involved in the crash. The person did not show apparent signs of impairment, according to HPD.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Welcome back, NBA.

Media Day — the spectacle where teams open their doors for interviews and photo shoots — for most teams is Monday, a prelude to the start of training camp practices on Tuesday. Houston and Dallas held their media events last week, as they were permitted to start early because they have overseas travel coming during the preseason.

For the other 28 clubs, the journey officially starts Monday.

“I'm going to get back to my real job,” reigning NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson of the champion New York Knicks said as he signed off from his role hosting the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” on NBC.

There are six coaches in new roles entering the season, including Dallas' Dusty May — who led Michigan to the NCAA title last spring and then found an offer to jump to the NBA with the Mavs too enticing to turn down.

May's first Dallas camp is already underway. The other five new coaches — Jamahl Mosley in New Orleans, Sean Sweeney in Orlando, Taylor Jenkins in Milwaukee, Tiago Splitter in Chicago and Micah Nori in Portland — will lead their first practices in their new spots on Tuesday.

“There have been a few active coaches that I've leaned on for advice, not as much strategy as just the day-to-day planning, the future, things like that,” May said, talking about how he's gotten ready to go from leading a college program to an NBA one. “It's more of just trying to figure out what my routine is going to be, what our routine is going to be.”

May isn't alone on that front. Everybody — from first-year coaches to 24th-year players — will be figuring things out.

James, now the first player in NBA history to enter a 24th season, will begin his expected final chapter with his inaugural camp with the 76ers. He made the NBA world wait a few weeks before announcing his decision over the summer to join to Philadelphia on a two-year deal, then explained some of his rationale for the move last week on a podcast he shares with Steve Nash.

If James wins a title in Philadelphia, the 76ers would be the fourth franchise to become champions with him on the roster. James won two championships in Miami, one in Cleveland and one with the Los Angeles Lakers. And if that Philly title happens, it would give Joel Embiid his first ring — which is part of James' motivation.

“I hope I can be that final little piece that can help him get over the hump and have him maybe just see it a little bit differently than he’s seen in his career as far as the day-to-day process,” James said on the “Mind The Game” podcast last week. "The day-to-day what it takes to get there.”

Antetokounmpo got traded to Miami, where he'll join Bam Adebayo and newly acquired Klay Thompson in an effort to get the Heat back into contention. Leonard — hoping to move past a turbulent end to his Los Angeles Clippers tenure — has been traded back to Toronto, after leading the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title. And Curry agreed last week to a two-year extension with Golden State, even though nobody around him or the Warriors ever thought he would seriously consider playing elsewhere.

“For years to come,” the Warriors wrote to Curry in a social media post.

After media day, a few teams hit the road for at least a portion of their training camps. Preseason games start Saturday — Miami faces Toronto in Quebec City, with exhibitions running through Oct. 16. And then opening night or really opening day this year, is Oct. 20 with Boston at Detroit in a 3 p.m. EDT tip to start the season, followed by Philadelphia at the Knicks that evening and Oklahoma City visiting San Antonio in a matchup of last season's Western Conference finals.

Plenty of teams expect to contend. Surprises are certain. Disappointments are certain, too. And the road toward whatever the final destination is starts now.

“Part of our mindset is going to be growth every single day and becoming a championship level team,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “No one is a championship level team on September 29th. There’s not a team in the league that is a championship level team. That is an ongoing process throughout the year.”

___

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

The rerelease grossed $26 million over the weekend and another $60 million overseas, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film, which grossed $2.8 billion in 2019, was put back into theaters with several new end-credits scenes and an introductory thank you to fans from Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans.

Among rereleases, only the 1997 release of “Star Wars: A New Hope” ($35.9 million) and the 2011 repeat of “The Lion King” ($30.2 million) have opened higher than “Endgame” in domestic cinemas.

Hollywood has increasingly turned to rereleases in recent years to take advantage of holes in the release schedule. But The Walt Disney Co. rerun, billed as “Endgame: Encore,” came out on top on an especially crowded weekend in theaters.

Three well-reviewed new releases — A24’s “Primetime,” with Robert Pattinson; Paramount Pictures’ “Heart of the Beast,” with Brad Pitt; and Universal Pictures’ “Forgotten Island” — all landed in theaters.

Second place, though, went to Zach Cregger’s reboot of “Resident Evil.” The Sony Pictures release followed up its above-expectations debut with $23.3 million in its second weekend. In two weeks, the video-game adaptation has grossed $103.5 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

In a close race for third place, “Heart of the Beast” came out just ahead of “Primetime” with an estimated $20 million from 3,435 theaters. Directed by David Ayer, the film stars Pitt as a retired veteran who must trek through the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog after a plane crash. It added $30.1 million in international theaters.

Pattinson drives ‘Primetime’ sales

But the opening for “Primetime” was more impressive. “Heart of the Beast” cost $82 million to produce, making its path to profitability challenging. “Primetime,” starring Pattinson as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen, was made with a modest budget of $15 million and it opened in 500 fewer theaters.

Yet “Primetime,” buoyed by strong reviews and buzz out of the Venice Film Festival, debuted with $19.2 million. For Pattinson, who also starred this year in A24’s “The Drama” and Universal’s “The Odyssey,” the strong performance showed the actor’s drawing power with Gen Z audiences.

Some 69% of ticket buyers for “Primetime” were under the age of 30. Gen Z has emerged as the most regular moviegoing demographic, fueling hits this year like “Obsession” and “Backrooms.” “Primetime” is directed by 30-year-old documentarian Lance Oppenheim, who co-directed the much-anticipated Elizabeth Holmes documentary, “You Can See Everything,” due out next month.

“Forgotten Island,” from DreamWorks Animation, had a hard time standing out. The film, which cost $80 million to make, opened in fifth place with a disappointing $12.8 million domestically. In 31 overseas markets, “Forgotten Island” also didn’t make much of a dent, grossing $7.8 million internationally.

Universal will hope family audiences catch up to the movie that landed the weekend’s best CinemaScore (an “A”) and the best reviews (94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). “Forgotten Island,” directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, is about two friends who get stranded in a mystical world.

The confluence of releases added up to a historically good September weekend in theaters. According to Rentrak, ticket sales were up 58.5% from the same weekend last year. The domestic box office has massed $7.8 billion thus far, putting it 19% ahead of last year.

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. “Avengers: Endgame: Encore,” $26 million.

2. “Resident Evil,” $23.3 million.

3. “Heart of the Beast,” $20 million.

4. “Primetime,” $19.2 million.

5. “Forgotten Island,” $12.8 million.

6. “Practical Magic 2,” $5.7 million.

7. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” $4.1 million.

8. “The Odyssey,” $3.7 million.

9. “Coyote vs. Acme,” $1.9 million.

10. “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace,” $1.5 million.

South Africa has struggled with violent crime for years, but recent shooting incidents have shocked a country used to some of the highest homicide rates in the world.

In the first attack, eight gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar near Johannesburg late on Saturday. The South African Police Service said 17 people were killed at the small venue in Wedela township, southwest of South Africa's biggest city.

The attackers fired at patrons outside the bar before moving inside and continuing to shoot. The victims included 13 men and four women, with at least 15 other people injured, police said.

The gunmen searched some of the patrons and took their mobile phones before escaping in two vehicles. Two cars were set alight outside the bar during the shooting.

Around four hours later, 10 people were killed and 11 wounded in a shooting at a store linked to what police described as an entertainment venue in Lwandle township, near Cape Town, South Africa's second biggest city. Police said they were searching for multiple suspects, though they didn’t give an exact number.

No arrests have been made in either case. Police deployed specialized units to both townships and surrounding areas in the hunt for the gunmen.

The attacks came five days after another mass shooting in a township near Durban killed at least 11 people, including a pregnant woman, when multiple gunmen attacked a house party in KwaMakhutha township. Police have not reported any arrests.

South Africa's gun violence problem

Wedela resident Siyabonga Nondabula said there had been shootings in the area in the past involving illegal mining gangs, but none of them targeted so many people.

“Seventeen people and (maybe) even more have died, this has never happened here,” he said. "So I feel very sad and traumatized.”

A high rate of killings is a longstanding problem for Africa's most advanced economy, but the phenomenon of mass shootings is becoming more common, according to experts, with recent killings often being carried out by multiple gunmen.

Gun homicides mostly affect South Africa's poorest communities in townships and informal settlements made up of shacks and small homes on the edges of many big cities. Police have linked some of the recent shootings, including last week's house party killings near Durban, to criminal gangs.

Other recent mass shootings include one in June in a poor neighborhood of Johannesburg that killed 12 people, and two in the space of two weeks in December that left a total of 21 people dead.

Soldiers deployed to help police fight crime

South Africa's violent crime problem prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy soldiers on the streets in March in a yearlong operation to combat crime in some of the country's worst-affected areas. The deployment included high-crime areas around Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as other areas.

Announcing the deployment, Ramaphosa said crime by organized gangs was the biggest threat to South Africa's democracy and economic development. Some critics viewed the use of soldiers on the streets as an admission that police were failing.

Soldiers were deployed Sunday to the scene of the bar shooting in Wedela.

South Africa has on average 60 homicides a day

South Africa recorded 5,427 homicides in the three-months ending June 30, an average of nearly 60 a day, according to police statistics.

Shootings are the most common method of homicide in the country. Police and crime experts have long identified the large number of illegal firearms in circulation as a major problem.

Firearm ownership is legal in South Africa but heavily regulated and subject to strict competency requirements. Estimates from political parties and the country’s national gun owners association suggest that between 2 million and 6 million illegal firearms are in circulation. Those groups say the weapons are used in the vast majority of gun homicides.

___

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

Speakers this week touched on homeland sayings, ancient texts, figures of moral authority and more — even a bit of Talking Heads (not TV pundits — the 1980s new wave band.)

Here's a sampling of references:

___

“Laws are made to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak.” — the ancient Babylonian king Hammurabi, quoted by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi

___

“The coral reef where different species of fish congregate to feed and seek shelter.” — a reference from a Marshallese proverb, as explained by Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine

___

"We're on a road to nowhere.” — David Byrne of the band Talking Heads, quoted by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

__

“We are the land, its custodians and its inhabitants. To us it belongs, for we are its people and its home. Today belongs to the people, and the glorious yesterday belongs to them, as well. To them belong the future, history and time itself.” — a Yemeni poet, as quoted by Abdullah Abdulkader al Alimi-Bawzer, vice president of Yemen's internationally recognized governing council, and as translated by U.N. interpreters

___

“The breach of one rule inevitably leads to the breach of other rules." — Mahatma Gandhi, quoted by Finnish President Alexander Stubb

___

“Members of the United Nations General Assembly, your very name implies commitment, through your peace initiatives and humanitarian policies, to igniting the fires of conscience, empathy, unity and equity.” — Barbados’ poet laureate, Esther Phillips, quoted by Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley

___

“When we gather together in the moonlit village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.” — author Chinua Achebe, quoted by President Azali Assoumani of The Comoros

___

“When there is anguish in Port-au-Prince, it’s still Africa crying. We're outing fires in faraway places when our neighbors are just burning.... I refuse to believe that we good people will forever turn our hearts and our eyes away. Haiti, I’m sorry.” — calypso singer David Rudder, quoted by President Godwin Friday of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

___

“Knowledge is like the ocean’s waves: It comes in many forms and sizes, yet no wave overpowers another, and all ultimately reach the same shore.” — one of a couple of Palauan sayings translated and quoted by Palau President Surangel Whipps

___

“How wonderful it is that no one has to wait, but we can start right now to gradually change the world!" — Anne Frank, referred to by Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, who also quoted Mahatma Gandhi, Nuremberg war crimes trial prosecutor Robert H. Jackson and an inscription at a cemetery for American World War II soldiers in the Netherlands

According to HPD, officers responded around 1:40 a.m. after reports that a car had struck a pole. A security guard at nearby apartments under construction reported hearing a loud crash followed by gunfire. HPD homicide detectives said the victim was found with a gunshot wound to the back.

• Man fatally struck while crossing East Freeway on foot; officer injured while blocking traffic

Investigators have not identified a suspect or suspect vehicle. It remains unclear whether the victim was being followed before the shooting or what led to the violence. The investigation remains ongoing.

That trip has been cut short.

Coastal erosion has been eating away at the beach in San Clemente, known for nearly a century as a “Spanish village by the sea.” The rising sea and crashing waves have pushed the shoreline landward, splitting the city's picturesque North Beach. Crumbling seaside bluffs have damaged oceanfront homes and forced the repeated closure of a passenger rail line considered the second busiest in the country.

It's one of many California coastal communities grappling with the effects of sea level rise. Nearly a decade ago, scientists forecast that more than half of Southern California’s beaches could significantly erode by 2100, radically altering how people live and recreate along the state’s famed coast.

“The constant pressure is sea level rise,” said Sean Vitousek, research oceanographer with the U.S. Geological Survey. “It is going to keep rising, and rising, and the beaches will retreat landward.”

After years of erosion, California is bracing for flooding and landslides ahead of this year’s expected super El Niño, a temporary warming in parts of the equatorial Pacific known to warp weather worldwide. Already this year, the town of Pacifica south of San Francisco shuttered its cracked concrete pier, and seawater flooded homes in Long Beach near Los Angeles during a hurricane-driven storm surge. A recent study showed that El Niño events are getting stronger because of human-caused climate change.

In San Clemente, a town of 62,000 people, urban development has slowed the flow of sediment that once nourished the city's beaches, and warmer ocean waters have pushed waves higher and further ashore. It’s become so challenging that residents of the largely Republican city are considering taxing themselves to raise money for beach restoration. A measure to add a 1% sales tax to fund wildfire protection and sand replenishment in San Clemente is on the November ballot.

Crumbling hillsides disrupt seaside rail

Over the past five years, the rail line that has operated along the coast for more than a century has faced repeated closures due to encroaching surf on one side and fragile bluffs on the other. The 7-mile (11-kilometer) segment is part of a 351-mile (565-kilometer) passenger rail corridor that links San Diego with Los Angeles County's huge port complex and San Luis Obispo. It's also used by freight and the military.

Transportation officials have shored up the tracks to ensure passenger safety by laying down rock. But as waves slam against the rocks, they sweep more sand offshore and speed up erosion that will eventually threaten the rail line again.

Locals say the erosion is dramatically altering their community.

“We've lost our walkable beach,” said Cameron Cosgrove, a San Clemente resident who wrote the tax measure. “It used to be you could come to North Beach, walk the beach trail, or on the beach to the pier and actually all the way down to the south end of town. Can’t do either anymore.”

City and transit officials agree more sand is needed and note that coastal communities, including surf hub Huntington Beach, have nourished their beaches for years. Opponents of the measure want sand — but not the tax — and argue San Clemente should work with other communities on a regional approach.

“Fighting Mother Nature is very expensive,” said City Councilman Zhen Wu, who opposes the measure.

City Manager Andy Hall said San Clemente faces a sand deficit of about 3 million cubic yards. Getting that much sand to the beach is no easy task, he said, adding that trucking it would require 300,000 trips.

Darrell Johnson, chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority, said a challenge has been getting state permits for more sand. He hopes California's recent emergency declaration ahead of El Niño will speed up the process. In the long run, Johnson said officials will study moving trains inland — an idea previously deemed too costly. A third option is to halt the line, he said.

“If we can’t figure out how to shore up properly in a way that is long-term in nature, and we can't figure out how to relocate, I think that is a question that’s going to have to be asked," Johnson said. “'What happens to passenger rail? What happens to freight?'”

More sand will also shape wave breaks

Further south, transportation officials have been working to stabilize coastal bluffs to shore up the rail line in the community of Del Mar. The plan is to eventually move the tracks, but officials have not decided where.

Charlie Fox, a 56-year-old San Clemente resident and marine meteorologist, said sand provides a critical buffer between whatever structures — train tracks, homes, lifeguard headquarters — are built along the coast. The lifelong surfer said sand also helps waves roll gently onshore, creating a steady wave break for surfing.

On a recent morning, surfers bobbed in the water off North Beach, not far from the rocky structure shoring up the train tracks by the sea.

“When you see those rocks, that's them attempting to fight the ocean," Fox said. “That is a futile endeavor.”

“The ocean wins,” he added. “Ocean always eventually wins.”

The governing Labour Party opened its annual conference beside the River Mersey in Liverpool on Sunday, with Burnham pledging to turn the page on a decade of economic and political turmoil. He is the U.K.’s seventh prime minister since the country voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

Burnham said the message of his keynote conference speech on Tuesday would be: “It’s time for Britain to have hope again.”

“I am here to end the decade of drift and division that we’ve had since Brexit, because it’s not been a great decade for Britain,” he said on Sunday.

His message is aimed at both the British public and a center-left party that is hopeful but nervous — ready to embrace his promise of better times, but worried about economic damage rippling out from conflict in the Middle East.

University of Manchester political science professor Rob Ford said Burnham’s difficult task is to win over “a skeptical electorate” eager for change, “while at the same time doing that within the constraints of a very difficult economic and fiscal situation.”

In short: “How do you serve people a bowl of cold porridge and convince them it’s a pepperoni pizza?”

Upbeat Burnham replaced unpopular Starmer

Britain’s main political parties all hold conferences in September and October, combinations of pep rally, social gathering and policy forum that set the political tone and agenda for the year ahead.

Last year’s Labour gathering was gloomy, as members despaired about Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s deep unpopularity, little more than a year after winning power in a landslide, and the seemingly unstoppable rise of the anti-immigration opposition party Reform UK.

Burnham, then the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, was followed around Liverpool by journalists as speculation grew that he would challenge Starmer.

Events came to a head months later when a panicky party forced Starmer’s resignation and his replacement by Burnham as party leader and prime minister in July.

Now, Labour is seeing a “Burnham bounce” driven by the new leader’s upbeat talk and modest moves to put money in voters’ pocketbooks by cutting tax on electricity bills and capping bus fares.

Meanwhile, Reform is facing parliamentary and police investigations over its finances — though it also recently received 72 million pounds ($95 million) from two cryptocurrency billionaires.

Burnham has already set out some priorities, including handing more power to local leaders in order to generate “good growth in every post code.” He says he’ll reform Britain’s privatized utilities, especially the expensive, leaky and polluting water network, and will tackle the soaring cost of housing with measures including a government-backed loan plan to help people buy their first homes.

While the party is relatively united behind Burnham, he faces a divisive decision about whether to approve new oil drilling in the North Sea – opposed by environmentalists but backed by trade unions – and pushback over plans agreed under Starmer to make it harder for immigrants to settle permanently in Britain.

The next general election does not have to be called until 2029, but Labour’s revival has sparked talk of a snap election – something Burnham denies he’s considering.

“All of this speculation on an early election, I can knock that dead,” Burnham told broadcaster ITV on Friday.

Looming budget promises pain

But no matter how upbeat Burnham is, economic pain is coming.

Burnham must explain to party members and voters how he will deal with economic turbulence from the on-off U.S.-Iran war, which has severely restricted the movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

Treasury chief John Healey is set to deliver the Burnham government’s first budget on Oct. 28, with rising energy prices pushing up inflation and the cost of government borrowing. Like other countries, Britain also needs to find money to increase defense spending to counter threats from Russia.

At the same time, Burnham is promising to strengthen Britain’s state-funded National Health Service and set up a “national care service” to fix what he calls a “ broken” social care system.

That means tax rises or spending cuts – or both – could be on the cards.

One thing that might bring an economic boost is to ease some of the trade barriers erected by Brexit. Burnham has pledged closer ties with the European Union, though he's currently bound by Starmer's 2024 election pledge not to rejoin the bloc or enter its single market for goods, services and employment.

Progress toward closer ties has been slow. A summit to reset EU-U.K. relations which was initially due to be held in July has been pushed back to November at the earliest because the two sides are wrangling over the bloc’s “made in Europe” rules, which Britain says will hurt its producers.

Ford said that, unlike Starmer, who quickly squandered the public’s goodwill, Burnham has retained his reputation “as an optimist and an effective communicator.” But Burnham's “really stern test” is yet to come, he said.

“The bills are still going to land on the doormat,” Ford said. “He’s going to have to be the prime minister who can sell the average voter on, ‘Yes, that is indeed a bowl of cold porridge in front of you, but it will get better.’”

It's a central theme of the Alaska's U.S. Senate race, one of a handful expected to determine control of the chamber in the November elections.

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan's campaign has made it a key attack line against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman. He lumps her in with “Lower 48 liberals” who have opposed expanded oil and gas drilling in a state that has relied heavily on that industry for decades.

Peltola, an Alaska Native, has countered that she “took on” then-President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to help win approval in 2023 of the huge Willow oil project, which environmentalists strongly opposed. She also says she will “take on anyone, including Democrats — anyone in the Lower 48 who doesn’t understand what Alaska needs.”

The pejorative label reflects a mystique about Alaska, which outsiders often refer to as “The Last Frontier." A state for less than 70 years, Alaska is renowned for its natural beauty, wildlife and vast landscapes. Its rural nature — isolated from the rest of the country and with many of its communities accessible only by air or water — breeds a self-reliance. It's a place where many residents hunt and fish to fill their freezers for winter and take pride in their independence.

The two major Senate campaigns and some third-party groups have leaned into that sentiment — that Alaska is different — and cast their candidates as authentic voices for Alaskans.

“We love the persona Alaska is a tough place to live," said Republican Andrew Halcro, a political podcast host and former state lawmaker who has lived in the state nearly all his life.

Abundance of oil and other resources has created friction with federal government

Alaska, rich in natural resources, has long had a love-hate relationship with the federal government, which owns about 60% of the state's land. That relationship has been especially strained under Democratic presidential administrations that have sought to restrict logging, mining and the availability of areas for oil and gas development over environmental concerns.

Policies can shift dramatically from one administration to the next.

The Democratic Obama and Biden administrations banned leasing on roughly half the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which is home to wildlife such as caribou and polar bears and provides habitat for millions of migrating birds. Republican President Donald Trump's administration has rolled back those and other restrictions as part of a broader push for expanded oil and gas development in Alaska. The administration also is supporting lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The state also has bristled at Democratic efforts to stifle road building and logging in areas such as the Tongass National Forest, a temperate rainforest in southeast Alaska. That dispute dates to the Clinton administration.

Alaska's share of royalty revenue from oil and minerals on federal land has been another ongoing source of tension. Some lawmakers say the state was promised a larger share at statehood and that the federal government has failed to uphold its end of the deal.

While oil production is a fraction of what it was at its peak in the late 1980s and has fallen in recent years, political leaders have pointed to signs of a turnaround. They cite in part the strong interest from major companies that snatched up leases in a sale earlier this year for the petroleum reserve, home to the Willow project.

Alaska communities have been hit hard by spikes in fuel prices caused by the Iran war. That is especially true for remote communities that must have their fuel flown in or delivered by barge before the rivers ice over.

Oil development is the top issue in this year's election for Darryl Hugo, who lives in the small North Slope community of Anaktuvuk Pass. He is backing Sullivan and notes that revenue from oil development is largely responsible for his town's health clinic, school, police and fire departments and water system.

“My region’s economy depends on oil,” he said via a messaging app.

Candidates are seen as trying to stake claim as 'the real spokesperson for the real Alaska’

Robert Sewell, an independent from the Juneau area, said he sees the “Lower 48” taunts and Peltola trying to distance herself from national Democrats as examples of the candidates “fighting to establish who is the real spokesperson for the real Alaska.”

He also likens it a bit to the schoolyard jeer, “I know you are, but what am I?”

Peltola, during her unsuccessful 2024 congressional reelection campaign, refused to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and said she would not vote for Trump. This year, before Alaska's August primary, Harris sent a fundraising appeal that offered support of Peltola.

In response, Peltola's campaign told reporters that she “isn’t seeking endorsements from anyone from the Lower 48.”

In videos highlighting her backing of the Willow oil project, Peltola said she will work with Trump, who handily carried Alaska each of the three times he has run, to advance more oil and gas projects.

“I took on Joe Biden to secure the largest development project in decades,” she said in one video on social media. “And I’ll work with Donald Trump on more.”

Sewell, a Peltola supporter, said he does not begrudge that position. He said he does not think "for one moment that she likes Trump or Trump’s agendas" on other issues.

‘Lower 48’ jabs fill social media and airwaves, but do voters care?

Peltola, who is Yup’ik, is among the roughly 43% of Alaskans born in the state. She grew up fishing on the Kuskokwim River in western Alaska and prominently displays fishing photos on her website. Her campaign slogan, “Fish, Family, Freedom,” is intended to appeal to what she believes are Alaskans' shared values.

Sullivan, originally from Ohio, came to Alaska in the late 1990s when he was in his early 30s. Now a retired Marine, he served as Alaska attorney general and natural resources commissioner, and was an assistant secretary of state in President George W. Bush's administration.

Sullivan spokesperson Nate Adams said that for the senator, “being an Alaskan means loving this state, fighting everyday for his fellow Alaskans and making sure Alaskans, not Lower 48 liberals, decide our future.”

The SLF PAC, which supports a Republican Senate majority, has been keying in on that theme. In one of its ads, a speaker says of Peltola, “They dress her up, throw her out on a stream somewhere, make her look like an Alaskan.” Another says: “Mary Peltola sounds like Alaska, but toes a different line in Washington, D.C.”

Peltola's campaign said Alaskans “won’t be fooled by mudslinging ads.” In a statement, her campaign sought to link Sullivan with “Lower 48 special interest donors.”

Halcro, the former lawmaker and podcaster, said Alaskans have been inundated with such ads and flyers, but he is not sure the messaging over which candidate aligns less with the “Lower 48” is one voters want to hear this year.

“It's all of this stuff just to make us angry at a time where we really genuinely, genuinely just need stability,” he said. “We just need to elect somebody who’s not going to break anything.”

Deputies responded to the 24500 block of Cypresspark Glen Drive, where they found the victims suffering from gunshot wounds. All three were transported to a hospital for treatment.

• Man dies after being shot multiple times following crash in north Harris County, deputies say

No additional information about their conditions or the circumstances leading up to the shooting was immediately released. The investigation remains ongoing.

Harris County Precinct 4 deputies responded to the 14000 block of Kuykendahl Road near York Creek Drive, where the victim was found critically injured. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased.

No suspect information is available at this time. Harris County Sheriff’s Office detectives and crime scene investigators are working the active investigation.

• 17-year-old suspect identified, charged with murder in shooting of Westbury High School senior

Northbound Kuykendahl Road remains closed as investigators continue processing the scene. Drivers are urged to avoid the area and take an alternate route.

Discussion

At 800 PM CVT (2100 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Gonzalo was located near latitude 19.3 North, longitude 23.3 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the north-northwest near 7 mph (11 km/h) and this general motion is forecast to continue through the weekend, with a slow down and turn to the west-northwest expected by early next week.

Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 km/h) with higher gusts. Additional weakening is forecast, and the post-tropical cyclone is expected to dissipate over eastern Subtropical Atlantic by the early to mid portion of next week.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles (295 km) from the center.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 mb (29.68 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

SURF: Swells generated by Gonzalo are expected to affect portions of the Cabo Verde Islands this evening before diminishing Sunday. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Please consult products from your local weather office.

Nolo was churning very slowly south of the Big Island with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph). Its center was about 165 miles (266 kilometers) south-southwest of Hawaii's southernmost point and it was forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane late Sunday and early Monday while traveling westward to the south of the islands.

A hurricane watch was canceled and direct landfall by the storm's center was not expected. But forecasters said its outer bands could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island expected to see rainfall totals up to 20 inches (51 centimeters). Heavy rain also was expected on the other islands.

“Don’t venture out if you don’t have to into the dangerous flooding environment, but also high winds. We can have trees and power lines down,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center.

Heavy rain continued to fall across the southern part of the Big Island in the afternoon, leading to partial closures of one of the main highways connecting Kailua-Kona in the west to Hilo in the east.

Near the community of Naalehu on the island’s southern point, National Guard members were seen guiding a man who was driving across flooded streets as he tried to leave his home in the heavy downpour. More than 120 guard members were activated on the island, part of roughly 400 statewide after the governor issued an emergency proclamation.

The humanitarian nonprofit group CORE and other partners spent the week packing and shipping supplies like camp stoves and hygiene products by air cargo from Oahu to the Big Island for a community relief hub that has been active since August's Hurricane Lala.

Residents are still recovering from Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

Hawaii prepares for northern edge of Nolo

About a dozen people were in the water Saturday morning at Carlsmith Beach Park in Hilo on the Big Island, despite signs saying the strand was closed. Andrea Gill was out for her regular swim before heading back home to hunker down with family.

Shop owners boarded up businesses, and events were canceled. Gill said storms are common, but hurricanes are rare. She was holding out hope that the islands might not get the full impact.

“We're used to lots of rain. We're not used to wind. So it's always a blessing when we don't get the wind from the hurricane,” Gill said.

President Donald Trump approved an emergency declaration Friday, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance and provide funding support.

Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, said crews helping restore power in Kauai after this month’s Hurricane Lowell returned to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island in response to the storm.

On Maui, a brush fire broke out on the west side of the island Saturday, prompting mandatory evacuations for some residents and shutting down parts of a highway. The fire was burning near the Olowalu area, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Lahaina, the site of the 2023 deadly fires. County officials set up two evacuation centers to the north and south of the fire.

The weather service issued a high wind warning for parts of Maui Saturday evening, meaning winds could be at least 40 mph (64 kph) with gusts over 60 mph (97 kph).

The Pacific has been unusually active this season, according to National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec, with storm activity running above average during what is already the peak of hurricane season. He said that pattern is consistent with El Niño years, when the Pacific often sees more tropical storms and hurricanes.

Powerful Polo on forecast path toward Mexico

Meanwhile Mexico was under the threat of Hurricane Polo as it headed toward the Baja California Peninsula after bringing storm conditions to the southwestern coast. Polo had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph), making it a Category 4 storm, but it was expected to weaken somewhat before making landfall Monday.

One of the towns in the hurricane's projected path is San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja’s Pacific coast where access to basic needs is already fickle.

“Our people are concerned about this event,” said Gloriely Robles Meza, a manager at a small hotel. “We haven’t faced such a worrying situation in many years.”

The town has only had full-time electricity for a couple of years, and it still experiences frequent outages. Without power, residents can’t refrigerate food or pump water. The closest gas station is so far away that fuel is stored in and sold from tanks, and supply frequently runs out if there is high demand.

Robles Meza said the community feels left to brace itself for the storm without the help of authorities.

“We must prepare on our own — each of us protecting our homes and belongings,” she said, adding that she wished officials would preposition heavy machinery for clearing roads, along with emergency generators.

For now, she said, the only plan is to convert the local elementary school into a shelter.

“While this is important, we also have other impacts to consider,” Robles Meza said, like what the town will do if it is cut off from help.

San Juanico has experienced late-summer storms, but Polo feels different, said Jeffrey Westman, an American who was first drawn to the town’s world-class surf break 40 years ago and owns a property there.

Washed-out roads could block access to the closest medical facility, about 80 minutes away in Ciudad Constitucion.

Westman, 63, said he hopes Polo behaves as some past storms have, losing intensity before reaching the peninsula.

“A lot of times they do start petering out,” he said. “I’m hoping that’s the case.”

___

Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego, California, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Midway, Utah, contributed.

The No. 20 Ducks harnessed that confluence of strong emotion into a 41-27 victory over the 12th-ranked Trojans on Saturday night. Yet their satisfaction in a season-correcting win was tempered by concern for Moore, along with an anger that hadn't subsided.

“It's a disgusting play,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “You don't want to see it happen.”

Lanning didn’t give an extensive update on Moore’s condition afterward, but he said Moore “does have the ability to move.”

Moore was sliding to complete an 11-yard run to the USC 12 when Stephens came in low and hit the Ducks' Heisman Trophy candidate in the head and chest with his shoulder. Moore’s helmet snapped back and hit the turf hard, and his hands soon went up in what appeared to be an involuntary body posture.

Moore's teammates immediately went after Stephens, who either didn't know or didn't care how seriously Moore was hurt. Both teams received unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after the prolonged exchange in which coaches pulled players apart.

“There's a reason targeting exists in football,” Lanning said. “That's as clear as day targeting. It's a shame that that happened to a good player when, in my mind, that certainly could have been avoided. So it's disappointing that that would happen, but I thought our players did a great job of resetting, and on that note, they still played with great violence and energy to make sure they could take advantage of what happened to their teammate.”

Stephens went to the Trojans’ locker room, but only after he celebrated the hit on the field and then had several less-than-somber sideline exchanges with his teammates, sparking outrage on social media. Stephens, a junior starter from Clarkston, Michigan, also returned to USC's sideline in the second half.

The Ducks all said the hit and the reaction became motivation to play even harder in a game that was vital to their championship aspirations in the Big Ten and the nation.

“It probably changed (the tone) a little bit, just because we already didn’t really like them, don’t really like being here,” Oregon receiver Dakorien Moore said. “But I would say it changed a little bit, seeing the type of people they are from that. Definitely rose attention a little bit, but we was already thinking foot on their necks, so nothing really changed besides us getting more and more hyped.”

Dante Moore was placed in a neck brace and on a stretcher, which went on a cart that drove him a few dozen feet to the ambulance. Mere moments after the doors shut following a 15-minute game delay, play resumed with Dylan Raiola at quarterback for the Ducks.

Raiola, the former Nebraska starter, seized the moment with a touchdown pass on his second snap, followed by a series of sustained drives against USC's poor defense. Raiola went 19 of 25 for 289 yards and two touchdowns while leading the Ducks to 504 yards of offense — 7.4 per play.

“You don't ever want to see someone get hurt, especially with how much (Moore) means to me, how much he means to this team,” Raiola said. “But it was a moment of connection, and that's one of our pillars. We just latched on, and we knew it was going to be for him.”

Raiola’s 2025 season coincidentally ended with a broken leg during the Huskers’ loss to USC.

Moore returned to Oregon for the current season despite the likely possibility of being a high pick in the NFL draft last April. He announced his decision two days after Raiola transferred to Eugene from Nebraska, but Raiola stuck with his decision anyway.

The game was even early in the fourth quarter, but Raiola then led touchdown drives before and after Oregon's defense stopped USC on downs at midfield. The Ducks vigorously celebrated a win that straightens out a roller-coaster season after an embarrassing loss to Oklahoma State two weeks ago.

While Lanning complimented USC coach Lincoln Riley for asking after Moore, the Oregon coach was still fired up after the game, unleashing several verbal shots at USC.

Lanning first criticized the Trojans' fan base for what he considered subpar attendance at their first three home games.

“I've watched three of their TV games. I haven't seen a game packed yet, but we were here (and) it was packed tonight,” Lanning said. “I guess when the Ducks show up, that's how you fill up the Coliseum.”

Later, Lanning turned his third straight win over Riley in their parallel coaching careers into a recruiting pitch.

“Three wins against these guys,” Lanning said. “I guess if you’re from this area and you’re interested in winning football games, you should go to Oregon. If you want to go to a Chris Brown concert, you should go here.”

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Lucky them, the AL Central crown comes with a little break before their postseason begins.

“We’ll get some rest. This team was on fumes,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said after his club wrapped up its third straight division title by beating the Kansas City Royals 11-5 on Saturday night while Chicago lost 9-6 to the Colorado Rockies.

Cleveland has won seven AL Central championships in the past 11 seasons — so the Guardians know how to celebrate.

After nearly an hour of dousing each other with bubbly in the clubhouse, drenched players spilled out of the visitors' dugout to continue their celebration and slip and slide on the tarp-covered Kauffman Stadium field as the rain began to fall harder.

“What an incredible accomplishment,” said Guardians president Chris Antonetti, who lauded the players, coaching staff and his front office for their hard work.

“But this is why we do it,” he said, gesturing to the celebration in the locker room.

The Guardians clinched a postseason berth with Thursday’s 1-0 win over the Boston Red Sox. They’ve earned a playoff spot eight times since 2016.

“There’s so many people that have contributed to this win, this championship, and I think that’s what makes this feel really good,” Vogt said. “I think that’s the story of this year, how deep the roster was.”

Vogt is the eighth manager to guide a team to the postseason in each of his first three seasons, and the 2026 title required his most creative efforts. That included overcoming injuries to José Ramírez, Angel Martínez and rookie Chase DeLauter.

“We were without three of our best hitters for over a month and the boys held it together,” Vogt said. “They held the season together. Our season could have gone very differently.”

The Guardians tried to bolster the club with the trade-deadline acquisitions of outfielder Jo Adell, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, left-hander Foster Griffin and right-hander Craig Yoho.

Yet the Guardians trailed Chicago by six games on Aug. 16. Then they won 25 of the next 36, including 15 of the past 21.

“What this team did over the last 21 games was really special,” Vogt said. “(The players) deserve all the credit.”

The White Sox led or were tied for first in the AL Central from July 4 until Sept. 16.

Cleveland became the first team since divisional play began in 1969 to win consecutive division titles after being at least six games back through 125 games in both years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“I feel like the thing about us, the stretch we had after the All-Star break, the majority of teams could have folded,” said Tanner Bibee, the winning pitcher Saturday.

“We could have went back in our shell, but we knew it was going to flip. If you show up every day on the field in the same way, usually the baseball gods reward you in a good way.”

Cleveland will wrap up its regular season Sunday, then will be off until opening a best-of-five Division Series at home next Saturday.

Bibee, whose 15 losses are tied for the major league lead, sees the playoffs as a reset.

“At this point, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Everyone’s at zero when it gets to October. The stats don’t matter. Only wins do now. That’s the beautiful thing about October.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Jake Burger also went deep for the Rangers, who remained tied with Houston atop the division standings at 80-81 when the Astros routed the Athletics 13-2 later. Houston holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Texas, so the Rangers need a win Sunday at Minnesota and a Houston loss at the A's to reach the playoffs.

Following a 10-2 loss Friday and a two-hour weather delay Saturday, the Rangers scored four runs with two outs in the second inning and never looked back.

After the first two batters struck out, Nicky Lopez hit a two-out double off Twins starter Bailey Ober (7-7). Jansen's blooper dropped in for an RBI single, and a throwing error by left fielder Alan Roden allowed Jansen to reach second. Evan Carter, Alejandro Osuna and Brandon Nimmo all followed with RBI doubles to put Texas ahead 4-1.

Jansen added a leadoff homer in the fourth, and Burger hit his team-leading 28th homer in the fifth.

The bottom three batters in Texas' starting lineup went 6 for 11 with four RBIs and four runs.

Making his first start since Aug. 7, Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi went 4 1/3 innings and allowed a first-inning run. Left-hander Robert Garcia (2-1) earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

Lopez exited in the fourth with an injury in the area of his left ankle and heel. He was replaced in the lineup by Michael Freeman.

Texas played without third baseman Josh Jung, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a broken right hand. Jung got hurt Friday when he was hit by a pitch.

Saturday's first pitch was delayed by rain for 2 hours, 1 minute.

Up next

Texas had not announced a starting pitcher for Sunday's regular-season finale. Minnesota will start RHP Dean Kremer (4-5, 4.97 ERA), who has allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last three starts.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Kiffin started sprinting down the sideline while Leavitt's fourth-down pass was in the air, having seen the Aggies freeze on a play fake as Harris sprinted into the open down the middle of the field.

The LSU coach then put both hands over his shoulder and swung them down vigorously as if wielding a sledge hammer.

“That’s probably part of why we were hired here — that aggressiveness — and I almost didn’t do it,” Kiffin said, explaining that he was leaning toward punting because his defense had been playing well.

But then Kiffin decided, "That's not how we roll. It's not how we talk to our team, you know, being conservative.

“We go for it," Kiffin added. "We take shots.”

The play put LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC) ahead 21-3 in the third quarter and the Aggies (2-2, 0-2) did not threaten after that en route to their second straight defeat.

Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed struggled for a second straight game, completing 10 of 26 passes for 106 yards, with some passes landing nowhere near intended receivers. He also was intercepted by safety Tamarcus Cooley deep in A&M territory.

“We have to play better football. I just don’t know what else to say," said Texas A&M coach Mike Elko, noting that his team was outgained 506 yards to 197. "We got to look at everything.”

Reed didn't have many chances to throw comfortably. LSU applied pressure and kept him largely contained in the backfield — unlike the previous two times that Reed had faced LSU coordinator Blake Baker's defense.

Last season, Reed quieted Death Valley with 108 yards and two TDs rushing to go with two more TDs passing in a 49-25 triumph that helped A&M earn a College Football Playoff berth.

“Blake did a really good job of what good coaches do,” Kiffin said, noting that he and Baker spoke about LSU's difficulty defending running QBs back in January. “They spend offseasons preparing for a specific game like this.”

Now, A&M looks like a longshot at best for the 2026 CFP and will all but certainly drop out of the AP Top 25.

Reed was sacked four times in his latest visit to LSU and did not account for any touchdowns. LSU edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen helped stall a third-quarter drive with his team-high seventh sack of the season.

“I am sure they knew I was effective running the ball the past two years," Reed said. “Things didn’t open up like it did last year.”

The biggest concern for LSU's defense was the sight of linebacker Whit Weeks hobbling to the locker room in a walking boot after an apparent ankle injury. Kiffin said he didn't have an update on the severity of the injury.

LSU never trailed after Dilin Jones' 1-yard TD run made it 7-0. Leavitt, who passed for 312 yards, gave LSU a 14-3 halftime lead with his first scoring pass to Harris, which covered 16 yards on a timing pass to the right corner.

Leavitt said he pulled a hamstring in the second quarter. He subbed out a few times in favor of backup Landen Clark, who rushed for touchdowns of 4 and 2 yards late in the third quarter.

Leavitt said he'll be “just fine," adding, “It kind of almost likes locks you in on a different level when you get a little hurt because you don't have another option than distributing the ball.”

The takeaway

Texas A&M: In a pair of SEC games in the past two weekends, Reed has completed 36 of 75 passes for 342 yards and one TD against three interceptions. Elko came to Reed's defense after the Aggies' loss to Kentucky last week, but his comments were not validated by his QB's latest showing. Reed was pulled in favor of Brady Hart in the fourth quarter.

“Right now, it’s bad," Reed said. "We are at rock bottom, but we’ve got to dig ourselves out of this hole.”

LSU: There was no hangover for the Tigers after their loss at Mississippi in a hard-fought contest a week earlier. Although Leavitt was intercepted once, and for the sixth time this season, he had a number of pinpoint completions downfield, finishing 17 of 23 (74%) in what Kiffin described as a “really gutsy performance.”

Kiffin said he joked with Leavitt that his hamstring pull, “might have been the best thing that happened because he had to stay in the pocket and throw on time because he knew he couldn't run.”

Up next

Texas A&M hosts Arkansas next Saturday.

LSU hosts McNeese State next Saturday.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

The Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks are fighting for the National League's final wild card, while the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are in a race for the American League West.

In the NL, if the Phillies can beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, they’re in. The D-backs have to beat the San Diego Padres and hope the Phillies lose to make the postseason for the first time since 2023.

A similar situation exists in the AL, where the Astros will clinch if they beat the Athletics. The Rangers need to beat the Minnesota Twins and hope the Astros lose.

The D-backs looked like a playoff longshot just a few days ago, but a six-game winning streak pulled them within a game of the struggling Phillies in the NL wild-card race. Philadelphia has lost four in a row. Arizona has the tiebreaker if the teams finish with the same record.

Ten teams have already clinched postseason spots

The two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers are once again among the best teams in the big leagues, and they'll have several challengers in October, including the majors-leading Milwaukee Brewers and the Rays. Los Angeles is rolling into the postseason and four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup on Wednesday after a stint on the injured list. He appears ready for playoff baseball.

The San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians all clinched invites to the postseason on Thursday, and Cleveland ensured Saturday it will win the AL Central over Chicago. The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves are also already in the playoff field. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, a three-time AL MVP, is dealing with a right calf strain that could keep him out through at least the Wild Card Series.

MLB's current playoff picture

American League

No. 6 White Sox at No. 3 Rangers/Astros

No. 5 Red Sox at No. 4 Yankees

No. 2 Guardians and No. 1 Rays receive a bye into the Division Series

National League

No. 6 Phillies/D-backs at No. 3 Braves

No. 5 Cubs at No. 4 Padres

No. 2 Dodgers and No. 1 Brewers receive a bye into the Division Series.

A sub-.500 team could be in line to make the playoffs

No team with a losing record has made the postseason in a full major league season. That could change Sunday.

The Astros and Rangers are both 80-81, and one of them will win the AL West. Houston owns the tiebreaker if both teams lose their regular season finales.

MVP races, stats to watch

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

Both MVP races have strong favorites with Chicago's Pete Crow-Armstrong running away with the NL honor while Houston's Yordan Alvarez is the probable choice in the AL, though Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero has also had a fantastic season. Alvarez had an outside chance at the Triple Crown a few days ago, but those odds have mostly diminished. His .315 batting average leads the league, but his 42 homers are one behind Baltimore's Pete Alonso and his 105 RBIs are six behind Alonso.

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

The Rookie of the Year races also look set with Cincinnati's Sal Stewart and his 111-RBI season the leader in the NL and Detroit's Kevin McGonigle the favorite in the AL.

What is the MLB playoff format?

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

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

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

What is the MLB postseason schedule?

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

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

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

World Series: Oct. 23-31 (FOX)

Who are the favorites to win the World Series?

The Dodgers (+200) are the favorites to capture a third straight World Series title while the Brewers (+550), Rays (+800) and Yankees (+850) are viewed as the top contenders.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

They beat Tampa Bay on Sunday, and the Phillies are in the playoffs.

For an extra confidence boost, they'll go for the clincher with ace Zack Wheeler on the mound.

What else can the Phillies do except try and stay positive through a final week of futility that conjured up the franchise ghosts of the 1964 season and the 2023 playoffs?

Phillies fans that turned Citizens Bank Park into one of the top home-field advantages in baseball instead this week unleashed lusty boos on the slumping stars and some even wore brown paper bags on their heads And, no, not to protect themselves from the rain that drizzled all game on a gloomy night in Philadelphia. But in the embarrassment of pulling for a team perhaps poised for another fall swoon that needed an unearned run to snap a 21-inning scoreless streak during a stretch when the games matter the most.

In a win they had to have, the Phillies instead trailed 10-0 at home, about emptied the bullpen and now must burn their ace ahead of a potential playoff series in the wake of a 12-1 blowout by the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.

The good news comes from this: San Diego beat a hard-charging Arizona team 10-7 to keep the Diamondbacks one game back of the Phillies for the final NL wild-card spot. The Phillies will clinch their fifth straight trip to the playoffs with a win in the season finale or an Arizona loss to the Padres.

“This isn't the time of year to go cold," said catcher J.T. Realmuto, hitless in his last 34 at-bats.

Nola gamely did his best and said yes on the spot this week when interim manager Don Mattingly offered the veteran right-hander a start on short rest for the first time in his career.

Nola's bid to steady the Phillies on two days' rest did not go well, and he was pulled after being rocked for three runs in the first inning. With the Phillies' attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic collapse, Nola was hit hard Saturday night on just about every ball in play and left trailing 3-0.

The Phillies hoped Nola could make it at least once through the order. He instead lasted only 21 pitches, and Tampa Bay had no swings-and-misses against him.

Nola's outing was about the best of a putrid bunch.

The Phillies used six relievers. José Alvarado was voraciously booed off the mound after the beleaguered lefty gave up three runs in the fifth inning. José Urquidy allowed three runs in the sixth to make it 10-0 and most Phillies fans — who stuck around through a rain delay — fled for the exits.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that now includes four straight losses.

The Phillies are 9-14 in September. The Padres and Chicago Cubs have clinched wild-card spots.

“Two weeks ago, I wouldn't have guessed we'd be in this situation,” Realmuto said. “But that's this game. It knows how to humble you. Hopefully, we can come out of this better tomorrow, get in the postseason and get hot then.”

The Phillies are forced to throw Wheeler at the Rays, which would burn him for a potential Game 1 or 2 start in the NL Wild Card Series against Atlanta, if not rule him out for the entire series.

“We're always confident when that guy's on the mound,” Realmuto said.

Mattingly said the Phillies only briefly flirted with the idea of bumping up Wheeler a day.

The Phillies are in a bind with All-Star lefty Jesús Luzardo still on the injured list because of left shoulder inflammation. Luzardo can be activated Sunday and would be available to pitch if the Phillies need him.

NL batting leader and starting second baseman Luis Arraez is out indefinitely with a severely sprained left ankle. His absence sparked some lineup shuffling the last two games, with Bryce Harper back at first base and Bryan De La Cruz starting in right field. Bryson Stott was again at second base.

Trea Turner was moved to the leadoff spot while Kyle Schwarber was dropped to second in the order.

None of the shuffling mattered. The Phillies have just 11 hits and one run in the first two games of the series. They have homered only once in their last 64 innings.

The Phillies could have clinched a wild card as early as Wednesday. They started Saturday suddenly in the conversation on the Philly sports scene as a team potentially poised to join the short list of worst collapses in franchise history.

“I just think there's pressure all the time,” Mattingly said. “I've always felt if you put pressure on yourself all the time to perform and hold yourself to a standard, this game is really no different than any other game. Obviously, we know there's a lot at stake. That's the beauty of kind of playing at a level all the time.”

The clubhouse celebration is still within reach. With the bats in a deep freeze, it's pretty much on Wheeler to pitch them into October.

“We've got to come out and play our best baseball tomorrow,” Realmuto said. “That's really all there is.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The cases are unrelated, but the victims’ families are now dealing with similar losses as investigators work to determine what led to each shooting.

Westbury High School senior killed

The newest case involves 17-year-old Westbury High School senior and student-athlete LePaul Warren.

Warren was shot Friday morning before school on a dead-end road near the campus known as “The Trail,” an area where students commonly gather before and after school.

Houston police have charged 17-year-old Travoris Jarrell Hines with murder in Warren’s death. Hines is also charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon.

Hines was arrested Friday evening while walking along Hillcroft Avenue. Police said he had a gun when he was arrested, but investigators have not confirmed whether that weapon was used in Warren’s shooting.

Investigators say witnesses, surveillance video, phone data and a photo lineup helped identify Hines.

Hines is expected to appear in probable cause court, where judge can determine whether there is probable cause to hold him and address bond.

Police have not confirmed whether Hines and Warren knew each other before the shooting, and a motive has not been released.

Warren was a standout in both football and basketball. His death led Westbury High School to cancel its homecoming football game.

Friends remembered Warren as someone who brought energy and encouragement to those around him.

“LePaul, he always made me laugh,” friend Benjamin Rodriguez said while remembering Warren.

Westfield High School student killed days earlier

Just days before Warren’s death, another Houston-area teenager was killed in a shooting near a high school.

Fifteen-year-old Royce Witchet was shot and killed Tuesday just after school was dismissed.

The shooting happened along a sidewalk near Westfield High School and the Spring ISD administration building.

A 14-year-old Spring ISD student has been charged with murder in Witchet’s death.

Witchet’s family gathered Friday for a memorial, releasing balloons in his honor at about the same time he was pronounced dead.

Family members said Witchet was shot multiple times in the back.

They also called for increased security around the school, saying they believe a stronger police presence could have prevented the shooting.

At the memorial, one family member spoke about the repeated loss of young lives to gun violence.

“We’re doing this too many times,” the family member said. “We’re doing this too many times young people.”

17-year-old found dead inside vehicle

The third case happened in August and is unrelated to the two school-area shootings.

On August 22, Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the 12,800 block of Montclair Bend after receiving a report of an injured person inside a vehicle.

Deputies found 17-year-old Tavian Soileau dead inside the vehicle.

Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives and crime scene investigators conducted the initial investigation and follow-up work.

This week, a 14-year-old was arrested and transported to the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center.

The juvenile has been charged with murder for his alleged involvement in Soileau’s death.

Authorities have not released additional details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting or a possible motive.

Officials respond to violence involving teens

The three cases have also prompted concern from local officials about young people and gun violence.

Following the Westbury shooting, Houston Mayor John Whitmire addressed the violence during a news conference, saying he was upset that confrontations were escalating into gunfire.

“We know the Westfield happened this week,” Whitmire said, “I’m angry that confrontations are leading to violence,” referring to the earlier shooting involving Witchet.

While the three cases are not connected, they have occurred within a relatively short period and involve teenage victims and teenage suspects.

For the families and friends of Warren, Witchet and Soileau, the investigations now continue alongside the process of grieving three young lives lost to gun violence.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that now includes four straight losses. The Diamondbacks lost 10-7 at San Diego on Saturday night and remain one game back of the Phillies for the final wild card.

The Diamondbacks hold the tiebreaker over Philadelphia, so the Phillies still need a win Sunday or an Arizona loss to reach the postseason.

Philadelphia will turn to Zack Wheeler on Sunday to try and finally clinch its fifth straight playoff berth and avoid the franchise's worst collapse since 1964. The Phillies are 9-14 in September.

With the Phillies’ attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic meltdown, Nola (7-12) was hit hard on just about every ball in play and left trailing 3-0 after pitching only one inning.

Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Richie Palacios added an RBI double for a 3-0 lead. Caminero’s 42nd homer gave him 101 RBIs for the AL East champion Rays.

Palacios had four RBIs and Victor Mesa Jr. had his first four-hit game.

The Phillies used six relievers. José Alvarado was voraciously booed off the mound after the beleaguered lefty gave up three runs in the fifth inning. José Urquidy allowed three runs in the sixth to make it 10-0 and most Phillies fans — some of whom wore brown paper bags over their heads — fled for the exits on a rainy night.

Rays starter Griffin Jax took a line drive from Philadelphia’s Trea Turner off his lower back and left the game after three innings.

The Phillies had a runner on second and two outs when Turner drilled a 104-mph line drive off Jax. The ball ricocheted to shortstop Taylor Walls, who threw out Turner for the third out of the inning.

Jax was relieved by Steven Matz (6-6), who pitched a scoreless inning.

The Phillies snapped their 21-inning scoreless streak on an unearned run in the seventh.

Up next

The Rays finish with RHP Nick Martinez (15-5, 2.94 ERA) on the mound.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The attack involving an explosives-laden vehicle occurred in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service. Local police chief Safdar Baloch said most of those killed and wounded were security personnel and passersby.

The blast destroyed the sprawling checkpoint, and witnesses said gunshots were also heard after the attack.

Faizi said gunmen opened fire on an ambulance as emergency crews transported victims to a nearby hospital, killing a rescue worker and wounding two others. Two women and a child were among those killed in the suicide bombing, he said.

The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group primarily active in neighboring Balochistan province.

The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, offered condolences to the victims’ families.

Zardari described the targeting of civilians and law enforcement personnel as “highly condemnable” and called for intensified action against the Pakistani Taliban, which he accused of carrying out “heinous and brutal acts” with foreign support.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks. Afghan authorities deny permitting their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.

Saturday’s bombing came two days after fighting along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to Pakistan’s government. The clash followed Pakistani strikes this week on suspected militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.

The renewed hostilities threaten mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing lasting peace between the neighboring countries.

Dera Ismail Khan is near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where Pakistan’s military has conducted several operations in recent years.

Militants frequently target security forces in the region. In December 2023, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the main gate of a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least 23 security personnel in one of the area’s deadliest attacks. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP, claimed responsibility.

___

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Nicholas Alan Codutti, 43, faces charges of indecency with a child and sexual performance by a child. The alleged incidents occurred in Harris County in 2018 and 2019.

The investigation began April 29, 2026, after Child Protective Services received a report alleging longstanding sexual abuse involving a minor and former Tomball ISD student. HCSO detectives later developed information indicating the alleged abuse began when the survivor was a minor and continued for several years.

Codutti was employed as Campus Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at Klein High School when the allegations surfaced. He was asked to “step away” from campus when school officials learned of the investigation. After receiving notification of his arrest, Klein ISD terminated his employment.

Detectives filed charges against Codutti on Sept. 25. He was taken into custody by members of the HCSO Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, assisted by District 1 patrol deputies, on Saturday. He was booked into the Harris County Jail.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the HCSO Crimes Against Children Unit at 713-830-3250.

Codutti is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

The 21st-ranked Gators built a two-touchdown lead against No. 4 Mississippi and responded each time the Rebels got close in the second half before pulling away for a 52-28 victory.

Ole Miss had a big comedown from its emotional win over Lane Kiffin and LSU. The Gators were at their high-scoring best in The Swamp and showed in no uncertain terms they were worthy of having been installed as 3 1/2-point favorites against their top-five opponent.

The Gators (4-0) were unranked in the preseason and picked ninth in the SEC. They've rung up 66, 52, 44 and 52 points and merit a big promotion when The Associated Press Top 25 is released Sunday.

Ducks win without Moore

No. 20 Oregon appears to be back in business, winning its Big Ten opener 41-27 against Southern California on the road and mostly without Dante Moore. The star quarterback left the field on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital after he took a hard hit in the second quarter.

Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola entered and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns as the Ducks showed they've recovered from the loss at Oklahoma State that looked worse two weeks ago than it does now. The loss especially smarts for USC coach Lincoln Riley, who has been selling the idea this is the year the Trojans would be ready to contend in the Big Ten.

These guys are good

No. 1 Texas, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 11 Texas Tech got some of the best individual performances of the season.

With President Donald Trump looking on from a suite at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Texas held off No. 14 Tennessee 20-17 after Colin Simmons recorded five of his team's 10 sacks of freshman Faizon Brandon. Simmons' five sacks were most in the Football Bowl Subdivision since Ivan Pace Jr. of Miami (Ohio) had six against Akron in 2019. Simmons' wasn't flawless. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for “simulating” using the restroom following a second-quarter sack.

Jeremiah Smith stole the show in Columbus, tying the Ohio State record with four touchdowns among a career-high 12 catches for 217 yards in a 42-19 victory over Illinois. Smith made defenders look silly on two of his four touchdown catches. On his second, a 72-yarder, he made two quick moves to shake Mac Resetich on his way to the end zone. On his fourth, he completely turned around Juice Clarke while getting open on his 26-yarder.

Texas Tech linebacker Austin Romaine returned interceptions for touchdowns on back-to-back defensive plays early in the second quarter — something that hadn't been done by a major-college player since 2013 — and the Red Raiders pulled away for a 49-14 win over Sam Houston.

How 'bout those Hawkeyes?

Yes, karma really could be a thing.

Three weeks after Michigan got that extra second on the game clock and a second-chance Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan, Hank Brown threw a game-ending, 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee to give No. 17 Iowa a 20-19 victory over the 18th-ranked Wolverines.

The Hawkeyes set up a huge game against Ohio State in Iowa City next week.

Best of the rest

— No. 10 LSU bounced back from its loss to Mississippi with a vengeance, hammering No. 23 Texas A&M 35-6 and all but putting the kibosh on the two-loss Aggies' hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff.

— No. 2 Georgia's dominance continued with its 41-13 win over Oklahoma, but the big story coming out of the game was Sooners QB John Mateer and his ongoing struggles. Mateer turned over the ball three times in the first half as the Bulldogs got out to a 28-0 lead. The Sooners have scored a combined 37 points in their last three games.

— Matt Campbell and all those transfers he brought with him to No. 13 Penn State from Iowa State got a painful Big Ten initiation. The Nittany Lions led Wisconsin 20-10 at home heading into the fourth quarter and lost 24-20. Rocco Becht, who had the best passer rating in the Big Ten, was 12 of 29 for 129 yards and an interception.

— No. 16 Louisville has been vulnerable on defense through the first month of the season, and the Cardinals paid the price against Wake Forest in a 30-27 loss. They likely will have to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship to make the College Football Playoff. An at-large bid with two losses before October is a big ask.

— No. 24 Mississippi State held on for a wild 31-24 win over No. 19 Missouri to go 4-0 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1944-45 and 2-0 in SEC play for the first time since 2014.

— Boise State went on the road and laid claim to class of the Group of Six with a 32-7 win over Mid-American Conference defending champion and preseason favorite Western Michigan.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

The New York City Housing Authority said one of its employees was killed by a fallen tree in Brooklyn, as the storm pelted the city with rain and strong winds. Emergency crews in mid-Atlantic and New England states raced to restore power after downed trees contributed to outages for about 100,000 customers in the region.

Tens of millions of people remained in the path of the nor'easter for Sunday, with major flooding forecast for some coastal areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said response coordination centers in impacted regions were operating at an “enhanced posture,” and teams were on standby in New England in case of widespread outages.

The forecast showed no immediate reprieve. There will be “a lot of high winds, a lot of high tides and heavy rain possibility over the next few days for the northeastern U.S.,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

The highest tides were likely to occur north of Atlantic City, New Jersey, from Saturday night into Sunday, creating the potential for widespread road flooding in coastal and bayside communities, the National Weather Service said.

“Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

In New Jersey and New York, some people kayaked down flooded streets. Others headed to beaches to try to surf the higher-than-usual waves. Emergency crews in Sea Bright, New Jersey, rescued a woman and her dog after their vehicle became trapped in floodwaters, ABC7 reported.

High waters overtake roads and businesses

In the coastal New Jersey borough of Surf City, Kenny Formica sat at home watching surveillance cameras showing water rising inside the marina he owns. Water getting inside the building is rare, Formica said. The last time he remembers it happening was during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which he said caused more than $4 million in damage to his business.

Ahead of the storm, workers secured dock lines, moved loose items and equipment out of harm’s way and parked the marina’s trucks and forklifts at the highest point of the property.

Formica said he awoke to messages from customers reporting missing boats and Jet Skis. One customer sent him a video around 4 a.m. showing his 25-foot (7.6-meter) boat after it had blown off its lift.

Farther south, in Norfolk, Virginia, Ellie Hodge watched from her front stoop as passing vehicles left wakes. The coastal city saw isolated flooding all week because of the nor’easter.

“We've seen cars get stuck on the road, going up the sidewalks,” Hodge said. “It's been pretty bad this time around.”

Flights, concerts and sports events scrapped

The storm forced a change of plans for many people. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Boston Logan International Airport, as were the vast majority of flights at the popular Massachusetts tourist destinations of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Farther south, a flooding-related highway closure on North Carolina’s Hatteras Island scrambled Jayden Sink and Kimberly Laprad’s wedding plans. The Virginia couple made it onto the island before the storm, but most of their roughly 45 guests were stranded on the other side of the closure, the Island Free Press reported. A local campground offered a new venue, cabins and an officiant, and a DJ volunteered to provide music.

The road to the island remained closed, and a ferry also was out of service, leaving boat travel through bad weather as the only option, said Drew Pearson, emergency management director for North Carolina’s Dare County. The island has a year-round population of about 5,000 that swells much higher in warm weather, he said.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation said it would soon begin emergency ferry service between Hatteras Island and the mainland.

“To folks on Hatteras, you are not on an island all alone,” Gov. Josh Stein said on social media. “North Carolina and county emergency responders are working hard to keep you safe and reconnected as quickly as possible.”

Officials urge caution

Nor’easters are not unusual as New England moves into the fall season, but “this might be a little earlier than average for a big storm,” said Oravec, of the National Weather Service.

The storm’s slow movement could worsen beach erosion by subjecting the coast to a prolonged period of strong winds and waves, he said.

Hochul said coastal flooding was the biggest threat, but heavy rains, powerful winds and waves as high as 20 feet (6 meters) were also expected.

In Long Island, ferry owner Stephanie Sherman paused operations between Patchogue and the barrier island of Fire Island.

“It’s been a pretty wild storm,” Sherman said. “But nothing that we haven’t experienced in the past. These happen every so often.”

___

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Norfolk, Virginia; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; Annika Hammerschlag in Seattle; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Midway, Utah, contributed.

Patrick Bailey and Brayan Rocchio each hit two of Cleveland's five home runs as the Guardians beat the Kansas City Royals 11-5 on Saturday night to clinch their third straight AL Central title.

Cleveland's victory coupled with Chicago's 9-6 loss to Colorado gave the Guardians (85-76) a two-game lead over the second-place White Sox (83-78) with one game remaining in the regular season.

José Ramírez and the Guardians are assured the No. 2 seed in the American League playoffs and a first-round bye into a best-of-five Division Series. They will have five days off and then home-field advantage against the winner of a best-of-three Wild Card Series between the No. 6 seed White Sox and either Houston or Texas — whichever one wins the AL West on Sunday.

It is Cleveland's seventh division crown in the past 11 seasons.

Kansas City jumped on Tanner Bibee for three first-inning runs, highlighted by doubles from Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone. But then Bibee shut out Kansas City as Cleveland quickly mounted a comeback.

A fielding error by Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop opened the Guardians’ four-run second inning. Bailey hooked a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole, and Cleveland grabbed a 4-3 lead when Steven Kwan’s slicing liner eluded diving left fielder Isaac Collins for an RBI triple — one of four extra-base hits in the inning.

After missing four games with a right wrist sprain, Chase DeLauter lined Michael Wacha’s second pitch of the third into the right-field seats for his 16th home run.

Travis Bazzana tripled and scored on Nathaniel Lowe’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, and Rocchio hit his 14th homer in the seventh. Bailey and Rocchio connected for back-to-back homers to highlight a four-run ninth.

Nine of the Guardians’ 14 hits went for extra bases.

Bibee (7-15) allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out six. Cleveland has won nine of 10 games and five straight series.

Wacha (9-10) worked 6 1/3 innings, permitting six runs — two earned — and six hits.

The last-place Royals (68-93) have dropped 11 of 13 and 18 of 24. Kansas City lost eight straight series to finish the season, its longest such skid since losing eight in a row from April 10 to May 7, 2023.

Up next

The Guardians were undecided on the mound for their regular-season finale Sunday against LHP Daniel Lynch (6-6, 4.13 ERA) and the Royals.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Mensah passed for 338 yards and three touchdowns, plus ran for another score as Miami capped an unbeaten September by topping Central Michigan 52-3 on Saturday night.

Malachi Toney caught six passes for 120 yards and a touchdown for Miami (4-0), and all four of Mensah's touchdowns came in the second quarter. Cooper Barkate and Daylyn Upshaw also caught scoring passes from Mensah, who completed 23 of 27 throws.

“He spread the ball around pretty good, he extended plays, great pocket presence, protected pretty well,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “A couple times when it got sticky, he found a way.”

Even with only four incompletions, Mensah's completion percentage for the season dipped. It's now 88.7%, down slightly from the 89.9% clip he had entering Saturday.

Mensah — whose 5-yard scoring run capped a 97-yard TD drive late in the second quarter for a 35-3 halftime lead — has 14 touchdown throws, 12 incompletions and zero interceptions this season.

“We've come a long way and we've shown some good things,” Mensah said. “But like Cristobal always says, we've got a long way to go.”

Offensive lineman Jamal Meriweather was credited with a touchdown after falling on a fumble for Miami, which is unbeaten entering October for the fourth consecutive season. Javian Mallory and Chris Wheatley-Humphrey each ran for scores for the Hurricanes, who paid tribute to their 1991 national championship team in a halftime ceremony.

Jadyn Glasser completed 13 of 15 passes off the bench for 88 yards for Central Michigan (2-2).

Miami was without top running back Mark Fletcher Jr., out with an upper body injury. Cristobal indicated that he should be available next week at Clemson.

The takeaway

Central Michigan: Give the Chippewas credit — they were the first team to lead Miami this season. A pair of penalties and a sack thwarted Miami's first drive, and Central Michigan answered with an 11-play series capped by Caden VanHuis' 49-yard field goal for a 3-0 edge.

Miami: The real tests await. Miami has eight games left in the regular season, seven against Atlantic Coast Conference foes — the other a Nov. 7 game at Notre Dame that could have massive College Football Playoff implications.

Strange series

In a four-minute span of the third quarter, Miami reached the end zone four times. Only one counted.

Damon Wilson II's 63-yard fumble return touchdown came off the board when Miami's Marquise Lightfoot — who forced the takeaway — was flagged for unnecessary roughness after the turnover. Toney had a 12-yard scoring catch (a one-handed grab) nullified when he was called for offensive pass interference, and Jordan Lyle's score off a direct snap didn't count because referee Garrett Dickerson was still explaining a flag from the previous play.

Lyle fumbled the ball on the next play, but Meriweather fell on it near the back of the end zone.

Up next

Central Michigan: Hosts Akron on Oct. 3.

Miami: Visits Clemson on Oct. 3.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Well, the Gators are officially growling.

Jadan Baugh ran for 142 yards and three touchdowns, Duke Clark added 126 yards and a score on the ground, and No. 21 Florida manhandled fourth-ranked Mississippi 52-28 on Saturday to reach 4-0 for the first time since 2019. It tied Florida's most points against a top-five team since beating Florida State 52-20 in the 1996 national championship game.

“It's not asleep, but it ain't fully awake yet. It's being kind of stirred up a little bit," said Sumrall, who became the first coach in Southeastern Conference history to lead his team to 200 or more points in his first four games. “We’re going to get there. It’s coming.

“I didn't come here for us to be average.”

The Gators (4-0, 2-0 SEC), installed as 3 1/2-point favorites, proved Las Vegas oddsmakers right by leading from start to finish. They scored touchdowns on five consecutive drives in the second half to pull away.

The Rebels (3-1, 1-1), meanwhile, insisted that last week’s victory against LSU, the one that spoiled former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s return, was not their “Super Bowl.” But they failed to build off that emotional win.

Florida had a lot to do with it in the Swamp.

“That was an old-fashioned butt-whupping,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said.

The Gators jumped on the Rebels early, leading 10-0 before Heisman Trophy front-runner Trinidad Chambliss even threw a pass, and set the pace the rest of the afternoon. Florida was unstoppable running the ball.

Baugh became the third player in school history to top 100 yards rushing in five consecutive games, joining Emmitt Smith (1987, ’88) and Fred Taylor (1997).

“That means everything to me, just having my name up there with those guys," Baugh said. "They did so much when they were here. And just being able to follow their footsteps and excel, that just means so much to me.”

Baugh was elusive between the tackles, and Clark allowed the Rebels no break when he subbed into the game. Florida finished with 302 yards rushing and six TDs on the ground.

“Tackling the guy with the ball is a real thing on defense,” Golding quipped. “That’s kind of important.”

Clark's 45-yard TD run early in the third was the play of the game. He juked cornerback Antonio Kite and former Florida safety Sharif Denson on his way to the end zone.

Chambliss and Ole Miss scored 11 points in a 3-minute stretch spanning the second and third quarters and seemed to have all the momentum although Florida still led 17-14. But London Montgomery returned the ensuing kickoff 41 yards to set up Clark’s scamper.

Ole Miss seemed out of sorts from the start. Trailing 7-0, Chambliss handed off four consecutive times to backup running back JT Lindsey. Lindsey failed to move the chains on a fourth-and-1 play, giving the Gators great field position.

Chambliss injured his left thigh on the team’s second series. He returned and used the exercise bike between drives. He ended up throwing for 298 yards, with a touchdown and an interception late. He also ran seven times for 44 yards and two scores.

“We have more grit and resilience than anybody in the country, and I feel nobody can mess with us,” Baugh said.

The takeaway

Mississippi: The Rebels missed star running back Kewan Lacy. He ran for 224 yards and three touchdowns against Florida last year in Oxford but missed this game with a shoulder injury. Lindsey started in his place and finished with 31 yards on 11 carries.

Florida: The Gators had dropped 12 in a row against top-five teams. They became the first Florida team since 2001 to score at least 40 points in its first four games.

Up next

Mississippi gets a week off before playing at Vanderbilt on Oct. 10.

Florida plays at No. 19 Missouri next Saturday.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

“Does Berlin understand what this could lead to?’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asked in his speech at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders. “Didn’t they not learn the lessons of World War II?”

Lavrov was dismissive after the German and Russian foreign ministers met Saturday on the sidelines of the meeting, holding what’s believed to be the first such tête-à-tête since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“He simply reiterated his official public position condemning Russia,” Lavrov said. “You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not.”

The meeting, at German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s request, came just before Lavrov addressed world leaders, where he also criticized the militarization of Japan. He made clear that Russia will veto any attempt by Germany and Japan for permanent seats on the Security Council, the U.N.’s most powerful body. The two nations fought Russia, Britain and the United States in World War II.

A German delegation official said that during their meeting, Wadephul called on Russia to abandon its “dangerous path of escalation” toward Germany, Europe and the NATO alliance. Ties between Russia and Germany have soured in recent weeks, following an attempted drone attack last month at Leipzig airport — Germany has blamed the incident on Russia — and tit-for-tat responses that followed it.

Wadephul expressed openness to a better relationship but said it required a genuine willingness from Russia’s leadership to end the war in Ukraine, according to the official.

After his speech, Lavrov brushed off the Germany meeting

Later, Lavrov told a U.N. news conference that “nothing new came from that initiative of the foreign minister.”

He challenged Germany to name one commercial vessel in the Black Sea that was damaged or targeted by Russian strikes, asserting that “there are no such cases.” As for the claimed attempted drone strike at Leipzig Airport, he called it “an unclaimed drone” that Germany immediately said was Russian.

Lavrov denounced the West in his speech and at the press conference, saying it “aspires to inflict strategic defeat on Russia — but these aspirations will result in the war mongers being led into a strategic dead end.”

He recalled last year’s 80th anniversary of the Allied victory “over German Nazism and Japanese militarism” in World War II. And he made a point of blasting the notion of Germany or Japan gaining a permanent seat on the powerful U.N. Security Council. The United States has long supported permanent seats for those countries and India.

Japan’s deputy U.N. ambassador Mikanagi Tomohiro responded to Lavrov at the end of the assembly meeting, stressing that his country is “peace-loving” and that “freedom, democracy and fundamental human rights remain unshakable foundations of Japan’s every decision and action.”

In his attacks on the West, Lavrov also claimed, “the U.S. has destroyed the European security system and created a Russophobic regime in Kyiv.”

Russia believes an agreement on ending the Ukraine war was reached at the August 2025 meeting in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lavrov said, “and we continue to remain ready to return to it.”

“A fairer, multipolar world order is emerging before our very eyes,” said Lavrov, whose country is part of the BRICS group of leading developing nations and other organizations that he portrays as more forward-looking and constructive.

Russia emphasizes that it's still a strong global player

Moscow has repeatedly sought to stress that it maintains a strong position on the global stage despite its 4½-year war on Ukraine and isolation from the West.

Writing on her personal Telegram channel, Maria Zakharova, chief spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, said that “tens of diplomats” had come to meet Lavrov to “shake his hand and thank Russia.”

An overwhelming majority of General Assembly member nations have repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Wadephul noted in his own address to the assembly Saturday.

“Russia’s war targets the lives of millions of innocent people, the existence of the Ukrainian state and culture and the European peace order,” he said, urging Russia to negotiating toward ending the fighting.

Lavrov’s speech came amid an intensifying aerial war. With front-line positions largely unchanged since last year, Russia has hammered Ukraine with cruise and ballistic missiles, powerful glide bombs and jet-powered drones in recent months, while Ukraine’s long-range drones have targeted Russian oil refineries and businesses.

Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks killed four people Saturday, as Russian authorities said a Ukrainian drone attack killed three.

Since Russia launched the war — which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” intended to ensure Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers — Western analysts have estimated that over 500,000 Russian troops have been killed. Ukraine has recorded more than 500,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths. Neither country discloses its own casualty totals.

The Ukraine war reverberates globally

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his assembly speech Wednesday to press other countries to keep choking Russia’s revenues and impede its war efforts, and he echoed that message on social media Saturday morning.

“It is essential that our partners not forget: Russia is escalating every single day,” he wrote, adding that “the world must choose stronger responses to keep the war from spreading further.”

U.S. lawmakers passed a powerful sanctions bill aimed at Moscow last month. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law last week but hasn’t enacted the measures yet.

Now back in Ukraine, Zelenskyy told reporters in voicemail messages Friday that Washington is pushing for three-way technical talks involving delegations — but not top leaders — from the U.S., Ukraine and Russia. He said Ukraine is waiting for the United States to propose a date.

___

Keaten reported from Geneva. Katie Marie Davies contributed from Manchester, England.

Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht, who was 12-for-29 passing for 129 yards and an interception, tossed a final deep ball out of the back of the end zone as time expired, setting off a celebration by Wisconsin defenders.

Joseph, who threw a pair of costly interceptions earlier in the game, rebounded to lead two long scoring drives for the Badgers (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten), who snapped their six-game losing streak to Penn State and won in State College for the first time since 2003. Wisconsin earned its first road win against a ranked opponent since beating No. 25 Purdue on Oct. 23, 2021. It was the Badgers’ largest comeback victory since rallying from 18 points down against Illinois in 2006.

“I don’t know if there’s any tougher situation than what we were in out there today,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said. “And to see these guys not falter, to see guys not kinda get down on Colton and (not) give up on him, that’s what to me makes me so proud.”

Joseph ran for a touchdown and threw an 11-yard TD pass to Eugene Hilton Jr. to cap a 10-play, 75-yard drive with 3:31 remaining in the fourth quarter. Gavin Lahm added a field goal for the Badgers, who were sluggish and mistake-prone in the first two periods and trailed 17-7 at halftime.

Ryan Barker kicked field goals of 22 and 37 yards, and Josiah Zayas returned an interception 51 yards for a score to lead the Nittany Lions, who lost for the first time under coach Matt Campbell.

“We just really struggled to find a rhythm,” Campbell said. “I feel like it kind of led to the second half of the football game and kind of being in the same spot. We just struggled.”

Becht scored a go-ahead rushing touchdown early in the second quarter, but it wasn’t enough for an offense that punted on five of its next eight possessions. The Nittany Lions didn’t register a first down on four of their final five tries.

Daryus Dixson and Tony Rojas had interceptions for Penn State (3-1, 0-1), while James Peoples carried 14 times for 67 yards.

The Nittany Lions held Wisconsin to just 14 yards and one first down in a lopsided first quarter. Meanwhile, Barker put Penn State up 3-0 with a 22-yard field goal on Penn State’s second drive.

The Badgers’ first two possessions ended with punts. Sitting on a flat route near the line of scrimmage, Zayas one-handed a Joseph pass and returned it 51 yards, untouched, to give Penn State a 10-0 lead early in the second.

Wisconsin’s offense broke down again just four plays later when Dixson picked Joseph off and returned it to the Badgers’ 11. Becht powered into the end zone from 3 yards out moments later to make it 17-0.

Joseph finally found a rhythm and led an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended when he scored around the left edge from 7 yards out. It cut Penn State’s lead to 17-7 at the break.

“We knew it wasn’t finished,” Joseph said. “Our defense was playing lights out.”

Becht had a pass batted at the line of scrimmage moments later and Badgers defensive lineman Charles Perkins intercepted it. The Badgers pulled within a touchdown on Lahm’s 34-yard kick three plays later.

Harris’ make-up play

Harris finished with five catches for 105 yards and emerged from the visiting team locker room barefooted with a wide smile.

He felt like he made up for miscues that nearly doomed the Badgers’ comeback.

The senior tight end moved early twice on Wisconsin’s final drive, costing his team 10 yards. The second one backed the Badgers up to their own 26 before Joseph scrambled for a short gain to set up the third-and-13 that Harris converted with his long touchdown.

“This is big time man,” Harris said. “This is a message. The Badgers are back. We’re not just going to roll over. This is historically a top-dog program and we’re looking to get back to that. That’s what the fans deserve, that’s what the community deserves and that’s what we’re going to give them.””

The takeaway

Wisconsin: The Badgers recovered to push Penn State’s stingy defense late in the first half. They eventually outgained the Nittany Lions 355-248 and won their first game in Beaver Stadium since 2003.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions were out of sync the entire game on offense and clearly missing game-breaking wideout Koby Howard, who is week-to-week with an unspecified injury.

Up next

Wisconsin: Hosts Michigan State on Saturday.

Penn State: Visits Northwestern on Friday.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Now the question is whether they can finish off the Americans for the first time in 28 years.

“They showed a lot of passion and fight today,” International captain Geoff Ogilvy said.

The Americans narrowly won the fourballs session in the morning to trim the deficit to three points. The afternoon foursomes was a push. The result was a 10 1/2-7 1/2 advantage for the Internationals, only the fourth time since the Presidents Cup began in 1994 that they have led going into Sunday.

Now comes the hard part. Singles traditionally are an American strength in these team competitions. They have a 97 1/2-82 1/2 advantage dating to 1994.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker stacked the front of his lineup to try to get momentum. Cameron Young is leading off against International rookie Ryo Hisatsune, followed by U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark against Tom Kim, Justin Thomas against Corey Conners and Scottie Scheffler against Nico Echavarria, who has not hit a meaningful shot since Thursday.

“We kind of dug ourself a hole here,” Snedeker said. “We’re going to need a special day tomorrow, and the only way to do that is to get the crowd going, get these guys making some putts, and get these people behind them.”

Scheffler, who teamed with Sam Burns to deliver a rare American rally in the morning, spent the afternoon watching. Snedeker benched the world’s No. 1 player, his first time not playing all five matches since 2023.

“As I said at the beginning of the week, Scottie Scheffler is not going to go out there and win us 15 points, so we’ve got to go out there as a team and do this together,” Snedeker said. “I challenged the guys this afternoon to go out there and be that team that we need them to be.”

And that’s what he got — at least for a while.

The Americans twice filled the leaderboard with their red numbers, leading by at least 2 up in every foursomes match in the afternoon. They won two of them. Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman were 3 up through 10 holes when Nick Taylor and Corey Conners rallied to beat them for the final point on a long, loud day at Medinah.

“We had to sort of weather the storm early in both sessions, and it was amazing for the boys to get us out of the day relatively unscathed,” Ogilvy said.

Min Woo Lee was part of both comebacks. He teamed with Sungjae Im in fourballs, going from 2 down against Thomas and Jackson Koivun to earn a halve in the morning. Lee and Ryan Fox overcame an early deficit to blow past Burns and Clark in afternoon foursomes.

The final stroke of a long, loud day at Medinah was Conners holing a 6-foot par putt on the 18th green with both teams gathered around.

“Both sessions having all red on the board, down in every match, and to come back and get 1 1/2 points out of this morning we felt like was a little victory,” Ogilvy said. “The U.S. team played so well all day. They played some really high-level foursomes especially this afternoon. For the boys to somehow come back and pinch two points out of that and split the session was amazing.”

The lead was the largest for the Internationals since 2003 in South Africa, the Presidents Cup that ended in a tie. They last led at Royal Melbourne in 2019 until the Americans rallied behind Tiger Woods, the playing captain that year.

The Americans found their spark from Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup — Young from New York, Gotterup from New Jersey — who were unstoppable. They won the first four holes in fourballs against Conners and Taylor in a 2-and-1 victory, and they were 5 up through seven holes in blowing out Im and Adam Scott, 6 and 4, the shortest match of the week.

Clark got the noise he wanted from Chicago fans, and Snedeker was on the seventh green raising his arms for even louder cheers when the Americans holed putts — and the Internationals missed.

Lee made his Presidents Cup debut at Royal Montreal in 2024 and was asked how this experience was different.

“I guess the crowd is different, not getting cheers for holing putts. It’s a bit different than any tournament, really,” Lee said. “We just had to be there for each other. I think that was a big part.”

The crowd was so boisterous that a volunteer had to retrieve one fan's dentures that had come out of his mouth from the upper deck of a hospitality tent on the 10th hole.

The Internationals have been at their best closing out matches. Now they have to find a way to close out a Presidents Cup the Americans have won the last 10 times.

“The goal at the start of the week is to be leading going into singles. That’s sort of what the first four days are all about,” Ogilvy said. “There’s still 12 points on the board, though, so we’ve seen in these team events all sorts of different things can happen.

“We’ve got to put our heads down and play for a big opportunity tomorrow.”

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here

The Vatican estimated that 800,000 people attended — about 200,000 more than the number who had registered in advance. The turnout testified to the church’s lasting influence in France despite declining attendance and secularizing trends that have emptied churches across Europe.

The American pope greeted the flag-waving, cheering throngs from his popemobile during a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) parade along the grand boulevard leading to the Place de la Concorde for Mass, essentially the heart of Paris and a symbol of the French republic.

In his homily, Leo asked the crowds not to keep their faith to themselves, but to instead “let it overflow, so that those you meet may be refreshed and their thirst satisfied.”

“From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout France,” he said.

Although a security blanket shut down central Paris to road traffic, the partylike atmosphere drew people of multiple faiths and no faith at all. The fervor spanned generations. People brought dozens of babies and young children from the crowd for Leo to caress on the head as he rode slowly past aboard the popemobile.

“The message of Pope Leo goes well beyond Catholic people; he speaks about social justice, for example,” said Leontine Joseph, 42, a fervent Catholic who came with two friends of Moroccan origin who grew up in Muslim culture.

An appeal to persevere against the trends

Leo has sought to encourage French Catholics to persevere in their faith “even amid the thorns” of a secular world during his four-day visit. It began on Friday with his arrival and prayer at the restored Notre Dame, the first by a pope since the cathedral's devastating 2019 fire. It continued Saturday night when Leo arrived in Lourdes in southern France, one of the Catholic Church’s most-visited shrines.

At the Catholic Institute of Paris on Saturday morning, the pope said he was surprised by the number of new converts in recent years.

“We must recognize, welcome and protect the small flame that the Holy Spirit has kindled in the darkness of the night, the tiny seed that strives to grow even amid the thorns,” he said.

Adult baptisms in France each year have tripled since 2016, hitting 13,000 this year. But statistics and experts caution that the uptick, which has also been recorded in secular Spain, doesn’t counteract the overall downward trend.

In 1980, there were 513,000 baptisms in France; in 2024, a total of 186,000.

The pope is a crowd-puller

The rivers of people who crammed central Paris and their joyful enthusiasm rivaled other communal but non-religious moments of celebration that marked France in recent decades. Huge crowds celebrated on the Champs-Elysées when France won the soccer World Cup in 1998 and again in 2018.

Many on Saturday didn't identify as Catholics, but came to hear the pope's message.

“People are seeing a lot of really terrible images. This kind of event reminds people of what is really important in life,” said Thierry Chen, a 40-year-old Parisian startup entrepreneur who is not Catholic. “You see a lot of different people here, so it’s not just about one race, religion or nation, but about a common belief in humankind.”

Sylvane Le Goff, 68, who lives in the Paris region, came with her 10- and 12-year-old grandchildren to “give them unforgettable memories.” Le Goff, who was raised Catholic but is not practicing, said she wanted to open her grandchildren’s minds.

“It’s not only about seeing the pope but it also is about his message of peace and unity, values I’d like to share with them,” she said.

Leo has clearly been impressed by the numbers and enthusiasm, especially at a Friday night vigil that kept the 71-year-old pope out until nearly 11 p.m. after a packed first day.

Some 80,000 young people filled the national stadium for an extravaganza of fireworks and a theatrical retelling of French Catholic history.

“Thank you for your courage! Thank you for your presence,” Leo said to raucous cheers, speaking off the cuff in French. “Thank you for your faith. You are the saints of France!”

Mass adds a new chapter for historic Paris square

The imposing stage erected for the Mass, capped with a golden cross, and rows upon rows of choir singers, clergy and others who prayed under the pope’s gaze on Place de la Concorde marked a new chapter for the history-steeped square.

It was an execution site during the French Revolution. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were guillotined there. For many in France, it embodies the Republic and traditionally stages Bastille Day celebrations. In 2024, the Paris Olympics gave it a blast of modernity, using it for break dance, skateboard, BMX and 3X3 basketball events.

Organizers of the Mass said it was the only area in central Paris that could accommodate such crowds.

But the choice was criticized by supporters of France’s strict form of secularism in public life based on a 1905 law separating church and state. They argued that the site represents the Republic, and that other places such as the Invalides, a complex of buildings where Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass with 240,000 people in 2008, would have been more appropriate.

Leo’s Mass came as a birthday present for Jean-Claude Farnabe, who turned 63 on Saturday and spent the morning securing a spot.

A lifelong Catholic, Farnabe attends Mass in the Paris suburb of Suresnes every Sunday.

“There are more and more converts,” he said. “Many youngsters are interested in faith and in God. Every Sunday, I see new people, people aged between 25 and 40, who are getting baptized.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and special agents took Misael Ramos, 40, into custody around 8:45 a.m. Saturday on an outstanding warrant “stemming from his actions” during a Sunday protest, the agency's media department wrote in an unsigned email. Protesters on Sunday had been demonstrating against the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin.

Ramos, who is running for city council in Austin, “was captured on camera taking construction barricades, sandbags, and other items and attempting to obstruct traffic,” the department said. The department also provided photos and video it said captured “some of Ramos' actions” at the scene.

Ramos, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, denies any wrongdoing and will contest the charge, his campaign said in a news release.

“I didn’t see any riots,” said Ramos’ attorney, Edmund “Skip” Davis. “I saw people out there chanting and protesting.”

Ramos was released from custody during a news conference outside the county jail Saturday, with the crowd erupting in cheers. Ramos thanked those for being there, saying it was “one of the craziest mornings I have had in a long time.” He spoke of his surprise arrest and criticized federal immigration raids in the community.

“When we fight,” he said, to which those gathered replied, “we win!”

Garces Perez was shot Sunday and then taken to a detention center after an encounter with an immigration officer. An attorney for Garces Perez has said he was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit.

“Like the hundreds of Austinites who were shocked to hear news that an ICE officer shot someone in the back, Misael quickly joined people at the scene of the incident to offer his condemnation of the incident and show solidarity by holding the line in the protest, chanting, and amplifying the incident through campaign channels,” Ramos' campaign manager, Jeffrey Clemmons, said in a statement.

Kristen Dark, a spokeswoman for the Travis County Sheriff's Office, confirmed in an email that Ramos was booked into the agency's custody around 9:30 Saturday morning on a charge of riot participation.

Garces Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice, his attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch has said. He was shot and taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet still in his back, she said.

ICE and DHS haven’t said what led to the shooting beyond that Garces Perez was “the subject of a targeted vehicle stop.”

___

Rankin reported from Richmond, Virginia.

Hank Brown threw a game-ending, 16-yard touchdown pass to Reece Vander Zee to lift the 17th-ranked Hawkeyes to a 20-19 win over the 18th-ranked Wolverines on Saturday.

“To be able to silence a stadium like that, there’s no greater feeling,” Brown said.

The Hawkeyes (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) went 91 yards on the final drive — boosted by an unnecessary roughness penalty against Michigan on third down at midfield. Brown's 29-yard pass to Addison Ostrenga set up the final play with 2 seconds on the clock.

“We prep for situations like these throughout the week in practice all the time," Brown said. "Why do you prepare for it? For a moment like that."

Brown, though, didn't want to bite when asked if the victory was justice for Western Michigan.

“I'm not going to speak on that,” he said after a chuckle.

Bryce Underwood threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to JJ Buchanan early in the fourth quarter — their second scoring connection of the game — but the Wolverines (3-1, 0-1) could not make enough plays on either sides of the ball to hold on for the win.

“We would’ve liked to run the clock out,” coach Kyle Whittingham said. “That was disappointing.”

Iowa took its first lead early in the fourth quarter on Brown's 16-yard touchdown pass to Vander Zee.

Then Underwood dropped back, stepped up, rolled right and threw a long touchdown pass to Buchanan for a 19-14 lead. His 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete.

Iowa lined up to go for it on fourth down at the Michigan 28 late in the game and left guard Leighton Jones was flagged for a false start. Facing a fourth-and-6, coach Kirk Ferentz chose to have Caden Buhr attempt a 51-yard field goal and it was wide right with 2:33 left.

Iowa's defense forced Michigan to punt again and its offense took advantage.

“Our defense and special teams put us in a good spot to be able to go down and go out and execute that last drive,” Brown said.

On Underwood's first touchdown pass to Buchanan, he converted a third-and-7 from the Iowa 18.

The lead didn't last long because Braeden Jackson, son of former NFL running back Fred Jackson, returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a score.

The Wolverines went back ahead early in the second quarter on Trey Butkowski's 41-yard field goal.

Instead of kicking another field goal later in the quarter, Whittingham went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Iowa 18 and Underwood's sneak was stopped.

Underwood was picked off by Deshaun Lee, a former teammate at nearby Belleville High School, at the Iowa 2 early in the third quarter.

Michigan finished 2 of 4 in the red zone, and Iowa converted on both of its drives inside the 20.

“That proved to be one of the differences in the game,” Whittingham said.

Injury report

Michigan running back Jordan Marshall appeared to aggravate an injury in the second half.

Right tackle Blake Frazier left the game in the third quarter, trying to keep weight off his right leg, and later returned to play. Frazier was shifted from left to right tackle to fill in for Andrew Sprague, who missed a second straight game with an injury.

The takeaway

Iowa: The Hawkeyes beat a ranked Big Ten team on the road for the first time since 2015.

“It’s huge,” Brown said.

Michigan: The Wolverines had won 47 straight when leading at halftime in what was the longest active streak in FBS.

Up next

Iowa: Hosts No. 7 Ohio State next Saturday.

Michigan: Plays first road game at Minnesota next Saturday.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here

Coughlin made only one birdie the rest of the way, closing with six straight pars for a career-best 61.

Starting her second round on the back nine at Pinnacle Country Club, Coughlin began with a birdie on the par-4 10th hole and didn't make a par until the par-4 first. She made the turn in 9-under 26, hitting a wedge to about 3 feet on the par-5 18th for her ninth birdie.

Coughlin said she had never made more than six consecutive birdies in any round.

“Everything just seemed to be going exactly how far I wanted it to, right at the hole and I was putting really good putts on it as well,” said Coughlin, who turns 34 on Sunday.

After shooting a 2-over 73 in Friday's opening round of the 54-hole event, she moved up 106 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 21st, eight shots behind leader Yuna Nishimura.

The LPGA single-round scoring record is a 59 by Annika Sorenstam in the second round of the Standard Register PING in Phoenix on March 16, 2001, and Coughlin was well aware of where she stood.

“I started to get a little bit of adrenaline pretty much 9 green on for the next few holes, but then I made the birdie on 3 so I thought I was like, I really have a chance now,” Coughlin said. “Then, yeah, just couldn’t quite get it close enough unfortunately, last few holes.”

A three-time winner on the LPGA Tour, Coughlin is coming off a strong performance for the U.S. in a losing effort at the Solheim Cup. She played all five sessions, going 3-1-1.

Coming off the excitement of the biennial team competition, the former Virginia star wasn't too enthusiastic about traveling to Arkansas for an event she usually enjoys.

“Solheim was so awesome and so great and it’s kind of hard to come back after that for a little bit. I feel like yesterday, like all week even, I was like, don’t really want to be here,” she said. “But I told my caddie today, I don’t really want to be here but I’m going to try as hard as I can today.”

___

See AP’s full golf coverage here

“That completely blindsided me, and it hit me like a ton of bricks,” Verlander said.

A stellar career for the 43-year-old right-hander ended with a 4-3, come-from-behind win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday. Verlander's emotions will be remembered far more than the score on a meaningless game on the next-to-last day of his 21st big league season.

“That was amazing. I was sobbing and had to make sure that she understood I was happy," Verlander said. "She’s never seen me cry like that.”

Genevieve Verlander, wearing a Tigers jersey with her dad's name and No. 35, saw her cue from Hinch and ran. When she reached the mound she hugged her father, who reached down to embrace her and started shaking.

Hinch joined them about 25 seconds later for another hug, and then Verlander was surrounded by Tigers teammates who came to the mound.

Hinch had planned Genevieve's mound trip with Verlander's wife, model Kate Upton,

“It's hard to surprise a guy who has everything planned and mapped out more than any human I've ever been around,” said Hinch, who managed Verlander to the 2017 World Series title with Houston. “We wanted to come up with something special, and his family means everything to him.”

A 10-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young Award winner, Verlander left the field from his final mound appearance grasping his daughter's hand as the Comerica Park crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Upton, holding 1-year-old son Bellamy, joined Justin and Genevieve for a group hug on the warning track in front of the Tigers dugout, and Justin high-fived teammates and doffed his cap to the crowd before descending the dugout steps with his family.

“I've obviously talked a lot about how my life has changed and how my family is what I'm looking forward to most in my retirement,” the pitcher said. “Walking off the field with them to end my career is as good as I could have dreamed.”

Hinch brought Miguel Cabrera's family onto the field when he came out of his final game in 2023.

“They don't normally let non-uniformed people onto the field,” Hinch said. “But they make exceptions for guys who are going to be first-ballot Hall of Famers.”

In all, there was a 5 1/2-minute wait until reliever Tyler Kinley threw his first pitch.

Verlander allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings with one walk and six strikeouts in his 91-pitch outing. He was making his second start of the year and first since March 30 in a season derailed by a sore hip and hamstring injury.

“He didn't want a cameo. He wanted today to be a competitive outing, and we could tell in the third and fourth innings that he wasn't laboring,” Hinch said. “He certainly left us with a reminder of why he's one of the best of all time.”

Eduardo Valencia's game-ending homer in Detroit's 4-3 meant Verlander didn't take a loss in his finale. He ended 266-159 with a 3.33 ERA and 3,560 strikeouts, eighth on the career list.

“That was a great finish to a great day,” Hinch said. “There was no way Justin Verlander was going to take the loss in his last game as a Tiger.”

Pittsburgh's fifth batter, 20-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin, had not been born when Verlander made his debut for the Tigers on July 4, 2005.

Verlander received a standing ovation when he headed to the bullpen to warm up and a longer one when he returned to the dugout before the first pitch. Academy Award winning J.K. Simmons, a longtime Tigers fan, announced him as part of Detroit’s starting lineup.

Verlander took the field for the first inning to another ovation. He was alone on the field as his teammates stayed in the dugout to give him the spotlight.

“That blindsided me, too,” he said. “I probably should have expected it, but I was trying to stick with my routine, so I ran out onto the field. I was ready to go before I realized everyone else was still in the dugout.”

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead against Verlander on solo homers by Lowe in the fourth and Nick Gonzales in the fifth, the first on a 89.7 mph fastball and the second on a curve.

Verlander pitched for the Tigers from 2005-17, then returned this year after time with Houston, the New York Mets and San Francisco.

"All the ovations today brought back a lot of fond memories of the old days here, when this park was raucous every night,” Verlander said. “My body, though, didn't remind me of those days at all.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Break out the victory cigars.

“It's just kind of a little bit of a tradition here at Tennessee, so we had cigars or somebody had cigars in there,” coach Steve Sarkisian said. “I’m not certain. So my suit’s probably going to stink whenever I get on the plane.”

Colin Simmons tied the program record with five sacks as Texas held the 14th-ranked Volunteers 20-17 on Saturday with President Donald Trump on hand.

The cigar tradition stems from the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry, which Arch Manning's uncle Peyton played in for the Vols in the 1990s.

“It’s not about me,” the Texas quarterback said. “I didn’t play very well, but our team played great. Defense played well.”

Raleek Brown ran for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and his 4-yarder with 5:41 left gave the Longhorns (4-0) the winning margin in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. Giannis Spetic kicked a pair of field goals.

“We win big games around here, we do,” Sarkisian said. “I know we don’t win them all, but we won a lot of them. And what an incredible performance by our defense.”

Texas dominated defensively with 10 sacks, led by Simmons. The linebacker's day for the record books also will be remembered for his vulgar celebration after one sack. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct with the referee saying Simmons was “simulating” using the restroom.

“We took him out, we addressed it and put him back in,” Sarkisian said. “At that point, I’m not going to give the guy a death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct. We got to fix it, though. That can't continue.”

Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon made it interesting late, capping an 80-yard drive with a 30-yard TD pass to Mike Matthews with 1:22 left. Linebacker Arion Carter recovered the onside kick, and Jelani McDonald batted away Brandon’s Hail Mary pass to Travis Smith Jr. in the end zone on the final play.

Sarkisian called it a crazy finish to a game in which Texas also gave up a 57-yard punt return by Qua Moss for a TD. Sarkisian took a timeout that gave Tennessee a second chance at the onside kick after sending the first out of bounds.

“Next thing you know you're fighting to finish a game, which we were able to do,” Sarkisian said.

Manning threw for 201 yards while being sacked six times. He also was intercepted once with the Longhorns needing the smothering defensive performance on a day with too many penalties, including two illegal forward passes by Manning.

Tennessee (3-1) hadn't beaten The Associated Press' No. 1 team since 1985, and that drought continues.

“Up front we weren’t good enough,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said. “Quarterback was not good enough. We didn’t play smart enough, but I’ll take the effort.”

Record performance

Simmons matched the five sacks by Shane Dronett for Texas against Texas Tech in 1990.

The takeaway

Texas: The Longhorns have lots to clean up, particularly when it comes to penalties they can control. They piled up 11 for 115 yards with seven of those in the first half. Jermaine Bishop Jr. wiped out his own 22-yard punt return in the third quarter with a fair catch signal that officials noticed.

Tennessee: The Vols came in 14th nationally in total offense at 516.3 yards per game. They came nowhere near that with Brandon surviving a beating in his SEC debut. Brandon finished 17 of 29 for 145 yards. He didn't talk to reporters after the game.

Heupel said the freshman “didn’t get rid of it when he needed to get rid of it.”

Up next

Texas has a week off before playing Oklahoma in Dallas on Oct. 10.

Tennessee hosts Auburn on Oct. 3.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here