The .300 Blackout AR-style rifle with a suppressor, along with a Sheriff’s Office ballistic vest and a deputy’s duty belt were stolen from the vehicle on Friday, May 8.

Earlier today, investigators were watching a home in Texas City based on the tip.

They detained a resident who they saw leaving the residence.

That person admitted that the stolen items were inside the home.

• MORE NEWS: Man critical after being shot during fight with son at Houston gas station, HPD says

Officers then surrounded the home and several people came out peacefully.

After getting a search warrant, The Sheriff’s Office found the stolen rifle, ballistic vest, and additional stolen property, including a Smith & Wesson handgun, inside the home.

The took a juvenile suspect into custody.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, arrived on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.

“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a statement to the people of Tenerife.

“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.

The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.

Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.

Some Tenerife residents say they don't want the ship there

Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.

“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”

Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.

“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”

Passengers can take only limited belongings and will be isolated

Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”

The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor, with people ferried off in small boats. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting for them, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.

Authorities are aiming to complete the evacuation flights on Sunday and Monday, the director of the WHO's Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, Maria Van Kerkove, said in a briefing Saturday.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.

All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.

Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.

Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.

A medical evacuation plane will be on standby

According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infectious diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.

The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.

As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.

Countries scramble to track passengers who disembarked

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.

It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.

Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.

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Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.

The victims of the April 19 shooting in Shreveport included seven siblings who were shot by their father in an attack that also killed their cousin.

The service on Mother’s Day weekend at Summer Grove Baptist Church began with a long procession of mourners slowly filing past eight white caskets with large photos of the children next to them. Gold crowns and bouquets of white flowers were placed on top of the closed caskets. A choir behind the altar and individual singers performed throughout the service.

“In spite of how you may be feeling today, we still need to know that God is still good,” Bishop Bernard Kimble, senior pastor of the Mount Olive Baptist Church, said in opening remarks.

The funeral's pamphlet contained tributes to each of the children, who ranged in age from 3 to 11. Some of them had affectionate nicknames: 3-year-old Jayla Elkins was “Jaybae;” Kayla Pugh, 6, was called “K-Mae,” and 10-year-old Mar’Kaydon Pugh was “K-Bug.”

Six-year-old Khedarrion Snow had “a sweet and loving heart,” and “though his life on earth was short, his light was mighty,” according to the pamphlet. Layla Pugh, 7, was “bright, intelligent, bold, and full of love” and enjoyed making TikTok videos with her siblings and cousins.

Pastor and gospel singer Kim Burrell reminded family and community members trying to make sense of the shootings that “God is still on the throne.”

“To ask the question, 'Why is this fair, God? How could you, Lord?' He’s still God,” Burrell said. “The same God that healed you from the stuff that you don’t want to tell nobody about. But he is a God that doesn’t have to give us all the clues. Just know that he makes no mistakes.”

The children’s father, Shamar Elkins, used an assault-style weapon despite a 2019 felony firearms conviction. His wife, who was seeking a divorce, and another woman were wounded in the shooting that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood.

Elkins died after fleeing and a police pursuit. It was not clear whether he was killed by officers who fired or from a self-inflicted gunshot, according to police.

An investigation remains ongoing into the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in more than two years.

During the service, other speakers included Shreveport Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor, who acknowledged that “there are no words sufficient to ease this pain,” while Councilman James Green implored audience members to collectively “take off our funeral face” because “this is a celebration” of the children's lives.

Indeed, churchgoers often stood clapping their hands in response to singers and speakers. The children's names were read or shown several times throughout the service, where Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed the city's condolences.

“May we honor them by carrying forward the gentleness, joy and love they so freely shared,” Arceneaux said.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry ordered U.S. and state flags to be flown at half-staff over the next week at the Capitol and state government buildings. A message read from Landry said the victims “were the light of their homes and the heart of their classrooms. They were full of promise and found joy in the simplest things, such as dancing, playing outside and sharing laughter with family and friends. Their futures were bright and held great promise.”

“It is incumbent upon us to honor the memory of those lost by standing together against such senseless violence.”

Among those in attendance was former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, whose political career was cut short by a 2011 assassination attempt.

“She just wanted to come and just let the family know that this pain is not just in Louisiana,” said U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Louisiana. “This pain is all across the nation.”

Buses were made available afterward to transport mourners to a graveside burial. At the conclusion of the church service, Kimble prayed for healing to begin.

“Help us as we move from this spot,” he said. “Because we know, oh God, grief is only temporary. And if we'll put our hands in your favor, you'll lead us through this.”

Security was tight in Moscow as Putin and several foreign leaders attended the parade, which was scaled down even as a U.S.-brokered three-day ceasefire eased concerns about possible Ukrainian attempts to disrupt the festivities.

Putin, in power for more than a quarter-century, has used Victory Day, Russia’s most important secular holiday, to showcase the country’s military might and rally support for his military action in Ukraine, now in its fifth year.

Speaking at the parade, Putin hailed Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, declaring that they “face an aggressive force that is armed and supported by the entire bloc of NATO," and are fighting for a “just cause.”

“Victory has always been and will be ours,” Putin said, as columns of troops lined up on Red Square.

Talking to reporters later, he accused Western “globalist elites” of arming Ukraine to defeat and break up Russia and declared that “I think the matter is coming to an end.”

But in a notable shift this year, the parade took place without tanks, missiles and other equipment put on display every year since 2008, aside from a traditional flyover of combat jets.

Officials explained the change of format by the “current operational situation” and the threat of Ukrainian attacks. The authorities also ordered restrictions on all mobile internet access and text messaging services in the Russian capital on Saturday. Putin told reporters after the parade that it didn’t feature heavy weaponry because the military needs it on the battlefield in Ukraine.

For the first time, Saturday's parade featured troops from North Korea, a tribute to Pyongyang that sent its soldiers to fight alongside Moscow forces to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region.

Earlier ceasefires failed to hold until Trump stepped in

Russia declared a unilateral ceasefire for Friday and Saturday, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a truce that was supposed to begin on May 6, but neither held as the parties traded blame for continuing attacks.

Fears about the festivities' security eased Friday, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine have bowed to his request for a ceasefire running Saturday through Monday and an exchange of prisoners, declaring that the break in fighting could be the “beginning of the end” of the war.

Zelenskyy, who said earlier this week that the Russian authorities “fear drones may buzz over Red Square” on May 9, followed up on Trump's statement by declaring Red Square temporarily off-limits for Ukrainian strikes and mockingly permitting Russia to hold its Victory Day celebrations on Saturday, a move that the Kremlin shrugged off as a “silly joke.”

Putin told reporters after the parade that Trump offered to broker a ceasefire after Russia informed the U.S. and others that it would launch a massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv fraught with collateral damage if Ukraine attempts to disrupt Saturday’s festivities.

“We just described the situation to our friends, colleagues and partners: We don't have any intention to exacerbate or worsen relations with anyone, but it could happen because all control and decision-making centers in Kyiv are located close to diplomatic missions,” Putin said. “When we started such a dialogue with the U.S. administration, we warned them about this, pointed out the possible consequences and asked them to do everything necessary to ensure the security of their diplomatic mission.”

He noted that Russia immediately welcomed Trump's offer that was driven by humanitarian motives and “respect to our common victory over Nazism.”

Putin has used Victory Day celebrations to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power. The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in 1941-45 in what it calls the Great Patriotic War, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche and remains a rare point of consensus in the nation’s divisive history under Communist rule.

Putin says he could meet Zelenskyy when a peace deal is ready for signing

Russia’s bigger and better-equipped military has been making slow but steady gains along the more than 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line. Ukraine has hit back with increasingly efficient long-range attacks, striking Russian energy facilities, manufacturing plants and military depots. It has developed drones capable of reaching targets over 1,000 kilometers (more than 600 miles) deep into Russia, far beyond its capabilities before 2022.

Zelenskyy has proposed to meet with Putin to negotiate a peace deal, but dismissed the Russian leader's suggestion that he come to Moscow. On Saturday, Putin said he could meet with Zelenskyy in another country, but only to endorse a comprehensive accord.

“A meeting in a third country is also possible, but only after a peace treaty aimed at a long-term historic perspective is finalized,” Putin told reporters. “This should be a final deal, not the negotiations.”

Putin praises foreign guests, Merz criticizes Fico

Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko attended the festivities in the Russian capital.

Putin hailed the foreign guests who attended the parade for “personal courage,” noting that they had decided to come to Moscow before the ceasefire brokered by Trump defused security concerns.

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, a European Union member, laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial just outside the Kremlin walls but stayed away from the Red Square parade. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Fico’s trip, saying, "I deeply regret this, and we will discuss his visit to Moscow with him.”

Speaking at a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin, Fico bemoaned what he called a new “Iron Curtain” in Europe that hampered trade, and emphasized the importance of Russia's energy supplies to Slovakia. Putin hailed the Slovak leader for conducting a “sovereign” foreign policy and honoring the memory of fallen Red Army soldiers.

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

More than 20 foxhounds, a breed specifically trained to run alongside horses and hunters, took to the turf course Saturday to kick off the race day as fans cheer and take photos and videos.

The huntsman and his team, who are called whippers-in, has the sometimes difficult task of keeping the hounds on course, especially when they can get distracted by the tens of thousands of spectators in the infield and all their delicious tailgating food.

One hound loved the attention from the fans so much that she veered off course, said Charles Montgomery, a master and huntsman with the Mells Foxhounds, the hunting group that runs their pack in the steeplechase. “She had the best time. She loved going into the beer tents,” Montgomery said.

She loved it so much, she ran to the beer tent again the next year, so now she's not invited back to the race, Montgomery said.

The Iroquois Steeplechase is one of the premier American steeplechase races, with a total of $730,000 awarded in purses, on a grass turf course with hurdles that opened in 1941 as a Works Progress Administration project. The Nashville race was founded by members of the Hillsboro Hounds, another fox hunting club in the Nashville area.

Steeplechase racing and fox hunting are wedded together, said Stephen Heard, one of the trustees of the Iroquois Steeplechase and a member of the Mells Foxhounds group. The tradition came from the British Isles, where horses were raced from church steeple to church steeple and trained to jump obstacles like fences while hunting with dogs.

"Many of the horses that we use fox hunting are ex-steeplechase horses, Heard said.

With 25,000 spectators who are eating and drinking in tents and in the stands, the dogs need some time to adjust to the noise and smells.

“I took one dog last year and he heard the speakers and he said, ‘This is not for me,’” Charles Montgomery said.

“It's high pressure,” said Boo Montgomery, one of the whippers-in. When a child held out a fried chicken leg through the rails one time, it was a temptation no hound could resist. “You couldn't fault Brightly for stopping and having a snack,” she said, of one of the foxhounds.

Charles Montgomery said he usually will bring the veteran hunting hounds who can guide the younger ones along the course. On the morning of the race, the hounds bounded off their trailer, eager to sniff grass and chew on sticks and roll in the clover.

The hounds wear GPS-equipped collars whenever they hunt and when they come to the racetrack. That came in handy last year when a dog got spooked and took off into the wooded park nearby.

While the racetrack is not their normal working environment, the hounds seem to enjoy the challenge that comes with kicking off the horse races, Boo Montgomery said.

“It's a great exposure for hunting to get to see these hounds and the horses,” Boo Montgomery said. “It's nice to be able to show off.”

The homes were flattened just hours earlier as storms spawned at least three tornadoes across the bottom half of Mississippi, injuring a dozen at the trailer park in the rural community of Bogue Chitto.

Lemley had no idea where the kitten was, but he was determined to find it. After a few minutes, the meowing stopped, and Lemley feared the worst.

Then, five minutes later, he heard it again.

“I said, ‘Oh, he’s still alive!’” Lemley told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Lemley quickly dug under insulation from a flattened wall until his flashlight beam found the kitten — wet, scared and hiding between two wooden posts.

Lemley captured the moment on video: “Oh my goodness, I found him!" he says to the camera. "Are you OK? Come here – it’s OK. … We’ll get you cleaned up, baby. Don’t you worry.”

Lemley held the kitten in his arms for a few minutes before handing it off to the commander of the United Cajun Navy, a volunteer disaster-response group, who dried it off and took it to safety. Lemley marveled that it didn’t appear to be injured.

“I’ve been in these situations so many times,” said Lemley, who has been chasing storms since 2010. “I don’t try to get overly emotional. But it is very heartbreaking to see any type of animal or human go through something like that.”

Lemley says there’s already a lot of interest from people who want to adopt the kitten if its owners are not located. Some, he said, want to name it Tornado.

It won’t be coming home with him, though: Lemley is allergic to cats.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” according to a post on the airport’s official X account.

A spokesperson for the airport said the person, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the collision.

The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.

“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” the airline said.

Passengers were evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.

One passenger, Jacob Athens, posted video showing people sliding down with their backpacks. He also posted photos of what looked like a damaged engine.

“As we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was so much smoke we couldn’t even see 1 ft in front of us,” Athens said on his Facebook page, adding that passengers had to wait for over a hour on the runway and “still no transport or help with the cold.”

Other video shows passengers calmly walking down the aisle of the plane and using the slide to evacuate. They were told to step away from the plane.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, was closed amid an investigation. It reopened Saturday around 11 a.m.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the person “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”

He added: “No one should EVER trespass on an airport.”

The incident came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident or the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

The street banners dotted the downtown landscape, the handmade signs were visible from any vantage point inside the sold out arena and, of course, Caitlin Clark jerseys and T-shirts remained a trendy favorite. And why not live it up as Clark's 10-month wait to play a meaningful game on her home court finally ended with the weekend's featured matchup between Clark and the Fever and Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings.

Yet even with the anticipation of seeing two of the league's most popular players and the last four No. 1 draft picks squaring off in Game 1, nobody was more excited to get started than Clark.

“I think there's a different juice inside your body when you're putting on your uniform and you're mentally locked in to go and play a basketball game,” she said before tipoff. “Like I was excited for my teammates last year, 100% I was their biggest fan. But it's not the same, it just isn't. I missed having the butterflies in my stomach before a game. Like I love that, and that means you're ready.”

The WNBA schedule makers certainly gave fans what they wanted following an offseason filled with collective bargaining agreement negotiations and uncertainty about this year's action.

By Friday night, it was all in the past. Two old rivals, the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun, played the first game of the league’s 30th season with two potentially budding rivals, the Seattle Storm and Golden State Valkyries, capping the night in the third and final game. In between, fans got their first glimpse of the expansion Toronto Tempo against Washington.

That set up Saturday’s nationally televised matinee between Clark and Bueckers, and it didn't disappoint.

Clark scored 10 of her 20 points in the third quarter to help the Fever rally from a 60-51 halftime deficit, but she missed a logo 3-pointer that would have tied the score at 107 with 4.5 seconds left in the game. The former Iowa star finished 2 of 9 on 3s as the Wings held on for a 107-104 victory.

She also had seven assists, five rebounds and joined the 1,000-point club while Bueckers finished with 20 points despite missing two free throws with 1.6 seconds left. Azzi Fudd, this year's No. 1 draft pick, took only two shots in 18 minutes, making a 3 for the only points in her regular-season debut.

Clark also gave fans another injury scare. She briefly left the bench twice in the second half to have her back worked on but managed to finish the game, something she did not do in last week’s preseason game against Dallas after banging her kneecap hard on a fall.

“I feel good, started off a little slow I think just the anxiety of the first game,” she said. “Felt like I was literally just a couple of buckets away from putting together a really, really good game and getting a win.”

The result didn't temper the fanfare surrounding this game, though.

Clark and her teammates walked down the stairs and through the crowd to the court for player introductions with the loudest roar, naturally, reserved for Clark.

“I'm getting chills right now just thinking about where we are as a league," Fever coach Stephanie White said. “I mean this is what we dreamed about, right? From the time I was a rookie in this league to the time we won a championship in 2012 (with the Fever) when we were seeing sold out arenas only in championship games or in Finals games to becoming mainstream.”

While Clark played a big role in making sellouts the norm — in college and the WNBA — it's not just about Clark anymore.

Saturday's crowd included a small group in UConn jerseys, a nod to both Bueckers and Fudd, while another had a cutout of Bueckers on a sign saying she'd skipped her prom to attend the game. And there was a smattering of Bueckers fans dressed in Dallas jerseys, too.

“It's huge. I watched a lot of the games on YouTube TV las night so to be able to play on national television where a lot more people have access to it,” Bueckers said. “There's way more accessibility to it than when I was growing up watching the Minnesota Lynx. There wasn't as much national television coverage, you didn't see shows about it, you didn't so much on social media.”

But the addition of Bueckers, last year's WNBA Rookie of the Year, and the return of Clark, the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, from a season-ending groin injury have the league poised for potentially its biggest season yet.

And the opening weekend fanfare had a little bit of everything — David Letterman and NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton sitting courtside, a moment to honor some of the pioneers from the Women's Professional Basketball League and Fever players walking through the crowd to the court during player introductions with the two biggest roars reserved for Clark and Bueckers.

“I think it's great for women's basketball more than anything,” Clark said referring to the four No. 1 picks — Fever center Aliyah Boston in 2023, herself in 2024, Bueckers last year and now Fudd. “And you know this might be the first time this has ever really happened in sports — having two No. 1 picks on both sides. I think it speaks to the young talent in this league, how excited fans are about them and how excited they are about these two teams having us match up in the first game of the season."

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Grant drove an 0-2 pitch from Nebraska's Jordy Frahm deep to left-center field for a solo home run, giving UCLA a 2-0 lead in the third inning of the Big Ten Championship Game. The senior took the record she shared for one day in her 55th game. Arizona’s Laura Espinoza hit 37 home runs over 72 games in 1995.

The chance to write her name into the record books as one of the sport's best is what Grant wanted when she came to college.

“To be able to do that, it's just, it's surreal," Grant said of the home run record. “I'm just so grateful for the opportunity I was blessed with and just to follow the people that were before me it's just an honor.”

Grant had the ball in her backpack after Nebraska defeated UCLA 7-2 on Saturday to win the conference championship. She planned to give the ball to her grandmother.

Down 0-2, Grant was just hoping to put the ball in play anywhere she could against Frahm.

“The pitch was up, and I had a feeling it was out once I heard the crowd cheering,” Grant said of her home run. “I kind of usually just put my head down and run as hard as I can to first base, and then I think right when I touched first I knew.”

Grant said she let out a lot of energy rounding the bases celebrating all the way to the dugout with her teammates. She thinks they were focused on the milestone before refocusing on trying to win the game.

“It’s nice to be able to do it on a big stage,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said of Grant's record-setting home run.

Grant trailed Oklahoma’s Kendall Wells by one homer heading into conference tournament play. Wells did not homer in Oklahoma’s loss to Georgia on Thursday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Grant hit home runs in each of UCLA's three Big Ten Tournament games.

The race to see who ends up with the single-season home run record could last until the Women’s College World Series. Wells has 36 and Grant’s teammate, Jordan Woolery, has 33.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

McDonald uncoiled out of his three-point stance at the Texans’ rookie minicamp, firing off the football with explosiveness and intensity.

McDonald was determined to make his first NFL practice count, and establish a gold standard.

It was obvious how much McDonald is putting into his rookie season. And the former Ohio State consensus All-American defensive tackle, the Big Ten Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year, should bolster the top-ranked defense in the league.

Once projected as a first-round draft pick and selected in the second round with the 36th overall selection, McDonald has set his ambitions on the kind of banner first season that would make history.

“Win a Super Bowl, Rookie of the Year, All-Pro first year,” McDonald said in response to a question from KPRC 2 on his goal-setting. “These are realistic for me. I wrote those down and I’m blessed to be here and I’ve got a chance.”

McDonald doesn’t shy away from high expectations.

After meeting formally with the Texans at the NFL scouting combine, he visited them along with the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Washington Commanders, Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals. McDonald had a special feeling about the Texans throughout the draft process.

“Yes, sir. I thought it all the way through,” McDonald said. “Texans, they made it clear who the best defensive tackle was. It’s a blessing to be here. I’m ready for the opportunity.”

The Texans needed a young, athletic defensive tackle to work in tandem with Sheldon Rankins, Tommy Togiai and Logan Hall and play inside opposite Pro Bowl defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter.

McDonald, a Texarkana native who grew up in Suwanee, Georgia, provides a dominant inside presence at 6-foot-2 1/8, 326 pounds and operates with outstanding leverage and pad level. The first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection recorded 65 tackles last season for the Buckeyes with three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Yes, McDonald rivaled his Buckeyes teammates, Washington Commanders first-round linebacker Sonny Styles and Dallas Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, for the first hit throughout the season. He was simply that active.

“What I like about Kayden and his tape at Ohio State is the physicality, it shows up,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “When he’s across the line from an offensive lineman, no matter who it was, he was knocking those guys back in the backfield. That translates to Houston Texans defense.

“We want to knock guys back. He does that. He’s still a very young player who has so much room to grow, so much room to ascend. It starts right here today. You see him in his individual drills. He has the power. We can win with that type of power.”

And confidence, too.

McDonald has stated multiple times he’s the best defensive tackle in the draft. The fact that he wasn’t the first defensive lineman selected bothers him to this day. And it provides significant motivational fuel.

“Being blessed, staying in the moment,” McDonald said. “You can’t take this for granted. I’m walking out here today, and it’s like: ‘This is your first day in the NFL.’ It’s not a game no more. It’s a job, and you got to take it serious. ..

“Just getting out there with my teammates for rookie minicamp. We’ve all got energy and enthusiasm. It’s a great opportunity. At the end of the day, we want to get to L.A. and win a Super Bowl.”

The way that McDonald can complement the pass rushers and edge-setters that headline the Texans’ front seven and keep blocks off of Pro Bowl middle linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair can make him a tone-setter for defensive line coach-run game coordinator Rod Wright.

“He’s one of the best in the league, he wants everything his way and we’ve got to follow that,” McDonald said. “You’ve got to stay on that $50 million, $40 million line. You’ve got Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, those are two All-Pro guys. You just follow that plan and all things are going to work out.”

McDonald was in the green room during the first round of the draft. When he got passed over, McDonald was convinced by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to return for the second night of the draft. That led up to an emotional moment where McDonald got the life-changing call from the Texans after they traded up two spots to land him.

“Roger, he told me I’m going to be a special guy,” McDonald said. “He got a lot of respect for me and I’ve got a lot of respect for him. It meant a lot to me to come back on Day 2 and walk that stage.”

McDonald is already making fast friends with Anderson and is happy to reunite with former Ohio State players like quarterback C.J. Stroud and tight end Cade Stover. McDonald met Anderson at the Rockets’ playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“My teammates, it’s like a brotherhood here,” McDonald said. “Staff, training staff, even the dieticians, people that cook the food, it’s been a warm welcome.

“Got to help out the defensive ends, get them to second-and-long, get them to third-and-long, let Will and Danielle Hunter and all the other guys get off the edge. It’s going to work out. Three-and-out, get off the field, give it back to C.J. and go score.”

The Texans’ defense, under the leadership of coach DeMeco Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke is formidable.

“It’s going to be tough to score on us,” McDonald said. “We already got the pieces on defense. Adding me, it’s gonna be special.”

The Texans traded the 38th overall pick and 117th overall selection of the fourth round in exchange for the Raiders’ original 36th overall pick and the 91st overall selection in the third round.

“We felt McDonald was probably the best run defender in the draft,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “Matt Patricia did a really good job with him, got the most out of him. He’ll be a good fit for our program. We like the player. The player falls, we can’t control any of that.

“We brought him in the building, had a good visit with him. Did a lot of work on him. We felt like he was the best run-stopping defensive tackle in the draft. So, let’s add him to the team.”

One of the top defensive players in the draft, McDonald is determined to prove the Texans made a great decision to pick him.

“Everybody that went before me, that’s what fuels me,” McDonald said. “There’s not one player better than me in this class. I’m gonna show it.”

TRYOUT CENTRAL

The Texans worked out multiple players during their rookie minicamp, including former University of Houston quarterback Clayton Tune.

Tune has played for the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.

The Texans also worked out Connecticut kicker Chris Freeman, Texas A&M long snapper Jacob Graham, a Memorial High graduate, Connecticut tight end Louis Hansen, Washington quarterback Kai Horton, former Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers and Northwestern running back Evan Hull, Lenoir-Rhyne defensive tackle ANdre Jefferson and Marshall wide receiver Demarcus Lacey.

Rookie running back Jordan Whittington, an undrafted player from Oregon, participated in the drills despite not being fully recovered from offseason toe surgery, per a league source.

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Iranian state TV reported the warning a day after the United States struck two Iranian oil tankers, casting doubt on the month-old ceasefire that the U.S. has insisted is still in effect. The U.S. military said the tankers were trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports.

Meanwhile Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s regional headquarters, said it arrested dozens of people it alleged had links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Washington awaits Iran's response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. And Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow's proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement remains on the table.

Bahrain says arrests were linked to Guard funding attempt

Bahrain said it had arrested 41 people it said are part of a group affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard. The interior ministry said investigations confirmed they were in contact with the Guard and collected funds “with the aim of sending them to Iran” to support its "terrorist operations.”

The small Persian Gulf island is led by a Sunni Muslim monarchy but, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population. Rights groups have said the kingdom has used the war between Iran and the U.S., which bases its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as an excuse to crack down on dissent.

Iran issued a warning to Bahrain: “Siding with the U.S.-backed resolution will bring severe consequences. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital lifeline; do not risk closing it on yourselves FOREVER," Ebrahim Azizi, head of the national security commission of Iran’s parliament, said on social media.

Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets.

The U.S. has imposed its own blockade of Iran’s ports. U.S. Central Command said on Saturday its forces had turned back 58 commercial ships and “disabled” four since the blockade began April 13.

Britain deploys warship to the Middle East

Britain’s defense ministry said it was deploying a warship to the Middle East to join a potential mission to protect commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end.

The ministry said the HMS Dragon will “preposition” in the region, ready to join a U.K.- and French-led security plan. France announced this week it was moving its aircraft carrier strike group into the Red Sea in preparation.

Britain and France have led meetings involving several dozen countries on a coalition to reestablish freedom of navigation in the strait. But they stress it won’t start until there is a sustainable ceasefire and the maritime industry is reassured ships can go through the strait safely.

Diplomacy continues ‘day and night’

U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program. On Friday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the country was not paying attention to “deadlines,” according to state-run IRNA.

Diplomacy continues. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.

Russia’s foreign ministry said that it, as well as Saudi Arabia, was calling for diplomatic efforts to reach a “sustainable, long-term agreement” to end the war.

Separately, Putin told reporters in Moscow that taking enriched uranium from Iran to help negotiate a settlement would allow everyone to see “how much of it there is, and where it is located,” and “all of this would be placed under the control of the IAEA,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Egyptian and Qatari top diplomats reiterated that diplomacy is the sole path to a solution, according to a readout of a phone call between the two foreign ministers.

Still publicly unseen and unheard since the war began is Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, fueling speculation about his status.

On Friday, a top Iranian official said Khamenei was in “complete health” and eventually would appear in public. Mazaher Hosseini, affiliated with the office of Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war, made the comment at a pro-government gathering. Hosseini said Mojtaba, Khamenei's son, had knee and back injuries in the war’s opening attacks but they’ve largely healed.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Cox died in Marietta, Georgia, according to the Atlanta Braves. He had a stroke in 2019 and heart issues that complicated his recovery.

“Bobby was the best manager to ever wear a Braves uniform. He led our team to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and the unforgettable World Series title in 1995. His Braves managerial legacy will never be matched,” the Braves said in a statement.

Cox took over a last-place team in June 1990 and led the Braves to a worst-to-first finish in 1991, losing the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games. That was the start of what was to become a record 14 consecutive division titles, a feat no professional team in any sport had accomplished.

He managed the Braves for 25 years and led Atlanta to its first World Series title in 1995, retired after the 2010 season and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.

“Bobby was a favorite among all in the baseball community, especially those who played for him. His wealth of knowledge on player development and the intricacies of managing the game were rewarded with the sport’s ultimate prize in 2014 — enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame," the Braves said.

As of Saturday, Cox ranks fourth all-time with 2,504 wins, fifth with 4,508 games, first with 15 division titles including a record 14 in a row, first with 16 playoff appearances and fourth with 67 playoff victories.

Only Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa had more regular-season wins than Cox. His 158 regular-season ejections also was the most among managers.

Gov. Brian Kemp said the state of Georgia and the Braves lost a true legend in Cox.

“His vision, talent and management style not only earned him a spot in the National Hall of Fame, but also built a legacy that will endure for generations to come,” Kemp said.

Cox's death came four days after that of fellow Atlanta icon Ted Turner, who as owner of Braves lured Cox back to the team in 1990.

“RIP my second father,” Andruw Jones wrote on social media. The 10-time Gold Glove winner with Atlanta in July will become the sixth who played for Cox with the Braves to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Braves retired Cox’s No. 6 jersey in 2011, when he joined the team’s Hall of Fame.

“He is the Atlanta Braves,” catcher Brian McCann said in 2019. “He’s the best.”

McCann described Cox as “one of the best human beings any of us have ever met.”

Cox spent 29 seasons as a major league manager, including four with Toronto. He managed 16 postseason teams. He brought an old-school approach to the dugout. He always wore spikes and stirrups, and his fatherly demeanor inspired loyalty from his players.

Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux said players around the league always wanted to know what it was like playing for Bobby Cox: “The first word that comes to mind is respect. He had that from players. When Bobby talked, we listened. We wanted to play for him.”

Cox was the first NL manager to win at least 100 games in a season five times. He was Manager of the Year four times and the only one to win in consecutive years (2004, 2005). He also had close ties with his successors, Fredi Gonzalez and Brian Snitker.

He regularly attended games and spring training before a stroke in 2019 that affected his speech and movement. Cox recovered enough to visit the Braves later that season, watching a game from the press box level. His wife, Pam, said in 2020 that heart trouble slowed his recovery from the stroke.

His long marriage survived a 1995 confrontation in which he was accused of hitting his wife in the face. He was charged with simple battery and in custody for an hour. The following day, Bobby and Pam appeared at a news conference and each denied he hit her in the face.

Cox said the couple would seek counseling. The charge was eventually dropped.

Despite all his regular-season success, Cox won only the one World Series title in five tries. He led the Braves to Atlanta’s first major professional sports championship in 1995, beating the Cleveland Indians in six games to win the World Series. Cox said critics usually focused on the World Series losses instead.

“We have been to a lot of World Series, and we’ve played great,” Cox said. “We probably didn’t play as good in the one that we won."

The Braves lost in 1992 to Toronto in six games and in 1996 in six to the New York Yankees before being swept by the Yankees in 1999.

“It’s a game of breaks when you get down to a four-game, must-win series,” Cox said. “We’ve played well. We’re proud of what we’ve done. They always ask that, though. It is irritating, to be honest with you.”

Tom Glavine played for Cox during those glory years and believed it was unfair to blame the manager for Atlanta’s playoff woes.

“It always amazes me that when we win in the regular season, Bobby Cox gets no credit,” Glavine said. “But when we don’t win in the postseason, he gets the blame.”

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 21, 1941, Cox graduated from Selma High School in California in 1959 and attended nearby Reedley Junior College before signing with the Dodgers for a $40,000 bonus.

He spent seven years in the Dodgers’ farm system before being traded to the Braves’ organization, playing one year at Richmond (1967). He was traded to the Yankees for Bob Tillman and Dale Roberts and played third base for his only two seasons in the majors (1968-69) before bad knees forced him to retire at age 30.

Cox began the first of six years as a minor league manager in 1971. He returned to the majors in 1977 as a first base coach for the Yankees, who went on to win the World Series.

His first major league managerial job came with the Braves in 1978. The best season of his first stint in Atlanta was an 81-80 finish in 1980, and he went 266-323 in four seasons.

The Toronto Blue Jays hired Cox in 1982, and he led them to their first American League East championship in 1985, in his fourth and final year there. He was lured back to the Braves as general manager by Turner, their outrageous owner and visionary media mogul, in 1986.

As GM, his Atlanta teams never had a winning season. Cox did develop many of the players key to the Braves’ success in the ’90s: Glavine, John Smoltz, Jeff Blauser, Mark Lemke, Dave Justice, Javy Lopez and Ron Gant. He also had two No. 1 draft picks who excelled, Steve Avery and Chipper Jones.

Cox returned as field manager on June 22, 1990, after Russ Nixon was fired.

“It’s pretty impressive that he starts as a GM; he signs half the guys down there up front, and then he comes down and manages them,” Maddux said.

Cox usually shied away from the limelight and was uncomfortable when talking about himself.

“Honestly, I’m just doing my job. I let everything else fall where it may,” he said.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

The Giants received minor league left-hander Matt Wilkinson and the 29th pick in the 2026 amateur draft in the trade.

Cleveland optioned Bo Naylor to Triple-A Columbus to make room for Bailey. Naylor has been the Guardians' regular catcher since 2023.

Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti said before Saturday night's game against the Minnesota Twins that the organization has had interest in Bailey for a long time, but the right opportunity didn't happen until this past week.

“We didn’t set out necessarily to acquire catching, but this was an opportunity that we felt made sense because it in our view will help us win games and help us pursue our goal of winning a World Series,” Antonetti said. “About a week ago, we had some initial dialogue with the Giants and it seemed like for the first time there might be the opportunity to overlap."

Bailey has been regarded as one of the top defensive catchers in the game thanks in part to his elite pitch-framing skills since being called up in 2023. He leads the majors since 2023 with 69 catcher framing runs and 42 defensive runs saved over the past two-plus seasons.

But his hitting has been an issue and bottomed out this season. Bailey was batting .146 with one homer and five RBIs in 89 plate appearances. His .396 OPS ranked last among 286 players with at least 75 plate appearances this season.

Bailey had become expendable for the Giants with Daniel Susac and Jesus Rodriguez expected to handle most of the catching duties, with Eric Haase as another option. Those players have provided much more offense for the Giants, who enter the day last in the majors in scoring with 3.16 runs per game and tied with the New York Mets for the worst record in the National League.

Bailey, who turns 27 later this month, won Gold Gloves at catcher in 2024 and 2025. He is a career .224 hitter with a .611 OPS. He arrived in Cleveland before the game and is available off the bench as a pinch-hitter.

Naylor had a .237 batting average as a rookie in 2023 but has struggled offensively the past two-plus seasons. His .143 batting average this season is last in the majors among the 29 catchers with at least 90 plate appearances.

His .192 batting average since 2024 is next-to-last among catchers with at least 200 games played.

“That was probably my least favorite conversation I’ve had since getting this job (in 2024),” manager Stephen Vogt said of the conversation with Naylor about being sent down. “We still believe that Bo has a bright future with us, but any time you send somebody away from here, it’s the worst. But that one, especially.”

The Guardians entered the day with a 21-19 record and in first place in the AL Central. Austin Hedges also has seen steady playing time behind the plate along with David Fry.

The 23-year-old Wilkinson pitched for Canada in the World Baseball Classic earlier this year. He has made six starts this season at Double-A Akron, going 1-2 with a 1.59 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 28 1-3 innings.

___

Dubow reported from San Francisco and Reedy from Cleveland.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The three drone strikes south of Beirut marked another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on April 17. Both Israel and Hezbollah have continued their daily attacks despite the truce.

On Wednesday night, Israel’s air force carried out an airstrike on a southern suburb in which Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah military official. It was the first strike near the capital since the ceasefire was reached.

Two of the strikes on Saturday took place on the highway linking Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon in which several people were wounded, while the third happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region killing three, the state-run National News Agency said.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw a dead body on the highway in the town of Saadiyat.

The Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven, including a child, and wounded 15. The ministry said this was an initial count.

The agency reported strikes in southern Lebanon, including one on the village of Bourj Rahhal that killed three and another in Maifadoun that killed one.

The Health Ministry, meanwhile, said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man who was riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter in the city of Nabatiyeh.

The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man. The girl then moved about 100 meters (yards) away and was hit again by the drone after she had been already wounded. The girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.

“The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon,” the ministry said in its statement added that the strike marks an ongoing series “of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law.”

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks. It added that Hezbollah fired drones inside Lebanon as well in which one hit an Israeli vehicle without inflicting casualties.

Hezbollah claimed several attacks inside Lebanon as well as firing a drone at an Israeli military post in the northern town of Misgav Am.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Hezbollah's main backer, Iran. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.

Later, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting Thursday.

A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on April 17. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.

In the Syrian capital of Damascus, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held talks Saturday with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in which they discussed strengthening relations between the two neighbors and boosting security cooperation amid regional wars.

Speaking to reporters before heading back home, Salam said that Lebanon will not be used again to harm “our Arab brothers, on top of them Syria.” Salam was indirectly referring to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria’s civil that broke out in 2011 by backing the five-decade Assad family rule that ended in December 2024.

Magyar’s center-right Tisza party defeated Orbán’s nationalist-populist Fidesz in a stunning blow last month, gaining more votes and seats in parliament than any other party in Hungary’s post-Communist history.

The win, which gave Tisza a two-thirds parliamentary majority, will allow it to roll back many of the policies that gave Orbán a reputation among his critics as a far-right authoritarian.

In a speech to tens of thousands of supporters in a square outside the parliament building after being sworn in, the new prime minister told the crowd: “Today, every freedom-loving person in the world would like to be Hungarian a little.”

“You have taught the country and the world that it is the most ordinary, flesh-and-blood people that can defeat the most vicious tyranny,” Magyar said to roaring applause.

As Hungary's new leader, Magyar has vowed to restore democratic institutions and governmental checks and balances that were heavily eroded during Orbán's rule, and to clamp down on alleged corruption.

His administration is expected to transform political dynamics within the European Union, where the former prime minister had upended the bloc by frequently vetoing key decisions, most recently concerning support for neighboring Ukraine.

A parliament without Orbán

On Saturday, Magyar, a 45-year-old lawyer who founded Tisza in 2024, entered the sprawling neo-Gothic parliament building alongside 140 of his party representatives.

Tisza now controls 141 seats in Hungary's 199-seat parliament. Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition controls 52 seats, down from 135, while the far-right Mi Hazánk (Our Homeland) party holds six seats.

The 199 representatives took their oaths of office at around 11 a.m. Orbán was not among them for the first time since Hungary’s first post-Communist parliament was formed in 1990.

Magyar earlier called on Hungarians to attend an all-day “regime-change” celebration on Kossuth Square outside parliament to mark his inauguration and the end of the Orbán era. Many of those gathered waved Hungarian and EU flags and wore Tisza T-shirts.

In his speech, Magyar delivered a message of unity, and promised to help heal the deep social divisions he said Orbán's government had sown.

“Today is the fulfillment of the long journey that we have made together in recent years, the fulfillment of the common belief that Hungary is able to get back on its feet, is able to believe in itself and to once again be a common homeland for all Hungarians,” he said.

Hungary's new National Assembly has 54 women lawmakers, most from the Tisza party — more than a quarter of the total and the most in Hungary’s history.

One of them, Andrea Szepesi, an economist from Budapest, said it was “about time” that more women held seats in parliament. Under Orbán's rule, there were fewer women in government than in nearly all of the EU's other 26 nations.

“Finally, women are able to participate in this new, beautiful democratic system and the flourishing of the country,” Szepesi told The Associated Press.

Repairing relations with the EU

Magyar has promised to repair his country’s ties with the EU, which Orbán had pushed to a breaking point, and to restore Hungary’s place among Western democracies, whose standing had been called into question as Orbán drifted ever closer to Russia.

The EU flag was raised on the parliament building’s facade Saturday afternoon for the first time since Orbán’s government removed it in 2014.

Unlocking about 17 billion euros ($20 billion) of EU funds for Hungary frozen during Orbán’s time in office over rule-of-law and corruption concerns is also among the new prime minister’s top priorities. The money is sorely needed to help jump-start Hungary’s struggling economy, which has stagnated for the past four years.

Another attendee of the celebration, 27-year-old web designer Áron Farsang, said he expects the new Tisza government to restore Hungary's democratic institutions and to “lead us back toward the European Union.”

“I would also really like it if we could get rid of the Russian influence as soon as possible,” he said. “I’m thinking about energy dependency and their general political style.”

Accounting for the past

Many of the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians that voted for Tisza expect Magyar to hold Fidesz officials and their business allies accountable for the perceived misconduct of the outgoing administration.

In his speech to the National Assembly, he called on Fidesz-appointed heads of government institutions, including President Tamás Sulyok, to resign no later than May 31.

Magyar plans to form a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds misused during Orbán’s tenure. He’s also vowed to suspend the news services of Hungary’s public broadcaster — widely seen as a mouthpiece of Orbán’s party — until objectivity can be restored.

In his speech to lawmakers, Magyar referenced his intentions to hold former officials accountable for past abuses, saying voters had “given us a mandate to open a new chapter in Hungary’s history.

• PREVIOUS REPORT: Judge forfeits $1 million bond for capital murder suspect who fled to Italy before trial

In the May 8 order, 497th District Court Judge Peyton Peebles said the restrictions are aimed at protecting Gilley’s right to a fair trial and preventing pretrial publicity from influencing potential jurors.

The judge wrote the court has a duty to safeguard “the Defendant’s right to a fair and impartial jury trial” and to ensure jurors are not prejudiced by publicity.

Why the judge says restrictions were needed

Peebles pointed to what he described as the “unusually emotional nature” of the case and the extensive media attention it has already received, including local and national coverage and interviews with attorneys.

In the order, the judge found that continued interviews could make it harder for both sides to select an impartial jury.

• RELATED: ‘She loved Italy’: Houston murder victim’s friends frustrated over husband Lee Gilley fleeing U.S. ahead of trial

He also found there is a substantial probability that one or both sides’ right to a fair process — and Gilley’s right to a fair trial — could be harmed if lawyers and others make public-facing statements about the facts of the case, including on social media.

Who the gag order applies to

The order applies broadly to the legal teams and others working on the case. It instructs attorneys to follow the Texas disciplinary rules that bar “extrajudicial statements” likely to materially prejudice a proceeding.

It also specifically extends the restriction to attorneys’ staffs, investigators, experts, interns and law enforcement officers involved in the case, directing them not to discuss the case with the media, according to the order.

What can’t be discussed publicly

Rather than banning all communication, the order identifies categories of information the judge said pose a risk of prejudice.

Among the topics restricted are comments about:

• the character, credibility or reputation of any party or witness;
• what a party or witness is expected to testify about;
• non-public statements or admissions (or someone’s decision not to give a statement);
• evidence expected to be presented at trial — or the absence of evidence;
• information likely to be inadmissible at trial that could still sway public opinion;
• and any notes from jurors.

The order also addresses witnesses, saying those who have already given statements to law enforcement or prosecutors — or who testify in investigative, court, or extradition-related proceedings — should not discuss the case with the media.

It similarly warns witnesses who provide statements or testimony after the gag order is entered not to speak publicly about the case.

What people can still say

The order carves out exceptions, stating it does not prohibit people from sharing basic information “without elaboration or characterization,” including the general nature of criminal justice procedures, information already in the public record, and scheduling or results of court proceedings.

Peebles also emphasized the order is not intended to silence everyone outside the case. It says it should not be interpreted to stop third parties from attending open court sessions (with limited exceptions) or from publishing information they already have or obtain in court.

Finally, the judge noted the court may revisit the order: “This Court shall entertain reasonable requests to modify this Order as the need arises.”

What comes next

The gag order was signed Friday evening as the case remains in limbo with Gilley in Italy and extradition still uncertain.

An official familiar with the process told KPRC 2 News the forfeiture of Gilley’s $1 million bond does not mean immediate payment. Collecting the money can take months and depends on Gilley’s return to the United States.

Italian media has reported Gilley is being held in solitary confinement at the Lorusso e Cutugno prison in Turin. During a hearing Friday, journalist Giada Lo Porto reported Gilley’s detention was confirmed and that he is expected to go with his Italian attorney to the Turin Court of Appeal on Monday for a hearing tied to the extradition request.

Lo Porto also reported Gilley has sought asylum and that a commission could decide within the next few days whether to accept that request.

According to Lo Porto’s reporting, Gilley’s attorney has told Italian media the extradition decision could take a long time, though the court indicated a timeframe of within 40 days.

Meanwhile, Gilley is still facing a capital murder case in Harris County, and the timeline for his return to the United States — and any trial date — remains unclear.

Cheers rang around Etihad Stadium after second half goals from Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush helped second-placed City close the gap on leader Arsenal to two points.

It was a different atmosphere at Anfield where Liverpool fans jeered as the defending champion dropped more points in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea.

Third-placed Manchester United drew at Sunderland 0-0 while there were wins for Champions League-chasing Bournemouth and Brighton.

City keeps title hopes alive

Another big goal from Doku settled City nerves and kept manager Pep Guardiola in contention for a seventh Premier League title.

“I love it. I love to be here again,” Guardiola said, adding he feels no tension in the heat of the title race.

A well-organized Brentford managed to frustrate City until Doku came up with a moment of magic on the hour — curling a right-footed shot into the far corner.

It was a near-carbon copy of his late equalizer against Everton that salvaged a 3-3 draw for Guardiola's team on Monday.

That draw put the title race in Arsenal's hands, but victory against Brentford ensured the pressure remained on the Gunners to get a win at West Ham on Sunday.

“Come on you Irons!” Guardiola said at the end of his post-game news conference in reference to West Ham's nickname.

Haaland bundled the ball over the line in the 75th for City's second and his 50th of the season for his club and national team Norway.

Substitute Marmoush got the third in added time.

Jeers for Liverpool

The draw with Chelsea at Anfield saw Liverpool move a step closer to guaranteed Champions League qualification — fourth in the table with two rounds left — but another unconvincing performance sparked a frustrated reaction from the crowd.

There were boos at the final whistle to mark growing unrest from Liverpool supporters in a season that has seen the team tamely surrender the title despite spending around $570 million in the transfer market.

There has been speculation about the job of coach Arne Slot, who insists there will be improvements next term.

“This season they (fans) will have their opinion and it will not change, but if we can have the summer that we are planning to have I am 100% convinced we will be a different team next season," he said. "Different in terms of results, different in how things look."

Liverpool can make certain of a place in the Champions League with a victory at Aston Villa next Friday. But it could find itself in fifth place by the time that game kicks off.

Villa was fifth and would leapfrog Liverpool by beating relegated Burnley on Sunday. The top five automatically qualify for the Champions League and English clubs could get a sixth spot if Villa wins the Europa League and finishes outside the top four.

The draw allowed Chelsea to break its six-game losing streak. Enzo Fernandez's bouncing free kick went in before halftime to equalize after Ryan Gravenberch's early goal.

Liverpool twice went close to a winner in the second half when Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk hit the woodwork.

Unlikely Champions League contenders

Bournemouth and Brighton were still pushing for Champions League qualification after both recorded wins.

Sixth-placed Bournemouth won at Fulham 1-0 in a game in which both teams were reduced to 10 men.

Brighton was seventh and beat last-placed Wolverhampton 3-0.

A goal after 35 seconds for Jamie Hinshelwood was the fastest Brighton has ever recorded in the Premier League, according to stats provider Opta.

Man U misses players

Without injured striker Benjamin Sesko and Brazil midfielder Casemiro, United failed to find a breakthrough at Sunderland.

United managed just one shot on target in a dour match that could have ended in a Sunderland win when Lutsharel Geertruida hit the post late on.

Championship playoffs

Middlesbrough and Southampton drew 0-0 in the first leg of their Championship playoff semifinal.

Buildup to the match was dominated by allegations Southampton spied on Boro's training. The English Football League charged Southampton with a breach of its rules after Boro complained there was “unauthorized filming on private property” ahead of the game.

After the first leg Boro coach Kim Hellberg let his feelings be known, saying “someone has made a decision to cheat.”

He said he was angry and disappointed “because it’s a big game and you try to get advantage in an ugly way ... unfair way.”

The second leg is at Southampton on Tuesday.

___

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

But as of Thursday, they will no longer cast the same ballot despite living across the street from each other.

That’s because Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature redrew the congressional district of Memphis, which has long enjoyed its own Democratic-leaning U.S. House seat. Now, the city is split into three Republican-leaning districts, its majority-Black population sliced up and bound to mostly white, rural and conservative communities along lines that branch away from Fowler and Wilson’s East Memphis neighborhood.

A line runs down the middle of the street, placing Fowler in the 8th Congressional District, which runs hundreds of miles to central Tennessee across a dozen counties. Wilson is zoned for the 9th District, which extends across most of the state’s southern border before curving up to encompass the largely white and affluent Nashville suburbs.

“I think it’s horrible,” said Fowler, who is white. “This isn’t just going to be bad for Black folks in Memphis, but poor whites in these new districts also aren’t going to get services. How are any of these congressmen going to serve all these different counties?”

Part of a national redistricting competition

The redraw was sparked by a ruling from the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court that may be a death knell for congressional representation of majority-Black Southern communities such as Memphis.

For 60 years, a provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act required mapmakers to prove they were not discriminating against racial minorities in how they drew districts, often leading to political boundaries that allowed some minority communities to vote for their preferred representative rather than having their vote diluted by white majorities surrounding them.

The rule had the greatest effect in Southern states, where neighboring Black and white communities remain highly polarized in partisan politics.

On April 29, the justices severely weakened that requirement, ruling that the way courts had handled it improperly injected racial matters into redistricting in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Republicans across the South immediately leaped at the chance to redraw their maps before the November elections to eliminate as many Democratic-held, majority-minority congressional seats as possible.

Tennessee’s legislature was the first in a GOP-controlled state to finalize a new map. But it is one of several Southern states — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina among them — engaged in a broader partisan redistricting competition sweeping the country.

Republicans have long complained that the Voting Rights Act prevented them from doing to Democratic, majority-Black districts what Democrats in states they control do to conservative-leaning, white and rural areas — scatter their voters for partisan gain. That is what Tennessee Republicans did in their initial congressional map in 2021 to the state’s other large reservoir of Democrats in Nashville, where they did not have to step gingerly because that city is majority white.

“Tennessee is a conservative state and our congressional delegation should reflect that,” said Republican state Sen. John Stevens, who shepherded the bill for a new map that made all nine congressional districts solidly Republican.

A ‘central place’ in pursuit of racial justice

Wilson, the Memphis musician who is Black, was less distraught by the carving up of his neighborhood for partisan purposes. He saw the move as just another trial facing the city after a surge of federal agents sent by President Donald Trump to combat crime and amid narratives about Memphis' safety from neighboring suburbs and Republican state lawmakers.

“It’s a hustling community. We’re going to make ends meet for our families,” Wilson said. “The legacy of Memphis is music and our civil rights history,” he said, adding the two were intertwined. “Hard times mean you’re going to try and find your gift. That’s what we do here; music in Memphis is a way of life.”

The Memphis district predates the Voting Rights Act. For at least a century, well before Congress acted to protect minority voting rights, Tennessee has believed it made sense for its metropolis on the Mississippi River to have its own U.S. House district. But since that law was passed in 1965, anyone who tried to split up the district for partisan gain could be sued and have the maps thrown out. Now, legal experts say that is not much of a risk.

Nonetheless, Democrats and civil rights groups are suing to block the map. The symbolism is especially sharp as the city is home to the National Civil Rights Museum, built around the motel where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. When the legislature passed the new maps, Democrats and protesters shouted “hands off Memphis!” and waved signs accusing Republicans of bringing back Jim Crow.

“Memphis is not just any city; it holds a central place in the national story of our quest for racial justice in this country and how, over time, we have increasingly achieved civil, voting, and economic rights for all Americans,” said Eric Holder, a former U.S. attorney general who chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “Black citizens protested, marched and died there for the right to vote.”

Contentious relations with the rest of Tennessee

Memphis has faced dual stories in recent years. Billions of dollars in private investment and federal dollars have flooded into the area in recent years, but many local businesses still express concerns about a lagging regional economy.

Residents who spoke with The Associated Press expressed concerns about safety and public services but bristled at stereotypes about rampant crime. The twin stories are often on display in the river city, where pothole-filled streets run from empty storefronts to ornate mansion-filled neighborhoods and leafy college campuses only blocks away.

The city has long had a contentious relationship with the rest of the state, which voted for Trump in 2024 by a roughly 2-1 margin.

The conservative legislature in Nashville has clashed repeatedly with Memphis and accused its leaders of broad mismanagement. The legislature passed a law blocking many police overhaul efforts in Memphis that were put in place after the death of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man, at the hands of city officers in 2023. It passed another measure seizing control of Memphis’ airport board and those of other cities across the state, and gave the state attorney general, also a Republican, the power to remove Memphis' elected district attorney.

“The state legislature is trying to take it over,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the white Democrat who still represents the city in Congress until the new lines kick in after the midterms. “And that’s absurd. It was all partially because it’s a majority Black city.”

Black Tennesseans deprived of fair representation, expert says

Thomas Goodman, a politics and law professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, notes that the new congressional districts may lead to greater friction over who receives attention — and funding — from lawmakers. Memphis residents will soon share districts with Republican towns with starkly different economies, geographies and demographics. Whoever holds those congressional seats will have an incentive to pay attention to those voters and not to Memphis’ population.

“It would not only deprive Black Tennesseans of proper representation,” Goodman said. “These changes also break up the city of Memphis as an entity into multiple districts, thereby removing a dedicated agent in government who knows the people, who understands their concerns and can speak for them and deliver on behalf of their interests and desires.”

Chris Wiley’s house sits in what was, before this week, a quiet street in Midtown Memphis dotted with duplexes, tidy lawns and sports fields. Now his neighborhood is carved apart at the intersection of three congressional districts. That is not surprising, he said, because “Tennessee is all about the dollar” rather than residents.

“Memphis is majority Black, so if you mess with that, what’s the point of even voting in Tennessee?” said Wiley, a 29-year-old sports stadium worker who is Black. “Whatever the congressional numbers, whatever that is, we don’t count on the scale as high, anyway.”

____

Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and AP videojournalist Sophie Bates contributed to this report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, both confirmed the agreement.

“I asked and, President Putin agreed. President Zelenskyy agreed -- both readily," Trump said on Friday as he departed the White House to attend a dinner at his Virginia golf club. "And we have a little period of time where they’re not going to be killing people. That’s very good.”

Trump had announced earlier in the day on social media that the ceasefire would run Saturday through Monday. Saturday is Victory Day in Russia, a holiday that commemorates the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II.”

The Republican president said the ceasefire includes a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country.

Russia had announced a ceasefire for Friday and Saturday, but it quickly unraveled, with both sides blaming the other for the continued fighting, just as they had when Ukraine’s own unilateral ceasefire had swiftly collapsed earlier in the week.

Trump said he made his request for the ceasefire “directly” to the two presidents. “Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War," he said.

Trump added that talks continue over ending the war that began in February 2022 “and we are getting closer and closer every day.” Trump has gone back and forth over whether the war will end, at times expressing optimism and at other times saying Russia and Ukraine should be left to fight it out to the bitter end.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the three-day ceasefire and prisoner exchange announcement, according to his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, and reiterated calls for an “unconditional and lasting ceasefire, as a first step toward a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s decision on how to engage with those discussions was shaped in part by the prospect of freeing its prisoners. Ukraine has made the return of prisoners of war a central demand throughout the conflict.

“Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who can be brought home,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Red Square is where Russia holds its traditional military parade to celebrate Victory Day, one of the biggest holidays of the year.

After releasing his statement, Zelenskyy issued a formal presidential decree “authorizing” Russia to hold the parade, declaring Red Square off-limits for Ukrainian strikes for the duration of the event. The framing of the decree appeared designed to underscore Kyiv’s claim that it holds effective targeting reach over the Russian capital, while publicly tying Ukrainian restraint to the ceasefire terms.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later shrugged off Zelenskyy’s decree as a “silly joke.”

“We don’t need anyone’s permission to be proud of our Victory Day,” Peskov told reporters.

Zelenskyy said the deal for a ceasefire was reached through a U.S.-mediated process and thanked Trump and the American team for what he called effective diplomatic engagement. He said Ukraine expected Washington to hold Russia to the terms of the agreement.

“We are counting on the United States to ensure that Russia fulfills its commitments,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said he had instructed his team to prepare everything necessary for the exchange without delay.

Trump's announcement came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a much more somber tone about negotiations to halt Russia’s 4-year-old war in Ukraine, saying U.S. mediation efforts have not led to a “fruitful outcome” so far.

“While we’re prepared to play whatever role we can to bring it to a peaceful diplomatic resolution, unfortunately right now, those efforts have stagnated,” Rubio told reporters at the end of a visit to Rome and the Vatican. “But we always stand ready if those circumstances change.”

___

Associated Press writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.

In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government's top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.

To President Donald Trump, "We seem to have things under very good control," as he told reporters Friday evening.

To experts, the situation aboard a cruise ship has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, hantavirus does not spread easily. It has been health experts in other countries, not the United States, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week.

“The CDC is not even a player," said Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University. “I've never seen that before.”

Not until late Friday did CDC actions accelerate.

Health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain's Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday local time, to meet the Americans onboard. They said a second team will go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska as part of a plan to evacuate American passengers from the ship to a University of Nebraska quarantine center for evaluation and monitoring. Also, the CDC issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them of the possibility of imported cases.

At their first briefing, held Saturday by telephone only for invited reporters, officials pledged to be transparent in updating the public but said the media could not cite the speakers by name under rules set by aides to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They did not directly answer a question about whether the American passengers could leave the university medical facility when they wanted.

The CDC's diminished role in this outbreak is an indicator the agency is no longer the force in international health or the protector of domestic health that it once was, some experts said.

The hantavirus outbreak is “a sentinel event” that speaks to “how well the country is prepared for a disease threat. And right now, I’m very sorry to say that we are not prepared,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

How the outbreak unfolded

Early last month, a 70-year-old Dutch man developed a feverish illness on a cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Antarctica and some islands in the South Atlantic. He died less than a week later. More people became sick, including the man's wife and a German woman, who both died.

Hantavirus was first identified as a cause of sickness of one of the cases on May 2. The World Health Organization swung into action and by Monday was calling it an outbreak. About two dozen Americans were on the ship, including about seven who disembarked last month and 17 who remained on board.

It's WHO taking center stage

For decades, the CDC partnered with the WHO in such situations. The CDC acted as a mainstay of any international investigation, providing staff and expertise to help unravel any outbreak mystery, develop ways to control it and communicate to the public what they should know and how they should worry.

Such actions were a large reason why the CDC developed a reputation as the world's premier public health agency.

But this time, the WHO has been center stage. It made the risk assessment that has told people the outbreak is not a pandemic threat.

“I don’t think this is a giant threat to the United States,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center. But how this situation has played out “just shows how empty and vapid the CDC is right now,” she said.

Tumult under Trump

The current situation comes after 16 tumultuous months during which the Trump administration withdrew from the WHO, has restricted CDC scientists from talking to international counterparts at times and embarked on a plan to build its own international public health network through one-on-one agreements with individual countries.

The administration has laid off thousands of CDC scientists and public health professionals, including members of the agency's ship sanitation program.

As this was playing out, Kennedy said he was working to “restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency.”

Waiting to hear from the CDC

The CDC has not been completely silent on hantavirus.

The agency on Wednesday issued a short statement that said the risk to the American public is “extremely low,” and described the U.S. government as “the world’s leader in global health security.”

Said Nuzzo: “Not only was that not helpful, it actually does damage because a core principle of public health communications is humility.”

The CDC's acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, posted a message on social media that the agency was lending its expertise in coordinating with other federal agencies and international authorities. Arizona officials this week said they learned from the CDC that one of the Americans who left the ship — a person with no symptoms and not considered contagious — had already returned to the state. WHO officials said the CDC has been sharing technical information.

The CDC also is “monitoring the health status and preparing medical support for all of the American passengers on the cruise,” Bhattacharya wrote.

But federal health officials have mostly been tight-lipped, declining interview requests. The first on-camera appearance by a CDC official came Saturday morning, when Bhattacharya appeared on a Fox News program and said, "My message to the American people is please don’t worry.” But he got some details wrong and overstated what was known about the outbreak.

He incorrectly said two passengers in their 80s had died after they had contracted the virus while bird-watching in Argentina. The travelers were a 70-year-old Dutch man and his 69-year-old wife and while Argentine health officials think it is possible they were infected during a bird-watching outing, it has not been established.

COVID-19 comparison

In interviews this week, some experts made a comparison with a 2020 incident involving the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship docked in Japan that became the setting of one of the first large COVID-19 outbreaks outside of China.

The CDC sent personnel to the port, helped evacuate American passengers, ran quarantines, shared genetic data on the virus, coordinated with the WHO and Japan, held public briefings and rapidly published reports “that became the world’s reference data on cruise ship COVID transmission,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director.

Some aspects of the international response to the Diamond Princess were criticized, and it did not halt the outbreak or stop COVID-19’s spread across the world. But some experts say it was not for the CDC's lack of trying.

“The CDC was right on top of it, very visible, very active in trying to manage and contain it,” Gostin said, while the agency's work now is delayed and subdued.

Instead of working with nearly all of the world's nations through the WHO, the Trump administration has pursued bilateral health agreements with individual nations for information sharing, public health support, and what it describes as “the introduction of innovative American technologies.” Roughly 30 agreements are currently in place.

That's not sufficient, Gostin said. “You can't possibly cover a global health crisis by doing one-on-one deals with countries here and there,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.

___

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

• Texas Ethics Commission reviews complaint tied to Houston podcast spending

Council Members Edward Pollard, Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, and Tiffany Thomas have signed onto a council item scheduled for discussion next week that would repeal Section 18-37 of Houston’s Code of Ordinances.

Campaign finance records show Pollard loaned his campaign $1 million in 2025 at a 0% interest rate. Records also show Thomas contributed $214 in personal funds to her campaign, while Evans-Shabazz did not report contributing personal funds to hers.

• Houston controller criticized city spending, records show office request $4,000 couch

When KPRC 2 News asked Pollard’s office about the $1 million campaign loan, his office said it had no further comment.

The ordinance currently places caps on how much candidates can reimburse themselves using campaign contributions after personally loaning money to their campaigns.

Under the current city code:

• Mayoral candidates cannot repay themselves more than $75,000 from campaign contributions.
• Candidates for other citywide offices, including controller and at-large council seats, are capped at $15,000.
• District council candidates are limited to $5,000.

The ordinance also states the repayment limits apply whether the personal loans were made before or after the rule was adopted.

The proposal argues the ordinance is no longer legally sustainable following a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate.

In that case, the Supreme Court struck down a federal restriction that limited how much candidates could repay themselves with post-election campaign donations, ruling the restriction violated First Amendment protections.

Pollard said the proposal is intended to align Houston’s ordinance with federal constitutional guidance.

• Texas Ethics Commission reviews complaint tied to Houston podcast spending

“The Prop A item is about bringing Houston’s ordinance in line with federal law,” Pollard told us. “The U.S. Supreme Court made it clear that caps like this raise constitutional concerns and violate the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment. Our goal is to make sure the City of Houston isn’t out of step with that guidance.”

KPRC 2 News requested comments from Evans-Shabazz and Thomas but did not receive a response.

The proposal is expected to be discussed during next week’s council meeting.

Another calls for court interventions by the Department of Justice on behalf of Amish parents fighting New York vaccine requirements and Catholic nuns challenging that state’s requirement that they accommodate hospice patients’ gender identities.

And the chair of the Religious Liberty Commission is calling for a federal hotline with this automated recording: “There is no separation of church and state.”

These are just some of the recommendations that members of the advisory panel formed by President Donald Trump last year want to see included in the commission’s final report.

That report is still in the works, but commissioners had an opportunity to describe their wish lists during their most recent meeting in April. There was little dissent as the commissioners, most drawn from Trump’s base of conservative Christian supporters, covered the items they want in the report.

Their ideas reflect the prevailing perspectives on the definition of religious liberty among many conservative Catholic and evangelical activists: increasing avenues for religious expression in public schools; expanding opportunities for faith-based organizations to receive public money; and allowing for religious-based exemptions in areas ranging from labor law to classroom lessons to healthcare mandates.

Such views have also been reflected in Supreme Court decisions issued in recent years by its conservative majority.

Commission criticized for narrow views

Critics of the commission say it embodies a one-sided perspective of Trump’s supporters and is threatening a well-established constitutional separation of church and state, despite the chair's claims.

A lawsuit by a progressive interreligious coalition argues that the commission fails to comply with federal law requiring advisory panels to feature diverse members and viewpoints.

The lawsuit echoes criticism that most commissioners are conservative Christian clerics and commentators; one is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. The coalition says members have asserted that America is specifically a Judeo-Christian or Christian nation and notes that most commission meetings took place at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, an institution with Christian leadership.

The Republican administration is asking a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. The government is citing legal technicalities and contending the law does not define how a commission should be fairly balanced or whose viewpoints should be represented.

Another entity created by Trump — the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias — issued a report saying Christians faced discrimination under the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden in areas such as education, tax law and prosecution of anti-abortion protesters. Progressive groups said that report failed to document systemic discrimination, focused on causes favored by conservative Christians and amounted to advocacy rather than an investigation.

In a further interlocking of Trump-related initiatives, several members of the Religious Liberty Commission are scheduled to take part in a May 17 prayer event marking the country’s upcoming 250th birthday. Several also participated in a recent Bible-reading marathon staged largely at the Museum of the Bible.

Harmony and tension within the commission

The commission has mostly featured agreement among members, with one dramatic exception. One commissioner, Carrie Prejean Boller, was ousted in February after a contentious hearing on antisemitism.

Commission Chair Dan Patrick said Prejean Boller sought to “hijack” the hearing, in which she had sharp exchanges with witnesses about the definition of antisemitism and defended commentator Candace Owens, denying her record of antisemitic statements. Prejean Boller, a Catholic, contended she was wrongly ousted for expressing her beliefs.

In other hearings, witnesses described how they defied workplace regulations that they said conflicted with their conservative religious values on gender, abortion, COVID-19 vaccines and more. Some said they were prevented, at least temporarily, from displaying a religious symbol at work or trying to sing a Christian song at a school talent show.

At the hearing devoted to antisemitism, Jewish witnesses spoke of being harassed and threatened at campus pro-Palestinian protests against Israel. The commission has also heard from some Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and other witnesses.

Even so, critics said the commission mostly focused on conservative Christian and right-leaning political grievances.

The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of the progressive Interfaith Alliance, one of the groups suing over the commission’s composition, said the panel’s omissions are as significant as what it focuses on.

He said the commission has failed adequately to address such issues as anti-Muslim efforts in Texas and elsewhere, and also the rise of antisemitism on the right, not just the left.

Separation of church and state debate

Raushenbush said he is especially worried about the commission chair's challenging the very notion of church-state separation.

Patrick, a Republican who is the Texas lieutenant governor, repeatedly denounced a concept that is embedded in Supreme Court precedent.

“We need to say there is no separation of church and state,” Patrick said at the April meeting. “That’s a lie.” He suggested printing “a million bumper stickers” to that effect.

No one at the commission meeting disagreed.

Trump made similar comments at a prayer event at the White House in 2025. “They say separation between church and state,” Trump said. “I said, all right, let’s forget about that for one time.”

While the phrase “separation of church and state” does not appear in the Constitution, 20th-century decisions by the Supreme Court cited Thomas Jefferson's description of the First Amendment as creating “a wall of separation between church and state." The court applied the First Amendment's prohibition of any church “establishment” to the states in addition to the federal government, citing the 14th Amendment's ban on states denying citizens’ rights.

Courts have since wrestled with how to balance freedom of religion and freedom from government-sponsored religion.

Concerns touch on schools, vaccines, workplaces and more

Patrick has advocated for prayer and Ten Commandments postings in public schools.

“I don’t have any malice towards anyone that doesn’t believe in any type of faith,” Patrick told fellow commissioners. “That’s fine. That’s what America is about. But these organizations that are pushed by some ideology and pushed by someone’s bank account who wants to remove God from our country? We need to push back.”

On other issues, various commissioners called for requiring schools and workplaces to post notices of the rights of religious expression and exemptions.

Some called for restoring full pay and pension benefits for military service members who were discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, called for enabling religious groups such as Catholic Charities to receive federal money without compromising on traditional church teachings about the family.

He also said Catholic immigrants in detention should have humane treatment and access to sacraments and that immigration agents should not disrupt worship services in enforcement actions. The administration last year eliminated a policy against immigration enforcement in sanctuaries, which other religious leaders said should not occur at any time.

Kelly Shackelford, president and chief executive officer of the legal organization First Liberty Institute, called for new requirements that governments pay all legal bills if they lose a religious liberty case. He said many individuals lack the money to challenge the government in court.

“That would be a huge shifting of power in favor of citizens,” he said.

___

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 Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Major Crimes detectives arrested Jeremy Michael Buckner, 35, on Saturday in connection with the crash.

• MORE NEWS: Man accused of indecency with child in Montgomery County case tied to Pine Valley Middle School

Buckner is being held in the Montgomery County Jail and has been charged with collision involving injury or death, a second-degree felony, according to the sheriff’s office.

The investigation began May 7 when the Splendora Police Department responded to the 15000 block of U.S. Highway 59 for a report of a possible deceased man.

Officers and Montgomery County Hospital District personnel determined the man was dead at the scene. Early evidence led investigators to believe the death involved an auto-pedestrian crash, prompting Splendora police to request assistance from the sheriff’s office.

Detectives later identified the victim as Gary Belvin, and investigators said initial findings indicate Belvin was struck by a vehicle that fled the scene.

The sheriff’s office said detectives and crime scene investigators worked to gather evidence, identify the suspect and locate Buckner, leading to the arrest.

“I am incredibly proud to work alongside the dedicated men and women of our Major Crimes Unit. This case reflects the relentless commitment our detectives bring to every investigation. We will not rest until justice is served for victims and their families. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Belvin family as they grieve. We hope this arrest brings them a small amount of peace.”

Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle

Your weather team is tracking a real but low severe weather threat today. We’re watching a 30% chance of rain Saturday. Basically, it’s rain for some not all. And that will be theme for us on Sunday as well.

You can track rain before you leave your house here:

But regardless of where you live - you will feel the heat and humidity this weekend. We’re waking up in the 70s this weekend, but thanks to Sunday’s front - our morning lows will drop into the 60s as we get into our workweek.

Saturday’s Severe Thunderstorms: We’re tracking a low but real severe weather threat - much like the past couple of days. A lot of rich tropical moisture sits on top of us, but we’re out of the main storm track. Please keep in mind, if storms do form over Houston, they will be strong.

Here’s a look at Futuretrack: Which can change so make sure you’re always watching radar too!

Mother’s Day Sunday:

Sunday, Mother’s Day, starts great! But Sunday night a cold front moves through. This front will bring a line rain and thunderstorms. Our northern cities have a chance of hail and strong winds. The storms will weaken the closer they get to the coast.

10 Day Forecast:

Looking ahead into next week, expect a drier weather pattern but the mugginess will stick around with temperatures forecast to range between 84 to 88 degrees. Next chance of rain is Sunday May 17th.

Have you captured a dramatic rain photo or video? Share your weather moments with the KPRC 2 community through Click2Pins at Click2Houston.com/pins.

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

1) J.A.M Viet Kitchen (West Side / Westheimer)

Why it’s on the list: Shepherd says he found dishes at J.A.M Viet Kitchen he hadn’t seen since traveling in Vietnam—plus a Vietnamese-ingredient-driven bar program that’s not typical for most Vietnamese restaurants.

What he eats/drinks in the episode

• Egg coffee (cold version) — whipped egg yolk + sweetened condensed milk foam over Vietnamese coffee.
• Salted caramel coffee — heavy cream whip with powdered sugar + sea salt over the same coffee base.
• Egg coffee martini (espresso martini riff) — Vietnamese coffee + the egg/condensed milk element turned into a cocktail.
• Phở Bắc (pho-based cocktail) — tequila infused with skimmed pho fat for “all the flavors of pho” in drink form.

• Bánh tráng nướng — crispy, egg-seared rice paper “pizza” style snack with sausage; he calls out the quail eggs as the best part.
• Bánh căn — small skillet rice-flour pancakes (Central Vietnam-style), topped with seafood like crab, cuttlefish, shrimp.
• Bánh bột chiên — steamed rice cake with fried egg, Chinese sausage and a soy/vinegar element.
• Cơm tấm (“Saigon oi” broken rice platter) — pork chop + steamed pork cake + pork sausage, plus crispy/rendered bits and shredded pork skin; he mentions you can even add shrimp, bone marrow, or a tomahawk.
• Cao lầu — a Hoi An specialty with roasted pork, herbs, crunch, citrus, and distinctive noodles; Shepherd highlights the noodles’ chew and says to get it “as fast as you can.”

Shepherd’s quick “what to order” recap

• Bánh tráng nướng
• Bánh căn
• Cao lầu 
• Saigon oi / broken rice platter
• Finish with an egg coffee martini (and he also raves about the pho cocktail)

PREVIOUS EPISODE: Chris Shepherd shares two of his favorite Houston-area spots for a great meal with friends

2) Milton’s (Rice Village)

Why it’s on the list: If you want a “classic Italian-American dinner,” Shepherd calls Milton’s the place— especially for a certain comfort-food classic he can’t stop talking about.

What he orders

• Chicken Parmesan — the one he says he “dreams about,” praising the fry, seasoning, moist chicken, melted cheese, and sauce.

Extra notes he drops

• Pasta is made in-house.
• Great-value wine list.
• Cocktails are “fantastic.”
• Mentions Lee’s next door as a nearby spot to nightcap/pre-game.

3) Yiayia’s Greek Kitchen (Richmond)

Why it’s on the list: Shepherd frames YiaYia’s as a must for the “things I really love to go eat” portion of the lightning round—Greek food with a high-end approach, a big bar, and a deep Greek wine selection.

What he drinks

• YiaYia’s tonic — an herb-forward gin & tonic he says is perfectly balanced (with noticeable dill that doesn’t go too far).
• Kokkini Sunset — tequila + mezcal with a bell pepper cordial, named after Kokkini Beach outside Corfu.

What he eats

• Chicken souvlaki — air-chilled chicken thighs, finished with olive oil/garlic/shallots; served with tzatziki, grain salad, charred tomato. He says this is what other souvlaki “want to be.”
• Saganaki (tableside) — seared Kefalograviera (sheep’s milk cheese) flambéed with brandy and topped with a date/pear compote; served with house pita.

Extra notes he drops

• Mentions it’s relatively new and references the space’s prior identity (YiaYia Mary’s).
• Calls out 100+ Greek wines on the list.
• Encourages: get a reservation and go.

4) Tornado Burger (Stafford)

Why it’s on the list: A recommendation-driven stop—he says “Abbas told me” to get the spicy burger, and he’s here specifically for that.

What he orders

• Double Spicy Burger — patties ground with jalapeño, garlic, and onion so the heat/flavor is built in (not just chunks). He notes it’s not overly spicy, and you can add more jalapeños if you want.

Also mentioned (temptations)

• Cheesesteak (including the idea you can do it spicy).
• Onion strings (he sees them and has to get them).

5) Froberg’s Farm (Alvin) — for the fried pies

Why it’s on the list: This is the nostalgia/pilgrimage stop. Shepherd says when he was cooking at Brennan’s, they’d come down to Froberg’s Farm weekly for produce—and it was “mandatory” to come back with fried pies.

What he gets

• Fried pies — he rapid-fires flavors including lemon, pineapple, tart cherry, coconut, chocolate, buttermilk, strawberry, plus a “Sweet Caroline” flavor he describes like banana cream.

Why it works

• He ties it to seasonality and place: seeing strawberries growing nearby and then eating a strawberry fried pie made with preserves that aren’t “out of a big jug.”

The takeaway: a Houston-area hit list with zero rules

If you’re copying Shepherd’s exact “no theme” energy, do it like this:

1. Start with J.A.M Viet Kitchen for Vietnamese snacks + coffee/cocktails.
2. Go classic comfort at Milton’s with chicken parm.
3. Make it a night at Yiayia’s (cocktails + souvlaki + tableside cheese).
4. Detour to Stafford for the Tornado Burger spicy smash.
5. Finish with a drive to Alvin for Froberg Farms fried pies.

“Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd” is your guide to the best food in Houston. Watch new episodes Saturdays at 10 a.m. on KPRC 2.

Season 3 of “Eat Like a Local”

• SEASON 3, EPISODE 56: Season 3 of ‘Eat Like a Local’ launches with chefs recognized by the James Beard Awards
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 57: Beer + Bites: Discover two of the Houston-area’s best craft breweries
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 58: Hungry for a short trip? 4 flavorful restaurants to try in Baytown
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 59: Not your typical Chinese takeout! Houston’s regional Chinese restaurants serve up authenticity in every bite
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 60: From tortas to paletas: Generations of Mexican-American flavor in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 61: Farmed Fresh: Gulf Coast oysters make waves in Houston restaurants
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 62: Houston’s pizza scene is rising: Chris Shepherd explores top spots for every style
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 63: ‘Fine casual’ dining with killer cocktails | Go inside Brennan’s renovated courtyard bar in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 64: Houston eateries transform healthy dining with vibrant flavors and customizable meals everyone will love
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 65: These Greek family restaurants became Houston icons | Hear the stories behind Christie’s and Cleburne Cafeteria
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 66: Classic dishes are taken to new levels at these Houston restaurants | What to order at State of Grace & Credence
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 67: Discover Houston Asiatown’s unique snacks with Chris Shepherd
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 68: ‘Eat Like a Local’ explores Jūn’s cultural fusion and Latuli’s coastal cuisine in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 69: Chris Shepherd’s Houston-area burger picks include a hot new spot and a 50-year classic
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 70: MEET THE PITMASTERS 🔥 ‘Eat Like a Local’ gets to know the teams behind CorkScrew BBQ & Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 71: Win the Hosting Game! 🏈 Game Day recipes & crowd-pleasers from Chef Chris Shepherd
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 72: These meat markets are a cut above when it comes to quality, flavor, and tradition
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 73: ‘Top Chef’ finalist says this spot has the best corn dogs at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 74: Houston coffee gems (Matcha lovers, this one’s for you)
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 75: Craving Cajun food in Houston? These restaurants deliver big variety and flavor
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 76: Where to eat in Houston’s Heights neighborhood | Chris Shepherd visits 3 top picks
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 77: Chris Shepherd shares two of his favorite Houston-area spots for a great meal with friends
• Watch seasons 1 & 2 of “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd”

The slain hikers were among 20 who set out to ascend the 1,355-meter (4,445-foot) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early Friday, spewing a thick ash column that rose about 10 kilometers (6 miles) into the air.

The woman, identified by authorities only as Enjel and known as a local hiker, was located Saturday afternoon, about 50 meters (165 feet) from the rim of the main crater, said Iwan Ramdani, who heads local Search and Rescue Office. The location of the bodies of two Singaporean climbers remains unknown, and rescue teams are continuing operations amid high volcanic activity, he said.

“The rescue efforts went through a situation that required careful calculation and a well-planned evacuation strategy,” Ramdani said, “We took into account the potential escalation of volcanic activity as well as the safety of all personnel.”

Hours after the eruption, 17 climbers had been safely evacuated, including seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesians who eventually joined the rescue operation and provided information on climbing routes of the victims before the eruption. Ten of those evacuated suffered minor burn injuries.

The search operation that involved more than 100 personnel supported by drones resumed early Saturday, focusing on a 700 square-meter (7,500 square-foot) area where clues were found during earlier searches, despite hazardous terrain and continuing eruptions, according to Ramdani.

He said rescuers were prioritizing safety because Dukono’s volcanic activity remains elevated.

“The main challenge in this search effort is that we are racing against ongoing eruptions,” Ramdani said in a video statement, “When the authorities declare conditions safe, we move closer to the crater area, but when an eruption occurs, we must immediately secure all search personnel from potential danger.”

Indonesia’s volcanology agency reported multiple eruptions from early Saturday through late morning, including ash columns rising as high as 3,000 meters (nearly 10,000 feet) above the crater. Lava bursts were also observed overnight from a monitoring post near the volcano.

Mount Dukono has been on the second-highest alert level status since 2008. Authorities enforced a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) exclusion zone around the active crater in December 2024.

Local authorities formally closed all hiking routes to Mount Dukono in April and reinforced the ban following Friday’s incident. The National Disaster Management Agency warned that entering restricted zones could result in legal sanctions.

The agency urged climbers and tour operators to comply with safety recommendations, noting that similar restrictions apply to dozens of other active volcanoes across the country currently at elevated alert levels.

Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is home to more than 120 active volcanoes.

It might take a lot more than friendly officiating to make this series a fair fight.

The Western Conference semifinals series moves to Los Angeles for Saturday's Game 3 and the Lakers hope a change of scenery can help them get back into the matchup against the defending NBA champion Thunder.

Oklahoma City looks as formidable as ever and is 6-0 in these playoffs. The Thunder have won five of those games by at least 10 points.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers are in a similar situation on Saturday. They're in a 2-0 hole against the Detroit Pistons but now get to play in front of their home crowd.

Saturday's schedule

— Game 3, Detroit at Cleveland, 3 p.m. EDT (NBC/Peacock)

Series: Detroit, 2-0.

Odds: Cleveland by 4.5.

The Pistons have won five consecutive postseason games for the first time since 2008 — and three of them were while facing elimination in Round 1. Cleveland is now 2-10 in conference semifinal games over the past three seasons.

— Game 3, Oklahoma City at LA Lakers, 8:30 p.m. EDT (ABC)

Series: Oklahoma City, 2-0.

Odds: Oklahoma City by 8.5.

The Lakers are furious with elements of the officiating right now, and that might go one of two ways in Game 3. They'll either come out inspired on Saturday and make this a series, or the anger could work against them.

Sunday's schedule

— Game 4, New York at Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m.. EDT (ABC)

Series: New York, 3-0.

Odds: New York by 1.5.

The Knicks go for the four-game sweep on the road. Jalen Brunson scored 33 points in Game 3, delivering another big playoff performance. New York's fans — famous or not — have made themselves a big presence in Philadelphia. Mikal Bridges is having a big second-round series for the Knicks after struggling in the first round. He is averaging 19.3 points and shooting 64.9% from the field.

— Game 4, San Antonio at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m. EDT (NBC, Peacock)

Series: San Antonio, 2-1.

Odds: San Antonio by 4.5.

Victor Wembanyama delivered a masterful playoff performance in Game 3 with a career playoff-high 39 points, 15 rebounds and some game-wrecking defense. The Timberwolves need to find answers in a hurry when they host Game 4 before the series shifts back to San Antonio.

Friday's recap

— Knicks 108, 76ers 94 for 3-0 series lead.

— Spurs 115, Timberwolves 108 for 2-1 series lead.

Knicks, Thunder can afford patience

Injuries in the playoffs are never a good thing, but a comfortable lead in the second round gives the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder some room to be patient.

The Knicks have the luxury not to rush back forward OG Anunoby, who is averaging 21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with a strained right hamstring and remains day to day.

The top-seeded Thunder are in a similar position as they wait for high-scoring guard Jalen Williams to return from a hamstring injury. Second-year guard Ajay Mitchell has played well in Williams' absence, averaging 19.5 points and five assists against the Lakers.

Awards watch

A breakdown of this season's NBA awards:

— Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year: DeAndre Jordan, New Orleans.

— Hustle Award: Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte.

— Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio.

— Clutch Player of the Year: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City.

— Sixth Man of the Year: Keldon Johnson, San Antonio.

— Sportsmanship Award: Derrick White, Boston.

— Most Improved Player: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta.

— Rookie of the Year: Cooper Flagg, Dallas.

— Executive of the Year: Brad Stevens, Boston.

Among the announcements still to come:

— Most Valuable Player: Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic.

— Coach of the Year: Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson or Boston's Joe Mazzulla.

Betting odds

Defending champion Oklahoma City (-165) is favored to win the NBA title, according to oddsmakers.

The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+300), New York (+700), Detroit (+1600), Cleveland (+6600), Los Angeles Lakers (+10000), Minnesota (+12500) and Philadelphia (+25000).

Key dates

— Sunday: NBA draft lottery.

— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.

— May 17 or 19: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.

— May 18 or 20: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.

— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).

— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft.

— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft.

Quote of the day

“I’m Linus. Jalen (Brunson's) my blanket,” first-year Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “He helps me relax at a lot of different times during the course of the game.”

Stats of the day

— Wembanyama is averaging five blocks through seven playoff games. The Spurs star was at his best in the fourth quarter of Friday night's win, scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds.

— Detroit's Cade Cunningham is scoring 30.6 points per game in the playoffs, which leads the NBA. He is shooting nearly 41% from 3-point range.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said it obtained an arrest warrant May 7 for Garrett Cross after investigators looked into allegations from the period when Cross worked at Pine Valley Middle School in New Caney ISD.

Detectives later learned Cross is currently employed by Humble ISD. “District officials have since placed Cross on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.

Cross turned himself in to the sheriff’s office May 8 and remains in custody at the Montgomery County Jail, according to authorities.

The case is being handled by the sheriff’s office Special Victims Unit in coordination with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Public Integrity Division.

KPRC 2 News has reached out to Humble ISD and New Caney ISD for more information.

• MORE NEWS: Judge forfeits $1 million bond for capital murder suspect who fled to Italy before trial

Anyone with information — or who believes they may have been a victim — is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 936-538-5900.

Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact Multi-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-392-7867.

HPD northeast officers were called around 10 p.m. last night to the Pemex gas station at 747 Kress Street.

Investigators said a father and son got into a verbal dispute that turned physical, and the son pulled out a gun and fired, striking his father. The number of times the father was shot was not immediately known; he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

• MORE NEWS: Employee finds coworker dead inside Alief business with blunt force trauma; police investigating as homicide

The son, described as being in his late teens or early 20s, was taken into custody. Charges are pending further investigation and will be reviewed by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, police said.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults — and around half of those under 50 — get health information from social media or podcasts.

Researchers also looked at the social media profiles of 6,828 health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers. Only about 4 in 10 list a background as a health professional. About one-third called themselves coaches, about 3 in 10 described themselves as entrepreneurs and about 1 in 10 cited their own life experience, like being a parent.

Despite the wide range of expertise, about half of people who get health and wellness information from influencers said the influencers help them better understand their own health, while about one-third said it hasn't made much difference. About 1 in 10 said it made them more confused.

Experts say a bit of skepticism is key to interacting with posts about fitness, mental health and personal health. Here are their tips on how to be a smarter consumer.

How to vet a health influencer's credentials

Experts said the biggest green flag is when an influencer's credentials are easy to find on their profile. Beware the fill-in-the-blank “coach” who can't prove their training.

Courtney Babilya, a certified medical exercise specialist and personal trainer who has more than 430,000 followers on Instagram, has seen this with maternity content: "Someone has a baby and suddenly they’re a pregnancy coach.”

“We have to be careful with people who have an experience in one thing and suddenly become a ‘coach’ on that,” she said.

Coach is a business model, not a sign of training. Babilya shares her own experience dealing with chronic illness online, but keeps it separate from her professional advice.

"You do have an obligation to make sure that you are not giving someone a false idea or spreading a message that isn’t going to be applicable to everyone," she said.

Don't fall for viral shock factor

If it brings up big emotions, pause. For people who can't access care or feel unheard by their doctors, an offbeat opinion could feel like a long-sought answer. The Pew survey found 53% of uninsured people got health information from social media, compared to 38% of those who were insured.

But people who are trying to share good medical information online are not trying to incite fear or surprise, said Dr. Fatima Daoud Yilmaz, an OB-GYN at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, whose popular “Feminine Aisle” video series rates drug store products.

Even if the person has expertise, ask yourself: Are they speaking outside the scope of their knowledge? Is what they're saying in line with scientific consensus?

“All opinions are not created equal when it comes to something such as health or medicine or science,” said Daoud.

Look out for exaggerated or definitive claims, especially in the first few seconds of the video when influencers are trying hard to grab your attention, added Babilya.

Ambivalent wording is a good sign, said Nedra Glover Tawwab, a practicing therapist and author. In her videos on boundaries and mental health, she couches with “maybe,” “sometimes,” “perhaps," rather than diagnosing her 1.8 million followers on Instagram.

If you feel like you've found a diagnosis online, that is your sign to seek out a professional, Tawwab said.

Follow the influencer money

People on social media are making money — for some, it is their livelihood.

“It doesn’t mean that all of the information that they put out is biased, but it should tell consumers of that information to take it with a grain of salt because they do have financial incentive to be pushing information like this,” Daoud said.

Babilya's platform is now a full-time job, and the way she helps support her family. Taking partnerships and brand deals was not an easy decision, but one that makes her work sustainable.

Babilya said she prioritizes being upfront with her audience and making sure her ads are transparently labeled.

Stop being a passive scroller

Experts also recommend pausing to check the video’s sources. Look for gold standard science. Some posts are not well fact-checked, Babilya warned, citing studies that have nothing to do with what the influencer says it does.

Use the same standard as when you’re vetting a purchase online. Look at the larger conversation around the advice as you would reading product reviews, Tawwab said.

Two-thirds of users said they just happen to come across the content rather than seeking it out, according to the Pew survey.

If you want to control your feed, it will take time and ongoing effort, said Ash Milton of the University of Minnesota, who studies how users navigate online mental health information.

“You have to work for it because the algorithm is designed to be passive consumption,” Milton said.

You can use “Hidden Words” on Instagram or “Not Interested” on TikTok to filter out certain content, though Milton notes TikTok might not know exactly what in the video you're not interested in. Use your own reaction as a barometer to limit content by asking yourself: Is the health information actually applicable and helpful to your life, or just relatable?

Find a doctor you trust

Confirm with a trusted health professional before acting on anything you see online.

Influencers can say anything while medical professionals are ethically and legally liable for your care, and “may face professional and personal consequences for the advice that they give you," Daoud said.

“Ultimately, talk to the medical provider who knows you,” she said.

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

The jury limited its action to countries under investigation by the International Criminal Court for human rights abuses, but some say the U.S. should have been included. British artist Anish Kapoor cited “the politics of hate and war and all that that’s been going on now for too long.”

Visitors to the Giardini and Arsenale venues will vote for the best national pavilion, from 100 participants, and best participant in the main curated show, “In Minor Keys,” in Eurovision style. The vote will be anonymous, and by email, the Biennale said Saturday. Winners will be announced closing day, Nov. 22.

Ahead of the opening, protesters objecting to Israel's participation clashed with police on Friday. Earlier in the week, feminist groups from Ukraine and Russia converged on the Russian Pavilion and Palestinians remembered artists killed in Gaza.

Some places to start:

Koyo Kouoh’s ‘In Minor Keys’

A towering red feathered sculpture with beaded embroidery greets visitors to the main curated show. Rooted in New Orleans Black Masking culture born from practices brought by enslaved Africans, the costume-like sculpture signals the show’s focus on minority perspectives.

The first African woman chosen to curate the main Biennale exhibition, the late Koyo Kouoh assembled 110 artists and artistic groups under a title meant to spotlight the overlooked, and five co-curators carried on her legacy after her death a year ago.

“She was someone who thought about making spaces for everyone to shine and we see it in her exhibition, we see it with ourselves,” said co-curator Marie Helene Pereira.

Britain's Lubaina Himid explores life as a newcomer

Lubaina Himid, a Turner Prize winner, explores what it is like to make a home in a new place in her exhibition titled “Predicting History: Testing Translation” for the British Pavilion, featuring brightly hued paintings of couples facing the dilemmas of newcomers.

In one, two architects are trying to decide where to build. “One of them is trying to decide, would we build a building here, that proves that we have contributed to the culture, and the other architect is saying ’No, no, no, no, no. Let’s build something that we can escape in tomorrow,” said Himid, who was born in Zanzibar and has spent more than 70 years in Great Britain.

The Vatican’s Mystic Garden

The Vatican is offering spiritual respite from the world’s turmoil in the Mystic Gardens of Discalced Carmelite order next to Venice’s main train station.

Participants walk among the vineyards and pass a pomegranate tree and beds of herbs, wearing headphones that pick up music by the 12th-Century abbess, mystic and composer, St. Hildegard of Bingen, reinterpreted by artists such as Brian Eno and Patti Smith.

“Music also helps us delve into ourselves and understand, to use a phrase by Hildegard, the symphony that God has placed in our lives,” said Rev. Ermanno Barucco, prior of the Carmelite order.

Austrian Pavilion uses effluent as an artistic medium

A naked woman hangs from a bell outside the Austrian Pavilion, a human clapper making the performance art by Florentina Holzinger one of the hottest appointments in the Giardini. Inside, a nude rider swirls around on a Jet Ski inside a tank — emblematic of Venice’s relegation as an over-touristed amusement park.

A naked woman breathes through a scuba mouthpiece in another huge tank filled with water that has been flushed from nearby toilets and filtered multiple times. The presentation is called “Seaworld Venice.”

Israel: a meditation on love and war

Inside Romanian-born artist Belu-Simion Fainaru's installation, water drips from suspended tubes into a pool, stopping in cycles for just 42 seconds, representing divine creative power in Jewish mysticism. Locks hung around the pavilion, like those placed by lovers on bridges around Europe, are engraved with the commandment “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” in Hebrew, and the hopeful exhortation: “This too shall pass.”

“I am against boycott, I’m for dialogue, and that’s a political statement,” said Fainaru, who called the jury's exclusion of Israel a form of discrimination.

Art as a daily practice in the Estonian Pavilion

Estonian artist Merike Estna will work throughout the Biennale on a huge wall painting inside a community center gymnasium that was once a church — the space's layered history mirroring her practice of spilling paint to build deeply textured surfaces over time. The act of daily painting represents the undervalued quotidian work of women.

Curator Natalia Sielewicz likened it to “the everyday feminism of sustaining life, of sustaining our planet.''

But President Donald Trump might be interested in the role.

Shortly after the United States and Iran exchanged fire on Thursday, Trump made a quick jaunt to the National Mall to review the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that he ordered repainted a color he describes as “American flag blue.”

The project has been on his mind lately. During an hour-plus speech Monday to small-business owners, Trump spent about nine minutes talking about the paint job, detailing the granite floor and boasting that he whittled the renovation's cost to $1.9 million from what he said was an initial $350 million estimate.

Trump's next project might be East Potomac Park, home to an affordable, accessible public golf course with views of the Washington Monument.

The Republican president has talked of transforming it into a posh “U.S. Open-caliber course.” Signs were posted this week warning of a disruption and preservation advocates took the government to court as debris dumped there from the White House East Wing demolition tested positive for lead.

By late Friday, the nonprofit that operates the course said it would continue managing the space until the National Park Service begins a “historic restoration.”

Meanwhile, the White House told a planning agency that it would cost taxpayers at least $7.5 million to follow through on Trump's plan to paint the granite Eisenhower Executive Office Building white.

And that was just this week in Washington's extreme makeover.

All the president's projects

Over the past year, Trump has bulldozed the East Wing to make way for a ballroom. His name was added to the facades of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center, which he plans to close for a two-year renovation. His face adorns a banner at the Department of Justice's headquarters, among others. He is pushing for a triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery and has closed parks, including Lafayette Square across from the White House, for a rehab.

Trump is guaranteeing himself a lasting imprint on a city where he won just 6.5% of the vote in 2024. He is flexing extraordinary executive power and offering fresh insight into how he spends his time, perhaps a president's most valuable asset.

As the Washington projects unfolded this week, the ceasefire in Iran was at risk of unraveling, motor club AAA said the average price of a gallon of gas surpassed $4.50 and elections provided new evidence of Democratic enthusiasm heading into the November elections.

“It's not a zero-sum game but obviously all presidents have limited amounts of capital they can use and limited amounts of attention that they have to give,” said presidential historian Julian Zelizer of Princeton University. “And he's deciding, in a moment of war, a moment of economic instability, that this is a priority.”

Trump rejects such concerns.

Asked at the Reflecting Pool why he was focused on the project given the U.S. military action in Iran, he said, “Our country is about beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people. Not a filthy capital.”

Political considerations for Republicans

For Republicans defending slim congressional majorities, it is not so simple. Many would prefer to talk about policy accomplishments, including tax cuts, rather than multimillion-dollar Washington construction projects.

While few directly criticize Trump, there is an acknowledgment that the party needs to confront economic realities.

“A lot of Americans are very worried about the cost of living and we need to address it,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said recently.

A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted in late April found that 52% percent of Americans oppose Trump’s planned arch. That includes about 6 in 10 independents. Some 51% of Republicans favor it.

Americans oppose the ballroom by a 2-to-1 margin, driven largely by Democrats and independents. About 2 in 10 Republicans oppose the project, according to the poll. The poll did not find a notable shift in support of the ballroom after a shooting at last month’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Trump has cited that incident in his push for a secure facility, something he did not mention when he initially ordered the demolition of the East Wing.

Trump is showing no sign of backing away from any of the projects. In a sign of the GOP's loyalty to him, Republican senators added $1 billion in White House security upgrades for the ballroom to an unrelated bill this week. Trump initially said taxpayer money would not be needed.

A dizzying pace of change in Washington

In a city where historic preservation is often sacred, the pace of change has been dizzying.

Rebecca Miller, the executive director of DC Preservation League, has spent 23 years at the organization, which sued to stop the golf course takeover and joined a coalition attempting to force the Kennedy Center to comply with preservation laws. She said her organization has worked with administrations of both parties and called the Trump moves “highly unusual.”

“One of the problems that we have right now is an administration that seems to think that it can just plow ahead without any input,” she said. “These assets are owned by the people of the United States. They're not anybody's personal portfolio.”

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Trump is “laser-focused on lowering costs for working families, deporting illegal criminals, keeping our cities safe, beautifying our nation’s capital, and protecting our national security by ensuring Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon all at the same time.”

This is not the first time a White House has taken an interest in Washington's appearance.

During Lyndon Johnson's administration, first lady Lady Bird Johnson oversaw beautification efforts that included planting trees and flowers throughout the District of Columbia.

Her efforts were sometimes derided as distractions from other pressing issues, such as the Vietnam War. But she implemented them in coordination with local officials.

“Lady Bird Johnson was trying to bring out the natural beauty of Washington,” said Mark Updegrove, chairman of the LBJ Foundation and a presidential historian. “Donald Trump is trying to remake the nation's capital in his own image.”

Trump's assertion of power over Washington, including the continued deployment of National Guard troops, has animated the city's Democratic primary next month for key local offices, including mayor and delegate to Congress.

The first question at a forum for mayoral candidates this week focused on how to protect the Home Rule Act, the 1973 law that gave the city limited self-government. The candidates said they would stand up to Trump as needed, though one contender, Vincent Orange, noted that national Democrats had also failed the district.

“The two times that we had an opportunity at statehood, it was the Democrats who let us down," he said, referring to failed congressional attempts to make the city a state with full rights of representation.

In an interview, Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. Council member and top candidate in the mayor's race, said city officials need to do a better job of making their case in Congress for statehood. She said Trump's impact on the city is broader than the renovations, as she referred to the troop deployments as a “federal occupation” and noted the fallout from immigration enforcement activity and cuts to the federal workforce.

“The people of our city are afraid,” she said. “It's the mayor's job to really let the nation know that D.C. has uniquely been left vulnerable.”

Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who often supported the city's autonomy when he was a congressman, said the renovations offer an “opportunity to bring some money into the city and spruce up stuff that you wouldn't have had otherwise.”

“But this is tough,” he said. “This is not a city that is in love with the president."

___

Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

“My players recognized their mistake, expressed their remorse and asked for forgiveness,” Arbeloa told reporters in Madrid on Saturday in his first public appearance since the fight.

“That is enough for me,” he said. “What I am not going to do is burn them on a pyre in a town square, because they don’t deserve that. It is time to turn the page."

The tussle by the two midfielders when Madrid practiced on Thursday ended with Valverde at the hospital to treat a head wound. Valverde said he had hit his head on a table, calling the incident “a meaningless fight.”

Madrid said both players apologized to one another the next day when they met with club officials investigating the incident. They also apologized to their teammates, coaching staff and fans.

The 15-time European champion, however, found the spat a serious enough breach of team discipline to slap the players with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player.

Arbeloa said he was satisfied with how the club had handled the situation, while also adding that he had seen worse behavior in his playing career as a defender, which included Madrid, Liverpool, West Ham and Spain’s national team.

“I had a teammate that hit another with a golf club,” he said, without giving any more detail. “Situations like this have always happened, but I am not justifying them.”

During Arbeloa's playing days at Liverpool, teammates Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise were involved in an incident in which Bellamy hit Riise with a golf club prior to a Champions League game at Barcelona in 2007.

Arbeloa’s harshest words were not for Valverde and Tchouaméni, but rather for whoever it was who told the media about the fight. It was first reported by Spanish sports daily Marca.

“That what happens in the changing room ends up being filtered (to the media) for me is a betrayal of Real Madrid,” he said. “These things must stay in the changing room.”

And now a trip to Camp Nou with everything to lose

Madrid is facing a second straight season without a major trophy, despite having France star Kylian Mbappé on the squad.

The 43-year-old Arbeloa has only been in charge since January when he was promoted from Madrid's reserve team to substitute the fired Xabi Alonso. It would be a major shock if he is not replaced after the season given the inconsistent play of his star-studded side.

Arbeloa now has the difficult task of rallying his players for a game at fierce rival Barcelona on Sunday. Only a win by Madrid can stop Barcelona from clinching a second straight La Liga title, and even then it would likely just delay a title celebration by Barcelona with the Catalan club 11 points ahead of Madrid with four games left.

“There is no doubt I have to take the responsibility for the fact that we have not risen to the challenge this season,” Arbeloa said. “It is clear that feelings of frustration and anger can push you into situations that you don’t desire. But now we must focus on (Sunday’s) game.”

Tchouaméni will be in Madrid's squad for the clasico, Arbeloa said, while Valverde is on medical leave recovering from his head injury.

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

"I grabbed three of them,” Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said before a 4-3 loss to the Athletics.

Shakur was raised in New York and Baltimore before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980s. He lived in Oakland, California, in the early 1990s, which made Friday's matchup between the Orioles and Athletics an appropriate time to honor the rap icon, who was killed in 1996. The familiar riff from “California Love” was played while the starting lineup for the A's — who left Oakland before last season — was being announced.

Albernaz mentioned “Pain” when asked his favorite Tupac song.

“This is back on — I'm dating myself — Napster or LimeWire, trying to download that,” Albernaz said.

He also said “All Eyez On Me” best encapsulates the current Baltimore team.

Everyone on the Orioles' active roster was born in 1989 or later, so it wasn't immedately clear if the players were familiar with Shakur's music.

“I hope so,” Albernaz said. “I probably should ask around about that.”

Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, Tupac's sister, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

The game drew 39,311 fans, the most for a Baltimore home game since opening day.

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

Ian Happ extended his on-base streak to 29 games, Michael Busch hit a three-run double and the Cubs clinched their second 10-game winning streak this year with a 7-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

It's the first time since 1935 that Chicago has had two 10-game winning streaks in a season. The only time the Cubs had more was in 1906 with four.

“That means you’re doing something that’s pretty rare, and I think we realize that,” manager Craig Counsell said.

The 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers were the previous major league team with two 10-game winning streaks within the first 39 games of a season, according to Sportradar. They did it in their first 24 games.

“Baseball is a game of a ridiculous amount of stats and things to look up, so anytime you have to go that far back, it is obviously a good sign, especially on a positive like that,” Chicago second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “We're just going to keep it rolling.”

These Cubs have done it pretty quickly, too, with a pair of 10-game winning streaks by May 8.

“That’s a crazy sentence,” Hoerner said.

Milwaukee had two winning streaks of at least 10 games last season on the way to winning the NL Central title and finishing five games ahead of Chicago.

The Cubs have the best record in the majors at 27-12 and have won 20 of their last 23 games, with three consecutive losses separating those long win streaks.

“If you break it to small things, it’s just come and play a good game today, and we played a really good game today, a really well-rounded, well-pitched for sure, with some pressure a lot in a bunch of innings," Counsell said. "It's been the recipe for a lot of wins.”

When the Cubs had multiple 10-game winning streaks in 1935, their Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett was the NL MVP and Charlie Grimm the manager while winning 100 games. The only time they have done that since was their 2016 World Series championship year, when they won 103 games in the regular season.

“Two double-digit winning streaks in a season, that sounds pretty wild to me,” said Ben Brown, who threw four hitless innings in his first start this season after 12 relief appearances.

“That’s kudos to all the guys in the clubhouse, all the coaches, all the trainers, the sports staff,” he added. “That is some goosebumps to think about how talented this team is. It’s special to be a part of, it’s special to witness, it’s special to watch.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The vessel is expected to arrive Sunday at the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, and passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area,” said the head of Spain's emergency services, Virginia Barcones.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship.

While three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are known to be infected with hantavirus, cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Friday there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection on board the Dutch-flagged ship, the MV Hondius.

The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low.

On Friday, the WHO said a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger has tested negative for hantavirus. Her possible infection had raised concerns about the virus’ potential transmissibility.

The flight attendant’s negative result should ease concerns among the public, said Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman. “The risk remains absolutely low,” he said. “This is not a new COVID.”

Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.

Passengers on the ship worry about how people will treat them

In interviews with The Associated Press, two Spanish passengers — speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears they’ll be ostracized once on land — said that despite the outbreak, their days aboard have passed with relative tranquility. Some people are bird-watching, and others are gathering in common areas to read or attend talks, while wearing masks and social distancing. Both passengers told AP they’re worried about how they’ll be treated in Spain and once home.

“We’re scared by all the news that’s coming out, by how people are going to receive us, by how people see us,” one said. “We’re just normal people. We’ve heard that this is a millionaires’ cruise, and it’s the complete opposite of reality. And we’re scared by this.”

Officials sought to reassure the public in the Canary Islands about possible exposure to the virus among the general population.

Once the ship reaches Tenerife, passengers will be evacuated in small boats to buses only after their repatriation flights are ready to take them, Spanish officials said Friday. Passengers will be transported in isolated and guarded vehicles, officials said, adding that the parts of the airport they travel through will be cordoned off.

Countries scramble to track passengers who disembarked

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship's operator said Thursday.

It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a ship passenger, the WHO said.

The KLM flight attendant who tested negative for the virus was working on a flight headed from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25, and had later fallen ill.

The cruise passenger briefly aboard that flight — a Dutch woman whose husband died on the ship — was too ill to stay on the international flight to Europe and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died.

The Dutch public health service is undertaking contact tracing on passengers who had contact with the ill woman before she left the plane.

On Friday, U.K. health authorities said a third British national who had been a passenger on the ship is suspected of being infected with hantavirus. The U.K. Health Security Agency said the person is on the island of Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory in the south Atlantic where the ship stopped in April. There was no word on the condition of the person.

Spanish health officials said Friday a woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with ‌a hantavirus infection and is being tested.

She was a passenger on the same flight as the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after traveling on the cruise ship, Secretary of ⁠State for Health Javier Padilla told reporters.

Two other Britons who were on the ship have been confirmed to have the virus. One is hospitalized in the Netherlands and the other in South Africa.

Authorities in South Africa are working to trace contacts of any passengers who previously got off the ship. They have focused mainly on an April 25 flight from the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic to Johannesburg, the day after some passengers disembarked on the island.

Some state officials across the U.S. said they are monitoring a small number of residents who were on the ship and already went home, as well as people who may have come into contact with ship passengers. None has symptoms.

Health officials in the US detail plans for American passengers

The U.S. agreed to send a plane to repatriate about 17 Americans who are still on the ship. Those passengers will be quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine, the hospital said Friday. None have symptoms.

Doctors will determine how long the quarantine will last after assessing the passengers.

The dedicated biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha previously was used to treat Ebola patients and some of the first COVID-19 patients. Nebraska Medicine is one of a handful of hospitals in the U.S. with specialized treatment units for people with highly dangerous infectious diseases.

“We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement.

The British government said it will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British nationals onboard.

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Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, Stefanie Dazio in Berlin, David Biller in Rome and Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

The data were released just days ahead of a planned meeting next week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

That beat analysts’ estimates and was a significant improvement from March’s 2.5% year-on-year expansion. Exports to the U.S. rose 11.3% from the year before, up from a 26.5% drop in March.

Imports climbed 25.3%, slower than the 27.8% growth in March but still robust.

The Trump-Xi summit comes at a time when relations are beset by multiple issues, with efforts to end the war in Iran eclipsing the usual sources of friction.

“We’re expecting that overall external demand will remain a solid driver of growth this year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at Dutch bank ING, likely led by China’s exports of semiconductors and autos.

In March, Chinese leaders set an annual economic growth target of 4.5% to 5%, slightly lower than last year’s 5% expansion and the lowest target since 1991. Export growth is expected to continue to power its wider economy, especially as shipments increased from China to Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa over the past months.

China’s exports to the U.S. have fallen for most of the months since Trump imposed steeper tariffs and harsher controls on sharing of technology after he took office last year. But trade with the U.S. is likely improving this year, said Song, particularly because of the base effects of sharp declines caused by Trump’s tariff hikes in 2025.

Apart from efforts to broker a peace agreement to end the Iran war, trade and export controls, including rare earths and U.S. tech restrictions on China, will likely be on the agenda during the Trump-Xi summit, following a yearlong U.S.-China trade truce reached late last year when the two leaders last met in South Korea.

Major breakthroughs on export controls are unlikely, but the leaders’ upcoming meeting may bring “incremental” steps to troubleshoot trade friction, HSBC economists said in a recent research note.

“On balance, China looks to have more leverage,” wrote Leah Fahy, senior China economist of Capital Economics, in a note. “But higher tariffs haven’t stopped China’s exports from continuing to surge over the past year, and Beijing has showed that it is prepared to wait out U.S. pressure.”

For China, oil and fuel price hikes caused by the war in Iran are also feeding higher manufacturing and logistics costs across its many factories, said Wei Li, head of multi-asset investments at BNP Paribas Securities (China), while higher global inflation could dampen consumer purchasing power in China’s overseas markets.

Still, China’s overall economy has remained resilient compared with other countries, owing to its large oil reserves and more diversified energy sources.

ING’s Song said China’s trade surplus, which reached an all-time high of almost $1.2 trillion last year, could narrow for the whole of this year. Imports so far have been stronger in 2026, though China is still recovering from a prolonged property slump that has dragged on consumption and investment.

Shea Theodore had a goal and an assist and Brayden McNabb scored a short-handed goal as the Golden Knights stormed to a 5-0 lead after two periods, silencing a sellout crowd in Orange County and erasing memories of their rough offensive outing in Game 2.

“Our desperation level definitely got higher,” Marner said. “I just like the way that we came out and started. The first 10 minutes really, we just played our game and got to it, and that's something we were missing the first two games.”

Carter Hart made 30 saves as Vegas moved halfway to the Western Conference finals while sending the upstart Ducks to the worst loss of their first postseason in eight years.

Game 4 is Sunday night in Anaheim.

Marner got his natural hat trick in the first two periods, giving him six goals in the past four games of his first playoff run with his new team. The longtime Maple Leafs forward delivered Vegas’ first four-point playoff performance since 2019 and prompted a few hats to be thrown onto the ice when he slipped his third goal under Ville Husso with 2:04 left in the second.

“I think (Marner) is very confident in what he brings," Vegas coach John Tortorella said. "People give him (grief) all the time about playoffs, and this and that, and I don’t think it bothers him a lick. He just plays. He’s a hockey player, and I’m glad he’s doing some things for us.”

Marner's three goals were more than he scored in last spring's entire 13-game playoff run with Toronto, where the Ontario native frequently got criticism for not delivering in the postseason.

“It's always nice to try to contribute, but at the end of the day, you just want to win games,” Marner said. “There's been a lot of different moments so far in this playoffs that people have stepped up and made big plays. Tonight, (there were) a lot of great plays by people around me to set me up in a spot where I could succeed.”

Beckett Sennecke and Chris Kreider scored in the third period for the Ducks, who got embarrassed in their team’s first home game in the second round since 2017. Kreider's goal was the 50th of his playoff career.

“I thought they played well, but I don't think we brought our best,” Ducks forward Alex Killorn said. “Maybe a little bit comfortable, in all honesty. They're a great team. We just have to have a little bit of a better start and effort.”

Lukas Dostal gave up three goals on eight shots in a rough first period before Husso replaced him. Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said he wasn't sure whether Dostal would start Game 4.

“They were desperate. They were hungrier,” Quenneville said after his team’s first home playoff loss of the spring. “I think there’s a lesson to take out of today’s game, and it’s only going to get harder every single game. ... They play like they’re an experienced bunch and they know what is necessary as you progress in a series. They got our attention.”

Vegas captain Mark Stone didn't play in the third period after apparently incurring a lower-body injury in the first period. Tortorella declined to give details.

Theodore, Anaheim's first-round draft pick in 2013, put Vegas ahead 66 seconds after the opening faceoff with his 20th postseason goal.

The 35-year-old McNabb then scored the third short-handed goal of his 14-year NHL career, and Marner capped the Knights' stellar first period with his fourth playoff goal on a power play. Marner tapped in a pass from Theodore midway through the second.

Brett Howden put his sixth playoff goal into an empty net with 1:56 left.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Wembanyama went 13 of 18 from the floor and 10 of 12 from the line, adding five blocks and a full night of paint deterrence as the Spurs won their second straight game after dropping the opener at home.

“It was like holding the ship together. We had a lead. We didn’t need to rush. We needed to be consistent,” Wembanyama said.

De'Aaron Fox scored 17 points, and Stephon Castle had 13 points and 12 assists with a team-high plus-17 rating.

Anthony Edwards had 32 points and 14 rebounds and Naz Reid added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves, whose defense kept them alive after a woeful start but allowed the Spurs to shoot 6 for 10 from 3-point range in the pivotal third quarter.

Minnesota will host Game 4 on Sunday night. The series shifts back to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday.

Jaden McDaniels drew Wembanyama's fifth foul with 6:18 left and brought the Wolves within 99-98 on pair of free throws, but the Spurs never trailed in the second half despite never leading by double digits. Wembanyama sat for about a minute before coach Mitch Johnson sent him back in.

“We were going to not leave any bullets in the chamber in terms of keeping him on the bench," Johnson said. "We were going to play him, and then if he fouled out, we deal with that.”

Wembanyama didn't flinch despite the foul risk, finishing with 16 points in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer that answered Reid's pushed San Antonio's lead to six with 3:06 to go. Reid tried another one near the end of the shot clock on the next possession that hit the rim and Wembanyama snagged for another rebound.

Edwards, who showed Minnesota yet again his swift healing ability by returning from a deep bone bruise in his hyperextended left knee after just one week to make the start of the series, had 22 points in the first half to help them snap back from an early 18-3 deficit.

“He needed that. We needed that,” coach Chris Finch said. “He’s battling back to find a game like this, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the result that went along with it.”

The Wolves missed their first 12 shots and didn't get a basket to go down until Rudy Gobert's putback with 6:52 had elapsed, but unlike in the 133-95 drubbing they took in Game 2 on Wednesday they had the defensive intelligence and tenacity at the ready to make up for the long shooting lulls.

Edwards hit a buzzer-beating 31-footer at the end of the first quarter, and McDaniels swished a 3-pointer from the wing to end the first half with a 51-all tie.

McDaniels and Julius Randle were the most affected by Wembanyama's presence, unable to get their short-range and rim-attacking game going. They shot a combined 8 for 34 from the floor.

“I went in the locker room and told the guys we had a bunch of great looks,” Edwards said. “If we make our shots, we win this game.”

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

McDonald was determined to make his first NFL practice count during the Texans’ three-day rookie minicaamp, and establish a gold standard.

It was obvious how much McDonald is putting into his rookie season. And the former Ohio State consensus All-American defensive tackle, the Big Ten Conference Defensive Lineman of the Year, should bolster the top-ranked defense in the league.

Once projected as a first-round draft pick and selected in the second round with the 36th overall selection, McDonald has set his ambitions on the kind of banner first season that would make history.

“Win a Super Bowl, Rookie of the Year, All-Pro first year,” McDonald said in response to a question from KPRC 2 on his goal-setting. “These are realistic for me. I wrote those down and I’m blessed to be here and I’ve got a chance.”

McDonald doesn’t shy away from high expectations.

After meeting formally with the Texans at the NFL scouting combine, he visited them along with the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Washington Commanders, Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals. McDonald had a special feeling about the Texans throughout the draft process.

“Yes, sir. I thought it all the way through,” McDonald said. “Texans, they made it clear who the best defensive tackle was. It’s a blessing to be here. I’m ready for the opportunity.”

The Texans needed a young, athletic defensive tackle to work in tandem with Sheldon Rankins, Tommy Togiai and Logan Hall and play inside opposite Pro Bowl defensive ends Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter.

McDonald, a Texarkana native who grew up in Suwanee, Georgia, provides a dominant inside presence at 6-foot-2 1/8, 326 pounds and operates with outstanding leverage and pad level. The first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection recorded 65 tackles last season for the Buckeyes with three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

Yes, McDonald rivaled his Buckeyes teammates, Washington Commanders first-round linebacker Sonny Styles and Dallas Cowboys safety Caleb Downs, for the first hit throughout the season. He was simply that active.

“What I like about Kayden and his tape at Ohio State is the physicality, it shows up,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “When he’s across the line from an offensive lineman, no matter who it was, he was knocking those guys back in the backfield. That translates to Houston Texans defense.

“We want to knock guys back. He does that. He’s still a very young player who has so much room to grow, so much room to ascend. It starts right here today. You see him in his individual drills. He has the power. We can win with that type of power.”

And confidence, too.

McDonald has stated multiple times he’s the best defensive tackle in the draft. The fact that he wasn’t the first defensive lineman selected bothers him to this day. And it provides significant motivational fuel.

“Being blessed, staying in the moment,” McDonald said. “You can’t take this for granted. I’m walking out here today, and it’s like: ‘This is your first day in the NFL.’ It’s not a game no more. It’s a job, and you got to take it serious. ..

“Just getting out there with my teammates for rookie minicamp. We’ve all got energy and enthusiasm. It’s a great opportunity. At the end of the day, we want to get to L.A. and win a Super Bowl.”

The way that McDonald can complement the pass rushers and edge-setters that headline the Texans’ front seven and keep blocks off of Pro Bowl middle linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair can make him a tone-setter for defensive line coach-run game coordinator Rod Wright.

“He’s one of the best in the league, he wants everything his way and we’ve got to follow that,” McDonald said. “You’ve got to stay on that $50 million, $40 million line. You’ve got Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, those are two All-Pro guys. You just follow that plan and all things are going to work out.”

McDonald was in the green room during the first round of the draft. When he got passed over, McDonald was convinced by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to return for the second night of the draft. That led up to an emotional moment where McDonald got the life-changing call from the Texans after they traded up two spots to land him.

“Roger, he told me I’m going to be a special guy,” McDonald said. “He got a lot of respect for me and I’ve got a lot of respect for him. It meant a lot to me to come back on Day 2 and walk that stage.”

McDonald is already making fast friends with Anderson and is happy to reunite with former Ohio State players like quarterback C.J. Stroud and tight end Cade Stover. McDonald met Anderson at the Rockets’ playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“My teammates, it’s like a brotherhood here,” McDonald said. “Staff, training staff, even the dieticians, people that cook the food, it’s been a warm welcome.

“Got to help out the defensive ends, get them to second-and-long, get them to third-and-long, let Will and Danielle Hunter and all the other guys get off the edge. It’s going to work out. Three-and-out, get off the field, give it back to C.J. and go score.”

The Texans’ defense, under the leadership of coach DeMeco Ryans and defensive coordinator Matt Burke is formidable.

“It’s going to be tough to score on us,” McDonald said. “We already got the pieces on defense. Adding me, it’s gonna be special.”

The Texans traded the 38th overall pick and 117th overall selection of the fourth round in exchange for the Raiders’ original 36th overall pick and the 91st overall selection in the third round.

“We felt McDonald was probably the best run defender in the draft,” Texans general manager Nick Caserio said. “Matt Patricia did a really good job with him, got the most out of him. He’ll be a good fit for our program. We like the player. The player falls, we can’t control any of that.

“We brought him in the building, had a good visit with him. Did a lot of work on him. We felt like he was the best run-stopping defensive tackle in the draft. So, let’s add him to the team.”

One of the top defensive players in the draft, McDonald is determined to prove the Texans made a great decision to pick him.

“Everybody that went before me, that’s what fuels me,” McDonald said. “There’s not one player better than me in this class. I’m gonna show it.”

TRYOUT CENTRAL

The Texans worked out multiple players during their rookie minicamp, including former University of Houston quarterback Clayton Tune.

Tune has played for the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.

The Texans also worked out Connecticut kicker Chris Freeman, Texas A&M long snapper Jacob Graham, a Memorial High graduate, Connecticut tight end Louis Hansen, Washington quarterback Kai Horton, former Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers and Northwestern running back Evan Hull, Lenoir-Rhyne defensive tackle ANdre Jefferson and Marshall wide receiver Demarcus Lacey.

Rookie running back Jordan Whittington, an undrafted player from Oregon, participated in the drills despite not being fully recovered from offseason toe surgery, per a league source.

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Embiid — as he has done throughout his career — resolutely returned to the floor, this time with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip that cost him one game to try and make the Eastern Conference semifinals with the New York Knicks into a competitive series.

Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George all fell short in crunch time with the series back at home.

Embiid scored 18 points and was the only one of the Sixers' vaunted Big Three to shoot a free throw while Jalen Brunson led the Knicks to a 108-94 win on Friday night for a 3-0 series lead.

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

The 76ers went 13 of 16 from the line while the Knicks made 23 of 32, the kind of discrepancy that opened some eyes in the locker room. Maxey, George and their combined $400-plus million contracts failed to get to the line. Embiid was just 4 of 6.

“I guess it’s good when New York wins,” Embiid said.

Embiid struggled through a short night in the Knicks’ 137-98 romp in Game 1, scoring 14 points on 3-for-11 shooting before the starters were benched with the game out of reach.

Embiid had been listed as probable to play in that game and the Knicks repeatedly took advantage of his lack of mobility to create open shots.

He had been expected to play Game 2 but was ruled out hours beforehand.

Embiid had an appendectomy late in the regular season. He returned during Game 4 of Philadelphia’s first-round series against Boston and helped the 76ers overcome a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Celtics.

Embiid and the Sixers have a more treacherous path as they try to win four straight games against the Knicks.

“We can't back down,” Embiid said. “You know, 3-1, this is tougher. Just going with the understanding we can't get it all back in one game. One win, focus on the next one, win the next one, that should be the mentality. That's the mentality we had last week.”

As for his plea that Sixers fans keep their tickets and refuse to sell them on the open market, Embiid said he was too focused on trying to win the game, rather than pay attention to a decidedly split fan group until the waning moments, when “Let's go Knicks!” chants boomed throughout the arena.

“I wasn't really paying attention,” Embiid said.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.

Brunson shook off a 2-of-8 start from the floor and finished 11 of 22 in 38 minutes to send the Knicks to their sixth straight postseason victory.

“I'm Linus. Jalen's my blanket,” first-year Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “He helps me relax at a lot of different times during the course of the game."

With 2016 and 2018 Villanova national championship banners hanging in the rafters, the so-called Nova Knicks all took turns taking the fight out of the Sixers in the fourth quarter, turning a four-point lead into another double-digit victory.

Josh Hart had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Mikal Bridges added 23 points, pushing the Knicks within one victory of their second straight conference finals appearance.

When Brown took the job after Tom Thibodeau was fired, the veteran coach said he wouldn't know what kind of team he really had until he got “into the trenches with them.”

Brown now sees the makings of a championship team.

“Yeah, OK, we might have a chance at this,” he said.

The Knicks have the luxury not to rush back forward OG Anunoby, who's averaging 21.4 points per game in the postseason. He sat out with a strained right hamstring and remains day to day.

Joel Embiid scored 18 points for the Sixers in his return after he missed Game 2 with a sprained right ankle and a sore right hip.

"I thought he gave us everything he could," coach Nick Nurse said.

Embiid's return from an appendectomy helped spur the Sixers' rally from a 3-1 deficit in the opening round to stun the Celtics.

Beating the Knicks four straight times — including twice in New York — seems like a much harder hill to climb for Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 22 points and Maxey added 17. Paul George scored 15 points in the first quarter, then went scoreless and missed all nine shots the rest of the game as the Sixers blew a 12-point lead.

George and Maxey each failed to shoot a single free throw.

The 76ers went 13 of 16 from the line while the Knicks made 23 of 32.

“I guess it's good when New York wins,” Embiid said.

The 76ers gamely tried to make it a series. Quintin Grimes hit his first two 3s of the game early in the fourth to trim the lead to 88-84.

The familiar faces in Philly — Brunson, Hart and Bridges all played for Villanova — seized control of the game.

Hart and Bridges made consecutive baskets that pushed the lead to 92-84. Brunson, the stone-cold shooter built for these moments, buried a 3 from the top of the arc that made it 95-86 during a 9-0 Knicks run, to the delight of the visiting fans.

Embiid openly pleaded with fans ahead of the series not to sell their tickets to New Yorkers.

Celebrity Row regulars at Madison Square Garden, Spike Lee, Timothée Chalamet, Tracy Morgan and Ben Stiller all made the trip to Philadelphia, along with thousands of less famous Knicks fans — and the split crowd erupted in cheers, boos and the occasional middle finger on just about every basket.

Chalamet rose from his seat and applauded when Landry Shamet buried a late 3 in the third that stretched the lead to 85-76. Shamet had 14 points this entire postseason before he scored 15 in Game 3.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

The Marlins sure hope that will become a new norm for their No. 2 pitching prospect, who made his MLB debut Friday against the Washington Nationals after being called up from Triple-A Jacksonville.

“It's pretty surreal,” Snelling said in Miami's clubhouse Thursday before walking over to the dugout where fans yelled for his signature. “Still trying to just kind of soak it in and get acclimated with all the guys again that I was around in spring and really take it all in and not let the moment get too big.”

Snelling gave up three runs and six hits over five innings in a 3-2 loss Friday night. He also walked four and struck out two.

“I don’t think there’s any way that you can really prepare yourself for something you haven’t even experienced," Snelling said. “A lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions out on the mound. I did my best to not let that show externally.”

Washington scored three against Snelling in the first on CJ Abrams' RBI single and Jacob Young's two-run homer to left.

“Obviously, having runners on base as much as I did tonight, it’s not what starting pitchers want," Snelling said. "But being able to continue to attack the zone every hitter that stepped to the box, I’m proud of myself about that.”

The 23-year-old was acquired by Miami from San Diego for reliever Tanner Scott in July 2024. Snelling ascended through the Marlins farm system and became the organization’s second-rated pitching prospect before the club promoted him from Triple-A Jacksonville.

Snelling did not make the Marlins' opening-day roster despite impressing coaches during spring training. He called that both frustrating and motivating.

“I was upset and not necessarily at anybody in general,” Snelling said. "Just being told that you’re not going to get to do what you really had wanted to do as early as you wanted to do is a tough pill to swallow.

“But then you kind of come back down to earth and realize, ‘Alright, what do I need to do to get to that point where I want to be?’”

So he worked on lowering his walks, in part by improving his first-pitch strike rate. In six starts with Triple-A Jacksonville this season, Snelling went 3-1 with the second-best ERA (1.86) among qualified pitchers. He walked more than three batters only twice in those six starts.

“For him to really navigate himself through five – not maybe the cleanest innings – he really grinded," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "He showed a lot of moxie today.”

A spot opened up in the Marlins' rotation after struggling pitcher Chris Paddack was designated for assignment on Tuesday.

There were other experienced options Miami could have inserted there but Snelling's recent performance showed the team he was ready for the opportunity.

“Coming into it we were certainly very high on Robby," McCullough said. “He performed incredibly well last year. This spring, he came into it in competition potentially for a spot in our rotation. Robby’s done well down there and continued to perform.”

The Jumbo Shrimp were coming off a walk-off win on Wednesday when Snelling got the news he was called up. He was summoned to manager David Carpenter's office afterward, where he was praised for his focus throughout the week with the uncertainty on whether his major league shot would come.

“I was like, 'Man, it’s really hard to keep my sanity knowing that potentially it was an option for me to go up,’” Snelling recalled telling Carpenter, who responded with a rather nonchalant question.

“He’s like, ‘Yeah, you’re still good to go on Friday right?'” Carpenter said, referring to Snelling's scheduled Triple-A start. "I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, 'Well, you’re going to be throwing in Miami.'"

Snelling described the past couple of days as a sort of reunion with players he became close with during the spring, including catcher Joe Mack, another highly-rated prospect who was called up this week. Mack scored the winning run on a throwing error in the ninth inning of the Marlins' win over Baltimore on Thursday.

It has also made Snelling grateful for the journey that brought him here.

“It was always fun competing with those guys (in the minors)," he said. “It didn’t really matter where I was in my mind. Obviously this is the goal — being up here and staying up here is the goal.”

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AP freelance writer Santos Perez contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Nick Suzuki, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Canadiens. Rookie goalie Jakub Dobes made 27 saves, and Montreal extended its trend of alternating wins and losses after doing so in a seven-game first-round series win over Tampa Bay.

Montreal advanced to the second round on Newhook's game-winner 11:07 into the third period of a 2-1 series-clinching win on Sunday. Meantime, the Canadiens' top offensive threats continue to struggle. Cole Caufield extended his point drought to five games, while Juraj Slafkovsky has one assist in his past eight outings.

“I think as a group we knew we needed a big effort tonight, a bounce-back, a bounce-forward game,” said Newhook, who gave the team a pregame boost with an energetic reading of the starting lineup. “When you get the lineup read you just try to supply some energy there early and just try and carry that into the game.”

Zach Benson scored for Buffalo, but Alex Lyon allowed four goals on 27 shots. He previously allowed seven goals in six-plus appearances since replacing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was was pulled after two periods in a 4-2 loss to Boston in Game 2 of their first-round series.

The series shifts to Montreal for Game 3 on Sunday night.

It’ll be the Canadiens' first trip home after being on the road since traveling to Tampa Bay last weekend. The team stayed in Florida for two days before flying directly to Buffalo on Tuesday.

The Sabres dropped to 2-3 at home this postseason, but they won all three games — including the Game 6 series clincher — at Boston.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period of Game 1, Montreal flipped the script.

Peyton Krebs’ turnover in Buffalo’s zone led to Newhook scoring at 1:36 by sneaking a shot under Lyon’s blocker arm. Matheson scored 2:51 later by floating in a shot from the left point that beat Lyon over his right shoulder.

“Awful game. Not acceptable,” Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said. “They wanted to compete the first 10 (minutes), and then that’s what kind of set the tone for the whole game. It’s hard to come back, especially in the playoffs, when an opponent is up two. So, can’t happen.”

Dobes said the difference between Games 1 and 2 was the Canadiens' ability to adjust to a much faster opponent in Buffalo after a grueling, tight-checking series against the defensive-minded Lightning.

“You play Game 7, I feel like we didn’t have much chance to prepare and kind of settle everything together and reset our minds,” he said. “I feel like we adjusted today really well. And yeah, I feel we catch a breath in the series. And I feel that we are ready to play our hockey and compete against the team for the rest of the series.”

Buffalo’s power play came up empty on five chances after going 2 for 3 in Game 1. The Sabres have converted just three of 32 power-play opportunities this postseason.

Newhook’s second goal, scored 4:47 into the second period, came four seconds after the Sabres' power play failed to register a shot with Carrier off for hooking.

Carrier’s goal 3:54 into the third was emblematic of Buffalo's evening. With the Sabres buzzing the Montreal net, Tage Thompson kept the puck in at the right point only to lose his balance and spin down to the ice. Carrier picked up the loose puck and scored to put Montreal up 4-1.

Benson whiffed on a tip-in chance two minutes later. In the first period, Buffalo’s Alex Tuch had the puck roll off his stick while attempting a shot breaking up the right wing, and Jack Quinn shot over the top of the net after being set up alone in the slot.

“Trying to chase the game, try and force plays that aren’t there, and just wasn’t executing,” Thompson said. “I think everything I touched turned into disaster tonight. So, tough one. Got to be better. It’s as simple as just flush that one, move on.”

Thompson then gave a blunt response when asked if he was playing with an injury by saying: “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Alabama legislation, which was signed quickly into law by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, is part of an effort by Republicans in Southern states to capitalize on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minorities.

At the Alabama Statehouse, a chaotic scene erupted as one protester was dragged from the packed House gallery by security officers. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana and South Carolina also faced staunch opposition from civil rights activists and Democrats as they presented plans Friday to redraw their congressional districts.

The action came just a day after Tennessee enacted new congressional districts that carve up a Democratic-held, Black-majority district in Memphis. The state Democratic Party sued on Friday, seeking to prevent the districts from being used until after this year's elections because of the tight time frame

Even before last week's Supreme Court ruling in a Louisiana case, Republicans and Democrats already were engaged in a fierce redistricting battle, each seeking an edge in the midterm elections that will determine control of the closely divided House. That battle tilted further toward Republicans when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that Democratic lawmakers had violated constitutional requirements when placing a redistricting amendment on the ballot.

Since President Donald Trump prodded Texas to redraw its congressional districts last summer, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from new districts in several states while Democrats think they could gain up to six seats. But the parties may not get everything they sought, because the gerrymandering could backfire in some highly competitive districts.

Alabama primaries could be in flux

Demonstrators outside the Alabama Statehouse on Friday shouted “fight for democracy” and “down with white supremacy.”

“I was out there in 1965 marching for the right to vote, and now we are back here in 2026 doing the same thing,” Betty White Boynton said.

During debate inside the statehouse, Black lawmakers said the Republican legislation harks back to the state’s shameful Jim Crow history. The new law would ignore the May 19 primary results for some congressional seats and direct the governor to schedule a new primary under revised districts, if a court allows it. Lawmakers also approved a similar bill related to state Senate districts.

“What happened here today is that we were set back as a people to the days of Reconstruction,” Democratic state Sen. Rodger Smitherman said after the vote.

Senate Democrats shouted “hell no” and “stop the steal” as senators voted.

The special primary would happen only if the courts agree to lift an injunction that put a court-selected map in place until after the 2030 census. That order required a second district where Black voters are the majority or close to it, resulting in the 2024 election of Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who is Black. If a court lifts the injunction, Republican officials want to put in place a map lawmakers drew in 2023 — which was rejected by a federal court — that could allow them to reclaim Figures’ district.

“With this special session successfully behind us, Alabama now stands ready to quickly act, should the courts issue favorable rulings in our ongoing redistricting cases,” Ivey said in a statement.

On Friday evening, however, a three-judge panel rejected Alabama’s request to lift their injunction and pave the way for changing maps. The request remains pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Virginia ruling centered on timing of election

Democrats had hoped to gain as many as four additional U.S. House seats under new districts narrowly approved by voters in April. But the state Supreme Court invalidated the measure because it said the Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements.

To place a constitutional amendment before voters, the Virginia Constitution requires lawmakers to approve it in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between. The legislature’s initial approval of the redistricting amendment occurred last October — while early voting was underway but before it concluded for the general election. The legislature’s second vote on the amendment occurred after a new legislative session began in January.

The state Supreme Court said the initial legislative approval came too late, noting that more than 1.3 million ballots already had been cast, about 40% of the total votes ultimately cast.

Louisiana lawmakers look at map options

A Louisiana Senate committee considered several redistricting options Friday from Republican state Sen. John “Jay” Morris that would eliminate either both or one of the current Black-majority U.S. House districts.

“Every one of these maps reduces Black voting power in every one of the districts. And I think that’s a problem,” Democratic state Sen. Sam Jenkins told Morris.

Morris denied that the proposed redistricting maps were racially discriminatory. He said his goal was to be “respectful of the traditional boundaries” of the state’s six congressional districts.

“I don’t think we should care that much about race,” Morris said.

The only four Black congressmen who have represented Louisiana since the end of the Reconstruction era appealed to state senators to keep two majority-Black districts in a state where one-third of voters are Black.

Leona Tate said she was escorted as a 6-year-old girl by federal marshals through a racist white mob trying to prevent her from desegregating a New Orleans elementary school. She told lawmakers she felt they were taking a step backward in time by reducing Black political power.

“You have a choice in front of you: You can draw a map that reflects what Louisiana actually is -- a state where Black voices belong in the halls of Congress,” said Tate, 71. “Or you can draw a map that tells my grandchildren that their votes don’t count, that their faces don’t matter and that the progress I helped build with my own two feet as a 6-year-old can be erased at will.”

South Carolina considers a House map

South Carolina lawmakers held a rare Friday meeting to discuss a proposed new congressional map intended to allow Republicans a clean sweep of the state’s seven U.S. House seats.

The House hearing was the first step in redistricting. But its future remains murky. The state Senate has yet to agree to consider new districts later this month, an action that requires a two-thirds vote.

The new map has some Republicans nervous. Breaking up the 6th District, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, makes the other six districts less Republican.

At Friday’s subcommittee meeting, lawmakers heard hours of testimony, almost all against the new map. The hearing included a consultant who reviewed the map, saying it appeared to be legal under the Supreme Court's decision in the Louisiana case.

“I agree if the law allows us to do it, then we can do It,” Democratic state Rep. Justin Bamberg said. “But I can slap somebody’s mama and it’s not the right thing to do.”

Some absentee ballots already have been returned for the state's June 9 primary elections. The legislative subcommittee advanced a plan to delay the congressional primary to August and reopen a candidate filing period, if a new map is approved.

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Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina; Brook from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Lieb from Jefferson City, Missouri. AP reporter Travis Loller contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.

• ‘Don’t move kids’: HISD parents push back against proposed special education overhaul

According to a federal announcement released Friday, investigators will examine whether the district violated Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act by potentially separating students with disabilities from their nondisabled peers.

Federal officials say the investigation centers around allegations that HISD plans to move some students receiving special education services into designated specialty campuses beginning in the 2026-27 school year.

The Office for Civil Rights said parents raised concerns that the proposed changes could isolate students with disabilities from general education classrooms where they benefit socially and academically alongside other students.

Parents also reportedly voiced concerns about longer bus rides and transportation challenges for children with medical or behavioral needs.

“Schools cannot exclude students with disabilities simply because of their disability status. Placement decisions must be made individually, based on each student’s needs, rather than by blanket policies that segregate students by disability category,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement.

“The allegations described here are alarming. The Trump Administration will fully investigate this situation and fight to ensure every child with a disability receives the education and support guaranteed under the law,” Richey added.

Federal law requires public schools to educate students with disabilities alongside nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate and to follow specific procedures when determining student placements.

As of Friday evening, HISD released the following statement:

Houston ISD is aware of the investigation opened by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

Any review will show that all special education updates for the 2026–27 school year focus on increasing access to services in the least restrictive environment, strengthening systems to improve the quality of instruction, and improving student outcomes.

HISD serves over 21,000 students receiving special education services. Over 15,000 students are served in inclusive settings, and there are no changes to their current campus or services. For the ~5,000 students primarily served in self-contained settings, families can expect small class sizes, low adult-to-student ratios to support specialized instruction, and placement with similar-age peers. These programs will be available on more than half of HISD campuses to improve access for families, and transportation will continue to be provided for any student whose IEP requires it.

As always, the district remains committed to ensuring students with disabilities receive the services and supports outlined in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and that placement decisions are made individually through the ARD process in accordance with applicable law.

Because this is an active investigation, the district cannot comment further on specific allegations or matters under review.

Africa imported 44,358 electric vehicles from China in 2025, according to data from China’s Commerce Ministry, up from 19,386 in 2024. The shipments, valued at over $200 million, highlight growing demand, especially in Ethiopia after it banned new imports of gas and diesel-powered vehicles in 2024.

More than 115,000 EVs are now on Ethiopia's roads, accounting for about 8% of the national fleet. In 2025, it imported a third of Africa’s imports from China, ahead of other major markets in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria.

As the Iran war drags on, Ethiopia’s fuel shortages are rippling through transport systems and daily life, reinforcing its effort to cut costly imports of oil and gas and strengthen its energy security. However that trend is raising questions about charging infrastructure and affordability.

Ethiopia’s spends about $4.2 billion on fuel imports annually, straining its foreign currency reserves.

Its minister of Trade and Regional Integration, Kassahun Gofe, said in a statement that the country also is spending up to $128 million monthly on fuel subsidies, while shipments fell short by more than 180,000 metric tons as the imports are disrupted by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping route for about a fifth of oil from the Gulf region before the war.

The government has redoubled its campaign for quicker EV adoption, framing it as a critical buffer against external supply shocks.

“From a general perspective, it is sustainable,” said Hiten Parmar, executive director of South African- based The Electric Mission. “By replacing imported fuel with domestically generated electricity, Ethiopia is strengthening its energy security position.”

Ethiopia has an edge

Ethiopia has a special advantage in that more than 90% of its electricity comes from renewable sources, mainly hydro and solar. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa's largest hydroelectric project, is expected to double its power generation, though the facility and has fueled a decade-long dispute over water supplies with downstream Egypt and Sudan.

“That scale of generation creates a foundation for electrified transport,” Parmar said. “It allows EVs to be powered by locally produced clean energy, rather than costly imports.”

“By gradually adopting EVs, that intensive fuel import expenditure can be reduced and redirected into other critical development needs,” Parmar said.

Globally, the International Energy Agency estimates electric vehicles displaced more than 1 million barrels of oil consumption per day in 2024.

Countries across Africa are pushing for more EVs

Egypt, South Africa and Morocco also are pursuing a transition to EV use, adopting a mix of policy incentives, investing in manufacturing capacity and in clean energy.

“That transition is beginning to ease pressure on fuel demand,” said Bob Wesonga, policy and investments lead at the Africa E-Mobility Alliance.

“That’s over 100,000 vehicle owners who are no longer directly exposed to pump price shocks,” he said. “In the medium to long term, this creates a buffer against global oil volatility.”

For those who have switched, the savings are significant.

“A private EV owner now spends roughly $4 a month on charging compared to about $27 previously spent on fuel,” Wesonga said. “For public transport operators, the difference is even more striking.”

Charging stations and other infrastructure are still lacking

The transition to EVs faces some daunting structural hurdles, Parmar notes.

“The technology is already mature, the challenge is building it out fast enough,” he said.

Ethiopia is deploying ultra-fast charging hubs in its capital Addis Ababa, but scaling them nationwide will take time and investment.

“The biggest hurdle is the last-mile power distribution,” Wesonga said. “While Ethiopia has a surplus of generation, getting that power reliably to where it’s needed, especially outside Addis Ababa, remains a challenge.”

Frequent blackouts and delays in connecting high-capacity charging stations have slowed construction of needed infrastructure, even as demand for electric vehicles rises.

“Charging infrastructure is still heavily concentrated in the capital and along a few corridors,” Wesonga said. “That limits e-mobility to specific areas and creates a bottleneck as adoption grows.”

Plans to assemble EVs raise question of affordability

Ethiopia is one of several countries in Africa looking to build their own EV industries. Official data show 17 electric vehicle assembly plants are in the pipeline in Ethiopia, with plans to raise that number to 60 by 2030. It's part of a broader strategy to localize production and reduce costs.

Affordability, however, remains a major constraint. While operating costs are lower, prices of electric vehicles remain high relative to average incomes.

“The purchase price is still out of reach for many,” Wesonga said. “At the same time, restrictions on fossil fuel vehicles have pushed up the cost of used cars, creating additional barriers.”

That dynamic could have unintended social impacts if not managed carefully.

“A national fleet transition is always gradual,” Parmar said. “Existing combustion vehicles will remain in use for some time, and the transition needs to account for livelihoods tied to that system.”

Even so, both experts say the long-term trajectory remains clear. Lower operating and maintenance costs for electric vehicles could reduce transport costs over time, easing the price of goods and improving access to economic opportunities.

Ethiopia is also looking to lessons from countries such as China and Norway, where policy support, infrastructure investment and consumer incentives have driven rapid adoption.

“This is not just about transport,” Wesonga said. “It’s about reshaping how the country uses energy, and who benefits from that shift.”

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

Ben Stiller attracted a crowd at halftime, and Tracy Morgan cheered for another Knicks win, too.

No this wasn't Celebrity Row at Madison Square Garden.

The Hollywood A-listers — and yes, just your average Knicks fans — crashed Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Friday night to watch New York beat the 76ers 108-94.

Oh, it wasn't all orange and blue and well-heeled celebrities in Philadelphia.

The Sixers still boasted the bulk of the fans — though there was a sizable contingent of Knicks supporters — and the spirited crowd included fans who received tickets donated by the franchise to community groups in the Sixers' latest attempt to keep more of their own fans in the building and avoid a New York takeover.

Lee gleefully reminisced about the time he saw the Knicks win their first NBA championship on May 8, 1970 — exactly 56 years earlier.

Most of the Knicks fans were just happy to get a chance to travel roughly 90 miles south of MSG to Xfinity Mobile Arena — no matter how hard the Sixers tried to shoo them away.

The Sixers had already tried to ward off Knicks fans in this playoff series through Ticketmaster by geographically restricting sales to fans in the greater Philadelphia area.

Knicks fan Lenny Rakhmanov of Brooklyn had a workaround to the geo-fencing barrier.

He phoned a friend.

“I bought my tickets off Ticketmaster,” he said. “I did have trouble. I have a friend in Philly and he got the tickets for me and sent them to me through Ticketmaster. They told me while I was trying to make the purchase from my office in New York, you had to be a Philly resident to purchase the tickets.”

Rakhmanov said he spent $800 per ticket for three seats in Section 123, and brought his 11- and 8-year-old sons.

“I can't even believe that they're trying to keep fans out,” he said. “It's part of sports. If their team was on the road, and they were up in the series, and they wanted their fans in the building, why would they want to stop that?”

The Sixers said 250 medical workers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine and 250 local educators selected by Learn Fresh, Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia, the Philadelphia school district and Camden, New Jersey, school district would attend Game 3 on Friday night.

The 76ers plan to host 500 mothers and children selected by Uplift Center for Grieving Children, Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia, La Liga del Barrio and Apologues for Sunday's Game 4.

The Knicks lead the series 3-0 and can advance to the conference finals by winning Game 4 on Sunday.

Mikal Bridges, a Philadelphia native who starred at Villanova, scored 23 points for the Knicks in front of a loud cheering section.

“I spent a lot of money,” Bridges said. “I think my friends and family are pretty grateful.”

When the teams met two years ago in the first round, Knicks fans swarmed Philadelphia, and Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid pleaded with fans ahead of this series not to let it happen again.

“Last time we played the Knicks it felt like this was Madison Square Garden East. So we’re going to need the support,” Embiid said. “Don’t sell your tickets. This is bigger than you. We need you guys. The atmosphere we’ve had the last couple games in Philly, especially the last one pushing it to Game 7, I mean, we need all of it.”

Embiid was booed when he went to the free-throw line in the first half, and Knicks fans roared when he missed the shot.

Moments later, Jalen Brunson went to the free-throw line and “MVP!” chants were quickly muffled by Sixers fans who booed the former Villanova standout.

It was that kind of night.

On the resale market, SeatGeek said buyers from New York and Pennsylvania were nearly even, with 27% of tickets sold to New York billing addresses and 26% to Pennsylvania buyers. Another 21% were from New Jersey, suggesting that Knicks fans were slightly more motivated to get to the game.

For Sunday’s Game 4, the New York share ticks up a bit further: 33% for New York vs. 17% for Pennsylvania.

Former Sixers standout Marc Jackson visited Camden’s Pride Elementary School ahead of the game and surprised teachers with Game 3 tickets.

That seemed like a big win, no matter which team fans rooted for in Philly.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Three forensic document examiners who reviewed the notes at the request of The Associated Press concluded that they have or appear to have common authorship, with shared characteristics such as the same spacing, letter shapes, usage of capital letters and unique punctuation.

In the first note, made public this week, the writer states: “They investigated me for month — found nothing!!!” and talks about being able to choose the “time to say goodbye.” The other note, which has been public for years, is a list of grievances about conditions at the jail, including the showers, food and “Giant Bugs.”

While no one has definitively said Epstein wrote the notes, they point to his grim outlook before his death and echo some frustrations he conveyed to jail personnel about being confined in the crumbling Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan after living in luxury for decades. They also contain phrases he had used in the past.

Both notes, written in pen on notepad paper, include the underlined phrase “NO FUN” and end with double exclamation points — the first of which is bowed slightly with similar curvature. The first few words of each note are larger than the rest and each successive line slants away from the left margin.

“These are the kinds of things that would suggest that we're dealing with the same writer,” said Thomas Vastrick, the president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.

“They are written by the same person,” said Bart Baggett, who founded the forensic analysis firm Handwriting Experts Inc. and has testified in court as an expert witness more than 130 times.

“Both of those documents have the same author,” said Grace Warmbier, who worked for a decade for the New York City Police Department performing document examinations and handwriting analysis.

None of the experts were able to say definitively that Epstein wrote the notes, in part because there are few if any confirmed examples of his handwriting in the millions of pages of records the Justice Department recently released on the late financier.

In addition to the two jail notes, Warmbier and Vastrick also reviewed writing samples from the former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, including part of a note he sent to the New York Daily News in 2019 in which he denied any involvement in Epstein's death.

Warmbier ruled out Tartaglione as the author, finding “significant dissimilarities between his handwriting and the handwriting in question.”

Vastrick said Tartaglione's writing samples had “a wide range of variation from one to another” and that there were at least some similarities that require further examination.

“At this point, I certainly would not eliminate him as a potential writer,” Vastrick said. “I don’t at the same time want to suggest that he is the writer.”

For years, only a few people known about the note that Tartaglione claimed he found. Then, last summer, he mentioned it on writer Jessica Reed Kraus’ podcast. That piqued the interest of writers at The New York Times, who convinced a judge on Wednesday to release the note, which had been sealed in an unrelated case.

Tartaglione, an ex-police officer serving a life sentence for killing four people, said he discovered the note in a book in his cell after Epstein was found on July 23, 2019, on the floor with a strip of bedsheet around his neck. Epstein was placed on suicide watch and moved to a different cell. He had no cellmate when he was found dead on Aug. 10, 2019.

Epstein and Tartaglione shared a cell for about two weeks, beginning soon after Epstein’s July 6, 2019, arrest on sex trafficking charges and ending with the suspected suicide attempt. Both men were awaiting trials.

According to a chronology in the Justice Department's files on Epstein, Tartaglione told his lawyer about the note four days after the suspected July 23 attempt. There is no indication that anyone alerted jail officials or Epstein's representatives.

The note was later submitted as evidence in Tartaglione’s criminal case and placed under seal amid a dispute over his legal representation. It wasn’t mentioned in government reports examining the circumstances of Epstein’s death, nor did it surface in the Justice Department’s files. The other note, found after Epstein's death, was shown on CBS' “60 Minutes” in 2020 and is in the files.

Beyond handwriting analysis, the phrasing of the notes could give clues to their authorship. The note Tartaglione said he found contains the line: “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!”

Epstein previously referenced that line, mimicking dialogue from a 1931 “Little Rascals” film, in three emails that were included in the Justice Department's files, including one he sent to his brother four months before going to jail.

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Associated Press videojournalist David R. Martin contributed.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

Watch the “Houston Life” special program “Gallery of Wonder” in the video player above.

The 9,500 gallery features five immersive exhibits:

• Tot*Spot - This space has been reimagined with an oversized garden, buzzing beehive, meandering path and lots of soft surfaces and rounded corners that provide a safe place for the youngest children to learn.
• Into the Woods - Climb up into a tree and slide down to a sweet little campsite! This mini forest of imagination is perfect for energetic little ones.
• Under the Waves - Explore tunnels and find sea creatures hiding in nooks in this special area designed with calming, sensory-friendly lights, sounds and water displays.
• Viva Village - Calling all little helpers! Viva Village encourages children to learn through play as they groom toy pets, cook in the the play kitchen and run errands at the market. Kids can imagine themselves running a household and even their own business.
• Treetop Terrace - Opening soon! We can’t wait to see this breezy outdoor space where children can drive little cars and run around with new friends!

Children’s Museum Houston also offers nearly two dozen early learning programs where children learn through music, movement, experiments and more. Check out the museum’s full calendar of events here.

In addition to GAESA and its leader, the sanctions announced Thursday include Moa Nickel, a Cuban joint venture with Canada's Sherritt International, which immediately announced it would withdraw from the business, ending a 32-year presence on the island.

The May 1 executive order and the new designations announced May 7 significantly expand the legal authority through which the U.S. government can levy sanctions on third-country nationals and firms, explained Lee Schlenker, a research associate at the Quincy Institute’s Global South program, a Washington think tank.

“Not only are they subject to having their assets frozen but their U.S. accounts as well as their travel to the U.S., that of their shareholders, investors or employees,” said Schlenker. “This is bound to have an extremely significant impact of the presence of foreign companies” in Cuba.

Economist Pavel Vidal, a Cuba expert at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, told The Associated Press that the measures are “very concerning” for an economy already “practically paralyzed.” The U.S. has blocked fuel shipments to Cuba since January, further escalating the island's yearslong economic crisis. Vidal noted that the new sanctions would likely deter GAESA’s remaining partners, saying that “very few will risk defying them.”

The new measures amount to “total isolation,” said Vidal, driven by the fear they instill in international banks, insurers and corporations.

As an expert who has analyzed GAESA’s internal documents, Vidal noted that the conglomerate’s deep reach into nearly every sector of the Cuban economy makes any connection to the island a potential liability under the new U.S. rules.

According to Vidal, GAESA commands nearly 40% of Cuba’s gross domestic product. As of early 2024, the conglomerate held $14.5 billion in liquid reserves, with annual revenues triple the size of the entire Cuban state budget.

Family ties with the Castros

Established in the 1990s under military control, GAESA was the Cuban Armed Forces’ strategic response to the economic collapse that followed the Soviet Union’s fall and the tightening of U.S. sanctions in place at the time.

Despite being state-owned, GAESA’s accounts are exempt from audits by the Office of the Comptroller General. Gladys Bejerano, the entity’s director, admitted to this lack of oversight in a 2024 interview; shortly thereafter, she retired.

For years, until his death in July 2022, Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja served as GAESA's general manager. As the son-in-law of former President Raúl Castro, he was a pillar of the family — a legacy continued by his son, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. While the younger Castro officially serves as his grandfather’s chief bodyguard, he has recently emerged as a pivotal intermediary in sensitive discussions with the U.S.

This week's sanctions also added Ania Guillermina Lastres to the U.S. blacklist. As the successor to López-Calleja, she currently serves as GAESA’s executive president, overseeing the conglomerate’s vast international financial interests.

Based on the limited information available, GAESA oversees dozens of retail outlets — selling everything from food and clothing to home appliances — as well as a sprawling service network that includes car rentals and travel agencies. Notably, it also manages Cuba’s financial institutions, currency exchange bureaus, and the administration of the country’s major hotels.

In remarks to the press Friday, Rubio said the sanctions were not on the Cuban people and he referred to GAESA as a company that “is taking anything that makes money in Cuba and illegally putting it into the pockets of a few regime insiders.”

Cuban authorities maintain that the sanctions constitute “collective punishment” designed to strangle the island’s economy, arguing the Trump administration’s policies show a disregard for the welfare of the Cuban people in favor of political leverage.

The new sanctions on Havana come under the weight of a U.S. energy blockade that has caused sweeping water and power outages along with severe gas and water shortages.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the Trump administration was no longer planning to construct the wall within the national park following pushback from residents, the Examiner reported this week.

“Big Bend National Park has some just, like, unbelievably huge granite cliffs. It would be kind of silly to put like a 30-foot border wall on top of a 90-foot granite cliff,” Scott said in an interview with the Examiner. “So what we’re trying to convey is that we are going to have meaningful border security in that entire area.”

Scott’s comments only referenced the national park and did not detail whether CBP’s withdrawal from wall construction also included the nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park or private property in the region.

CBP officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about updated plans.

Instead of a wall, federal officials will pave roads along the border in the national park and make use of drones and other digital surveillance equipment, Scott said. News of the cancellation comes after weeks of upheaval in Texas as elected officials from both political parties and residents asserted that construction in the park would be a waste of resources.

In February, Trump administration officials waived over two dozen environmental laws to clear the way for a 150-mile-long border barrier through West Texas, including Big Bend National Park.

Then in early April, an interactive map on the CBP website showed the agency planned to instead install “virtual wall” technology in the region that would alert Border Patrol agents when people cross the border. CBP officials took down the map in late April, and it is not currently available on the agency’s website.

Local residents near Big Bend sued the Trump administration in mid-April, arguing that federal officials waived the regulations illegally in pursuit of the construction project.

Funds acquired through the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” President Donald Trump’s key spending package, direct CBP to construct a multifaceted barrier system, or a “Smart Wall,” across the southern border with Mexico. The proposed barriers would include bollard walls and patrol roads, as well as surveillance technology and floating buoys placed in the Rio Grande.

The Hurricanes and the Avalanche have put on a clinic for how to start the race.

The top two teams in the NHL during the regular season, seemingly on a collision course to meet in the Stanley Cup Final, have been performing on the ice with a force to match their natural-disaster-themed nicknames. Neither the Canes nor the Avs have lost a game in these playoffs.

With a 4-1 win at Philadelphia on Thursday to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Hurricanes became the 13th team in NHL history to start a postseason with seven straight wins. Eight of the first 12 won the Stanley Cup.

The Hurricanes will send sizzling goalie Frederik Andersen out for Game 4 on Saturday to try to finish off the Flyers, seeking a sweep that would give them the league's first 8-0 start in the playoffs since 1985.

“I would anticipate we’re going to give it our best, because we’re going to need to,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’re not going to win if we don’t put our best foot forward.”

Only three teams in NHL history have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, but plenty of teams have managed to at least force a fifth game.

“The fourth one is the hardest one to win. No one wants to go home,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “It's going to be a brand-new challenge.”

Only two teams have started the playoffs 7-0 in the last three decades. Colorado, which has already scored 14 goals on Minnesota in their Western Conference semifinal series, would make it two in the same year by winning Game 3 on Saturday night. The NHL gave the Avalanche and Wild three days between games to sync up the schedules of the four ongoing series.

“For our team, the energy and pace that we want to play with on a nightly basis that helps us have success, it doesn’t hurt,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It doesn’t hurt to be rested and recovered and still get a little practice time in to go out and feel good about your puck touches and your systems and everything. Meetings don’t have to get crammed in. You can take your time and get feedback from the guys."

The Hurricanes, who have made the playoffs in each of eight seasons under Brind’Amour, lost to eventual champion Florida in the Eastern Conference finals last year. They would tie for the 10th-longest winning streak in a single NHL postseason by beating the Flyers on Saturday. Twenty-three teams in league history have won eight or more consecutive playoff games in the same year, and 18 of them won the Stanley Cup.

One of the five that came up short was the 1992 Chicago Blackhawks, who matched the all-time record with 11 straight playoff wins. The Pittsburgh Penguins also staked claim to the record that spring, finishing with a four-game sweep in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Avalanche are aiming to emulate the way the Canes powered through the Philadelphia crowd noise to win a feisty Game 3. Minnesota has not hosted a game this late in the postseason since 2015.

“It will be a rockin’ environment,” Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood said. “That’s what makes playoff so fun, right?”

Carolina Hurricanes at Philadelphia Flyers

When/Where to Watch: Game 4, Saturday, 6 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV, HBO Max).

Series: Hurricanes lead 3-0.

The Flyers have been unable to solve Carolina's stifling defense, with just three goals in three games. Their league-worst power play during the regular season has carried over, with just one goal in 12 opportunities in this series and a 3-for-29 showing in nine playoff games.

Colorado Avalanche at Minnesota Wild

When/Where to Watch: Game 4, Saturday, 9 p.m. EDT (TNT, truTV, HBO Max).

Series: Avalanche lead 2-0.

The Wild have spent the extra time off trying to shore up their penalty kill, which has been dearly missing center Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin. But after dominating Dallas at even strength in the first round they've also struggled to contain Colorado's high-octane forwards in 5-on-5 situations. Minnesota might go back to rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt after giving Filip Gustavsson the net for a 5-2 loss in Game 2.

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AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Video posted on social media by U.S. Southern Command shows a black, boat-shaped image before what appears to be an explosion, followed by a column of fire rising from the ocean.

Southern Command said it “immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor.”

The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has signed off on a new U.S. counterterrorism strategy that sets eliminating drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere as the administration’s highest priority.

The Trump administration’s campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters, including the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea, has gone on since early September and killed at least 193 people in total. The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs. The strikes have ramped up again in recent weeks.

At the same time, Trump has sought to press regional leaders to work more closely with the U.S. to target cartels and take military action themselves against drug traffickers and transnational gangs that he says pose an “unacceptable threat” to the hemisphere’s national security.

Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner is set to rejoin the rotation sooner than anticipated after teammate Tyler Glasnow left a start early this week because of back trouble. Glasnow was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with low back spasms, and Los Angeles recalled right-hander Paul Gervase from Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Snell missed most of the 2025 regular season because of a lingering shoulder injury, making just 11 starts after signing a $182 million, five-year contract in November 2024. But the left-hander went 3-2 in six postseason games to help the Dodgers win their second consecutive World Series title.

Snell has been on the IL since late March with left shoulder fatigue. He had been scheduled to make one more minor league rehabilitation start for Class A Ontario on Saturday, but instead will face the Braves at Dodger Stadium.

Glasnow exited after one inning against the Houston Astros on Wednesday. He had an MRI that showed “nothing really significant,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday before the opener of a three-game series against Atlanta.

The 32-year-old Glasnow is 3-0 with a 2.72 ERA in seven outings this season.

The 6-foot-10 Gervase, 25, is 2-0 with a 3.65 ERA in nine games for Oklahoma City this year. He made one appearance for the Dodgers last season, striking out two batters in two innings. He also pitched in five games for Tampa Bay, compiling a 4.26 ERA.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

It happened at 10515 Bellaire Blvd at Tropical Tea.

According to police, an employee came to check on an overnight employee because they had not heard from him all morning. The employee entered the business and found the other employee dead in the kitchen area. The victim reportedly had obvious blunt force trauma.

Police say the front door of the business was locked, but the rear was unlocked when officers began investigating. They also say the victim’s vehicle appeared to be missing.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Houston Police Department.

However, in the Middle East, the shaky ceasefire in the U.S. war with Iran is being strained even further.

The U.S. said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliated against Iranian military facilities. Hours later, U.S. Central Command said its forces disabled two more Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade on Iran’s ports.

Washington, meanwhile, awaits a response from Tehran in negotiations to end the war.

And in U.S. politics, Republicans are moving quickly to try to capitalize on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly weakened Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. Alabama lawmakers passed a plan Friday for new congressional primaries if courts allow different districts this year, while Virginia’s top court struck down Democrats’ redrawn U.S. House maps, giving Republicans a win.

Here's the latest:

Justice Department sues to block ban on local immigrant detention agreements in New Mexico

The lawsuit says termination of a county agreement for the Otero County Processing Center would drastically limit the state’s capacity “to detain illegal immigrants.”

The county-owned facility — one of three privately operated immigrant detention centers in New Mexico — includes four immigration courtrooms and space for more than 1,000 detainees.

Federal prosecutors said the state and city laws infringe on federal authority by trying to regulate immigration policy and preventing longstanding cooperation between local and federal officials.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the Legislature was within its right in responding to “inadequate medical care, deaths in custody, and conditions that fell well below acceptable standards” at immigration detention facilities.

The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits targeting state or city policies seen as interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, and Minnesota and cities there.

UN chief calls on all parties to abide by the ceasefire

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern at the reported exchange of fire between Iran and the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, his spokesperson said.

“He underscores that this is a critical moment for de-escalation and urges all sides to exercise maximum restraint to avoid further escalation,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday.

Guterres calls on all parts to refrain from action “that could lead to renewed escalation or undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts,” Dujarric said.

Iran’s envoy urges UN to ‘condemn unequivocally’ the US blockade and attacks on 2 Iranian oil tankers

Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the “unlawful” U.S. actions “constitute a grave and dangerous escalation that further destabilizes an already fragile region and poses a serious threat to international peace and security.”

The Iranian envoy warned in letters Friday to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the consequences of U.S. actions in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz “could be catastrophic” and extend far beyond the Middle East.

The U.S. “would bear full responsibility,” Iravani said. The U.S. military said Friday that its forces had disabled two Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports, part of U.S. efforts to get Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

He called on the secretary-general and Security Council to urge the U.S. “to comply with its obligations under international law and refrain from further provocative actions.”

Global food prices hit highest level in three years due to Iran war, UN says

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday its food price index was up 2% in April from the prior year, hitting its highest level since 2023. The index tracks international prices for commodities like grain, rice and sugar.

The FAO said vegetable oil saw the biggest increase. Higher crude oil prices are increasing demand from the biofuel industry for seed oils. Concerns about lower production in Southeast Asia is also raising prices, the FAO said.

Wheat prices were up 0.8% due to concerns about drought in the U.S. and Australia as well as high fertilizer prices tied to the war. The FAO said farmers may shift from wheat to less fertilizer-intensive crops this year, which would tighten wheat supplies and raise prices.

Qatar’s top diplomat and the US vice president discuss Mideast negotiations

The tiny, gas-rich Gulf Arab state of Qatar — which hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East — has a long track record as a mediator between Iran and its regional adversaries.

In March, the kingdom said it was not directly mediating between the U.S. and Iran, however it voiced support for all diplomatic channels to end the war.

In Friday’s meeting in Washington with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is both Qatar’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, expressed the need for all parties to engage with the ongoing mediation efforts that would eventually lead to a “comprehensive agreement that achieves lasting peace” in the region.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Al Thani and Vance reviewed Pakistani mediation efforts aimed at de-escalation, without providing further details.

Vance’s office did not immediately comment on the meeting.

US won’t say whether Iran oil spill was caused by airstrikes

The Pentagon declined to comment Friday on whether there had been recent strikes on Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export terminal.

Based on the imagery taken earlier this week, the spill occurred before the most recent round of U.S. strikes in the region. Kharg Island is on the other end of the Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, hundreds of miles away.

Satellite images show oil is still spilling from an Iranian terminal

Satellite images taken Friday show an apparent oil spill covering about 71 square kilometers (27 square miles) off Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export terminal, said Ami Daniel, CEO of maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.

The slick was first spotted on satellite images Tuesday.

Although the spill’s origin is unknown, cleanup efforts will probably not be launched in waters where the U.S. and Iran have been trading fire, Daniel said.

Nina Noelle, an international crisis operations expert with Greenpeace Germany, said it appears unlikely the spill will impact land, though it could still possibly affect some sensitive marine habitats.

Trump administration appeals court ruling against new global tariffs it imposed after a stinging Supreme Court loss

On Thursday, a split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found that Trump’s 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued.

In a filing Friday, the Justice Department said it would appeal the 2-1 decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington. The trade court had ruled that the tariffs are “invalid’’ and “unauthorized by law.’’

At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs the Trump administration imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down bigger double-digit tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth. The new tariffs, invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, are set to expire July 24.

Trump’s Greenland envoy is expected to make his first visit to Arctic island this month

Later this month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who is doubling as the president’s special envoy to Greenland, is expected to make his first visit the Danish territory that Trump has said the United States must take over for national security reasons, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The person, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Landry is scheduled to attend Future Greenland, a business conference, in the capital city of Nuuk, but did not provide any further details about the governor’s itinerary.

Trump announced earlier this year he was levying new tariffs against eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland. But he quickly backed off the threat after global markets tanked.

The president has paid scant attention, at least publicly, to Greenland in recent months as he’s focused on the Iran war, Venezuela, and Cuba.

Greenlandic media outlet Sermitsiaq first reported on Landry’s expected visit.

—By Aamer Madhani in Washington

Alabama lawmakers pass plan for new US House primary if courts allow different districts

Republican state senators gave final approval to the legislation on Friday, sending it to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.

The action in Alabama came on the same day that the Virginia Supreme Court dealt a major setback to Democrats by overturning a redistricting plan that could have helped Democrats win as many as four additional House seats.

The Alabama bill could set aside the results of the May 19 primaries, if courts lift an injunction requiring it to use a map with two districts that have large Black populations.

Trump says Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a 3-day ceasefire and a prisoner swap

The U.S. president said Friday that such a halt to hostilities could be the “beginning of the end” of the long war between the two nations.

Trump announced on social media that the ceasefire would run Saturday through Monday. Saturday is Victory Day in Russia, a holiday that commemorates its victory over Nazi Germany 81 years ago in World War II.

Trump says he’s “pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE.” The Republican president said the ceasefire includes a suspension of all kinetic activity and the exchange of 1,000 prisoners by each country.

Democrats had hoped to win as many as 4 additional US House seats under Virginia’s redrawn map

Don Scott, the Democratic speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, said Democrats respect the court’s opinion while noting the voters of the state had approved of the new congressional map.

“We gave this decision to the voters — exactly where it belongs — and they spoke loud and clear,” he said in a statement. “They voted YES because they wanted to fight back against the Trump power grab.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticizes recent US military actions against Iran

He said “every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure.”

In a post on X, Araghchi said “Iranians never bow to pressure” and questioned whether the U.S. actions were a crude pressure tactic or the result of “a spoiler once again duping POTUS.”

Araghchi also boasted that Iran’s missile inventory and launch capacity was at “120%” of prewar levels, attaching a screenshot from a U.S. newspaper report that said the CIA had found Iran managed to retain more of its weaponry after the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign than previously thought.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the US strikes were a ‘clear violation’ of the ceasefire

The violence came as Washington awaited a response from Tehran in negotiations to end the war. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters he expects to hear from Iran later Friday.

“I hope it’s a serious offer,” Rubio told reporters. “I really do.”

US military shows smoking oil freighters in latest confrontation with Iran

The U.S. military posted video of two Iranian oil tankers as their smokestacks were struck by an American fighter jet Friday, marking the latest confrontation between the U.S. and Iran.

Both countries exchanged fire off Iran’s coast on Thursday as U.S. Navy warships passed through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. also disabled another Iranian ship earlier this week.

“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain committed to full enforcement of the blockade of vessels entering or leaving Iran,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the leader of U.S. Central Command, said in a statement.

Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats’ redistricting plan, dimming party’s midterm hopes

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down the voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections.

The court ruled the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize the mid-decade redistricting. Voters narrowly approved the amendment April 21, but the court’s ruling renders the results of that vote meaningless.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court said in its opinion.

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US forces disabled two more Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade

That’s according to U.S. Central Command in a social media post.

In the social media post on Friday, it says a U.S. Navy fighter jet fired into the smokestacks of ships in the Gulf of Oman after they tried to pull into an Iranian port.

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The newly unveiled website housing documents on UFOs has a decidedly retro feel

It features black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font.

The first release includes 162 files, such as old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space.

One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light” in the sky.

“The object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview.

Another file is a NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object.”

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Rubio defended Trump after weeks of his criticisms of the pope

And Rubio said the U.S. believed it could still have a “productive and fruitful and important relationship” with the Catholic Church.

Rubio spoke to reporters in Rome, a day after his meeting with Pope Leo XIV during a fence-mending visit to Italy and the Vatican.

He was asked if he would recommend that Trump stop criticizing Leo’s position on the Iran war.

“The president will always speak clearly about how he feels about the U.S. and U.S. policy,” Rubio said. “The president of the United States is always going to act in what’s in the best interest of the United States.”

Rubio came to Rome after Trump repeatedly criticized Leo’s calls for peace and dialogue. The back and forth that ensued riled Italian leaders who came to Leo’s defense.

“The president’s perspective is clear. He thinks that Iran is a threat, and it needs to be addressed. And that position remains unchanged,” Rubio said.

US employers added a surprising 115,000 jobs last month despite economic shock from the Iran war

Hiring was better than the 65,000 forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%.

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average U.S. gasoline prices surging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far.

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Pentagon begins releasing new files on UFOs and says the public can draw its own conclusions

In addition to the Pentagon, the effort is led by the White House, the director of national intelligence, the Energy Department, NASA and the FBI.

The Pentagon said Friday in a post on X that while past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, Trump “is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files.”

The Pentagon says additional documents will be released on a rolling basis.

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Rubio says Iran’s reported plan to create an agency to control Strait of Hormuz is ‘unacceptable’

And he warned that if Tehran attacks U.S. Navy ships “they’re going to get blown up.”

Rubio fielded questions at the end of a two-day fence-mending visit to Rome and the Vatican after sharp disagreements over the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and President Donald Trump’s criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.

He was asked about reports from a shipping data company that said Iran has created a government agency to vet and tax vessels seeking passage through the strait.

“Is the world going to accept that Iran now controls an international waterway?” Rubio asked. “What is the world prepared to do about it?”

He also warned Tehran against attacking American maritime assets in the region. The U.S. said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The red line is clear. They threaten Americans, they are going to be blown up,” he said.

Rubio says US expecting Iran response Friday

The secretary of state, traveling in Italy, said the U.S. is anticipating a response from Iran on the ongoing diplomatic discussions sometime later Friday.

“We should know something today,” Rubio, who doubles as the White House national security adviser, told reporters.

He added: “I hope it’s a serious offer. I really do.”

Judge rules Trump administration’s cancellation of humanities grants was unconstitutional

The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan sided with The Authors Guild, several other groups and several people who had their grants canceled and sued DOGE and the National Endowment for the Humanities. McMahon permanently barred the administration from terminating the grants and criticized DOGE’s use of artificial intelligence in nixing the funding.

Government lawyers had argued that the cuts of more than 1,400 grants of congressionally approved funds were legal moves to implement President Donald Trump’s directives, eliminate grants associated with diversion, equity and inclusion and reduce discretionary spending under the administration’s priorities.

The White House and Department of Justice, which defended against the lawsuit, did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday evening. It was not immediately clear if an appeal was planned.

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Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed after loss at the Supreme Court

A federal court ruled Thursday against the new global tariffs that Trump imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court.

A split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found the 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued.

The court ruled 2-1 that Trump overstepped the tariff power that Congress had allowed the president under the law. The tariffs are “invalid″ and “unauthorized by law,” the majority wrote.

The third judge on the panel found the law allows the president more leeway on tariffs.

If the administration appeals Thursday’s decision, as expected, it would first turn to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, based in Washington, and then, potentially, the Supreme Court.

At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs the Trump administration imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down even broader tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth. The new tariffs were set to expire July 24.

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Trump drives across Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to inspect new blue coating he’s putting on it

Trump on Thursday went on an unannounced trip to the Lincoln Memorial to see the Reflecting Pool after he had it coated in a color he calls “American flag blue.”

The Republican president was driven across the new coating before he got out of his SUV to make a statement and answer questions from reporters who had been taken there to await his arrival before the sun set.

The new blue coating will hide the pool’s gray stone, a color Trump said was “never good.” The project cost nearly $2 million, he said.

“It never had the color people wanted, but now it’s going to have the great color,” he said, standing in the pool surrounded by some of his Cabinet secretaries, including Doug Burgum of Interior and Markwayne Mullin of Homeland Security.

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The point of contention: The popular show “The View," and whether it's subject to equal time rules.

ABC’s filing to the Federal Communications Commission, made public Friday, came in a dispute involving one ABC station in Houston, KTRK-TV. But the wording indicated the network was embarking on a broader battle with the administration.

“The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly,” said the filing on behalf of both KTRK-TV and ABC.

The commission replied, in a statement emailed to The Associated Press, that equal time law “encourages more speech and empowers voters to decide the outcome of elections. The FCC will review Disney’s assertion that ‘The View’ is a ‘bona fide news program’ and thus exempt from the political equal time rules.”

The ABC filing appeared to be the latest volley inside and outside the legal arena between the U.S. media and the Trump White House over what journalists perceive as the president’s attack on free speech and the media’s ability to do its job. Trump has been critical of media outlets whose journalism runs counter to his agenda and sensibilities.

Among legal battles in the courts: a dispute between the Pentagon and The New York Times over access; a battle between the White House and The Associated Press over how to refer to the Gulf of Mexico; and Trump’s anger at The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein.

The dispute concerns content on “The View,” ABC’s long-running morning talk show, which combines entertainment and political interviews and often features commentary critical of Trump. The filing referenced the FCC’s revisiting, with legal action, the question of whether “The View” should fall under equal time rules. The rules require granting equal airtime to competing candidates for office.

At issue: Whether ‘The View’ is subject to equal time rules

News programs are exempt from the rules. Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has indicated he intends to argue that “The View” is not a so-called “bona fide news program.” The issue could affect other shows that similarly combine entertainment and politics.

In its filing, ABC argued that “‘The View’ has been broadcasting under a bona fide news exemption granted to it more than twenty years ago, consistent with longstanding Commission interpretations designed to minimize the serious First Amendment problems inherent in the equal time regime.”

The network also argued that the decades-old equal time doctrine was not attuned to the realities of the present day, when “the broadcast airwaves account for a slice of the numerous media options through which Americans get their political information. Indeed, the marketplace of ideas has never been more robust, and people can hear virtually any brand of political commentary by listening to a podcast, watching cable, scrolling social media, or streaming on a phone, computer or connected TV. The free flow of ideas flourishes on these non-broadcast platforms even though the equal opportunities rule does not apply there.”

ABC argues that free political discourse is needed now more than ever

Narrowing the FCC’s longtime approach to so-called “bona fide news exemptions,” it said, “would risk restricting political discourse exactly when it is needed most.”

The administration’s criticism of “The View” echoes its displeasure with late-night news hosts who criticize Trump – especially ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.

Donald and Melania Trump recently both called for ABC to fire Kimmel for a joke in which the comic described the first lady as having “the glow of an expectant widow.”

The joke came two nights before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps were gathered along with much of the nation’s leadership and Washington media. Kimmel said the joke was a light roast about the couple’s age difference — and certainly not a reference to assassination.

In a footnote, ABC noted that “The View” has long featured a panel including women of different backgrounds to discuss issues of the day.

“Although the lineup of the co-hosts has changed over the years, ‘The View’ has consistently prioritized having a panel of women from different backgrounds in order to facilitate interesting discourse and the exchange of divergent perspectives,” it said.

It happened at a home near the 16500 block of Courtland Circle.

The constable’s office says there is no threat to the public and the bomb squad has taken possession of the device and will safely destroy it.

“We appreciate the public’s patience and cooperation while deputies and specialized units worked to secure the area safely,” the constable’s office said.

Inside the stadium, crews have been working for just over a week, but officials say the planning behind this moment stretches back nearly seven years—well before Houston’s World Cup bid was even secured.

A field years in the making

From logistics to engineering, every detail of the temporary pitch has been carefully mapped out.

One official described the effort as more critical than travel, training sites, or matchups.

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“The tickets, the flights, training sites, teams, matchups. All of that’s important. This is the most important part of what we’re doing here.”

The goal: turn an indoor NFL stadium into one of the most closely monitored and high-performance playing surfaces in the world.

An accelerated build timeline

Under normal conditions, installing a professional natural grass pitch can take up to 13 weeks. In Houston, that timeline is being compressed into just over a month.

“Without this elite-level playing surface, there is no World Cup in Houston.”

To make it happen, crews are building the field from the ground up in carefully engineered layers designed for drainage, stability, and temperature control. The finished surface will support roughly 81,000 square feet of Kentucky bluegrass.

Grass grown in Colorado, delivered by truck

The grass itself isn’t local—it’s been grown for the past 18 months in Colorado.

“Our sod has been grown in the Denver, Colorado area for the past 18 months.”

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Once ready, the sod will travel roughly 18 hours in refrigerated trucks before arriving in Houston, where it will be laid piece by piece and stitched into a seamless hybrid playing surface.

A hybrid pitch built for performance

Because NRG Stadium is a domed venue, maintaining natural grass requires additional technology. Giant LED grow lights—shipped from the Netherlands—will be installed to help sustain the field between matches.

Organizers describe the system as highly technical and tightly controlled, combining natural turf with reinforced structural layers underneath.

“This is essentially one big science experiment.”

After the World Cup: A rapid removal

Once the tournament concludes, the transformation will be reversed just as quickly as it was built. The entire grass field is expected to be removed in under two weeks, allowing the stadium to transition back to NFL use.

That means the full cycle—from installation to removal—will span only a few weeks.

From soccer showcase back to football

In total, the process reflects a rare overlap of global sport and local infrastructure: a temporary world-class soccer pitch built inside a football stadium, then dismantled almost immediately afterward.

For Houston, it’s a short-term transformation with long-term global visibility as the city prepares to host matches for one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

Raymond Epps, a former Marine, was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent causing trouble near the Capitol that day so that it would be blamed on Trump fans. He said he and his wife sold an Arizona ranch where they lived and moved into a recreational vehicle because of the harassment they faced after Fox's reports.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Hall in Delaware granted Fox's motion to dismiss the case, finding Epps failed to show enough evidence to prove that Fox knew its statements were false.

The judge previously dismissed the case in 2024 but gave Epps a second chance to file his case. Her Friday ruling said he still fell short.

Epps had named Tucker Carlson, who was fired from Fox in April 2023, as being the most active promoter of the conspiracy theory. At the time, Carlson hosted Fox’s most popular show. Epps was featured in more than two dozen segments on Carlson’s prime-time show, the lawsuit said.

“In the aftermath of the events of January 6th, Fox News searched for a scapegoat to blame other than Donald Trump or the Republican Party," lawyers for Epps wrote in their lawsuit. "Eventually, they turned on one of their own.”

In a statement Friday night, Fox News said it was "pleased with the federal court’s ruling, further preserving the press freedoms of the First Amendment.”

Epps pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge related to the Jan. 6 riot and was sentenced to a year of probation. He was later pardoned by Trump alongside 1,500 others who received clemency for their roles in the insurrection.

Federal prosecutors have backed up Epps’ vehement denials that he was a government plant or FBI operative. They say Epps has never been a government employee or agent beyond serving in the U.S. Marines from 1979 to 1983.

The incident happened Tuesday, May 5 during a jury trial in Brazoria County Family Court involving a custody modification case.

A court docket entry states attorneys Brenda DeRouen and Michael Phillips appeared during a modifying custody case.

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The docket entry then states:

“Outside the presence of the jury, and on the record, during arguments [attorney Michael] Phillips repeated a racial slur several times and Court found the conduct to be an act of direct contempt.”

Court proceedings recessed shortly afterward and resumed the next morning.

Brenda DeRouen, one of the attorneys present during the exchange, described the incident as “deeply disturbing” in a statement provided to KPRC 2 News.

“I was deeply disturbed by conduct that occurred during the proceedings when opposing counsel repeatedly used a racial slur in open court under the guise of ‘evidence,’ despite the manner and context in which it was presented having no legitimate evidentiary purpose,” DeRouen said. “The comments were unnecessary, demeaning, and came across as taunting rather than advocacy.”

DeRouen, who identified herself as a Black woman attorney practicing in Texas family courts, said the moment underscored broader concerns about professionalism and respect in courtrooms.

“Attorneys should be able to advocate fiercely for their clients without being subjected to racially charged conduct that undermines professionalism and dignity in the courtroom,” she said.

Despite the incident, DeRouen said the jury ultimately returned a verdict in favor of her client.

“We remain proud that the focus ultimately stayed where it belonged: the evidence, the law, and the best interest of the child,” she said.

She also said attorneys across Brazoria County had offered support following the courtroom exchange.

“We respect the Court’s decision to hold opposing counsel in contempt,” DeRouen said. “This moment is bigger than one case. Courtrooms should be places where justice is pursued with professionalism, not intimidation.”

Phillips disputed the characterization of the incident in a statement sent to KPRC 2 News saying the comments occurred during a late-evening evidentiary hearing outside the jury’s presence while he was objecting to evidence, he described as inflammatory.

“Despite my consistent objection, virtually every single day of the three week trial, opposing counsel repeatedly used the n-word with a hard r in the jury’s presence,” Phillips said. “A statement was made in which the word was recited to the Judge, about the repeated use of the inappropriate word, NOT a derogatory statement made towards opposing counsel in any way.”

Phillips said he apologized immediately afterward.

“An immediate full and sincere apology was announced at the first opportunity to everyone present when the n-word statement was made,” he said.

He also accused opposing counsel of using media attention to damage his reputation.

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“It is unfortunate that opposing counsel has strategically attracted the media to slander our reputation in an attempt to hold us accountable for a standard to which she does not hold herself,” Phillips said. “Racial slurs have no place in our court system, regardless of your race.”

Court records reviewed by KPRC 2 News do not yet indicate whether sanctions beyond the contempt finding have been imposed.

Michael Phillips’ full statement:

“This incident occurred at approximately 5:00 PM, Tuesday, May 5^th, 2026, at a time in which the front doors of the courthouse are locked, and the jury was not present in the Courtroom. We were having a hearing over admitting a piece of inflammatory evidence to which I was actively objecting.

Despite my consistent objection, virtually every single day of the three week trial, opposing counsel repeatedly used the n-word with a hard r in the jury’s presence. A statement was made in which the word was recited to the Judge, about the repeated use of the inappropriate word, NOT a derogatory statement made towards opposing counsel in any way.

An immediate full and sincere apology was announced at the first opportunity to everyone present when the n-word statement was made. It is unfortunate that opposing counsel has strategically attracted the media to slander our reputation in an attempt to hold us accountable for a standard to which she does not hold herself. Racial Slurs have no place in our court system, regardless of your race.”

Brenda Derouen’s full statement:

“I was deeply disturbed by conduct that occurred during the proceedings when opposing counsel repeatedly used a racial slur in open court under the guise of “evidence,” despite the manner and context in which it was presented having no legitimate evidentiary purpose. The comments were unnecessary, demeaning, and came across as taunting rather than advocacy.

As a Black woman attorney practicing in Texas family courts, I am acutely aware of how isolating these moments can feel. Black women make up only a very small percentage of attorneys in this country, and even fewer are lead trial counsel in high-conflict jury trials involving custody litigation. Attorneys should be able to advocate fiercely for their clients without being subjected to racially charged conduct that undermines professionalism and dignity in the courtroom.

Despite those challenges, the jury returned a verdict in favor of our client. We remain proud that the focus ultimately stayed where it belonged: the evidence, the law, and the best interest of the child.

We also want to acknowledge the overwhelming support we have received from attorneys throughout Brazoria County. Members of the legal community, from different backgrounds and practices, have reached out privately and publicly to stand in solidarity with us and to reaffirm that professionalism, respect, and dignity still matter in the practice of law. That support has meant more than words can express.

We respect the Court’s decision to hold opposing counsel in contempt, and while no further action has occurred at this time, we believe in the integrity of the justice system and trust that the Court will continue taking the necessary steps to ensure litigants, witnesses, jurors, and attorneys feel safe, respected, and protected inside our courtrooms.

This moment is bigger than one case. Courtrooms should be places where justice is pursued with professionalism, not intimidation. Advocacy does not require humiliation, and justice should never come at the expense of human dignity."

Some students with disabilities will be required to move campuses next school year where they will learn in a “contained” setting, Houston ISD Deputy Superintendent Kristen Hole announced earlier this week. It is part of an effort to centralize special education services, so programs spread across several campuses could be consolidated into one site. The majority of special education students will not be affected.

Hole said the changes will mean better instruction for children with disabilities with more small-group settings for individualized attention.

However, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is examining whether the move runs directly counter to the federal law that says students with disabilities should learn alongside classmates who do not have disabilities as much as possible.

“Schools cannot exclude students with disabilities simply because of their disability status. Placement decisions must be made individually, based on each student’s needs, rather than by blanket policies that segregate students by disability category,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey wrote in a statement. “The allegations described here are alarming.”

Houston ISD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the investigation. The district’s website notes that student services will still closely follow individualized education plans, or IEPs, which is a written plan of each students’ needs.

Federal officials cited concerns from Houston families that their children will lose out on a chance to improve their social skills in general education classrooms. Parents also worry that longer transportation times to these alternative campuses will be challenging for children with medical and behavioral needs.

Houston ISD previously has struggled to provide supports to the more than 20,000 students who qualify for special education services. In 2020, special investigators with the Texas Education Agency found HISD in “systemic and widespread” noncompliance with special education law.

About a decade ago, federal officials found Texas failed to properly educate many students with disabilities.The state had quietly capped the percentage of students that schools could identify as in need of special education services.

Houston ISD has been under state control since June 2023 due to chronic poor academic performance. For the district to regain local control, Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath has said, in addition to improving academic outcomes, HISD must get its special education programs in compliance with state and federal law.

There is a 30% chance of rain Saturday. We have the same issue as Friday. A lot of rich tropical moisture sits on top of us, but we’re out of the main storm track. Please keep in mind, if storms do form over Houston, they will be strong. Below is the noon futurecast.

Mother’s Day Sunday:

Sunday, Mother’s Day, starts great! But Sunday night a cold front moves through. This front will bring a line rain and thunderstorms. Our northern cities have a chance of hail and strong winds. The storms will weaken the closer they get to the coast.

10 Day Forecast:

Looking ahead into next week, expect a drier weather pattern but the mugginess will stick around with temperatures forecast to range between 84 to 88 degrees. Next chance of rain is Sunday May 17th.

Have you captured a dramatic rain photo or video? Share your weather moments with the KPRC 2 community through Click2Pins at Click2Houston.com/pins.

The No. 2 player in the world heated up on the back nine Friday at Quail Hollow and finished with a 4-under 67 to climb into contention at the Truist Championship, four shots behind 36-hole leader Sungjae Im, who was at 9-under 133.

Playing his first tournament since winning the green jacket for a second time on April 12 at Augusta National, McIlroy was 1 under and buried on the leaderboard eight shots back when he made the turn.

But birdies at No. 10 and 11 got him rolling and he seemed to feed off the energy from the crowd, just as he’s done in his previous four wins in Charlotte, where he has a large following.

McIlroy’s approach shots got closer and closer, and he added birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16. He shot 32 on the back nine despite lipping out his par putt on the par-4 18th hole after finding a greenside bunker.

“It was a good day to get myself back in the hunt, and feel like I have a real chance going into the weekend,” McIlroy said.

At one point, McIlroy hit 14 straight greens in regulation — a personal course record.

“I started to make some good swings, especially with the irons,” McIlroy said. “I played one tournament in seven weeks, so I think just getting the reps under my belt a little bit and getting a scorecard in my hand. I feel like your patterns on the golf course are always a little bit different than your patterns on the range, or it is for me anyway.”

McIlroy isn’t the only big name in contention.

Tommy Fleetwood shot 67 for the second straight day and trailed Im by one shot. Justin Thomas was two back along with PGA Tour newcomer Alex Fitzpatrick, the brother of Matt Fitzpatrick.

Rickie Fowler vaulted into the mix with the day’s low round of 8-under 63, which included nine birdies.

Cameron Young, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, shot 70 and was five shots back.

Fleetwood said he scored well despite not having his best stuff.

“It’s just nice to even get a couple of days where you have something to show for your work, I guess,” said Fleetwood, who will play in the final pairing with Im on Saturday. “Just a nice reminder that it will come good at some point if you keep doing the right things. So that’s been great. I just hope it continues.”

For Im, the season hasn’t gone as well he’s hoped. He’s battled through a wrist injury and has only one top-40 finish.

Now healthy, that may be about to change.

The South Korean followed an opening round 7-under 64 with a 69 as he looks for his first tour win since 2021 in Las Vegas.

“I know this course very well, so I’m taking advantage of that,” Im said. “And then the scrambling, because of the play with the Presidents Cup, I know where to miss the greens, I’m very familiar with this golf course. But I didn’t putt very well today, but I’m happy with where I’m at.”

Thomas won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in 2017 and said this is the best he’s felt physically since having surgery to treat a herniated disk in his lower back in November.

He would have posted back-to-back 67s had he not missed a birdie putt on his final hole Friday.

“I felt like I’m close,” Thomas said. “I’ve really been pleased the last couple weeks.”

Chandler Blanchet had the shot of the day, a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole. It was the fourth ace on No. 17 in tournament history and the first since Mark Hubbard in 2023.

___

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

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Friday that authorities boarded eight cruise ships in late April and determined that 27 people, mostly from the Philippines, were involved in “the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing” of child sexual abuse images.

The agency canceled the visas of those involved and returned them to their home countries, the statement said.

The agency did not say if any passengers aboard the ships were believed to be victims. It also did not say which ships agents boarded, why those ships were targeted or where the operations took place. The statement said no additional information was available.

At least some of the ships had docked in San Diego.

Disney Cruise Line in a statement said the company has a “zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and fully cooperated with law enforcement. While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company.”

Immigrant and workers' rights groups said they had been trying, without success, to obtain information about the status of the workers and the reason behind the enforcement action. Benjamin Prado, with one of the groups, Unión del Barrio, said they held a news conference Tuesday in San Diego after previously receiving a generic statement from Customs and Border Protection.

The statement the agency subsequently released to news organizations this week did not appear to be on the agency's website, he said. That information should be readily accessible, he said.

Prado said his group wants to better understand what kind of monitoring or surveillance might have been occurring ahead of the workers being detained and whether due process rights were followed. He acknowledged skepticism around information released by agencies like Customs and Border Protection.

“At this point, we doubt, we question their claims and so we do want to follow up with some of these workers to find out exactly what took place,” Prado said.

Customs and Border Protection has said that a criminal charge is not required for someone's visa to be revoked.

Tyler Robinson's attorneys argued potential jurors could be biased by slanted news reports and online comments that depict the defendant as unremorseful based on how he looks and acts in court. They said live broadcasts were fueling those stories and interfering with Robinson's right to fair proceedings.

State District Judge Tony Graf said some news outlets have used courtroom footage as “a springboard to discuss out-of-court commentary” by public officials, opine on the existence of evidence that has not been presented in court and “generally vilify the defendant," but he declined to ban cameras.

“Electronic media coverage provides a means to facilitate the public’s right of access to court proceedings for those who cannot physically occupy the limited space available in a courtroom," Graf said. "Livestreaming in particular allows as many people as are interested to observe the justice system at work and hold our branches of government accountable.”

Media organizations, prosecutors and Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, had urged the judge to allow cameras. They said transparency is the best way to guard against conspiracy theories that have circulated since Kirk's assassination on Sept. 10, when the 31-year-old conservative activist was shot in the neck while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem.

The defense and prosecution did not immediately respond to requests for comment after Graf read the ruling via video call.

Graf has said repeatedly that he cannot control the spread of misinformation outside court, but he has taken steps to protect Robinson’s rights during hearings. He tightened rules for cameras after members of a media pool violated a courtroom order by showing Robinson’s shackles and capturing close-ups of him talking to his attorneys. Graf relocated cameras to the rear of the courtroom, behind Robinson, making it harder to get images of him.

The judge also approved a defense motion to push back Robinson’s preliminary hearing, which was scheduled for mid-May. Prosecutors during that hearing, now set for July 6-10, must show they have enough evidence to proceed to trial. Graf said he set a time frame that balances Robinson’s rights with those of Erika Kirk, who is entitled to a speedy resolution.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Robinson, 23, is convicted. He is charged with crimes including aggravated murder and has not yet entered a plea.

Prior to his death, Kirk and the conservative youth movement he founded, Turning Point USA, emerged as a major force in U.S. politics that was considered instrumental in getting President Donald Trump elected to a second term.

Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle. Robinson’s attorneys have argued his preliminary hearing should not take place until federal law enforcement agencies turn over more details about their DNA analysis.

Prosecutors say they have sufficient proof beyond DNA, including surveillance video and a handwritten note Robinson allegedly left for his romantic partner confessing to the crime.

Accusations that Robinson targeted Kirk over his political views have amplified interest in the case, which in turn has stoked the long-running dispute over cameras inside major cases.

Photos and videos have exposed the inner workings of some of America’s most spectacular criminal cases, from the Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial to O.J. Simpson’s double murder trial. They've also created tensions between advocates for transparency and defense attorneys eager to shield clients from bad publicity.

The stakes are especially high in death penalty cases such as Robinson's, where a jury can consider the defendant's character as part of its determination. Footage of Robinson apparently smirking while talking to his attorneys during a December hearing elicited comments on Fox News that he treated Kirk “like a trophy.”

The Constitution gives greater weight to a defendant’s rights to a fair trial than the public’s right to know what’s happening in a case. Nevertheless, cameras have become much more common in state courts in recent years.

They are generally barred in federal criminal trials. Under a New York state law, Trump’s trial and 2024 conviction in a hush money case was famously closed to cameras while court was in session. Media organizations used sketch artists to capture the scene.

Judges typically retain broad discretion over which parts of a case can be broadcast and who can be filmed or photographed. ___

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Whether it works will depend on how fast three-time defending race winner Alex Palou and the other starters adapt — and, naturally, how much risk they're willing to take on the first lap of the race.

The move comes in the wake of last month's software failure at Long Beach, where a dozen drivers illegally used extra turbo boost during a midrace restart. That led series officials to make the modification that allows drivers to use their push-to-pass on all restarts once the race has started and they've reached the alternate start-finish line in Turn 11 on the first lap. An early push will result in a penalty, even if there is another malfunction.

And that's caused confusion in Gasoline Alley.

“If I push it and it works because someone else does a mistake, it’s my fault? Yes?” Palou asked, jump-starting a minutes-long debate among the top five drivers in the standings. “I didn’t read the rule, sorry.”

Drivers will still get 200 total seconds of green-flag racing to give their cars a boost of about 60 horsepower throughout the race, though the button is not supposed to be operable until they pass the alternate start-finish line, potentially making the race into Turn 11 as harrowing as the first turn of the race. Then drivers can allocate their turbo boost however they choose around Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

The change essentially eliminates a possible repeat of the 2024 controversy that cost two-time series champ Josef Newgarden a season-opening victory at St. Petersburg when officials determined he used push-to-pass on a restart.

At Long Beach, nearly half the field took advantage of the software error. Others insisted they weren't even aware the push-to-pass button was working on the restart.

During last week's test session on Indy's 2.5-mile oval, Santino Ferrucci told reporters he realized the button worked only when he tried to fend off Marcus Armstrong's pass on a Lap 61 restart. Ferrucci said he tried it and continued using it. Neither Armstrong nor Ferrucci was penalized and Palou wasn't either, even though he said he used it three times on the restart. Palou wound up winning his third race of the season.

“Let’s set the record straight,” Kyle Kirkwood said. “Everybody would have used it if they’d known it was active. Every driver would have. I wish I’d have known it was on. I would have used it.”

On Saturday, everyone has — or should have — a strategy for how to deal with the new rule.

Palou, the four-time series champ from Spain, begins race weekend as the favorite. He has a 17-point lead over Kirkwood, an American, after winning the last two races, has six straight top-five finishes at Indy including last year's sweep of the grand prix and Indianapolis 500, and is trying to become the second driver in Brickyard history to win the same race four straight times.

The only other driver with four straight wins is seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher. He won the U.S. Grand Prix every year from 2003-06 and his son, Mick, is scheduled to make his Indy debut Saturday albeit on a differently configured road course.

Palou had the fastest lap in both of Friday’s practice sessions, posting a top speed of 124.953 mph in the morning and a best lap of 124.632 in the afternoon before rain arrived, forcing qualifying to be moved to Saturday. Kirkwood had the second-fastest lap in the afternoon, 124.443, as he tries to change his road-course reputation.

“So why do I suck on road courses?” Kirkwood joked Thursday. “That’s a good question. Appreciate that. Quite honestly, we just haven’t been that good on road courses. That’s been across all of our cars in recent years. But Barber was much better. I can’t say there’s been any other ones, but I feel like we’re constantly improving.”

And getting a little power boost on Saturday's restarts certainly won't hurt.

“You might want to save it a little bit more and maybe not use it as much on in-and-out laps, trying to overtake people knowing if a restart comes at any point, you need to have it, or else you’re going to get passed,” Kirkwood said. “So people might be hoarding it a little bit more.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

While judges weigh the legal responsibility of tech companies, mental health experts say families should not wait for the outcome of those cases before taking action at home.

The national debate over social media safety has intensified in recent months. Several high-profile lawsuits are examining whether social media algorithms — designed to keep users engaged — may also contribute to anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns among children and teenagers.

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At the center of many of these legal battles is Section 230, a federal law that largely shields technology companies from liability for content posted by users on their platforms.

But while the legal system works through those questions, families continue to face the day-to-day realities of raising children in an increasingly digital world.

Experts warn parents about a growing list of online dangers, including harmful content, viral challenges, cyberbullying, online predators, and the mental health impact of excessive screen time.

For many families, the biggest question is how to respond.

Mental health professionals say the answer starts with open and honest communication — not punishment.

“So it’s about being nonjudgmental,” said Katie Harlan, a psychotherapist with the Joan and Stanford Alexander Jewish Family Service. “Not coming in as if your teen or child is engaging in those things, but letting them know these are the real risks.”

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Harlan says it’s critical that children feel safe talking to parents if they encounter inappropriate content or suspicious behavior online.

“They should never be in trouble for coming to you if they view something inappropriate online or if someone reaches out to them,” Harlan said. “You really want them to feel comfortable coming to you if there is a concern.”

Experts also recommend:

• Setting clear screen-time boundaries
• Keeping devices out of bedrooms overnight
• Using parental controls
• Staying informed about the apps children are using

Parents are also encouraged to watch for warning signs that may signal a problem, including:

• Sudden mood changes
• Withdrawal from family and friends
• Secretive online behavior
• Extreme emotional reactions after using social media

Experts say the goal is not for parents to feel overwhelmed, but to stay engaged and involved.

While the courts may eventually decide how much responsibility social media companies bear, experts stress that the most important conversations about online safety are still happening at home.

The court ruled 4-3 that the state's Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize mid-decade redistricting. Voters narrowly approved the amendment on April 21, but the court's ruling renders the vote’s result meaningless.

Writing for the majority, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote that the legislature submitted the proposed constitutional amendment to voters “in an unprecedented manner.”

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” he wrote.

Democrats had hoped to win as many as four additional U.S. House seats under Virginia's redrawn map as part of an attempt to offset Republican redistricting done elsewhere at the urging of President Donald Trump. Later Friday, Virginia Democrats said in a filing that they intended to file an emergency appeal of the state high court's decision with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Friday's ruling, combined with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that severely weakened the Voting Rights Act, has supercharged Republicans' congressional gerrymandering advantage heading into this year's midterm elections.

“Huge win for the Republican Party, and America, in Virginia,” Trump said about the decision on his social media account.

Richard Hudson, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the ruling was another sign of GOP momentum heading into the midterms.

“We’re on offense, and we’re going to win,” he said in a statement.

Don Scott, the Democratic speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, said Democrats respect the court’s opinion but lamented that it overturned the will of the voters: “They voted YES because they wanted to fight back against the Trump power grab.”

Suzan DelBene, chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, criticized the court majority for what she said was a decision that “cast aside the will of the voters,” but she said the people will have the final say.

“In November, they will, and they’ll power Democrats to the House majority,” she said in a statement.

A longshot Democratic appeal

Democrats are taking a legal longshot in asking the nation’s highest court to reverse the Virginia ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court tries to avoid second-guessing state courts’ interpretations of their own constitutions. In 2023, it turned down a request by North Carolina Republicans to overrule a state Supreme Court decision that blocked the GOP’s congressional map.

Still, even an unsuccessful appeal would let Democrats try to blame their failure on the conservative majority that dominates the nation's highest court, which has already infuriated the party and civil rights groups by neutering the Voting Rights Act.

Legislative voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade after each census to account for population changes. But Trump sparked an unusual flurry of mid-decade redistricting last year by encouraging Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts in a bid to win several additional U.S. House seats and hold on to their party's narrow majority in the midterm elections.

California responded with new voter-approved districts drawn to Democrats' advantage, and Utah's top court imposed a new congressional map that also helps Democrats. Meanwhile, Republicans stand to gain from new House districts passed in Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. They could add even more after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Voting Rights Act case, which has prompted some other Republican states to consider redrawing their maps in time for this year’s elections.

Virginia is currently represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans, all elected from districts imposed by a court following a bipartisan redistricting commission’s failure to agree on a map after the 2020 census. The new districts could have given Democrats an improved chance to win all but one of the state's 11 congressional seats.

The state Supreme Court's majority was critical of the state’s redrawing of the congressional maps to benefit one political party. Those justices noted that 47% of the state’s voters supported GOP congressional candidates in 2024, but the new map could result in Democrats making up 91% of the state’s House delegation.

What was in the Democrats' map

Under the Democratic-drawn map, five districts would have been anchored in the Democratic stronghold of northern Virginia. Revisions to four other districts across Richmond, southern Virginia and Hampton Roads would have diluted the voting power of conservative blocs in those areas. And a reshaped district in parts of western Virginia would have lumped together three Democratic-leaning college towns to offset other Republican voters.

The state Supreme Court’s seven justices are appointed by the state legislature, which has toggled back and forth between Democratic, Republican and split control over recent years. Legal experts say the body doesn’t have a set ideological profile.

The case before the court focused not on the shape of the new districts but rather on the process the General Assembly used to authorize them.

Because the state’s redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers had to propose an amendment to redraw the districts. That required approval of a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between, to place the amendment on the ballot.

The legislature’s initial approval of the amendment occurred last October, during early voting for the general election, before it concluded. The legislature’s second vote on the amendment occurred after a new legislative session began in January. Lawmakers also approved a separate bill in February laying out the new districts, subject to voter approval of the constitutional amendment.

Arguments over the definition of ‘election’

Judicial arguments focused on whether the legislature’s initial approval of the amendment came too late, because early voting already had begun.

Attorney Matthew Seligman, who defended the legislature, argued that the “election” should be defined narrowly to mean the Tuesday of the general election. In that case, the legislature’s first vote on the redistricting amendment occurred before the election and was constitutional, he told judges.

But in its ruling, the Supreme Court said, “this view appears to be wholly unprecedented in Virginia’s history.”

An attorney for the plaintiffs, Thomas McCarthy, argued an “election” should be interpreted to cover the entire period during which voters can cast ballots, which lasts several weeks in Virginia. If that’s the case, he told justices, then the legislature’s initial endorsement of the redistricting amendment came too late to comply with the state constitution.

The Supreme Court agreed with that argument, writing: “The General Assembly passed the proposed constitutional amendment for the first time well after voters had begun casting ballots during the 2025 general election.”

By the time lawmakers initially endorsed the amendment, voters already had cast more than 1.3 million ballots in the general election, about 40% of the total votes ultimately cast, the court said.

The Supreme Court’s ruling affirms a decision by a judge in rural Tazewell County, in southwestern Virginia. The court had placed a hold on that ruling and allowed the redistricting vote to proceed before hearing arguments on the case.

In the dissent to Friday's ruling, Chief Justice Cleo Powell said the election for the purpose of considering the amendment does not include the early voting period.

“The majority’s definition creates an infinite voting loop that appears to have no established beginning,” she wrote, “only a definitive end: Election Day.”

Those are some of the details in a new batch of files on UFOs that the Pentagon began releasing on Friday as President Donald Trump taps into the public's long-held curiosities about "unidentified anomalous phenomena” in the broader universe. Though the Pentagon has been working on declassifying the documents for years, Trump put attention back on the topic months ago by teasing a major UFO document dump.

“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’ Have Fun and Enjoy!” Trump wrote Friday in a Truth Social post.

Trump's Republican administration says the public can draw its own conclusions with the information in the files, which includes old State Department cables, FBI documents and transcripts from NASA of crewed flights into space. A new Pentagon website housing the documents on UAPs has a decidedly retro feel, with black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font.

The files reflect cases that the government deems unresolved, meaning that for a variety of reasons they couldn’t be explained with certainty. The Pentagon described the files as new and “never-before-seen,” though some had been made public years ago.

Experts urge caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with military technology. A 2024 Pentagon report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.

Files describe numerous sightings of UAPs

The initial release is a trove of videos, other imagery and testimony that is sure to stir more speculation among those who believe we are not alone in the universe.

For instance, a State Department cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan in 1994 details how one Tajik pilot and three Americans saw a brightly lit UAP while flying a jet over Kazakhstan. The object, according to the cable, was “making 90 degree turns, doing corkscrews and maneuvering in circles at great rates of speed.”

That's not the only instance of erratically moving objects cited in the document release. A military report from the Aegean Sea in 2023 cited a UAP flying just above the surface of the ocean and making “multiple 90-degree turns at an estimated 80 mph" (129 km/h).

One interview with a U.S. intelligence official details an incident last year in which the official, doing a search on a helicopter, encountered a “super-hot” orb hovering over the ground, traveling about 20 miles (32 kilometers) at a speedy clip, then spotted four or five more orbs that flared up and down.

In a 1969 debriefing of Apollo 11 crew members, the astronaut Aldrin recalled spotting several unusual sights, such as a “sizeable” object close to the moon and a “fairly bright light source” that the crew felt could be a laser.

One document details an FBI interview with someone identified as a drone pilot who, in September 2023, reported seeing a “linear object” with a light bright enough to “see bands within the light” in the sky.

“The object was visible for five to ten seconds and then the light went out and the object vanished,” according to the FBI interview.

Another file is a NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, showing three dots in a triangular formation. The Pentagon says in an accompanying caption that “there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly” but that a new, preliminary analysis indicated that it could be a “physical object.”

The documents include more than 20 video files showing unidentified objects captured by military sensors in locations from Syria and Japan to North America. The objects range from fast-moving specks captured in the distance to a football-shaped object spotted over the East China Sea in 2022. The most recent video is from Jan. 1 of this year and appears to show two circular lights flying against an inky black backdrop in North America.

Several files include military videos from the past several years that showed small ambiguous dots moving above the landscapes of Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. The white objects sometimes streaked across the screen in less than a second, while others slowly glided through the air or were followed by the camera.

Other files include written reports from U.S. military service members who were surveilling locations in the Middle East. One report described an object that was “shaped as a bouncy ball” and traveling 483 mph (777 km/h) consistently for at least seven minutes over Syria in 2023.

The object was later determined to be benign.

Among the files are hundreds of pages detailing reported sightings dating to the 1940s. A 1948 report from U.S. airmen in the Netherlands raised concerns about recurring flying saucer sightings. Swedish counterparts saw them, too, and believed they did not come from “any presently known culture on earth,” the report said.

One military video that quickly caught attention on Friday appears to show an aircraft shaped like an eight-pointed star weaving through the air. The video, from 2013 in the Middle East, is probably nothing more than a hot jet engine producing a diffraction pattern in the camera, said Sean Kirkpatrick, a former director of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which investigates UAP.

Kirkpatrick said there’s nothing unexpected in the release and warned that without analysis it will “only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and arm-chair pseudoscience.”

Some call for even more transparency on UFO files

Trump has previously released records related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. that revealed little beyond what was already known.

The Pentagon has been working on declassifying documents related to UFOs for years, and Congress created an office in 2022 to declassify material. Its 2024 debut report revealed hundreds of new UAP incidents but found no evidence that the U.S. government had ever confirmed a sighting of alien technology.

A small group of Republicans in Congress has pressed for further transparency, accusing the Pentagon of holding documents back. A March letter from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., demanded 46 UAP videos identified by whistleblowers. Luna said Friday those videos will be released later by the Pentagon.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., thanked Trump for “keeping his word” on transparency and disclosure.

“I would like to remind people that transparency won’t all happen at once, it will take some time,” Burchett said in a statement.

Others used Friday's release to urge further transparency into what the government knows about UAPs. The Sol Foundation, a research group focused on UAPs, pushed for passage of legislation that would force a “thorough” review of classified UAP records "with the aim of providing Americans with the full truth about longstanding government knowledge and programs concerning technologies and vehicles not of human origin.”

“While today’s new step toward a full disclosure of government knowledge concerning UAP is welcome, many more need to be taken to bring an end to the decades of secrecy by which the American people were kept in the dark,” said Peter Skafish, the foundation's executive director, and retired Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, a former acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.

___

Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

The local and regional elections were widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left Labour Party to power less than two years ago.

Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government, and many Labour lawmakers have become despairing at the government's failure to deliver.

Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very tough” results, which saw his party lose more than half the seats it was defending, but would not quit.

“The voters have sent a message about the pace of change, how they want their lives improved,” he said. “I was elected to meet those challenges, and I’m not going to walk away from those challenges and plunge the country into chaos.”

Reform UK, led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage, won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England’s north, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades, and also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London. Reform, which ran on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, did particularly well in areas that backed the U.K. to leave the European Union in the historic Brexit vote in 2016.

Farage said the results in England, as well as those in Scotland and Wales, where elections to their semiautonomous parliaments were held, marked a “historic change in British politics.”

Labour also lost ground to the Green Party, whose popularity has risen under self-described “eco populist” leader Zack Polanski. The Greens beat Labour to win the mayoral race in London’s Hackney borough and gained hundreds of council seats in urban centers, including in London and Manchester, as well as university towns, such as Cambridge. The Conservative Party also lost ground, with the centrist Liberal Democrats making some gains.

A handful of Labour lawmakers urged Starmer to quit but Cabinet ministers cautioned the party not to topple the prime minister, while acknowledging the results were a wake-up call for the party.

Results reflect fragmentation of UK politics

Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the elections show established parties struggling “to respond to populists on the left and right who appear to provide painless and simple solutions to intractable political and economic problems.”

The results reflect a fragmentation of British politics after decades of domination by Labour and the Conservatives, and make the outcome of the country's next national election hard to predict.

John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said Britain is entering a new political era.

“Even Reform are probably not quite at 30% of the vote, so the fracturing of British politics is underlined by these results,” he told the BBC.

Scotland and Wales go their own way

In Scotland and Wales, nationalist parties came first in elections to the Parliaments in Edinburgh and Cardiff, which have an array of powers, including on health and tax.

In Scotland, the Scottish National Party, which has governed since 2007 and campaigned on a promise to hold another referendum on Scotland leaving the U.K., won the most seats. Because it fell short of a majority, analysts said it's less likely it will push for one during the coming five-year parliamentary term. With just a handful of seats remaining to be allocated, Labour is vying with Reform for second.

And in Wales, Plaid Cymru secured a historic breakthrough, bringing an end to Labour's unbroken 27-year run in power since the legislature was formed. The party, which has an ambition for Wales to leave the U.K. but no plan to do so anytime soon, fell short of a majority but will likely form the new government.

The huge reverse for Labour in Wales, which saw its leader lose her seat and the party drop to third behind Reform, is perhaps the party's most striking reverse and the one that may hurt the most.

“Welsh Labour has today suffered a catastrophic result,” said outgoing Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan. “It ends a century of Labour winning in Wales and the party will have to take a really hard look at itself.”

Starmer's future is under threat

Starmer’s popularity has plunged after repeated missteps and policy U-turns such as welfare reform. His government has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living — tasks made harder by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has choked off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

The prime minister has been further hurt by his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

The election results could trigger a challenge from a high-profile rival such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. Alternatively, Starmer could face pressure from the party to set a timetable for his departure.

“I don’t think Keir Starmer should survive these results,” said Labour lawmaker Jonathan Brash, who represents Hartlepool in Parliament. “We have to be bolder, and we have to go further. And quite frankly, we need new leadership in order to achieve that.”

Even if Starmer survives for now, many in the party doubt he will lead the party into the next national election, which must be held by 2029.

Friday, May 8

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

Thursday, May 7

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

Wednesday, May 6

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

Tuesday, May 5

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

Monday, May 4

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

Friday, May 1

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

Thursday, April 30

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

Wednesday, April 29

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

Tuesday, April 28

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

Monday, April 27

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

Friday, April 24

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

Thursday, April 23

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

Wednesday, April 22

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

Tuesday, April 21

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

Monday, April 20

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

Friday, April 17

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

Thursday, April 16

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

Wednesday, April 15

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

Tuesday, April 14

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

Monday, April 13

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

Friday, April 10

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

Thursday, April 9

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

Wednesday, April 8

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

Tuesday, April 7

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

Monday, April 6

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

Friday, April 3

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

Thursday, April 2

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

Wednesday, April 1

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

Tuesday, March 31

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

Monday, March 30

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

Friday, March 27

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

Wednesday, March 25

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

Tuesday, March 24

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

Monday, March 23

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

Thursday, March 19

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

Wednesday, March 18

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

Tuesday, March 17

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

Monday, March 16

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

Friday, March 13

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

Thursday, March 12

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

Tuesday, March 10

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

Monday, March 9

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

Friday, March 6

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

Thursday, March 5

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

Wednesday, March 4

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

Tuesday, March 3

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

Monday, March 2

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

Friday, February 27

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

Thursday, February 26

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

Wednesday, February 25

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

Tuesday, February 24

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

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

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

February 6 - 20

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

Thursday, February 5

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

Wednesday, February 4

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

Tuesday, February 3

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

Monday, February 2

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

Friday, January 30

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

Thursday, January 29

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

Wednesday, January 28

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

Tuesday, January 27

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

Monday, January 26

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

Friday, January 23

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

Thursday, January 22

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

Wednesday, January 21

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

Friday, January 16

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

Thursday, January 15

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

Wednesday, January 14

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

Tuesday, January 13

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

Monday, January 12

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

Friday, January 9

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

Thursday, January 8

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

Wednesday, January 7

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

Tuesday, January 6

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

Monday, January 5

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

Friday, January 2

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

Thursday, January 1

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

SEEN ON HL 2025 ARCHIVE

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After then receiving what looked like official notices from the IRS and the FTC, along with threats that someone had been using her identity to commit crimes, Cindy wired $90,000 into what she thought was a federal account to keep her money safe. Turns out every bit of it was a scam.

“They just caught me at the right time, the right circumstance, and they knew how much money I had,” said Cindy, who said the situation created so much stress she barely left her house for six months.

Cindy is not alone. Fraud and scams are a growing crisis across the United States, with billions lost every single year. Texas ranks #2 for both cybercrime complaints and reported financial losses, with more than $1.35 billion fraud losses reported in 2024 alone. Since many of these scams go unreported, experts say the damage and scope is far greater than the figures show.

In addition to financial losses, victims often face emotional stress, anxiety, depression and in many cases a feeling of lost independence.

Cindy volunteers with AARP, the nation’s largest non-profit, to tell her story and help other seniors learn the red flags that indicate a scam. With more than 38 million members, including 2.5 million members in Texas alone, AARP helps strengthen communities by advocating for financial security, health and personal fulfillment by empowering people 50 and older.

Seniors are hit especially hard by identity theft, impersonation and other investment scams. If you think you’ve been a victim of a scam or online fraud, AARP provides free resources, including their Fraud Watch Network Helpline, fraud alerts and scam warnings, catfishing quiz, education and prevention tools, and victim support.

To learn more, visit aarp.org/local or call 888-687-2277.

The expansion of March Madness and the $300 million in extra revenue that comes with it through opening sponsorships to beer, wine and liquor companies offered a brief reprieve from the steady drip of headlines that underscore big-picture problems confronting college sports in an era of tightening budgets and revenue sharing with athletes.

Among them:

— A title-contending tennis program at Arkansas is disbanded, while golf teams at Wichita State also get the ax as part of the purge of multiple sports programs nationwide.

— The Big 12 taps into private equity for loans, while Duke cuts a streaming deal with Amazon expected to bring millions more to the Blue Devils.

— The College Sports Commission, which is in charge of making sure everyone follows the rules regarding the hundreds of millions of dollars now being paid to players, gets challenged in court and in arbitration while waiting for schools to sign off on a long-awaited agreement that cements its authority.

All of those issues have one thing in common: money. The NCAA's move to expand its tournament brackets to 76 teams is about that, too. Of the $300 million in extra revenue projected over the next six seasons, about $131 million will be distributed to the conferences whose schools make the tournaments.

“The NCAA and conferences and schools generating revenue in responsible ways is important in the current environment with revenue sharing,” said Dan Gavitt, who oversees Division I basketball at the NCAA. “That wasn't the sole reason, I can assure you that. But it was an important consideration.”

Is a tennis program more valuable than a wide receiver?

One of the most trenchant questions sports attorney Gabe Feldman asked North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham during a recent podcast was if Arkansas, after cutting its tennis programs, “can't find a way to make it work, how can Arkansas State and everybody else?”

Cunningham's basic answer was that the ultimate solution will involve a system in which the money flows in both directions.

“One is you will be paid to play your game and other is you’ll have to pay if you’re going to play your game,” he said.

If recent headlines are any indication, tennis and golf players will be among those who will be paying to play.

The tennis programs at Arkansas joined those at North Dakota, Saint Louis and Illinois State (men's only) that were discontinued this season. The cuts at Arkansas stood out because this involves a team in the Southeastern Conference, the second-richest conference in college sports behind the Big Ten.

The Razorbacks' tennis programs cost about $2.5 million — around the cost to sign a high-profile wide receiver — men's coach Jay Udwadia told Front Office Sports.

“My initial reaction was, ‘That’s funny. April fools, right?'" Udwadia said of his reaction upon hearing the news.

Turns out, his was one of about 20 programs eliminated this year across all college sports — a cutback that figures to hit Olympic sports, and the U.S. Olympic pipeline, the hardest.

“You want to see Olympic sports survive and thrive,” said Paia LaPalombara, a former college administrator who is now partner at the Church, Church, Hittle and Antrim law firm specializing on college sports deals. “But those are going to be the ones generally on the chopping block.”

Schools are tapping into different ways to expand revenue

Schools and conferences are showing an endless willingness to discover new ways to make ends meet.

Last week, Duke signed a landmark deal to stream three of its basketball games on Amazon — a deal believed to be worth millions and one that could be a sign of things to come.

When Georgia and Florida State abruptly canceled their home-and-home football series set for 2027 and ‘28, they said they were seeking to reschedule a neutral-site game. Reporting emerged that the schools were looking to cut a deal with a streamer, as Duke had done. It’s the sort of arrangement a smaller school could never make, and one that further separates the haves from the have-nots in college sports.

“Ultimately, it’s about revenue generation,” said James Strode, a professor of sport management at Ohio University who focuses on changes in college sports. “We're now in a situation where the separation and divide between big programs, Power Four programs, and Group of Six programs is even getting wider."

In another move that felt novel a mere three years ago but now seems like business-as-usual, the Big 12 inked a deal with private equity firms that availed its 16 schools of up to $30 million each in a line of credit.

Texas Tech was among the Big 12 schools not interested. The school's regent chair, Cody Campbell, is a billionaire who last year said equity deals were not a permanent solution and basically amounted to a “payday loan.”

NIL regulator off to a bumpy start with more questions looming

Who's keeping track of it all?

That's supposed to be the College Sports Commission — the entity formed out of the House settlement that is tasked with vetting most of the payments going from schools and their affiliates to the players.

The CSC has introduced an approach that LaPalombara said “has growing pains at the moment.” The difficulty comes in two places:

— Schools' reluctance to sign a “participation agreement” that was intended to cement the CSC's status as the main regulator when it comes to NIL compensation.

— Arbitration cases stemming from deals the CSC has rejected. The most important one involves 18 football players at Nebraska over whether the CSC can exercise oversight over third-party NIL deals cut through schools' multimedia-rights holders, the likes of which are an increasingly popular way to execute the deals. A ruling in favor of the CSC could trigger litigation.

“That's the true test of the efficacy of the CSC as an actual governing body,” LaPalombara said. “If an institution or a student-athlete doesn't receive the outcome they desire, it's whether they sue and what the outcome of the lawsuits will be. That will be the true test of whether the CSC can continue in its current form.”

___

AP March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes in Phoenix on Friday accepted an agreement in which Preston Henry Tolth pleaded guilty to robbing Begay. Under the agreement, Tolth was credited with three years’ time served and prosecutors dropped an assault charge and agreed not to prosecute him in the future if Begay’s case develops.

The sentencing effectively closes a yearslong case that has been troubled by a lack of physical evidence and the suppression of a confession from Tolth, who also is Navajo.

During Friday's hearing, family members urged Rayes to reject the agreement. Begay's niece tearfully reiterated that they didn’t want Tolth released without him leading investigators to Begay.

“A 62-year-woman is still nowhere to be found. No amount of time is enough if he won’t tell us where she is,” said Seraphine Warren, who later left the courtroom when it was apparent the judge was moving forward with the sentencing.

A beloved grandmother of nine and talented weaver of Navajo-style pictorial rugs, Begay was 62 when she vanished from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation in June 2021. Tolth’s sentencing comes amid a week of awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples movement, which highlights the disproportionate number of Native Americans who are missing or have been killed.

In the years since Begay went missing, her family members have organized searches, pushed law enforcement for answers and even walked across the country to keep a public spotlight on her case. Advocates have compared Begay’s case to that of Gabby Petito, a young white woman whose disappearance the same summer drew a frenzy of news coverage, social media attention and law enforcement action that ultimately led to the discovery of her remains in Wyoming.

Navajo Nation police and FBI agents identified Tolth as a suspect within days of her disappearance. Tolth, whose father was dating Begay’s sister, initially denied any involvement. In a later interrogation, an FBI agent lied to Tolth, telling him police found Begay’s truck and were processing evidence that would implicate him. In response, Tolth waived his right to remain silent and confessed to stealing Begay’s pickup truck, beating her and leaving her for dead on the side of the road.

It is typically legal for U.S. law enforcement to fabricate evidence during interrogations. But Rayes ruled that in this instance, the FBI agent failed to “scrupulously honor” Tolth’s initial refusal to speak and threw the confession out. A panel of appellate court judges agreed.

In the absence of that confession, U.S. Attorney Tracy Van Buskirk said Friday that the plea agreement was the government's best attempt at securing a reasonable sentence. Speaking about Tolth’s effort to help investigators find Begay, Van Buskirk said Tolth wasn’t familiar with the Sweetwater area and had been drinking alcohol on the night when he robbed her.

In court Friday, Begay’s son Gerald Begay called the agreement a “failure.”

“It shouldn’t be that way,” Gerald Begay told the judge.

Jane McClellan, a lawyer for Tolth, said her client acknowledged robbing Begay, showed officers where he thought he might have left her on the night of the crime and doesn't have further information.

“He is remorseful for his actions,” McClellan said. “He has taken responsibility for his actions.”

In an unusual move, Rayes rejected a previous plea agreement that called for Tolth to be released after three years of time served, saying it was overly lenient. Begay's family members had presented anguished testimony and said they would prefer to the case went to trial.

Navajo Nation public safety director Michael Henderson said finding Begay is still a priority for tribal law enforcement.

“One of the hindrances is that the federal investigation is still pending,” Henderson said.

Once federal law enforcement officially close the case, Henderson said, Navajo Nation police may gain access to information that will aid their search.

April Curley, a former Google employee, had sued the tech giant for racial discrimination, saying it engages in a “pattern and practice” of unfair treatment for its Black workers. The suit claimed the company steered them into lower-level and lower-paid jobs and subjected them to a hostile work environment if they speak out. Other former Google workers also joined the suit, which later received class action status.

“This case is about accountability, plain and simple,” said civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented the plaintiffs, in a statement. “For far too long, Black employees in the tech industry have faced barriers that limit opportunity. This settlement is a significant step toward holding one of the world’s most powerful companies accountable and making clear that discriminatory practices cannot and will not be tolerated.”

The settlement was announced in May 2025 and granted final approval this week. Google said when the settlement was reached that it strongly disagrees with the allegations that it treated anyone improperly and remains "committed to paying, hiring, and leveling all employees consistently.”

The lawsuit, echoed years of complaints from Black employees at the company. That includes prominent artificial intelligence scholar Timnit Gebru, who said she was pushed out in 2020 after a dispute over a research paper examining the societal dangers of an emerging branch of artificial intelligence.

The 2022 lawsuit claimed that Mountain View, California-based Google viewed Black job candidates “through harmful racial stereotypes” and claimed that hiring managers deemed Black candidates “not ‘Googly’ enough, a plain dog whistle for race discrimination.”

In addition, according to the suit, interviewers “hazed” and undermined Black candidates and hired Black candidates into lower-paying and lower-level roles with less advancement potential based on their race and racial stereotypes.

The settlement, which does not constitute admission of liability by Google, also includes a commitment to pay equity analyses, pay transparency measures, and limits on mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes through at least August 2026, according to Crump.

Elizabeth Polo was in a creative writing class at the University of Maryland late Thursday afternoon when a classmate shouted, “Canvas got hacked.” A message from a hacking collective flashed on her computer screen.

“Our whole class just like was like freaking out about it,” said Polo, a junior. “Our poor professor was trying to get everyone to calm down but it was just kind of chaos.”

Across academia, the outage set off panic and confusion as students and faculty members found themselves locked out of a platform they rely on to manage grades and access course notes and assignments. Colleges scrambled to reschedule final exams as students lost any way to access materials they needed to study.

Instructure, the company behind Canvas, said in an update late Thursday that the system was available for most users.

“Instructure discovered the unauthorized actor involved in our ongoing security incident made changes to the pages that appeared when some students and teachers were logged in,” Instructure said Friday in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we immediately took Canvas offline to contain access and further investigate.”

Instructure also said it confirmed that the unauthorized actor exploited an issue related to its Free-For-Teacher accounts. The company has temporarily shut down those accounts.

Instructure did not say whether it paid a ransom nor has it said what happened with the compromised data.

Rich in digitized data, the nation’s schools are prime targets for far-flung criminal hackers, who are assiduously locating and scooping up sensitive files that not long ago were committed to paper in locked cabinets. Past attacks have hit Minneapolis Public Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Hackers breached data days before the outage

A hacking group called ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach at Canvas, said Luke Connolly, a threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. The hacking group posted online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed, Connolly said.

The message that flashed on Polo's computer screen urged individual schools to reach out directly to the hacking group to negotiate a settlement and threatened to leak data if they didn’t. She said that Canvas later took that message down, replacing it with a message saying the site was undergoing scheduled maintenance.

Just before 1 a.m. Friday, Polo was able to submit an assignment on Canvas, but she now worries personal data has been compromised.

Canvas went down just as deadlines were hitting

The outage happened just as a deadline arrived for semester-long projects in one of Gwyneth Doland’s journalism classes at the University of New Mexico.

“They were a little hyperventilating,” recalled Doland, who extended the deadlines. “None of these platforms are fail-proof. I’m glad that they got that lesson.”

That the attack came with finals looming came as no surprise to Huseyin Can Yuceel, the security research lead at Picus Labs.

“Timing is everything, because they want to inflict pain as much as possible,” he said, “so they can extort money out of it.”

Teachers said they had to find workarounds to help students study for exams and submit final assignments. Some schools, such as the University of Texas at San Antonio, announced they were pushing back finals scheduled for Friday in response to the outage.

Rod Uzat, a professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Texas Permian Basin, pushed back the posting of grades by a day.

“The concern is for those of us who were doing the grading if there’s anything left,” Uzat said.

Rhongho Jang, a computer science professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, was finalizing grades for a class of 94 students when the system went down. He keeps paper copies of the student exams, but all of the semester assignments, which make up half of the final grade, are done online.

If those assignments and grades could not be recovered, Jang would have given his students full credit.

“I didn’t want to penalize them,” he said. “We cannot judge based on the data we don’t have. The final responsibility is still on the server.”

A reliance on tech makes schools vulnerable

The breach underscored how much schools depend on outside companies' digital platforms to keep their operations running.

“What it boils down to is concentration risk,” said Joseph Blankenship, a vice president and research director at Forrester. He said any space, including education, is particularly vulnerable when there’s only one or maybe two key providers hosting essential technology.

Allan Liska, of the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, said the outage did appear deliberate, not a glitch, and that Instructure was trying to figure out how widespread the problem was and make sure the hackers were no longer inside its system.

“There’s no indication at this point that any ransom has been paid,” Liska said. “And it likely is still a little too early for a ransom to have been paid. You know, normally these negotiations kind of drag on for a while.”

Connolly described ShinyHunters as a loose affiliation of teenagers and young adults based in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. The group also has been tied to other attacks, including Live Nation’s Ticketmaster subsidiary. ShinyHunters posted online that it was not commenting on the Canvas incident.

ShinyHunters, or an offshoot, also was behind a previous smaller breach of Instructure, Liska said. Sometimes small breaches reveal weaknesses that threat actors later exploit in future leaks, said Yuceel, who likened it to a leak in a boat.

“You fixed it, but you already have the water in the boat,” he said.

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This story has been updated to correct the name of the cybersecurity company to Emsisoft, not Emisoft. ___

Associated Press writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report.

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

We spoke with about 40 Houstonians—diehard sports fans, families, and everyday residents—and across the board, people told us the same thing: they want to go.

They just can’t afford it.

“Tickets are too expensive”

For Marilyn Jimenez, attending a World Cup match is already off the table.

“Tickets are too expensive, and I can’t afford it” Jimenez said.

She says when she checked prices, they were already out of reach for her family.

“That’s $400 for each one.”

• RELATED: From listings to liability: What the World Cup means for Houston hosts and neighbors

And that cost multiplies quickly. Jimenez has a husband and daughter. If she attends, she would like to share the experience with her family.

“With three people, that’s too much money for us” Jimenez said.

Even what she considers a “reasonable” ticket price, around $200 each, still doesn’t solve the problem. She says the total cost still climbs once food and drinks are added.

The cost adds up fast

A closer look at pricing shows just how expensive attending a match can be.

Some official ticket listings through FIFA reach around $1,700 to nearly $3,000 per ticket, depending on match and seating.

Resale tickets are still averaging in the $300–$400+ range-- that doesn’t include parking, concessions, or transportation.

For many families, this means spending hundreds—or even thousands—of dollars for a single game.

Fans making tough choices

Even lifelong soccer fans say they’re being forced to compromise.

Jose Romero describes himself as a passionate supporter of the sport. ““I love FIFA. I love soccer. It’s my passion” he said. But, he says affordability is limiting his options.

Instead of choosing a high-profile match, he opted for a more affordable game.

“I’m going to the Cabo Verde versus Saudi Arabia because that’s all I can really afford.”

He says the price difference is dramatic, but he still spent nearly $1,000 to get himself and his guests into the door.

“The other games ones are outrageous. The price is just crazy. For this one, we spent about $1,000 for four tickets.”

Romero says even among fans, most are being forced to pick carefully.

And he doesn’t expect prices to drop anytime soon.

“If you’re trying to go, you might want to buy now because the tickets are only going to get pricier” Romero said.

A cheaper way to be part of the World Cup

For fans priced out of the stadium, Houston is offering several free public alternatives.

One major hub will be the official FIFA Fan Festival in East Downtown (EaDo), which will run from June 11 through July 19, 2026, the entire length of the tournament.

The fan festival will include:

* Free admission

* Large screens showing live matches

* Food, music, and cultural programming

* A centralized gathering space for fans throughout the tournament

The event is expected to serve as Houston’s main public viewing destination during the World Cup.

Watch parties at Shell Energy Stadium

In addition to the fan festival, Shell Energy Stadium will also host a series of official World Cup watch events.

According to fans familiar with the plans, the stadium will offer:

• Multiple watch parties for U.S. Men’s National Team matches
• Multiple watch parties for Mexico national team matches
• Additional viewing events throughout the tournament
• A World Cup Final watch party on July 19, 2026

All watch parties are expected to be free to attend, with fans paying only for food and drinks.

• FIFA could make billions from the World Cup. Texas host cities will get little in return.

“They’re designed to feel just like you’re in the stadium, for free. You just have to buy drinks and food, that’s it” Romero said.

Prices may still rise

Despite alternatives, many fans say they’ve already seen ticket prices climb in recent weeks—and expect that trend to continue as kickoff approaches.

The bottom line

The World Cup may be coming to Houston in nearly a month, but for many residents, being inside the stadium is still out of reach.

Instead, thousands are expected to experience it in a different way—at watch parties, fan festivals, and community gatherings across the city.

For some, the dream is still alive.

Just not from a seat in the stands.

The agreement will allow youth camps to obtain a license to operate without meeting the requirement to install fiber line.

In a news release announcing the agreement, state officials wrote, “Under the agreement, camps that maintain a redundant internet service will not face potential license denial or revocation for not having fiber service during the 2026 camping season, as long as they meet all other safety requirements.”

• Camp Mystic will not reopen for Summer 2026

This requirement is part of new camp safety laws passed following the deaths of 25 campers, 2-counselors at Camp Mystic, as well as Mystic co-owner, Dick Eastland. The fiber requirement was designed to ensure camps had reliable communication during emergencies. Following the July 4, 2025 flood, lawmakers heard testimony that several camps are in areas with spotty cell and internet service.

• READ MORE ON TEXAS HILL COUNTRY FLOODS HERE

However, 19-camps sued Texas over this requirement, arguing the cost to bring fiber line to certain areas of the state was cost prohibitive. Many camp operators said the cost of installing fiber line in certain remote areas exceeded their camp’s annual operating budget.

• Camp Mystic director issues apology to victims’ families at investigative hearing

At the end of March, Camp Oak Haven near Columbus, Tx. announced it was permanently closing because of the new requirement. Former director Riley Watkins told 2-Investigates. the cost to bring fiber line to the camp was $280,000, which was 3-times the camp’s annual budget.

As of May 8, the Texas Department of State Health Services lists 327 youth camps on its roster; 18 show licenses approved through 2027, 239 still have license applications pending and 70 show licenses expiring between today and Aug 28.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to an all-time high after a report said U.S. employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up by 12 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.7% to its own record.

While hiring slowed from March’s level, it was still nearly double what economists expected. And it helped the S&P 500 close out a sixth straight winning week, its longest such streak since 2024. The U.S. stock market has been blasting higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.

It’s still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful. U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight. It’s the latest flare-up in fighting to raise doubts about the tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.2% to settle at $101.29 following the latest volleys of fire. That’s below its heights above $119 during the war, but it’s still much more expensive than its roughly $70 level from late February before the fighting began.

One big factor helping to support the U.S. stock market despite the war’s uncertainties is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the start of 2026.

Monster Beverage jumped 13.6% after the energy drink maker joined the parade of companies topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue for the latest quarter. It benefited from strong growth outside the United States, and total net sales from there made up about 45% of its total, the highest percentage ever for the company.

Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 26.6%, after its results squeaked past expectations. It announced a $1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company is benefiting from the surge in investment in artificial-intelligence technology.

Voracious demand for AI helped CoreWeave report revenue for the latest quarter that was more than double what it was a year earlier, but its net loss was worse than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts’ expectations. The stock of the company, which offers AI computing power to customers over the cloud, fell 11.4%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 61.82 points to 7,398.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 12.19 to 49,609.16, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 440.88 to 26,247.08.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Germany’s DAX lost 1.3%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.9% for two of the bigger losses.

South Korea’s Kospi was an exception, and it inched up 0.1% to another all-time high.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased and remained lower after a preliminary report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is stuck near its lowest level since 2022. Consumers told the survey from the University of Michigan they’re concerned about both high gasoline prices and tariffs, though their expectations for inflation in the coming year softened by a bit.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.36% from 4.41% late Thursday and from 4.45% early this week.

Lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses, which in turn can give the economy a boost. Lower yields also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.

The 10-year Treasury yield, though, remains well above its 3.97% level from just before the war.

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

We also have confirmed that officials have put into place safety protocols for first responders, specifically for any service calls involving the passengers who are monitoring themselves of symptoms.

• PREVIOUS: 2 Texas residents linked to Atlantic cruise ship exposed to Hantavirus outbreak

On Thursday, the state’s Department of Health Services made it clear that the two individuals have agreed to keep an eye out for symptoms with daily temperature checks and “are not experiencing any symptoms and did not have any contact with a sick person while aboard the ship.”

KPRC 2 Investigates did speak with Houston Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Tran, who would not comment as to whether or not two Houstonians are being closely watched.

• Has Texas seen any Hantavirus cases over the years? Here’s what state records show

Dr. Tran simply confirmed the state informed all regional medical directors that two Texans were being monitored.

Tran also stated, “We also were made aware they have no symptoms. We were also made aware there is no public health threat at this time.”

Tran also asked that our specific inquiries to be made to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and DSHS.

• RELATED: Is hantavirus a pandemic threat? Houston infectious disease expert says risk to U.S. remains low

DSHS in Thursday’s lengthy statement reported, “The strain in the Hondius outbreak, Andes virus, can spread from person to person in limited circumstances. It typically requires close, prolonged contact with a person who is actively sick with the disease. It is not known to spread through casual contact such as shaking hands or being in the same room for a few minutes. There have been no documented cases where a person without symptoms spread it to someone else.”

• What to know about hantavirus, the illness linked to a cruise ship outbreak

According to officials Hantaviruses usually transmits through wild rodent droppings or urine.

Mr. O from Children’s Museum Houston stopped by Houston Life with two kitchen STEM activities: color mixing and oobleck.

Why kitchen STEM works (and why parents matter)

Kitchen science is low-prep and high-curiosity. Using familiar items — cups, spoons, water and cornstarch — gives kids a safe place to observe, test and learn. While the materials are simple, the thinking they practice is not: observation (“What do you notice?”), early math (measuring, comparing) and cause-and-effect through trial and error. Parents don’t need to be instructors; act as a curiosity coach, ask open questions and let kids lead the experiments.

Activity 1: Color mixing (and science-inspired art)

What you’ll need: clear cups, water, food coloring and optional shaving cream for a marbling twist. Fill cups with water and add drops of primary colors (red, blue, yellow). Pour small amounts into a fresh cup to create secondary colors, then change proportions to explore shades — more blue than yellow makes a different green, for example. Prompt kids to predict outcomes (“What will happen if we add more blue?”) and test their ideas.

What kids learn: primary vs. secondary color relationships, how ratios and proportions change results, and experimental thinking.

Optional extension: add a shaving cream layer and swirl color through the foam to make floating “science art.”

Tip for parents: let kids pick a target color first (like “ocean green”) and ask what they think it will take to get there.

Activity 2: Oobleck — a non-Newtonian fluid

What you’ll need: cornstarch, water, a bowl or tray and measuring tools. Mix cornstarch and water about 2:1 (two parts cornstarch to one part water) until you get a substance that behaves like a solid when you squeeze it and like a liquid when you let it flow.

What kids learn: measuring and following a ratio, properties of materials and how interaction changes behavior. Give kids roles — pourer, measurer, mixer — so they practice teamwork and basic math. If the mix is too dry or too runny, ask “What should we add?” and experiment.

Make it a family science moment

You don’t need a lab to build STEM skills. Start with one question, make one change at a time, and talk about what you notice. Mr. O from Children’s Museum Houston shared these two kitchen activities to spark curiosity at home — color mixing and oobleck — and to remind parents that asking questions and celebrating small discoveries is the real science win.

For more information, visit www.cmhouston.org.

The festival returns for its third year at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH) on May 16 and 17. The two-day event brings together filmmakers working in front of and behind the camera whose stories are not often represented in mainstream entertainment.

Co-founder Shahid Iqbal and festival director Fahad Shaikh stopped by the “Houston Life” studio to talk about the upcoming festival. Watch their complete interview in the video above.

Each year, the festival receives more than 100 submissions from international filmmakers. Entries are accepted from any country or language, as long as one Pakistani creative is involved in some capacity.

Past festivals featured international submissions from countries including Kazakhstan, Hong Kong and South Korea, and this year’s lineup continues that global reach. From documentaries exploring ageism, mental health and identity to comedy and horror feature films, audiences can enjoy a variety of genres tied to Pakistani creatives involved in each project.

According to Iqbal, “We are a minority in the minority,” stressing the importance of amplifying these stories to the forefront.

In addition to screenings, this year’s programming includes panel discussions exploring the social impact of storytelling in film, minority women in cinema and whether Houston’s Bayou City could become the next production hub for filmmakers.

Organizers say the festival continues to receive more submissions from female storytellers each year. This year, a dedicated block of short films directed by women will be featured as part of the festival program.

The Rung Film Festival takes place at MATCH on May 16 and 17, featuring screenings and panel discussions exploring storytelling, representation and the impact of cinema.

To help bring more awareness to the festival, organizers are offering attendees 30% off tickets. Use promo code EBD26 when purchasing tickets online at matchouston.org/events/2026/rung-film-festival-2026

For more information about the festival, visit rungfilmfest.org.

The attacks cast more doubt on a tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect. Washington is awaiting an Iranian response to its latest proposal for a deal to end the war, reopen the strait and roll back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he hopes to receive “a serious offer” from Iran later Friday.

The U.S. military said Friday that its forces had disabled two Iranian tankers that were trying to breach an American blockade of Iran’s ports. Hours earlier, the military said it thwarted attacks on three Navy ships and struck Iranian military facilities in the strait.

Iran has mostly blocked the critical waterway for global energy since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, causing a global spike in fuel prices and rattling world markets. The U.S. has imposed its own blockade of Iran's ports.

The UAE’s Defense Ministry meanwhile said three people were wounded after air defenses engaged two ballistic missiles and three drones launched by Iran. It was not clear if all were successfully intercepted.

US says it responded to an attack in the strait

The U.S. military posted video of the two Iranian tankers as their smokestacks were struck by an American fighter jet on Friday. Earlier in the week, an American military jet shot out the rudder of a tanker the U.S. military said was attempting to breach its blockade.

Late Thursday, the U.S. military said it thwarted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and struck Iranian military facilities in response. It said no American ships were hit.

“They threaten Americans, they are going to be blown up,” Rubio told reporters Friday.

Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned what it called “hostile” U.S. military action, saying it violated the ceasefire. “Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.

A U.S. strike overnight killed at least one sailor and injured 10 others aboard a cargo vessel that caught fire, a news agency affiliated with Iran's judiciary reported. It was not clear if the ship was one of the two tankers the U.S. acknowledged striking.

U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted the ceasefire is holding. He also has reiterated threats to resume full-scale bombing if Iran doesn’t accept an agreement to reopen the strait and roll back its nuclear program.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country has been in contact with the U.S. and Iran “day and night” in an effort to extend the ceasefire and reach a peace deal.

Images show apparent oil slick off Iranian terminal

Satellite images reviewed by The Associated Press show what appears to be an oil slick in the Persian Gulf emanating from the western side of Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export terminal.

Images taken Friday show the slick covering about 71 square kilometers (27 square miles) and appear to show oil still leaking from the terminal, said Ami Daniel, CEO of maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.

Daniel estimated that the equivalent of roughly 80,000 oil barrels has spilled from Kharg Island since the slick was first detected by satellite images Tuesday. It’s unknown whether the spill was caused by a malfunction, an airstrike or something else.

“This is the risk of fighting in an oil-rich area,” said Daniel, adding that it’s unlikely any cleanup efforts will be launched in Gulf waters that have become an active war zone.

He said the spill appears to be spreading southwest and within the next two weeks could potentially reach the shores of the UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia.

Nina Noelle, an international crisis operations expert with Greenpeace Germany, said Friday that preliminary assessment and recent images show the spill beginning to disperse and it appears unlikely that it will impact land. She said depending on wind, waves and current conditions, parts of the slick could still possibly affect some sensitive marine habitats.

“More likely, it will dissipate offshore under prevailing conditions,” Noelle said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on whether the U.S. military was tracking the spill or whether there had been recent strikes on the Iranian island. Based on the imagery taken earlier this week, the spill occurred before the most recent round of U.S. strikes.

Rubio says `unacceptable' for an Iranian agency to control strait

Rubio said Friday that it's “unacceptable” for Iran to have a government agency that vets and taxes ships seeking passage through the strait.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping data company, reported Thursday that Iran has created such an agency, known as the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

The Iranian effort to formalize control over the channel raised new concerns about international shipping, with hundreds of commercial vessels bottled up in the Persian Gulf and unable to reach the open sea.

“Is the world going to accept that Iran now controls an international waterway?” Rubio said. “What is the world prepared to do about it?”

Iran has effectively closed the strait, a vital waterway for the shipment of oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products, while the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports.

A Chinese-crewed oil tanker was attacked near the strait. China has continued to import oil from Iran despite the effective closure of the waterway.

China's Foreign Ministry expressed concern, saying the tanker was registered in the Marshall Islands with Chinese crew on board. There were no casualties reported.

An oil tanker that passed through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April arrived off South Korea’s coast on Friday with 1 million barrels of crude. South Korea, which last year imported more than 60% of its crude through the strait, has capped prices of gasoline and other petroleum products.

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Finley and Biesecker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Giada Zampano and Nicole Winfield in Rome, Seung Min Kim in Washington, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, and Simina Mistreanu in Bangkok contributed.

Even as unilateral ceasefires declared by Ukraine and Russia earlier this week failed to hold, with both parties blaming each other, Trump said Friday that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine agreed to his request for a ceasefire running Saturday through Monday and an exchange of prisoners. Trump added that the break in fighting could be the “beginning of the end” of the war that has dragged into a fifth year.

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov confirmed that Russia has accepted Trump’s initiative for a three-day ceasefire and an exchange of 1,000 prisoners of war on each side.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's consent to the U.S.-brokered agreement was driven by the prospect of freeing its prisoners. At the same time, he issued a decree mockingly allowing Russia to hold its Victory Day celebrations on Saturday, declaring Red Square temporarily off-limits for Ukrainian strikes.

“Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who can be brought home,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged off Zelenskyy’s decree “authorizing” the Red Square parade as a “silly joke.”

“We don’t need anyone’s permission to be proud of our Victory Day,” Peskov told reporters.

Earlier, a unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine that Russia announced for Friday and Saturday quickly unraveled. Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the continued fighting, just as they did when Ukraine’s own unilateral ceasefire swiftly collapsed earlier in the week.

The accusations reflect the deep-seated lack of trust between the two sides more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. That has thwarted U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to find a peace settlement.

Ukraine's new drone and missile technology has helped it hit deep inside Russia frequently and accurately in recent months, especially major oil facilities.

Meanwhile, rumblings of unhappiness with some of the Kremlin’s wartime policies have put the spotlight on Putin, who is due to make a speech on Saturday to mark Victory Day, commemorating victory over Nazi Germany 81 years ago.

The Russia-Ukraine war rages unabated

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Friday that its forces in Ukraine “completely ceased combat operations and remained at their previously occupied lines and positions” from midnight, when Putin’s unilateral ceasefire came into force.

But it accused Ukrainian forces of continuing to strike Russian positions as well as civilian infrastructure in border areas of the Belgorod and Kursk regions.

Air defenses shot down 390 Ukrainian drones and six Neptune long-range guided missiles aimed at Russia after midnight, according to the ministry.

A Ukrainian drone strike hit the administrative building of the Southern Russia Air Navigation branch in Rostov-on-Don, forcing 13 airports in the south of the country to suspend operations, Russia’s Transport Ministry said. Flights resumed Friday afternoon, but officials said it would take up to three days to fully restore air travel in the area.

Speaking during a meeting of Russia's Security Council, Putin called the strike a “terrorist” attack and hailed traffic controllers for helping to avoid tragic consequences.

Zelenskyy had a different story. Russian forces continued attacking on the front line overnight, he said, while Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 56 Russian drones.

“All this clearly shows that there was not even a pretense of a ceasefire attempt from the Russian side,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine also claimed Friday more long-range strikes on Russian oil facilities. Zelenskyy said one hit the Yaroslavl region, more than 700 kilometers (430 miles) from the border, although he didn’t specify when the attack happened. Ukraine’s Security Service said a separate strike hit a major Russian oil refinery and pipeline pumping station in the Perm region, more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away.

Difficulties mount for Putin

Putin, who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, has used the USSR’s victory in World War II to rally support for him and the war in Ukraine, as well as to project Russia’s global clout.

That made it surprising that the traditional parade will take place without tanks, missiles and other military equipment, aside from war planes in a traditional flyover, for the first time in nearly two decades. Officials put the move down to the “current operational situation,” without elaborating.

Russia’s bigger and better-equipped army has been engaged in a slow, hard slog in Ukraine, while Ukraine’s long-range attacks deep inside Russia targeted Russian oil production as well as manufacturing plants and military depots, rattling the Kremlin.

Some Russians are disgruntled about internet censorship and government control over online activities, including the blocking of the popular messaging app Telegram.

All mobile internet access and text messaging services will be restricted in Moscow on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media. It said the drastic measures were to ensure public safety.

“A military parade is intended as a demonstration of strength and bravery, but if it is held furtively … and with the internet jammed (to reduce the chances of a Ukrainian attack drone being able to navigate to the site), it demonstrates nothing but fear and weakness,” Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a Berlin-based think tank, wrote in an analysis this week.

Russia warns of heavy retaliation if Moscow is attacked

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that Moscow would take decisive action — including a potential mass strike on Kyiv — if Ukrainian attacks disrupt official events scheduled for Saturday.

Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko were due to attend Victory Day celebrations in the Russian capital.

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, a European Union member, laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial just outside the Kremlin walls after arriving in Moscow on Friday. He was set to meet with Putin but will stay away from the Red Square parade.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry advised foreign embassies and international organizations located in Kyiv to evacuate their offices in case such a strike did take place, and the Defense Ministry urged civilians to evacuate, too.

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Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova contributed to this story from Kyiv, Ukraine.

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

The agreement, which was approved by the union's board of directors and ratified by a vote of the membership, runs through the 2032 NFL season.

“We see this new CBA as a partnership with the league that benefits our membership but also seeks to make our game better. It is good to get these negotiations behind us so we can focus on preparing for the 2026 season,” union President Carl Cheffers said.

The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the referees association had been set to expire on May 31, and the two sides began negotiating in the summer of 2024.

The league began the onboarding process for replacement officials last month because negotiations weren’t progressing. But they won’t be necessary.

The league and the union said in a joint statement that the deal covers a wide range of issues including economics, performance and accountability.

“This agreement is a testament to the joint commitment of the league and union to invest in and improve officiating,” said Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations. “It also speaks to the game officials’ relentless pursuit of improvement and officiating excellence. We look forward to working together for the betterment of the game.”

Detailed terms weren't released.

The NFL had sought increased access to officials in the offseason, a practice squad or bench of officials, a new formal training program and control of playoff assignments based on performance. A person with knowledge of the new deal told The Associated Press those priorities were met in the agreement. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because contract details weren't publicized.

A stalemate in 2012 resulted in a 110-day lockout and replacement referees were used.

That led to several high-profile mistakes, including the Fail Mary when Russell Wilson completed a desperation pass to Golden Tate in the closing seconds to lift Seattle over Green Bay in a Monday night game. Tate pushed off so he should’ve been penalized for offensive pass interference. He appeared to wrestle the ball away from a Packers defender and was given credit for a catch even though two officials had called it differently.

There weren’t as many glaring errors when the NFL also used replacement officials for one week of exhibition games and the opening week in 2001 before the labor dispute was resolved shortly after 9/11, and the regular officials returned in time when the season resumed following a one-week break.

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

South Florida served as a central location for planning and financing the plot to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators’ choosing, U.S. prosecutors alleged.

Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages were found guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti’s elected leader and providing material support for the plot. They were also convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act and could face possible life sentences.

“These defendants pursued power, influence, and profit through violence," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement. "They supported a conspiracy that crossed borders, destabilized a friendly nation, and ended with the murder of a sitting president. The jury has spoken, and the rule of law has answered.”

Prosecutors argued that the men had their own leader in mind and had hoped to enrich themselves with a new government.

Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince. Moïse’s wife, Martine, was wounded during the attack and flown to the U.S. for treatment. In Haiti, meanwhile, gang leaders have grown increasingly violent and empowered.

Martine Moïse was the first witness at trial, which began in March in Miami's federal court, describing through a Creole interpreter how she awoke to the sounds of gunfire after midnight. She told jurors that she turned to her husband in bed next to her to ask what was going on.

“Honey, we are dead,” Jovenel Moïse replied, according to his wife's testimony.

Ortiz and Intriago were principals of Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, collectively known as CTU, and Veintemilla was a principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group. Both companies were based in South Florida.

Christian Sanon is a dual Haitian-American citizen whom investigators say was initially favored by the conspirators to replace Moïse. Solages was a CTU representative in Haiti who coordinated with Sanon and others, officials said. Sanon will face trial at a later date.

Defense attorneys argued at trial that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four were manipulated into taking blame for an internal coup. They said the men believed they had a legitimate warrant signed by a Haitian judge and that they were liberating Haiti from Moïse, who had overstayed his term as president.

At least five others have pleaded guilty in the conspiracy and are serving life sentences.

Separately, 20 people, including 17 Colombian soldiers, face charges in Haiti. Gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation.

Before he was deported, José Contreras Díaz — whose mother raised him in the Rio Grande Valley — lived in Edinburg as a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. If approved by federal officials, DACA recipients get protection from deportation and two-year-renewable work permits as long as they keep a clean criminal record.

In a statement on Thursday, Contreras, who was most recently detained for about a week, said he is ready to move forward with his life and rejoin his 2-month-old son and wife in the Rio Grande Valley.

“I would not wish what I’ve been through on anyone. They detained me, sent me to a country I barely remember,” Contreras said. They “gave me hope — the hope that I could come home, see my family, and hold my son again. Then that hope was taken away.”

Even after releasing Contreras, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday referred to him as “an illegal alien” and said it still plans to deport him.

The agency said Contreras will have to check in periodically with immigration officials while he is on supervised release.

“The end result will be the same — he will not be able to remain in the U.S.,” the statement said.

In December, Contreras received an appointment notice to an immigration office for the following month to discuss his case, he said. At the immigration office, agents arrested and deported him weeks before his son was born in late February. He said agents told him he had a deportation order since he was 8 years old.

In an interview, Contreras said that when his mother brought him and his sisters to Texas, she had turned herself in to an immigration agent at the Texas-Mexico border. She and her family were released but missed an immigration court appointment, which led to her and her children’s deportation order.

After he was deported to Honduras, he contacted Stacy Tolchin, an immigration attorney. Tolchin sued the Trump administration, which led to a federal judge’s order to return 42-year-old Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez, another DACA recipient, to the U.S. after being arrested at an immigration appointment and later deported.

In Contreras’ case, Tolchin wrote a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing that deporting Contreras was illegal because his DACA status was still valid at the time of his arrest. Tolchin included in the letter the judge’s ruling in Estrada’s case, which said that deporting her was a “flagrant violation” of DACA protections.

Immigration officials notified his lawyer that they would facilitate his return. But as soon as he landed in Harlingen on April 29, immigration agents arrested him and held him in custody at the Port Isabel Detention Center.

Since returning to office, President Trump’s administration has cracked down on immigrants, including many DACA recipients, saying that it doesn’t recognize DACA as a form of legal status in the U.S.

From January 2025 to November 2025, at least 261 DACA recipients have been arrested — 75 of them in Texas. And between 86 and 174 DACA recipients have been deported, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (The agency gave different figures to two different Democratic members of Congress who requested the information).

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami filed a civil denaturalization complaint Thursday that would complete the Colombian-born Rocha's fall from grace, stripping him of the citizenship he attained after moving to New York City at age 10 with his widowed mother and two siblings.

Rocha, 75, was arrested in late 2023 and later sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after admitting he worked for decades as a secret agent for communist Cuba. He was secretly recorded by an undercover FBI agent praising Fidel Castro as “El Comandante” and bragging about his work for Cuba’s communist government, calling it “more than a grand slam” against the U.S. “enemy.”

The plea to 15 federal counts averted a trial that would have shed new light on what, exactly, Rocha did to help Cuba even as he held prestigious State Department postings such as ambassador to Bolivia and top posts in Argentina, Mexico, the White House and the U.S. It’s not even clear when federal prosecutors first suspected Rocha was spying for Cuba.

As part of his plea agreement, Rocha acknowledged that he first connected with Cuban intelligence agents in 1973 — five years before applying for U.S. citizenship — while attending a student program in Chile at the end of socialist President Salvador Allende's rule. Shortly after, at the direction of Havana, he enrolled in master's programs at Harvard and Georgetown Universities on his way to getting hired by the U.S. State Department.

The government generally faces a high burden of proof in revoking citizenship, as federal law requires prosecutors to show convincing evidence that an individual attained citizenship illegally or procured naturalization by “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”

Prosecutors alleged in court filings that Rocha lied under oath that he “believed in the U.S. Constitution” and had no affiliation with the Communist Party of Cuba while applying for citizenship in 1978.

“The Southern District of Florida helped take down one of the most prolific Cuban spies ever uncovered in the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “This civil denaturalization case is about finishing the job.”

The Justice Department has significantly increased its focus on denaturalization cases in recent years, and last year issued an internal memo to prosecutors directing them to prioritize cases against people who “pose a potential danger to national security,” including those involving terrorism and espionage.

The Trump administration moved this week to denaturalize 11 other people accused of crimes, including child sexual abuse and providing material support to terrorists. The denaturalization process was used in only about a dozen cases per year between 1990 and 2017.

An Associated Press investigation into Rocha found several red flags overlooked along the way, including a warning that one longtime CIA operative received nearly two decades ago that Rocha was working as a double agent. Separate intelligence revealed the CIA had been aware as early as 1987 that Cuban leader Fidel Castro had a “super mole” burrowed deep inside the U.S. government, and some officials suspected it could have been Rocha.

Over the past two years, the FBI, U.S. State Department and CIA have been working to decipher the case’s biggest missing piece: exactly what the longtime diplomat may have given up to Cuba. Rocha spent the first several months of his imprisonment being debriefed by federal officials, but it's not clear what new information was gleaned from those sessions.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said they cannot say whether the remains are those of Smart or whether authorities will seek another warrant to start digging on Susan Flores' property. Her son, Paul Flores, was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart, whose body has never been found.

The search began Wednesday after authorities served a warrant Wednesday at the home in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande more than 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles. Authorities have not specified what prompted the search, but scientists specializing in human decomposition and soil took samples from the ground.

“We believe that based on what we’re looking at evidence-wise -- scientific evidence -- that a human’s remains were there at one time -- or still there. We can’t call it Kristin, but there’s evidence to support human remains,” Parkinson said during a news conference.

Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996 after returning from an off-campus party. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Paul Flores, a fellow student. She was declared legally dead in 2002.

The decades-old case has captivated the public, fueled in part by a podcaster who helped investigators by bringing forward additional witnesses. Chris Lambert of the “Your Own Backyard” podcast first reported the search of the home.

“We remain hopeful that this current search will be successful and look forward to the outcome," the Smart family said in a statement, adding that they "continue to feel the amazing support of the local community which provides us with great strength to continue this journey to bring Kristin home.”

Parkinson, the sheriff, said Friday he was not sure how long they would search the property, but that Susan Flores could not return until investigators felt they were finished.

“We are not leaving that house until we are sure that we have checked everything,” he said.

Attempts to reach Susan Flores for comment this week have not been successful. She has never faced criminal charges related to the case.

Parkinson said the property has changed over the years and investigators have to move items to deploy ground-penetrating radar, which can detect anomalies. He said they might need multiple search warrants to dig, including excavating cement.

Tim Nelligan, an expert in soil vapor testing, confirmed by phone Thursday that he was on the premises, gathering samples from the yards of Flores and a neighbor. He said his team has, in general, “come up with a methodology to assess soil vapor" and its relation to “human cadaver decomposition,” but that he could not discuss the current investigation.

Soil vapor sampling, which is an evolving science, involves collecting underground gas samples to detect volatile organic compounds associated with human decomposition.

Lambert, the podcaster, said he did not know much about the search, but was optimistic investigators could locate Smart's body. He said past searches of Susan Flores' home have never been thorough.

“This property in particular has been overlooked for quite some time," he said Thursday in front of the house.

Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.

Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges. That property is different from the one currently being searched.

Paul Flores was sentenced in March 2023 to prison, where he has been physically attacked at least twice. In 2024, a judge ruled that he must pay just over $350,000 to Smart's family for costs they incurred after her death.

The family has said it would forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where the woman's body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said in 2024 that the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence.

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This story has been updated to correct a word in Parkinson's quote and the distance from Arroyo Grande to Los Angeles.

• PREVIOUS REPORT: ‘She loved Italy’: Houston murder victim’s friends frustrated over husband Lee Gilley fleeing U.S. ahead of trial

The payment will not be due right away. It could take months and fully hinges on Gilley’s return to the U.S. to stand trial, according to an official with understanding of the process.

Attorneys appeared in court Friday morning after the Harris County District Attorney’s office filed a late-night request for a gag order in the case. As reasons for the request, prosecutors cited defense attorney Dick DeGuerin’s recent interviews with KPRC 2 News and People.

Prior to the hearing, attorneys met and agreed to conditions of a gag order, which is now being reviewed by Judge Peebles. He could sign the gag order as early as Friday evening.

For now, it still remains unclear as to when Gilley could be extradited to the U.S.

DeGuerin previously said Gilley was scheduled to appear in an Italian courtroom on Friday when he understood Italian authorities would consider whether to charge him for allegedly presenting fake documents to enter the country on Sunday, and if that happened, it could significantly delay the process of getting him back.

The answer is complicated.

There is no coordinated, countywide network of cameras pointed just at bayou banks. Most public cameras KPRC 2 located sit on roads and bridges, focusing on event spaces rather than the shorelines where they find most of the bodies.

For security reasons, Houston city leaders can’t release a list of available camera locations.

Where video does help investigators, it often comes from private sources — doorbell cameras, business surveillance footage or cell phone video — not government-operated bayou cameras.

Several practical challenges limit any potential camera expansion. Those include the sheer scale of Houston’s 2,500 miles of bayous, the cost of purchasing and maintaining equipment, limited access to power along the banks, and concerns about privacy and vandalism.

The bottom line is this: No single agency controls a comprehensive camera system for Houston’s bayous. Public cameras tend to monitor roads and event spaces, not people along the water’s edge. Private cameras and community tips are currently filling the gap for investigators.

Background: ‘Bodies in Bayou’ docuseries

The camera question is just one of many that have surfaced since KPRC 2 launched its “Bodies in the Bayou” docuseries. The first episode examines more than 200 people found in Houston-area bayous since 2017 — the year Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences first began formally tracking bayou recoveries in a consistent, unified way.

That data has fueled intense speculation online. Viewers continue to ask how these people died, whether someone is targeting them, and what law enforcement is doing about it.

About 40% of people found in Houston bayous since 2017 have had their deaths ruled “undetermined” by the Harris County Medical Examiner.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare addressed concerns that undetermined rulings could stall justice.

“The medical examiner’s findings are not the end of a case,” Teare said. “We are not going to just go by that and say we don’t know. We are looking at phones, we are talking to family members, people they knew. We are going to keep going down until we have exhausted every avenue of investigation.”

Teare also added there is no serial killer dumping victims into Houston’s waterways, while noting the bayous are central to the city’s identity as the Bayou City — something to be respected, not feared.

How to help or get help

Crime Stoppers is asking anyone with footage or tips about a bayou case to contact them at 713-222-TIPS.

Viewers can also contact KPRC 2 Producer/Photojournalist Beth Peak at BPeak@kprc.com or Producer Andrea Slaydon at ASlaydon@kprc.com.

The KPRC 2 Investigates team is currently working on Episode 2 of “Bodies in the Bayou.”

Episode 1 of “Bodies in the Bayou” is available now on YouTube.

The 20-year-old Dino Prižmić defeated the record 24-time Grand Slam champion 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 with an ace on his first match point.

The 38-year-old Djokovic hadn’t played since March when he lost to Jack Draper in the fourth round in Indian Wells, California.

Djokovic had taping on his right shoulder that was revealed when he changed shirts between sets.

He declined to talk about any ailments, not wanting to take any focus from Prižmić. But Djokovic admitted he wanted more than one match at his only warmup for the French Open.

Djokovic didn't surprise himself in his only competitive clay-court match before the French, though he thought the second set was forgettable.

“I see what I'm missing,” he said. "Late half a step. I'm not definitely where I want to be for the highest level and to compete at the highest level and to be able to get far.

“Eventually you have to play. You have to start somewhere. I wanted to start earlier but I couldn't. The situation is as it is. You make the most out of it. I train hard. I train as much as the body allows me to. Then how it turns out on the court, that's really unpredictable.”

Asked if he was confident he'll be in good shape for the French Open which starts in 16 days, Djokovic said, “I don't know.” With a smile he added, “I hope so.”

In Djokovic’s only other tournament this year, he reached the Australian Open final and lost to Carlos Alcaraz.

The 79th-ranked Prižmić lost a four-setter to Djokovic in their only previous match at the 2024 Australian Open. Djokovic told him on Friday his forehand had improved and he'll go far if he can stay healthy. Prižmić beat No. 6 Ben Shelton at the Madrid Open last month.

“He’s my idol,” Prižmić said of Djokovic. “I just played unbelievably today.”

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

During the program’s first year, it will be offered at about 65 to 75 hospitals that handle about a quarter of births in the state and largely serve low-income patients, Newsom's office said. The initiative will expand to more hospitals statewide, though the governor's office did not say how many. The state has partnered with nonprofit Baby2Baby to manufacture the diapers under the label “Golden State Start.”

Newsom said the plan builds on California's effort to make living in the notoriously expensive state a little easier for families. He highlighted policies in recent years to provide students with free meals at school and make preschool free for all.

“Every baby born in California deserves a healthy start in life — and that means making sure parents have the basics they need from day one,” the Democrat said in a statement.

The state set aside $7.4 million in last year's budget to roll out the initiative, and this year's budget proposal includes an additional $12.5 million to implement the program for the upcoming fiscal year ending in June 2027.

It will allow each family to receive 400 diapers in sizes for newborns and babies up to 14 pounds (6 kilograms) when they are discharged from a hospital after birth. That's a little more than a month’s worth, since newborns on average require eight to 10 diapers a day.

Baby2Baby provides families in need with essential items. The nonprofit built a manufacturing system that allows them to produce diapers for 80% less than the retail price, co-CEO Kelly Sawyer Patricof said.

“California is once again setting the standard of what it means to show up for mothers and babies,” added co-CEO Norah Weinstein.

The announcement comes two years after Tennessee and Delaware became the first U.S. states to offer free diapers to families enrolled in their Medicaid programs, which provide healthcare to low-income families. Tennessee families can go to pharmacies to pick up 100 diapers per month for children under two. The Delaware program, which began as a pilot before the state extended it in 2024, provides individuals with up to 80 diapers and up to one pack of baby wipes per week in the first 12 weeks of life.

California's Medicaid system doesn't cover diapers for newborns, but it does cover the items for enrollees ages 5 and older if they have a medical need for them.

Diapers are a large, ongoing expense for many families. They typically spend about $100 a month on the items per child, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. The cost burden can lead some parents to leave their child's diapers on for too long or reuse disposable diapers, which can result in rashes and urinary tract infections, the center says.

California officials are touting the new effort as a way to ease that financial strain.

“The first days at home with a newborn should be focused on the love, connection, and joy of an expanded family, not stress about affording diapers,” said Kim Johnson, the state's health secretary. “This program helps ensure families can begin that journey with greater stability and peace of mind.”

Criminals are now exploiting PayPal’s real email system to target unsuspecting users. The scheme works by sending tiny payments — sometimes as little as one cent — to random PayPal accounts. That action automatically triggers an official email from PayPal, making the message appear authentic.

But inside the payment note, fraudsters often include alarming claims, such as a large unauthorized purchase or a warning that the account has been compromised. The message then urges recipients to call a customer service number for help.

The catch: the phone number does not belong to PayPal.

Instead, victims are connected directly to criminals who attempt to steal passwords, banking information, or even gain remote access to computers.

Experts say the scheme is effective because it creates panic and pressures people to act quickly before verifying the information.

“If you receive something unexpected, never respond directly to the incoming message,” said Professor Ryan Marquez with the University of Houston Law Center. “Always initiate contact yourself by going directly to the company’s website or using the number on the back of your card. And never allow someone on the phone to guide you through logins or take remote control of your computer.”

Security experts recommend taking several steps to protect yourself:

• Never click links or call phone numbers included in suspicious emails
• Open your browser and log in to PayPal directly to verify account activity
• Enable two-factor authentication
• Use strong, unique passwords
• Regularly monitor financial accounts for unusual activity

If you believe you may have interacted with criminals, experts advise immediately changing your passwords, contacting PayPal and your bank directly, and monitoring for signs of identity theft.

They also recommend considering a credit freeze if sensitive personal information may have been exposed.

Experts say the best defense is simple: don’t click, don’t call, and always verify first.

• PayPal tells KPRC 2 it takes all the necessary steps to mitigate issues and protect our customers, including using a combination of manual investigations and sophisticated technology to prevent fraud.
• We always encourage customers to remain mindful when receiving any online communication or when asked to participate in a transaction, particularly from someone they don’t personally know or to whom they do not owe any money.
• If people receive any unexpected, suspicious emails or payment requests, they should not pay, nor should they respond, share any personal information, call any phone numbers, open attachments, or click on any links within these messages.
• If a customer shared any information, called numbers or clicked any links, they should change their account password and contact PayPal as well as their financial institution immediately. They can also enable two-factor authentication if they haven’t already.
• • Please contact PayPal directly through our app or Contact page for assistance. Do not contact any of the email addresses or phone numbers within suspicious messages, even if they are labeled as customer service.
• We also recommend reporting any phishing emails to our security team by forwarding them to phishing@paypal.com, and then deleting them. Suspicious emails can also be flagged directly to email providers. Additionally, people may contact law enforcement to report any scams, and we can assist in the investigation if asked.
• We believe that spreading awareness of the latest common fraud trends and how to stop them is key to keeping the payments ecosystem safe for everyone. We actively partner with leading consumer protection institutions, such as the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust, Consumers International, and the Smarter Than Scams campaign with the Financial Technology Association.
• Feel free to refer to our consumer alert on phishing scams, here: PayPal Alerts Consumers to Phishing Scams and Encourages Safety Tips
• Additional resources:
• • Common Scams and How to Stop Them
  • PayPal security center
  • How to spot a fake PayPal email 
  • Report a suspicious email or website

A National Theatre production has landed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music starring Hiran Abeysekera. There’s a movie version set in London’s South Asian community starring Riz Ahmed. Anthony Hopkins, at 88, is delighting fans on TikTok with some of Prince Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy. The movie “Hamnet” — the fictionalized story of loss that inspired the creation of “Hamlet” — earned Jessie Buckley an Oscar. Taylor Swift's “The Fate of Ophelia” — that's Hamlet's ex — went to No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. Eddie Izzard is taking her one-person production of the play on a worldwide tour.

Four hundred years on, “Hamlet” — whose seemingly quite modern antihero is endlessly mulling over what to do after his uncle murdered his father and married his mother — is still giving.

Want even more? There’s even a “Hamnet” play, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s original novel, and the Royal Shakespeare Company is taking it on a U.K. tour. Shakespeare & Company will stage a “Hamlet” this August in the Berkshires. There’s a Canadian production of “Hamlet, Sweet Prince,” using a queer, contemporary lens. The Acting Company in New York will have a modern-verse version led by a woman, and the Peruvian theater company Teatro La Plaza recently presented a version off-Broadway starring eight Spanish-speaking actors with Down syndrome.

Harvard's Jeffrey R. Wilson, a Shakespeare scholar, says “Hamlet” is perfect for our era, when the crush of bad news has triggered constant, existential check-ins, like: “Hey, how’s everyone hanging in there?”

“People are exhausted from the onslaught of awfulness in the world,” he says, “and ‘Hamlet’ gives audiences both permission to ‘go there’ to explore those emotions and a tool kit of ideas to help us process angst.”

A neurodiverse ‘Hamlet’

The plethora of works are markedly vibrant and fresh, from the Hamlet in Brooklyn who wears a beanie to the one who enjoys Bollywood-style dances in London.

“Great plays survive not because they remain untouched, but because they can continue to be transformed,” says director and playwright Chela De Ferrari, from Teatro La Plaza, whose neurodiverse “Hamlet” is a visceral and urgent call from those often excluded from cultural narratives.

“Working with actors with Down syndrome and cognitive disabilities brought me back to something essential in ‘Hamlet’: that beneath its philosophical brilliance there is an exposed human being asking, in one way or another, how to exist in a world that keeps misreading him,” she said.

In one of the show’s most potent moments, an actor attempts to imitate Laurence Olivier’s delivery of Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy with an image of the famous actor projected on a screen. It takes on a new urgency when spoken by someone whose very right to be in public or artistic spaces is often questioned.

“I like to imagine a kind of continuity between our actors and all the great actors who have carried the play before. I believe Shakespeare lives in all of them,” says De Ferrari.

Shakespeare in a BMW

On school trips to see Shakespeare plays, filmmaker Aneil Karia always felt like they were an arm's length away.

“I felt like I was primarily watching an intellectual experience unfold and I had to use my brain to keep up with the plot and the language and everything like that,” he says.

He teamed up with Ahmed and screenwriter Michael Lesslie for a stripped-down, modern-day retelling of “Hamlet” that leans into the title character's unease at being complicit in a corrupt business system.

“That feels so pertinent to the moment we’re in politically and everything. It feels like the question a lot of people are asking,” says Karia. “It feels like these stories are actually a conversation through time itself.”

Hamlet here parties at a neon-drenched nightclub and delivers his soliloquy while hurtling down rain-slicked London streets in a BMW, taking his hands off the wheel as a truck approaches head-on. To be, or not to be, indeed.

“The best best-case scenario here is that it’s opening up Shakespeare to audiences who didn’t think it was for them, or who struggled with it previously,” says Karia, whose film starts streaming Tuesday. “This is a big call, but I feel like Shakespeare would approve. I feel his whole thing was like, ‘Take this stuff and do your thing.’”

A more clownish prince

The “Hamlet” in Brooklyn leans into the humor of the play for one good reason: The guy playing Hamlet is naturally funny.

Abeysekera is manic and mischievous as he pulls out the play's physical humor, addressing the audience directly in his soliloquies, sometimes sitting at the edge of the stage and making eye contact.

“It’s a very self-aware play. It sort of really knows that it’s a play, if that makes any kind of sense,” says director Robert Hastie. “Hamlet knows he’s in a play called ‘Hamlet,’ like Deadpool knows he is in a film called ‘Deadpool.’”

Abeysekera tackles his “To be, or not to be” speech as an errant thought, a wisp of an idea, instead of the traditional foot-planted, actor-y, big-thing-coming approach.

“Rather than thinking, ‘Oh, here’s the big speech coming up and that's freaking me out,’ I started thinking, ‘It’s such a thought that most of us kind of have,’” he says. “Sometimes, in front of the mirror, we just see ourselves and go, ‘Oof. Today’s a tough day.’”

Hastie believes “Hamlet” is one of those works that reveals something new all the time. Grounded in the human condition, it speaks fresh things to each audience and we discover new things that have always been there.

“One of the reasons I think why we’re still talking about Shakespeare, and this play in particular, is that whenever those words fuse with a new actor or a new group of actors, it becomes a different play,” he says. “Maybe that’s a good working definition of a classic.”

An extremely online bard

Caitlin Cardile is doing her best to keep the 400-year-old playwright alive in the TikTok era. She and her three-person troupe Mad Spirits Theatre Company are on virtually every social media platform spreading the word.

“We wanted to bring Shakespeare to a modern audience and make it understandable,” Cardile says. “We want people to feel more comfortable with Shakespeare and not think that it’s old English and such a hard thing to understand.”

They post live readings and commentary of the plays on YouTube but it's on Instagram and TikTok where the true coolness starts. They find trending audio snippets — of everything from dialogue on “The Office” to a Lady Gaga song — and assign a Shakespeare character to say them.

So Kitty Forman's popular line “I may have been a little irrational today” from “That '70s Show” is lipsynced by an actor playing Ophelia. A section of dialogue between Scar and Simba from “The Lion King” is put in the mouths of actors playing Claudius and Hamlet.

“We’re like, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we took these silly trending sounds that everybody’s doing and what if we put them to Shakespeare characters?'” says Cardile. “This has ended up being so much fun.”

Alghoula has lived in the U.S. since 2016, and his current visa will expire in September if his application is denied.

But last week, Alghoula and doctors like him got a potential lifeline when the administration quietly made an exemption for physicians with pending visa or green card applications. It's a move physicians, organizations and immigration attorneys had sought for months, citing widespread shortages and a high proportion of foreign-trained doctors, who disproportionately work in underserved areas, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The lack of doctors is top of mind for Alghoula, a pulmonologist and Intensive Care Unit doctor who serves a mostly rural population spanning parts of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

“It is about four to five months wait to get the pulmonologist here,” he said.

Still, applicants and immigration attorneys say it's unclear how big a difference the exemption will make. The change means doctors can have their cases reviewed, but it doesn't guarantee their green cards or visas will be renewed. It is also unclear whether U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be able to process those applications in time to meet immigration deadlines like Alghoula's — especially as many doctors with pending applications still haven't heard any updates from the federal government directly since the announcement was first made.

Despite his qualifications, Alghoula said he is still concerned about his upcoming appointment, given stories circulating about immigrants being detained at appointments to renew their paperwork.

“I’m still scared to go to my interview,” Alghoula said Wednesday. That uncertainty intensified on Friday when he learned that his interview, scheduled for early June, had been canceled without any explanation. He said he doesn’t know what that means for his application.

Meanwhile, the pause remains in effect for thousands of others, including researchers and entrepreneurs from 39 countries, including Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela. While they’re on hold, many can’t legally work, get health insurance or a driver’s license. If they leave the U.S., they won't be let back in.

Immigrants unable to work or see family

The Trump administration decided last year to stop reviewing green card and visa applications for people from a list of countries deemed high-risk and this year stopped reviewing visa applications for citizens of more than 75 countries over concerns they would seek public assistance. The moves came amid the U.S. government's broader crackdown on immigrants.

The pause followed the shooting of two National Guard troops by an Afghan citizen, which the administration said highlighted “what a lack of screening, vetting, and prioritizing expedient adjudications can do to the American people.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration officials, didn’t answer questions about the pause or recent changes to exempt physicians but said in an email it wants to ensure applicants are properly screened after determining the prior administration failed to do so.

“There are lots of bans and lots of pauses that are happening right now,” said Greg Siskind, an immigration attorney based in Memphis, Tennessee. “It is all about making life miserable for people who are here legally so they will choose other countries.”

It isn’t clear how many doctors have been affected by the pause, according to a spokesperson for the American Academy of Family Physicians, who said several doctors have reached out to the organization asking for help.

Some doctors have already been denied

Before the exemption, many immigrants filed federal lawsuits demanding that the government issue decisions on their cases.

One of them was Iranian Dr. Zahra Shokri Varniab, who came to the United States three years ago to conduct radiology research. She was waiting for a green card to attend a residency program but her application got stuck in the pause. She filed a lawsuit demanding an answer to her application and a federal judge ordered immigration officials to review her case.

They did — and denied her. The 33-year-old doctor said she believes it was in retaliation for her lawsuit.

“I feel completely confused,” Shokri Varniab said.

In court filings, U.S. government lawyers wrote that Shokri Varniab's application contained inconsistencies about whether she plans to become a practicing doctor or researcher. She said she plans to do both.

She said the exemption doesn't appear to apply to her since her case was decided but is seeking relief in court.

Immigration policy compounding war abroad

Immigrants who hold prestigious jobs in science and technology said they currently can't work due to the pause because they're waiting on employment authorization documents. Some said they are running out of money for rent and groceries and worry their careers could be thwarted if they're forced to leave the country.

Those from Iran are especially worried about returning home during the ongoing war with U.S. and Israeli forces. They said they can't regularly reach family due to the Iranian government's internet blackout or count on them for financial support.

Kaveh Javanshirjavid came to the United States from Iran seven years ago to study for his doctorate in agriculture. He was supposed to start a lab job in January but needs employment authorization and his application is on hold.

The 41-year-old said he’s borrowing from friends to pay rent and relying on his wife’s doctorate stipend for basic necessities. But he doesn’t know how long that will last because she’s also Iranian and will need work authorization to get a job after graduating this summer.

“The whole of my life is on hold,” he said.

Hiring beat the 65,000 jobs forecasters had expected, though it decelerated from the 185,000 jobs created in March. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The Iran war has caused the biggest disruption of global oil supplies in history and sent average U.S. gasoline prices surging past $4.50 a gallon this week. But the conflict hasn’t done much damage to the American job market so far. And the import taxes — tariffs — that President Donald Trump imposed last year haven't turned out to be as high and as damaging as originally feared.

“The labor market is not booming, but it is proving harder to break than` many feared,’’ said economist Olu Sonola of Fitch Ratings.

Healthcare added 37,000 jobs last month and transportation and warehousing companies 30,000. However, manufacturers cut 2,000 jobs in April and have shed 66,000 jobs over the past year despite Trump’s protectionist policies aimed at creating factory jobs.

“Businesses to some extent are viewing the conflict in Iran as temporary,'' said Gus Faucher, chief economist at the financial firm PNC. ”We’re seeing strong business investment, particularly around tech and AI. The economy continues to expand. We’ve weathered some shocks. The worst of the tariff impact is likely over.''

Still, Faucher cautioned that "the longer conflict in Iran lasts, the higher energy prices go, the longer they stay elevated the greater the drag on the economy.''

Among those worrying is Michael Cramer, co-founder and CEO of online retailer Adagio Teas. He expects to freeze hiring this year. He typically adds anywhere from five to six workers per year to help pack up online tea orders at the company’s warehouse in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Adagio Teas, which has about 50 workers, has seen a slight drop in sales after the Iran war drove up gasoline prices and squeezed shoppers, particularly those in lower-income brackets. Cramer is worried that shoppers are opting for less expensive supermarket tea to cut costs.

“You only hire when you have more orders that you can fill,” he said.“I don’t envision us being in that position for the remainder of the year. I think the remainder of this year is going to be fairly bumpy.”

Labor Department revisions shaved 16,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% from March and 3.6% from April 2025, consistent with the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.

The number of people in the U.S. labor force dropped last month, and the share of those working or looking for work — the so-called labor force participation rate — dropped to 61.8%, lowest since October 2021.

After the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks Feb. 28, Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. The disruption has caused a painful increase in the price of energy and led many economists to downgrade their estimates for global and U.S. economic growth.

But the job market keeps chugging along this year.

The economy is getting a boost from big tax refund checks this spring, arising from Trump’s tax cut legislation last year; the refunds allow consumers to spend more freely, giving companies an incentive to add workers in response to rising sales.

The job market is showing intermittent signs of recovery after a bleak 2025. Employers last year created just 9,700 jobs a month, fewest outside a recession year since 2002. High interest rates and uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies held back hiring.

The March and April hiring figures marked the first consecutive months of job growth above 100,000 since the end of 2024.

The recent uptick in hiring raises hopes that the job market will break out of a recent rut – in which Americans who have jobs are relatively secure from layoffs but jobseekers struggle to find work.

Angela Paniccia, 33, of Queens in New York City was laid off by an educational travel company in December. The job search can be frustrating. “You’ll never hear back or you’ll get just a generic ‘We’re moving on with someone else’ without feedback,’’ she said.

Many of the openings at colleges and other employers in her field simply don’t pay enough to support someone living in one of the country’s most expensive cities. To help with the rent, she’s been working part-time for a caterer. “I’ve always had a full-time job,’’ she said. “Admittedly, I’m struggling with the loss of daily routine.’’

U.S. hiring has been dominated by one industry: Healthcare companies, catering to an aging American population, have added 456,000 jobs over the past year; other employers have combined to cut 205,000 over the 12 months that ended in April.

Still, Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that last month's job gains extended beyond healthcare. Retailers, for example, added 22,000 jobs and construction companies 9,000. “America’s hiring recession appears to be over,'' she wrote. "Average job gains in 2025 were an anemic 10,000 a month. So far in 2026, the average is 76,000.''

Simbe Robotics Inc., which deploys five-foot tall robots that scan shelves for out-of-stock items in more than 1,000 stores worldwide, is eager to hire. Co-founder Brad Bogolea started the company with a handful of workers and now has 100, many of them software and artificial intelligence engineers. Simbe has its pick of candidates. Applications more than doubled over the past year, partly because of layoffs elsewhere in the technology industry. Applications for robotics software engineer jobs are up 127% over that time period, Bogolea said.

The Labor Department's monthly jobs report consists of two parts.

For the so-called household survey, the government collects data from 60,000 households to calculate the unemployment rate and the share of people who are working or looking for work, among other things.

For the so-called establishment survey, the government gathers information from about 119,000 businesses and government agencies, representing 622,000 worksites, to calculate the number of jobs in the economy, how many hours Americans work and the hourly wages they receive.

The establishment survey is subject to revisions — sometimes big ones — because some employers submit their responses late or have to correct what they already sent in. The Labor Department — like government statistical agencies in other countries — has also been contending with a drop in the share of employers that respond to the survey, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the revisions and problems collecting the data, most economists, businesses and investors consider the monthly jobs report to be a reliable gauge of how the labor market is doing.

Friday's jobs data will likely keep the Fed on the sidelines, as it holds its key rate unchanged while evaluating the economic impact of the Iran war. Fed officials are increasingly focused on inflation, which has risen quickly since the war, driven higher by spikes in gasoline prices.

Inflation jumped to 3.3% in March, a two-year high and far above the Fed’s target. The Fed typically keeps its rate unchanged -- or even raises it -- to combat inflation, while it cuts rates to spur more growth and hiring. Early this year many Fed policymakers were worried the job market was stalling and leaned toward rate cuts. But in more recent months hiring has stabilized, undermining the case for cuts.

Friday's jobs report, PNC's Faucher said, “actually makes it less likely that we see a rate cut anytime soon because the Fed can say, ‘The job market is solid. Let’s get inflation back down to 2%. This is not the time to cut rates.’"

____

AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York and AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this story.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were attending the April 25 event at the Washington Hilton when Cole Tomas Allen allegedly ran through a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun at a Secret Service officer.

In a court filing late Thursday, Allen's attorneys argued that it creates at least the appearance of a conflict of interest for Blanche and Pirro to be making any prosecutorial decisions in the case.

“As this case proceeds closer to trial, the country and the world will continue to wonder — how can the American justice system permit a victim to prosecute a criminal defendant in a case involving them?” defense attorneys Eugene Ohm and Tezira Abe wrote.

Ohm and Abe, who are assistant federal public defenders, suggested that the appointment of a special prosecutor might be warranted. They urged U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee assigned to Allen's case, to disqualify Pirro, Blanche and possibly other Justice Department officials from direct involvement in the investigation and prosecution.

“Both heard gunshots, which presumably forced them to duck below the tables with the rest of the occupants. They were quickly evacuated. Shortly thereafter, they learned that law enforcement believed the target was certain administration officials,” Ohm and Abe wrote.

Pirro said her office will respond to the defense lawyers' arguments in its own court filing.

“We will not tolerate people who come to the District of Columbia to engage in antidemocratic acts of political violence; and we will prosecute all such acts to the fullest extent of the law,” Pirro said in a statement.

Allen is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges in an indictment handed up Tuesday by a grand jury in Washington.

The charges include attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, who is a longtime friend of Pirro. Blanche served as a personal attorney for Trump before joining the Justice Department last year.

Blanche, through a spokesperson, referred a request for comment to Pirro's office.

Allen also is charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two additional firearms counts. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination charge alone.

The Secret Service officer who was shot once in a bullet-resistant vest fired his own weapon five times without hitting anybody. Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was injured but was not shot.