Retail sales fell 0.6% last month, marking the biggest decrease since May 2025, compared with a revised gain of 0.2% in June, according to the Commerce Department data released Friday. Economists were projecting a small increase.

The decline followed a notable bump in spending in both April and May as Americans dipped into their government tax refunds.

The drop in spending for July, however, raised concern among some economists about the resiliency of consumers who have powered the economy forward despite nagging inflation and soaring gasoline prices. Yet, it may be too early to declare a retreat by one of the strongest and most consistent forces in the U.S. economy of late.

Still, the weak sales report follows unexpectedly sluggish jobs figures last week, and both suggest the economy could be slowing after strong consumer and business spending in the first half of the year.

Separately, consumers turned more pessimistic about the economy this month, likely driven by stubbornly high prices, according to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, released Friday.

While most economists still expect solid economic growth in the July-September quarter, many have lowered their forecasts in the wake of the retail sales report.

Prices in July, which were not adjusted for inflation, were impacted by falling sales at gas stations. Fuel prices remained low until later in the month when evidence of a stalemate between the U.S. and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz began to grow. Business at gas stations fell 0.9% last month, according to the report.

Gas prices have been rising since the final week of July and ticked higher again overnight to $4.08 per gallon, up from $3.85 a month ago, according to motor club AAA. That's 92 cents more per gallon than Americans were paying last year at this time.

Gas prices typically begin to recede in August as the driving season comes to a close and the AAA said this week that the high cost of fuel for Americans this late in the year is unprecedented.

Excluding sales at gas stations and auto dealers, retail sales in July fell 0.2%.

Business at motor vehicle and parts dealers saw a 1.8% drop from a 1.9% increase in June, which was helped by auto makers' promotion incentives.

Electronics and appliance sales declined 0.5%. Online sales fell 2.2% from June when they were fueled by spending surrounding Amazon’s four-day Prime Day event that began in late June, earlier than previous years.

The drop in online sales weighed heavily on the so-called control group—which excludes food services, autos, building materials and gas station sales and is used to calculate economic growth. That figure fell 0.4% last month.

“American consumers are showing signs of fatigue, “ Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote Friday. “July retail sales were disappointing on all levels.”

But the weak sales seemed to be concentrated in a few areas.

Among some of the bright spots in the report: clothing and accessories stores, furniture and home furnishing stores as well as building material and garden supplies merchants all posted gains last month.

The data offers only a snapshot of consumer spending and doesn’t include activities like travel and hotel stays. But the lone services category – restaurants – registered a healthy 0.5% increase

“Though the latest numbers warrant a downgrade to the spending forecast, it’d be premature to write off the consumer,” Bernard Yaros, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics said.

He noted the job market is “broadly balanced,” and wealthy households, boosted by strong gains in the stock market, continue to spend.

New data this week showed that inflation declined slightly in July as gas and grocery prices slipped, though it is still rising more quickly than before the Iran war.

Consumer prices increased 3.4% in July from a year ago, down slightly from 3.5% in June, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Inflation had fallen to 2.4% before the Iran war. On a monthly basis, prices rose just 0.1% from June to July.

The modest decline marked the second straight decrease after sharply higher gas prices pushed inflation to 4.2% in May, a three-year high.

Given the volatile economic environment, economists are closely watching how families spend behind Christmas.

Shopping has been steady, though Americans have dialed in on sales as they grow more careful with their money.

Off-price retailers, consumer electronics and office supply retailers have had a “strong early start” to the back-to-school season, said Elizabeth Lafontaine, director of research at Placer.ai.

“Consumers have looked to take advantage of early deals to check off their lists,” Lafontaine said.

Walmart, Target and other retailers have been pushing discounts for the fall season, seeking to lure inflation-weary shoppers.

Target, for example, says that 95% of prices for school supplies are at or below last year’s levels.

Retailers begin reporting quarterly earnings next week.

Stephen Yalof, CEO of the outlet mall operator Tanger, noted an increase in foot traffic this summer because of the World Cup festivities.

More Americans were shopping too, Yalof said, because more people are vacationing close to home to save money.

“We’re rewarding with value, and we’re getting customers to come in … and shop more frequently,” Yalof told The Associated Press.

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AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report from Washington.

Campuses and districts got their state report cards Friday, providing families a glimpse of how well schools educate students. Those who consistently get low grades inch toward state takeovers.

Of the more than 9,000 campuses in the 2025-26 school year, 24% scored an A, 34% scored a B, 23% scored a C, 10% scored a D and 4% scored an F. Some schools did not receive grades.

About one in four schools saw their ratings improve, while a nearly similar rate of campuses (22%) saw a drop.

Schools with high poverty performed worse than more affluent campuses, while campuses with predominantly Black or Hispanic students scored lower than those where white or Asian students make up the majority. 

Still, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath characterized the ratings as a win, pointing to the hundreds of campuses in high-poverty communities that earned an A. 

“We are teaching them handwriting. They are memorizing the timetables. They are thinking through more and more advanced math problems. All children can learn and achieve,” Morath said as he visited a New Braunfels campus Friday morning.

Austin hit the threshold of five failing grades for the state’s most severe sanctions. Other districts on the brink of intervention — including Ector County, Greenville, and Ralls — narrowly avoided the same fate with gains at their struggling campuses in the ratings this year.

Waco ISD inched closer to a takeover with South Waco Elementary’s failing grade this year, but their district’s partnership with Third Future Schools buys them more time before they hit the threshold.

AISD Superintendent Matias Segura told the Austin Current he has not been in communication with state officials regarding their plans for the district. The education commissioner must close a persistently failing campus when it reaches that threshold or replace a district’s locally elected school board with appointees he selects. 

“I understand there is an anxiousness and concern in the community,” Segura told the Current. “We are going to be here tomorrow, the teachers are going to show up, we are going to do the work to ensure their student gets what they need, regardless of what that looks like for that specific family, for that specific school. AISD will continue to be here; we have been here for 145 years.”

The letter grades campuses receive can shape community perceptions. Often, parents use the scores to pick a school for their kids. Businesses may also weigh the ratings when choosing which regions to invest in or move to, as they anticipate that schools labeled high-performing will graduate more students prepared for the workforce. 

Ratings for schools and districts largely depend on three primary metrics: how students perform on STAAR and meet college and career readiness benchmarks; how results on state tests improve over time; and how well schools educate underserved children.

Texas schools that trigger state takeovers tend to serve predominantly Black, Latino and low-income students, while majority-Black schools last year received more Fs than A ratings.

Critics of the state’s accountability system say school ratings fail to account for the challenges facing high-poverty schools, which often work with fewer resources to serve children with higher needs. They say it pressures districts to focus more on improving their letter grades than helping students grow academically. 

Proponents of the grades say Texas families deserve transparency about how well schools educate their children. State leaders also say the ratings allow them to identify which districts fail to concentrate on student learning.  

The Texas Education Agency took over Houston ISD in 2023 after one of the district’s campuses failed state standards for multiple years. That campus, Wheatley High School, received an A this year. 

The state’s largest district, however, declined from no F-rated campuses last year to five this year. One of those schools did not previously receive a rating. 

Parents face a changing education landscape with more access to schooling options outside of  traditional neighborhood campuses. This school year marks the first time Texas families can use public taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s private schooling or home-school education.

Districts have until Sept. 11 to appeal their grades to the Texas Education Agency.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Pirro announced on X that her office was filing two felony charges against Melissa L. Farris. Pirro said the felony charges are “Depredation Against Property of the United States and Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials.” The offenses carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

On Thursday, the words “Clean hands dirty $” were found painted on the monument and bubbles filled a fountain.

“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom. Those Americans include my father and grandfather,” Pirro wrote.

A woman identified on her Facebook page as Melissa Lovewell posted a video Thursday in which she is seen taking cans of spray paint from her bag and then painting the monument.

“I will wait here to be arrested for spraying our veterans’ fountain,” she says. “It was me, I’m doing it, it’s on camera."

In a video posted Friday, the woman, who in a separate post said she had been in Washington for three weeks, said she was turning herself in.

The arrest warrant filed in the case indicated that witnesses took pictures of the vandalism occurring, which were circulated among U.S. Park Police officers.

One officer recognized the suspect as someone they arrested Aug. 10 “for unlawfully camping on federal property” just blocks away. She livestreamed that arrest, the warrant said.

The suspect was identified by her Kentucky driver's license as Melissa L. Farris, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

Farris was expected to be arraigned Friday. The Public Defender’s office said she was not yet listed in the system and had not been assigned an attorney.

The incident sparked harsh rebukes from both Pirro and President Donald Trump and comes after the president blamed damage to the nearby Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on vandals, without providing evidence. That case prompted charges against multiple people which were dropped when Pirro said evidence showed the damage came from botched repairs after Trump's renovation at the site.

“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” Trump said on Friday on his Truth Social site. “First the Reflecting Pool, now this.”

The Interior Department said that the U.S. Park Police were on the scene following the Thursday vandalism and an investigation was ongoing. "The public should know we will find the person responsible for this disgusting act,” the department said.

The Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a nonprofit organization that helps maintain the site, said: “There are many places in our country for expression, debate, and disagreement. A national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars called the vandalism “an act of profound disrespect, a slap in the face to the veterans who served and sacrificed and to the families who carried that burden at home.”

A former Olympian was charged in late July with deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool, but the Justice Department later moved to dismiss that case, saying evidence prosecutors had received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame.

Trump sharply criticized Pirro’s assessment that damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claimed.

The case dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump’s claims and billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. Pirro’s decision to drop the case was also a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.

Mangione, 28, said he even used a ruse to glean information about the event, contacting the health insurance company ahead of time under the guise of being an investor at a multibillion-dollar firm.

"On the morning of Dec. 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan, and he died,” Mangione told the court. In the audience, Thompson's wife, Paulette, took several deep breaths and repeatedly wiped tears from her eyes. A supporter put an arm around the wife and held her tight.

Prosecutors plan to seek a life prison term at Mangione's sentencing, set for Dec. 18. When U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett asked whether he understood that he could spend the rest of his life behind bars, Mangione answered neutrally: “Yes.”

Thompson’s family later called the plea “an important step toward justice” and noted that Mangione still faces other cases, including a New York state murder prosecution.

"We will continue to seek the justice Brian deserves,” the relatives said in a statement issued through a spokesperson.

Mangione still faces a separate state murder case

Mangione entered the plea at a hastily scheduled hearing in Manhattan federal court, resolving one of two cases against him in connection with Thompson’s death. Mangione's lawyers quickly sought to have his separate New York state murder case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds.

“Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said outside court, arguing that her client shouldn't face two prosecutions over a “single tragic event.”

Prosecutors didn’t recommend a sentencing break for Mangione or give him any other incentive to plead guilty, they and his lawyers said. A defendant in a criminal case always has the option of pleading guilty without any such deal.

Nor did Mangione plead guilty to avoid a potential death sentence. That possibility was taken off the table when a federal murder charge was tossed out this winter.

Mangione alludes to back pain in explaining his actions

Surveillance video of the ambush showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson, 50, from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

That detail — and revelations that Mangione's private writings lambasted health insurers as greedy, according to authorities — made the case a fulcrum for debate about the industry and made Mangione a cause célèbre for some of its critics.

A University of Pennsylvania graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, Mangione told the court Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.”

Friedman Agnifilo later said her client “believed that the system had failed him and destroyed his life.”

Authorities say Mangione's grievances are no excuse for killing

Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.

“To those who idolize Luigi Mangione, I say this. Violence is not a cause. Murder is not a message. And a killer is certainly not a hero,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said outside court Friday.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, whose office handled the federal case, added: “There can be no celebrity in assassination."

Thompson led one of the United States' largest health insurers, but he wasn't well known outside the industry. Trained as an accountant, he had worked at parent company UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm, UnitedHealthcare, in 2021.

Thompson's violent death “devastated everyone who knew and loved him,” the company said in a statement Friday, thanking law enforcement for bringing him to justice.

Now Mangione is pressing to end the state case

But his federal guilty plea does give him leverage to argue for closing out the New York state prosecution, which carries the potential for a separate long sentence.

The state’s double jeopardy protections can kick in if a prior prosecution ends in a guilty plea.

Mangione’s cases involve different charges arising from the same course of conduct. The Manhattan district attorney's office, which is handling the state prosecution, said Friday that it remains committed to its case and would contest the defense's efforts to shut it down.

In June, Mangione’s lawyers said they would pursue a psychiatric defense in the state case but reversed course a day later. The defense, involving claims that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, isn’t allowed in federal court.

In the federal case, Garnett had delivered some setbacks to the defense, including ruling in January that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest as evidence against him. They included a 3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to kill an insurance executive.

Mangione was arrested five days after the shooting, when he was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It’s about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. In the days after the shooting, police had released various images of the suspected shooter, including one showing his face as he checked into a hostel.

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Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed.

• PREVIOUS: ICE arrests crime witness who helped Houston police identify shooting suspect

FIEL, PSL, CRECEN and other groups held the demonstration at the store on West Sam Houston Parkway South following the detention of Juan Francisco Monroy Turuy. Organizers said they wanted clarity about why ICE responded so quickly, why Monroy Turuy was taken into custody and whether Home Depot had provided information or otherwise assisted federal immigration authorities.

“The community demands answers,” FIEL Executive Director Cesar Espinosa said. He also warned that community members could consider boycotting Home Depot if the company did not explain its role.

Kora Furton, speaking on behalf of the participating organizations, connected the detention to broader concerns involving immigration enforcement, surveillance technology and cooperation between federal agents and local law enforcement.

The groups did not provide evidence confirming a formal partnership between Home Depot and ICE.

KPRC 2 has reached out to both Home Depot and ICE for comment.

Woodland Acres Middle School earned an A with an overall score of 92 out of 100 in the 2026 A-F accountability system, according to TEA data reviewed Friday.

• HISD STAAR scores show academic gains three years after state takeover; Mike Miles says ‘the work isn’t done’

The campus also earned all seven distinction designations available to it, recognizing performance in several academic areas and measures.

Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath is scheduled to visit Woodland Acres Middle School Friday afternoon as part of an event recognizing Galena Park ISD for what TEA described as its “A-F Accountability Success.”

The visit comes as the state releases its latest round of accountability ratings for Texas public schools and districts.

Woodland Acres Middle earns A, 92 overall

The 2026 TEA accountability report shows Woodland Acres Middle earned an overall score of 92, placing the campus in the A range.

The school received:

• Overall: 92 — A
• Student Achievement: 86 — B
• School Progress: 92 — A
• Academic Growth: 86 — B
• Relative Performance: 92 — A
• Closing the Gaps: 91 — A

The School Progress category accounted for 70% of the campus’ overall rating, while Closing the Gaps accounted for 30%.

Within School Progress, Woodland Acres received an A in Relative Performance, which measures a campus’ academic performance compared with schools serving similar percentages of economically disadvantaged students.

• Look up your Texas school’s A-F accountability grade, STAAR performance

The TEA report shows 87.3% of students at Woodland Acres Middle are economically disadvantaged.

Campus earns all seven distinction designations

View data: TEA

Woodland Acres Middle also received seven distinction designations from TEA.

The campus was recognized for:

• Academic Achievement in Reading/Language Arts
• Academic Achievement in Mathematics
• Academic Achievement in Science
• Academic Achievement in Social Studies
• Top 25%: Comparative Academic Growth
• Postsecondary Readiness
• Top 25%: Comparative Closing the Gaps

Distinction designations recognize campuses that perform at a high level compared with similar schools across the state.

The TEA report also shows Woodland Acres Middle was not identified for comprehensive support and improvement, targeted support and improvement or additional targeted support.

Why TEA is coming to Galena Park ISD

Morath is scheduled to join Galena Park ISD leaders at Woodland Acres Middle School Friday at 1:15 p.m. for an A-F presentation and news conference.

The Texas Education Agency specifically selected the district for recognition as the state rolls out its 2026 ratings.

The event provides an opportunity to look at what changed inside Woodland Acres Middle and across Galena Park ISD — and what strategies district leaders believe contributed to the improvement.

Among the questions KPRC 2 plans to ask are what changed in classroom instruction, which subjects saw the biggest gains and whether strategies used at Woodland Acres can be replicated at other schools.

Galena Park ISD earned a B last year

Galena Park ISD entered the 2026 accountability cycle after receiving a B with an overall score of 87 in 2025, according to the state’s public accountability records. (Txschools)

The district served more than 20,800 students across 21 schools during the 2024-25 school year. (Txschools)

The state’s 2026 accountability system evaluates districts and campuses using several measures, including Student Achievement, School Progress and Closing the Gaps. TEA’s 2026 accountability manual outlines how those measures are combined to determine final A-F ratings. (Texas Education Agency)

What the A-F grades mean for parents

Texas’ A-F accountability system is designed to show parents and communities how well schools are educating students and preparing them for the next grade level, college, a career or the military. (Texas Education Agency)

An A represents the highest performance level under the system, followed by B, C, D and F.

But the overall letter grade only tells part of the story.

The detailed reports allow parents to see whether a campus is improving academically, how students are performing on STAAR exams and whether achievement gaps among different groups of students are narrowing.

Woodland Acres Middle’s results stand out because the campus earned A ratings in both School Progress and Closing the Gaps, while also collecting distinctions across all four major subject areas.

KPRC 2 will be at Woodland Acres Middle School Friday as Commissioner Morath and Galena Park ISD leaders discuss the results and what they believe led to the campus’ success.

This story will be updated as additional 2026 Galena Park ISD district and campus accountability results become available.

The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members. Conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for reshaping education.

The Western civilization course planned for this fall will use a textbook published by Encounter Books, a conservative publishing house. Titled "The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom," it includes suggested lesson plans created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan.

Historians and educators who reviewed excerpts of the text told The Associated Press it depicts points throughout history in misleading ways, representing Western civilization and Christianity as one and the same and casting Islam as a threat to both.

“You’ve got to wonder a bit whether Western civilization is a Trojan horse for classical Christian education,” said Phil Gorski, a historical sociology professor at Yale University.

The course is part of a wider reshaping of the Defense Department's schools. They have begun hiring classical learning teachers, and the department has brought in new academic chiefs with ties to classical learning charter schools and to Republican-led efforts to promote more patriotic and civic education.

In a written statement, the Pentagon said it “remains committed to providing all of its military-connected students with the best possible education and opportunities.” It did not respond directly to a series of questions about the textbook and the broader push for classical learning.

Classical education broadly refers to a teaching style built on the liberal arts, with an emphasis on critical thinking and citizenship. Students are taught to imitate the rhetoric and style of great thinkers and writers. Critics have argued the movement focuses too heavily on foundational texts from Greek, Roman and other Western writers.

Conservatives see classical learning as an antidote to unflattering depictions of US history

Conservative politicians have embraced classical learning, especially as the Trump administration and Republican-led states have pushed schools to emphasize patriotism and put boundaries around how they teach unflattering parts of American history.

In his writing and public remarks since before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth has advocated for parents to embrace classical Christian education.

In his 2022 book “Battle for the American Mind,” Hegseth, a former Fox News host, describes a history of progressives working to remove God and religion from public and private schools.

Many classical Christian schools focus on reclaiming Western civilization from external threats. But across the broader field of classical education — including secular private schools — the field is increasingly split on this point, said Susan Wise Bauer, the author of a popular classical homeschooling program.

“Whenever you have a system of education where that is the impulse, ... 'This is us, and they are them over there,'” she said, “then the idea of a shared literary heritage becomes a weapon.”

Textbook casts Western civilization as under threat

In the Pentagon's system, high school students can take the new course, Western Civilization to 1500, to fulfill a world history graduation requirement, according to a news release. The course is offered through the department's virtual school.

In the textbook’s introduction, the authors write: “When citizens of Western countries are utterly ignorant of history, as most now are, they are left unarmed against the general hostility to their own tradition that has become so destructive a force in contemporary culture."

The book describes Islam as inherently more violent than Christianity.

In a section titled “Holy War and Martyrdom in Battle,” the book describes wars fought by Christians, such as the Crusades, as intended to defend and protect other Christians. Islam, in contrast, glorifies violence and war, the book says, invoking the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and 9/11.

Matthew Gabriele, a history and religion professor at Virginia Tech, said the book's description of the Crusades and the conflicts with the Islamic world strips out important details and context to depict Islam as an aggressive religious tradition and downplays the religious motivations and violence of the Christian church.

The book's publisher, Roger Kimball, said it was peer-reviewed by 15 experts. “As the proud publisher of this incomparable work, I stand behind it in every detail,” he said.

One of the book's co-authors, Harvard emeritus professor James Hankins, said the text does not attempt to characterize Christianity and Western civilization as one. Segments of the book acknowledge the West’s cultural debts to the Islamic world, said Hankins, who now teaches at the University of Florida's Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, a conservative-backed project to teach Western civilization.

The Trump administration aligned the military’s education system with its political vision

President Donald Trump's administration also has moved to align the military's education apparatus with its broader vision for American schools. Admissions offices at U.S. military academies now accept the Classical Learning Test, a college entrance exam that positions itself as a classical alternative to the SAT. And last year, the ACLU sued the defense school system over its decision to ban hundreds of books that covered topics like race, gender and democracy.

In March, the department abruptly changed the leadership of Department of Defense Education Activity schools, replacing Beth Schiavino-Narvaez with Paul Craft as director. In a news release at the time, Hegseth described Craft as the right leader to reorient the school system "toward patriotic values and classical learning.”

The Pentagon also replaced the education activity's chief academic officer, hiring Tiffany Hoben, who previously worked in the Florida Department of Education under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In Florida, she oversaw the rollout of a civics curriculum that was criticized for claiming America's founders did not intend for a full separation of church and state.

___

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.

The Department of Defense Education Activity operates about 160 schools across 11 countries and educates roughly 70,000 students who are children of active-duty military or civilian service members. Conservatives have eyed the schools — which, unlike most public schools, are run by the federal government — as a testing ground for reshaping education.

The Western civilization course planned for this fall will use a textbook published by Encounter Books, a conservative publishing house. Titled "The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Volume I: The Ancient World and Christendom," it includes suggested lesson plans created in partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan that has also developed influential materials for K-12 schools.

Historians and educators who reviewed excerpts of the text told The Associated Press it depicts points throughout history in misleading ways, representing Western civilization and Christianity as one and the same and casting Islam as a threat to both.

“You’ve got to wonder a bit whether Western civilization is a Trojan horse for classical Christian education,” said Phil Gorski, a historical sociology professor at Yale University.

The course is part of a wider reshaping of the Defense Department's schools. They have begun hiring classical learning teachers, and the department has brought in new academic chiefs with ties to classical learning charter schools and to Republican-led efforts to promote more patriotic education.

In a written statement, the Pentagon said it “remains committed to providing all of its military-connected students with the best possible education and opportunities.” It did not respond directly to a series of questions about the textbook and the broader push for classical learning.

Classical education broadly refers to a teaching style built on the liberal arts, with an emphasis on critical thinking and citizenship. Students are taught to imitate the rhetoric and style of great thinkers and writers. While some classical educators have pushed to incorporate diverse scholars, critics have argued the movement focuses too heavily on foundational texts from Greek, Roman and other Western writers and gives short shrift to achievements in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Conservatives see classical learning as an antidote to unflattering depictions of US history

Conservative politicians have embraced classical learning, especially as the Trump administration and Republican-led states have pushed schools to emphasize patriotism and put boundaries around how they teach unflattering parts of American history.

In his writing and public remarks since before becoming defense secretary, Hegseth has advocated for parents to embrace classical Christian education.

In his 2022 book “Battle for the American Mind,” Hegseth, a former Fox News host, describes a history of progressives working to remove God and religion from public and private schools. For parents, he writes, not sending their children to classical Christian schools would be to admit defeat.

“It is certainly not sustainable, merely passing the same losing hand to the next generation,” Hegseth writes. “With this approach, we lose. We lose America — and Western Civilization.”

Many classical Christian schools focus on reclaiming Western civilization from external threats. But across the broader field of classical education — including secular private schools — the field is increasingly split on this point, said Susan Wise Bauer, the author of a popular classical homeschooling program. She said there is a range of approaches on which texts are worth studying.

“Whenever you have a system of education where that is the impulse, ... 'This is us, and they are them over there,'” she said, “then the idea of a shared literary heritage becomes a weapon.”

Textbook casts Western civilization as under threat

In the Pentagon's system, high school students can take the new course, Western Civilization to 1500, to fulfill a world history graduation requirement, according to a news release. The course is offered through the department's virtual school.

In the textbook’s introduction, the authors write: “The dangers presented by the neglect of Western history are not trivial.”

“When citizens of Western countries are utterly ignorant of history, as most now are, they are left unarmed against the general hostility to their own tradition that has become so destructive a force in contemporary culture,” they write.

The idea that external forces will displace the dominant culture is a common right-wing political narrative, said Curtis Dozier, a professor of Greek and Roman studies at Vassar College.

"It’s this right-wing idea that when immigrants come to a country, they care more about their own traditions and history and seek to replace the tradition of the place,” he said.

The textbook's authors credit early Christianity with promoting the idea that all people must be treated humanely. It argues that “Christian faith also supported a humane cosmopolitanism."

The book describes Islam as inherently more violent than Christianity. In a chapter on the Middle Ages, the text describes Arabs as resentful or bitter toward Christians and Jews.

In a section titled “Holy War and Martyrdom in Battle,” the book describes wars fought by Christians, such as the Crusades, as intended to defend and protect other Christians. Islam, in contrast, glorifies violence and war, the book says, invoking the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and 9/11.

“In recent decades, Islam as a religion has, understandably, aroused acute hostility from a great many non-Muslims around the world thanks to the behavior of radical Muslim terrorists. Sometimes referred to as Islamists, their atrocities have been applauded by depressingly large numbers of ordinary Muslims,” the book says.

Matthew Gabriele, a history and religion professor at Virginia Tech, said the book's description of the Crusades and the conflicts with the Islamic world strips out important details and context to depict Islam as an aggressive religious tradition and downplays the religious motivations and violence of the Christian church.

“It’s trying to make a contemporary political point by continuously referencing things that happened in the 21st century,” Gabriele said. “The fact that (the book) does this very selectively and only when it suits a particular political project suggests to me that this is not a scholarly history in any kind of real sense.”

The book's publisher, Roger Kimball, said it was peer-reviewed by 15 experts. “As the proud publisher of this incomparable work, I stand behind it in every detail,” he said.

One of the book's co-authors, Harvard emeritus professor James Hankins, said the text does not attempt to characterize Christianity and Western civilization as one. Segments of the book acknowledge the West’s cultural debts to the Islamic world, said Hankins, who now teaches at the University of Florida's Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, a conservative-backed project to teach Western civilization.

An emphasis on the study of Western civilization was standard until the 1970s, Hankins said. He criticized the move away from teaching it, noting that other countries such as China study their own civilization.

“Abandoning it has been foolish in my view, and is one cause of the growing cultural disorientation of the last couple of generations,” he said in an email. “People no longer know where they come from or where they belong in the story of our civilization.”

The Trump administration aligned the military’s education system with its political vision

In speeches and interviews, Hegseth has drawn a line from the country's founding to Western civilization and early Christianity, a religion he describes as under attack by outside forces. He often argues the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and troops should embrace God.

At an event last September recognizing a civics education initiative, Hegseth emphasized the need to teach these values to children early on.

“That type of brilliance didn’t come out of thin air," he said of the Founding Fathers. “It was first inspired by God (and) inspired by an understanding of human history, an understanding of biblical history (and) an understanding of Western civilization philosophy and theology and civics poured into a generation of men and poured into an American experiment — it wasn’t an accident.”

President Donald Trump's administration also has moved to align the military's education apparatus with its broader vision for American schools. Admissions offices at U.S. military academies now accept the Classical Learning Test, a college entrance exam that positions itself as a classical alternative to the SAT. And last year, the ACLU sued the defense school system over its decision to ban hundreds of books that covered topics like race, gender and democracy.

In March, the department abruptly changed the leadership of Department of Defense Education Activity schools, replacing Beth Schiavino-Narvaez with Paul Craft as director. In a news release at the time, Hegseth described Craft as the right leader to reorient the school system "toward patriotic values and classical learning.”

The Pentagon also replaced the education activity's chief academic officer, hiring Tiffany Hoben, who previously worked in the Florida Department of Education under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. In Florida, she oversaw the rollout of a civics curriculum that was criticized for claiming America's founders did not intend for a full separation of church and state.

This summer, the department announced the hiring of Matthew Kirby as the system's Americas regional director. Kirby is the CEO of Liberty Classical Schools, an Atlanta-based network of charter schools.

In an all-hands meeting after his appointment, Craft described classical learning as a priority that came directly from Hegseth.

“He has tasked us with taking the best that we can from the lessons learned from classical learning in a private school setting to say, ‘How do we expose our kids to that in a public school setting like us?’” Craft said.

___

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.

The attacks caused no casualties but underlined the dangers faced by vessels moving cargo through the critical waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open oceans, as Iran keeps a firm grip on the passage.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

2 oil tankers hit by drones as they transited Strait of Hormuz

Two tankers owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil and gas company ADNOC were attacked Thursday evening while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the company said. It added that the attack caused no injuries and that “the situation has been brought under control.”

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said two vessels were reported to have suffered minor damage when attacked by drones while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It did not identify them as the ADNOC ships, but it appeared to be the same incident.

The UAE's Foreign Ministry blamed the attacks on Iran and said they were a “flagrant violation” of the United Nations' principles of freedom of navigation.

“Targeting commercial shipping and using the Strait of Hormuz as a tool of economic coercion or blackmail represents acts of piracy by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the Foreign Ministry said.

There was no immediate response from Iran.

Activists bring food and water to Palestinians under siege by Israeli settlers

Activists from Israel and other countries marched through the occupied West Bank, bringing food and water to Palestinians who have been under siege by Israeli settlers for days.

Three Palestinian families in the town of Qusra have been unable to leave their homes for nearly a week after settlers surrounded the area. Israeli troops intervened multiple times, but the settlers have kept returning.

The standoff in the northern West Bank town of Qusra is the latest in a wave of settler violence in the territory, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war and which would make up part of a future Palestinian state.

Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the army to prepare a plan to transfer power to the police to enforce civilian-related matters, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Yemen says it disrupted a Houthi attack as fighting continues

Yemen’s military said its forces thwarted Houthi attacks early Friday in southwestern Yemen amid ongoing fighting with the Iran-backed rebels.

Forces affiliated with Yemen’s internationally recognized government said in a statement that dozens of Houthis were killed and injured in fighting that disrupted plans to attack military reinforcements in Taiz province with drones, explosives and artillery.

The Associated Press was unable to independently verify that toll.

A fire broke out Friday at the port in Mokha, where Houthis launched missiles targeting the port’s infrastructure, according to a spokesman for Yemen’s joint military forces. The spokesman, Wadah al-Dubaish, could not immediately say if anyone was killed or wounded.

Recent Houthi attacks on government-held areas across Yemen have raised fears that the country’s civil war could reignite and open another front in the Middle East.

Kushner will head to Middle East for talks on Gaza

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner will travel to the Middle East next week to try to advance plans for an end to the conflict in Gaza after a deal recently announced by the Trump administration ran into Israeli opposition.

An official with the Board of Peace, the body Trump established to oversee the fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said Kushner, board high representative Nickolay Mladenov, and executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would arrive in Israel on Sunday.

The group will then travel to Cairo, where meetings of a Palestinian technocratic group set to assume control of Gaza under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal have been taking place for the past several months, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because planning for details of the trip has not yet been finalized.

The trip was reported earlier by Axios.

— Matthew Lee in Washington

If you happen to see KPRC 2’s newest reporter running through a Houston neighborhood, playing pickup basketball, checking out a new restaurant or asking strangers if they want to join a run club, don’t be surprised.

That’s just Taylor being Taylor.

The bubbly Ohio native is settling into Houston and already making herself at home. And while she’s here to tell your stories, she’s also excited to experience everything the Bayou City has to offer.

“I really like being active and meeting new people,” Taylor said.

That may be an understatement.

3 fun facts about Taylor

Taylor plays basketball, has run track and played soccer, and also competed in rowing. These days, she’s looking for a new run club, recreational basketball league or cycling group to join.

And yes, there’s a story behind the goggles and mouth guard she sometimes wears while playing basketball.

Taylor said she chipped a tooth after being hit in the mouth with a baseball when she was younger, so these days, she protects the entire face.

View this post on Instagram

“I protect my whole face,” she joked.

Sports aren’t her only creative outlet. Taylor also played the trombone growing up.

And then there’s cheese.

Taylor is a self-described cheese lover, particularly when it comes to soft cheeses like brie. Give her a charcuterie board and she’s happy.

She describes herself as a flexitarian, so her diet can go back and forth between meat and vegetarian options. She’s also already exploring Houston’s food scene.

So far, Tex-Mex has made quite an impression.

“We have been eating the yellow queso pretty much every single night,” Taylor said.

Houston, you may have found yourself a new queso enthusiast.

From Ohio to Houston

Taylor is originally from Granville, Ohio, about 35 minutes outside of Columbus. She attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and yes, she’s quick to point out that it’s Ohio University, not Ohio State.

She began her journalism career in Cleveland, working for Spectrum News 1 Ohio, the statewide network, before moving to Columbus.

She spent three years as a reporter and another three years as an anchor and reporter, giving her the opportunity to work in her home state and stay close to friends and family.

Eventually, she was ready for something new.

Enter Houston...

Taylor said the move represents a major step in her career and an opportunity to continue growing in a much larger market.

And then there was the weather.

“I was ready to get out of the cold,” she said.

Coming from Ohio, Houston’s warmth was definitely a selling point. And the city itself was just as appealing.

Taylor said she was drawn to Houston’s size, food scene, proximity to the beach and the seemingly endless number of things to do.

She’s already checked Texas barbecue off her list. She’s also tried Tex-Mex and says she’s impressed by the flavor she’s found at Houston restaurants.

Now, she’s looking for recommendations, so leave any food recommendations below!

She loves Italian food, quesadillas and vegetarian sushi. Although she doesn’t eat seafood, Taylor is open to trying just about anything.

She’s ready to tell your stories

While Taylor is excited about exploring Houston outside of work, she’s equally excited about the stories she’ll tell on the job.

She’s especially drawn to stories that can help people live better lives.

That includes accountability journalism, finding solutions to problems and giving a voice to people whose stories may not always be heard.

“I really like stories that provide people different perspectives,” she said.

Taylor said she wants to connect people through their “common humanity” by sharing their experiences, struggles and triumphs.

That could mean a wide range of stories, including those involving communities that are often misunderstood or overlooked.

And she wants viewers to know that when they see her on their television screens, she genuinely cares about the people behind the stories.

“I want people to be willing to share their stories, tell me things, I want to find solutions to their problems, and just know that I do really care,” she said.

So, what’s next on Taylor’s Houston bucket list?

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is definitely on it.

Taylor has already bought the cowgirl boots and hat. She just needs a few more pieces to complete the look.

She’s also looking forward to checking out Houston’s professional sports scene, including the NBA, along with baseball, soccer and concerts.

And outside of work, she loves creating fun social media videos, the kind where she can simply be herself and hopefully make someone smile.

View this post on Instagram

That may actually be one of the biggest things Taylor wants to bring to Houston.

Joy.

“I really want people to enjoy their lives, live happy, like, not take themselves so seriously, smile more,” she said. “So I hope that I bring them some of that light and joy to their life when they see me on their TV screens.”

Oh, and there’s one more thing Houston should know...

Taylor loves to travel internationally and has visited more than six countries, so don’t be surprised if her curiosity extends well beyond the Houston city limits.

But for now, Houston is her newest adventure.

Please welcome Taylor to our city and list of any recommendations from food to activities she can join below!

Even as the army took positions around him and the homes of two other families that settlers had blockaded for most of this week, the settlers remained close enough that Abu Rida feared they would again return after the army left and try to take over the home owned by his Palestinian American brother in Ohio.

“I just don’t know when this will end,” he said.

The standoff in Qusra entered a new stage Friday as activists marched toward the besieged homes to try and replenish the families' food and water supply. But Abu Rida said he was growing tired of the pattern, with Israeli forces removing the settlers, only for them to return and reestablish their positions after the troops withdrew.

“It’s like a kids’ game, like cat and mouse,” Ziv Stahl, the executive director of the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, said. “It’s clearly not a matter of capability but a matter of will.”

The siege of the homes is the latest episode in a wave of settler violence convulsing the occupied West Bank, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war and which would make up the main part of a future Palestinian state. Israel's military said the village — roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Palestinian city of Nablus — was a closed military zone.

They did not answer questions about the presence of the settlers. Both Israel’s military and Israel’s police both referred questions arrests in Qusra to the other.

The West Bank has become more dangerous for Palestinians as Israel, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has approved more than 100 new settlements. Extremist settlers routinely enter Palestinian towns, clashing with villagers, burning homes, mosques and cars.

Netanyahu is courting blocs of ultranationalist voters ahead of what’s expected to be a difficult reelection campaign in October. He and members of his cabinet have largely dismissed concerns about settler violence as overblown and attributed it to fringe groups of a few hundred youths. Yet rights groups and Palestinians say the government's policies have made it more difficult to restrain settlers, who are rarely punished for attacks.

Qusra siege reflects broader violence

The standoff in Qusra began on Sunday when dozens of settlers arrived and blocked the doors to the three houses, preventing occupants from leaving, according to the families inside.

Israeli troops intervened multiple times and arrived in large numbers Thursday.

Abu Rida and his teenage son were temporarily moved by the army on Thursday but allowed to return hours later. He told his brother in Ohio that he planned on staying to defend the home.

For many, the scene unfolding in Qusra — now in its sixth day — reflected broader failures by Israeli authorities to curb the violence in the West Bank.

Itamar Weil, an Israeli human rights activist from the group Bnei Avraham, said the army had threatened to use tear gas against the activists and forced them to leave, even as settlers remained in the valley below Qusra.

“The army used to prevent settlers from carrying out this kind of violence,” he said. “Now, with a government that fully supports them, they’re not doing their job. They should be protecting both sides from violence, but instead they’re removing activists while barely doing anything about the settlers.”

Palestinian officials have reported 1,476 attacks by Israeli settlers in 2026, including several earlier instances in which settlers staged takeovers of Palestinian homes on the outskirts of other West Bank towns.

A total of 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank this year, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry. Israel says some were involved in terrorism, which it defines broadly to include militancy and rock-throwing. Three Israelis were killed by Palestinians, including two in a July clash during which four Palestinians were also killed.

Katz strips army of enforcement power against settlers

Before calm was restored in Qusra, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that he would transfer all enforcement powers against Israeli civilians in the West Bank from the army to Israel’s police.

“The (Israeli military’s) role is to fight Palestinian terrorism, focus on protecting the borders and settlements against threats, deal with the borders and the territory itself and security threats to the settlements and the State of Israel, and not chase after boys on the hills,” Katz said in a statement.

Historically, the army has been able to arrest Palestinians and bring those accused of crimes before military courts. But when it comes to Israeli civilians, in most circumstances it can only use temporary detention for those suspected of crimes, leaving arrests, investigations and prosecutions to police and civilian courts.

Katz’s move comes after he ended the use of administrative detention against Israeli civilians in November 2024. The military had used the policy as a tool to contain settler violence, allowing it to detain suspects without charge and remove them from the West Bank.

Much like with that move, rights groups said transferring all powers to the police was unlikely to restore order or ensure Palestinian safety.

Some 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West Bank alongside more than 560,000 Israeli civilians who live in settlements that the international community largely considers illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Though the Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy and policing power in the territory’s largest cities, agreements that date back to the 1990s give Israel security control over large swaths of the territory, including agricultural areas and communities such as Qusra.

Stahl, Yesh Din's executive director, said Katz's announcement wouldn't change or help stem the violence because police will still require army escorts to operate in Palestinian areas.

“Unless (Katz) means he’s going to apply Israeli law and have the police control the West Bank, the military is still the main body in charge,” she said.

Thompson, 50, was shot outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City.

Here is a timeline of key events:

2024

Nov. 24: A man prosecutors say is Mangione arrives in New York City on a Greyhound bus. He takes a taxi to the area of the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson is later shot, then goes to a hostel where he stays until the morning of the shooting. While checking in, prosecutors say, the man presents a fake New Jersey driver’s license bearing the name Mark Rosario.

Dec. 2: Thompson arrives in New York. He is staying at a hotel across the street from the Hilton.

Dec. 4: Thompson is shot and killed. The shooter, later identified by prosecutors as Mangione, waits in the area for about an hour before ambushing Thompson. He then flees through Central Park to upper Manhattan before taking the subway to Penn Station and boarding an Amtrak train to Philadelphia, police say. The shooting is captured on surveillance video.

Dec. 5: In the days after the shooting, police release various images of the suspected shooter, including one showing his face as he checked into the hostel.

Dec. 6: Police find a backpack in Central Park that they say the shooter discarded as he fled. It contains Monopoly money and a black Tommy Hilfiger jacket.

Dec. 9: Altoona police are dispatched to a McDonald’s for a report of a man matching the description of the suspect in Thompson's killing. The man provides a fake ID and name, Mark Rosario, before identifying himself as Luigi Mangione. He is arrested. In his backpack, police find a 3D-printed pistol prosecutors say matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook that describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive.

Dec. 11: Mangione shouts about an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” and writhes in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as they lead him into an Altoona courthouse.

Dec. 19: Mangione is extradited from Pennsylvania and flown to New York. He is led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers in a highly choreographed perp walk in front of news cameras. The mayor at the time, Eric Adams, and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch look on. Mangione is taken to federal court, where he is charged with stalking and murder.

Dec. 23: Mangione is arraigned on state murder and terror charges. He pleads not guilty while his lawyer complains that the dueling federal and state prosecutions had turned him into a “human ping-pong ball.”

2025

April 1: Then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says she has directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Mangione, calling Thompson's killing “a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America” and “an act of political violence.”

April 25: Mangione pleads not guilty to a federal murder charge as prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty against him.

Sept. 16: The judge in the state case, Gregory Carro, throws out Mangione's terrorism charges rejecting the prosecution’s theory that the killing was “intended to evoke terror.” The ruling eliminated the top two charges in Mangione’s state case, sparing him the possibility of a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. Carro keeps other charges in place, including second-degree murder.

Dec. 1: A three-week evidentiary hearing kicks off in Mangione’s state case. Prosecutors call 17 witnesses, many of them police officers and other personnel involved in his arrest, and play body-camera footage of officers arresting Mangione and a 911 call from the McDonald's manager about a man resembling “the CEO shooter.” They also reveal notes about a “survival kit” and “intel checkin” and possible escape plans that they say Mangione had with him.

2026

Jan. 30: U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett bars federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Mangione, dismissing a federal murder charge that enabled them to seek capital punishment. Garnett also rules that prosecutors can use evidence collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest.

Feb. 6: Mangione speaks out in court against the prospect of back-to-back trials, telling Carro: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

May 18: Carro rules that prosecutors in the state case can use the gun, notebook and other items that police found in Mangione’s backpack after his arrest. However, the judge bars items that officers took from the bag before Mangione was taken into custody, including a loaded gun magazine, cellphone, passport and wallet.

June 17: Carro discloses that Mangione plans to assert a psychiatric defense at his state murder trial, claiming he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance when he killed Thompson. The next day, Mangione's lawyers reverse course and tell Carro he wouldn't be pursuing a psychiatric defense.

Aug. 14: Mangione pleads guilty in the federal case.

Friday, August 14

• Enter to win a getaway for two from The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau
• Visit Fredericksburg
• Fischer & Wieser
• Das Peach Haus
• Dietz Distillery
• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
• National Museum of the Pacific War
• Fredericksburg Food & Wine Festival
• Dot’s Bakery
• K Estate Winery & Vineyards

Thursday, August 13

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• Disco, roller skates and 1980s fun: The Garden Theatre brings the musical world of ‘Xanadu’ to the stage
• • The Garden Theatre’s “Xanadu”
• Melanie Lynskey chats new Netflix film ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’
• • Netflix’s Don’t Say Good Luck
• Houston Dynamo FC celebrates 20 years of its 2006 MLS Cup Championship
• • Houston Dynamo FC
• Next Level Urgent Care

Wednesday, August 12

• Get ready for mystery: ‘The Girl on the Train’ now on stage at Alley Theatre
• • Alley Theatre’s “The Girl on the Train” tickets
• Water heater warning signs Houston homeowners shouldn’t ignore
• • Mission AC & Plumbing
• Humble’s Cris Sosa advances to AGT live shows after hilarious cereal comedy set
• • Comedian Cris Sosa
  • NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”
• Kenny and Ziggy’s owner Ziggy Gruber whips up traditional Jewish kugel for National Deli Month
• • Kenny & Ziggy’s

Tuesday, August 11

• Houston Theater Week is almost here! Here’s how to snag BOGO tickets to 400+ shows
• • Houston Theater Week Presented by Huntington Bank
• Back-to-School Anxiety: What Parents Need to Know
• • Houston Christian University
• How the DiIorio family is celebrating 70 years of family, farming and community
• • DiIorio Farms
• Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly talk love, loyalty and drama of ‘Ransom Canyon’ Season 2
• • Ransom Canyon on Netflix

Monday, August 10

• Clear the Shelters is back: Houston pets are ready for homes
• Eclipse cruises take off: The Travel Mom on why astro‑tourism is booming with Princess Cruises
• • The Travel Mom
  • Princess Cruises
• Bear Grylls takes the cast of ‘The Chosen’ Into the Wild in new Prime Video series
• • Prime Video’s “The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls”
• Next Level Urgent Care
• These women athletes from Afghanistan escaped Taliban rule. Now the players of Houston Shine FC find joy in soccer again
• • Houston Shine FC

Friday, August 7

• Houston’s Pink Phurree dragon boat team heads to France to celebrate breast cancer survivorship
• • Pink Phurree Dragon Boat Team
• Now playing: Queensbury Theatre’s brand new production of Mean Girls The Musical
• • Queensbury Theatre’s ‘Mean Girls The Musical’
• 12-year-old Houston golfer Alaina Villarreal makes her debut on Stephen Curry’s UNDERRATED Golf Tour
• • UNDERRATED Golf Tour
  • Alaina Villareal
• Protein-packed rice for easy weeknight meals with SunRice Protein+
• • SunRice

Thursday, August 6

• Kenny and Ziggy’s owner Ziggy Gruber whips up traditional Jewish kugel for National Deli Month
• • Kenny & Ziggy’s
• Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey brings ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ to Houston
• • Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Presents The Greatest Show On Earth
• Houston City College Is Where Art Meets Innovation
• • Houston City College
• Find Calm at the Coast: Travel Mom Emily Kaufman Celebrates ‘Spa Weekend’ at Terranea Resort
• • The Travel Mom
  • Travel Guard’s Spa Weekend Getaway Sweepstakes

Wednesday, August 5

• It’s National Sandwich Month: Husband-wife duo behind Yuma brings Brazilian flavor to a Cuban classic
• • Yuma
• WWE Superstar Trick Williams previews Survivor Series: WarGames coming to Houston
• • WWE Survivor Series: Wargames
• Ready to dance? Houston Rockets Clutch City Dancers to hold open auditions
• • Clutch City Dancers open Auditions
• Next Level Urgent Care

Tuesday, August 4

• Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly talk love, loyalty and drama of ‘Ransom Canyon’ Season 2
• • Ransom Canyon on Netflix
• Houston’s own Cris Sosa competes on NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ Season 21
• • Comedian Cris Sosa
  • NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”
• Gexa Energy marks 25 Years by volunteering with Meals on Wheels, The Beacon and Houston Habitat for Humanity ReStore
• • Gexa Energy
• Brassica Shares the vegan secret behind its signature chocolate chip cookie
• • Brassica
• Master P Brings Hip-Hop History to Houston With Cash Money and No Limit Reunion Tour
• • Cash Money & No Limit Tour

Monday, August 3

• Houston students and teachers share their work beyond the classroom in new exhibition “The Sequence Is Yours”
• • Contemporary Arts Museum Houston‘s ‘The Sequence Is Yours’ Exhibition
• Sip, savor and celebrate Labor Day Weekend at the Galveston Island Wine Festival
• • Celebrity Chef Brian Duffy serves up a preview of the Galveston Island Wine Festival
  • Moody Gardens Galveston Island Wine Festival
• Modern dental implants give Houston patients natural, comfortable smiles
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, July 31

• HL Rhythm Energy Question of the Week
• ‘Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live: Glow-N-Fire’ brings high-octane family fun to Houston
• • Hot Wheels Monster Truck Live Glow-N-Fire at Toyota Center
• There’s a story behind every building: Take a tour of Downtown Houston with Preservation Houston
• • Preservation Houston

Thursday, July 30

• Meet the twin sisters who turned their cheesecake passion into a successful business
• • KK Cheesecakes
• How HCU’s high-tech simulation lab is preparing nursing students for in-demand jobs
• • Houston Christian University Linda R. Dunham School of Nursing
• Gexa Energy marks 25 Years by volunteering with Meals on Wheels and The Beacon
• • Gexa Energy
• Garbage Girlfriend

Wednesday, July 29

• Houston Shakespeare Festival is back at Miller Outdoor Theatre with a reimagined lead in “The Tempest”
• • Houston Shakespeare Festival
• In the CLASSROOM with Kroger: How they’re helping parents and kids start the school year happy, healthy, and prepared
• • KPRC 2 INSIDERS: Enter for your chance to win a $250 Kroger gift card!
  • Kroger
• Happy National Lipstick Day! Here’s the lowdown on choosing a matte, glossy, or satin pigment 💄
• • Makeup Artist Darcie Teasley
• Tony Danza is coming to Houston this week, here is where to see him
• • Doc’s Houston Presents Tony Danza - “Standards and Stories”

Monday, July 27

• Back-to-school safety: What kids should know and what parents should watch for in case of a school emergency
• • CPR and Safety Lady Gail Gould
  • Back to School Safety Webinar with CPR and Safety Lady Gail Gould
• Anaheim: The Urban Basecamp You Didn’t Know You Needed In Southern California
• • Gabe Saglie The Travel Guy
• Houston students turn thousands of plastic bags into an award-winning business
• • Plastic Free July
  • Next Use
• Allied Outdoor Solutions

Friday, July 24

• Houston celebrates Art House Theater Day with a “Car Wash” screening and preshow party
• • Houston Art House Theater Day
• The best tacos in Texas arrive in Houston this weekend + Texas Monthly Taco Editor‘s spicy gig getting paid to eat tacos
• • 2026 Texas Monthly Taco Fest South
  • Huncho’s Tacos
• BISSELL Pet Foundation Empty the Shelters
• Rosenberg Animal Control and Shelter

Thursday, July 23

• Meet the Houston Rig Hands: The city’s pro 3-on-3 basketball team 🏀🏀
• • Follow Houston Rig Hands on Instagram
  • BIG3 Playing at Toyota Center Tickets
• Houston City College’s Coleman Campus: Training the next generation of health care workers
• • Houston City College
• Vic Mignogna on Anime Matsuri, Star Trek & life with Dominique Sachse
• • Follow Vic Mignogna on Instagram
  • Anime Matsuri

Wednesday, July 22

• 16th annual Mayor’s Back 2 School & Health Fair brings free supplies, screenings to Houston families
• • Mayor’s Back to School & Health Fair
• Tips for Planning the Perfect Summer Getaway
• • Travel Expert, Jeanenne Tornatore | The Outside Insider
  • Marriott Bonvoy
  • Official Guide to Breckenridge
• Celebrate National Tequila Day at Zanti Cucina Italiana in River Oaks
• • Zanti Cucina Italiana
• Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman heading to Houston for blues experience
• • Performing Arts Houston Presents “Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience”

Tuesday, July 21

• How CenterPoint Energy says they’re building a stronger, more resilient electric grid
• • CenterPoint Energy Action Center
• NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”
• Ox St. Kitchen
• Ivan Chavez Chavos BBQ
• The world’s fragrance community comes together at FRAGCON in Houston
• • Global Fragrance Convention

Monday, July 20

• Houston’s Girl Gone Grilling shares her buffalo chicken stuffed garlic bread
• • Katherine Salom “Girl Gone Grilling”
• Powerhouse performer Christina Wells, now in a wheelchair, is still lighting up Houston stages
• • Christina Wells
• When a smile needs more than veneers: one Houston patient’s transformation
• • Texas Dental Implant Center

Friday, July 17

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

Thursday, July 16

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

Wednesday, July 15

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

Tuesday, July 14

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

Monday, July 13

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

Friday, July 10

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

Thursday, July 9

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

Wednesday, July 8

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

Tuesday, July 7

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

Monday, July 6

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

Thursday, July 2

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

Wednesday, July 1

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

Tuesday, June 30

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

Monday, June 29

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

Friday, June 26

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

Thursday, June 25

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

Wednesday, June 24

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

Tuesday, June 23

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

Monday, June 22

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

Thursday, June 18

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

Wednesday, June 17

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

Tuesday, June 16

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

Monday, June 15

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

Friday, June 12

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

Thursday, June 11

• FIFA Fan Festival™ Houston

Wednesday, June 10

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

Tuesday, June 9

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

Monday, June 8

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

Friday, June 5

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

Thursday, June 4

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

Wednesday, June 3

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

Tuesday, June 2

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

Monday, June 1

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

Friday, May 29

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

Thursday, May 28

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

Wednesday, May 27

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

Tuesday, May 26

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

Friday, May 22

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

Thursday, May 21

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

Wednesday, May 20

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

Tuesday, May 19

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

Monday, May 18

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

Friday, May 15

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

Thursday, May 14

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

Wednesday, May 13

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

Tuesday, May 12

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

Monday, May 11

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

Friday, May 8

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

Thursday, May 7

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

Wednesday, May 6

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

Tuesday, May 5

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

Monday, May 4

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

Friday, May 1

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

Thursday, April 30

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

Wednesday, April 29

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

Tuesday, April 28

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

Monday, April 27

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

Friday, April 24

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

Thursday, April 23

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

Wednesday, April 22

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

Tuesday, April 21

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

Monday, April 20

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

Friday, April 17

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

Thursday, April 16

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

Wednesday, April 15

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

Tuesday, April 14

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

Monday, April 13

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

Friday, April 10

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

Thursday, April 9

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

Wednesday, April 8

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

Tuesday, April 7

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

Monday, April 6

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

Friday, April 3

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

Thursday, April 2

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

Wednesday, April 1

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

Tuesday, March 31

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

Monday, March 30

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

Friday, March 27

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

Wednesday, March 25

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

Tuesday, March 24

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

Monday, March 23

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

Thursday, March 19

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

Wednesday, March 18

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

Tuesday, March 17

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

Monday, March 16

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

Friday, March 13

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

Thursday, March 12

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

Tuesday, March 10

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

Monday, March 9

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

Friday, March 6

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

Thursday, March 5

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

Wednesday, March 4

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

Tuesday, March 3

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

Monday, March 2

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

Friday, February 27

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

Thursday, February 26

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

Wednesday, February 25

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

Tuesday, February 24

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

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

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

February 6 - 20

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

Thursday, February 5

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

Wednesday, February 4

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

Tuesday, February 3

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

Monday, February 2

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

Friday, January 30

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

Thursday, January 29

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

Wednesday, January 28

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

Tuesday, January 27

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

Monday, January 26

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

Friday, January 23

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

Thursday, January 22

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

Wednesday, January 21

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

Friday, January 16

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

Thursday, January 15

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

Wednesday, January 14

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

Tuesday, January 13

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

Monday, January 12

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

Friday, January 9

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

Thursday, January 8

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

Wednesday, January 7

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

Tuesday, January 6

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

Monday, January 5

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

Friday, January 2

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

Thursday, January 1

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

SEEN ON HL 2025 ARCHIVE

SEEN ON HL 2024 ARCHIVE

SEEN ON HL 2023 ARCHIVE

You can enter the Getaway for two in Fredericksburg sweepstakes daily through August 31, 2026. A winner will be drawn on September 1, 2026.

The winner will receive:

• Two-Night Stay for 2 in Fredericksburg, Texas
• Wine Tasting Experience for 2 in Fredericksburg, Texas
• 2 Passes to Enchanted Rock Natural State Park

ENTER HERE

OFFICIAL SWEEPSTAKES RULES

ABOUT THE FREDERICKSBURG CONVENTION AND VISITOR BUREAU

The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau (FCVB) and Visitor Information Center proudly serve visitors, locals and tourism industry partners by promoting Fredericksburg and Gillespie County as a premier Texas travel destination on the regional, national and international stage. Tourism plays a vital role in sustaining our local community’s economy and enhancing quality of life.

Funded by Hotel Occupancy Tax and representing the full spectrum of Gillespie County’s tourism and hospitality industry, including restaurants, lodging, attractions, retail, wineries and more, the Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau (FCVB) works hand in hand with local hospitality partners through strategic marketing, group travel sales, visitor services and data-driven insights to help position Gillespie County as one of Texas’ most beloved destinations.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

General. By submitting an entry to The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau: Getaway for 2 Sweepstakes (“Sweepstakes”), brought to you by KPRC 2 (“Sponsor”) and The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau (the “Co-Sponsor”), entrant acknowledges and agrees that entrant has read, understands, and agrees to be bound by these official Sweepstakes rules (“Official Rules”). By entering the Sweepstakes, entrants agree to waive any right to claim any ambiguity or error in these Official Rules, or the Sweepstakes itself, and agree to be bound by all decisions of the Sponsor, whose decisions are binding and final in all matters related to the Sweepstakes. Failure to comply with these Official Rules or any Sponsor instructions relating to the Sweepstakes’ Official Rules may result in disqualification from the Sweepstakes.

Eligibility. The Sweepstakes is open only to legal U.S. residents who are a minimum of 18 years of age or older at time of entry and reside in Sponsor’s Designated Market Area, as defined by Nielsen Media Research, Inc. (“DMA”). To enter, you must be a member of KPRC 2 Insider, which is free to join at www.click2houston.com/insider. You will then find a link to enter on your KPRC 2 Insider profile dashboard page when you sign in at www.click2houston.com/insider. Employees of Sponsor and Co-Sponsor and each of their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising agencies, promotion agencies, prize suppliers, and any other vendors providing services in connection with this Sweepstakes and members of these employees’ immediate families (spouses, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings and their spouses) and those living in the same household with these employees, are not eligible to enter or win.

How To Enter. The Sweepstakes begins on August 14, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. CDT and runs through August 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. CDT (the “Sweepstakes Period”). Sponsor’s time clock will be the official time clock of the Sweepstakes. To enter, you must completely and accurately fill out the Sweepstakes entry form provided on the Sponsor’s Sweepstakes page at Click2Houston.com/contests (“Entry Form”). Entrants must be the natural person assigned to any submitted email account by the provider responsible for the assigning email addresses for the domain associated with such email account. Entrant must also be an authorized account holder for any submitted telephone number. Limit “one” entry daily per person and per email address and per telephone number during the Sweepstakes Period. Any attempt by any entrant to obtain more than the stated number of entries using multiple/different email addresses, identities, registrations and logins, or any other methods will void such entries and that entrant may be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. Entries generated by a script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. The use of automated or third-party software or web site to enter and/or play is prohibited. Entries that are inaccurate, incomplete, illegible, or corrupted are void and will be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. If Entry Form permits or requires submission of user-generated content (“UGC”), by entering into the Sweepstakes, entrant represents and warrants as follows: (1) that they created and fully own or have properly licensed all UGC materials or information, can submit such UGC without violating any applicable law, agreement with any third-party, and/or third-party right of any kind (including without limitation any intellectual property, data protection, privacy, or publicity right); and (2) that all UGC entries hereunder will be true and correct in all respects. UGC may not contain personally identifiable information or other similar sensitive/confidential information of any third-party, or content that is offensive, inappropriate, or inconsistent with the Sponsor/Co-Sponsor’s image or the spirit or purpose of the Sweepstakes. By submitting UGC, entrant represents and warrants that all UGC content complies with the User Conduct section of the Sponsor station websites Terms of Use available at https://www.click2houston.com/station/2019/11/19/terms-of-use/. UGC may not have been previously published or otherwise made public elsewhere. Furthermore, without limitation on anything set forth herein to the contrary, Sponsor will have the irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable right and license (but not the obligation) to exploit all such UGC in any manner it so elects to promote the Sweepstakes, its business, brand, products, and/or services, throughout the world in perpetuity, and in all media, now or hereafter known. All received entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned except as disclosed in these Official Rules. By checking the relevant box or selection in the registration form, entrants agree that the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor may contact the entrant via email with advertising information for selected goods or services. If you do not wish to receive these materials, do not check the relevant box in the Entry Form. If at any time you do not wish to receive these materials in the future, please use the unsubscribe procedures contained in the email message.

Selection of Winners. One (1) potential winner will be selected by KPRC 2 via random drawing on September 1, 2026, from among all eligible entries received during the Sweepstakes Period.

Odds. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries.

Winner Notification and Verification. Potential winner(s) will be announced in the sweepstakes article, subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. In addition, Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner(s) via the telephone number or email address provided on the Entry Form (“Notification”). Potential Sweepstakes winner(s) must completely and accurately execute and return any required affidavit of eligibility, release of liability, publicity release and/or prize acceptance form (“Forms”) within 3 business days of Notification. Potential winners may be required to display a copy of a valid government photo ID in addition to the submission of any Forms. A potential winner may be disqualified and, time permitting, an alternate winner may be selected by random drawing from among all remaining entries if: (1) a potential winner cannot be contacted/does not respond to Sponsors’ first Notification attempt as directed; (2) a winner does not fulfill the eligibility requirements; (3) a winner does not adhere to the Official Rules; (4) a winner does not sign and return the Forms or provide required ID by the deadline set forth above; and/or (5) if the Notification is returned as undeliverable, refused, or declined. A POTENTIAL PRIZE WINNER IS NOT A WINNER UNTIL HIS OR HER ELIGIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES HAS BEEN VERIFIED BY THE SPONSOR. Sponsor reserves the right to contact all Sweepstakes entrants using the contact information provided in the Entry Form in connection with the Sweepstakes entry. The official record(s) of entries will remain the property of Sponsor. If a printing, programming, or other error leads to more prize claims than there are prizes provided for in the Official Rules, prize(s) will be awarded in a random drawing from among all eligible prize claims received at each prize tier.

Prize(s). The winner will receive a two-night stay for 2 in Fredericksburg, Texas, a wine tasting experience for 2 and 2 passes to Enchanted Rock Natural State Park (ARV: $750)

The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau will assist the winner with making all arrangements for your getaway! From hotel reservations to securing your winery experience, they’ll help you plan every detail (and even include a few extra insider tips to make sure you have an unforgettable experience).

Unless otherwise stated, subject to winner verification and compliance with these Official Rules, the prize will be electronically transferred to the winner after the winner completes and signs an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release at KPRC 2 (address provided below).

Sponsor and Co-Sponsor not responsible for loss, delay, or damage in shipping. There will be no substitution, transfer, or cash equivalent for prizes, except at the sole discretion of Sponsor, which may substitute prizes of comparable value. Limit one prize per person and per household. Payments of all federal, state, and local taxes related to the award of the prize are solely the responsibility of the winner. Prizes may not be sold, bartered, or auctioned. Prize is awarded “as is” with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied. All properly claimed prizes will be awarded provided a sufficient number of eligible entries are received, but in no event will Sponsor award more prizes than are provided for in the Official Rules. Unclaimed prizes will not be awarded. For tax purposes, the winner of a prize (or prizes) with an ARV of at least $600 within one calendar year, will be required to accurately complete and submit IRS Form W-9 to the Sponsor, and Sponsor will arrange to issue an IRS Form 1099 MISC to winner reflecting the value of the prize(s).

Disclaimer and Representations. Each winner assumes all liability for any injuries or damages caused or claimed to be caused by winner’s participation in the Sweepstakes and/or the acceptance and/or use of any prize and releases the Sponsor and Co-Sponsor and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates, and all of their officers, directors, agents, and employees (collectively, “Releasees”), from any such liability. Releasees are not responsible for: the failure of any entry to be received by the Sponsor because of electronic device errors or failures of any kind, internet disruption, telecommunications, network, electronic, telephone or mobile service outages, delays, busy signals, or any equipment malfunctions or other technical difficulties that may prevent the Sponsor from receiving any entry submission; entries that are illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, stolen, misdirected, garbled, delayed by computer transmissions, lost, late or damaged; any injury or damage to the entrant’s or any other person’s electronic device related to or resulting from participation or accessing or downloading any materials related to the Sweepstakes; or any human errors, any inaccurate transcription of entry information, errors in any promotional or marketing materials or errors in these Official Rules. If you choose to enter using your mobile phone, standard message and data rates may apply.

Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any individual from participation in the Sweepstakes if Sponsor concludes, in its sole discretion, that such person: (a) has attempted to tamper with the entry process or other operation of the Sweepstakes; (b) has failed to comply with or has attempted to circumvent these Official Rules; (c) has committed fraud or attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the Sweepstakes; or (d) has acted toward Sponsor, any other entity affiliated with the Sweepstakes, or any other entrant in an unfair, inequitable, threatening, disrupting, or harassing manner. If a dispute arises regarding compliance with these Official Rules, Sponsor may consider, in its sole discretion, data reasonably available to Sponsor through information technology systems in Sponsor’s control, but Sponsor will not be obligated to consider any data or other information collected from any other source. Any failure by Sponsor to enforce any of these Official Rules will not constitute a waiver of such Official Rules. If there is a conflict between any term of these Official Rules and any marketing or entry materials used in connection with the Sweepstakes, the terms of these Official Rules will govern.

Sponsor also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify these Official Rules for clarification purposes without materially affecting the terms and conditions of the Sweepstakes. Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the Sweepstakes if an insufficient number of entries are received or if the Sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned, including, without limitation, as a result of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, or technical failures of any sort, or for any reason beyond Sponsor’s control. If due to circumstances beyond the control of the Sponsor, any event related to the Sweepstakes or prize is delayed, rescheduled, postponed, cancelled or has a change of venue, the Sponsor reserves the right, but is not obligated, to cancel or modify the Sweepstakes. Notice of cancellation or modification of the Sweepstakes will be published on Sponsor’s website. If cancellation occurs prior to Sponsor’s receipt of any entries, Sponsor will not be obligated to award prize(s). If cancellation occurs after Sponsor’s receipt of entries, winner(s) will be selected by random drawing from among all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to cancellation, provided Sponsor is able to do so.

Entry constitutes permission (except where prohibited by law) to use winner’s name, home city and state, likeness and/or voice for commercial purposes including advertising, promotion and publicity without additional compensation. The winner’s name and city of residence may be posted online and disclosed to those who make a timely request for a winners list.

By accessing these Official Rules or entering the Sweepstakes on Click2Houston.com, you are deemed to agree to be bound by Click2Houston.com’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

In Case of Dispute. EXCEPT WHERE PROHIBITED, ENTRANTS AGREE THAT ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR CONNECTED WITH THIS PROMOTION, OR PRIZE AWARDED, WILL BE RESOLVED INDIVIDUALLY WITHOUT RESORT TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION, AND ALL CLAIMS, JUDGMENTS, AND AWARDS WILL BE LIMITED TO ACTUAL OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS INCURRED BY ENTRANT WITH REGARD TO THIS PROMOTION, BUT IN NO EVENT SHALL DAMAGES INCLUDE ATTORNEYS’ FEES, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation, and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrants and Sponsor(s) in connection with the Sweepstakes will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of state where the Sponsor is located as set forth below (“State”), without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules or provisions that would cause the application of the laws of any other jurisdiction. The state and federal courts located in the State will be the exclusive forum for any dispute relating to these Official Rules and/or this Sweepstakes. All entrants and winner(s) agree, by their participation in the Sweepstakes, to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in the State and waive the right to sweepstakes jurisdiction.

Severability: If any provision(s) of these Official Rules are held to be invalid or unenforceable, all remaining provisions hereof will remain in full force and effect.

Winner List. For the name(s) of the winner(s), send request and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Sponsor at 8181 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77074. Attn: KPRC 2 Insider, or request it online at insider@kprc.com. Be sure to specify the name of the sweepstakes for which you are requesting the list of winner(s). Request must be postmarked after Sweepstakes Period and received by Sponsor no later than 60 days after the close of the Sweepstakes Period.

Sponsor/Administrator: KPRC, 8181 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77074

Co-Sponsor: The Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau

Shippers including FedEx and UPS that acted as customs brokers for imported packages and received tariff refunds from the U.S. government have started to pass on those refunds to the customers that originally paid the tariffs.

The refunds to consumers are the last step in a monthslong process that kicked off in February when the Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs implemented by President Donald Trumpin March 2025 under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act on goods from almost every country. The court ordered the government to return the tariffs it collected.

So far, about $100 billion in tariffs have been refunded to companies who paid them under a system set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That doesn't mean Americans will get anywhere close to what they paid in tariffs, since most were paid indirectly. In 2025, the Trump tariffs amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000 per U.S. household, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C., group that studies taxes.

But some consumers are getting some of what they paid directly back from shippers including UPS, DHL and FedEx. The refunds are being rolled out in phases based on what date they were paid. Shippers have said they'll return the refunds on a rolling basis as they receive them.

Tariff refunds from shippers will be directly refunded to credit cards or bank accounts

Most big overseas retailers paid the tariffs themselves and passed them along to retailers with a line item in their invoice that was part of the total bill, or indirectly by raising prices. But some smaller sellers left the tariff to be paid when it reached the U.S. In those cases, shippers paid the bill and charged the recipient of the package.

FedEx said it has begun the process of issuing $800 million in tariff refunds it received from the government back to the customers that paid them. Customers don’t need to apply to receive their refund, but they can enter tracking numbers for purchased items into a portal on the FedEx website to see whether or not they are due a refund.

UPS said in April it had paid $5 billion in tariffs on behalf of clients and would begin the process of applying to the government for refunds. In the first phase, it applied for $500 million in refunds and said customers should get refunds one to three months after it receives reimbursement from the Treasury.

DHL similarly said that it has filed claims for almost all eligible shipments where it served as the importer of record and is returning the refunds it has received.

“The volume and pace of refunds continue to depend on CBP’s processing of claims,” DHL said in a statement.

Major retailers say they could give back some refunds but mostly will use them to lower prices

Unlike shippers who collected tariffs directly from customers, most big retailers passed on tariffs in indirect ways, changing their product lineups or partly absorbing higher costs, making a consumer refund unlikely.

Amazon executives said last week the company received $600 million in tariff refunds in the second quarter.

In a call with investors, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said the company isn't the importer of record on most of the goods it sells and that it has absorbed some tariff costs. But he said the company has “identified a limited set of circumstances where we can trace that we pass specific import charges on to customers.” In those circumstances, he added, “we will proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue refunds to them.”

Otherwise, he said, Amazon will use tariff refunds to lower prices for customers.

That echoes what other large retailers have said. In May, Corie Barry, outgoing CEO of Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, said the retailer is an importer of record of only about 2% to 3% of what it sells and that the company would use any refund it gets to “deliver value back to our customers.”

And Costco CEO Ron Vachris said the company planned to return “in some form” the tariffs that were passed on to consumers.

“How much we return and when depends on a variety of factors, including how much refund money we receive and when it arrives as well as developments in the lawsuit filed against the company regarding the return process,” he said in a quarterly earnings call in May.

Dozens of class-action lawsuits have been filed

Some shoppers are suing to get the tariffs they paid in the form of higher prices back from companies. More than 80 class-action lawsuits have been filed by customers across the country against retailers including Costco, Nike, Amazon, Walmart and others.

The lawsuits will face difficulty because plaintiffs will have to prove they paid for price increases that were specifically tied to the tariffs, according to Lori Leskin, partner and co-chair of law firm Arnold & Porter’s Consumer Products Practice Group. None of the lawsuits have yet been certified as class action, which would mean they apply to all customers.

“It’s going to be very hard for anyone to establish that the price increase they paid was due to tariffs and not some other market force,” she said. “Most of them are just talking about price increases, and to be able to trace a price increase due to a single factor is going to be really difficult given the multifactorial approach that most companies take.”

Trump’s solicitor general petitioned the high court to suspend last week’s decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Chief Justice John Roberts set a deadline of Tuesday for a response by plaintiffs challenging the ballroom project.

The divided appeals court panel ruled last week Trump must stop the White House ballroom’s construction because Congress has not approved the project. The panel’s majority said Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom where the White House’s East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition last fall.

The lower court suspended its own ruling for two weeks to give Trump's Republican administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court to rule on its stay petition before the appeals court panel’s decision takes effect on Aug. 21.

"This case involves an extraordinary and unlawful injunction that will halt the ongoing construction of the integrated military complex, including a totally secure ballroom space, at the East Wing of the White House, which is vitally required by national security,” Sauer wrote.

In April, a district court judge ordered a stop to aboveground construction of the planned ballroom. But the judge stressed that the White House was free to proceed with underground work, including the construction of any bunkers, military installations and medical facilities.

The D.C. Circuit panel’s 2-1 decision upheld an order to pause aboveground construction on the project, siding with historic preservationists who sued to stop construction of the ballroom.

“Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” wrote the majority's two judges, both appointed by Democratic presidents.

A third judge disagreed, finding that the preservationist group that challenged the project had no legal right to sue.

“The district court elevated the aesthetic displeasure of a single passerby over the government’s security interests in the ballroom,” wrote Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by Trump.

The Trump administration argues that the president, not Congress or the courts, has unimpeded authority to renovate the White House. The current state of the project, essentially an open construction site, makes it harder to protect the White House, the Justice Department contends.

The administration also says the National Trust for Historic Preservation does not have the legal right, or standing, to sue over the ballroom, which is part of Trump’s plans to quickly remake Washington. The solicitor general said the ballroom project “should be a matter for the President and the political process, not construction-by-injunction.”

During an appeals court hearing in early June, an administration lawyer defended a broad view of presidential control over iconic public facilities. The government could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and the White House, Justice Department lawyer Yaakov Roth said in response to a hypothetical question, and the descendants of immigrants who came through Ellis Island and the enslaved people who built the White House would not have standing to sue.

The D.C. Circuit panel upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush. Leon concluded that a pause wouldn’t jeopardize national security. He also exempted any construction work that is necessary for the safety and security of the White House.

The ballroom has been under construction for 10 months. The administration says the work is roughly 65% finished.

“Given those developments, the injunction promises chaos in service of nothing,” Sauer wrote.

A statement from the Italian Carabinieri’s art recovery squad said the artworks were discovered during searches ordered by prosecutors, but no details were given. The investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, Brazilian police said late Thursday they located eight stolen works by Matisse following an apartment raid outside Sao Paulo. The two law enforcement operations were apparently unconnected.

The three artworks recovered in Italy are “Fish,” a painting by Auguste Renoir, “Still Life with Cherries,” a pencil and watercolor by Paul Cézanne, and “Odalisque on the Terrace,” a color aquatint by Henri Matisse. Authorities said the Cézanne was valued at 6 million euros ($7 million), the Renoir at 3 million euros ($3.5 million), and the Matisse at 20,000 euros ($23,000).

The heist at the Magnani Rocca Foundation, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Parma, took place on the night of March 22-23, with thieves forcing open the entrance door, police said.

Local media reported that the thieves took the paintings in less than three minutes and escaped across the museum gardens.

Established in 1977, the foundation hosts the collection of art historian Luigi Magnani and includes works by Dürer, Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya and Monet.

The museum believes a structured and organized gang was responsible for the theft, which the alarm interrupted, local media reported.

The crime followed a series of high-profile heists at major European museums, including the theft in October of French crown jewels and other items valued at 88 million euros ($101 million) from the Louvre in Paris.

Brazilian police said the eight stolen works by Matisse were valued at more than 1 million reais ($193,000) and found in the city of São Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo.

Sao Paulo police said in a statement they arrested one man at the scene for allegedly holding the prints for another person who was taken into custody in April during an unrelated art theft probe.

The recovery of the artwork marks a major breakthrough in a case dating back to December 2025, when two intruders broke into São Paulo’s Mário de Andrade library. A total of 13 pieces of art and history were stolen. Five works by Brazilian artist Cândido Portinari are still missing.

Matisse (1869-1954) is one of the most celebrated artists of the colorful expressive style. Brazilian police recovered eight prints which are named “Le Clown,” “Le Cirque,” “Monsieur Loyal,” “Cauchemar de L’Eléphant Blanc,” “Le Codomas,” “La Nageuse Dans L’Aquarium,” “L’Avaleur de Sabres” and “Le Cowboy.” They were made for an artbook named “Jazz.”

The forest gave way to giant holes gouged into the earth and filled with opaque, muddy water, gasoline and other chemicals glistening on the surface. Makeshift wooden mining platforms straddled the pools, surrounded by pumps and thick plastic tubes used to suck up and sift through sediment for tiny particles of gold.

As the troops closed in, several miners stood watching from a distance. The officer leading the patrol fired a warning shot into the air. Within seconds, they vanished into the forest.

The raid over several days this week was part of an intensified government campaign against illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, one of Peru’s most biodiverse regions, as authorities try to stop the activity from advancing into protected areas of the Amazon. Mining has stripped away vast areas of rainforest, leaving behind a scarred landscape of contaminated pools and altered rivers in the hunt for lucrative gold. Mercury used to separate gold from sediment has contaminated waterways, wildlife and people, including Indigenous communities that depend heavily on fish.

Behind them was a camp abandoned in haste. Crushed beer cans and empty liquor bottles littered the ground alongside mattresses, clothes and tools. That day’s lunch — rice and plantain — still sat in plastic containers. Freezers and fuel containers dotted the camp, alongside live chickens and guinea pigs kept for food.

The troops were one of eight patrols, flown by helicopter to separate points along the Malinowski River. The aircraft touched down only long enough to drop each group before lifting off and moving to the next site.

Illegal mining is advancing toward protected areas of the Amazon

Edy Reynaldo Dariquebe, an official with FENAMAD, an Indigenous federation representing communities in Peru’s Madre de Dios region, said criminal groups linked to illegal mining have been operating near or inside protected Indigenous communities. He said mining is destroying forests and contaminating rivers with mercury that accumulates in fish, spreading the impact to communities far from the mining sites.

Ronald Flores Yáñez, a deputy prosecutor for Peru’s Office of the Attorney General, said illegal mining has advanced close to military monitoring points and into protected areas.

“We can attest today that they have already entered the Tambopata National Reserve,” Flores told The Associated Press. “We are inside the reserve and around us we see dredges numbering in the hundreds.”

Illegal mining declined in parts of Madre de Dios after Peru launched a major military and police crackdown known as Operation Mercury in 2019. But miners have since moved back toward protected areas, prompting authorities to intensify operations.

Global Conservation, a U.S.-based nonprofit working with Peruvian authorities, said ongoing operations will combine satellite monitoring, aerial reconnaissance and law enforcement raids over the coming year to identify and dismantle illegal gold mining camps and equipment.

Destroying the motors hits miners where it hurts most

Before setting out Tuesday, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Renato Miranda told troops at a briefing that the mission’s objective was to “neutralize and dismantle” illegal mining activities. Once on the ground, that meant searching for anything that allowed the mines to function: pumps, batteries, fuel, dredging equipment and makeshift infrastructure.

“The most important thing is to destroy the main machinery,” Miranda said. “And the main machinery is the motors.”

The powerful engines are among the most valuable pieces of equipment at a mining site and a key economic pressure point for authorities trying to make it more expensive for miners to restart operations. Miranda said larger engines can cost around $30,000 to $45,000. He estimated that motors targeted in the raids can extract 30 to 50 grams of gold a day. At current gold prices, that would be worth about $4,000 to $7,000.

Miranda told AP the three-day operation destroyed 56 motors, 78 mining rafts and 13,751 gallons (52,050 liters) of fuel, with the destroyed material valued at more than 15 million soles ($4 million). On the ground, soldiers said they had destroyed around 115 motors over the previous three months during operations carried out nearly every week.

The remote sites give miners time to hear approaching boats or helicopters and flee, often hiding motors in sand, behind trees or in muddy pools to recover later. Specialized navy divers search the murky pools for submerged engines, entering water where mercury and other chemicals may be present. When they find one, they attach explosive charges and destroy it.

At one site, as troops prepared to leave, a soldier spotted disturbed sand and began digging. He uncovered a motor, threw it onto a pile with a mattress and chainsaw, doused it with gasoline and set it alight. A dog abandoned at the site fared better: soldiers took a liking to it, bringing it along for the rest of the day’s mission and eventually back to their military base.

Elsewhere, troops used dynamite-like explosives to destroy equipment and burned structures and supplies that could be used to keep the mining camps running.

A 10-minute boat ride away, another, larger camp offered a glimpse of daily life at the mining sites. A chest freezer was packed with meat, while wooden shelves held plates and coffee mugs. Several separate sleeping areas were strewn with personal belongings: a ledger filled with lists of needed supplies, freshly washed underwear hanging from string to dry, bottles of vitamins and even pills marketed as increasing penis size and sexual endurance. All was set alight by the troops. Before moving on, some of the soldiers cooked and ate food they found in the abandoned camp.

The expensive machinery and valuable gold contrasts with the precarious conditions of many living and working in the camps.

During the operation, another patrol encountered a woman with her 1-year-old child at a mining site. Flores told AP she had come to Madre de Dios from Cusco after failing to gain admission to university and, after being left by the father of her child, needed work. She responded to an advertisement seeking a cook and ended up preparing food for illegal miners.

Authorities say raids alone will not stop the mining

The destruction of machinery is intended to hit miners where it hurts most: the cost of restarting. But authorities themselves acknowledge that raids alone are not enough.

Miranda said that with gold prices high and mining highly profitable, operators can acquire another engine, rebuild their equipment and return to the same location or move elsewhere.

“Every day they are advancing more and more and more, and we are being very slow," said Flores, adding that their strategy needs to change.

Prosecutors, he said, are now pursuing two fronts: continuing operations against dredges, motors and other equipment while also following the money behind the mines — identifying the financiers who provide the capital for expensive machinery and tracing the profits generated by the gold.

That approach could be critical to breaking the cycle visible along the Malinowski River: authorities destroy equipment, leave and miners find the money and machinery to start again.

“These operations have to be permanent,” Flores said. ___

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The incident was reported in the 6300 block of North Wayside Drive, where the area is currently blocked off as crews work the scene.

HPD says officers fired at an armed suspect who was shooting at vehicles in the area.

It is unclear whether anyone was injured.

We are working to gather more information and will update this story as details become available.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press highlighted Maisa Lopes Eliaser as one of dozens of spouses or parents of U.S. troops who had been detained after President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back protections for military families amid its push for mass deportations. Following the AP’s reporting, a group of Congressional Democrats launched an investigation into deportations of military service members and their families.

Eliaser was placed on a deportation flight Wednesday to her native Brazil when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the plane received a phone call about her mid-flight, she told the AP. She said she was then asked by an ICE officer whether she wanted to continue on to Brazil or go back to the U.S.

“Who made the call? We don’t know,” said Eliaser’s husband, Army Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo. “But someone made the phone call, and then she came back.”

While other detainees were led off the plane in Brazil, Eliaser stayed on board and returned to Louisiana. ICE officers told her that she was “famous” because there were videos about her case, she said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DHS previously told AP that Eliaser, 32, had been issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on April 15, after overstaying the tourist visa she used to enter the U.S. in 2019.

Jaramillo, a 43-year-old aviation operations specialist who has served in the Army for more than a decade, took leave of his duties training soldiers in Fort Polk, Louisiana, to care for Eliaser's 5-year-old son after she was detained on July 8.

Jaramillo said Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a former Navy officer, also looked into his wife’s case. Kelly’s office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This family’s reunion is proof of what’s possible when people set politics aside and do right by those who serve,” Danitza James, who heads Repatriate Our Patriots, a nonprofit that supports military families facing deportation and helped with Eliaser’s case, said at a news conference. “We won’t stop until every military family facing detention gets the same chance at justice.”

Eliaser, who was detained in July while at an immigration appointment, has another appointment scheduled for Monday in an effort to reopen her case and advance her green card application. Jaramillo is a U.S. citizen and the couple have been married since 2024.

Jaramillo said he has been told that there will be no further issues with Eliaser’s case, but the couple is still concerned.

“We are really, really, really scared about it, but you know, we have to go,” Jaramillo said. “I told the person who gave me the appointment, ‘Hey sir, don’t play with me, I’ve been through a lot.’”

Eliaser said she is still struggling to sleep and is afraid she will be sent back to the detention facility, where she said she was treated like “an animal.”

“It felt like I was in a nightmare,” Eliaser said. “I could not believe what was happening until I returned to my house. Day by day, I’m trying to recover from this trauma.”

There have been similar interventions in other high-profile cases over the past year. Annie Ramos, 22, was detained by immigration authorities as her husband, an Army staff sergeant, was preparing to deploy. She was released after a public outcry. Around the same time, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and combat veteran, told the AP that she personally contacted DHS to call for the release of Deisy Rivera Ortega, the immigrant wife of an Army sergeant who did three tours in Afghanistan, after learning about her case from advocacy groups. She was eventually released from custody.

___

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

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 111 points, or 0.2%, as of 12:46 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower.

Stocks gave up modest gains from earlier in the morning after oil prices swung higher. The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 1.1% to $88 as uncertainty continues about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again.

Also raising uncertainty was a report showing shoppers spent less at U.S. retailers last month than the month before. That surprised economists, who were forecasting another month of growth.

On the bright side for financial markets, such a pullback in spending could take pressure off inflation. Inflation remains much higher than anyone would like, but reports earlier this week suggested the pace of increases in prices is decelerating.

If inflation keeps trending that way, it could encourage the Federal Reserve to hold off on hikes to interest rates. Higher rates would help keep a lid on inflation, but they do so by intentionally slowing the economy and making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money.

But the downside of such data, including last week’s surprisingly weak report on the U.S. job market, is that they raise the risk of a slowing economy. The Fed has no good tool to fix both a stagnating economy and high inflation at the same time, which is why what’s called “stagflation” is seen as a worst-case scenario.

Some on Wall Street cautioned against overreacting to the weak data on U.S. retail sales, even if it was broad based. It could simply be a snap back after retail sales in earlier months were boosted by unusual factors such as big tax refunds, the World Cup and even an earlier Prime Day event at Amazon, according to Jennifer Timmerman, senior investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

U.S. consumers nevertheless appear to be getting more discouraged about the economy. A preliminary survey by the University of Michigan suggested sentiment among them is weakening by more than economists expected.

The survey said drops occurred across the political spectrum and showed up particularly among older, lower-income and other groups who can be hurt most by inflation.

On Wall Street, Reddit jumped 11.7% after learning its stock will join the S&P 500 index on Tuesday. Many professional investors and funds closely track the index, either mimicking it or at least measuring their performance against it. That can push many investors to buy a stock automatically when it enters the index.

Applied Materials fell 4.9% even though the company, whose technology helps make semiconductors, reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Gary Dickerson said global hunger for artificial-intelligence technology helped it deliver another record quarter.

But its stock had already more than doubled this year and built expectations very high, which helped pressure the stock on Friday.

AI stocks in general have been swinging sharply on worries that their prices shot too high because of AI euphoria and that their strong growth in revenue may not be sustainable.

In the bond market, shorter-term Treasury yields edged lower following the retail sales report, suggesting traders see the Fed as less likely to hike interest rates at its next meeting in September.

But the yield on the 10-year Treasury, which moves more on expectations for inflation and economic growth in upcoming years, rose to 4.69% from 4.63% late Thursday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% after Nigel Farage regained the seat in Parliament he quit a month ago, beating trash-can wearing comic candidate Count Binface in a special election.

South Korea’s Kospi again had one of the world’s sharpest moves and jumped 2.4% for its third straight gain of at least that much. Seoul has been at the center of the world’s swings for AI stocks because its market is dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

___

AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Kevin Rideout “is in good health in the care of U.S. officials,” SIM International, an Evangelical mission organization, said in a statement.

He will soon be reunited with his extended family, the statement added.

Rideout was back in U.S. custody on Friday, the country’s President Donald Trump said in a post on social media.

“Kevin, the United States of America looks forward to welcoming you HOME. Glad to have helped!” Trump wrote.

Rideout was kidnapped in the West African country's capital, Niamey, on Oct. 21 by three armed individuals and was probably driven out of town, according to information provided by a security official at the time.

No armed group claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Niger has long faced attacks from armed groups including jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization.

The U.S. Embassy in Niamey issued a security alert a day after Rideout's kidnapping, warning that U.S. citizens “remain at a heightened risk of kidnapping throughout Niger, including in the capital city.”

Niger is ruled by a military junta that took power in 2023 after deposing the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. The new authorities ousted Western partners including the United States, which had soldiers in Niger, and forged a new security and diplomatic alliance with Russia.

In June, more than 30 people were killed when gunmen attacked the main airport in Niamey. It was the second attack this year at the airport, a strategic hub that serves as the ruling military’s command, hosting its air force base and most of its drones and aircraft. It’s also the headquarters of the regional alliance that brings together troops from Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

The violence is the latest sign of armed groups increasingly targeting cities and urban centers in Africa’s Sahel region.

A cluster of showers and thunderstorms bringing brief downpours through Houston.

Chance of rain Friday:

Our next slug of tropical moisture arrives Friday, bringing more clouds, higher humidity and a slight drop in temperatures.

We could start the day with coastal showers and thunderstorms before storms gradually move north during the afternoon. However, the area of high pressure steering this moisture into Southeast Texas will also limit widespread rainfall. Sinking air associated with the high will work against more organized shower and thunderstorm development.

Overall, we’re looking at a 30% chance of storms.

Tracking the tropics:

There are two disturbances we’re watching in the Atlantic. The more westward disturbance’s formation odds have been brought down to medium by the National Hurricane Center. With the high amount of shear and dry air ahead of it, we would expect it to weaken quickly even if it makes its way to tropical depression or storm status.

The second disturbance only has a 50% chance of development.

Watching Hawaii for tropical impact:

Hawaii is in the projected path of Tropical Storm Lala in the Central Pacific. While the official forecast from the Hurricane Center currently brings Lala over the islands as a tropical storm, some computer models show a stronger system, with the potential to reach Category 1 hurricane strength.

Regardless of the storm’s eventual strength, the biggest concerns for the islands will be strong winds, heavy rainfall and large, dangerous ocean currents.

10 Day Forecast:

After Friday, our rain chances drop to essentially zero. Temperatures will climb back into the upper 90s, and we’ll likely see several days where the heat index climbs high enough for a Heat Advisory to be issued.

In other words, enjoy Friday’s slightly cooler, wetter weather because the heat comes roaring back this weekend.

And thus, “A Very Laufey Day” was born. Each year, the Grammy-winning singer curates itineraries for different locations across the globe for her listeners to follow. It's “anywhere I have been and loved,” she says. It allows them to live what she refers to as “a perfect day,” but also to connect with their community offline and in person. And as she approaches its fourth edition, it has only grown larger.

“It became much bigger than I anticipated, really,” she says. She sought to inspire her audience to find “third spaces,” and explore some of her favorite locales: museums, bookstores, cafes, concerts and the like, and foster community in the process. And each year, it has only grown bigger, with fans dressing up in their favorite Laufey-themed vintage fashions to celebrate the unofficial holiday.

And Aug. 23 will mark the fourth annual “A Very Laufey Day.”

“It is a fun puzzle every year,” she says.

‘A Very Laufey Day’ 2026

This year, “A Very Laufey Day” will include experiences in 75 cities across 25 countries, centering on the theme of “A Celebration of the Arts.”

Those include performances spanning symphony orchestras, ballet, jazz, opera and theater as well as events with libraries, bookstores, coffee shops, yogurt/ice cream shops and more. Her concert film “A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl” will be screened at select theaters. And she's partnered with many museums around the world, including New York City's Guggenheim, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, London's Tate Modern and National Gallery, Chile's Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Seoul's Daelim Museum and more. At some participating businesses, fans will be able to acquire limited edition merchandise and Laufey-themed specialty drinks.

“This year it was really about focusing on the arts and culture and finding ways to bring this barrier of entry down between my audience — which is mostly Gen Z and Gen A — and these kind of so-called high cultural experiences,” she says. “Whether it’s going to see an orchestra show … museums or galleries, we really want to find ways to connect with those institutions.”

Some of these spaces can be intimidating for younger fans, and Laufey says this year was all about making these rooms, some of her favorites, inviting to her audience.

“It doesn’t have to be this scary thing. And so, I’ve kind of made it my life’s mission to make spaces like that fun and accessible,” she says.

State education officials grade districts and campuses each year largely based on how well students perform on STAAR, the state’s standardized test. The A-F ratings are designed to provide families a tool to evaluate how well schools educate their children.

Of more than 9,000 campuses, 24% scored an A, 34% scored a B, 23% scored a C, 10% scored a D and 4% scored an F.

Schools with five consecutive F ratings trigger a state law requiring Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to either close the campus or replace the entire district’s elected trustees and superintendent.

Last year, such takeovers occurred in the Fort Worth, Beaumont, Connally and Lake Worth districts.

In addition to helping parents decide where to send their kids to school, the ratings can help businesses choose which communities to invest in or move to.

Critics say that often comes at a cost to predominantly low-income, Hispanic and Black schools, which receive failing grades at disproportionate rates and trigger district takeovers most often. Supporters of the accountability system say the ratings help state officials hold district leaders accountable for not concentrating enough on student learning.

Texas grades districts and campuses on an A-F scale based on three categories:

• Student achievement: How well students perform on state tests and whether they are prepared for life after high school.
• School progress: How much students improve on state tests.
• Closing the gaps: How much progress schools make in boosting scores for specific groups of children, such as those with disabilities and English learners.

The season itself is in no danger; climate change, mainly caused by the burning of oil, gas and coal, is warming the weather year-round. Viewed this way, summer-like weather is ascendant. It's setting records across the globe — melting Arctic ice, driving droughts, intensifyingwildfires, spinning up storms and endangering millions of people who can't affordair conditioning, time off work or “coolcations.” The heat is so extreme in Asia that Japan has coined a new meteorological category for the danger: kokusho-bi — or “cruelly hot day.”

What seems as dead as the grass in England this year is the summertime ideal — lazy days, warm nights and escape, however temporary, from classes or parents or work or rules. During the Summer of '26, people are grieving that freedom. And perhaps, the versions of ourselves we become when our senses tell us that we are safe.

“I mourn for the way summer used to be,” author Debra Denker, who writes “cli-fi,” or climate fiction, wrote in an essay last month recalling leisurely days and July Fourth block parties of the 1960s. “Unless we change the trajectory we're on, today's children will never know the gentle and balmy summers of my childhood ... I feel sad that they may never know the truly carefree summers that the more privileged among us enjoyed.”

In 2026, summertime is a different kind of blast

No one needs meteorologists to confirm that this summer is different and our rituals are changing. Downwind from wildfires in North AmericaandEurope, the sky turns orange and the air tastes gritty. Life under Paris' famous gray rooftops can be deadly. Nights can be a sullen cycle of sleep, showering and opening a window — only to close it later to block out the urban noise.

Everywhere, life-giving sun hurts during much of the day. Checking the air quality index has become part of the act of stepping outside. We get things done earlier in the day and stay up later at night. And a full day at the beach — or an August holiday in Europe — is more a matter of risk management than it used to be.

A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that Americans are more likely to say extreme heat has had either a “major impact” or “minor impact” on their travel or vacation plans, electricity bills, their sleep, their family’s outdoor activities and more parts of their day-to-day life than in July 2024. Research at Oxford University published in July found that the intense heat influences daily behavior globally, with such “everyday adaptations” to daily activities occurring across seven of the countries most at risk of heat waves: Brazil, France, India, Nigeria, Turkey, the U.S. and China.

For some, it's a summer of discontent

Amber Risebrow, a teacher in Britain’s Channel Islands, said she yearned for England’s idyllic warm season — that period when the sunlight lingers.

“I wanted the long light evenings and the sunshine and the not-dark-at-4pm of it all,” she posted recently on Instagram. “What I did not want was to feel like a rotisserie chicken every single time I stepped outside. Slowly rotating. Gently basting. Questioning my life choices by 10am.”

For those who care to look, the data is plentiful and the weight of it is moving toward hotter and stormier summers. This week alone, intense heat hammered the U.K. and France as temperatures soared toward 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). It was the fifth heat wave of the year in a region where air conditioning is sporadic at best. And the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the contiguous United States sizzled to its hottest month ever in July.

Globally so far, this is the third-hottest year, behind 2024 and 2025, climate statistics show.

But 2026 still has time to catch up. Thanks to the one-two punch of accelerated human-caused global warming and a supersized El Nino — a periodic warming of parts of the Pacific that leads to temperature variations around the globe — there’s an increasing chance that by the end of the year, 2026 could become the hottest year on record, scientists said.

“And it’s not just extreme heat,” the World Meteorological Organization’s Clare Nullis told reporters in Geneva. “We’re also seeing extreme rainfall, tropical cyclones. So we’re not in holiday mode at all.”

Is summer an ‘outdated sham’?

Somewhere deep, there's a sense of acceptance that life-threatening, trip-canceling heat waves and their rippling effects aren't a one-off fluke. So management has ensued, with the hope that escaping hot weather might somehow allow the return of that summertime feeling — for now.

Advisories urging tourists to limit outdoor activity during peak heat hours have become a standard part of trip planning from Cambodia to Cambridge, England. Dog walking is becoming a dawn-or-dusk activity, with governments in high heat zones advising owners against midday walks. Employers and workers are adapting, with work hours especially for agricultural and construction workers shifting to the morning, and policies in some places allowing employees to work from home when the heat becomes extreme.

But home doesn't offer much solace for workers with no air conditioning. Only about 4% of British homes have “air-con,” compared to about 90% of American homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

So achieving old-fashioned summertime bliss is, and perhaps always has been, mostly a matter of privilege.

In “An Open Letter to the Person Who Asked Me What I'm Doing For The Summer As If I Didn't Have to Work,” comedy writer Elizabeth Simone addressed the issue in the Weekly Humorist last year.

“You do know that summer vacation is an outdated sham, right?” she wrote. “Obviously it's because of what summer meant back when we were kids.”

___

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.

Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party who some see as a possible next prime minister, abruptly quit his seat in July amid an investigation into whether he failed to report a 5 million pound ($6.7 million) gift from an overseas crypto billionaire.

He denied wrongdoing and ran again for the seat to prove he had voters’ support, regaining it with 63% of Thursday’s vote in an unusual election on the hottest day of the year. Binface, a serial candidate who has challenged prime ministers past and present, represented a protest vote and finished second in a field of 34 candidates — many of them also jokers — with about 27%, according to the results announced Friday.

Farage hailed the result as an “overwhelming win” that increased his vote share over the last election, but it’s hard to draw broad conclusions from the election given the lack of genuine rivals and the fact that Farage has long been popular in the conservative constituency on the east coast of England.

“Today the voters in Clacton have stuck up two fingers to the entire political establishment,” Farage said, referring to the British equivalent of a crude gesture that employs the middle finger in other cultures.

The result will send him back to the House of Commons, but an investigation by a parliamentary watchdog that was suspended when he stepped down was resumed hours after the result was announced. That means Farage could be forced out of Parliament — and face yet another election.

Farage reshaped UK politics

Farage, the chief cheerleader in getting Britain to vote to leave the European Union a decade ago, has shattered the country's longstanding two-party system by positioning himself to the right of the Conservative Party.

With Farage’s win, Reform has just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, but he has made the party a major political force by drawing on a mix of cultural grievances and a vow to stop what he has called an invasion of migrants crossing the English Channel in inflatable rafts. The party has frequently changed the national conversation and forced the governing center-left Labour Party and the Conservatives, long the dominant parties, to address Reform’s key issues.

But with Farage under scrutiny and a Labour leadership shake-up that installed Andy Burnham as prime minister, there’s room for Labour to regain some ground.

Farage still faces investigation over an undeclared donation

Pressure will continue to mount on Farage as Parliament’s standards watchdog investigates an undeclared donation he got in 2024 from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based cryptocurrency billionaire. Farage says he didn’t need to declare the money because it was a personal gift he used to fund his security and was made before he was elected.

When he resigned on July 7, he complained of an “establishment hit job” and a media-driven “witch-hunt.”

Farage also faces an investigation into his financial relationship with George Cottrell, an aristocratic crypto-gambling entrepreneur who served eight months in a U.S. prison for fraud a decade ago after offering to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers.

Cottrell remains close to Farage and has reportedly given him money for security and staff. Farage has denied wrongdoing and stood by the man he calls “Posh George.”

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the election was no victory for Farage, and he needs to come clean over his finances and relationship with Cottrell.

“The mountain of sleaze and scandal he and Reform are now engulfed in has grown and grown while he’s been trying to distract the public by fighting a by-election against a bin,” Phillipson said.

Farage was a no-show at the vote count

Farage’s gambit to resign and run again backfired when other parties refused to participate and he was left facing a massive field of independent and small-party candidates, including novelty acts such as Howling Laud Hope of The Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Marcus White from the Everyone is God Party.

Farage declared victory in the early morning and blew off the official declaration where he would have had to stand alongside the other candidates — a time-honored tradition in British politics.

“I’m damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory ... and be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies,” Farage told supporters at a victory party.

Farage also said he didn’t attend because police told him about an “organized campaign to disrupt and degrade the result.” A spokesperson for Reform said there was a credible threat against him, though police disputed that.

Fiona Byrne, who wouldn’t say who she voted for, said Farage shouldn’t have called the election, which she said was an expensive joke.

“It’s just been a complete waste of money and time for everybody here, and he just needs to face the music,” she said.

But John Fairclough said he was happy Farage won because he’s what the country needs.

“To my mind he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Fairclough said. “He’s a threat to the main media and government who want to just control us and control everything.”

Binface, who ran on a wacky platform that included a vow to “cut your taxes, and raise everyone else’s,” build one affordable home, and nationalize singer Adele, declared himself the "winning candidate of the candidates who bothered to turn up for the results."

Under the black cape, trash can helmet and ample body armor straight out of a low-budget sci-fi film, Binface’s alter-ego is Jon Harvey, a middle-aged comedian who spent most of the campaign doing media interviews and trying to stay cool in the costume during a sweltering summer.

Binface has hinted that if Farage faces another election, he could return to run again.

“Over one in four people in this constituency would rather have Count Binface as their MP than the leader of Reform UK,” Binface said in a video on X. “Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Clacton by-election.” ___

Melley reported from London.

• PREVIOUS: Should Flock cameras stay in Conroe? Voters could get the final say

Council members discussed whether the issue should go to voters without a signature petition meeting the city’s requirements. Council Member John Sellars warned it could set a “slippery slope” to put the measure on the ballot without the necessary signatures, prompting a back-and-forth with Council Member David Hairel about what should be required.

In the end, Hairel and Council Member Shana Arthur were the only members who supported placing it on the ballot. The city faces an Aug. 17 deadline to place items on the November ballot.

Conroe has more than 50 Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. Supporters say they help police investigations, but critics argue they raise privacy concerns.

The strike came a day after the United Nations said July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since the weeks following Moscow's all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago.

At least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 wounded last month, the U.N. monitoring mission in Kyiv said, as Russia escalated its bombing of Ukrainian towns and cities. That was 70% higher than in July last year and 30% up on June of this year.

Overall, since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, U.N. human rights monitors say the war has killed at least 16,874 civilians, including 820 children, and wounded 51,273, including 3,126 children.

“Every month this year the number of killed and injured civilians has increased. That trend accelerated sharply in July,” said Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Kyiv. “The number of civilian casualties in July was the highest we documented in a single month since March 2022.”

The Russian strike in northern Ukraine’s Sumy region early Friday also wounded four other people, including the dead boy’s father and grandmother, who were hospitalized with severe burns, the regional military administration chief Oleh Hryhorov said.

Russia's top diplomat says Moscow will intensify its aerial attacks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Moscow is planning to escalate its strikes on Ukraine, even as U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the war are set to continue.

“We will use much harsher methods to destroy everything that feeds Kyiv’s war machine from the West,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian state TV broadcast Friday, referring to military aid Kyiv receives from abroad.

Officials in Washington said last month that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s main envoys, would travel to Kyiv sometime in the future. No date for the trip is publicly known, as the U.S. focuses on the Iran war.

Zelenskyy has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump, but Putin has refused, demanding a comprehensive peace agreement first, and Lavrov said that position hasn’t changed.

“We will only stop when there’s a long-term, reliable and sustainable settlement,” he said.

Russian glide bombs hit residential areas near front line

In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Russian glide bomb demolished six floors of a 10-story apartment block, killing one person and wounding 16 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia is launching around 220 glide bombs every day against settlements near the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in a social media post Friday.

Russian forces crush settlements with the brute force of 3,000-pound (1,300-kilo) glide bombs, artillery, missiles and drones, then send in infantry units to attack the exposed defenders. The tactic has rendered many towns and villages uninhabitable.

In addition, Russian forces struck two tugboats in the Black Sea that were escorting cargo ships carrying Western weapons for Ukraine, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.

It also said that its drones overnight hit Ukraine’s southern Izmail port’s railway station which it said is used for transporting military cargo and fuel for the Ukrainian armed forces.

In all, Russia attacked 12 Ukrainian regions overnight, wounding dozens of people, Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian drones strike a major port north of Moscow

Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, extended their long-range strike campaign against Russian infrastructure, hitting the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad region north of Moscow and starting a brief fire, its governor Alexander Drozdenko said.

Ust-Luga is one of Russia’s largest oil and gas export terminals located more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Ukraine.

It has been a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks this summer, as Kyiv seeks to undermine Russian oil exports that provide Moscow with vital revenue for its war effort.

Ukraine also launched another attack on the premises of Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, which Kyiv says helps supply the Russian military.

The attack damaged a wall of a Wildberries warehouse in the Tver region north of Moscow, the region’s acting governor, Vitaly Korolyov, said.

Wildberries reported “insignificant damage” and said the goods stored at the site were not damaged.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday its air defenses overnight intercepted 553 Ukrainian drones over 18 Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the waters of the Azov and the Black seas.

NATO warplanes shoot down a drone over Latvia

NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Latvian airspace in the early hours of Friday, the Latvian army and an official for the military alliance said.

Latvian authorities did not say what the origin of the drone was, but said it had entered Latvia “as a result of Russian electromagnetic warfare.”

Several drones have previously crossed the border into Latvia. Most of them are thought to be Ukrainian drones that strayed off course due to Russian electronic jamming.

Two Italian Eurofighter jets were scrambled to tackle the drone and one of them shot it down, NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said.

Two Turkish fighter jets were also deployed, she said.

Residents in five municipalities in eastern Latvia were warned about the threat to airspace and told to take shelter.

Also, a drone crashed in woodland in Romania 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the border with Ukraine, the NATO member’s Defense Ministry said Friday.

Military radars did not detect the drone, which landed in eastern Tulcea County, because it was flying at a “very low” altitude, the ministry said. It provided no details about the drone’s origin.

___

Associated Press reporters Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England contributed to this report.

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

Continued construction of the wall and related projects — including roads, drainage structures, erosion controls, safety features, lighting, cameras and sensors — will cause irreplaceable damage to archaeological sites within the park, including areas associated with indigenous peoples, the lawsuit said.

“Once an archaeological site is excavated by heavy machinery, once the physical context of artifacts is destroyed, or once a sacred or culturally significant landscape is permanently altered, the injury is irreparable,” said the lawsuit, filed in San Antonio federal court.

The People of La Junta for Preservation, a nonprofit associated with the Lipan Apache community, sued the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to halt work begun under a June 9 order from Secretary Markwayne Mullin that waived federal and state requirements to allow construction along 62 miles of the border with Mexico. The action, however, did not waive a law that made the secretary of the interior and the National Park Service responsible to protect and develop the park, the lawsuit said.

Christina Hernandez, founder and director of the organization, said construction threatens areas of cultural and religious significance in a region where Lipan Apache lived, hunted and worshiped for generations.

“We are fighting the wall in court because our ancestors did not survive on this land for thousands of years for us to stand by and wait for someone else to come save it  —we are here, we are responsible for it, and we will fight for it ourselves,” Hernandez said in a statement. 

Other plaintiffs include Far Flung Outdoor Center, a Terlingua business that provides guided river trips and related recreational services in the Big Bend area, and two Texans who practice religious and historical observances in the park.

The Trump administration has moved forward with plans to build vehicle barriers and a patrol road inside the national park as part of its border wall amid bipartisan outcry, including waiving environmental laws earlier this year to expedite construction.

The outcry against building structures in the region, especially in the state and national parks, has increased as visible signs of construction like bulldozers have begun to appear. On Thursday, a bipartisan coalition of 46 state House representatives sent a letter urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call for construction in the region to immediately cease.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn sent a letter asking Mullin to meet with area residents before continuing with any further construction. 

Cornyn’s request followed a cease and desist letter sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and a federal contractor in July by Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham for “illegally” clearing land in the Big Bend region.

Despite the bipartisan concern, efforts to halt the construction have largely failed. A proposed ban on a wall in the region failed to pass a U.S. House funding panel in June, and a separate lawsuit from an economic development organization in the region has not hindered DHS’ plans.

Federal officials had until recently been unclear about the extent of construction and whether it would cut through the two parks or wildlife area. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, who initially denied construction would occur in the region, defended the current work in a statement on Wednesday and said CBP would work to preserve local access to the region. 

“We are NOT building a 30-foot wall or stadium lighting through Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, or the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area,” Scott said. “What people are seeing right now is survey and design work — NOT construction of a wall through the park.”

A statement posted on social media Thursday evening prior to the lawsuit’s filing from DHS echoed Scott’s statement and described reports about construction in Big Bend as “fear mongering.”

In early July, a public map outlining plans for wall construction was updated to indicate that 2 miles of 30-foot wall segments would be built in two parts of Big Bend Ranch State Park.

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat and a lawyer in Friday’s lawsuit with Dick DeGuerin and Martin Golando, said the goal is to preserve the park “for generations to come.”

“The Trump administration wants DHS to bulldoze over the law just as badly as they have bulldozed America. We will not stay silent as the federal government continues to trample over the liberties of everyday people,” Gutierrez said in a statement.

And probably more than anything when it comes to time, most of us try to manage it — in our everyday lives and on a global scale, from the biology of our circadian rhythms to what constitutes a work day. Clocks. Calendars. Pendulums. Hourglasses. Sundials. Time zones.

For something that's been a pretty universal impulse to mark the shift of light and dark, the movement of the stars and the rhythms of the tides, the cycles of summer heat and winter cold, one might assume there's been a universal way of measuring time. That assumption would be wrong.

Take the shifting of the clock twice a year in most of the United States, once forward and then back again, a system that “moves” the time to let people enjoy daylight hours later into the evening.

While people love the light, a lot of them loathe having to make the change. So much so that the House of Representatives last month overwhelmingly passed legislation calling for the shift to become permanent year-round. Its prospects for passage in the Senate aren’t high, and when the country tried it in the 1970s it was wildly unpopular and short-lived. But it continues to be brought up, an indication that the way we keep the clock counts.

The methods different peoples and communities have used to track their lives haven't existed in a vacuum. They've been impacted by culture, by religion, by economics and technology, by the governing principles both within nations and among them.

Turns out, like pretty much anything where people are involved, there’s a politics to time.

Measurements of time are made up, but they matter

“Every measurement of time is arbitrary,” says Elizabeth Cohen, a political science professor at Boston University who has written about how we chronicle time and how it impacts the way people relate to each other. “Every deadline could have been a fraction of a second or a large increment of time different than it was,” she says. “None of it is natural.”

Take calendars. We use them to give a structure to our lives, but the spectrum of what that has looked like is vast through human existence. Some followed the sun, others the moon, and others still a combination of both. Maybe all the months were the same length, maybe they weren’t. What we call a seven-day week might have had four, or six, or some other number of days in other timekeeping systems.

Even today, when the main calendar in use globally is what we know as the Gregorian calendar, with its 12 months and leap years, other calendars are still consulted for religious or cultural purposes in places from Israel to Thailand. And daylight saving time? With its connection to our perceptions of what hours of light become available to us, it reflects “a desire for natural time,” says Michael O’Malley, professor of history at George Mason University.

People “are outside longer, so they feel it as a connection to nature,” he says. “But it only makes sense in a society that’s completely hypnotized by clocks so you think the clock is time.”

The culture of the clock is evolving

It's not just about the how. When we think about how culture evolved around time, there's also the why.

For most of human history, there were ties to the rhythms of the natural world: the phases of the moon, the rising and setting of the sun, the ebb and flow of the tides. And in agricultural societies, the importance of when to plant and when to harvest.

Tracking the sun's journey across the sky was a local endeavor. While the idea of a day broken down into 24 equal segments was important to groups like astronomers or seafarers, daily life was broken into “systems that tended to expand and contract based on the time of year and the location,” says Kevin Birth, a professor of anthropology at Queens College.

“But since people weren’t really traveling back and forth with any great rapidity back," he says, "then it really didn’t matter.”

Industrialization — in the form of the Industrial Revolution that started in 18th-century England and spread — pushed people to shift notions of time. No longer was it about the sun's cycle or the turn of the seasons. Industrial production meant schedules — people paying attention to the clock because they were due for specific shifts.

“It was one of the goals of industrialization to instill in people this regular, unvarying sense of time,” O'Malley says.

Contrast that to a preindustrial farmer, he says. “You could have an ethic of hard work, but that work is not going to be governed by a clock. It’s typically going to be governed by natural cues. The clock establishes this external authority that’s not you."

In the United States, by the mid-1800s, another issue arose: time zones. There were more than 40 based around cities, which O'Malley says forced railroad companies to switch dynamically as trains traveled.

Worried that other entities would standardize the zones and disrupt their businesses, the companies acted. “The American Railway Association got all the American railroads to agree that on Nov. 18, 1883, they would declare a four-zone system in effect in America,” O'Malley says. “And they just announced it.”

Time can be a cudgel

It's hardly the only occasion where the perception of time has involved national or global concerns.

Take the Prime Meridian, the entirely made-up longitude line running from the North Pole to the South Pole, that divides Earth into eastern and western hemispheres and is used as the basis for global timekeeping as well as navigation.

It runs through Greenwich, England, and was selected at an international conference in 1884. Was that because Greenwich was the ideal place? No, Birth says — it simply was established during “a period when the British Empire was one of the dominant empires in the world.”

Time zones themselves “are about politics,” he says, pointing out that they are not divided in a standard format. Countries decide their own, and in the U.S., the individual states can decide if they observe Daylight Saving or not.

A prime example is China, which stretches more than 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) across Asia. It has one official time zone for the country, instituted when the Communist Party took power in 1949 as a form of national unity.

The entire country runs officially on Beijing time, but the reality on the ground when the sun rises in eastern China hours before it rises in western China is people adjust with their own local times for daily life, Birth says.

Time can also be a tool used in a society to manage dissent and protest, Cohen says. She pointed to examples like governments instituting curfews or protesters engaging in slowdowns or strikes.

“Time has a lot of power," she says, “and people are battling over it to try and impose themselves on others or remove the yoke that has been imposed on them.”

This is the same North Harris County apartment complex KPRC 2 News reported on this week, where a judge has already ordered management to fix dangerous conditions — including faulty electrical equipment that shocked a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy.

KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel spoke with Veronica Marenco, a single mother who has an active small claims lawsuit against the management company, Globix Palms Rolling, LLC.

Marenco says on two separate occasions, management asked her to pay rent months in advance — once in exchange for free months and discounts.

• RELATED: Management reacts, Judge orders Palms on Rolling Creek apartments to fix safety hazards after years of tenant complaints

A text message she received from management in November read: “I wanted to check in with you to see if you would like to take advantage of the same offer again. This time we will provide two months free as a token of our appreciation if you are able to pay five months rent today.”

Marenco says management told her they needed the advance payment to pay their employees.

She agreed to pay four months rent in advance in exchange for one month free and a $500 discount. But in May, she says management called claiming she owed $2,000.

“They just said, ‘We’ve been giving you too many discounts.’ They didn’t say exactly where it was coming from,” Marenco said.

All of this happened while she was also dealing with flooding, rodent infestations and low water pressure issues — none of which were being fixed.

“No,” she said simply, when asked if management was addressing the maintenance problems.

Marenco is not alone. A man and his pregnant wife — who relies on insulin — say they were locked out of their apartment without notice after reporting a 48-hour power outage in which their calls to management were ignored. Management told KPRC 2 News the couple owed $5,000, but their bank statements showed all bills were paid on time.

• RELATED: ‘We have paid our rent’: Pregnant woman’s husband says apartment management changed locks without warning

“We have done every single thing that we have to do on our end,” the husband, Mohammed Nkosi, said.

Marenco has now sued the apartments in small claims court for $2,200.

“I’m a single mom. I don’t know if they try to take advantage that I’m not married, that I’m single, that I have two kids. But it’s not fair what they’re doing to people,” Marenco said.

Corley attempted to reach Frank at management for comment. She was told he was on a call and asked that he call back. He has not responded.

Marenco says she no longer lives at the complex, but her lawsuit remains active.

The property is also subject to a court-ordered injunction requiring safety improvements, including electrical repairs, structural inspections and working smoke detectors in every unit. Two additional active lawsuits filed by the Harris County Attorney’s Office address fire safety and sewage overflow concerns at the property.

The historic temperatures are linked to human-caused climate change, and are hitting countries more used to long cold seasons and ill-equipped for this sort of heat, with limited air conditioning.

More evacuations in France as fire affects more regions

With France experiencing its driest year ever, a new fire raced through woodlands overnight in the Landes region on the southwest coast. The blaze forced more than 500 people to evacuate their homes in the town of Luglon as hundreds of firefighters deployed to the area, the regional administration said Friday.

It’s one of several fires scorching forests around France this week, including in normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux last month and pushed a quarter of a million people from their homes.

France also has shut down six nuclear reactors in recent days because of extreme heat and drought — and because a mass of jellyfish washed up outside one power plant on the English Channel coast, utility company EDF said. Large numbers of jellyfish are appearing on many French beaches in connection with unusually warm sea temperatures.

In a statement, the company said the shutdowns had minimal impact on France’s electricity production. It said extreme weather poses no safety risks to the reactors themselves.

UK wildfires come as London records its hottest day of the year

In the central English town of Stourbridge, where a huge blaze started Thursday, TV footage showed the fires consuming houses, with many left without roofs as flames burned inside the charred walls. About 20 to 30 homes were completely destroyed, Stourbridge lawmaker Cat Eccles told the BBC.

A woman who was evacuated from her Stourbridge home said police knocked on her door and urged her to leave immediately.

“They thought the fire was changing directions, and they didn’t know which direction it was going in,” Jane Baxter told BBC Radio. “So, it was literally ‘grab what you need and get out.’”

Simon Tuhill, chief fire officer of West Midlands Fire Service, said an investigation will be launched but the fire was believed to have started in the grassland before spreading to homes nearby.

Nineteen people and six firefighters were hospitalized for smoke inhalation and other injuries from multiple wildfires in the West Midlands region. In nearby Stoke-on-Trent, a 23-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were arrested Friday on suspicion of arson over a large grass fire that spread quickly.

The Met Office, the official weather agency, said 38.1C (100.6 F) was recorded in west London on Thursday, marking the hottest day of the year. While temperatures cooled slightly on Friday, many parts of the country have seen little to no rain for weeks. This July has been the driest in England and Wales since records began in 1836.

Spain moves kings' remains to avoid fire

Spanish authorities on Thursday night transferred the remains of three 11th Century kings from a monastery in the northeastern Aragón region near an active wildfire.

The remains were taken to a museum about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the 10th-century San Juan de la Peña monastery, which remained unharmed Friday, according to regional authorities.

Paintings, liturgical objects and the clothes of a notable 18th-century Spanish count were among the other items removed from the monastery.

The wildfire was not yet contained midday Friday with some 800 residents evacuated. Temperatures were expected to cool slightly Saturday.

A separate, much larger wildfire in southern Spain has burned more than 300 square kilometers (120 square miles) in the province of Huelva, also forcing evacuations.

Firefighters battle forest fire in Germany

All 1,800 residents of the village of Gey in western Germany were evacuated after a wildfire with shifting winds in the nearby Hürtgen forest threatened to reach their homes. Nearly 300 hectares (1.16 square miles) of forest were ablaze on Friday morning, local authorities said.

Unexploded ordnance from World War II in the forest hampered firefighting efforts, German news agency dpa reported.

The fire advanced to within 300 meters (1,000 feet) of Gey, which sits on the edge of the forest near the Belgian border. The cause of the blaze remains unknown.

Germany has set a new record for heat-related deaths so far this year, surpassing the 2018 level for the entire year, the Robert Koch Institute said Thursday. An estimated 12,500 people died from heat-related causes between Jan. 1 and Aug. 2.

Fire in Croatia leaves 1 dead, 14 hospitalized

In Croatia, one person was killed and 14 people were hospitalized, of whom seven remained in life-threatening condition early Friday, from a fire that raged overnight by the coastal town of Omis and forced more than 1,000 people to evacuate their homes. The person's body was found as police combed through the burned-out area.

The fire erupted late Thursday in an Omis suburb and quickly spread because of strong wind. The regional maritime authorities said 194 people, including children, were plucked from the sea and from various boats as they tried to flee the fire.

Firefighters put out the blaze by Friday morning as other crews in planes headed further south toward the Peljesac peninsula, where another wildfire broke out overnight.

Firefighters keep Albania's largest wildfire from spreading to homes

Albania has been battling dozens of wildfires in recent weeks, with 11 active fires reported across the country Friday.

The largest fire is in the Gure-Lure area, where the perimeter near residential homes has been brought under control.

Three people have been prosecuted over that fire, which engulfed Lura National Park. They are suspected of failing to take measures to protect the territory from fire, authorities said.

Meanwhile, in northern Greece, more than 300 vacationers and residents were evacuated by sea Thursday after a wildfire swept through a pine forest and threatened seaside homes, authorities said.

Belgium expected to set another heat record

Belgium was expecting to hit its highest temperature of the summer on Friday, climbing to 37 C (98.6 F) in the capital, Brussels.

The mercury was also set to hit 37 C (98.6 F) in the neighboring Netherlands. The country is suffering from severe drought, with water shortages in some areas, but Dutch authorities have held off declaring a water crisis as rain is expected in the coming days.

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Hui reported from London. Stefanie Dazio in Berlin; Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland; Zana Cimili in Pristina, Kosovo; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; Lorne Cook in Brussels; and Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed to this report.

The 7.4 magnitude earthquake affected a large swath of western Colombia, from urban centers like Cali and Pereira to remote and rugged areas in the department of Chocó. As of Friday morning, authorities had confirmed more than 280 dead, thousands injured and over 12,000 dwellings destroyed. Responders have managed to rescue about 350 people, but hundreds remain missing.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has promised a robust governmental response. But with so much need spread across a large area, aid groups will also play important roles helping those needing shelter, supplies and economic assistance.

“Institutional capacity does not remove the humanitarian need,” said Catalina Vargas, Colombia country director for the humanitarian group CARE. “The most severely affected area, Chocó, is also one of the most isolated and underserved parts of the country, so access remains the binding constraint regardless of the strength of national institutions.”

For those who can help, giving cash is often ideal to give groups flexibility and agility, said Abe Diaz, head of disaster relief for Amazon, which is providing requested supplies to partners.

"Unrequested product donations overwhelm communities and force responders to divert resources from life-saving work just to sort and store unwanted supplies,” Diaz said.

Here are some organizations collecting donations for Colombia earthquake recovery, including U.S. groups responding on the ground and some local organizations accepting outside funds.

U.S.-based groups already on the ground

All Hands and Hearts has provided search and rescue tools like jackhammers and pickaxes to the Pereira fire department as well as blankets and rehydration supplies for those affected. Link to donate.

CARE has a longtime presence in Colombia. Its immediate support will focus on food assistance through cash and vouchers, emergency supply care packages, and protection and emotional support for affected families. Link to donate.

Direct Relief is funding medical responders on the ground and preparing to deliver requested medications and healthcare supplies. Link to donate.

GEM is joining with local partners to provide essential kits with food, water, and hygiene necessities. Link to donate.

Operation Blessing is focusing its initial response on providing food and water, as well as solar lanterns, to displaced people. Link to donate.

Save the Children has worked in Colombia for over 40 years and has begun psychosocial support activities and set up multiple child-friendly spaces in affected areas. Link to donate.

World Central Kitchen is providing food and water for displaced people, first responders and volunteers, including in more remote mountain communities. Link to donate.

Marc Anthony leads Sunday benefit concert for Colombia and Venezuela

Latin music stars Marc Anthony, Luis Fonsi, Chayanne, Feid, Jay Wheeler and many more will perform at an international benefit concert for Venezuela and Colombia on Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. EDT at Miami’s Kaseya Center. It will be carried live on Univision, ViX, WAPA and TelevisaUnivision radio stations, iHeartLatino and Venevision Play in Venezuela.

Viewers can donate by scanning onscreen QR codes, texting UNIDOS to 707070 or visiting univision.org during the broadcast. Proceeds will go to All Hands and Hearts, CARE, GEM, TECHO and World Central Kitchen.

Colombia-based groups accepting outside donations

Abaco Colombia, an association of 26 food banks across Colombia, is distributing food to affected families across the impacted regions. They accept online donations, though the payment processor requires a passport number.

Cruz Roja Colombiana teams are doing search and rescue, offering medical attention and psychosocial support, and filling other needs. They accept online donations, though the payment processor requires a passport number.

Fundación Solidaridad por Colombia supports youth initiatives, nutrition and health, and community building. It's helping deliver relief supplies and food to displaced people in Pereira and other locations. They accept PayPal.

Fundación Semillas de Oportunidades supports youth through art and sport from its base in Quibdó, Chocó. They are supporting families of young people across Chocó. They accept PayPal.

Manos Visibles, a network of organizations dedicated to racial and territorial equity, is collaborating with a local trade school with a goal to restore at least 100 homes in the city of Buenaventura. They accept online donations, though the payment processor requires a passport number.

Presentes Corporation, a 43-year-old organization in Colombia focused on community resilience, is partnering with the Miami-based nonprofit Give to Colombia to facilitate donations from the U.S. Their Colombia Se Levanta fund accepts online donations.

Refugio Huellas de Amor in Pereira is supporting rescue animals already in their care as well as other impacted animals. Huellitas Callejeras Barranquilla is sending vets and medical supplies to affected areas. Both accept PayPal.

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Associated Press staff writer Megan Janetsky contributed reporting from Mexico City.

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

The conservative voter from northeast Iowa said he didn't know Zach Lahn before the political newcomer “came out of nowhere" with a surprise GOP primary win over the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump. So when Lahn came to his farm last week, Burrack questioned him on his approach to agriculture.

“I hit him pretty hard,” said Burrack, who was considering whether to vote for Lahn in November or not vote at all.

It wasn't the first skeptical audience for the self-described “change candidate” in the state led by Republicans.

Lahn won the June primary even though an “entire establishment was set up against me,” he said. He criticizes politicians in both parties, accusing them of being bought by corporate interests. His bid for governor will test how an anti-establishment conservative fares with a general electorate — and with traditional Republicans — a decade after Trump’s own brand of populism reshaped the GOP.

While Iowa Republicans have an electoral advantage, Lahn entered the general election with a lower public profile than his Democratic opponent, state Auditor Rob Sand. Democrats see an opportunity to win this cycle in once-competitive Iowa, where high costs, health clinic closures, manufacturing job losses and a struggling agricultural economy weigh on voters.

Lahn talks about bringing a “different message” to Iowans who aren't satisfied with the trajectory of Iowa's small towns, public education or cancer rates, even after years of Republican control of state government. But only three months before Election Day, Lahn acknowledged he needs to keep getting out in front of people to address their questions and concerns.

“I think, for the most part, a lot of people just have never heard my message,” Lahn said after the event at Burrack's farm in Arlington. “The more we’ve met with people, the more they understand where our priorities lie, the more they say, ‘We are with you.’”

In farm country, Lahn has to answer for his positions on ‘big ag’

Some of Lahn's ideas challenge the Republican Party's status quo. Among them is his approach to agriculture and embrace of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which has prompted questions in the state that's among the nation's top producers of corn, soybeans, red meat and ethanol. Lahn promotes regenerative farming; emphasizes a link between high nitrate-loaded water and cancer; and questions the safety of agrochemicals.

Before Lahn took the stage in Arlington to talk agriculture, farmer Lance Lillibridge, a former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told the couple hundred Iowans there that the goal was to “get the air clear."

In front of a huge American flag and sandwiched between two freshly washed John Deere tractors, Lahn said, “We farm a bit weird” on his own Iowa acres, growing oats, alfalfa and einkorn along with corn and beans.

But he told the crowd he wants to fund farmers’ efforts to diversify their operations, not force Iowans to farm like him. He said targeting “big ag” means filing antitrust lawsuits against corporate conglomerates that sell seed and fertilizer and taxing out-of-state investors consolidating Iowa acres, not stepping on family farms. He wants to see more incentives to improve water quality but wouldn’t try to outright ban agrochemicals.

Burrack, like Lahn, says that they won’t agree on everything. But after talking with Lahn, he called himself a supporter.

Lahn pushes back on claims that he's a ‘part-time Iowan’

At another stop, a few dozen faces crowded at the back of a coffee shop in Hampton, Iowa, just after the lunch rush. Many of them were familiar with each other but less so with the candidate they came to see. Among them were Jay and Sally Van Wert, retired farmer and teacher, who said Lahn seemed like a nice guy, but they didn't know much else.

Several Iowans attending some of Lahn's first publicly advertised events since the primary said they only knew what they’ve seen in advertisements from Sand's campaign. The ads call Lahn a “part-time Iowan" and reference dozens of occasions where Lahn piloted his private plane to and from Kansas since launching his campaign.

“Is he going all the time to Kansas?” asked Larry Streicher, 84, a Republican farmer in the front row in Arlington. “We don’t know anything about him.”

Lahn said he left Iowa for college like so many others but wanted to come home, amplifying a nostalgia for Iowa culture and heritage that resonated with voters, not unlike Trump's “Make America Great Again” message.

He left Iowa again to start a private school funded by the Koch family, which opened in Kansas in 2018. He co-founded the school with his now-wife, Annie, who had been married to Chase Koch, son of conservative billionaire Charles Koch.

Lahn told the crowds he and Annie moved into their Belle Plaine, Iowa, homestead in 2023 after finishing renovations. Lahn bought the farm that had been in his family for a century but sold it after his great-grandmother died.

Douglas Puffett, a farmer from Strawberry Point and member of his county’s GOP central committee, said Lahn's story is like so many other Iowans’ and his vision for Iowa is driven by what drew him back.

“That’s how you inspire the next generation,” said the 40-year-old, who appreciates that Lahn, also 40, is young and has young kids.

Lahn has explained that trips to Kansas are due to his blended family, which includes children from his and Annie’s previous marriages. He doesn't comment on whether he would travel or use taxpayer resources to do so if elected governor, saying it would not impact his ability to govern.

Puffett, who attended Lahn’s Arlington event, thinks 10 years of Republican trifecta have given Sand an opening to appeal to people who might be unhappy with the “Republican establishment,” he said, but Lahn “stacks up really nice” with his calls for reform.

“I think it’s time to kind of roll over the leadership of the Republican Party here in Iowa," he said.

A grassroots campaign receives ‘full embrace’ from the establishment

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to not seek a third term gave Republicans their first wide-open primary since 2010, and five candidates were on the ballot. Lahn overtook U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra by less than a percentage point, or about 1,650 more votes.

Lahn told crowds that he only met Reynolds after the primary, a signal of his distance from Iowa politics. Speaking at the state party’s fundraiser in July, he joked about all the donors who “haven’t been returning my calls” all being in one room.

Since his primary win, Lahn has met with party leaders and Iowa's prominent industry groups. His campaign spent the summer ramping up fundraising, staff and organizing infrastructure.

State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, who is the majority leader of House Republicans, said there may be some differences of opinion or “curiosities, not concerns" about Lahn's positions, but added that's always the case.

Kaufmann met Lahn earlier this year, voted for him in June and said there's been a “full embrace” of the nominee. He said Lahn is not a traditional candidate, but that's what makes his campaign energizing for Republicans who are “constantly craving new leadership."

“I think it began back in 2016 with President Trump,” Kaufmann said. “Republicans don’t rest on our laurels."

The incident was reported in a residential neighborhood, located in the 200 block of Leaflet Lane.

• Klein ISD adds new safety measures ahead of new school year

Deputies said the boy was stabbed in the shoulder. EMS responded to the scene to provide medical attention.

Another juvenile was detained and the investigation is ongoing.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia said it was suspending the counting immediately “in view of the security situation and continued threats of violence.” It did not say who might be responsible for the alleged theft.

The commission said it would review the decision in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the main opposition leader, Brian Mundubile, claimed victory and said the delay could lead to “an opportunity for interference with or manipulation of the results.”

Mundubile said he had received information that members of the military had taken control of vote counting stations in at least one town and boxes containing ballots had been taken away from stations in other places. He did not provide any evidence for that claim.

There was no sign of any unrest in the capital, Lusaka.

Zambia, a former British colony, has held largely peaceful elections since it returned to a multiparty democracy in 1991 but there was some criticism of President Hakainde Hichilema ahead of Thursday's election by the opposition and independent rights groups, which said his government was squeezing dissent.

Mundubile’s alliance had accused the government of being behind a law enforcement agency raid on its offices days before the election and claimed the action was designed to hurt the alliance’s election campaign.

The election in the copper-rich southern African country saw Hichilema seeking a second term in office. Results were initially expected to be announced on Monday, according to the electoral commission, though it said they might come sooner.

Hichilema ran against 13 other candidates including Mundubile, the leader of an alliance of opposition parties who is seen as Hichilema’s strongest challenger.

Zambians also voted for members of Parliament and local government councilors. About 8 million people in the country of 22 million were registered to vote at more than 13,500 polling stations.

The election was largely seen as a test of Hichilema’s economic reforms, and whether they were enough to overcome widespread frustration over the cost of living. Hichilema stabilized the economy after a debt crisis in 2020, but critics say those reforms haven't yet benefited ordinary Zambians struggling with a high cost of living and electricity shortages.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

It is just one way officials across the country are trying to tackle the growing issue, while families navigate a patchwork of local laws and guidance on what kind of souped-up cycles and scooters are safe or even legal for their kids to ride.

New York City’s mayor recently sent cease-and-desist notices to dozens of online retailers for selling products marketed as “e-bikes” that aren’t street legal after a 17-year-old died in a crash on an illicit vehicle. In neighboring New Jersey, new regulations require e-bike riders to be at least 15 and obtain a license and vehicle registration.

But do the measures hit the mark? Cycling advocates worry regulations might be too broad — demonizing low-powered e-bikes instead of speedier motos — while some parents question whether localized, piecemeal strategies are enough.

Monica Stafford, a San Francisco-area mother whose teen daughter fractured her skull falling off an e-bike, said officials are “missing the mark” if they’re seeking to lay the blame solely on parents. The San Rafael resident said a unified, national set of rules is needed.

“We’re in a total Wild West of laws,” Stafford said. “Being for common sense laws doesn’t mean that you’re against e-bikes, just like you can be for cars but not think that it’s safe to put keys in the hands of a 10-year-old.”

E-bike injuries disproportionately impact children, experts say

The two-wheeled machines have become nearly ubiquitous in recent years, from packs of teens zipping around California beach towns to the army of delivery drivers dodging traffic on the congested streets of Manhattan.

Hospital visits for injuries from e-bike, e-scooter and other motorized rides have, as expected, soared as they have grown in popularity, study after study has shown. But researchers stress that the more concerning trends are the severity of the injuries and the fact that they’re especially pronounced among children.

“The big takeaway is that people are generally more severely injured than they would be if they were on a traditional, pedal bicycle,” said Dr. John Austin, a doctor at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine who led a recently published statewide study. “Overall, these patients tend to be younger, they tend to be unhelmeted and, in turn, be more severely injured.”

Recent youth deaths prompt officials to take action

Most e-bikes are classified as nonmotorized vehicles akin to traditional bicycles under federal law, meaning riders don’t need a license, insurance or to even wear a helmet. Most states, though, have enacted additional requirements for higher powered machines, including minimum age and helmet requirements.

In New York City, the death of the 17-year-old just steps from City Hall has spurred renewed debate about the bikes. Gabriel Nacato had been riding a vehicle advertised as an “e-bike” but wasn't legal on city streets.

Earlier this month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned more than 40 online retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Target, that they could face fines of up to $2,000 for each sale of an e-bike that exceeds city regulations.

New York state requires riders of all forms of e-bikes to be at least 16, and New York City imposes additional restrictions, including a 15 mph (24 kph) speed limit. California, in contrast, has no statewide minimum age for lower-powered bikes, though riders must be at least 16 to use e-bikes that can go up to 28 mph (45 kph).

New Jersey and Illinois are among the states that have enacted statewide regulations recently, and Massachusetts is weighing measures. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in June vetoed a 10 mph (16 kph) speed limit and other e-bike regulations, saying the measures would lead to “enhanced surveillance” of citizens.

Other jurisdictions seek to hold parents accountable

In Southern California, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer says his office has more than two dozen open investigations against parents after launching a new unit focused on e-bike and e-motorcycle cases involving children.

The office has already brought charges against four, including the mother of a 14-year-old boy accused of killing an elderly pedestrian while riding an e-motorcycle.

That mother’s attorney declined to comment, but Mitchell Krems, the lawyer for another parent, dismissed the charges against his client as “absurd,” suggesting his client was being made a “scapegoat.”

Richard Eyssallenne pleaded not guilty to child endangerment charges after prosecutors say he bought his 12-year-old son an e-motorcycle and helped him illegally modify it to make it go faster. The boy ran through a red light and was injured by a car.

Other jurisdictions have also taken steps to hold parents liable. In Ohio, a Columbus suburb recently issued new e-bike rules making it clear that parents who knowingly allow their children to break the rules are subject to the same penalties as the rider.

Cycling advocates blame electronic motorcycles

PeopleForBikes, a national bicycle advocacy group that tracks state e-bike regulations, stressed that many of the problematic vehicles are actually electronic motorcycles with heavy frames, sturdy tires and sizable motors that are falsely marketed as e-bikes.

Lower-powered and pedal-assisted e-bikes have been used safely for decades on U.S. streets and are key to reducing society's reliance on cars, advocates argue.

“Many of the dangerous behaviors people cite — running red lights, riding on sidewalks, not wearing helmets — are already illegal,” added Chloé Lauer, executive director of the San Diego County Bike Coalition. “We’d rather see those laws enforced than add new restrictions that limit mobility for kids who are riding responsibly.”

Anya Dalal, a San Francisco-area high school senior who has been advocating for better safety measures, believes the problem requires multiple solutions, including setting age limits.

“It should be a mix of parental accountability, accountability from the manufacturers and retailers and also education for kids to understand e-bike laws and road rules,” said the 17-year-old Hillsborough resident.

Sharon Franke, a San Diego-area mother, agreed, though she said the first step starts at home, with parents doing their research, accompanying their children on rides and reinforcing safety once they set off on their own.

“We want them to have fun, but we also want them to come back safe and we don’t want them to hurt anybody,” she said as her 15- and 12-year-old sons prepared to attend a safety training last weekend. “How do you balance all of it? It’s just overwhelming right now.”

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Associated Press reporters Amy Taxin and Christopher Weber in California and Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed to this story.

___

Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

Catania’s airport will remain closed until early Saturday, which falls on the Ferragosto holiday that marks the height of the Italian summer holiday season when millions flock to the sea and mountains, deserting Italian cities.

While Etna’s activity often interrupts flights at the airport, located 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the volcano, this is the longest emergency since 2002.

“Volcanic ash can be a great risk for aircraft,” said Boris Behncke, a researcher at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology’s Etna Observatory. “It can be sucked into the motors, and force them to stall. This is why everyone is so very cautious with aircraft when there is a volcanic ash emission.”

Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe. The latest activity has been unusual for its persistence and sustained ash emissions. Northerly winds have spread light amounts of ash to Malta and northern Africa.

“There have been many shorter interruptions — and stronger eruptions — over the past few decades, but this event is different because the ash emission from Etna’s summit has been much more persistent,” Behncke said.

The closure has forced planes to be rerouted to other airports on the island, which has pushed up taxi fares and car rental prices, according to the Corriere della Sera daily. The Codacons consumer association has announced it will file a complaint with Italy’s competition authority following complaints about price gouging.

The SAC airport operator said 36% of nearly 2,000 flights scheduled to arrive in Catania from Aug. 6-12 had been canceled, while more than 600 were diverted to Palermo, Trapani and Comiso in Sicily and Lamezia Terme in Calabria. Flights were able to depart Catania over the weekend, but the airport was officially closed to both incoming and outgoing flights Monday. Comiso also was briefly closed.

The Italian train company Trenitalia has added six trains along the Palermo-Messina-Catania route to help ease the travel pressure.

Italy's federation of travel agencies and tour operators has called for a task force to coordinate responses to disruptions caused by Mount Etna and said it would ask for a review of how airlines handled the cancellations and passenger assistance.

“Operators are working around the clock to provide assistance, cancellations and alternative travel arrangements, but they cannot bear the burden of structural shortcomings and the management responsibilities of others," FIAVET President Gian Mario Pilieri said in a statement.

Standard tipoff times for Rockets home games have shifted from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Red Rush 90, a 90-minute pregame experience which launched during the playoffs last season, has been expanded to include all home games. During the 90 minutes from when doors open until tipoff, fans wearing their favorite Rockets gear can enjoy 50% off Michelob ULTRA and domestic beers, all Pepsi products, hot dogs, popcorn and pretzels.

As previously announced, the Rockets will play a pair of preseason games in Macao against the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 9 and Oct. 11 as part of The NBA China Games 2026. The Rockets last played overseas in Japan during the 2019 preseason, while their most recent visit to China came during the 2016 preseason. Houston closes out the preseason at home vs. Oklahoma City on Oct. 15.

Houston has 21 regular season games slated for national television this season, including five on Amazon Prime, five on ESPN, nine on NBC/Peacock and two on Peacock. Space City Home Network and SCHN+ will carry every preseason game and all scheduled regular season games, except for nine that are designated as exclusive national broadcasts.

Opening Night presented by Toyota is vs. Dallas on Oct. 21, followed by a game against San Antonio at Moody Center in Austin on Oct. 23. The Rockets have four Emirates NBA Cup Group Play games at Dallas on Oct. 30, vs. Utah on Nov. 13, at Denver on Nov. 20 and vs. Phoenix on Nov. 25.

Pending the outcome of Emirates NBA Cup Group Play, Houston currently has 15 of its first 25 games at Toyota Center through Dec. 16, including a season high-tying five straight from Nov. 23-Dec. 1. Early season home highlights include Oklahoma City on Oct. 31, Boston on Nov. 2, Golden State on Nov. 11, Philadelphia on Nov. 28, the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 30 and New York on Dec. 14.

From Dec. 18 through the All-Star break, Houston will play 20 of 32 games on the road, including a season-high five in a row from Jan. 18-26. The Rockets have another five-game homestand coming out of the All-Star break before playing nine of 13 games on the road from March 7-31. Four of Houston’s final five regular season games are at Toyota Center, including Fan Appreciation Night presented by Toyota against Portland on April 9.

The warning, issued Aug. 13, involves Model WPX-4 slide playsets manufactured by Wenzhou Yidian Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd.

According to the CPSC, the plastic playsets have multiple openings where a child’s torso can fit through, but the child’s head cannot. That creates a risk of serious injury or death from head and neck entrapment.

The CPSC said it is aware of one entrapment incident involving the playset that resulted in the death of a 17-month-old child.

What the playsets look like

The affected playsets are designed for indoor or outdoor use and include several activity components, including:

• A tunnel
• A slide
• A basketball hoop

Some versions also have a vehicle-shaped component on the side.

The playsets come in several colors, including red, navy, coffee, gray, green and yellow. Consumers can identify the affected product by looking for a label that lists model WPX-4 and Wenzhou Yidian Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd. as the manufacturer.

The products were manufactured in China.

What consumers should do

The CPSC is urging consumers to stop using the playsets immediately and dispose of them.

The agency also warns consumers not to sell or give the playsets away.

Wenzhou Yidian Amusement Equipment Co., Ltd. has not agreed to an acceptable recall of the products, according to the CPSC.

Consumers who experienced an injury or other safety incident involving the product can report it to the CPSC through SaferProducts.gov.

The product safety warning is listed as No. 26-703.

Read the full CPSC warning here.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021, after it launched an offensive as the U.S. and other NATO troops withdrew from the country after two decades of war. The withdrawal led to chaotic scenes at and around Kabul’s airport with thousands wanting to leave.

“Thank God, the past five years have passed in safety,” said Mohammad Qasim, 30, reflecting on the anniversary that comes against a backdrop of economic hardship in a conflict-stricken country. “Our wish and hope from the government is to create job opportunities for the youth.”

“We, along with the entire nation, call upon the government to create employment opportunities for the youth and to encourage them to pursue education,” he added.

Taliban curbs women's rights despite pledge

Before the takeover, the Taliban stated that, upon assuming power, it would allow women access to education, employment and public participation, albeit in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic principles.

Soon after it seized power, the Taliban imposed an indefinite ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and, a few months later, also banned higher education for women until “further notice.”

Women also were banned from entering gyms, parks and public baths, from taking part in sports and traveling to distant locations without a “mahram,” or male guardian.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has repeatedly said the administration is working to establish conditions under which girls and women can attend classrooms or university campuses in line with Islamic Sharia laws. The restrictions, nevertheless, remain in force.

While the U.N. has acknowledged that the country has become more stable since the takeover, it has warned that lasting stability cannot be possible unless the Taliban rulers — who remain isolated internationally — lift restrictions on women and girls, protect basic rights and address terrorism concerns.

“A reduction in conflict has brought tangible benefits for many Afghans and created opportunities to focus on recovery, development and regional economic cooperation,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, said in a statement ahead of the anniversary. It added, however, that the restrictions on women and girls impede Afghanistan’s recovery and its reintegration with the international community.

UN says Afghanistan in world's most severe women's rights crisis

In a statement this week, the U.N.'s agency on women’s rights, said Afghan women and girls are living under the world’s most severe restrictions, which not only violate their rights but also threaten the country’s social and economic future.

“Half a decade after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan has systematically dismantled the rights of half its population, making it a global outlier with no parallel in the modern world,” U.N. Women said.

“In the past year alone, this exclusion of women and girls from education, employment, public life, justice systems and healthcare has only intensified, entrenching what remains the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis,” it said.

Fazila Soroush, a 39-year-old Kabul-based entrepreneur and an advocate for women’s rights, said the government had “demonstrated its worth to the people through its actions in every area.”

“We consider it essential that the officials of the Islamic Emirate who had announced the closure of schools and universities until further notice, now make a clear and practical decision regarding this matter,” she said.

In the streets of Kabul, preparations for the anniversary celebrations were underway. Vendors sold the Taliban’s white with black scripted flags while painters were busy writing slogans in praise of Islamic laws on walls, including: “The Islamic system has been achieved at the cost of the martyrs’ blood” and “Our commitment stands firm: Consolidation and implementation of Islamic Sharia.”

Taliban says it brought security and stability

Molvi Hayatullah Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister in the Taliban government for broadcasting at the Ministry of Information and culture, said in the five years the administration has delivered security, stabilized the currency, improved infrastructure and formed industrial parks that have created jobs.

“Naturally, challenges and difficulties exist, yet we can highlight several accomplishments,” Farahi told The Associated Press.

Farahi, when asked, did not address the issue of the education of girls and women but said “the level of investment made in universities surpasses anything seen in the past.

“The Emirate continues its efforts to further organize and improve services for our citizens in the fields of education and other sectors,” he stated.

The deputy minister rejected a U.N. report that documented terrorist networks in Afghanistan, saying “these are merely enemy propaganda, spread to portray the country as unstable.”

Asked to comment about its international isolation, Farahi insisted the Taliban government was engaged with some 40 countries. The Taliban government currently is only formally recognized by Russia.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has fulfilled all the requirements necessary for official recognition. It is now up to the international community and others to step forward and take the appropriate action,” he said.

UN points at broader educational crisis

The bans have left an estimated 2.4 million girls excluded from secondary education, UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said this week — a 200,000 increase from last year. The restrictions have reversed two decades of progress that Afghanistan had made in education, the agency said.

Pointing at a broader educational crisis, the agency said 53% of primary school-aged children are out of school. Schools lack basic infrastructure such as water, sanitation or heating, while natural disasters have also led to hundreds of school closures.

Meanwhile, the U.N. World Food Program said child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces and is expected to worsen as funding shortfalls force cuts in food distributions and other support.

In Kabul, Dost Mohammad Khan expressed support for the Taliban administration, saying the past five years have brought stability. He said however, that the country needs trained professionals such as doctors and engineers, urging the authorities to keep “all sectors operational.”

“We also call upon the Islamic Emirate to permit women to attend school under the sharia dress code and we urge the public to heed the directives of the Emirate also,” said the 38-year-old.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

As the first week of back-to-school wraps up for many families across the Houston area, we’re heading into the weekend with a quick look at the local headlines making news. Here’s what you need to know today.

As always, follow us for the latest on Click2Houston.com and watch us live on KPRC 2+.

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Weather ⛅

HIGH: 94° LOW: 80°

The KPRC 2 Weather Team says:

“Friday will see a chance for a few isolated downpours but plenty of late summer heat with afternoon highs pushing near 100 for the weekend.”

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Houston’s Top Headlines 📰

2-year-old girl on life support after being severely beaten dies; investigators reviewing for upgraded charges

Harris County investigators say a 2-year-old who was brought unresponsive to a Spring gas station has died, and prosecutors are reviewing whether charges against the child’s mother and her boyfriend should be upgraded — potentially to capital murder. The mother, Jazmin Cisneros, has a bail review scheduled for today, and both she and Gerardo Gonzalez remain jailed on injury-to-a-child charges.

ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on electric shock gloves for officers

DHS says ICE is considering spending $10 million to $20 million on G.L.O.V.E. devices — electric shock gloves officials describe as a less-lethal option that won’t leave lasting marks. Immigrant rights advocates warn the tools could be misused and say stronger oversight is needed, and DHS has not said how many would be purchased or when they’d be deployed.

‘It’s not fair what they’re doing to people’: Tenant sues North Harris County apartments over rent dispute

A tenant at the Palms on Rolling Creek says management wrongly claimed she owed rent after she paid months in advance under a discount offer, prompting her to file a small-claims lawsuit. The complex is already under a judge’s order to address hazardous conditions, and county attorneys have additional lawsuits pending over safety and sewage concerns.

Fort Bend County commissioners move forward with proposed tax rate as standoff over Wong continues

Fort Bend County commissioners moved forward with proposing a property tax rate, but two Democratic commissioners again boycotted the meeting, arguing interim Judge Daniel Wong lacks authority to preside. County officials warn the ongoing standoff could jeopardize cost-of-living raises and delay infrastructure projects as the final tax rate and budget vote approaches Sept. 10.

Back-to-school anxiety? Houston area experts share ways parents can help kids adjust to a new grade

As students prepare to head back to the classroom, parents are checking off school supply lists, buying new clothes and getting back into routines. But experts say preparing children emotionally for a new school year is just as important.

Whether your child is starting kindergarten, moving to middle school or simply entering a new grade, it’s normal for them to feel nervous about the transition.

Back to school! Send us your first-day photos on Click2Pins

Friendswood ISD says the start of the school year at Westwood Elementary School will be delayed as the district works to deal with moisture and mold inside the building.

In a letter posted by the district on Facebook, the district said it hired a third-party environmental consultant to conduct air and surface testing in July after campus administration reported increased moisture and additional visible surface mold in portions of the building.

Back-to-School schemes are on the rise: What parents need to know before clicking

The backpacks are packed, the alarms are set and for thousands of Houston-area students, it’s time to head back to class!

Whether you’re snapping that traditional front-door photo before heading to the bus stop, documenting the morning drop-off or catching some interesting weather along the way, share your photos and videos with KPRC 2 through Click2Pins.

When does school start? Here’s when Houston-area districts return for the 2026-27 school year

Summer break is winding down, and students across the Houston area will soon be heading back to the classroom.

Several school districts begin classes during the second week of August, while others won’t welcome students back until later in the month.

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A rescue operation was launched after a sudden rush of water and debris entered the tunnel at the Vishnugad-Pipalkoti hydroelectric project in Chamoli district later Thursday night, said top district official Gaurav Kumar.

Of 22 people who were working in the tunnel, 12 have been rescued alive and another three are still missing, the chief minister of Uttarakhand state Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters.

Rescue teams from the national and state Disaster Response Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and fire services are fighting rising water and debris with as they search for the remaining workers, officials said.

“When our team reached the site and started the operation, there was a lot of water inside the tunnel and water was also seeping from the sides. Since then, the water level has increased considerably,” said the commander of the National Disaster Response Force team, Amrit Lal Meena.

Construction accidents are common in India, where rapid infrastructure growth often collides with fragile geology, construction lapses, extreme weather and safety standards.

In the Himalayan region, fragile mountains, seismic activity and unpredictable underground conditions make tunnel projects especially risky. An explosion inside a coal mine in neighboring Meghalaya state in February killed at least 18 workers. In 2023, a tunnel section in northern Uttarakhand state collapsed, trapping 41 workers for 17 days before they were rescued.

It happened at 2816 Walnut Bend Lane.

Lt. Larry Crowson said there was some sort of argument that escalated into the shooting. It is unclear what the argument was about at this time.

Westside officers are at a shooting scene 2800 Walnut Bend. Adult male deceased at the scene. Possible suspect detained. 202 pic.twitter.com/PfWh1iSH4a

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) August 14, 2026

The suspected shooter turned himself in to police after the shooting and is claiming self-defense.

Deputies responded around 9:30 p.m. to the 13300 block of Highway 249 for a reported auto-pedestrian crash. Investigators said the woman was trying to cross the roadway when she was struck.

Houston EMS personnel pronounced her dead at the scene, authorities said.

• 2-year-old girl on life support after being severely beaten dies; investigators reviewing for upgraded charges

The driver of a Toyota sedan remained at the location, showed no signs of impairment and has been cooperative with investigators, HCSO said. Deputies noted the woman was not crossing at a marked crosswalk.

HCSO is handling the investigation.

The storm is forecast to bring rain to the Hawaiian Islands starting late Friday as well as high winds and dangerous surf, the National Hurricane Center said.

A hurricane warning is in effect for Hawaii County and a tropical storm watch is in place for Maui County including the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe, forecasters said.

Lala was about 455 miles (735 kilometers) east-southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and about 670 miles (1,075 kilometers) east-southeast of Honolulu with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) while moving west-northwest, the Miami-based center said.

Lala is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the Big Island. It's expected to be near the island Saturday. A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected, and it is typically issued 36 hours before potential tropical-storm-force winds.

The system could bring rainfall totals of 8 inches to a foot (up to about 30 centimeters) across Maui and the Big Island, with as much as 25 inches (nearly 64 centimeters) possible across the Big Island, forecasters said. That could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, the center said.

Also in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Hernan formed Thursday but wasn't threatening land and was weakening while moving south.

Hernan was about 1,505 miles (2,420 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico with maximum sustained winds around 40 mph (65 kph), the center said.

In the Atlantic Ocean, former Tropical Storm Cristobal weakened and degenerated into a post-tropical remnant low on Thursday, the center said. It was about 500 miles (805 kilometers) west of the Azores and didn't threaten land.

The backing came from 2030 World Cup co-host Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Mauritania, Lebanon and Sudan, with four of the signatories being FIFA council members.

“We, the undersigned leaders of our respective football associations, express our full support for Mr. Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, and reaffirm our confidence in his leadership and continued commitment to the development of football worldwide,” the statement read.

“We deeply appreciate Mr. Infantino’s sustained efforts to advance football globally, expand opportunities across all regions and strengthen the game’s role in bringing people and communities together.”

The statement said the signatories “look forward to continuing our close cooperation with him towards a stronger and more prosperous future for world football, expanding opportunities and further enhancing Arab football’s contribution to the global game.”

Infantino is facing a revolt after his plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors. He withdrew the $20 billion proposal after a furious backlash by global soccer officials, including European body UEFA, which has warned of a boycott of all FIFA games and events.

UEFA teamed up with CONCACAF — the confederation for North, Central America and the Caribbean — and the Asian Football Confederation — and issued an open letter Monday saying Infantino’s plan was a “fundamental breach of trust” and described it as “deception.”

And on Thursday, the Football Association of Ireland said in a statement it has withdrawn its support for Infantino to be re-elected as FIFA president in March, saying “recent events have raised significant concerns regarding governance, transparency and the lack of meaningful consultation.”

The soccer federations in England and Wales did the same last week, while Northern Ireland said it was backing UEFA's stance.

New Zealand Football issued a statement Friday local time saying it had withdrawn its support for the candidature of Infantino and was seeking an independent review of steps taken to develop the FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme.

New Zealand Football broke ranks with its Oceania confederation, saying it “formed the view that decisions and actions within FIFA have contributed to a breakdown in trust and increased division within international football, and that an independent review is required to restore confidence and trust.”

Without commenting on Infantino's position, the OFC said it welcomed FIFA’s decision to withdraw the FFE proposal and its commitment to review the issues surrounding the project.

“OFC recognizes the progress achieved over the last decade in advancing football development in Oceania under FIFA’s leadership and encourages FIFA to use the review as an opportunity to identify and implement any changes that may be necessary," the statement said.

Schism in Asian bloc over Infantino support

By expressing support for Infantino, Qatar and Lebanon aligned against the Asian Football Confederation. Infantino’s official Instagram account previously has posted letters of support from several member federations, including Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The four FIFA council members among the signatories were Qatar Football Association president Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Egyptian Football Association president Hany Abo Rida, Moroccan Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa and Mauritanian Football Federation president Ahmed Yahya.

The other two were Lebanese Football Association president Hashem Haidar and Moatasem Gafar, president of the Sudan Football Association.

Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and seemed sure to be re-elected unopposed next year in Morocco.

FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to come forward.

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

Many Christians in Israel, who make up less than 2% of the country’s population, are worried visible signs of their faith will draw harassment, which has increased as multiple conflicts grip the region.

“I’m scared after the sister was beat up,” said Sister Mayela, a Mexican nun who’s lived in Jerusalem on and off for more than two decades. “Before, one could live with more confidence. Some people spat, some said hi. Now we have to live trusting in God.”

She finds resilience in her faith — and in support from Israelis like the volunteers. Even that, though, didn’t prevent a teen from spitting right behind her as they passed a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews recently. The teen said she was only clearing her throat, but the volunteer reported it to police.

Incidents like that are among the challenges for Christians in Israel, particularly since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, plunged the country back into war and polarization. But interfaith leaders and researchers are encouraged by better policing and prosecution as well as the recent appointment of a government envoy to the Christian world, who is Greek Orthodox.

In northern Israel, many Christians say they feel the state isn’t doing enough to protect them from crime because they’re not Jewish. But those concerns didn’t stop groups of Catholics from joining a recent joyous pilgrimage on Mount Tabor, where the Gospels say Jesus appeared transfigured alongside the Jewish prophets Moses and Elijah.

“In a world where darkness is filling the hearts of people, we need to diffuse God’s light to other people,” said Sister Muna, the nun who led one youth group.

For many Christians and Jews, protecting coexistence in the Holy Land is a moral imperative after their own long histories of religious persecution.

“I don’t want Christians to go out of their house in Jerusalem … and have fear,” said Yisca Harani, the Jewish Israeli educator and activist who escorted Sister Mayela. “I’ve gone through this 2,000 years in my Jewish history. I’m not going to let that happen.”

Occasional flare-ups occur in multifaith Old City

In the Old City, Jewish men in black hats and tzitzit tassels, Muslim women in hijabs and Christian priests in flowing robes walk past each other daily in the maze of stone alleyways. Many are headed to pray at the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. These are some of the most sacred sites respectively for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and they are close to each other.

“If you stroll around in your habit, sooner or later you’ll get some spitting next to you,” said the Rev. Alberto Pari, who leads interfaith dialogue and Christian-Jewish relations as secretary to the Custody of the Holy Land, the Catholic order ministering to holy sites across the region. “But it’s important not to generalize, because that unleashes antisemitism.”

Religious Freedom Data Center, the organization that Harani founded to track harassment of Christians, has recorded a near-tripling of incidents in Jerusalem from four years ago to the last three months recorded — about one a day now — virtually all by Jewish religious nationalists.

A Jewish man from a settlement in the occupied West Bank was indicted in the violent attack on the nun in April. The French Biblical and Archeological School of Jerusalem where the nun is a researcher expects “effective prosecution at the criminal and civil levels,” said the school’s director, Friar Olivier Poquillon.

Israel's government tackles anti-Christian incidents

Among those reaching out to Catholic leaders to denounce the attack and offer support was Ambassador George Deek, Israel's new envoy tasked with building what he calls the “special relationship” between Christians and the country, to both keep Christians safe and partner on issues like fighting antisemitism.

“We believe that every incident against Christians is immoral, illegal and should be prosecuted. That’s exactly what we are going to do,” Deek told The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that Israel continues to prosper and grow as a place where Christians can not only survive, but they can thrive.”

Around the time that the nun was attacked, two other incidents drew global condemnation. An Israeli soldier smashed a crucifix in a family garden and another stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon, where the military is fighting Hezbollah militants. The soldiers involved received military prison sentences.

Most Israelis find harassment unacceptable. But Jewish religious nationalists, particularly uneducated young men, remain a threat, said John Munayer of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue, an interreligious organization in Jerusalem.

Their hostility to Christians is grounded in the history of persecution of Jews in Christian-majority European countries, in faith practices they see as idol-worshipping, and in a “general intolerance” for anyone who’s not Jewish near sacred areas like the Western Wall, Munayer said.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict spills over in Christian-Jewish tensions

Then there’s the overhanging trauma of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since most local Christians in Israel and the occupied West Bank are Palestinian.

In Taybeh, the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank, Jewish settlers recently cut through house fences and destroyed fruit and vegetable gardens, said the Rev. Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church.

“All the people here are afraid,” he said. “Settlers come and go every day.”

Israel’s army declared the village a closed military zone earlier this week to curb the attacks. But concerns about Israel’s ability and willingness to rein in the settlers remain even among evangelicals, who are among the staunchest Christian supporters of Israel.

“What happens in Taybeh is really troubling,” said David Parsons, spokesperson for International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. “Israeli leaders have realized for some time that Christian support for their nation is not only vital, it’s a strategic interest.”

And yet since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, “generalized fear and skepticism” pervaded all interreligious work, Pari said. The interfaith music institute he directs, Magnificat, was invited to play at a peace march in Jerusalem. But when the Palestinian members saw that the stage had been set up by an Old City gate flanked by Israeli flags, they refused to play.

“I felt a real failure,” Pari said. “We think that as Christians, we have a very important role to patch things back together. ... It will be difficult, but we can do it.”

Israeli Christians hold tight to faith and identity

That faith-grounded resilience prevailed among the Mount Tabor pilgrims, who gathered on the mountain to celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration last week. Rising interfaith tensions and crime have driven many of the area’s Christians to emigrate, several said.

“It’s very difficult that we keep our identity as Christians in the Middle East, but it’s the most important,” said John Akleh, 20, who came with Sister Muna’s group.

Ten pilgrims from nearby Nazareth — where Jesus grew up — started the climb at 4:15 a.m. led by the Rev. Fadi Shallufi in a yearly tradition they’ve maintained even in wartime.

“We will have a lot of sacrifice, but you will be sure in this land something will change,” Shallufi told them as he celebrated Mass in the mountaintop basilica.

___

Associated Press journalists Ibrahim Hazboun and Moshe Edri contributed from Jerusalem.

___

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.

“I’m not too concerned,” deGrom said following a 7-0 loss to the Angels. “I mean, hopefully I’ll make my next (start). We’ll see. It was tight in the second inning, and it just didn’t want to loosen up,
so I don’t know, I haven’t really had this before.”

The 38-year-old right-hander, who has been dealing with a left hip and glute injury since the All-Star break, escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the first but gave up two runs and five hits during a 32-pitch second. He was replaced by right-hander Peyton Gray to begin the third with the Angels leading 2-0.

It was the first time deGrom permitted five hits in an inning since Sept. 5, 2017, with the New York Mets.

“I wasn’t going to risk it once I heard (it was) the triceps,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “Obviously, you don’t want to hear anything arm-related. You pull a guy out in the second inning, it’s concerning. But we’ll figure it out when he gets some imaging. We won’t know until they get in there.”

This seven-game road trip began with the Rangers placing pitcher Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list because of elbow inflammation Monday. Texas beat the Angels 4-1 that night but lost the next three games to fall to 60-62 and two games behind first-place Houston in the AL West.

Now, the Rangers might have to navigate the next few weeks without their two best starting pitchers.

“Our starting pitching has taken a hit, that is reality,” Schumaker said. “With two guys going down, we’ll see what it looks like, but it’s never easy when you’re No. 1 and No. 2 guys are down.”

A two-time Cy Young Award winner, deGrom allowed six hits, struck out three and walked one. He needs two strikeouts to become the ninth active pitcher and 94th in major league history to reach 2,000.

In three starts against the Angels this season, deGrom has yielded 10 earned runs in 10 innings.

“It was very disappointing,” he said of Thursday night's start. “I needed to go out there and give us some length and wasn’t able to do it. I said I could probably keep going, and they said, ‘Well, we’re not going to risk this right now,’ so we’ll just see how it is tomorrow and I’ll go from there.”

One of baseball’s best pitchers when healthy, deGrom made at least 31 starts per season and pitched to a 2.53 ERA across 622 1/3 innings from 2017-19 with the Mets.

He won NL Cy Young Awards with New York in 2018 and 2019 and led the National League with 255 strikeouts in 2019 and 104 strikeouts during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

But deGrom made only 35 starts because of injuries from 2021-24 and underwent his second Tommy John surgery in June 2023, which sidelined him for much of his first two seasons with Texas in 2023 and 2024.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Australia led all but 150 meters of the women's 4 x 200 freestyle relay, with the team of Inez Miller, Lani Pallister, Hannah Casey and Milla Jansen winning in 7 minutes, 42.40 seconds to lower the country's championship mark of 7:44.12 set at the 2018 Pan Pacs.

Katie Ledecky swam the anchor leg for the U.S., but couldn't overhaul Jansen although she got within a body length in the closing meters. Erin Gemmell, Anna Peplowski, Rylee Erisman and Ledecky took silver in 7:43.10, also going under the old championship mark.

“I've kind of struggled with the 200 individually from a flat start over the last couple years, but I always know I'll have something in me for the relay and I'll pull out a good split,” Ledecky said. “I love swimming that anchor leg.”

McIntosh helped Canada earn the relay bronze.

The U.S. team of Luke Hobson, Aaron Shackell, Patrick Sammon and Gabriel Jett won the men's 4 x 200 free relay in a championship record of 6:59.37. The Americans led the entire race, with Jett's explosive turn off the final wall helping him hold off a charging Sam Short of Australia on the anchor leg.

“I just kind of poured everything on,” Jett said. “I swim with my eyes closed, so I didn't know where I was.”

McIntosh briefly dipped under her own world-record pace early in the 400 IM. McIntosh finished in a championship record time of 4:28.01 after qualifying second-quickest for the eight-woman final at the outdoor pool.

McIntosh was disappointed with her time in the 200 free after losing to Pallister of Australia on opening night of the four-day international meet.

“Just trying to forget about it,” McIntosh said.

Jenna Forrester of Australia was second in 4:31.50. Agostina Hein, an 18-year-old from Argentina, took bronze after coming into the final with the fastest time in preliminaries.

Meg Harris of Australia surprised herself with a victory in the women's 100 freestyle from Lane 6. She touched in 52.60 seconds, beating American Gretchen Walsh, who was second in 52.78 after being 0.01 seconds under world-record pace at the turn. Olivia Wunsch of Australia was third.

American Simon Manuel, the 2016 Olympic champion, finished fourth.

The U.S. went 1-2 in the men's 100. Jack Alexy won in 47.14, lowering his championship-record time of 47.40 from the preliminaries. Teammate Patrick Sammon was second at 47.62. Guilherme Caribe of Brazil was third.

American McKenzie Siroky won the 100 breaststroke for her first international medal. She outdueled Tang Qianting of China down the stretch to touch first in 1:05.32. Tang was second in 1:05.46.

The U.S. swept the 50 backstroke events.

Quintin McCarty won the men's race in 24.51, lowering the championship record set by Isaac Cooper of Australia in the prelims. Cooper took silver.

Katharine Berkoff won the women's race in a career-best 26.90, bettering her championship mark set in the prelims. Teammate Regan Smith was second in 27.14.

American Van Mathias earned his third medal of the meet, winning the 100 breaststroke in 58.02, lowering his championship record from the prelims. He took silver in the 50 butterfly and gold in the world record-setting 4 x 100 mixed medley relay Wednesday.

The men's 400 IM was won by Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan in 4:06.75. His time erased American Ryan Lochte's championship mark of 4:07.59 set at the 2010 Pan Pacs, also in Irvine.

“Next time I come back to the U.S. I'm going to get gold again,” a smiling Matsushita said through a translator.

American Carson Foster was second.

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The Heisman Trophy winner led one touchdown drive for the Raiders (0-1) in four series — not including a kneel-down at the end of the first half — and finished 10 of 16 for 97 yards and a 6-yard TD pass to Jack Bech.

“I thought he led a good scoring drive as far as getting in and out of the huddle and commanding the group and getting the play calls down,” Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said. “I saw the same guy that we’ve seen in practice. I see an ascending player.”

Mendoza was more critical in his self-evaluation.

“Unfortunately, I let my teammates down today,” Mendoza said. “But it's a growing experience, and I feel like we're all growing. It showed me that I need to grow a lot.”

Mendoza became the first top overall draft selection to throw a touchdown pass in his first preseason game since 2018, when Baker Mayfield had two for Cleveland against the New York Giants.

Mendoza just missed a second touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, throwing beyond the reach of Deven Thompkins. He was sharp at times, threading a 19-yard pass in the second quarter between three defenders to fellow rookie Malik Benson.

While noting that everything came together on that play, including his timing with the receiver, Mendoza said some of his throws were a bit off.

“There's other passes I made that did not have great timing and anticipation,” Mendoza said. “But that was one that was a good connection. You see (starter) Kirk (Cousins) is timing and anticipation — boom, boom, boom. So that's an area I've got to grow in.”

The expected rematch of college football national championship quarterbacks didn't happen because the Cardinals (1-1) decided not to play Carson Beck, who has sore ribs. Mendoza led Indiana to a 27-21 victory over Beck and Miami in the title game in January.

“Being the preseason, we just didn't want to risk it,” Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur said. “It was kind of a bummer for our fan base and (media) and me and all us because we want to see these guys out there.”

Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby also did not play, which wasn't completely unexpected after Kubiak said Tuesday that his playing status was to be determined. Crosby, who underwent knee surgery in January, has participated in training camp.

Teammate Jermod McCoy, who hasn't played in nearly two years because of a torn ACL, played with the second-team defense at cornerback. He was the primary defender on two Cardinals touchdowns.

Each team's starting quarterback played one series, both resulting in touchdowns.

Las Vegas' Cousins was 5 of 6 for 50 yards and a 13-yard touchdown pass to Michael Mayer. Arizona's Jacoby Brissett completed all five passes for 44 yards and a 7-yard TD to Marvin Harrison Jr.

Brissett and former Raider Gardner Minshew combined to go 15 of 15 for 123 yards and three touchdowns in the first half to build a 21-14 lead. That string of completions extended 16 early in the second half before Minshew finally threw an incomplete pass on a rollout to the right.

Rookie Jeremiyah Love, drafted third overall by the Cardinals, made his preseason debut and rushed for 58 yards on 11 carries.

Injury report

Cardinals: Rookie right guard Chase Bisontis, who was drafted in the second round, injured his left knee. LaFleur said the injury appears serious. ... LaFleur said he didn't think Love's ankle injury was a major concern.

Up next

Cardinals: Host Dallas on Aug. 22.

Raiders: At Houston next Thursday.

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Trump is visiting the Nassau County Police Academy in suburban Long Island, where the White House said he will release new FBI crime statistics showing a decrease in violent crime for 2025.

“President Trump promised to make America safe again and the data proves he has done just that,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said. “Unlike Defund-the-Police Democrats, President Trump will always stand with our law enforcement officers and deliver safer American neighborhoods.”

Trump's visit is aimed at boosting Republican candidates in closely contested races across his home state, but just how much his presence will help is in question as he faces lagging approval ratings and a deeply unpopular war in Iran with no end in sight.

Trump narrowly won Nassau County in 2024, flipping it for Republicans for the first time in more than two decades. It's home to two Democratic House seats that Republicans now see as winnable this fall, and it's home turf for Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman, the Trump-endorsed Republican challenging Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Trump will be joined by Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel in Nassau County, which has one of the largest police forces in the nation.

Crime becoming a theme in New York races

It's the second time this year Trump has visited New York in support of Blakeman and other Republicans. He stopped by the Hudson Valley area in May for a speech in which he said Blakeman would curb “out of control” crime.

Crime has emerged as a significant issue in the governor's race, with both candidates claiming to have the better track record of making New Yorkers safe. Hochul visited a different Long Island police department in July to announce a statewide investment in policing technology.

A statement from Blakeman said he's grateful Trump is visiting “to tour our outstanding, state-of-the-art law enforcement facilities” and pay tribute to law enforcement workers.

In a Fox Business interview Thursday, Blakeman played down concerns that Trump's visit would be unpopular with voters in New York City.

“When the most powerful person in the world comes to visit you and shows that you have a relationship together, I think that’s a very good thing,” Blakeman said, adding that even voters who disagree with Trump might appreciate a governor with a direct line to the president.

Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said the governor "has invested billions in public safety to protect New Yorkers — ‘MAGA all the way’ Bruce Blakeman is bringing Donald Trump to tour the county where he let violent crime spike to decade highs and Trump’s unaccountable ICE agents abuse their power.”

For GOP, safety is seen as a winning issue

Matt Gorman, a Republican strategist, said Trump's visit stands to boost Blakeman along with Republican challengers looking to unseat a pair of Democratic incumbents in Nassau County districts. Michael LiPetri Jr. is challenging Rep. Tom Suozzi in New York's 3rd Congressional District, while Jeanine Driscoll is opposing Rep. Lauren Gillen in the 4th Congressional District.

The focus on crime is seen as a cornerstone issue for Republicans that appeals to Trump's base along with suburban swing voters, Gorman said.

“On the strategic level, crime is an issue that Republicans feel comfortable going on offense with, where the country kind of broadly agrees with them,” he said.

Trump is touting the issue as he faces low approval ratings on a number of other issues, including the economy and the Iran war. An AP-NORC poll from August 2025 found that Trump’s handling of crime was among his strongest issues, though his approval on the issue had fallen by 10 points by December 2025.

Trump lashes out over report finding he hasn't reduced crime

While many of Trump's recent swing-state speeches have focused on his tax breaks and economic policies, Trump often mentions his effort to curb crime by deploying the National Guard in Washington, New Orleans and other Democrat-led cities.

This week, Trump lashed out at the Center for American Progress and threatened to sue the liberal think tank over a report finding that the National Guard deployments failed to reduce crime. Without giving evidence, Trump said in a social media post that “crime is way down since I took Office, and they know it.”

For Trump, talking about crime reduction during his trip to New York offers a chance to reach voters across political and class divisions, said Jesse Hunt, a Republican strategist.

“The issue of crime and safety is a massive winner for Republicans,” Hunt said. “What we’ve seen from the Trump administration and Republicans in general is a real focus on that issue. And they should highlight the successes.”

The White House said the new FBI statistics will show year-over-year decreases in murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Crime experts often caution against drawing too much from single-year changes and encourage a focus on long-term patterns.

“I commented a week ago on that,” Kiffin said after practice in Baton Rouge. “That's the comment that I had and we're moving forward.”

LSU's official online store has removed replica Daniels jerseys from the menu of those for sale, which include the No. 9 of 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and the No. 3 of former star receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

Meanwhile, Pickett showed no interest in relinquishing the No. 5 when he spoke with reporters after Thursday's practice.

“I’ve been wearing the number my whole life, since I was 4 years old,” Pickett said. “That was the number I was promised. I wish Jayden the best. Good player — he did real good here.”

Daniels, drafted second overall by the Washington Commanders in 2024, said in a social media post on Thursday that the matter would not affect his preparation for the NFL season.

“I have been locked in on training camp and that has been my No. 1 focus,” Daniels said in the post. “I have a lot of gratitude for my time at LSU and I'm proud of what my teammates and I accomplished there.

“Obviously there are issues to get worked out” with LSU, Daniels continued. “My hope is that it will get done privately. ... I realize the business of football is unique and I trust that this can all be resolved.”

Daniels' statement came in the wake of reports about a letter in which his Miami-based attorney, Adam Kenner, demanded that LSU no longer use his client's name, image or likeness to promote the university or its athletic programs.

Pickett wore a No. 3 jersey as a freshman last year but was wearing No. 5 when August camp opened last week. The 6-foot-5 cornerback is a former five-star recruit who had three interceptions in 2025.

Kiffin said last week that Pickett was promised the opportunity to wear No. 5 when he signed with LSU in December 2024, when Brian Kelly was coaching the Tigers. Kelly was fired in October 2025, and Kiffin was hired at the end of the regular season.

“When a kid’s promised something to come to a school, he should wear it,” Kiffin said during an Aug. 5 media session. “So at that point, I don’t think it’s really my decision. We should honor what he was told.”

Pickett is the first player to wear No. 5 since Daniels left LSU. Under LSU policy, the only number football players cannot wear is No. 20, worn by the late Billy Cannon, who was the Tigers' first Heisman winner in 1959.

Top LSU officials, including athletic director Verge Ausberry, have declined to comment on the matter.

A number of images of Daniels that are on display at LSU would be considered in the public domain, and not subject to any contractual agreements between the university and the quarterback. But LSU has in the past featured Daniels in promotional videos shown in Tiger Stadium or and elsewhere, and it remains to be seen whether LSU might edit some of those out should the dispute become protracted.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow — who won the 2019 Heisman Trophy and led LSU to a national title — declined to comment on the specifics of Daniels' situation after Thursday night’s preseason game against the Detroit Lions. But he said he's had conversations about his No. 9 not being issued to another player.

“They told me that they wouldn’t use it again, but you never know what happens,” he said.

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AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cincinnati contributed to this report.

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In all, three ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthis struck the ship in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, just off Yemen’s coast, as it was coming into port, killing six people and injuring at least nine others, according to Yemeni authorities.

It was part of an escalating campaign by the Houthis and their first deadly attack this year on a vessel navigating the strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and accounts for roughly 12% of global trade.

“People were burning ... it was a strange scene of doomsday,” said Zaheer Ahmed, a Pakistani crew member recovering at a hospital in the port city of Mokha.

“I shouted for help and a Yemeni soldier came to my aid,” said Ahmed, who was injured in both legs.

All three of the crew members The Associated Press interviewed Wednesday at the hospital described intense fire, panic and damage aboard the ship, which was struck before dawn on Tuesday.

Muhammad Alteno, an Indonesian crew member, said he was in “complete shock” after witnessing another Indonesian crew member — a friend — die in the attack. Alteno said he had tried to rescue his friend, who was trapped inside the room they shared, after the first missile strike.

“But the flames were so intense that I couldn't breathe,” Alteno said. “I managed to escape with some of the (other) crew members.”

Two members of Yemen's government-allied National Resistance Forces were killed in the attack, as were three crew members from Pakistan.

The attack was one of many in recent weeks by the Houthis, who have killed government forces and civilians in an escalating campaign on the government-held city of Mokha and other areas, according to the Yemeni military. The rebel group has also intensified its attacks on troops and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government.

The attacks risk reigniting Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 U.N.-brokered truce, and could open a new front in the Middle East war.

The Houthis declared a blockade several weeks ago on Saudi-linked ships leaving the Bab al-Mandeb strait in retaliation for a yearslong Saudi siege on Yemen and recent attacks on the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa. The Houthis had said they would only stop vessels connected to Saudi Arabia or going in and out of its Red Sea ports.

During a similar blockade it announced during the war in Gaza, the Houthis attacked over 100 vessels before a punishing U.S. and Israeli air campaign put an end to the attacks in early 2025.

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Ezzidin reported from Cairo.

The wildfires across the West Midlands, which saw several houses burned to the ground, have been “one of the most significant” incidents the region’s fire service has ever dealt with, chief fire officer Simon Tuhill said.

A child and three firefighters were taken to the hospital following the wildfire in Stourbridge.

West Midlands mayor Richard Parker described the “multiple fires across our region” as an “extremely worrying and fast-moving situation."

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been kept abreast of the situation and has, according to Parker, pledged to support fire and rescue services in the West Midlands with any additional resources they need.

The fires, the cause of which has yet to be determined and which could take days to put out, came on the hottest day of the year, when the mercury struck 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in west London, a tenth of a degree higher than the previous high set on June 28.

Britain is experiencing its fifth heat wave of the year, with the first recorded in May. The latest extreme heat means 2026 has now had a record four days with temperatures of 36 C (96.8 F) or higher. It also has matched 2022 with two days reaching 38 C.

These are historic temperatures as a result of human-caused climate change.

Nearby France has also endured its fifth heat wave this year and, if anything, the situation is worse. Temperatures in France approached 41 C (106 F) in several areas, from Aquitaine in the southwest to the Rhone River valley in the east, according to the national weather service.

Britain and France ill-equipped for this sort of heat

This summer has shown that both Britain and France are ill-equipped to deal with these levels of heat. Air conditioning is a rarity outside of shops and offices, for example.

In Britain, nurses have collapsed from heat exhaustion while working in hospitals, many housed in aging buildings that lack adequate cooling, the Royal College of Nursing said Thursday.

“When nursing staff are collapsing, feeling dizzy, sick or even being admitted to the very hospitals they work in because their workplaces cannot handle the heat, it shows just how badly they are being failed,” said Nicola Ranger, the college’s chief executive and general secretary.

Wildfire fears remain a clear and present danger

With the land parched and no sign of any meaningful rain coming, authorities across Europe remain on high alert for wildfires.

French firefighters were back in action after a desperate summer and are threatening to go on strike to demand more staff and resources to cope with increasingly extreme weather events.

One broke out late Wednesday in the northern Pas-de-Calais region, and another in Brittany, far from the hotter, drier and more fire-prone regions in southern France. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux last month and pushed a quarter of a million people from their homes.

In northern Greece, more than 300 vacationers and residents were evacuated by sea Thursday after a wildfire swept through a pine forest and threatened seaside homes, authorities said.

The Fire Service said nine water-dropping planes and seven helicopters were assisting 250 firefighters around the Siviri resort on the popular Halkidiki peninsula. There were no initial reports of injuries or serious property damage.

In Britain, which is increasingly looking sandy brown rather than its traditional luscious green, firefighters have been out in force this week trying to contain a wildfire in the New Forest in southern England.

Some 1,017 wildfires have been recorded in England and Wales this year, according to data from the National Fire Chiefs Council, the same as last year’s record-breaking total.

Though not on the same level as those witnessed in France, Greece and Spain, they provide ample evidence of the need for the U.K. to adjust to a new reality.

Unsurprisingly, drought conditions are spreading

Like many parts of Europe, Britain and France are facing widespread drought conditions that have shriveled crops and drained rivers, heaping pressure on water resources for households, agriculture and the environment, and forcing all parts of society to seek both short- and long-term measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Britain’s Southern Water, which oversees supplies in the south of England, has applied for a rare drought order which would ban businesses from nonessential water use, including cleaning cars and filling nondomestic swimming pools, saying an “exceptional” lack of rain is threatening supplies. Environment Secretary Angela Eagle will decide on the application, which would be the first such ban since May 2006.

With temperatures soaring, many people headed to beaches and outdoor pools or found other ways to cool off. In Bordeaux in southwestern France, children and adults sought relief in the city’s iconic “water mirror.” Some frolicked in fountains, splashed their faces and filled up water bottles. Birds too quenched their thirst.

The most intense heat is forecast to move eastward away from Britain and France on Friday and then recede over the weekend.

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Charlton reported from Paris. Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece contributed.

The pregame pomp before the Minnesota Twins played the Philadelphia Phillies — adjacent to the farmland where the 1989 fantasy was filmed — featured 26 members of the Hall of Fame emerging from the outfield corn just as the ghost players did in the movie.

With some of the loudest cheers saved for former Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt and former Twins catcher Joe Mauer, the capacity crowd of about 8,000 at the newly constructed ballpark in northeast Iowa soaked up the surreal atmosphere as the aged stars strolled into the infield for proper introductions.

Fireworks were launched from the cornfield during the national anthem, and Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber followed with his own big bang — a stalk shot to right on Twins starter Taj Bradley's third pitch of the game that set the tone for a 7-1 win on Thursday night.

After stealing the show at the inaugural 2021 event, which was played on the same footprint at a temporary setup that also hosted the 2022 game, Kevin Costner did not appear.

But the star of the film — as the restless farmer Ray Kinsella who reconnects with his late father by playing catch on his front-yard ballfield — narrated the pregame video that helped pump some old-guard nostalgia through the new-school broadcast on global streaming giant Netflix.

Both teams emerged from the corn together to take their places along the lines like on opening day, and Twins All-Star Byron Buxton — who came off the injured list in the afternoon to play — took the microphone to evoke a line from James Earl Jones, who played the author Terence Mann in the movie.

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball," Buxton said before Schwarber followed with a brief script on an idyllic late-summer night after heavy rain moved through the area earlier in the day.

Then came the legends, and living ones at that, unlike those wool-clad lads in the movie.

Schmidt and Steve Carlton wore Phillies uniforms along with Jim Kaat, who played for both teams. Mauer and Bert Blyleven donned Twins jerseys. The others — Andruw Jones, Harold Baines, Fred McGriff, Adrián Beltré, Andre Dawson, Larry Walker, Cal Ripken Jr., Iván Rodríguez, Jim Thome, Scott Rolen, Tony Pérez, Tony La Russa, Jeff Kent, Fergie Jenkins, Joe Torre, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman — helped form a half-ring around the diamond to represent about one-third of the Cooperstown contingent that's still alive.

This was the largest such gathering at a ballpark, not including the annual ceremonies at the Hall of Fame in upstate New York, since the All-Star Game in 2008 that feted the final season at old Yankee Stadium.

Phillies manager Don Mattingly relished the brief pregame mingle before the grand entrance, with many in the group contemporaries of his as a player in the 1980s and 1990s and a few others in Jones and Kent he was able to coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“It was definitely good to see the boys,” Mattingly said.

No place evokes baseball and family nostalgia like the Field of Dreams

Before the game, Buxton played catch with his 12-year-old son on the nearby movie site that remains open to the public for no cost on non-event days. Twins manager Derek Shelton did the same with his 78-year-old father, a former educator who coached him on his high school baseball team. Shelton later complained that his arm was in weaker shape.

“You don’t get old enough that an experience like that is not emotional to be able to do something with your father,” Shelton said.

Mattingly, whose son just happens to be the club's general manager, found himself harkening back to Indiana childhood ballgames with his brothers upon arrival on the team bus.

“This place reminds me of when I was a kid,” Mattingly said. "You’d go down a dirt road, and all of sudden you’d see a cornfield and then there’d be a field there."

Both teams wore throwback uniforms — the Twins in home threads from their first season in 1961 and the Phillies in road jerseys circa 1940 — in step with the hand-operated scoreboard in right field.

The permanent ballpark built for all kinds of events — including the opportunity to host MLB games on a recurring basis — also has plenty of amenities with the video board in left field, a state-of-the-art sound system and, of course, indoor plumbing.

The feel of the farm was just as strong as the buzz of the ballpark, with natural sponsor John Deere pledging $100,000 per home run hit to hunger-relief organization Feeding America.

The special environment didn't erase the circumstance of the stretch run of the regular season, though, with both the Twins and Phillies in the thick of their respective wild-card races.

“We’re not in Minnesota for three days," Phillies star Bryce Harper said, "but we’re still playing the Twins three times and we've still got to win some games."

Even in defeat, the Twins enjoyed taking part in something bigger than simply the 123rd game on their schedule.

“As you grow in this game and get older and play more games, the shine of being in the big leagues and walking out on a big league field starts to wear off,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “Moments like this kind of bring that excitement and that energy and the goosebumps similar to your debut day.”

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Qusai Abu Rida was holed up inside with his teenage son when settlers cut the water and electricity, leaving them to drink well water as dozens of Israeli settlers erected tents outside. His Palestinian American brother in Ohio, who owns the house, watched the siege unfold on security cameras and called for updates.

The standoff in the northern West Bank town of Qusra is the latest in a wave of settler violence convulsing the territory, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war and which would make up the main part of a future Palestinian state.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee referred to the settlers as “terrorists” — a word American officials usually reserve for Palestinian militants. It was an unusually sharp rebuke from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has given unprecedented support to Israeli settlement over the years.

Mounting criticism of Israel from the United States could pose a challenge for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to maintain good relations with his country's closest ally as he mobilizes ultranationalist voters ahead of a tough battle for reelection in October.

Settlers have remained in the area despite the army intervening

On Sunday, dozens of settlers arrived at the homes in Qusra, blocking doors and preventing occupants from leaving, according to the families.

Israeli troops have intervened multiple times, but the settlers keep returning, said Loui Ridi, the homeowner in Ohio who spells the family name differently. Rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of turning a blind eye to settler violence or of intervening to protect the settlers.

“It's a cycle,” Ridi said. “They need to be prevented from the entire area, not just removed and moved 100 feet away so when the (Israeli military) leaves, they come back.”

On Tuesday, Israel’s military condemned the siege as “illegal, reprehensible, and unacceptable,” and declared Qusra a closed military zone. The next day, dozens of settlers returned, tried to block the road with rocks and clashed with Israeli soldiers, according to video shot by village residents.

On Thursday, the military said troops dismantled “two illegal outposts” in Qusra and a nearby village, and detained one Israeli. It said more soldiers were sent to “carry out defensive missions and patrols.”

Qusra Mayor Abdel Azim Wadi said that Israeli forces evacuated more than a dozen homes to take up positions in the village. The settlers, though removed from their outposts, remain in other parts of the village, he added.

Abu Rida said soldiers gave the occupants of all the homes 30 minutes to evacuate and move into one of the besieged houses. The military said the soldiers have been told to allow families to remain in their homes and not to operate in them, but families have not yet returned, Abu Rida said.

It's still not clear when families in the besieged area will be able to get basic supplies and what would happen to their homes. Israel’s military said the families had basic supplies like food and water when it checked in on them on Wednesday.

But Ridi said Thursday that after water and electricity lines had been reconnected, settlers cut them again.

Settler violence has surged in recent years

Netanyahu's government, the most ultranationalist and religious in Israel's history, has presided over a surge of settlement construction in the West Bank. It views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

On Thursday, members of Netanyahu's Cabinet joined in celebrating the rebuilding of a settlement elsewhere in the West Bank that had been dismantled in 2005. "The era of withdrawals and expulsions has ended. The era of construction and Zionism begins,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said at the ceremony.

During Trump's first term, he signaled broad acceptance of the settlements, which most of the international community views as illegal and an obstacle to peace. At the start of his second term, he lifted sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on settlers accused of violence.

Huckabee, a longtime supporter of the settlements, has condemned the rising violence.

“Actions by those who carried out this horrific act of terror meant to intimidate and harass this family are disgusting,” Huckabee said in his post about the events in Qusra. He said the embassy has been coordinating with the Israeli military and police.

Qusra has been a focus of settler attacks

The U.N. humanitarian office in April said it had recorded more settler attacks in Qusra than in any other West Bank community in 2026. A 25-year-old resident was shot and killed by an off-duty Israeli reservist in March, and eight others have been wounded in the attacks, according to the U.N.

Violence between settlers and Palestinians last month left two Israelis and four Palestinians dead in a nearby northern West Bank village. In the aftermath, a mosque in Qusra was set on fire and the word “revenge” was graffitied on its wall in Hebrew.

A total of 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year, according to the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry. Israel says some were involved in terrorism, which it defines broadly to include militant attacks and rock-throwing. Palestinian authorities do not distinguish between militants and civilians when recording deaths in the conflict.

Palestinian officials have reported 1,476 attacks by Israeli settlers in 2026, including several instances in which settlers seized Palestinian homes and property.

The military says it works to maintain law and order in the territory, and Israeli Cabinet ministers have blamed the attacks on a small group of young extremists acting outside the law.

Some 2.8 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the West Bank, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers. The settlers, who now number over 560,000, are Israeli citizens. There have been no Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in over a decade.

“This is not a life that can continue this way,” said Wadi, the mayor of Qusra. “Too much pressure eventually causes an explosion.”

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This story has been updated to correct the first name of the homeowner to Loui.

___

Metz reported from Jerusalem.

The slowdown Thursday for people in the capital, Taipei, and six other cities and localities was part of the last phase of the island's annual Han Kuang exercises, military drills that began last week and aim to model a response to a possible Chinese military invasion.

Telecommunication operators slowed mobile web traffic to 256 Kbps, making it difficult to exchange anything other than texts. Usually, residents can access 5G in major cities.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te apologized to the public for the inconvenience, “We ask for your understanding and support, as this is a necessary drill,” he said.

Taiwan has stepped up the intensity of the Han Kuang drills, incorporating reservists and more civilians into the exercises with a focus on real-world scenarios. Previously, urban resilience drills in Taipei went largely unnoticed as they were not disruptive. For example, air raid drills in the metro station didn’t stem the flow of passengers.

This year, integrating civilians and coordinating with local governments was a key part of the exercises, according to the Taipei Times.

At a Taipei metro station Thursday afternoon, passengers waited to be released after the station's gates were shut for the simulation as part of air raid drills.

Allen Hsieh, a tourist from Hong Kong who was among the passengers who waited 30 minutes to be let out of the station, said he found the exercises to be convincing.

“The exercise did not cause me any inconvenience. I know that Taiwan needs to conduct exercises, given the current situation. I can understand that,” he said. “I did not expect it to be so real. I thought I would only receive text messages.”

Lai also visited a hospital as it simulated how to relocate its critical operations to underground facilities as part of the drills.

Taiwan is ramping up its defense exercises and purchases in response to heightened tensions with China, which claims the island as its own. China sends military planes, as well as Coast Guard ships and other vessels towards Taiwan on a daily basis and carries out large-scale military exercises from time to time.

Between Wednesday to Thursday morning, 18 Chinese warplanes and 11 navy ships operated around Taiwan, the island's Defense Ministry said.

The warning is typical of the harsh rhetoric that North Korea often deploys ahead of major U.S.-South Korean military exercises and suggests the country could conduct more missile tests in coming days. Experts say North Korea has often used its rivals' drills as a pretext to ramp up its testing activities to expand its weapons arsenals and promote public support for leader Kim Jong Un.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries are to start their major summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises Monday and have described their scope as similar to past years. The allies have said the 11-day exercises are meant to strengthen their readiness against North Korean threats and reiterated that they are defensive in nature.

In a statement carried by state media Friday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the U.S.-South Korean training “a rehearsal for an aggressive war” that is triggering a different level of instability in the region.

“It is our consistent principle of ensuring security to respond to a new level of a threat with a new level of a deterrent,” the statement said. North Korea “will more clearly express its stance on the enemies to cope with any threats and challenges through the responsible and decisive exercise of the right to legitimate self-defense.”

North Korea also said the drills would be of a “more serious provocative nature and dangerousness than last year” and involve all the military assets and war-fighting modes of the U.S. and South Korea, a claim that those countries haven’t said.

A U.S. military statement issued Friday said U.S. and South Korean forces will practice joint operations in complex scenarios, including a live-fire exercise to test joint precision targeting and maneuver, a wet gap crossing, and distribution of prepositioned military equipment.

North Korea's neighbors detected two ballistic missile launches off the North's east coast in the past week. North Korea hasn’t commented on the launches, but outside experts assess they were likely meant to protest the U.S.-South Korean drills or upgrade its weapons systems.

Kim has ignored the U.S. and South Korea’s offers to resume diplomacy and focused on taking steps to bolster his nuclear arsenal since his diplomacy with U.S. President Donald Trump broke down in 2019. Experts say Kim will likely eventually aim to use his advancing nuclear program to win greater U.S. concessions such as extensive sanctions relief.

North Korea has expanded cooperation with Russia in recent years by supplying troops and ammunition to support its war against Ukraine in return for economic and military assistance. North Korea has also recently pushed to deepen ties with China, its biggest trading partner.

The bridge — known as Nero's Bridge, named for the former Roman emperor — once connected Rome’s city center with the Tiber’s right bank.

“Nero is the most famous person linked to this area, because precisely in Nero’s circus, where the Vatican is now located, the Apostle Peter was martyred,” said Antonella Bonini, an archaeologist at Rome’s cultural heritage superintendency.

“However, scholars consider the bridge to be older (than Nero’s era) — built by Caligula, Nero’s uncle,” she said, adding that it existed as early as 39 AD.

The Tiber’s flow has fallen below 80 cubic meters (2,825 cubic feet) per second, about half the historic average for the month of July, according to Giovanni Giganti, coordinator of the Rome civil protection service’s center for water management.

“We are facing a major water crisis. And it is a crisis that is also due to the fact that this winter we did have quite abundant rainfall, but then the dry periods ... were quite long,” Giganti said.

The dismissal marks the latest setback in swing states’ efforts to prosecute fake electors who tried to keep Trump in the White House after he lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

Three other fake elector cases in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia have been dismissed. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes recently dismissed her office’s criminal case but vowed to bring it back to a grand jury in hopes of securing another indictment. The dismissal was a legal maneuver aimed at getting around a deadline for starting new grand jury proceedings after Mayes lost an appeal earlier in June.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is also running for governor as a Democrat, brought charges relating to forgery and “offering a false instrument for filing or record” against the six Nevada Republicans, who pleaded not guilty.

His office plans to appeal the ruling.

The defendants included Michael McDonald, the chair of the Nevada Republican Party, and Jesse Law, the former chair of the Clark County Republican Party.

In a Thursday statement, McDonald’s defense attorney Richard Wright called the attorney general’s plans to appeal “hasty” and “premature” and said continuing the case was politically motivated.

After the 2020 election, the six Republican electors gathered outside of the Nevada Legislature to sign a certificate giving the state’s six electoral votes to Trump, despite Biden winning the state by more than 30,000 votes. The ceremony was broadcast online, and the video footage was used as evidence in the case.

The case has revolved around the defendants’ intent behind submitting the certificate.

Prosecutors argue the defendants intended for their documents to be mistaken for actual electoral votes that then-Vice President Mike Pence would count on Jan. 6, 2021.

The defendants say submitting the certificate was an act of “political theater” designed to publicize their concerns about the election. They were preserving their rights to challenge the official election results and had no intent to deceive a government agency into accepting the GOP certificate as real, their attorneys argued.

Nevada Judge Mary Kay Holthus agreed.

She found there was a lack of evidence that showed the electors intended to deceive government officials, and she determined that the state failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the grand jury.

“The fact that Defendants openly announced both their actions and their asserted purpose, rather than concealing their conduct or attempting to secretly induce governmental reliance, weighs against a reasonable inference that they acted with fraudulent intent,” Holthus wrote in her ruling.

Jurisdiction had also been an issue, but the case eventually landed in Clark County, which is home to Las Vegas and leans Democratic.

The case was originally scheduled for a trial in Nevada's capital of Carson City, but the attorney general's office voluntarily dismissed the case to pursue it instead in Southern Nevada, which leans more Democratic.

Courts have dismissed similar cases in Michigan and Georgia, and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Those cases ended after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. A fake electors case is ongoing in Wisconsin.

In a one-on-one interview with KPRC 2’s Re’Chelle Turner, Miles credited the improvement largely to changes in classroom instruction and what he calls “instructional coherence” — aligning how teachers teach with curriculum, state standards, evaluations and staff expectations.

“The quality of instruction is the focus,” Miles said. “That is how well the teacher delivers instruction. And because of that focus and the tight integration of instruction and curriculum, the students are receiving better instruction, and they’re thriving. The results show that.”

Miles said the district has worked to establish a common definition of high-quality instruction across HISD, so teachers and campus administrators are working toward the same expectations.

“What that means is that the instruction, how it’s delivered, is tied closely to curriculum, which is tied closely to the state standards, which is tied closely to the evaluation,” Miles said.

Some of the biggest gains are at NES campuses

The numbers are particularly striking at HISD’s New Education System campuses.

In Algebra I, 20% of students at NES campuses met grade level in 2023. In 2026, that number reached 63% — a 43-percentage-point increase in three years.

HISD says NES campuses now outperform non-NES campuses in Algebra I, where 55% of students at non-NES schools met grade level in 2026.

Miles said both groups of schools are improving, even though NES campuses are showing faster growth in some areas.

“Yes, they’re growing faster in the NES schools than in the non-NES, but everybody’s growing,” Miles said.

Miles also pointed to an increase in the number of eighth graders taking Algebra I, saying the district added roughly 1,400 students and now has more than 3,000 eighth graders enrolled in the course.

Despite the results, Miles said HISD does not plan to convert every school to the NES model.

“We have 134 today, and I think that’s where it’ll stop,” Miles said.

HISD says it now meets or exceeds Texas on most assessments

The improvement extends beyond Algebra I.

HISD says Biology performance has increased 33 percentage points since 2023, and the district now outperforms the state in Algebra I, Biology and U.S. History.

According to HISD, students improved at Meets Grade Level or above on 18 of 20 STAAR assessments compared with last year when overall seventh-grade mathematics performance is included. The district says it now meets or exceeds the state average on 13 of 20 assessments.

That marks a significant change from 2023, when HISD trailed statewide performance across STAAR assessments.

New accountability ratings show dramatic shift

According to an HISD press release, 205 schools earned an A or B rating in 2026. Of those, 92 earned an A and 113 earned a B.

In 2023, HISD says just 93 schools earned an A or B, meaning the district has added 112 A- or B-rated schools in three years.

At the same time, the number of schools rated D or F has fallen dramatically. HISD’s new release puts the number at 120 D/F schools in 2023 compared with 13 in 2026.

The improvement is particularly pronounced among middle and high schools. HISD says 40 secondary schools were rated D or F in 2023. In 2026, none of the district’s middle or high schools received a D or F.

The number of A-rated secondary schools more than tripled, from 16 in 2023 to 49 in 2026, while B-rated secondary schools increased from 15 to 31.

Elementary schools also improved. HISD says the number receiving an A or B increased from 62 in 2023 to 125 in 2026, while the number rated D or F dropped from 80 to 13.

Wheatley and North Forest earn A ratings

Two Houston high schools with histories of state intervention reached significant milestones in the new ratings.

Wheatley High School earned an A rating, according to HISD. The Fifth Ward campus received its seventh consecutive failing accountability rating in 2019, triggering the state law that ultimately led to the replacement of HISD’s elected Board of Trustees and the state intervention that began in 2023.

Seven years after that failing rating — and three years after the takeover — Wheatley is now rated A.

North Forest High School also received an A for the first time, according to HISD. North Forest became part of HISD in 2013 after TEA ordered North Forest ISD closed and annexed into HISD.

Miles: ‘The work isn’t done’

Despite the gains, Miles acknowledged HISD continues to have students who are not performing at grade level and campuses that need additional improvement.

“We still have kids who are not reading at grade level, doing math at grade level. We still have schools that are struggling,” Miles told KPRC 2. “Three years is great for three years, but the work isn’t done.”

Miles said his focus moving forward is “making sure that all means all,” including addressing disparities that remain even within some of HISD’s highest-performing schools.

“Some of that gap exists in our high-performing schools,” Miles said. “If all really means all, that means even in our higher-performing schools, you know, the ones with an A, if there’s an achievement gap, we need to work on that too.”

Black-White and Hispanic-White achievement gaps narrow

One of the most significant trends in HISD’s data involves longstanding achievement gaps in middle-school mathematics.

In grades 6 through 8 math, the percentage-point gap between Hispanic and White students earning Meets Grade Level or above fell from 30 points in 2023 to 15 points in 2026.

The Black-White gap narrowed from 38 percentage points to 22 points during the same period.

In 2023, 17% of Black students met grade level or above in grades 6–8 math, compared with 55% of White students. By 2026, Black student performance had increased to 31%, while White students were at 53%.

Hispanic students increased from 25% in 2023 to 38% in 2026, compared with 53% of White students.

Miles called the gaps particularly important because he said approximately 85% of HISD students are Black or Hispanic.

“We haven’t closed it, but we’ve narrowed it considerably in three years,” Miles said.

He credits additional resources and greater attention to instruction for helping students who historically have been further behind.

“We’re paying more attention and giving more resources,” Miles said. “Effective teachers as a resource, teacher apprentices, learning coaches, high-quality instruction, strong curriculum, and coaching on instruction.”

But even after the improvement, a 22-percentage-point gap remains between Black and White students meeting grade level in middle-school math, while the Hispanic-White gap remains 15 points.

Special education among HISD’s next areas of focus

Miles also identified special education as a major focus for the 2026-27 school year.

HISD has moved some self-contained special education classrooms into hubs or centers located within regular school campuses. Miles said one reason for the restructuring is the wide range of grade levels that had previously been grouped together in some self-contained classrooms.

According to Miles, about 65% of those classrooms previously included students spanning three, four or, in some cases, five different grade levels, creating instructional challenges for both teachers and students.

Miles said that after the restructuring, approximately 95% of the classrooms will contain students from only one or two grade levels, with a smaller number containing three.

“That’s going to be better for the student, better for the teacher,” Miles said.

The new STAAR scores and accountability ratings give HISD several measures of significant progress since 2023. But Miles said the district’s next challenge is making sure that improvement reaches students who remain below grade level — and continuing to close achievement gaps even at schools that are already earning top accountability ratings.

“The work isn’t done,” Miles said.

Some of HISD’s largest gains are in middle school

The racial achievement-gap numbers are part of a broader improvement HISD has reported since 2023.

According to the district, the percentage of students in grades 3–8 meeting grade-level standards has increased since 2023 on every released assessment except the traditional seventh-grade math test.

Across those grades, HISD says Meets Grade Level performance has increased by an average of 10.3 percentage points in reading, 7.7 points in math and six points in social studies since 2023.

Some of the largest gains have occurred in middle school:

• 8th-grade math: +19 percentage points
• 6th-grade reading: +13 points
• Combined 7th-grade math performance: +13 points
• 6th-grade math: +12 points
• 8th-grade reading: +12 points
• 4th-grade reading: +14 points

HISD says that before NES was implemented in fall 2023, the district trailed the Texas average on all STAAR assessments. In 2026, 10 of the 12 third-through-eighth-grade math and reading assessments met or exceeded the statewide average.

HISD reported a decline on the traditional seventh-grade math STAAR assessment. But both HISD and the Texas Education Agency caution against interpreting that decline as evidence that seventh graders overall are performing worse in math.

That’s because increasing numbers of high-performing seventh graders are taking more advanced assessments instead.

Some seventh graders now take the eighth-grade math STAAR or Algebra I end-of-course exam rather than the seventh-grade assessment. As more advanced students move into those tests, the population remaining in the traditional seventh-grade testing group changes.

When HISD combines the performance of seventh graders taking seventh-grade math, eighth-grade math and Algebra I, the district says the percentage reaching grade level has actually increased 13 percentage points since 2023.

The same phenomenon is happening statewide.

TEA reports that in 2026, 32% of all Texas seventh graders took the eighth-grade mathematics STAAR, compared with just 16% in 2023. In three years, Texas has effectively doubled the share of seventh graders accessing that advanced math pathway.

Statewide math results analyzed by students’ enrolled grade — rather than simply which assessment they took — show Meets Grade Level performance increasing in grades 6, 7, 8 and 9 in 2026.

Continuing Three-year Trend, HISD 2026 STAAR Scores Show Growth in Nearly All 3-8 Grade Exams | Posts Details/Default Board Post Page

HISD’s gains come as Texas math performance improves

The statewide numbers provide additional context for HISD’s results.

TEA reported gains in math and social studies in 2026, while reading performance was largely stable. Fourth-grade math had the state’s largest year-over-year increase, rising four percentage points.

Across grades 3–8 math, 43% of Texas students met grade level in 2026, compared with 42% in 2025, 40% in 2024 and 42% in 2023.

That statewide trajectory is important when examining HISD’s double-digit gains in some grades. Texas students are improving in math overall, but HISD’s increases in areas such as eighth-grade math are substantially larger than the statewide movement.

Reading presents a similar comparison. Statewide, grades 3–8 reading performance was largely stable or improved modestly in 2026. Grade 8 increased three points from 2025, grade 7 increased two points, grades 4 through 6 were unchanged and grade 3 declined one point.

HISD, meanwhile, reports increases of 13 points in sixth-grade reading and 12 points in eighth-grade reading since 2023.

Discussion

At 300 PM GMT (1500 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Cristobal was located near latitude 39.4 North, longitude 36.8 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the northeast near 16 mph (26 km/h) and this motion is expected to continue today.

Maximum sustained winds are near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. Cristobal is expected to dissipate later tonight.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1018 mb (30.06 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

The Tennessee man was executed for killing a motel maid in 1985 and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death for killing a 5-year-old girl he had offered to pay her mother to abuse.

Having three executions in one day was a coincidence in scheduling, but reflected a trend of increased executions in the U.S. Eleven states executed a total of 47 people in 2025, the highest number since 2009. With Thursday's injections, 22 executions have been carried out this year in the U.S. with nearly a dozen more scheduled.

The last time three executions were carried out on the same day was on Jan. 7, 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio and Texas put inmates to death. Three executions were scheduled on the same day in 2018, but only one went forward after a Texas man was reprieved and Alabama prison officials had problems with the IV line.

Florida executed two men the same day in July and has executed 31 overall since the start of 2025.

Oklahoma prisoner said he regretted killing his girlfriend

Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, received an injection at the state penitentiary in McAlester in Oklahoma's third execution this year.

Cuesta-Rodriguez turned his head toward two relatives watching and mouthed “I love you” but had no last statement. He was declared dead at 10:13 a.m. after several minutes of labored breathing.

Convicted of murdering his girlfriend at their Oklahoma City home in 2003, Cuesta-Rodriguez had said he regretted killing Olimpia Fisher and told a board he didn’t want clemency. Fisher, 43, planned to leave Cuesta-Rodriguez when he shot her.

Fisher’s daughters, Cinthya Allen and Katya Wallis, said in a statement they hoped the execution brings awareness to preventing domestic violence, adding they are “raising our families to reflect the love and faith in God that she taught us.”

Tennessee man challenged execution after previous one was halted

Anthony Darrell Hines was executed in Tennessee for the 1985 stabbing death of Catherine Jean Jenkins, 54, as she worked as a motel maid in Kingston Springs.

Hines said “not right now, thank you” when asked if he had final words, then said, “Tell my son hello."

Hines' son witnessed the execution. He reconnected with his father four days earlier after not seeing him since he was 3 years old.

Minutes after the execution chamber curtain opened, Hines asked his spiritual adviser: “How long do I have?” Soon afterward, witnesses heard groans and heavy breathing while the adviser put her hands on his shoulders and prayed. Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m.

Afterward, Jenkins’ son said his mother had only a plastic spray bottle to defend against Hines' knife.

“I hope he felt severe pain because what he did to my mother is nothing compared to what he may have just gone through,” Dennis Jenkins said.

Hines' execution comes three months after another man's attempted lethal injection was stopped after medical staff couldn’t establish a backup IV line for over an hour.

Hines, 66, appealed unsuccessfully, saying the doctor who oversaw the May execution was unqualified and likely to botch his execution as well.

Alabama man asked to be executed swiftly

Alabama executed Jeremy Williams for the 2021 rape and murder of the young Georgia girl.

“I want to thank God for forgiving me for my sins so I can meet him in peace,” Williams said on the gurney. He rocked his head back and forth, smiled and appeared to sing or speak before becoming still. A member of his family cried quietly throughout, and Williams was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m.

Williams, who pleaded guilty to killing Kamarie Holland, had written the Alabama attorney general’s office seeking an immediate execution date so his victim’s family “may have some type of closure.”

The 42-year-old raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for the child to perform a sex act, prosecutors said, adding he filmed his attack.

“The unspeakable nature of this crime is exactly why we have the death penalty statute,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement afterward.

The mother is serving a 20-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to sex trafficking.

Russell County District Attorney Richard Chancey described Kamarie’s final moments as “horrific.”

"That baby didn’t die in peace,” he said at a later news conference, recalling Williams' last words about dying in peace.

Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor, who called the case the worst he'd investigated in 39 years of law enforcement, said he believed Williams sought swift execution over worries about how he would be treated in prison.

"He didn’t want to look over his shoulder for 30 years, in my opinion,” Taylor said.

It was Alabama’s first execution this year. A nitrogen gas execution was blocked in June after a federal judge ruled the method unconstitutional.

Williams also was a suspect in the 2005 death of his infant daughter in Alaska, but charges weren't filed until 2022.

Corey Holland, Kamarie’s father, had said she was an exuberant child who loved princesses and made people laugh.

“She loved playing dress-up, all her little Halloween costumes and her princess stuff I got her,” he said.

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This story has been revised to correct that the Alabama man offered to pay the mother, but didn't actually do so. It also was updated to correct the name of the Russell County Sheriff. He is Heath Taylor, not Heather Taylor.

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Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins and Hallie Golden contributed.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Yemeni soldier killed in clashes with Houthis

At least one government soldier was killed and another critically wounded in clashes with the Houthis in the mountainous province of Taiz, Yemeni military officials told The Associated Press.

The fighting came as part of a spate of recent Houthi attacks on government-held areas across the country. Dozens of government troops have been killed since last week, the Yemeni military said.

The Houthis also said they launched another drone attack on an Aramco oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials did not immediately comment on the reported attack in the city of Jazan. Last weekend, the Houthis fired drones at the refinery, where the Saudi Energy Ministry reported a fire but no casualties.

Last month, the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi shipping, threatening another key trade route in the region.

US carrier heads toward Middle East after issues reported on long-deployed USS Lincoln

The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading toward the Middle East as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, and its deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 260 days.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Thursday that reports of trouble on the carrier were “completely misrepresented.”

Speaking during a trip to Panama, he said the U.S. military could maintain the blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely, “because we’ll rotate ships in and out, as we have and we’ll continue to.”

The USS George Washington left port in Da Nang, Vietnam, last week, a Navy statement said. The carrier, along with a cruiser and a destroyer, have since been spotted crossing the Singapore Strait.

A Navy official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail sensitive ship details, confirmed that the Washington was in the Strait of Malacca, which links the Pacific and Indian oceans and puts the carrier on a course to head into the Indian Ocean. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the Washington would replace the Lincoln as one of the two aircraft carriers now stationed in the Middle East.

The move would leave the waters of the Pacific without a U.S. carrier presence for an unknown period of time.

— Konstantin Toropin in Washington

Peace laureate calls for UN pressure to resolve Yemen conflict

Hans Grundberg, the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, told the U.N. Security Council in a video briefing Thursday that Yemen is at greater risk of returning to large-scale conflict than at any time since a 2022 truce paused the fighting.

Yemen faces “catastrophe” from rising hunger and from health services crumbling amid the fighting, said U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher. He said 6 million people in Yemen face emergency levels of food insecurity bordering on famine, “the highest number globally.”

Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakkol Karman told reporters outside the chamber that Houthi rebels bear the primary responsibility for the “collapse of the state” in her home country.

But the human rights campaigner also blamed Iran for backing the Houthis, Saudi Arabia for its intervention on behalf of the government ousted by the Houthis, the United Arab Emirates for its involvement in the conflict and the international community for its failure to do enough to protect civilians.

Karman was invited to brief the U.N. Security Council as an independent civil society voice on Yemen, but was blocked from speaking because of “strong opposition,” Danish Deputy Ambassador Sandra Jensen Landi said. Instead, Karman spoke to reporters outside the council chamber.

Iran and Oman working to clean oil spills off their coasts

Oil spills spreading off the coasts of Iran and Oman are raising concerns about environmental damage as oil shipments have come under fire in the Iran war.

Iran said Thursday it's working to clean up an oil spill off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Images distributed by Iran’s semiofficial news agency ISNA showed oil fouling the island's beaches.

While Iran hasn't said what caused the spill, the firm TankerTrackers.com says it appears to have started with an Iranian attack on a bulk carrier off Oman. Iran has repeatedly attacked shipping in the strait since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28.

Oman is responding to another spill in the Arabian Sea, coming from a tanker grounded off its southern coast. The tanker Caroline Bezengi — a sanctioned vessel believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” — has been grounded since reporting an explosion in June. No party has claimed responsibility and the cause is unknown.

A British maritime risk and response company said Thursday it has been hired to salvage the tanker and stop the oil leak off Oman. Oil from the ship has been spreading for weeks, reaching shores hundreds of kilometers (miles) north of the vessel.

JD Vance says Iran war will end with US in stronger position

Vice President JD Vance appeared to be lowering expectations for the Strait of Hormuz to return to the way it was before the war. He predicted in an interview on Fox News Channel that the war will end with the U.S. in a stronger position, with Iran not having a nuclear weapon, and with the Strait of Hormuz “returned to a place where oil and gas prices are stable for the American people.”

He did not say anything about the strait being open and toll-free for transiting ships, as he had in the past.

Vance’s comments also seemed to suggest that the administration was more acutely focused on the economic impact of the war than the original aims of the war itself.

“That’s goal number one: keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country,” he said.

The second goal, according to Vance, is to ensure that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon.

Kushner will head to Middle East for talks on Gaza

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner will travel to the Middle East next week to try to advance plans for an end to the conflict in Gaza after a deal recently announced by the Trump administration ran into Israeli opposition.

An official with the Board of Peace, the body Trump established to oversee the fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said Kushner, board high representative Nickolay Mladenov, and executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would arrive in Israel on Sunday.

The group will then travel to Cairo, where meetings of a Palestinian technocratic group set to assume control of Gaza under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal have been taking place for the past several months, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because planning for details of the trip has not yet been finalized,

The trip was reported earlier by Axios.

— Matthew Lee in Washington

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Click here for full AP coverage on developments in the West Bank.

The call for quiet was part of last-ditch efforts to find anyone else alive in the aftermath of the 7.4 magnitude quake that struck the South American country Monday, killing more than 280 people and leaving hundreds more missing.

“Unfortunately, we are reaching a point where the probability of finding survivors is dwindling,” said David Santiago Tamayo, director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, in a press conference Thursday night. “But the mission is to never stop searching and find all those reported missing.”

Aid agencies consider the first two to three days after a quake to be the prime window for retrieving survivors. People trapped in debris can live longer if they have access to food and water.

The death toll rose Thursday to 281, authorities said, with another 348 people rescued.

As time runs out, rescuers, families and volunteers across the country continue to hold on to hope.

“There might be two more people alive here, and I’m hopeful,” rescuer Daiana Rojas told The Associated Press. “We have been hearing sounds since 2:30 a.m., so our hope remains.”

Rojas and her family were unharmed by the quake, the most powerful to hit Colombia in this century. She has been volunteering to help search for survivors in Cali, one of the most heavily damaged cities, along with Pereira, Manizales and Quibdó.

“I thought that was going to be my last moment alive,” she said, recalling the terror of the quake. “Seeing this situation in my city breaks my heart.”

Rojas has witnessed two people being pulled alive from the debris, as well as the recovery of bodies.

“They are not a relative or a friend of mine, but it feels as they were,” she said of the survivors who have been found. “Whenever rescuers ask for silence, everyone stays still and tries not to move, speak or whisper. But when signs of life are found, all the teams start to applaud.”

Critical hours

The devastation has tested Colombia’s new President Abelardo de la Espriella and his government as they scramble to respond while aid groups seek to help the hardest-hit communities.

“The situation is complex, but we are using all our capacity and the capacity that has come from other countries,” de la Espriella said.

The president added nearly 400 people remain missing, though civilian-run databases put the number at more than 4,200. More than 3,900 people were reported injured, while nearly 10,600 homes were destroyed and more than 65,800 damaged. In total, more than 44,900 families have been affected, he said.

Authorities recognize that the rescue effort has entered a grim phase as search teams begin shifting toward recovering bodies. But as the government moves forward with plans to help those affected and rebuild the country, finding potential survivors remains a priority. “Our priority is saving lives,” de la Espriella said. “These are human beings who are trapped under the rubble.”

In other developments, a 4.2 magnitude aftershock struck Thursday in San José del Palmar, in the Chocó region — the epicenter of the earthquake. More than 160 aftershocks have rocked the country, according to the Colombian Geological Survey.

“We’re pretty shaken up, but we’re in good spirits. We can see everyone working hard to get through this very complex situation,” volunteer helper Jairo Galán said in Cali, where food and donation centers were set up.

Colombia, with a population of 54 million people, experiences an average of 2,500 earthquakes each month, most of them small. That's equivalent to about 80 tremors per day, according to the geological survey.

More international aid arrives

Meanwhile, international aid continues to arrive.

Speaking to reporters in Quibdó, in the Chocó region, Colombian Vice President José Manuel Restrepo said rescuers had concluded the search for survivors and bodies in the area and would now shift their focus to the “humanitarian phase.”

The region has received some 7 tons of humanitarian aid, with another 10 tons expected to arrive late Thursday night. An additional 20 tons of supplies are expected to arrive on Friday. “That’s almost 40 tons of humanitarian aid, containing everything people will need at this moment,” Restrepo said.

Earlier today, a group of rescuers from the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrived to help with search efforts and structural engineering assessments. Other countries, including Peru, El Salvador, Mexico and Brazil, have also offered assistance.

De la Espriella announced on X that Colombia will receive a $10 million donation from the United Arab Emirates.

The Chinese ambassador to Colombia said China will provide $1 million in financial aid and more than $2 million in humanitarian assistance.

The South American Football Confederation and the Colombian Football Federation also jointly announced a $1 million donation to support reconstruction efforts.

“Soccer transcends the pitch and remains close to its people, especially in the most difficult times,” they said in a statement.

The Colombia disaster unfolded less than two months after neighboring Venezuela endured back-to-back earthquakes. The contrast between the two countries' responses was stark.

In Venezuela, acting President Delcy Rodríguez waited nearly four hours before addressing the nation. In Colombia, de la Espriella announced an emergency command post to oversee rescue efforts barely an hour after the earthquake. For weeks, Venezuelan civilians were clawing through rubble by hand. Hours after the earthquake in Colombia, rescue teams were searching for survivors with cranes and excavators.

The contrast was a reminder of the differences between the nations — their political systems, resources and the strength of their institutions — and a demonstration of how those can take on life-or-death importance.

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Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia. Batschke reported from Santiago, Chile.

A Louisiana grand jury in June declined to indict Christopher Gillum on a state terrorism charge that could have carried up to a 15-year sentence, court records show.

Gillum, who had been held without bond, was released shortly after the grand jury’s decision and is not facing charges in any other jurisdictions, according to his attorney, Dylan Utley. He declined to comment further.

Gillum's release has not previously been reported.

The 45-year-old ex-police officer, who is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, had been arrested in Florida in April with hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a handgun while on his way to Louisiana to commit a mass shooting, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation had involved the FBI and authorities across Louisiana, North Carolina and Florida.

Authorities did not name the event Gillum was allegedly targeting, but his arrest came on the eve of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers annually.

Gillum, who is white, had “expressed recent threats to harm ‘Black people’ ”, according to authorities. His family had reported him missing in North Carolina and said he had a history of self-harm.

Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said in a statement that Gillum’s family had taken him “to a treatment facility out of the state” and that he is not facing additional criminal charges.

Duhe said there were “several jurisdictional issues” that complicated the case after Gillum was extradited to Louisiana following his arrest.

“The threat relayed to a family member actually occurred in North Carolina,” Duhe said. “The defendant never entered the State of Louisiana until after his arrest.”

Gillum had been planning to travel to the Florida Keys “during the same period he would have been suspected to travel to Louisiana,” Duhe added.

Gillum was charged under a Louisiana statute for the crime of “terrorizing,” which requires that “a crime of violence is imminent or in progress or that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist.”

Jonathan Guidry, the foreperson for the grand jury, declined to comment on the decision to not indict Gillum.

Katherine Schweit, a former Chicago prosecutor and FBI executive who ran the agency’s active shooter program, said that thwarted acts of mass violence do not always lead to indictments, but prosecutors often seek an array of criminal charges when possible.

“It’s very difficult to convince a jury, or to convince a grand jury, that something might have happened,” Schweit told The Associated Press.

Law enforcement authorities in North Carolina, where Louisiana court records list Gillum as residing, told the AP that they were not aware he had been released from custody.

“If we’ve got an individual that was accused of such an action, we would want to know if in fact he did return to Alamance County,” said Byron Tucker, a spokesperson for the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina.

Nazneen Ahmed, a spokesperson for North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, said their office is not involved and that criminal prosecution authority in the state generally belongs to local district attorneys.

The office of the Florida Attorney General did not respond to a request for comment about whether Gillum may face additional criminal charges in its jurisdiction. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana also did not return messages seeking comment.

In a statement, the FBI New Orleans office said the decision whether to charge Gillum rested with prosecutors.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival declined to comment.

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This story was first published on Aug. 12, 2026. It was updated on Aug. 13, 2026, to correct that Nazneen Ahmed, a spokesperson for North Carolina’s attorney general, said their office is not involved in legal proceedings surrounding Christopher Gillum and that criminal prosecution authority in the state generally belongs to local district attorneys, not that there are no plans for the state to pursue charges.

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

An official with the Board of Peace, the body Trump established to oversee the fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said Kushner, board high representative Nickolay Mladenov, and executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would arrive in Israel on Sunday.

The group will then travel to Cairo, where meetings of a Palestinian technocratic group set to assume control of Gaza under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal have been taking place for the past several months, the official said. The trip was reported earlier by Axios.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because planning for details of the trip has not yet been finalized, said the meetings would demonstrate the determination of Trump and the Board of Peace to “see peace, prosperity and sustainable security emerge” in a demilitarized Gaza where Hamas has ceded control to allow reconstruction of the devastated territory.

But Israel has dismissed a recent deal announced by Trump for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from the Palestinian territory, marking a rare public display of friction with the Trump administration. Though Hamas accepted the plan to decommission its weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in recent days that Israel would not withdraw until Hamas has completely disarmed.

The deal had been seen as a potential breakthrough for ending the war in Gaza. The agreement was based on an October ceasefire that ended major military operations and brought about the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza, but it has stalled on other fronts.

The Lincoln has been supporting the U.S. war against Iran, and its deployment has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 260 days. Several Democratic lawmakers are pressing for accountability from the Pentagon over conditions aboard the carrier, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said were “completely misrepresented.”

Extended deployments of carriers during the Iran conflict have raised concerns about the impact on service members who are away from home for long periods as well as the increasing strain on the ship and its equipment. While renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran have calmed in recent weeks, the Navy has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the war.

Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. can maintain the blockade “indefinitely.”

A new aircraft carrier is heading west from the Asia-Pacific

The USS George Washington left port in Da Nang, Vietnam, last week, a Navy statement said. The carrier, along with a cruiser and a destroyer, have since been spotted crossing the Singapore Strait.

A Navy official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail sensitive ship details, confirmed that the Washington was in the Strait of Malacca, which links the Pacific and Indian oceans and puts the carrier on a course to head into the Indian Ocean. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the Washington would replace the Lincoln as one of the two aircraft carriers now stationed in the Middle East.

The move would leave the waters of the Pacific without a U.S. carrier presence for an unknown period of time. The Trump administration sees China, the dominant power in the region, as “a settled force” that only needs to be deterred from dominating the U.S. or its allies and not the top global adversary that it was under the Biden administration.

The Lincoln originally deployed Nov. 21 from San Diego, and it arrived in the Middle East in January, ahead of the launch of the Iran war on Feb. 28. The Navy conceded that the conflict created a “highly contested environment where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions.” That, in turn, led to shortages and loss of mail aboard the aircraft carrier, the Navy said in a statement.

“Leadership prioritized mission-critical supplies: first food, then hygiene items, then mail,” the statement said, before assuring that sailors aboard the ship now have access to clean water and “healthy meal options.”

Democrats call for scrutiny, while the Pentagon defends conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln

Democratic lawmakers are calling for investigations, more information and greater visibility into conditions aboard the ship, which was originally set to return home in May.

“The Lincoln’s prolonged deployment is especially significant because it is occurring in the context of continuing military operations against Iran and the possibility that substantial US naval forces will be required in the region for an extended period,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a letter to Navy leadership asking for a response to several questions.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran, said on social media that he is looking to take a bipartisan delegation on an official oversight visit to the ship and that the way sailors are being treated is “not just disgusting; it’s dangerous.”

Hegseth told reporters during ​a visit to Panama that he wants the Lincoln's sailors home and crews rotated as quickly as possible but pushed back against reports of problems aboard.

“We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and ​I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than ​anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere ⁠conditions with less port calls — it’s incredible.”

Navy leaders, including acting Secretary Hung Cao, last week held a tense town hall for families of troops aboard the USS Lincoln, at which the commanders of the Navy’s air and surface forces promised to do everything they could to relieve the aircraft carrier. MS NOW reported earlier on the meeting.

When reports of food shortages aboard the ship first surfaced in April, the Navy pushed back, calling those reports “false.”

Reports of mental health concerns and more aboard the ship

Reports have since emerged that sailors on the Lincoln are struggling with mental health concerns. The Navy said in its statement that it has “not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship,” but officials declined to provide data, citing operational security and patient privacy concerns.

The Navy official said that a sailor aboard the Lincoln went overboard in early August but that the person was quickly recovered, treated by the ship’s medical department and transferred off ship for follow-on care. The official would not say if it was being considered a suicide attempt.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, pushed back on reports about poor conditions.

“The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended,” the command said on social media.

Other carriers also have had long runs that have raised concerns about morale. The USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in mid-May after an 11-month deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War, during which it supported the U.S. war with Iran and the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

During its deployment, the Ford experienced a fire in a laundry space that forced the carrier to turn around and return to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs and left hundreds of sailors without places to sleep.

Concerns about the demands of battle and the dangers of overextending ships and their crew predate the Iran war, with a number of mishaps on ships battling Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2024 and 2025, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman on a longer-than-expected deployment.

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Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

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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.

The new mandate would likely cost billions of dollars and revert the Navy’s most advanced ships to a system that takes more sailors to operate and is more difficult to maintain.

The memo directs the Pentagon and the Navy to present Trump with plans to remove the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, also known as EMALS, within two months. It also says the Ford-class carrier's electromagnetic weapons elevators should be replaced.

The move comes after years of Trump railing against the new, magnetically powered catapult system that shoots fighter jets off the deck of the carriers. It also comes at a time when the U.S. military is trying to find funding from Congress for all its desired equipment and as the Navy is struggling to fill its ships with enough sailors.

Trump's ire with the new technology goes back to at least 2017 in his first term, when he claimed the new system is “not good” and “doesn't have the power” of the older, steam systems in an interview with Time magazine.

“You're going to goddamned steam,” Trump said at the time. The topic has frequently come up since then at rallies and other events.

While Trump is looking to roll back the latest technology, the newest Chinese aircraft carriers employ electromagnetic catapults and France said it plans to use the system on its new carrier.

Trump's memo directs the fourth Ford-class carrier, the USS Doris Miller, to be the first ship to include the new changes. That will leave the USS Gerald R. Ford, as well as the forthcoming USS John F. Kennedy and USS Enterprise, untouched.

However, redesigning an already finalized ship for such a major system change will not be an easy task.

General Atomics, the company that makes EMALS, told The Associated Press in an email that the decision not to proceed with the system on the USS Doris Miller “warrants careful reconsideration.”

Trump's memo that mandates the removal of the system also noted that one of the issues facing shipbuilding is the Navy's constant design changes, “which have resulted in cost growth, delays, and cancellations.”

General Atomics said the work on the Doris Miller's catapults and arresting gear was already halfway complete and said “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule, and integration risks."

The move comes as Congress will weigh the necessary budget and funding bills that the Trump administration has said they need to fund the Pentagon and the Iran war.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimated last month that the war's cost grew to $37.5 billion as Republicans prepared a $95 billion package to fund the military, along with other White House priorities.

Hegseth said the supplemental war funding is an “urgent, necessary” injection of money, and with Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget a generational investment in the military.

The House narrowly adopted both but the Senate still must act when it returns in September.

Some of the key advantages to the electromagnetic system are its ability to launch aircraft at faster speeds while being easier to maintain, requiring fewer sailors to operate and using less space aboard the ship.

EMALS aboard the USS Ford cut the number of sailors need to operate the catapults from about a dozen to two.

Reverting to a system that requires more people to operate it comes as the Navy has struggled to translate its recruiting successes in the past year to actually filling jobs on warships. At the start of the year, the Navy had about 20,000 unfilled posts across the fleet.

In February, the Navy touted the system in a press release that said it allowed the USS Ford to launch and recover aircraft at a higher rate than its predecessor, the Nimitz-class ships.

“It’s another device to help someone get compliant when they are not,” Homan said Thursday in an interview on Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends.” “You can't just go from 0 to 100, right, and the first thing you go for is lethal force.”

Homan's remarks were the Trump administration's first public defense of ICE's plan to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents. The devices are known as the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.

The plan has drawn intense criticism from civil rights groups, Democrats in Congress, and some use-of-force experts, who say ICE agents have been too quick to use force while carrying out President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. At least six people have been shot and killed by immigration enforcement agents since last year, including motorists last month in Maine and Texas.

Homan argued the gloves could help avoid such encounters. He said they would give another less lethal option to ICE officers, similar to Tasers or pepper spray, for use in potentially violent situations on the streets and in detention facilities. He said that it would “be awhile” before the gloves are deployed in the field by ICE officers because the agency is still working out training protocols and other policy issues.

In Bardstown, Kentucky, Nelson County Jailer Justin Hall said Thursday that his agency began using the gloves four years ago to try to gain compliance when inmates are out of control. He said that, unlike Tasers, the shocks do not incapacitate people and make them fall or leave contact or burn marks.

Hall estimated that he had been shocked by the gloves more than 10 times during training, and the pain was intense but stops once the gloves are no longer touching skin. He said the shock gloves have been used sparingly, but are helpful as an initial deterrent when de-escalation techniques do not work.

“It’s just a safer way. It’s safer on the inmate. It’s safer on the staff. And most of the time, most of the time we get compliance,” he said. “It's been a great tool for our facility.”

Geoffrey Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina who has written extensively about police use-of-force and tactics, said the devices should be studied more broadly to ensure departments have proper guidance on when and how they should be used. He said it might be a wiser investment for ICE to start with a smaller purchase, given how little is known about them.

“You are wholesaling these to a group of officers who may not be trained in other strategies like de-escalation or trained to interact with the public in non-enforcement ways, like most local police officers are,” he said. “User error is almost predictable at some level. The tech may be fine, but let’s take a minute and make sure that it is used in an appropriate custom and practice.”

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Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. AP reporter Claudia Lauer contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

The federal investigation also found that California's corrections department failed to provide victims with a way to report sexual abuse and harassment without retaliation. On top of that, staff who were tasked with investigating the misconduct were often themselves accused of sexual abuse or harassment.

The investigation, which began during the Biden administration, focused on two state prisons: the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino. It uncovered numerous instances where guards regularly sexually abused incarcerated women. In at least one instance, a guard was convicted of rampant abuse over roughly a decade and sentenced to 224 years in prison.

State says it's making improvements. Advocates say it's not enough.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement that it “enforces a zero-tolerance policy as mandated by the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act,” a federal law passed in 2003 designed to prevent sexual assaults in prisons.

The state agency also said that audits conducted by independent entities trained by the DOJ found the two prisons were in compliance with federal standards as recently as 2024 and 2025.

“CDCR is fully committed to supporting victims of sexual assault and ensuring safe avenues exist for both incarcerated persons and staff to confidentially report misconduct,” spokesperson Will Matthews wrote in an email.

Over the course of the DOJ investigation, the prison agency independently investigated and prosecuted both staff and incarcerated people who violated federal rape prevention laws, he added.

Emily Wonder, who works for Sister Warriors, which advocates for incarcerated women and transgender people, said state audits evaluate prison conditions based on a very “low bar” that allows abuse and neglect to slip through the cracks.

“It's not a very strong protection mechanism in general,” Wonder said. Sister Warriors, other groups and lawmakers are pushing for additional legislation to bolster protections for women, increase opportunities for reporting misconduct and improve transparency.

Federal authorities echoed that assessment on Thursday, saying that there weren’t sufficient mechanisms for victims to come forward.

Women don't have resources to report assaults, Justice Department says

Women were told to report misconduct on an online system that wasn’t confidential and that accused officers had access to, according to Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

Dhillon said that women are “fully aware of this gap in confidentiality, and this serves as a deterrent from women reporting this misconduct.” She named at least one sergeant whose job was to investigate misconduct who was himself sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving child sexual abuse images at work.

“The upshot of our investigation is that California’s prison system, when it comes to women, has inadequate systems in place to deter, detect, and hold accountable rampant sexual misconduct and assault on female prisoners,” Dhillon said at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Associated Press has previously exposed similar patterns of rampant abuse by federal prison staff against women held in a Dublin, California, facility that at the time was nicknamed the “rape club.” The prison was closed following the AP investigation.

Justice Department sets a deadline to address problems

The federal government on Thursday gave California's prison system 49 days to remediate the conditions that enabled the rampant abuse, warning that a failure to do so could result in civil litigation.

The measures include expanded camera coverage, enhanced confidential reporting channels and strengthened investigative protocols.

The corrections department was implementing many of those changes before the federal investigation, Matthews said.

But Wonder, whose organization has participated in a state-funded working group with the corrections department since 2023, said that advocates “haven’t seen any meaningful changes” despite regular meetings and pressure from the public.

“We’ve been really frustrated, feeling like we’re spinning our wheels,” Wonder said.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, appointed by President Donald Trump as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said California has to take action.

“The State must confront the persistent failure of its own employees to prevent and address sexual abuse at these facilities,” Essayli said in a statement, “and the systemic breakdowns that have permitted these conditions to persist.”

Gun rights activists and Republican lawmakers called the change a historic win for the Second Amendment, while gun control groups said the ruling will leave Americans less safe.

In 1934, following high-profile shootings, Congress used its taxing power to enact the National Firearms Act. The law required individuals to pay a $200 fee before transferring or making certain firearms — on top of registering them — in an effort to curtail these activities. But last year, the One Big Beautiful Bill ended that tax for some categories, including short-barrel shotguns, short-barrel rifles and silencers.

The same day President Donald Trump signed the bill into law in July 2025, firearms trade groups, gun businesses and a San Angelo gun owner sued to overturn parts of the NFA. Just over a month later, Texas and 14 other Republican-led states joined the lawsuit.

On Aug. 5, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix in Lubbock ruled that the regulations, enacted under lawmakers’ authority to impose taxes, could not continue after the tax was revoked.

“The challenged NFA provisions are unconstitutional,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote. “Congress’s choice to eliminate the transfer and making taxes matters, and the defendants cannot save the NFA’s regulatory scheme by referring to a power that Congress never invoked. Efforts to render the NFA constitutional must come from Congress, not this Court.”

Hendrix limited the effect of his order to the states that joined the lawsuit. The judge also gave the federal government seven days to file an emergency appeal. When the Department of Justice did not, the ruling took effect Thursday.

The DOJ could still appeal within 60 days of Hendrix’s decision, but its plans are unclear.

“The Department respects Americans’ Second Amendment rights and is currently assessing the impact of the court’s ruling,” the DOJ said in a Thursday statement.

The lack of an emergency appeal also came after a group of Republicans in Congress, including nine from Texas, urged newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche not to fight the court decision. On Thursday, they cheered the win.

“The Trump administration has delivered a decisive victory for the Second Amendment,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, said in a post on X.

Others — including state Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, and Brandon Herrera, a Republican candidate running for 23rd Congressional District who is known as “The AK Guy” — celebrated by making a purchase after the ruling took effect at midnight.

“Last night was an amazing experience to be a part of history in the making,” Virdell said in a Thursday post on X.

Gun control groups blasted the DOJ’s decision, saying short-barrel rifles and shotguns are powerful weapons that have been used in mass shootings, while silencers can make it difficult for bystanders and law enforcement to detect if and where a gun has been fired.

“Today, our government is failing us,” Brady President Kris Brown said in a statement. “Today, the gun industry and silencer dealers are celebrating, while Americans are left less safe.”

Some residents say the cameras make them feel safer. Others see them as an invasion of privacy.

“I think if it involves everybody, then everybody should be involved,” Conroe resident Brayden Spratt said.

Spratt said he supports using Flock cameras when they help police investigate crimes but believes there need to be safeguards against misuse.

“I think it’s fine if it’s used in a positive way, like discovering the burglars and stuff,” Spratt said. “But if it is used for ex-partner stuff, then yeah, I can see that being a problem. Like only used in the way it needs to be used basically.”

That debate over public safety versus privacy is now headed back to Conroe City Hall.

Conroe City Council to consider putting Flock cameras on November ballot

The Conroe City Council is expected to vote Thursday night on whether to place a binding proposition on the Nov. 3 ballot that would allow voters to decide whether the city should stop using automated license plate recognition technology.

The proposal comes weeks after council members unanimously voted July 23 to indefinitely table two proposals related to the cameras. One would have created a citizens advisory committee to study the technology, while another would have explored putting the issue before voters.

If approved by council, Conroe’s proposition would differ significantly from one approved this week in League City.

League City Council voted unanimously to place a nonbinding Flock camera referendum before its voters in November. The result there would serve as an indication of public opinion but would not require the city to remove the cameras.

The proposed Conroe measure would be binding and would call for the city to stop using license plate recognition technology if voters approve it.

Residents divided over cameras

KPRC 2 spoke with several residents near Flock cameras in Conroe on Thursday.

Their views of the technology varied widely.

Jaquan Eady said he sees the cameras as another tool for keeping his community safe.

“There’s a lot of burglaries and people walking around at night not doing stuff they’re supposed to be doing,” Eady said. “I feel like it’s better for the community.”

When asked whether the cameras raised privacy concerns for him, Eady said they did not.

He also said he supports allowing residents to make the ultimate decision.

“I think the city should have a vote and its people because we live here,” Eady said. “It’s important.”

Another Conroe resident, Sharonda Walters, had the opposite reaction.

“I don’t like them,” she said, telling KPRC 2 she believes the cameras are an invasion of privacy and that knowing they are operating throughout Conroe does not make her feel safer.

Spratt and fellow resident Dayna Hiland expressed a more middle-ground view: the technology can have legitimate law enforcement uses, they said, but residents deserve input over technology that collects information about vehicles traveling through their community.

“I just think that everyone should have their opinion,” Hiland said. “Other people should be able to vote.”

“It’s their privacy and everything,” she added.

How many Flock cameras are in Conroe?

Conroe has more than 50 Flock cameras, according to city records.

The cameras are automated license plate readers, commonly called ALPRs. They capture images of passing vehicles and can record information including a vehicle’s license plate, make and model, distinguishing characteristics and the time and location it passed a camera.

Conroe’s system is capable of processing hundreds of thousands of vehicle reads each day. Police Chief Jon Buckholtz previously said officers conduct roughly 60 searches of the system daily and that Flock data had helped investigators solve dozens of crimes.

Police and supporters argue the cameras can quickly give investigators leads in cases involving stolen vehicles, burglaries and violent crimes.

Flock says its cameras do not use facial recognition. The company says access to the system is controlled by individual law enforcement customers and searches are logged to individual users.

One Conroe resident has spent months fighting for records

Few residents have pushed the issue more aggressively than James Fletes.

Fletes told KPRC 2 his concerns began simply by noticing more cameras going up while driving around Conroe.

“We just kept seeing more and more of them be put up, and that kind of prompted me to look into them a little bit more,” Fletes said.

His questions eventually led to an extensive public records request seeking contracts, policies, emails and records related to access and use of the city’s Flock system.

“We’ve been fighting that for about 150 days now,” Fletes told KPRC 2 Thursday.

• RELATED: Two Houston-area cities could put Flock license plate cameras before voters

The Texas Attorney General’s Office recently ruled that Conroe had to release some information the city sought to withhold in response to Fletes’ request. The ruling also allowed the city to withhold certain information considered confidential or sensitive.

Fletes said records he has obtained have raised additional questions for him about how the program was approved, funded and expanded.

He told KPRC 2 he is particularly interested in obtaining records showing which outside agencies have accessed Conroe’s camera system and who is allowed to access the city’s data.

“Those are the documents that we really look forward to getting,” Fletes said.

Fletes has also organized a petition seeking to end Conroe’s participation in Flock. The petition had gathered more than 1,500 signatures by late July.

Despite his opposition to the cameras, Fletes said he believes the final decision should rest with voters — even if voters ultimately decide to keep them.

“Maybe we don’t represent the vast majority of people. Maybe people do want to keep them,” Fletes said. “And I think that should be left up to voters.”

Concerns grow over potential misuse

Fletes said one of his biggest concerns is not just what the technology can do when properly used, but what can happen when someone with access abuses it.

“We’ve already seen officers abusing these cameras to stalk their exes or family members or people who they have a grudge with,” Fletes said. “So the cameras have great benefits, but I just don’t think that those benefits outweigh what the community is feeling.”

Law enforcement agencies across the region have faced investigations involving alleged misuse of license plate reader databases, adding fuel to a broader debate over who should have access to vehicle-location data and how agencies should monitor searches.

• RELATED: Amid public backlash, surveillance tech company Flock announces platform changes

Fletes also argues the mass collection of information from vehicles not suspected of being involved in crimes raises constitutional and privacy concerns.

Flock and law enforcement agencies have disputed the characterization of ALPR systems as tracking individual people, pointing out that the cameras are positioned along public roadways and collect information about vehicles.

Flock announces major changes as criticism grows

The debate in Conroe coincides with significant changes announced by Flock Safety on Thursday.

The company says it is strengthening privacy, accountability and security requirements across its network as scrutiny of automated license plate readers grows nationwide.

Among the biggest changes, Flock is reducing its recommended default data retention period from 30 days to seven days.

Flock also announced it is:

• Requiring multi-factor authentication for customers
• Expanding audits and proactive monitoring designed to identify potential misuse
• Increasing customers’ control over how data is shared with other agencies
• Strengthening controls surrounding searches and access
• Increasing transparency about data ownership, security and agency policies

Flock says data captured by its devices will now default to deletion after seven days, although agencies may have different policies or legal requirements governing retention.

Even with new safeguards, Fletes said his fundamental concern remains unchanged: cameras inevitably capture information from far more people than those suspected of committing crimes.

“I’m all for when they post the arrest, like this camera led to this arrest and helped us. That’s great,” Fletes said. “But what about all the people whose data is being shared in this database who have not committed any sort of crime?”

Supporters say don’t take away a valuable police tool

Conroe police have defended the technology as an important investigative resource.

That argument resonates with some residents.

Eady said concerns about potential misuse should not outweigh the cameras’ ability to help protect the community.

“They’re trying to keep our neighborhood safe,” he said.

Fletes acknowledged that removing the cameras could mean officers lose a tool that makes investigations easier, but he said he does not believe that means police cannot effectively investigate crimes without them.

“I’m sure that’s a great tool to use, but we survived without that for many years,” Fletes said. “I have confidence in our law enforcement. We have great officers here.”

For residents like Spratt, the answer may fall somewhere between removing the cameras entirely and allowing their use without stronger oversight.

“More training and more protocol setting,” Spratt said when asked what could address his concerns.

Whether Conroe residents will get to make that choice themselves now rests with City Council.

If council members approve the ballot proposition Thursday, Conroe voters will decide in November whether automated license plate recognition technology has a place in their city.

County Judge Daniel Wong and Republican Commissioners Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales were present for the meeting. McCoy and Prestage have been absent from Commissioners Court since June, citing concerns over Wong’s authority to continue serving as county judge.

The dispute centers on Wong’s appointment earlier this year after former County Judge KP George was suspended following his felony conviction. The Fort Bend County attorney has argued Wong’s temporary appointment ended June 17 after the underlying civil case that led to his appointment was dismissed. Wong and his attorneys disagree.

On August 6, District Judge Edward Krenek ruled Wong could remain in the position while the legal dispute continues, according to reporting from KPRC and other outlets. The case remains unresolved.

Democratic commissioners continue to stay away

McCoy and Prestage say they will not participate in Commissioners Court while Wong continues to preside.

McCoy says the county attorney advised them that Wong does not have the legal authority to continue conducting county business.

Prestage has argued that votes taken with Wong presiding could later be challenged.

The commissioners have proposed that Wong recuse himself from the budget and tax-rate votes, allowing the four elected commissioners to participate.

Why the tax rate matters

The standoff is particularly significant because state law requires four members of Commissioners Court to adopt the county’s tax rate. The county’s budget is built around that rate.

County officials have warned that failing to adopt the proposed rate could affect employee cost-of-living increases and delay major infrastructure projects.

Today’s vote was to propose the tax rate. The final tax rate and budget are scheduled to come before Commissioners Court September 10.

What happens next

McCoy says he and Prestage will not return if Wong continues participating.

Wong, meanwhile, says he plans to attend the September meeting. His spokesperson told KPRC that Wong will be there because the county attorney says he is the current interim Fort Bend County judge.

The next Commissioners Court meeting is scheduled for August 27, with the final budget and tax-rate vote scheduled for September 10.

The Bears announced in June that they were moving forward with a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. They have completed their review of what they are calling the Lost Marsh site, and they are doing their due diligence on the Wolf Lake Terminal site. They could merge the two options together in some way.

“Even though we’ve had occasional meetings with the state of Illinois, our sole focus at this point in time is working on a world-class stadium and mixed-use development in Hammond, Indiana,” team President Kevin Warren said Thursday.

The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights — about 30 miles northwest of Chicago — as a potential location for an enclosed stadium. Wherever they end up, a name change is off the table.

“We will be the Chicago Bears whether we’re in Arlington or whether we’re in Hammond,” chairman George McCaskey said.

The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.

The Bears’ lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall — the team’s headquarters in Lake Forest — and Hammond is about 20 miles south of the team’s lakefront stadium.

McCaskey acknowledged the “anxiety” of a move to northwest Indiana for the team's fans.

“But when I’ve driven that route, other than a sign telling me so, I wouldn’t know that I’ve just crossed the state border,” he said. “And as Kevin said, once people see the building, once they get in there, once they understand that our top priority from day one was a world-class stadium experience, we think we’ll make that adjustment. We think Bears fans are up for that.”

The Bears ramped up their focus on Indiana after a proposal to provide financial incentives for the team to build its new home in Illinois stalled in the state legislature. A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring legislative session.

McCaskey said the team has had minimal conversations with Illinois legislators since June. Asked if he was hopeful about Illinois coming up with a plan and building in Arlington Heights, McCaskey demurred.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “has said to us many times in league meetings, ‘Hope is not a strategy,’” McCaskey said. “We have to deal with the here and now. We have to deal with real circumstances, and these are the real circumstances.”

Speaking before McCaskey and Warren held their news conference, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said his office has been in contact with the team.

“We’re working hard to make sure that there’s an opportunity for the Bears to stay in the state of Illinois, whether it’s in Chicago or in Arlington Heights,” Pritzker said.

“I also want, at the same time, to protect the fans and the taxpayers of the state. So we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that that happens.”

The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.

The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Inc. was finalized in 2023.

In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.

But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as team president in January 2023, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Mayor Brandon Johnson and a tepid reception from Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made “significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.

Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at possible options in northwest Indiana.

“We’re in regular, almost daily communication with the state of Indiana working on this,” Warren said. “We have an excellent deal, a win-win partnership together. And the cost of the significance of this decision from a stadium standpoint, we will make sure that we take our time to get this right.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The plan to remake the flagship campus’ core curriculum replaces the sprawling menu of classes students can now take to meet core requirements with a more structured core curriculum organized around the humanities, social sciences and science, technology, engineering and math.

But how the overhaul connects to UT-Austin’s new Center for the Humanities remains unclear.

A report from a 22-member faculty task force appointed by UT-Austin President Jim Davis proposes 12 requirements across the core areas, compared with the current 10.

Davis described the existing core to the University of Texas System regents as a “haphazard grab bag of classes,” pointing to a course on the history of college football as an example of a specialized class that may be a worthwhile elective but, in his view, should not to fulfill half of a student’s U.S. history requirement.

UT students would have to take courses focused on Western civilization, great questions of human life, the principles of American politics, world politics and cultures, great ideas in science and computer science and artificial intelligence, according to the proposal.

Recommendations include creating a “Texas 40: Great Thinkers” list for courses on great questions of human life and three separate 40-author lists for British, American and world literature courses. Great questions courses would have to draw at least two-thirds of their content from the thinkers list.

Faculty members would have a chance to shape their own courses with their creativity and expertise, one of the taskforce members, Richard Reddick, told The Texas Tribune.

“Academic freedom is a big piece of this,” Reddick said. “I can’t imagine telling our faculty colleagues, ‘Here’s your syllabus, teach this.’ It’s not going to work.”

The task force recommends students complete four of the proposed requirements at UT-Austin, rather than accepting transfer or dual-credit coursework from elsewhere. That would include the great questions of human life, principles of American politics, great ideas in science, and computer science and artificial intelligence.

The new requirements would take 36 credit hours, down from the current 42. That would leave students six additional hours for electives, courses in their major or other classes.

Under the proposal, specialized classes not selected for the new core would remain available as electives, but university leaders acknowledged their future could depend on whether enough students enroll.

The taskforce also recommended UT-Austin offer a small-class option for every core requirement over time, prioritize in-person teaching and limit fully online core classes.

University officials plan to begin offering new courses in fall 2027 and make the redesigned core mandatory for a new incoming class in fall 2028. The taskforce has not yet identified which courses would qualify. Its report recommends three faculty-led committees decide what proposals meet the new standards.

Earlier in the meeting, three UT-Austin students criticized Davis and regents for what they described as a lack of transparency and meaningful student and faculty input into recent academic changes.

They pointed to the consolidation of gender and ethnic studies; plans to move biology operations to make room for the School of Civic Leadership; and the closure of the Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy Library.

“You have shown how little you regard the wants and needs of students, staff and professors by bulldozing prominent institutions without allowing feedback from the people they affect the most,” said Elise James, a government major who is a member of the Students for a Democratic Society.

University officials said the review included student input. Reddick, a professor of higher education leadership and policy in the College of Education, and Kristin Patterson, an associate professor of instruction in biology and undergraduate studies in the College of Natural Science, served on the core-curriculum task force.

Patterson and Reddick told the Tribune that the group met weekly for an hour and a half and heard from students and faculty across campus as well as from outside experts. Students generally praised the classes they had taken but found the current core difficult to navigate, the professors said.

Under the proposal, each requirement could be fulfilled by multiple courses, and faculty members from all departments would be invited to develop them.

UT-Austin officials are reviewing the courses all undergraduates must take after a 2025 state law required public university governing boards to certify that those courses prepare students for civic and professional life and support workforce preparation.

The law also requires boards to consider the courses’ potential cost and effect on students’ time to degree. The boards must complete their first review by Jan. 1 and repeat it at least once every five years.

The regents did not vote on UT-Austin’s proposed changes. Davis said he would return to the board for approval as officials develop and staff the new courses.

Last week, the Texas State University System regents were the first to act under the new law, approving revised core-course lists for its seven institutions. At Texas State University in San Marcos, the review changed the learning outcomes for 115 courses to focus on what students should be able to do after taking them — rather than particular attitudes, beliefs or values — and removed eight Honors courses that were no longer taught.

The law did more than require universities to review their core curriculums. At UT-Austin, it also replaced the Faculty Council, an elected body that advised university leaders on curriculum and other matters, with faculty advisory groups appointed by the president, including the core-curriculum task force.

But the push to reshape what UT-Austin students learn predates last year’s law.

Republican state leaders have long argued that Texas’ public universities are too liberal or too focused on ideas that do not prepare students for careers.

In 2021, lawmakers gave UT-Austin $6 million to create the Civitas Institute, a think tank focused on individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise and free markets. Two years later, UT regents created the School of Civic Leadership to house the institute before lawmakers could vote on a bill that would have required the university to do so.

The school and the institute had or were set to have 42 tenured or tenure-track faculty members as of Aug. 3, according to records obtained by the Tribune, nearly triple the 15 positions lawmakers proposed requiring. Its major, Civics Honors, enrolled 103 students when it began last fall.

As UT-Austin built up the School of Civic Leadership, it accelerated plans to consolidate seven College of Liberal Arts departments, including African and African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Mexican American and Latino Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, into two new departments by fall 2026.

Davis said the restructuring followed a review that found wide disparities in student-to-faculty ratios across the college.

Lauren Gutterman, whose appointment as chair of American Studies ends Saturday, said she expects to become an associate professor in the new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

Gutterman said she was not aware of any faculty members in the consolidated units losing their jobs, though she added that some staff members were fired or reassigned. She worries university leaders will not replace professors who leave, retire or receive outside offers.

“They’re not going to kind of fire us wholesale, but find ways of chipping away at the faculty within these units,” Gutterman said.

Meanwhile, Davis and university leaders have said little publicly about the Center for Humanities, whose website notes it will focus on teaching and research tied to the core curriculum.

Davis did not answer questions after the regents’ meeting. UT spokesperson Mike Rosen did not respond to questions about who created, approved or funded the center or how it will fit alongside the existing Humanities Institute, which was established in 2001 to support humanities research.

The Austin American-Statesman first reported the center this month. The center’s website was created July 8, according to its underlying code. Eight of the 11 faculty members listed on the website work at the Civitas Institute while five previously worked at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, a state-backed program that later became a college. Neither Center for Humanities Director Robert Ingram nor Humanities Institute Director Tanya Clement responded to a request for comment.

Patterson and Reddick said the core-curriculum task force’s work is complete. They did not know about the Center for Humanities or what role, if any, it will play in the core-curriculum overhaul, the professors said. The task force’s written report lists both Ingram and Jill Ingram, a professor of humanities at the Center, as members.

Before the 2025 law, a major academic initiative — such as a new center — would generally have been developed with faculty input and presented to the Faculty Council for discussion and a vote before moving to university leaders and regents, said Liliana Garces, a professor in the UT-Austin’s College of Education.

“I was very surprised, to say the least, to learn about the center from a news article,” Garces said.

At Thursday’s meeting, regents praised Davis’ core-curriculum proposal and his leadership.

Board Chair Kevin P. Eltife said UT-Austin had “lacked that in the past.” Board Vice Chair Janiece Longoria said Davis was “proving that we’re capable of doing hard things” by replacing a core that had grown “like an amoeba, way out of control.”

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

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

Police say the attack happened Friday, June 5, 2026, a little before 10:30 a.m. near the intersection of Creekbend Drive and Fluor Daniel Drive.

Investigators say the woman was walking in the area near Brooks Lake when an unknown man came up from behind and hit her with a baseball bat.

She suffered serious injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

As part of the ongoing investigation, a forensic sketch artist created a composite drawing of the suspect based on the description given by the victim. Investigators hope someone recognizes the man and can help identify him.

Police say the suspect was last seen leaving the area in an SUV, but the victim could not provide a definite color.

Anyone who recognizes the person in the sketch, saw suspicious activity in the area at the time, or has information that could help investigators is asked to contact the Sugar Land Police Department at 281-275-2020 or Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers at 281-342-TIPS (8477).

This week, Cuba commemorated Castro with events including the International Book Fair, art exhibitions, concerts and gatherings of delegates from leftist organizations across the continent.

Posters bearing his image hang in hospitals, while billboards displaying his slogans — including his widely known “Homeland or Death” — line the streets. His presence is so familiar that many Cubans refer to him simply as Fidel.

“I believe (Fidel Castro) leaves Cuba a legacy of dignity, morality, tireless work and concern for the poor,” writer and essayist Miguel Barnet, who also is a member of the National Assembly, told The Associated Press. “And a philosophy that was translated into concrete policies in areas such as culture, education and public health.”

An island in crisis

Castro’s centennial comes as Cuba faces an ever-intensifying squeeze that began when the Trump administration imposed a fuel blockade in January and followed up with a series of sanctions aimed at pressuring the communist government to make political and economic changes. The measures have deepened a five-year economic crisis fueled by earlier U.S. sanctions and a failed domestic financial overhaul.

For Cubans, the effects have been far-reaching: prolonged power outages, shortages of fuel and medicine, declining industrial and tourism activity, flight cancellations, transportation restrictions and reduced work and school hours.

Castro governed Cuba for five decades, from 1959 until he handed over the presidency to his brother in 2008, holding massive rallies and making hourslong speeches. He remained influential until his death in 2016.

“Fidel left us everything, everything good that came from Cuba’s revolutionary process,” said Argelia Mustelier, a 61-year-old retiree who lives in Old Havana. “In these difficult times we’re living through, he would have found a way to bring some happiness to his country and his people.”

From guerrilla campaigns to leading a country

Fidel Castro Ruz was born Aug. 13, 1926, in eastern Cuba’s sugar country, where his Spanish immigrant father first worked recruiting labor for U.S. sugar companies and later built up a prosperous plantation of his own. Shortly after graduating as a lawyer, he became politically active.

In 1953, Castro and more than 100 others attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista. Castro was captured and later released, then went into exile in Mexico. He returned to Cuba with fellow rebels and launched a guerrilla campaign that culminated in Batista’s ouster in 1959 and Castro’s rise to power.

Castro took power and radically transformed Cuba through agrarian reform, a massive literacy campaign and the nationalization of private businesses, policies that put his government on a collision course with the U.S.

Across Latin America and developing nations, Castro became a symbol of anti-colonial and revolutionary movements. His policies also fueled deep opposition, first among wealthy Cubans, many of whom fled to the United States, and later among those who opposed the Communist Party’s monopoly on political power.

“He is a controversial figure,” said historian Manuel Cuesta Morúa, president of the opposition Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba.

“There was no justification for sacrificing freedoms … There was no justification for preventing the rest (of the Cuban people) — and the country’s political diversity and plurality — from expressing themselves,” Cuesta said. “That created a rift whose consequences we are still living with today.”

For many younger Cubans, Castro remains an icon, but his influence is less immediate for them than for older generations who lived under his leadership.

“Our generation didn’t experience him as an active leader. What we saw was a less visible Fidel, one who rarely appeared in public,” 27-year-old Cristian Cohello said. “What remains of Fidel Castro right now, of what he left behind, is nothing; absolutely nothing.”

Raúl Castro makes an unusual appearance

On Thursday, the former president and brother of the leader, 95-year-old Raúl Castro, made an unusual public appearance — who was reportedly last seen in June and has not been seen in public since May 1 — during a tribute at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana.

Dressed in an olive-green uniform, Raúl Castro stood next to President Miguel Díaz-Canel and one row ahead of his own grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who has been cited as one of the island’s negotiators with the United States.

Hours later, Díaz-Canel attended an exhibition of photographs — 30 printed and another 100 projected on a screen — of Fidel Castro taken throughout his life and with prominent figures such as Pope John Paul II and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, both now deceased.

“It is a glorious day for Cuba, 100 years ago Fidel was born ... a man who embodies the ideas for which Cuba fights and the ideas for which we are fiercely defending ourselves against imperial threats,” Díaz-Canel told a group of journalists.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of historian Manuel Cuesta Morúa’s name.

The 24-year-old Hunt started the week by winning the 100-meter final and made it two-for-two Thursday by taking the 200 gold at Alexander Stadium. She’s also in contention to be in two relay teams.

“I am only 50% through as I have set out for the full set of four golds," Hunt said. “Now I am incredibly excited for the relays because I get to do them and have so much fun with my friends.”

The ever-affable Hunt likes to quote a “High School Musical” character when she says “I want it all” on the track. But the University of Cambridge alum can get more serious, too, like when she recently discussed the legacy of colonialism associated with the Commonwealth Games.

Here's what to know about her career:

Medals include silver in 200 at world championships

Hunt was the surprise silver medalist in the 200 at the world championships last September in Tokyo, where she ran 22.14 seconds in the final — U.S. sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was the winner.

At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Hunt ran the third leg on the British women’s 4x100 relay team that won silver.

In the youth ranks, Hunt set an under-18 women's world best in the 200 when she ran a 22.42 in June 2019 in Mannheim, Germany.

Hunt juggled academics — studying English Literature — while training and overcame a leg injury to reach world-class levels. After her silver medal in Tokyo last year, she told the BBC she's glad she stayed in school: “You can be an academic badass and a track goddess.”

Hunt quotes ‘High School Musical’ character

When describing her goals, Hunt cites a “High School Musical” character Sharpay Evans and the song called “I Want it All.”

Hunt mentioned it in the pre-championships news conference and again after winning gold in the 100 on Monday night.

“That performance is one step closer to being like Sharpay Evans,” she said after the victory. “I really want to win it all and I’m so happy now I’ve got one out of four done. Hopefully I can take this momentum and the good vibes into the rest of the week.”

Hunt's issue with the Commonwealth Games

Hunt gives fans a behind-the-scenes view of her life as an athlete with video updates on her YouTube page. Her “vlog” touches on everything from meals to sightseeing to anti-doping tests.

The sprinter's most recent video was a review of her time at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she won a silver medal in the 100.

Hunt takes a few minutes in the video to discuss the history of the games, saying she doesn't “ethically or morally agree with the kind of notion of a Commonwealth Games.” The games, she added, “used to celebrate a colonial empire.”

“I think the Commonwealth Games provides the opportunity for us to reflect on ourselves and our history with colonialism, also the fact that England as we know it was rebuilt post-war by the Windrush generation, by immigrants,” Hunt said.

Athletes discuss this privately, she said, but that's where it stays.

“I think a lot of people are afraid to speak about it openly. I think as a white athlete, it’s important for me to speak about my thoughts on it. ... I just kind of wish there was more dialogue and more conversation about that.”

She concludes: “You’re more than free to disagree with it and you’re more than free to think that if I have these views it’s hypocritical for me to compete.”

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

The Hennepin County search warrant obtained by The Associated Press identified the man as Nathan Brown, 41. It says he stabbed his wife, 41-year-old Kristen Brown, and their daughter, Evie Brown, inside the daycare that Kristen Brown operated out of the family's basement in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis. He then fatally shot himself in an upstairs closet.

Hopkins police said in a statement Thursday that they are still investigating.

According to police records, a father dropping off two of his children for daycare heard screams coming from the basement. The father entered the home and initially thought Nathan Brown was performing CPR before realizing it was an attack. The witness called 911 and fled with his children and two other children.

Authorities said Wednesday that they believe Nathan Brown earlier killed a 78-year-old relative at her home in Burnsville, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Hopkins. Nathan Brown had recently been living there, investigators said. Police have not released the woman’s identity or said how she was related to Brown.

The warrant says the parent who witnessed the daycare attack told investigators that Kristen Brown had recently sent parents a letter that the daycare would soon be closing, citing “relationship issues with Nathan.”

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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.

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Six other children were present, but none were physically harmed, authorities said.

Authorities have not released any information about a potential motive for the killings. They said there was no history of police calls to the Hopkins address.

Records show that Kristen Brown had been licensed by the state since 2019. The daycare had a capacity of 10 children and was found to be in compliance during visits in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Family members of Kristen Brown declined to comment on Thursday.

Kristen Brown opened Brown Bear Childcare a few months after giving birth to Evie. In a 2019 post on the daycare’s Facebook page, Brown wrote that she hoped to help her daughter and other children “blossom into happy, intelligent, caring individuals.”

Kristen Brown had a bachelor’s degree in elementary education foundations from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and was certified in vision therapy, according to her daycare’s Facebook page. She incorporated music and cooking classes into her days with the children and would take them on field trips to a science museum and an orchard.

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Rico reported from Atlanta.

During an hourslong meeting that was conducted virtually, the board voted to add Trump's name to the building's facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” The plaza in front of the building would be named after Trump and most of the space at the venue would be closed for two years to allow for substantial renovations.

The changes, described by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is an ex-officio board member, and her lawyers, amount to a dramatic test of U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.

He ruled in May that letters affixed to the building that spelled out Trump's name were added illegally and he ordered their removal, a decision that the Republican administration failed to persuade courts to overturn. At the same time, Cooper blocked a two-year closure that was set to take effect July 5, saying an earlier board vote authorizing the shuttering was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.”

“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” Beatty said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”

A Kennedy Center representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Much of Thursday's board meeting was expected to focus on the extent of closures required to allow for renovations that the Kennedy Center's management says are needed to improve safety. In response to the judge's criticism of the earlier vote, the institution's leaders said they would provide the board with three options to consider.

They included a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly limited series of phased closures to address only the Center’s most serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of programming.”

Ultimately, the board decided to close the building for two years while leaving the potential for some degree of programming to still happen in an outdoor space known as the Reach. The decision to move ahead with the two-year closure, in addition to the moves to memorialize Trump, could revive questions about whether the board seriously considered the full range of options, a point Democrats emphasized after the meeting.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who is also an ex officio board member, criticized a “sham meeting.”

“What happened today was nothing more than a rubber stamp on a decision the President made months ago that the Board already tried to effectuate without doing proper due diligence,” he said in a statement.

The Kennedy Center has become a metaphor for presidential power

During Trump's second term, the Kennedy Center has become an unlikely — and highly visible — metaphor for presidential power. While he largely ignored the institution during his first term in Washington, Trump moved quickly to oust its leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman.

His name was quickly added to the building, before coming down in June in response to Cooper's order. The area where it once stood is now covered by a massive tarp.

The Kennedy Center moves are part of Trump's broader push to reshape the physical landscape of the nation's capital in ways that have few modern parallels.

He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a controversial ballroom in its place, though an appeals court ruled last week that construction should stop because Congress didn't approve the project. Trump has said he will take the case to the Supreme Court.

His remodel of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also stumbled after algae returned and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro refuted his claims that a vandal was responsible for the damage.

Meanwhile, Trump is planning extensive renovations of a golf course in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump has derided the Kennedy Center as “rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested” and threatened to hand the building over to Congress after Cooper rejected the closure and the addition of the president’s name to the building.

The institution’s leadership has argued that it’s in genuine need of repair and updating.

Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the building in April, highlighting severe water damage that he said corroded steel in some places as thin as tissue paper. Some pieces of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the building, are decades old and in need of replacement.

At the time, Floca said he considered doing the repairs individually but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the building and move forward with the renovation all at once.

“When the president asked, ‘How do you make these projects the best? How do you make them really excellent and deliver them efficiently?’ My recommendation was you close the building and you do everything over a definite period of time, two years,” he said.

More recently, the legal battles became the subject of barbs and jokes as comedian Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in late June. At the start of the program, Pamella Roland DeVos, a Kennedy Center trustee appointed by Trump, described the institution as a “national cultural center open not just for some but for every American patron who wants to experience the greatest art and expression the world has to offer.”

“The responsibility that comes with it is one our board takes very seriously,” she said.

A fan blade in the Boeing 737-800's right engine broke loose, sending fragments flying out of the engine that broke the window and damaged the fuselage in several other places, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board. Greece turned the investigation over to the U.S. agency under international aviation rules.

The July 10 accident happened after the flight departed the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Investigators found bird remains inside the engine, suggesting the plane may have struck birds during takeoff, though they haven't determined what caused the fan blade to break loose.

The 61-year-old passenger suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns.

Panicked passengers helped the man after the window broke

The flight attendants told investigators they heard and felt loud, continuous vibration and saw smoke or fog fill the cabin before the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

One flight attendant then noticed some passengers standing and calling for help. The man in a row 11 window seat was partially lodged in the damaged window, and other passengers pulled him back into the cabin.

The injured passenger was moved to row 12, where a doctor on board tended to him. Other passengers retrieved a metal box from the flight attendants and used it to try to block the opening until the plane could land.

A series of short videos recorded inside the plane and shared by Radio Thessaloniki showed passengers wearing oxygen masks after the cabin lost pressure. Another appeared to show the broken window, with a man seated nearby wearing an oxygen mask. A third video, apparently filmed after the aircraft landed, showed first responders working in the aisle.

The engine's fan blades were inspected in May

Maintenance records show the fan blades in the right engine had undergone ultrasonic inspections in May 2026 and November 2025, with no damage found. But flight crews had reported four suspected bird strikes to the same engine over the previous year, according to the NTSB. Bird remains were found after two of them.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator who reviewed the preliminary report, told The Associated Press that the required maintenance appears to have been performed on schedule. Investigators, however, will likely examine how the inspections were conducted and whether the previous suspected bird strikes contributed to preexisting damage.

“We know what happened and even to some extent why it happened, but there’s still unanswered questions that the NTSB will get at,” Guzzetti said.

The NTSB last month reprimanded Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary after he told investors the investigation was focused on foreign object damage rather than the plane’s age or maintenance history. The agency said investigators had not ruled anything out and O’Leary wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation.

Ryanair said Thursday it would not comment further until the NTSB investigation is complete. Boeing and CFM International, the engine maker, said they are assisting with the investigation.

FAA had ordered fixes after similar accidents

The FAA issued three directives last year requiring airlines to strengthen parts of the engine coverings on Boeing 737s after two previous fan blade failures sent pieces of the engine coverings flying. In one accident, a Southwest Airlines passenger was killed in 2018 after debris struck the fuselage and knocked out a window, causing the cabin to rapidly lose pressure.

The directives, which took effect in April 2025, require changes aimed at keeping pieces of the engine covering from breaking away and striking the plane if a fan blade breaks loose. Among other things, airlines must replace certain fasteners and spacers that attach the engine’s inlet covering and revise their maintenance and inspection programs.

The FAA gave airlines until July 2028 to complete the major modifications, and the NTSB report says the required changes had not yet been made to the Ryanair plane.

Guzzetti said the latest accident could prompt the FAA and NTSB to examine whether that deadline should be moved up.

“It takes time to do the maintenance, to get the parts, and the risk at the time was assessed such that the industry could probably wait that long. Now with this event,” Guzzetti said, “that may change things.”

Asked whether the July 2028 deadline could change, the FAA declined to comment on the open investigation, saying it closely supports the NTSB and will “take any necessary safety actions based on the evidence.”

The plane returned about an hour after takeoff

The 737-800, which can seat up to 189 passengers, was delivered new to Ryanair in 2008, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

Flight records show the plane climbed above 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) about six minutes after departure before descending to about 6,000 feet (1,830 meters) “to burn fuel for 30 minutes” and returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after takeoff, Flightradar24 said.

The flight was operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget carrier.

The plane landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal. One passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground, the airline said in a statement at the time.

Now, to help honor those 2006 and 2007 wins, the Houston Dynamo FC have launched their archive kit -- honoring the legacy of the team -- and of course the city of Houston.

The kit includes nods to the Astrodome -- the home of the first professional soccer match ever played in Houston, back in 1967, between Real Madrid and West Ham United. The pattern on the kit is inspired by the iconic Astrodome roof, and reflects the journey that has shaped the team, its fans and the city of Houston.

The Team Shop will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday (August 14^th) and throughout matchday on Saturday, August 15^th.

The Club will honor the 20th anniversary of its 2006 MLS Cup championship team during 2006 Championship Celebration Night at Shell Energy Stadium as the Dynamo host the LA Galaxy, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The Dynamo will welcome back members of the 2006 title-winning team for a special halftime ceremony recognizing the players, coaches and staff who helped establish Houston as a championship club

As part of the celebration, fans can purchase a special ticket add-on to receive a limited-edition replica 2006 MLS Cup championship ring that serves as a commemorative keepsake honoring the Club’s historic inaugural championship season.

Tickets are available at HoustonDynamoFC.com.

Watch as Derrick Shore and Brandon Bourque chat with Dynamo legends and current executives Pat Onstad and Wade Barrett about this weekend’s big events.

The company operates a vast nationwide network of automated cameras that record the license plate numbers and other characteristics of all passing vehicles every day. Thousands of law enforcement agencies in 49 states can search and share Flock's data across jurisdictions to aid their investigations.

Police have credited the technology as an important crime-fighting innovation that has helped locate missing people and track suspects in violent crimes. But some critics say its pervasiveness amounts to unconstitutional warrantless mass surveillance. Dozens of cities and agencies have nixed their relationships with Flock amid concerns that the data can be accessed for immigration enforcement or used in unauthorized tracking, after a flurry of examples surfaced of law enforcement officers misusing the technology for personal searches.

CEO says changes will drive accountability

In an interview, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said many of the product changes will make what were once optional guardrails mandatory for its users to implement by Jan. 1.

Among them: All law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that's intended to flag abnormal search behavior. When the system detects abnormal behavior, the user would be locked out pending an internal review, the company said in a description of the changes provided ahead of Thursday's announcement.

Flock, which says its customers own the data that the cameras record, is also shortening the standard data retention window from 30 days to seven. It said it will allow data to be preserved for longer when it is evidence tied to a case number.

Law enforcement users will now also be required to enter a code from their records management system tying each search to a specific case before it is run, something Langley said civil liberties advocates have long been calling for. Overrides for emergencies would be automatically flagged for review, the company said.

Customers will also be allowed to decide which offense types — such as homicide or arson — outside agencies can search their data for, which would allow a customer to block outside searches related to immigration enforcement, the company said.

Langley said that change will give individual cities and departments control to use the system in a manner “consistent with community values.”

Critics say updates still leave room for abuses, supporters urge balance

Critics of the company reacted skeptically to the changes, which they said appeared designed to address the growing bipartisan anger about the cameras but could still leave room for police to abuse the system.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in a blog post that the shortened evidence retention window could be “a step in the right direction,” but it characterized the other changes as “retreads” of inadequate safety measures.

Robert Frommer, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm that's led closely watched litigation over the technology, called the changes “window dressing” from a company in “panic mode.”

“This is window dressing that doesn’t address the fundamental problem, which is that police officers are the ones deciding who and when to search, and that should be done by judges with real warrants,” he said.