George was not present for the proceedings, which were presided over by Judge Jeff Jones. The case was filed by Fort Bend County resident Sarah Roberts prior to George’s March 20 felony conviction for money laundering.

• Fort Bend County Judge KP George found guilty in money laundering case tied to campaign finances

Immediately following the suspension, Jones appointed Republican nominee Daniel Wong to fill the role. The decision was made at the judge’s discretion.

Wong will not officially assume the position until he posts a $50,000 bond, according to the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office. A spokesperson said the bond requirement is standard statewide and applies to all elected officials, including members of the Commissioners Court, before taking office.

KPRC 2 reached out to Wong for comment, but he was not yet aware of his appointment. Minutes later, Wong said his team had confirmed the decision.

• KP George KO’d in primary race for reelection as Fort Bend County Judge

George still faces additional legal trouble. He is scheduled to go to trial on a misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity tied to an alleged social media hoax campaign on May 5.

According to the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, this marks the first time in the modern era that a sitting county judge in the county has been suspended.

George had been set to serve until 2027 after losing the primary election in March.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks Thursday night on Persian Gulf states.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region when he said he had approved direct talks with Lebanon. The Lebanese government has not responded as of Friday morning.

The announcement came after Israel pounded Beirut Wednesday, killing more than 300 people. The negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Questions remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the Strait of Hormuz, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Talks between the United States and Iran on a resolution to the conflict are expected to start Saturday in Islamabad, with the White House saying Vice President JD Vance would lead the U.S. delegation.

Here is the latest:

Trump says Iran has ‘no cards’ except Strait of Hormuz ahead of Islamabad talks

The president offered his assessment in a Truth Social post as Vice President JD Vance is flying to Islamabad for talks that aimed at finding a permanent end to the conflict.

“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,” Trump posted. “The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!”

To be certain, Iran’s effective shuttering of the waterway, which about 20% of the world’s oil normally flows through, has had major impact on the U.S. and global economy.

In the United States, consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department reported Friday The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades spurred the sharp spike in inflation.

Iran foreign minister urges US to uphold ceasefire commitments on Lebanon

Abbas Araghchi stressed in a call Friday with Tehran’s incoming ambassador to Beirut the need to halt Israeli attacks on Lebanon and called on Washington “to adhere to its commitments in this regard,” according to a post on Araghchi’s Telegram channel.

Lebanon had declared Iran’s ambassador, Mohammad Reza Sheibani, persona non grata and ordered him to leave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon, but said a ceasefire there is not on the table.

Israeli strikes continued Friday, hitting multiple areas across southern Lebanon.

Iran’s parliament speaker cites more conditions ahead of negotiations with US

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf claimed in a social media post Friday that two of the mutually agreed-upon points between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets ahead of the negotiations.

“These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,” he wrote. He did not elaborate.

Iran has not yet said who it will send to the ceasefire talks in Pakistan that are expected to start Saturday.

Iranian ambassador to Tunisia says Iran is in ‘armed negotiations’ with the US

“We remain cautious, and our hands remain on the trigger because we do not trust them,” Ambassador Mir Massoud Hosseinian told The Associated Press on Friday.

He blamed the U.S. and Israel for reported ceasefire violations in the Iran war and said Iran is prepared to defend itself should there not be a satisfactory outcome in the next two weeks.

He said Iran has been caught in “a vicious cycle” of negotiations, war, ceasefire and another war for years, adding: “We want to break this cycle.”

Hosseinian also said the administration of the Strait of Hormuz after the war “will inevitably differ from before.”

He added that Iran’s right to enrich uranium is “not negotiable,” although the level of enrichment is, framing his country’s nuclear program as a necessary part of its future energy security.

Kuwait says National Guard personnel wounded in Iranian aerial attacks

Kuwait’s army said Friday it had engaged with seven Iranian drones over the last 24 hours. In a statement on the social platform X, it said the attacks targeted vital facilities affiliated with the National Guard.

The post did not mention the number of injuries, adding only that they were in stable condition.

The attacks resulted in “significant material damage,” the military said.

Kuwait earlier had said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region.

Iran’s IRGC denied launching an assault.

Why Pakistan has emerged as a mediator between US and Iran

It was initially seen as an unexpected mediator, but this week Pakistan has established itself as a key player in bringing Iran and the United States to the negotiating table. Now, it is awaiting representatives from both countries to meet in Islamabad, as the world watches to see whether the talks could lead to an end to the war.

Since Washington and Tehran agreed to an initial 14-day ceasefire on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the powerful army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have been sharing messages about conversations with world leaders, highlighting their role as mediators.

Islamabad isn’t often called on to act as an intermediary in high-stakes diplomacy, but it’s stepped into the role this time for a number of reasons, both because it has relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran and because it has a lot at stake in seeing the war resolved.

▶ Read more

Security forces move swiftly to lock down key parts of Islamabad

Commandos, police and other security personnel set up barricades as dusk fell along routes linking the airport to the city, particularly those expected to be used by U.S. and Iranian delegations arriving for high-stakes talks.

During their stay in Pakistan, the two delegations will also meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The delegations arriving in Islamabad are scheduled to stay at a hotel where negotiations are expected to take place on Saturday.

Ahead of the talks, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reviewed security arrangements for the delegations.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said Islamabad’s Red Zone would be completely sealed on Saturday, with entry restricted to authorized individuals.

Multiple rounds of sirens heard across northern Israel

Sirens signaling incoming fire from the militant Hezbollah group sounded in repeated waves across northern Israel on Friday, including in border communities and areas such as Nahariya and Karmiel.

The Israeli military said around 30 projectiles were fired toward the area since morning.

Trump’s tenuous Iran exit plan isn’t healing Republican rifts exposed by the war

President Donald Trump’s search for an off-ramp from the war with Iran is getting bumpy inside his Republican Party.

In the decade since Trump’s “America First” movement rose to power by rejecting military intervention, his coalition has rarely been tested the way it is now. Trump’s exit efforts — first through threats of annihilation, then with a ceasefire that is proving precarious — are doing little to paper over tensions that have festered since the war began six weeks ago.

Despite the growing criticism, Republican leaders in Congress were largely silent. Many were privately uncomfortable with Trump’s threats on social media and were concerned about how the war would play out, especially in an election year.

But with Congress on recess for the opening two weeks of April, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have offered little public reaction to Trump’s moves.

▶ Read more

Israel bans Spain from Gaza peace monitoring body

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that the Spanish government will be cast out of a U.S.-led coordination center in charge of maintaining peace in Gaza, citing Spain’s alleged anti-Israeli bias amid the war with Iran.

“Israel will not remain silent in the face of those who attack us. Spain has defamed our heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world,” he said in a video statement.

The Kiryat Gat-based Civil-Military Coordination Center was established in October 2025 as a multinational body charged with monitoring implementation of the peace agreement sponsored by Trump in Gaza.

“Those who attack the State of Israel instead of terrorist regimes will not be our partners regarding the future of the region,” added Netanyahu.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been one of the most outspoken critics of the war on Iran, which he denounced as “illegal, reckless and unjust.”

Lebanon’s state-run news agency reports 13 State Security officers killed

The NNA news agency reported that Israeli warplanes on Friday struck near a State Security agency office in the southern town of Nabatieh, causing extensive damage at the government building. It said others were wounded in the strike and were being transferred to hospitals, without specifying how many.

At least 13 State Security officers were killed, according to a statement from the agency.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the specific strike. Its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, claimed that Israel had hit more than 120 Hezbollah militant sites in the past 24 hours.

Hezbollah has claimed a series of air and ground attacks against Israel in the last day after initially holding fire following news of the wider ceasefire deal in the Iran war.

Ceasefire deal brings relief to some in Iran, but Trump’s threat still echoes

Iranians have welcomed a fragile ceasefire deal after weeks of Israeli and American bombardment, but many fear the war is far from over. For some, there is also a sense of whiplash, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out their civilization hours before he reversed course and agreed to an uneasy truce.

The ceasefire that took effect Wednesday has brought relative quiet to the capital, Tehran, after more than a month of heavy strikes that targeted mainly government and security buildings but also destroyed many homes.

“Everyone I’ve spoken with, it’s given them a new life,” a university student told The Associated Press in an audio note via WhatsApp, speaking on condition of anonymity over fears for his safety.

AP spoke to half a dozen residents, despite an ongoing nationwide internet shutdown imposed during mass protests before the war.

▶ Read more

Japan urges Israel and Hezbollah to reach a diplomatic settlement

Japan said it is deeply concerned about escalating Israeli attacks on Lebanon, urging all parties to immediately stop hostilities and comply with international law.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, in a statement Friday, expressed Japan’s “serious concern” over Israel’s ground operation against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, calling for respect for Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Vance says he believes negotiations with Iran will be ‘positive’

Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll, of course, see.”

He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.”

But Vance also added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but didn’t elaborate.

The vice president did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.

Some Israelis think Israel should ‘finish with’ Hezbollah before deal with Lebanon

In the streets of downtown Jerusalem, some Israelis said they believe peace with Lebanon is not possible before a decisive victory against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

“I think we should finish with them. After we finished with Hezbollah, we can try and make peace with Lebanon,” said Yaniv Matsree.

A little over a month of hiding in shelters has inconvenienced the lives of many Israelis, they said, but has done little to change their views of the war with Hezbollah that has killed more than 1,850 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

For some Israelis, their country should press on to evade future threats from the militant group.

“The people of Israel want peace and seek peace, but those who want war will get war, and this war is very justified,” said Benhamo Momen, who fled from northern Israel, where the impact of the war is most severe. “Hezbollah will not disarm on their own.”

Gas price spike pushes up inflation by the most in 4 years in March

The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation in March, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening the political challenges of rising costs for the White House.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, up sharply from just 2.4% in February. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.5% in February. But last month, core prices rose a modest 0.2%, suggesting the gas price shock hasn’t yet spread to many other categories.

The gas price shock stemming from the Iran war has shifted inflation’s trajectory from a slow, gradual decline to a sharp increase, further away from the Fed’s 2% target. As a result, the central bank will almost certainly postpone any cut in interest rates for months.

Gas prices are also a highly visible cost that has outsize impacts on consumer confidence and political sentiment.

Vance warns

Tehran not to ‘play’ the US as he departs for negotiations aimed at ending war with Iran

Vice President JD Vance is warning Tehran not to “play” the U.S. as he departs for Islamabad for negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran.

President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the conflict with Iran to now find a resolution to the war that began six weeks ago and stave off the U.S. president’s astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilization.”

Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, sets off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

It comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s public demands and those from the U.S. and its partner Israel seems irreconcilable.

And in the U.S., where Vance might ask voters in two years to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.

Hezbollah leader urges Lebanese authorities not to give ‘free concessions’

In the first official statement from the militant group since Israel announced it would enter into direct negotiations with Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem said, “We call on (Lebanese) officials to stop offering free concessions,” but did not take a clear stance on the prospect of talks.

Kassem praised the performance of Hezbollah fighters battling Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and said Israel had been unable to make significant advances.

“We will not accept a return to the previous situation,” Kassem said, an apparent reference to the 15 months before the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, when a ceasefire was nominally in place but the Israeli military continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon that it said aimed to stop Hezbollah from regrouping.

Starmer says he’s ‘fed up’ in rare criticism of Trump

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told broadcaster ITV in an interview recorded Thursday that he’s “fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses’ bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”

Starmer’s point was that Britain needs energy independence. But mentioning the Russian and U.S. presidents in the same breath is a departure for the prime minister, who usually avoids direct criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Iran war has soured relations between the two leaders, with Trump lashing out over Starmer’s reluctance to join the conflict.

UK’s Starmer says ceasefire is fragile

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says reopening the Strait of Hormuz is vital to strengthening a “fragile” ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Speaking Friday as he left Qatar after a three-day visit to the Gulf, Starmer said leaders in the region were adamant that “there can’t be tolling or restrictions” on commercial shipping through the waterway, which has effectively been shut by Iran.

Starmer said he told U.S. President Donald Trump in a call on Thursday that ending the conflict “has to involve” Iran’s Gulf neighbors, who “have very strong views on the Strait of Hormuz.” Britain is involved with other countries in military planning to ensure security in the strait, if the ceasefire turns into a longer peace.

UN food agency steps up activities for nearly 1 million displaced in Lebanon

The World Food Program said that 874,000 people in Lebanon were already facing “acute food insecurity” before the latest escalation. Despite the risks, the WFP is continuing to send humanitarian convoys to southern Lebanon to villages on the border with Israel, which have been subject to heavy bombing, the agency said in a statement.

It says it has provided emergency food and assistance to over 440,000 people since March 2.

Lebanese are divided over negotiations with Israel

Some Beirut residents, desperate for any sign of the war ending, welcomed the prospect of talks between their government and Israel for the first time in decades.

“Negotiations are the only way to peace,” said Iyad al‑Kilani. “People are displaced, living on the streets. People aren’t living.”

Other residents, sleeping in tents and cars after fleeing their homes in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is battling an Israeli ground invasion and heavy aerial bombardment, said they didn’t trust Israel’s intentions in the talks. “If we negotiate, we will be negotiating with someone who only understands force,” said Rabih Hammoud. “They (Israel) must stop the war and leave. Then we can talk.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli military will continue strikes on the Iran-backed group while the talks in Washington focus on disarming Hezbollah. In just one of many obstacles, the Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah. It also insists on a ceasefire before wider discussions about the future of Hezbollah can take place.

Beirut residents sift through the wreckage of their homes

In the Ain al-Mraisseh neighborhood along Beirut’s coastal corniche, where an Israeli strike on Wednesday wiped out the bottom floors of a multistory building, causing a partial collapse, stunned residents tried to salvage whatever furniture and personal mementos they could find in the rubble.

Although now homeless, some men at the scene expressed gratitude that they lost only their apartments, not their loved ones. The strikes killed more than 300 people and wounded over 1,800, authorities said.

“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced. The house and other things can be replaced, but parents, children, or a wife, this is the most important.”

WHO: Israel pledges not to attack 2 key Lebanese hospitals

The World Health Organization said Israel forces had previously issued an evacuation order for Beirut’s Jnah area, which includes the Rafik Hariri — the main public hospital in the city — and Al Zahraa Hospital.

WHO’s top representative in Lebanon said Friday that Israel provided “assurance” after late-night talks with U.N. officials that Israeli forces would not attack the hospitals as they continue military action against Hezbollah.

Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, speaking to reporters in Geneva, said U.N. officials “got some assurance back saying that these two hospitals will not be attacked.”

Separately, Abubakar said Israeli forces warned that “ambulances will be attacked.” An Israeli army spokesman wrote on X that Hezbollah is “deliberately using ambulances for terror purposes.” Abubakar said WHO was not able to independently confirm those claims.

Iran official says over 3,000 people killed in the war

A top medical official in Iran has put the death toll in the war with Israel and the United States at over 3,000 people.

The state-run IRAN daily newspaper quoted Abbas Masjedi, head of the Legal Medicine Organization, as saying “more than 3,000 people were killed in enemy attacks.” Masjedi did not elaborate on the breakdown in civilian versus military casualties. Iran’s government has not provided any definitive death toll from the weekslong war.

South Korean president shares 2024 video of Israeli soldiers dropping body off roof

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shared on his X account what appeared to be a 2024 video showing Israeli soldiers throwing a body from a rooftop in the occupied West Bank, and wrote: “humanitarian law must be observed under any circumstances.”

Lee, in his posts Friday, did not make a direct comment on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East or Israel’s current war operations, but said, “Lessons marked on the painful wounds of the past must not be repeated as recurring tragedies.”

Lee said the video, which he reposted from another account, was from a “shocking” incident in September 2024 that was also investigated by Israeli authorities. Lee’s office did not immediately provide an explanation for why he posted those messages. Lee’s government earlier on Friday said it was sending senior diplomat Chung Byung-ha as a special envoy to Iran to discuss the safety of its citizens and Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

• Artemis II’s grand moon finale is almost here with a Pacific splashdown to cap NASA’s lunar comeback

The spacecraft, Orion, will slam into Earth’s atmosphere at blistering speeds before parachuting into the Pacific Ocean, a process that lasts just minutes but carries the highest risk of the entire journey.

• Why re-entry is the most dangerous part of Artemis II, and how NASA is trying to make it safer

Artemis II splashdown timeline (Friday, April 10)

10:35 a.m. CT

• The four Artemis II astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, begin their day aboard Orion.

12:50 p.m. CT

• Crew begins preparing the cabin for re-entry, securing equipment and getting into position.

1:53 p.m. CT

• A final trajectory correction burn is scheduled, if needed, to keep the spacecraft on course.
• The astronauts will also review their reentry checklist to make sure that they are each properly in their space suits, which will help protect them on the potentially bumpy ride down, and clear on their responsibilities during the fall.

5:30 p.m. CT

• NASA begins live coverage of splashdown.

6:25 p.m. CT

• Orion’s service module separates from the crew capsule.

6:37 p.m. CT

• Final burn positions Orion for re-entry.

6:53 p.m. CT

• Orion hits Earth’s upper atmosphere, beginning a roughly 13-minute descent. At this time, the capsule will be traveling at about 24,000 miles per hour.

6:53–6:59 p.m. CT

• Communications blackout as plasma builds around the spacecraft.

About 7:02 p.m. CT

• Parachute sequence begins as Orion slows significantly. The spacecraft will plunge 200,000 feet, at which point it will experience temperatures reaching 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) because air molecules ahead of it will compress so violently, according to NASA.

About 7:03 p.m. CT

• Drogue parachutes deploy to stabilize the capsule. The spacecraft will be traveling just under the speed of sound at around 35,000 feet above Earth’s surface.

Shortly after 7:03 p.m. CT

• Main parachutes deploy (It has four sets: the forward bay cover parachutes, the drogues, the pilots and the mains), slowing Orion to about 17 mph.
• The drogue deployment will occur at around 10 minutes in, bringing Orion from 24,000 feet to 6,800 feet. The pilots will then deploy, followed by the mains, which will guide the spacecraft gently down to the water through its final 5,000 feet at around 17 mph.

7:07 p.m. CT

Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

By about 9:07 p.m. CT

• Recovery teams are expected to retrieve the astronauts and bring them aboard a U.S. Navy ship for medical checks.

This marks a major milestone for NASA, as Artemis II is the first crewed mission to travel around the moon since the Apollo era and a key step toward returning humans to the lunar surface.

What to know:

• THURSDAY’S INCIDENT: More than 80 police officers surrounded Splendora High School on Thursday morning after a wearable panic alarm was triggered by a teacher, Nicole Truelove. Initial reports were that a teacher was stabbed by a student, but detectives say they quickly found out the story was reportedly a “hoax.”
• NICOLE TRUELOVE: The teacher at the center of the incident is Social Studies teacher Nicole Truelove. The 53-year-old teacher is in her first year with the district.
• TRUELOVE’S 2017 LAWSUIT: The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says Truelove is the same teacher that sued the State of Texas in 2017, alleging that an inmate at a prison she was teaching in raped her. The suspect was acquitted of sexual assault, but found guilty on assaulting a public servant and retaliation. Truelove settled with the state.

Truelove reportedly hid razor blade in her shirt

10:48 a.m. - The Splendora High School teacher accused of staging a “hoax” emergency at the school on Thursday morning didn’t have injuries consistent with a stabbing.

Nicole Truelove, 53, allegedly made up the story that she was attacked by a student.

According to the probable cause report read aloud in court on Friday morning, she had injuries to her chest, but they weren’t consistent to stabbing. Instead, investigators say they looked more like scratches.

Bond for set at $20K

10:37 a.m. - A Montgomery County judge set a $20K bond for Nicole Truelove, the Splendora High School teacher accused of creating a false story about being attacked by a student on Thursday morning.

Truelove is facing two charges, including filing a false report and felony tampering with evidence.

“Oh, what a waste of resources,” the judge said in reaction to the nearly 100 police officers who reportedly responded to the high school.

The State of Texas originally asked for a combined $30,000 bond, but the judge issued a reduced combined $25,000 bond, $5,000 for the charge of filing a false report and $20,000 for felony tampering with evidence.

As part of her bond conditions, she is to not visit any Splendora ISD property, wear a GPS monitor and she is to be added to the “mental health case load.”

Truelove called to speak to judge

10:28 a.m. - The Montgomery County magistrate judge just called Nicole Truelove to approach the judge.

Courtroom fills with dozens of inmates

9:35 a.m. - The magistrate courtroom inside of the Montgomery County Jail has just filled up with dozens of inmates who are going to see a judge on Friday morning.

A deputy speaking with deputies said, “This is a large crowd here.”

Judge Walker just walked into the courtroom and swore in the inmates.

The Background

The Splendora High School teacher accused of staging an attack that prompted a major law enforcement response is expected to appear before a Montgomery County judge Friday morning.

Nicole Truelove, 53, faces charges of filing a false report and felony tampering with evidence following what investigators describe as a “hoax” incident at the school.

• FIRST REPORT: Teacher cuts self, blames student in ‘hoax’ attack at Splendora High School, police say

According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Truelove activated a wearable panic alarm Thursday morning, triggering a lockdown at the campus and drawing a response from more than 80 law enforcement officers.

Authorities said Truelove is accused of injuring herself and falsely claiming she had been attacked by a student.

The incident also placed Splendora High School on a secure hold, a precaution that restricts movement on campus while allowing classes to continue. Officials initially responded to what was believed to be an assault involving a student and staff member, contributing to confusion and concern among parents and the community.

• MORE INFO: Splendora HS teacher charged with injuring self in school stabbing ‘hoax’ made accusations against prison inmate in 2017

Law enforcement later determined the reported attack did not occur as described, officials said.

The sheriff’s office has not indicated a motive.

Truelove previously filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas in 2017, alleging she was raped by an inmate while teaching at a prison in Madison County.

• RELATED: How panic alert systems work: Inside the technology used at Splendora ISD

She is expected to appear before a magistrate judge around 10 a.m.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1% in afternoon trading, but is still heading for a second consecutive winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 261 points, or 0.5%, as of 12:27 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%.

Major indexes have been gaining ground over the last two weeks amid optimism that the war with Iran could be heading toward a resolution. The S&P 500 has erased most of its losses from March and is just 2.3% short of its all-time high set in January. The market is still prone to big swings on developments around the war.

Trading on Wall Street remained choppy. Most companies in the benchmark S&P 500 were losing ground, but technology stocks with hefty values helped offset losses elsewhere. Nvidia rose 2.4% and Broadcom rose 4.6%.

Markets in Asia gained ground while markets in Europe were mixed.

Oil prices have been behind many of the stock market’s sharp movements. Oil prices have surged as shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz essentially stalled since the war began.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. Brent rose 1.1% to $96.49 Friday.

U.S. crude oil prices rose 1% to $98.88 per barrel.

Negotiators from Iran and the U.S. are preparing for high-level talks on Saturday. The situation remains uncertain. Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency claimed that talks wouldn’t happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon.

The conflict is behind surging inflation in the U.S. in March. The government reported the biggest spike in inflation in four years as prices at the gas pump jumped. But, the inflation increase was just short of what economists expected.

Bond yields held mostly steady following the latest inflation update. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31% from 4.29% late Thursday.

Inflation has been a lingering concern for economists. Prices on a range of consumer goods and services are already stubbornly high, in part from the impact of extensive global tariffs. Higher gas prices are immediately felt by drivers at the pump, but they could eventually raise prices on everything from food to airfare as companies pass along higher costs for shipping and fuel.

Analysts are warning that there might be a drawn out impact from the oil supply shock in the months ahead.

“While I’m glad to see the effects to be less than expected in March, the effects in April are now more likely to be worse,” Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, wrote in a research note.

Consumer sentiment slumped 10.7% percent in April, according to a closely watched monthly survey from the University of Michigan. It also shows that consumers are growing more worried about inflation, with year-ahead expectations surging to 4.8% in April from 3.8% in March.

Inflation remains a major concern for the Federal Reserve, which has signaled more caution amid worries about inflation reheating. The rate of inflation remains above the central bank's 2% target. The threat of rising inflation will likely mean the central bank continues to hold interest rates steady. Several Fed officials have also said a rate hike may be needed if inflation doesn’t cool.

Lower interest rates help boost stocks and other investments by lowering borrowing costs. Interest rate cuts also risk worsening inflation.

Wall Street is forecasting that the Fed will likely hold its interest rate steady through 2026.

President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the 6-week-old conflict with Iran to now find a resolution and stave off the U.S. president's astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilization.”

Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, set off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll of course see.”

He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but he didn’t elaborate. He did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.

Vance's trip comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s public demands and those from the U.S. and its partner Israel seem irreconcilable. And in the U.S., where Vance might ask voters in two years’ time to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.

Vance is joined by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who took part in three rounds of indirect talks with Iranian negotiators aimed at settling U.S. concerns about Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs and its support for armed proxy groups in the Middle East before Trump and Israel launched the Feb. 28 war against Iran.

The White House has provided scant detail about the format of the talks — whether they will be direct or indirect — and has not provided specific expectations for the meeting.

But the arrival of Vance for negotiations marks a rare moment of high-level U.S. government engagement with the Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the most direct contact had been when President Barack Obama in September 2013 called newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

The 2 sides face a steep climb in making headway

Almost immediately after the White House and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire Tuesday evening, the sides found themselves at odds over terms of the truce.

Iran insisted that an end to the Israeli war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon, and the Israeli operations there continued.

The U.S., meanwhile, demanded that Iran make good on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic had closed the critical shipping waterway in response to Israel’s intensifying attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Trump on Thursday said Iran was “doing a very poor job” of allowing oil tankers to pass through, writing on social media, “That is not the agreement we have!”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Vance, Witkoff, Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “have always been collaborating on these discussions” and said Trump was optimistic that a lasting deal can be reached during the two-week ceasefire. “President Trump has a proven track record of achieving good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first,” Kelly said.

High stakes for peace — and for politics

It’s the highest-stakes moment thus far for Vance, who spent much of last year as more of a background player in the Trump White House, especially as others like Elon Musk and Rubio took turns as ever-present advisers for the president.

But Vance’s portfolio is fattening fast, first with a mission to root out fraud in government programs at home and now to help solve a U.S. war in the Middle East, where complicated doesn’t even begin to describe things.

Vance, who served in the Iraq War while in the Marines and spent two years as a U.S. senator for Ohio and a little more than one as vice president, has little diplomatic experience.

On Wednesday, he dismissed speculation that the Iranians requested that he join the talks, telling reporters: “I don’t know that. I would be surprised if that was true. But, you know, I wanted to be involved because I thought I could make a difference.”

Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official who is now executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, said Vance, with little experience on Iran policy, is an interesting choice to lead the delegation.

Trump has noted his vice president was “less enthusiastic” than other top senior officials in the Republican administration, making Vance an intriguing interlocutor for the Iranian side, Schanzer said.

“I think they probably prefer him knowing that his perspective on foreign intervention is one of skepticism,” Schanzer said of the Iranians. “I do think that he’s going to need some help. I don’t think he’s ever been engaged in negotiations with this kind of weight, this kind of seriousness. This is as serious as it gets.”

The White House has pushed back against the characterization that Iran wanted Vance in the talks, casting it as an effort to hurt negotiations.

The White House has not detailed who will be in the talks besides Vance, Witkoff and Kushner, but Kelly said officials from the National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon “will also play a supportive role.”

During early rounds of indirect nuclear talks with the Iranians before the war, Democrats and some nuclear experts questioned whether Kushner and Witkoff had enough technical knowledge. The White House has not said whether the pair, whom Trump has entrusted with some of his most difficult negotiations since returning to office, had a nuclear expert with them for those talks.

Negotiating peace is a tall order for any vice president

It’s not unusual for vice presidents to take on important negotiating roles for the president, said Joel Goldstein, a professor of law at Saint Louis University who is an expert on the history of the vice presidency.

But, he said, “I don’t recall a situation where a vice president has been sent to negotiate a ceasefire or peace in connection with a war the United States was involved with.”

Vance and Rubio are seen as the Republican Party’s strongest potential 2028 presidential contenders, though neither has given a clear answer about whether he intends to run.

The vice president's team is not thinking about the negotiations with an eye to future political considerations, according to a person familiar with discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

As vice president, Vance inherently would carry any baggage of the administration if he eventually does run for president, Goldstein said. But stepping in to lead negotiations even further identifies him with the conflict.

“The fact that he’s involved in the negotiations in a very visible way, that means that, if things go south, that people will be pointing fingers at him,” Goldstein said.

At the same time, Goldstein said, “If things go well, then it will be something that he could point to.”

Chancellor Brandon Creighton’s memo gives provosts until June 15 to identify targeted programs and requires the system’s five universities to freeze admissions and halt students from declaring majors in the phased out programs. Students already enrolled can finish their degrees.

The directive goes beyond degree programs. It says the system will recognize only “two human sexes” and bars instructors from teaching gender identity as a spectrum or more than two genders as fact.

In core and lower-level undergraduate courses, the memo says instructors generally cannot assign materials that are “centered on” or “include” sexual orientation or gender identity and defined the concepts:

• “Centered on” is when course content, readings, assignments or lectures that have sexual orientation or gender identity “as the primary subject, main theoretical framework, central narrative or driving pedagogical purpose.”
• “Includes” means “these themes are present, but serve only as secondary background context, demographic data points, or minor components of a broader academic subject.”

If an industry-standard textbook contains such content, the memo says faculty do not have to redact it, but they cannot highlight it, test students on it or spend class time on it.

The memo makes some exceptions for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses, including analysis of active public policy and legal disputes, historical subjects such as the AIDS epidemic where sexual orientation or gender identity is inseparable from the topic, datasets that include those variables and some clinical, counseling or psychology instruction.

In December, Creighton ordered faculty to submit for review course content touching on race, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. If campus leaders wanted to keep the information in a course and it was not required for professional licensure, certification or patient care, they had to forward it to the Board of Regents for final review. Regents were expected to take up the issue publicly at their Feb. 26 meeting but did not, leaving professors in limbo.

Speaking at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s summit in Austin on Thursday, Creighton said Texas Tech had “built an AI algorithm” to review syllabi, reading materials and lesson plans from roughly 14,000 courses across the system and would release findings within days.

At the summit, Creighton, who was a Republican state lawmaker responsible for major higher ed reforms before becoming chancellor last year, said what some faculty call “academic drift” had left “quite a bit of garbage in curriculum” on university campuses across the country. He said the Texas Tech University System has “a very good plan in place” to address that.

“I believe it will produce the best curriculum in America, and I believe it will be a national model once we’re finished,” he said.

In a news release Friday, the system said that of the 1,403 courses initially identified, only 92 were reviewed by the board of regent’s Academic, Clinical and Student Affairs Committee and fewer than 60 were recommended for modification. Another 299 were “proactively modified” before reaching the committee.

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

Disclosure: Texas Public Policy Foundation and Texas Tech University 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 Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

First-year Head Coach Parker O’Quinn has been pleased with the way his team has responded to the pressure he’s put on them to surpass their expectations, and senior defenseman Devin Guzman was even shocked to see how this group could have 21 wins after only having five victories the year before.

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“I mean, it’s definitely a surprise, you know, being a kid and watching high school soccer, you wanna be in that state championship, and it’s definitely crazy, that’s all I can say, definitely trying to leave a legacy for the kids to come and just trying to leave the best on the field, that’s all I can say,” said Guzman.

The Bulldogs will face College Park on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Georgetown High School.

All four 6A state final teams (division 1 and division 2) are from the Houston area. The other matchup is between Summer Creek and College Park. For senior Victor Garcia, he’s excited to play against competition he knows well from club games and is looking forward to the opportunity to make school history.

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“Playing against competition is always so fun, you know, and playing another team from Houston is great because it’s a good city, there’s a lot of competition in the city, but yeah, I’m excited to play as a family, I love this team with my whole heart and I want to see us get the victory on Saturday,” said Garcia.

The Eagles and Klein Cain match begins at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Georgetown High School.

This year’s team has 12 seniors on the roster who are eager to bring home the school’s first-ever state title.

“Just bringing a title home would be...it would be amazing, like, just a sense of fulfilment in all the hard work we’ve put in over the four years,” said senior Alex Harcourt.

• SOCCER: Atascocita is playing in the 6A State Championship game on a 10-game winning streak.

“It’s not fully sinking in where we are a little bit, but I’m excited, but I’m very proud, very proud, and the school support and the administration support has been amazing and I couldn’t be more excited,” said Head Coach Mike Jaskowiak.

The Cavalier game against Summer Creek will start around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Georgetown High School.

The Frontier pilot was alarmed and used an expletive as he told the tower he had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision late Wednesday. “It was real close. The closest I have ever seen,” he said in audio posted by ATC.com.

No one was hurt in the incident that is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency said several vehicles on a service road crossed in front of the plane around 11:25 p.m. Wednesday.

“We thank our crew for their vigilance and professionalism,” Frontier Airlines said in a statement.

On March 22, an Air Canada jet carrying 76 people collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing both pilots and injuring dozens of people.

In that crash, an air traffic controller cleared the fire truck to cross the runway less than 20 seconds beforehand. Then seconds later the controller frantically called for the fire truck to stop.

The incident in Los Angeles appears to have happened in an area of the airport where the planes are communicating with air traffic controllers about their movements, but ground vehicles are simply supposed to yield to any planes, which are typically moving only about 15 mph (24 kph). Airport officials didn't respond immediately to questions about what happened and what procedures are in place to prevent collisions.

Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, who was a longtime United Airlines pilot, said these kind of incidents happen daily on taxiways across the country, but don't normally get any attention because the collision is avoided. The issue will undoubtedly get more attention now.

“Multiple incidents, accidents happening, just in March alone, I think it’s time to put some serious eyes on what’s going on on the ramp,” Arroyo said.

The road back to the state championship game wasn’t as easy as last year’s run, and the players told us how thankful they are to be playing for another state title.

“For me, it’s just super crazy that we’re back,” said senior forward Daniel Alexandre. “Because in the beginning of the season it was like struggle, but then we built our struggle, and we got here.”

“It’s something that I didn’t think we could do, but honestly, now that we’re here, I think that we can, and it’s an incredible opportunity,” said senior forward Parker Glenn.

The Hurricanes will face Atascocita in the 6A Division 1 State Championship game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at Georgetown High School.

Many issues could derail the truce and the negotiations aimed at making a broader deal to stop the fighting permanently.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, claimed that the talks set for Saturday would not happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon. And U.S. President Donald Trump complained that Iran was “doing a very poor job” by not allowing the free flow of ships through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s traded oil once passed.

Kuwait, meanwhile, said it was targeted by seven drone attacks since Thursday that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region. Though the Guard denied launching any assault, it has carried out attacks across the Mideast in the past that it did not claim.

Preparations for the talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be moving forward, with Vance boarding Air Force Two for the long flight to Islamabad.

Elsewhere, negotiations between Israel and Lebanon were expected to begin next week in the U.S. capital, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter.

Before his departure, Vance said he believes negotiation with Iran will be “positive.”

But he added, “If they’re going to try and play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

In Islamabad, security forces locked down key parts of the Pakistani capital, erecting barricades along routes from the airport to the city before the delegations arrived.

Israel and Lebanon will have direct negotiations

Israel’s insistence that the ceasefire in Iran does not include a pause in its fighting with Hezbollah has threatened to sink the deal. The militant group joined the war in support of its backer, Iran.

The day the truce was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It was the deadliest day in the country since the war began Feb. 28. On Friday, Lebanon’s state-run new agency said Israeli warplanes struck near a state security office in the southern town of Nabatieh, killing eight officers.

Trump said Thursday that he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial back the strikes. Early Friday, Israel’s military said it hit approximately 10 launchers in Lebanon that had fired rockets toward northern Israel a day earlier.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, posted Friday on social media that two points that he said had been mutually agreed on — a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets — have yet to be implemented.

“These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,” he wrote.

Also Thursday, Netanyahu said he authorized the negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” with the aim of disarming Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors, which have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948.

The Lebanese government did not respond.

In a first statement since Israel announced direct negotiations with Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem urged Lebanese officials to stop offering “free concessions,” but he did not take a clear stance on the talks.

Two days after Israel's intense barrage, people sifted through the wreckage of their homes, trying to salvage furniture and personal mementos. Some expressed gratitude that they did not lose loved ones.

“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced.”

Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driven stocks down and roiled the world economy. Tehran's control over the waterway has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war.

The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $97 Friday, up more than 30% since the war started.

Before the conflict, over 100 ships passed through the strait each day — many carrying oil to Asia. With the ceasefire in place, only 12 have been recorded passing through.

Trump complained about that situation, writing on his social media platform: “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“That is not the agreement we have!” Trump wrote of the trickle of ships Iran has allowed to pass.

Ceasefire is still fragile

Questions also remain over the fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs, which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war.

The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to make them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

Trump has said that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, though Tehran has not confirmed that.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, a top Iranian officer told the state-run Iran newspaper. Iran’s government has not provided any definitive death toll from the war.

In Lebanon, more than 1,888 people have been killed and 1 million have been displaced. Over a dozen people have died in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, while 23 civilians were killed in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed.

In other developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces shot down Iranian‑designed Shahed drones in several Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war. The missions, carried out with domestically produced interceptor drones, were part of efforts to help partners counter the same weapons Russia uses in Ukraine, he said.

___

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong; Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Will Weissert in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.

Jose Borjas, a former teacher at Victory Early College High School, is charged with two counts of felony unlawful restraint.

According to Aldine ISD, the incident is not connected to Victory Early College High School. The incident happened while he was assigned to Blanson CTE in 2024-25.

What happened

The student told school police she was pulled from class for English proficiency help in Borjas’ office, records show.

During those sessions, she told investigators Borjas tore up a T-shirt into strips and used the fabric to tie her mouth, restrain her hands behind a chair, and bind her feet and ankles together, according to records.

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“She stated that on two occasions, the defendant recorded her on video and instructed her to act as if she had been kidnapped,” court documents state.

The office lights were turned off, and it was only illuminated by LED lights, according to records.

The student reported the alleged restraint happened five times, leaving her “shocked and unable to react,” court documents show.

She told investigators she believed she was required to attend the sessions as part of her schooling and didn’t know whether Borjas would provide her instruction or restrain her each time she got pulled from class to his office.

Trauma therapist Chau Nguyen said cases like this can involve abuse of authority and grooming, and she encouraged parents and caregivers to talk with children about consent and power dynamics.

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“When you’re a student, you look up to your teachers because the teacher is an authority figure,” Nguyen said. “This guy has a position of authority. It’s inappropriate. It’s outlandish. It’s not a scandal. It’s an abuse of power.”

Months after the alleged restraint incidents, over the summer break last year, investigators say Borjas contacted the student via his personal email account and sent the student sexually suggestive messages on TikTok before she blocked him.

Nguyen said it can take time for minors to come forward and emphasized that children should be empowered to report concerns without fear of getting in trouble.

“It never happens overnight. The timeline is actually very typical of grooming,” she said. “It is never your fault. You are not going to be in trouble for speaking out. You do not have the accountability here. The teacher has 100% responsibility and accountability.”

Aldine ISD shared the following statement:

“AlSD immediately initiated an investigation into allegations against a district employee and removed him from the campus by placing him on administrative leave. The District promptly reported the matter to law enforcement, Department of Family Protective Services, and the Texas Education Agency. The employee resigned before the conclusion of the investigation, effective December 2025. The district has since been notified that the Harris County DA’s Child Crimes Division accepted charges of Unlawful Restraint of a Child under 17 against the former employee. Aldine ISD does not tolerate any employee who engages in inappropriate behavior. The safety and security of our students remains our highest priority.”

A district spokesperson said Aldine ISD has not located any additional victims.

KPRC 2 News reached out to an attorney who filed to represent Borjas but so far, no response has been received.

Court records appear to indicate Borjas is scheduled to turn himself on the two felony charges on Thursday morning, and KPRC 2 News has reached out the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for more information.

She’s also one of the most successful participants, as the award-winning Australian singer-songwriter has sold over nine million albums and topped charts in eight countries.

Goodrem is representing her home country in the world’s largest live music event, which takes place this year in Vienna. Even though it’s way outside of Europe, Australia has been invited to compete since 2015.

In the 1990s Goodrem, who was a former star of Australian soap “Neighbours,” wrote a track called “Eyes on Me” for Dion, who won Eurovision representing Switzerland in 1988.

She was also mentored by the late Newton-John, another global superstar who took part in the song contest on behalf of the United Kingdom in 1974, although not as successfully.

“Growing up, Olivia Newton-John and Celine Dion were two of my greatest loves in music," she said. “I don’t think I would be the musician I am today without my influence from the two of them. And they have both been a part of that stage from different countries.”

Goodrem also has a link to the entry representing the tiny country of San Marino. Boy George, who appears on SENHIT's entry “Superstar,” used to be a judge and rival alongside Goodrem on Australia's hit TV talent show “The Voice.”

“I’ve got my eyes on him. I’m watching him,” Goodrem joked. “I was so excited and couldn’t stop laughing ... it’s so playful that Boy George was like, ‘I’m coming to Eurovision!’”

The Associated Press spoke to Goodrem in London about competing with her power ballad “Eclipse” in the Eurovision Song Contest.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: When was the first time you ever heard about Eurovision?

GOODREM: It’s been a bit omnipresent where you sort of heard it in the air. And I guess obviously Australia’s been in for 11 years. So we became a lot more actively like Team Australia. But growing up, you always were, you know, enamored with this incredible iconic stage and it’d always find its way to us.

AP: I feel like you’ve been representing Australia your whole life.

GOODREM: I feel that as well and I’ve always been very patriotic and very true to the love I have for Australia and it feels like they’re all celebrating, we’re all sort of there together on this journey.

AP: How competitive are you?

GOODREM: Oh you know, I’m definitely here to give it my absolute all, yes.

AP: Did you watch last year?

GOODREM: So (last year) I was doing my couple of shows here (in London) and I had sort of got to experience the energy of Eurovision on the ground and I just thought it was palpable, it was incredible and I was watching all the programs and it was really exciting and somebody had asked me, ‘would you do Eurovision?’ And I said, ‘I’m always open’ … You never know where your path’s leading, just if it feels right.

AP: While Eurovision tries to keep out politics, it’s always crept in. What do you think about the boycott this year?

GOODREM: I really am a true believer that throughout my career, coming to my show, I’m about unifying — music for me is a moment where we’re all singing the same song. And I believe in that, and I have my whole life, that it’s very healing, music has a real power.

So I sort of focus on the power of music being a unifying space and a place that can wrap around people’s lives and their soundtrack and that’s where it sits for me.

AP: What did you think about the news that they’re doing Eurovision in Asia?

GOODREM: The more music the better. I think that’s so exciting. That means I get to immerse myself in the music in September for Eurovision Asia.

AP: I need to ask you about staging. I see the video for this involves a lot of sand.

GOODREM: Yes, you’re thinking I should bring Australian sand, you know, that’s very patriotic. I start a little beach on stage, look up at the moon for “Eclipse.” I definitely am really excited to bring it to life.

AP: If you win, can Eurovision go to Australia?

GOODREM: Sure. Yeah, yeah!

AP: Is it more likely that it’d be a co-host?

GOODREM: Look, I don’t know those logistics yet but I’m open to the conversation … If you would like to vote for me then I’m happy to talk about if we could like have it here or if, you know, I’m happy to do a deal.

The U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized court in New York, is hearing oral arguments Friday in an attempt to overturn the temporary tariffs Trump turned to after the Supreme Court in February struck down his preferred choice — even bigger, even more sweeping tariffs.

In his first attempt to impose global tariffs, the president last year invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), using the law to declare America's longstanding trade deficit a national emergency and to impose double-digit worldwide taxes on imports to combat it. He interpreted the law broadly to justify tariffs of whatever size he wanted, whenever he wanted to impose them, on whatever country he wanted to target.

The Supreme Court struck those tariffs down on Feb. 20, saying IEEPA did not authorize the use of tariffs to counter national emergencies.

But Trump had alternatives to IEEPA. The quickest option was Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose global tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, after which congressional approval is needed to extend them. After his defeat at the Supreme Court, Trump quickly announced 10% Section 122 tariffs. He said he'd raise them to the maximum 15% but hasn't yet done so. The tariffs are scheduled to expire July 24.

Section 122 is aimed at what it calls “fundamental international payments problems.’’ At issue is whether that wording covers trade deficits, the gap between what the U.S. sells other countries and what it buys from them.

The provision arose from the financial crises that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s when the U.S. dollar was tied to gold. Other countries were dumping dollars in exchange for gold at a set rate, risking a collapse of the U.S. currency and chaos in financial markets. But the dollar is no longer linked to gold, so critics say Section 122 is obsolete.

Awkwardly for Trump, his own Justice Department argued in a court filing last year that the president had needed to invoke IEEPA because Section 122 did “not have any obvious application’’ in fighting trade deficits, which it called “conceptually distinct’’ from payments problems.

Awkwardly for the plaintiffs challenging his use of the temporary tariffs, the trade court itself wrote last year in its own decision striking down IEEPA tariffs that Trump didn’t need them because Section 122 was available to counter trade deficits.

____

Paul Wiseman reported from Washington.

AP Writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, up sharply from just 2.4% in February and the biggest yearly increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

It’s the first read on inflation to capture the effects of the Iran war. The surge in gas prices will stretch the budgets of lower- and middle-income households as it erodes their incomes, making it harder to afford other necessities such as food and rent.

Excluding volatile food and energy, core prices rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.5% in February. And last month core prices rose a modest 0.2%, suggesting that rising gas prices haven't yet spread to many other categories.

A big question for now is how long the oil and gas price shock lasts and whether it will lead to a broader, long-lasting inflation boost, similar to what occurred in the spring of 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. For now, economists say that it is unlikely the U.S. will see a widespread increase similar to a few years ago, when inflation topped 9%.

Still, how the war and its impact on inflation will play out in the coming months remains highly uncertain. Despite a tenuous cease fire, little has changed in the Strait of Hormuz, a bottle neck where millions of barrels of oil typically pass daily.

“It’s painful in the near term,” said Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “It’s going to get more painful in April,” when further gas price increases will lift inflation higher.

But Pearce said the impact may be shorter-lived than after the pandemic: “I think the conditions are much more like a short, sharp shock than what we saw in 2022.”

Industries that depend on oil and gas are paying more, particularly airlines, which have passed on those higher costs to travelers. Fares jumped 2.7% just last month and are 14.9% higher than a year ago. Many delivery services, including UPS and FedEx, have already announced fuel surcharges that have raised shipping costs for businesses and households.

Grocery prices slipped 0.2% last month and are up just 1.9% from a year earlier, yet economists believe they will move higher in the coming months as diesel fuel prices surge. Most food is shipped by truck.

More expensive fuel is “contributing to rising production costs across the food supply chain and could put upward pressure on grocery prices going forward,” said Andy Harig, a vice president at the grocery trade group FMI-The Food Industry Association. “As energy prices increase, the costs associated with producing and delivering food also rise.”

Clothing costs rose 1% in March from the previous month and are up 3.4% from a year earlier. Used car prices, however, fell 0.4% last month and down 3.2% from a year earlier.

The gas price shock stemming from the Iran war has shifted inflation’s trajectory, from a slow, gradual decline to a sharp increase further away from the Fed’s 2% target. As a result, the central bank will almost certainly postpone any cut in interest rates for months. Many Fed officials will look past the increase in headline inflation, however, and focus on core prices, which are likely to rise more slowly.

If Americans cut back on spending elsewhere in response to more expensive gas, the economy could slow and unemployment may rise.

Consumer sentiment plunged to a record low in April, according to a survey released Friday by the University of Michigan, largely because of the Iran war and concerns over higher gas prices. Their Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to 47.6, from 53.3 in March.

“Many consumers blame the Iran conflict for unfavorable changes to the economy,” said Joanne Hsu, the university's director of consumer surveys.

High prices had angered American voters before the war and the spike in prices for oil and everything that entails, from the pump to the grocery store, could make it more difficult for the president’s party to hold on to seats in both the House and the Senate in next year’s midterms.

Polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last month found that about six in 10 Republicans are at least “somewhat” concerned about affording gas in the next few months.

Kyle LaFond, the founder of American Provenance, a small manufacturer of personal care products near Madison, Wisconsin, said his shipping costs have already risen between 30% and 40%.

The increases follow tariffs that were also a significant expense, because the company imports coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and other ingredients. LaFond said he absorbed tariff costs for months, but finally threw in the towel last September and raised prices by 20% to 30% across the board, the first price hike from the company since 2021.

Now, LaFond feels like it’s a repeat of the tariff experience. He is trying to avoid raising prices again, but it depends on how long the fuel price spike lasts. If it continues until early summer, he may have to raise prices again.

“I’d really hate to do that because that would be two years of consecutive price increases, which for us, we’ve never done that before,” he said “But for the business to survive, then that might be necessary.”

Gas prices averaged $4.15 a gallon nationwide Friday, up from $2.98 on the day before the war began and a hike of nearly 40%, according to motor club AAA.

Inflation reached a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, as COVID-19 snarled supply chains and several rounds of stimulus checks pushed up consumer demand. Prices soared for groceries, furniture, restaurant meals and many other goods and services.

This time, economists say the job market and consumer spending are weaker, and there are no large government stimulus checks being issued to spur demand.

“That’s where this really differs, is that we aren’t seeing anywhere near the strength of demand,” Alan Detmeister, an economist at UBS, said. In 2021 and 2022, income growth “was increasing really strongly. We aren't seeing that now,” he added.

Religious leaders, teachers, parents and students spent hours Tuesday before the state education board arguing about the reading list for the state’s 5.4 million kindergartners to 12th-graders. The debate is part of widening efforts in the U.S. to incorporate religion in schools, mostly in Republican-led states, driving legislation and legal action.

Nationally, President Donald Trump has pledged to protect and expand religious expression in public schools. And Texas, a red state that is home to about one in 10 of the nation’s public school students, often helps set the agenda.

Texas became the first state to allow chaplains, in 2023. And just last year, a Republican-led mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools took effect in the state, although around two dozen districts took them down because of a lawsuit.

But while the debate over Texas' reading list could have national implications, to the speakers the issue boiled down to whether the passages are essential to understanding the nation's history and morals — or unconstitutional.

“Our children need truth,” said Nathan Irving, a pastor and father of eight from Myrtle Springs, Texas. “Truth is the only currency that never devalues. Investing truth into our children is the most loving thing that we can do for them. This is the truth. This country and this state were founded upon a Christian worldview. Like it or not, it is true.”

Final vote on the changes still ahead

A final vote on the list is expected in June, and if approved by the Texas State Board of Education, the changes would take effect in 2030.

Several speakers cited the “establishment clause” of the First Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“This list is a tool of proselytization that has no place in our public schools,” Rabbi Josh Fixler, of Congregation Emanu El, a reform synagogue in Houston, told the board. “There is a difference between teaching about religion and teaching religion, and this list will force teachers to cross that line.”

Megan Boyden, a mother of three from Denton, Texas, described is as a direct attack on her private faith.

“As a Christian mother, it is my right and responsibility to teach our family’s religion,” she said. "It is not the state’s job to shed through the lens of a teacher who may not share the same beliefs I do. Will Bible passages be taught in conflict with my beliefs?

“What,” she asked, “of non-Christian students?”

The list stems from a state law passed in 2023, which called for the creation of a state-approved list of high-quality materials.

Third graders would learn about the Road to Damascus, which tells the story of Paul's transformation from an early persecutor of Christians into a follower. Seniors, meanwhile, would learn about the Book of Job, a story about a man whose faith is tested when he loses everything.

The list also includes classics like Dr. Seuss' “The Cat in the Hat,” stories about the national folk hero Daniel Boone. And there are also works by famous African Americans like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. and a book about Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad fame.

Texas has already approved optional curriculum that incorporates the Bible

The GOP-leaning board previously approved a new Bible-infused curriculum that is optional for schools to incorporate in kindergarten through fifth grades.

The board also is considering social studies standards that have been criticized as too state-centric, not focused enough on world events and rife with an undercurrent of American exceptionalism. They call for students to “identify the Texas flag as a symbol of Texas pride,” and recognize the state song “Texas, Our Texas.”

Students also are supposed to be able to understand stories about Texas Independence.

Curriculum debates crop up occasionally. Over the years, state boards in places such as Kansas have debated whether the teaching of evolution should reflect doubt about the well-established scientific theory — and leave room for arguments that the universe’s complexity points to an intelligent design.

Allison Cardwell, a mother of a fourth grader and a fifth grade social studies teacher, urged the board to rethink the standards. She said fifth grade would be the only time most Texas students would receive instruction in U.S. history until high school.

“We have to ask ourselves, How can we expect to create citizens who value liberty, responsibility, and the principles this country was founded on, if we don’t ensure that they truly understand those foundations?” she said.

___

This story has been updated to correct that about two dozen Texas school districts have taken down Ten Commandments posters over court challenges, not 12 dozen. It has also been updated to fix a typo, 'looses', in the 14th graf, to ‘loses.’

That is by far the most among conferences, largely because the Big Ten swept the national championships — Michigan won the men's and UCLA the women's — and had Illinois advance to the men's Final Four.

The NCAA, which has multibillion-dollar broadcast deals for the two tournaments, since 1991 has rewarded conferences for their number of tournament bids and how far those teams advance in the men’s tournament. A similar system for the women’s tournament began in 2025.

The dollars are piling up:

— For this year's tournaments, nine men's teams and 12 women's teams from the Big Ten combined to make at least $69.4 million, with $63 million coming from the men's side.

— The Southeastern Conference, which had 10 teams in each tournament, totaled at least $56.2 million ($50.4 million for men, $5.8 million for women).

— Distributions will total at least $42.9 million for the Big 12, $34.2 million for the Atlantic Coast Conference and $22.2 million for the Big East.

The NCAA sends payments directly to the conferences, which distribute the money among their teams according to their policies. Payments for the 2026 tournament will begin in April 2027.

How the NCAA pays tournament teams is based on ‘units’

Teams in each tournament earn what's known as a “unit” for making the field of 68 and an additional unit for each round in which it appears. The national champion is awarded an extra unit. The value of a unit increases each year. A portion of revenue from the tournaments' broadcast agreements are directed to distribution payments, 24% for the men and 41% for the women.

The estimated value of a unit for the 2026 men’s tournament will be about $350,000, an NCAA spokeswoman said, and that amount will be paid annually for six years. So a single unit earned in 2026 would have a total value of at least $2.1 million over those six years and probably more because Division I distribution funds — including the basketball funds — are scheduled to increase each year, typically by 2.9%.

For the women's tournament, full funding for units earned will be achieved in 2027. Payments for each unit earned will be made for three years rather than six. The unit value was $75,000 for 2026 and will decrease to about $63,000 next year as part of the NCAA’s formula for getting the fund fully up and running. Using $63,000 as an estimate for the 2028 value, a single unit earned in 2026 would be worth at least $201,000 by the time it is paid off over three years.

Breaking down the money from 2026 March Madness

The Big Ten's nine teams in the men's tournament appeared in 29 games. Michigan earned $14.7 million for the conference by playing in six games and receiving a seventh unit for winning the championship. Illinois earned five units for making the Final Four ($10.5 million) and Iowa and Purdue four apiece for reaching the Elite Eight ($8.4 million each).

The Big Ten landed 12 teams in the women's tournament, and they combined to play in 31 games. UCLA earned just over $1.4 million by playing in six games and receiving an extra unit for winning the championship. Michigan's four games earned $804,000 and Minnesota's three earned $603,000.

The championships in men's and women's basketball continued what's been a banner 2025-26 for the Big Ten. Indiana won the conference's third straight College Football Playoff, and other national championships have been won in men's wrestling (Penn State), women's ice hockey (Wisconsin), men's water polo (UCLA), men's soccer (Washington) and field hockey (Northwestern). Wisconsin also reached Saturday's men's hockey championship game, where the Badgers will face Denver, a winner over Michigan.

___

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

His next visit is Thursday with the Philadelphia Eagles.

He has visits next week with the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers, per sources.

The Los Angeles Rams, who don’t do 30 visits, are traveling to meet with Douglas next week.

Douglas has meetings-workouts with the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers, per a source.

Douglas is a Hightower graduate and Missouri City native who transferred to Texas Tech from Florida and is regarded as a rising draft prospect and target in the second round or third round.

At the NFL scouting combine, Douglas (6-foot-3 1/2, 206 pounds), ran the 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds with a 10-6 broad jump and a 31 1/2 vertical.

He caught 54 passes for 846 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

In his first season for the Red Raiders, Douglas caught 60 passes for 877 yards and six scores. He finished collegiate career with 135 passes for 2,031 yards and 16 touchdowns.

At Hightower, Douglas was the district offensive Most Valuable Player after catching 51 passes for 984 yards and five touchdowns as a senior.

He transferred to Texas Tech after fracturing his fibula as a sophomore at Florida, catching 21 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns in two seasons for the Gators.

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

We are tracking scattered showers and thunderstorms across SE Texas.

Watch for scattered downpours during the heat of the day. Most of the rain activity comes to an end just before sunset.

Forecast highs will be in the lower-80s.

Weekend Forecast:

More chances of isolated to scattered storms in our forecast this weekend. Sunday, the best chance for storms will likely stay well west of Harris County.

The Piney Woods and Brazos Valley are included in the flood risk area, as an upper-level energy system helps produce heavy downpours.

Extended forecast:

We’re tracking temperatures in the 80s in our 10 day with rain chances increasing the next few days.

The draw is on Tuesday at Christie's auction house in Paris.

The inaugural “1 Picasso for 100 euros” raffle, in 2013, saw a fire-sprinkler worker in Pennsylvania win “Man in the Opera Hat,” which the Spanish master painted in 1914 during his Cubist period.

A second Picasso, the oil-on-canvas “Nature Morte,” was raffled off in 2020 and made a very happy mom of Claudia Borgogno, an accountant in Italy. Her son bought her the ticket as a Christmas present.

That still life, painted in 1921, was purchased for the raffle from billionaire art collector David Nahmad, who argued in a rare Associated Press interview that Picasso would have approved of raffling his work. Picasso died in 1973.

“Picasso was very generous. He gave paintings to his driver, his tailor,” Nahmad said. “He wanted his art to be collected by all kinds of people, not only by the super-rich.”

The gouache on paper “Tête de Femme,” meaning “head of a woman,” up for grabs next week was painted by Picasso in 1941.

The Alzheimer Research Foundation, the charity raffle's organizer, is based in one of Paris' leading public hospitals and says it has become France's leading private financier of Alzheimer-related medical research since its founding in 2004.

Christie’s auction house says the painting will be on view from Monday at its galleries in Paris, ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. draw there.

The organizers’ online sales platform says the number of tickets will be capped at 120,000, meaning the draw could net 12 million euros ($14 million) if they're all sold.

From the proceeds, 1 million euros will be paid to the Opera Gallery, an international art dealership that owns the painting.

Organizers say the two previous Picasso raffles raised a total of more than 10 million euros for cultural work in Lebanon and water and hygiene programs in Africa.

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And the Abilene Christian running back doubles as one of the tallest and heaviest backs in the draft.

At 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, the Manvel graduate represents the prototypical imposing big back who runs with speed and a downhill style.

Now, Vaughn waits to find out where he’s going to play in the NFL.

“All of my interactions, they’ve been great,” Vaughn told KPRC 2 in a telephone interview. “Heard nothing but positive feedback. It’s been thrilling to talk to different teams, and I’m not taking it for granted. I’m just grateful and blessed to be in a position where I can talk to different scouts who show interest. So, it’s just an all-around great experience.”

At the College Gridiron Showcase, Vaughn met with the Dalals Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. At his Pro Day at Rice University, Vaughn met with the Las Vegas Raiders at a workout attended by several teams, including the hometown Texans, Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers.

“I’m really proud of all my work,” said Vaughn, who is represented by veteran NFL agent Fred Lyles. “I feel like I prepare myself to perform at a high level. I ran well and caught the ball well, finishing the routes. Everything that I showed on tape, the scouts saw.”

Vaughn rushed for 671 yards and eight touchdowns. He gained 100 yards on 10 carries against Stephen F. Austin, rushed for 98 yards on 15 runs against Lamar and 124 yards on nine carries against Southern Utah. He had a 75-yard touchdown run against North Alabama.

“Against Southern Utah, you can really see the speed and my vision,” Vaughn said. “In my two playoff games against Lamar and Stephen F. Austin, really just highlighting everything I can do. I can catch the ball, I can pass protect at a high level. When I get going, I’m hard to stop. One thing about me, when the lights are shining the brightest, I’m the one that’s always gonna answer the call. So, I feel like those games really highlight my ability.”

At Manvel, he led the team to a district championship.

Vaughn is big enough and fast enough to play wide receiver, tight end, fullback or H-back, but has specialized at tailback.

“A lot teams, or at least the ones interested in me, like me as running back,” Vaughn said. “Just throughout playing football in my whole life, growing, I played probably every position except for a quarterback and corner. So, you know, my parents instilled in me be versatile.”

“When I first got to school, they wanted to convert me to linebacker. So I went through a whole fall camp as a linebacker, Star position, speed rush off the edge, but also come back and play linebacker in the run game. Then, I was back at running back.”

Vaughn was a two-time all-academic selection. He studied finance.

He is pursuing his master’s degree in business now.

“I Have that to fall back on,” Vaughn said. “With my finance background, you can get into a whole bunch of things like analysis, banking, pricing, bonds, whole business corporation world.

“Right now, it’s all football. I feel like I’ve barely even scratched the surface of the player that I can become. So, a lot of excitement.

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

The error, which the administration admitted first to The Associated Press, prompted health analysts to question how many of the Republican administration’s sweeping anti-fraud efforts around the country were based on faulty findings. One of a few mischaracterizations it made about New York's Medicaid program, it also reflected a common criticism that’s been made of Trump’s second administration — that it tends to attack first and confirm the facts later.

“These numbers could have been cleared up in a phone call, so it’s really slapdash,” said Fiscal Policy Institute senior health policy adviser Michael Kinnucan, whose recent analysis called attention to the Trump administration’s inaccurate claim.

The mistake appeared in comments made last month by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in a social media video and in a letter to New York’s Democratic governor announcing the fraud investigation.

Oz claimed that New York’s Medicaid program last year provided some 5 million people with personal care services, which assist people in need with basic activities like bathing, grooming and meal preparation. That would add up to nearly three-fourths of the state’s 6.8 million Medicaid enrollees.

“That level of utilization is unheard of,” Oz said in the video, adding in his post that New York needs to “come clean about its Medicaid program.”

But the real number of New Yorkers who used those services last year was about 450,000, or between 6% and 7% of total enrollees, CMS spokesman Chris Krepich told the AP this week. He said the agency misidentified New York’s approach to applying billing codes and had since refined its methodology.

“CMS is committed to ensuring its analyses fully reflect state-specific billing practices and will continue to work closely with New York to validate data and strengthen program integrity oversight,” he said in an emailed statement.

Krepich said the probe was ongoing as the administration still has concerns with New York’s oversight of personal care services and the Medicaid program and is reviewing the state’s response to last month’s letter. CMS had raised other flags about New York’s program, including that it spends more per beneficiary and per resident than the average state, has high personal care spending and employs so many personal care aides that the job category is now the largest in the state.

Health analysts said the state's high spending reflected both high costs for services in New York and a policy choice to provide robust at-home care. Cadence Acquaviva, senior public information officer for the New York Department of Health, called Oz’s initial mischaracterizations “a targeted attempt to obscure the facts.”

“New York State remains committed to protecting and preserving vital Medicaid programs that deliver high-quality services to New Yorkers who depend on them,” she said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “The initial claim by CMS was patently false, and we are glad they now admit it."

“Governor Hochul has been clear that New York has zero tolerance for waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, or any other state programs, and will continue her efforts to root out bad actors, protect taxpayer dollars, and safeguard the critical programs that New Yorkers rely on,” spokesperson Nicolette Simmonds said.

New York probe is part of a larger crackdown

The Trump administration’s investigation into New York comes as it has similarly approached at least four other states, including California, Florida, Maine and Minnesota, with investigations into potential health care fraud. The anti-fraud effort appears to be expanding as voters in the upcoming midterm elections say they’re concerned about affordability.

Trump last month signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. As part of that project, Vance announced the administration would temporarily halt $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, a move over which the state has since sued.

Kinnucan, the analyst with expertise in New York’s Medicaid program, said he’s concerned that the Trump administration’s adversarial approach to targeting fraud in some states “politicizes” a conversation that should be a team effort.

“We want to think collaboratively among all the stakeholders in the program about how we can actually fix it,” Kinnucan said. “We don’t want to have fraud be this political football.”

Oz made other claims New York advocates say are inaccurate

In his video, Oz made at least two other claims about New York that Medicaid advocates and beneficiaries say distorted the facts.

In one instance, he said the state recently made its screening for personal care eligibility “more lenient by allowing problems like being ‘easily distracted’ to qualify for a personal care assistant.”

Rebecca Antar, director of the health law unit at the Legal Aid Society, said the opposite was true — that the state in a rule change that went into effect last September instead made its program requirements more stringent. She said being “easily distracted” doesn’t appear anywhere among them.

Krepich said the administrator was referring to whether New York’s standard for personal care services was “sufficiently rigorous.”

“When standards are overly permissive, it risks diverting resources away from individuals with the highest levels of need and placing long-term pressure on the sustainability of the Medicaid program,” he said.

Oz in the video also referred to personal care services as “something that our families would normally do for us, like carrying groceries.”

Kathleen Downes, a 33-year-old who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses personal care services in New York’s Nassau County, said she was offended by the notion that all Medicaid beneficiaries have family members who are willing and able to help.

Downes, who has been disabled since birth and needs personal care help for things like showering, using the toilet and eating, said she hires both her mother and outside assistants for personal care services, so her aging mother doesn’t have to take on those tasks full time. She said her mother did the labor unpaid for years, precluding her from pursuing other career opportunities.

“He’s assuming that everybody wants to and can just do it for free forever,” Downes said. "And that’s not feasible for a lot of people.”

___

Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

Within seconds, plumes of smoke were rising across Beirut’s skyline, from the coastal corniche, down to the city’s busiest intersection, up from one of its wealthiest neighborhoods and one of its poorest. Boom. Boom. Boom. We stopped counting. One staffer ran into the office from downstairs, her face white and lips trembling.

During the 10 years that Beirut has been my home, the Lebanese capital has lived through rounds of Israeli bombing, Israel’s detonation of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members and a devastating port explosion in 2020. But Wednesday was the first time it felt like the city had been left breathless.

In a span of 10 minutes, Israel says it hit 100 targets in Lebanon. Most were in Beirut. Over 300 people were killed, including more than 100 women, children and elderly. Late night TV shows said it rivaled one of the worst days during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Beirut — in August of that year, when roughly 300 people were killed over some 10 hours of bombardment.

Acrid smoke, frantic calls and looks of horror

Before Wednesday's bombardment, many Lebanese had hoped that a ceasefire announced hours earlier in the Iran war would bring a pause in the more than a month of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

It is still not clear what the targets were. Israel said it hit Hezbollah command and control centers, but the only Hezbollah official it reported killing was an aide to the group’s secretary-general.

As bombs fell, panicked commuters got stuck in traffic while trying to rush home to move their families, unsure where Israel may hit next. Others made frantic calls on an overwhelmed communication network, looking for loved ones or yelling at relatives to pack up and leave. Confused drivers stared at the acrid black and white smoke billowing over the city, trying to determine which road to take.

In the stricken areas, the mayhem was on another level. People’s faces were covered in black soot. At one of Beirut’s busiest intersections, on Corniche al-Mazraa, an Associated Press photographer saw charred cars piled on top of each other. A body was crushed inside one.

In Mar Elias, one of Beirut’s main commercial streets, a blast raised dust and debris that hid the view of the entire block. Across the street, Sahar Charara was huddled in her apartment.

Ever since the 2020 port explosion, in which her two children suffered minor injuries, Charara has tried to protect herself from seeing the victims of violence — a sign of how years of accumulated heartbreaks have marked Lebanese. But when the dust cleared, she looked outside and saw the despair of an entire city on the face of an elderly woman frozen in place and screaming for minutes.

“There were so much horror and fear in her screaming,” said Charara.

When Charara left her apartment an hour later, she exchanged a few words with her neighbor whose shop was destroyed. The expression on her face was a “blank look of horror,” Charara said.

She learned later from her building’s doorman that another neighbor had fallen from the balcony and died from the impact.

Buildings crumble to the ground

A strike hit near the home of Nahida Khalil, close to the corniche. Then she saw smoke also coming from the direction of her brother’s building further up the street.

The next 15 minutes felt like an eternity as she tried to call her brother, with no answer. Finally, his wife responded, screaming that their building was hit. They had searched through the black smoke filling their apartment to find their three children. When they finally made it to the street, they saw half of their building had been leveled, and the other half was slowly tumbling down as rescuers searched for the missing.

“I lived through all the wars since 1975. I never felt this fear,” said Khalil, who has lived in the same building for decades. "These strikes are meant to terrorize ... and to spoil the ceasefire and cause division” between Lebanese.

A few hundred meters to the west of Charara’s building later in the day, motorists swerved and crossed paths, as they tried to evacuate Tallet al-Khayyat, one of the highest points in Beirut and home to some of the city’s classiest apartment buildings. One building crumbled to dust in seconds after being struck by an Israeli bomb; a resident described hearing the building’s stones grind before it collapsed.

By nightfall, people were still assessing the losses – and trying to figure out where was safe. Some families spent the night sleeping in different rooms, figuring if overnight strikes hit, some would survive.

Rescue efforts went on through the night.

At Khalil’s family building in the Ain Mreisseh neighborhood, rescue workers' hopes were boosted after finding a 92-year-old man alive. But by daylight Thursday, they were still searching for four or five more bodies, they told the AP. A man whose 23-year-old daughter was among the missing stood on a mound of rubble and helped search.

The 101st strike

At hospitals, staff were still trying to identify dozens of bodies, with some burned or damaged. From death notices and its own reporting, the AP collected the names of 61 of the dead. They reflected the breadth of society, including the chef of a popular restaurant, a well-known poet, four soldiers from the Lebanese military, 11 members of two Syrian refugee families, a teacher and her two children, and a doctor along with his wife and three children.

The last strike came shortly after midnight, hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been regularly hit during the war. Mohammed Mehdi’s barbershop, in operation for 30 years, was destroyed.

During the current war, he and his family fled their home in the neighborhood, Chiyah, and now sleep in a dentist clinic, near Khalil’s family building. But he made it a point to keep his barber shop open, going to it every day to meet friends, have coffee and give the occasional haircut. He shut down Wednesday as bombs starting falling across the city.

“They carried out 100 strikes. Ours was the 101st,” he said Thursday. He is mourning Lebanon’s dead from the day. “I am still in shock, and I don’t know where things are going. I lost my job and this loss may last for a while.”

___

AP correspondent Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

The teacher was identified as Nicole Truelove, 53. She has been charged with filing a false report and tampering with evidence.

Truelove was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on Thursday afternoon. She is scheduled to appear before a judge on Friday at 8:30 a.m.

According to law enforcement, Truelove allegedly fabricated the incident and caused her own injuries using a blade or knife-like object.

MORE INFO: Splendora HS teacher charged with injuring self in school stabbing ‘hoax’ made accusations against prison inmate in 2017

KPRC 2’s Bryce Newberry confirmed that the Texas Education Agency has officially opened an investigation into Truelove.

Splendora ISD said it will continue communicating directly with parents as the investigation remains ongoing.

How the situation unfolded

Officials said teachers can activate a wearable alarm, which triggers a campus-wide lockdown.

Rick Bass, assistant chief of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, said the alarm was activated around 8:45 a.m., bringing three school resource officers to the scene. The campus was immediately placed on lockdown as a precaution.

At one point, more than 80 law enforcement officers responded to the school as deputies worked to secure the campus and investigate what was initially reported as an assault involving students.

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Authorities later transitioned the campus from a lockdown to a “secure hold,” allowing classes to continue while hallways were kept clear.

Investigators determined that no assault involving students had occurred. No students were injured, and officials confirmed there was no ongoing threat to the campus or the public.

Parents gathered outside the school during the incident, waiting to pick up their children. Students were later released through the back of the school.

The chaotic scene inside the school

Students were rushed into classrooms and told to hide as the situation unfolded.

While speaking with KPRC 2’s Ricky Munoz, the husband of a Splendora High School teacher said the situation was alarming.

“My wife sent me a message; said, ‘I love you,’” he said. “Just out of the blue saying, ‘I love you.’ That’s when I noticed all the caution tape.”

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A Splendora mother said her daughter was pulled from the hallway by a staff member during a passing period after the school entered secure mode.

The teacher then began stacking chairs in front of the classroom door.

“She was grabbed by another teacher and pulled into a classroom that is not one of hers and was told to stand in the corner with the lights off,” the mother said.

Rumors quickly spread among parents, including unconfirmed reports of a gun on campus.

“I did hear, from some other parents, that a student possibly had a gun,” the mother told KPRC 2.

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The rumors weren’t limited to parents. Another mother said she learned about the situation after her daughter called, believing there was a shooting on campus.

“I was in the middle of work when I got her call,” the mother said. “She whispered and said, ‘Mom, I’m in a closet. There’s a shooter in the school.’”

The parent said she couldn’t reach the school and had to rely on social media for updates.

“I called the school probably 10 times back-to-back and I never got an answer,” she said. “Then, finally, I got an email saying that something was going on at the school.”

More on teacher’s background

Officials said Truelove had been employed at Splendora High School for one year.

She has also made headlines in the past.

In 2017, she was involved in a federal civil rights lawsuit, claiming the state did not protect her after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by inmates, law enforcement sources confirmed to KPRC 2.

2017 ARTICLE: Teacher raped by 4-time felon after class at Ferguson Unit, attorney says

The inmate accused in the 2017 case was acquitted of aggravated sexual assault, records show but was found guilty of assault of a public servant and retaliation.

According to court records obtained by KPRC 2, the inmate also filed a complaint against Truelove, claiming she provided “misleading information” to law enforcement related to the allegations.

Truelove later sued the state, and a settlement was reached in the case.

The ravaged Palestinian territory of 2 million people has seen the most intense fighting stop between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants. But most of the ceasefire work remains to be done, from disarming Hamas and ending its two-decade rule to deploying an international stabilization force and beginning vast reconstruction. Gaza residents are in limbo, with limited aid entering through a single, Israeli-controlled border post.

Such challenges could represent what’s to come in the latest war, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to peacemaking appears to be stopping bombardment and leaving the bigger picture for others to work out.

Whether Trump can force through that kind of deal on Iran, with more actors in play and global markets quivering at every statement, is yet to be seen.

The Board of Peace goes quiet

Focusing on a deal's details is crucial. Already the Iran war's two-week ceasefire has created deadly confusion over Lebanon as Israel insists the deal doesn’t apply there and continues to attack the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, while Iran insists it does and threatens to upend the agreement. Israel made a surprise announcement Thursday authorizing direct negotiations with Lebanon, despite the lack of diplomatic ties.

Not long ago, the U.S.-created and Trump-led Board of Peace kicked off with $7 billion in pledges and sweeping intentions of resolving not only Gaza but other conflicts that emerge around the world.

Nine days after the board's initial meeting, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

The Board of Peace has not met again, and it's still waiting for Hamas to respond to its proposal on disarming, a major concession and perhaps the hardest step. Hamas’ charter calls for destroying Israel.

A U.S. official said Hamas has not been given a definite deadline to respond to the proposal but added that “patience is not unlimited.” The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The lack of a deadline can weaken pressure to act. Meanwhile, diplomacy is busy putting out different flames.

Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov told the U.N. Security Council last month that the world should not lose sight of Gaza as a new war flared. The choice in Gaza is between “a renewed war, or a new beginning; the status quo, or a better future,” he added. “There is no third option.”

‘It’s as if there’s no ceasefire at all’

Palestinians might suggest a third option: neglect.

Six months into the Gaza ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, little beyond the largely silenced explosions has changed.

Vast tent camps house most of the territory’s population. Other residents shelter in damaged apartment buildings. Health workers and other humanitarian workers say there has been little progress in the expected surge of medical supplies and other aid.

The U.S. 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza is largely failing on the humanitarian front, five international aid groups said in a scorecard released Thursday. They said conditions have deteriorated further in Gaza since the Iran war began.

“During the first two weeks of March 2026, trucks entering Gaza declined by 80%, and the price of basic goods increased dramatically,” they said. Medical evacuations have stalled.

Palestinians expressed fading hopes for any immediate improvement in their lives.

"There is pollution and disease. It’s as if there’s no ceasefire at all,” said Maysa Abu Jedian, a displaced woman from Beit Lahiya.

“The war is still ongoing and life is still terrible as it is,” said Eyad Abu Dagga, also sheltering in a camp in Khan Younis.

Tents rippled in the breeze, and children played on the sand against a backdrop of shattered buildings.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out airstrikes and fired on Palestinians near military-held zones. Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel has said its strikes are in response to that and other ceasefire violations.

As of Thursday, Israeli attacks have killed 738 people in the six months since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Funerals for two cousins were held Friday in Gaza City, a day after they were killed. “We were standing idly, drinking coffee, next to each other. We suddenly saw a (projectile) hitting the men,” said Anwar Saleh, an eyewitness. Israel's military said it had struck a “terrorist” in northern Gaza.

Overall, the health ministry says 72,317 Palestinians had been killed since the war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

‘Sustained diplomatic pressure at the highest levels’

Unwavering focus on Gaza, once at the heart of a passionate international outcry, has been lost with the rise of a new regional war. That, too, has decreased pressure for progress on the ceasefire.

The humanitarian groups' scorecard notes that any forward movement on aid issues in the Palestinian territory has “generally required sustained diplomatic pressure at the highest levels, particularly from the United States. That pressure, however, has not been applied consistently or at the scale needed to secure full implementation.”

The Trump administration is not the only player to be distracted. The entire Middle East, including key Gaza mediators Egypt and Qatar, now focuses on Iran and that war’s effects on their economies.

With the added uncertainty over Israel’s renewed war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, there could be even less interest from countries to contribute troops to a Gaza stabilization force. One of the few confirmed troop contributors, Indonesia, already has seen three of its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon killed in recent days.

___

Anna reported from Lowville, New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

___

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

According to the Houston Police Department, investigators said the six people are described only as three males and three females. Police said two vehicles may be associated with them: a red or maroon sedan and a white SUV.

What police say happened

The shooting happened around 5 a.m. when Houston police responded to reports of gunfire at the business. Officers arrived to what investigators described as chaotic conditions and a large crowd in the parking lot.

One man was killed. Police said another man was injured and expected to survive.

• One dead, one injured after gunfire rips through crowd outside Houston gentleman’s club

Victim identified

The man who died has been identified as Miguel Angel Padilla Franco, 33. KPRC 2’s Jaewon Jung met with Franco’s family and friends, who knew him as “Nawfside Linco,” a well-known figure in Houston’s slab car culture.

Loved ones said he was a familiar face in the community and part of a group of blue-car enthusiasts known as the “Blue Line.” A vigil was held the day after the shooting at Divine Shine Car Wash in the Second Ward, where friends and relatives described him as generous, upbeat and “the life of the party.”

• Family and friends remember 33-year-old killed in Paradise City shooting as ‘life of the party’ in slab community

A benefit for Franco’s family will be held on April 12 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Exotic Pop on Almeda Road.

Investigation continues

Investigators said the violence may have started with a disturbance inside the club before it spilled into the parking lot, where at least one shooter opened fire into a crowd. Police have said the victims appeared to be innocent bystanders and not involved in whatever sparked the initial conflict.

HPD has also said a security guard returned fire during the incident. The guard was detained and questioned, but police said he was cooperating and released without charges.

The department has not released a motive and has not announced any arrests. Detectives have been collecting evidence, including ballistics, and working to review surveillance video. Police have noted that camera blind spots could limit what was captured, making additional witness tips critical.

Anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of the persons of interest is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at (713) 308-3600. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS (8477).

Tax Assessor-Collector Carolyn Miedke said in a Thursday press release that she and her team have been reviewing the office’s day-to-day processes since she took office, aiming to tighten up procedures and better serve taxpayers. During that review, the office noticed what she described as unusual activity that didn’t match established practices.

Miedke said the office took the concerns to the Waller County Sheriff’s Office and the Waller County District Attorney’s Office and asked for a full investigation. She said investigators later found evidence pointing to possible criminal activity connected to a member of the tax office staff.

KPRC 2 has contacted the sheriff’s office for more information on the alleged criminal activity.

• READ MORE: Attorneys rally at Harris County courthouse as viral judge backs down

That employee is no longer with the office, according to Miedke, and she said the situation is now moving through the appropriate legal channels.

Miedke also said the tax office plans to keep going with its internal review — looking at processes, procedures and records — with the goal of improving efficiency and making sure there’s accountability across the board.

She said the office is committed to transparency and maintaining the public’s trust.

“I want to express my sincere appreciation to Sheriff Guidry and his staff, District Attorney Whittmore and his staff, and my staff for their professionalism and support during this challenging situation,” Miedke said in the press release. “My staff and I remain fully committed to transparency and to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and ethics. We understand the importance of maintaining the public’s trust and take that responsibility very seriously.”

The layoffs involve employees of Sodexo, a company that operates cafeterias and food service operations inside hospitals and other facilities.

• Looking for a job in Houston? USPS is hiring and hosting a virtual job fair this week

State records show a total of 296 workers across four locations tied to HCA Healthcare hospitals in Harris County will be affected. The layoffs are scheduled to take effect June 13, according to the WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filings.

The impacted sites include:

• HCA Kingwood, with 81 layoffs
• HCA Clear Lake, with 86 layoffs
• HCA Women’s Hospital of Texas, with 66 layoffs
• HCA Southeast Texas Medical Center, with 63 layoffs

All locations are within the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Area.

While Sodexo will no longer be managing the department, affected employees have been given the opportunity to continue their roles as team members of HCA Houston Healthcare facilities.

The WARN notice does not specify a reason for the layoffs. However, filings indicate Sodexo provides food services at the hospitals, suggesting the cuts could be tied to a change in vendor contracts.

• Job openings slide to 6.9 million in February, another hint of sluggish hiring in America

HCA released the following statement:

“HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division recently informed Sodexo of its decision to transition food service operations in-house to give us greater control over the patient dining experience. While Sodexo will no longer be managing the department, affected employees have been given the opportunity to continue their roles as team members of HCA Houston Healthcare facilities.”

Under federal law, WARN notices are required when companies plan large-scale layoffs, giving workers advance notice to prepare for job loss.

USPS officials say they are actively recruiting workers and will host a free online job fair on April 10 at 11 a.m., giving job seekers a chance to learn about immediate openings and long-term career paths within the agency.

To register, click here.

The hiring push comes at a time when many people are searching for stable work, with USPS highlighting benefits like steady pay, health coverage, and retirement options.

During the virtual event, USPS representatives will walk attendees through current and future job openings, along with details about:

• Pay and hourly wages
• Health and retirement benefits
• Training opportunities
• Career advancement within the organization

Officials say the Postal Service is seeking “committed and motivated individuals” to support operations ranging from mail delivery to logistics and customer service.

Areas hiring around Houston

The hiring effort spans multiple communities across the greater Houston region, including Katy, Sugar Land, Cypress, Richmond, Humble, and Waller, along with several smaller surrounding cities.

USPS says the goal is to strengthen its workforce locally while continuing to modernize operations nationwide.

How to attend

The event will be held virtually through Zoom, allowing people to join from home using a computer or mobile device.

Registration is required ahead of time.

— There are 15 games Friday.

— There are 15 more on Sunday.

— There are 14 playoff and play-in seeds left to decide.

In other words, buckle up. As far as seeding, here's what has been decided to this point:

— Oklahoma City will be No. 1 in the Western Conference, with San Antonio at No. 2.

— Detroit will be No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.

— Minnesota will be No. 6 in the West.

— Phoenix will be the No. 7 seed going into the West play-in tournament, meaning the Suns will get two chances — both at home — to win one game and earn a playoff berth.

— Golden State will be the No. 10 seed going into the West play-in tournament.

The other spots in the top half of the East bracket are undecided, but it still seems likely that the order at 2-3-4 will end up as Boston-New York-Cleveland.

Toronto and Atlanta will probably be No. 5 and No. 6 in the East, in some order. The East play-in remains a jumbled mess, and Joel Embiid's appendicitis obviously makes the path far more difficult for Philadelphia.

In the West, Denver controls its fate for No. 3 and what would be a third playoff meeting in the last four seasons with Minnesota.

If the Nuggets do get that 3 spot, then a first-round matchup pitting the Los Angeles Lakers against Houston would happen as well — which would mark the fourth time that Kevin Durant and LeBron James meet in a playoff series. James and Miami beat Durant and Oklahoma City in the 2012 NBA Finals; Durant and Golden State beat James and Cleveland in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals.

The Lakers, despite being without injured Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, still have the inside track at home court in Round 1.

“This current iteration of the group is all we have right now, so we have to play and make the most of it,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “But at the end of the day, in the back of our minds, front of our minds, and side, we’re still thinking about Luka and AR. I mean, that’s just human nature. Those guys mean so much to our team. We're not going to be like, ‘OK, all right, move on.’ That’s not been our team. That’s not how we built our team over this season.”

And Friday's LA Clippers-Portland game should decide the No. 8 spot in the West play-in tournament. That's important, because getting to the eighth spot would give that team two chances to win one game for a playoff berth.

Stories of note

— SGA leads the MVP race, but there is intrigue

— 76ers' Joel Embiid has appendectomy

— NBC says more 'On The Bench’ game coverage likely

— Doc Rivers hints at retirement

— The playoffs, thankfully, are coming

— The Bulls want to keep Billy Donovan ... but does Donovan want to stay?

Who's in and who's out?

Here's what we know so far regarding the NBA playoff field for this season.

— Eastern Conference playoff teams: Detroit has locked up the No. 1 seed and will open the postseason on April 19. Boston, New York, Cleveland are in. At this point, Atlanta and Toronto would get the other two guaranteed spots, but those are not clinched.

— East play-in teams: Miami is locked into the play-in for the fourth consecutive year. Entering Friday, the other three teams headed there would be Philadelphia, Orlando and Charlotte.

— East eliminated teams: Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana, Brooklyn and Washington.

— Western Conference playoff teams: Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston and Minnesota are in. Denver, the Lakers and Houston are still jostling to see who'll be the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

— West play-in teams: Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers, Portland and Golden State are in. The Suns will be the No. 7 seed, the Clippers and Trail Blazers are battling for No. 8, and the Warriors will be the No. 10 seed.

— West eliminated teams: Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Utah and Sacramento.

Thursday recap

— Raptors 128, Heat 114: 38-7-7 for Brandon Ingram, Raptors have swept nine opponents this season.

— Bulls 119, Wizards 108: Washington is 1-24 in its last 25 games, worst stretch in team history.

— Pacers 123, Nets 94: Indiana made 43 2-point shots, the most for Pacers since 2023-24 season.

— Knicks 112, Celtics 106: Another 25-10 game for Jalen Brunson, Boston didn’t have Jaylen Brown.

— Rockets 113, 76ers 102: Kevin Durant scored 29, Philly cut late 28-point deficit to five before falling.

— Lakers 119, Warriors 103: LeBron James finishes with 26 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists.

Friday's schedule

— Detroit at Charlotte: Game might mean a lot to Hornets’ play-in seed.

— Miami at Washington: Another chance to reflect on Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game.

— Cleveland at Atlanta: Rematch of Wednesday matchup in Cleveland, won by Cavs.

— New Orleans at Boston: Celtics won’t be on road again until Game 3 of Round 1.

— Philadelphia at Indiana: 76ers could finish anywhere from sixth to 10th in East.

— Toronto at New York: Knicks could go 5-0 vs. Raptors this season, then see them in playoffs.

— Orlando at Chicago: Magic could still get out of the play-in, if a lot of things go right.

— Brooklyn at Milwaukee: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s home finale with Bucks? (He's listed as out.)

— Dallas at San Antonio: Victor Wembanyama needs one more game to qualify for award ballots.

— Oklahoma City at Denver: Lots of meaning for Nuggets, not for Thunder, so advantage, Denver.

— Minnesota at Houston: Rockets could get home-court in Round 1, playing best ball of season.

— Memphis at Utah: The Jazz have worked hard to keep their top-eight protected draft pick.

— LA Clippers at Portland: Could this be a playoff to decide the No. 8 seed for the play-in?

— Golden State at Sacramento: Warriors keep building toward road play-in challenge that awaits.

— Phoenix at LA Lakers: Lakers still have real chance at home-court in Round 1, even with injuries.

National TV schedule

Friday on Prime Video: Cleveland-Atlanta (7 p.m. Eastern) and Minnesota-Houston (9:30 p.m.)

Sunday on ESPN: Orlando-Boston (6 p.m. Eastern) and Denver-San Antonio (8:30 p.m.)

Betting odds

Oklahoma City (+120) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by San Antonio (+450), Boston (+550), Denver (+1000), Cleveland (+1300) and New York (+2000). Detroit, the No. 1 seed in the East, is +2000. The Los Angeles Lakers were +2500 before Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves got hurt; they're +30000 now.

Play-in schedule

Some of the NBA's play-in tournament schedule is now known:

— Phoenix will play host to either the LA Clippers or Portland on Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern. (The winner of that game will play No. 2 San Antonio in Round 1, the loser will play a home game on Friday for the right to play No. 1 Oklahoma City in Round 1).

— Golden State will visit either the LA Clippers or Portland on Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern. (The loser of that game is eliminated, the winner moves on to Friday.)

All games in the play-in tournament will be shown on Prime Video.

Key dates

— Friday: All 30 teams play their 81st games of the season.

— Saturday: No games.

— Sunday: All 30 teams play their regular-season finales.

— April 14, 15 and 17: NBA play-in tournament dates.

— April 18 and 19: NBA playoff series openers.

— May 2, 3 or 4: Conference semifinals begin.

— May 10: NBA draft lottery.

— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.

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

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

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

Numbers watch

— The Raptors are 26-0 vs. the Hawks, Heat, Pacers, Bulls, Cavs, Jazz, Blazers, Warriors and Grizzlies this season. They're 0-20 vs. the Celtics, Rockets, Nuggets, Clippers, Lakers, Spurs, Wolves and Knicks — and play at New York on Friday, trying not to go 0-5 in that series this season.

— To that point, with a win over the Raptors, New York could go 5-0 in a season series for the first time since it went 5-0 vs. Boston in 1994-95. (The five-game season series was dormant for about a quarter-century, before the inclusion of NBA Cup made it a possibility for some clubs.)

— Denver's Nikola Jokic is going to lead the NBA in both assists per game and rebounds per game this season. He'll be the first person to win both an assist-per-game and rebound-per-game title; Wilt Chamberlain led the league in both total assists and total rebounds in 1967-68, but Oscar Robertson won the assist-per-game title that season.

— The NBA remains on pace to see more points this season than ever before. The current pace is about 284,254, which would be reached on Sunday; the record total for a season is 282,137, set in 2022-23.

Stats of the day

— There were no games with Stephen Curry and LeBron James going head-to-head during this regular season. The last time that happened was 2019-20. Curry and James have faced off more times in playoff games (28) than regular-season contests (27).

— Indiana has now won 1,999 regular-season NBA games. The Pacers will be the 20th NBA franchise to get to 2,000.

___

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

According to reports, around 3:30 a.m. in the 7100 block of Bissonnet Street, a white van ran a red light, hitting the deputy.

The deputy, along with the driver and passenger in the white van, was transported to the hospital. The deputy is expected to be okay. The condition of the driver and passenger in the other vehicle is unknown.

The Bissonnet St. and Fondren Rd. The intersection where the crash took place was shut down for multiple hours while deputies investigated.

It’s not clear if the driver of the white van will face charges.

On Saturday, April 11, Airbnb and the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Houston Host Committee will host an event at Hermann Park aiming to set a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the longest continuous line of soccer balls.

Organizers plan to line up 1,000 soccer balls along the park’s Green Corridor as part of the official attempt.

The event will also feature DaMarcus Beasley, a FIFA World Cup™ veteran, alongside local leaders and community members.

Programming is expected to include remarks from community leaders, the official record attempt, and a celebration with food and music.

If the record is successfully verified, all soccer balls used in the attempt will be donated to the Grow the Game Initiative, which aims to expand access to soccer for underserved youth. The effort is a collaboration between the Houston Host Committee and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority Foundation.

Organizers say the event is part of Airbnb’s $1 million FIFA Host City Impact Program, which supports local initiatives in Houston ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with opening remarks beginning at 10 a.m. The official record attempt is expected to start around 10:15 a.m., followed by verification by witnesses and Guinness representatives at approximately 11:15 a.m. A community celebration and closing remarks will wrap up the event at noon.

“Had to have one,” said James, who was attending the Masters from Wyckoff, New Jersey. “It's a novelty.”

This is the 10th and perhaps final year Augusta National will sell the limited edition gnome, which features the traditional old man with a white beard in colorful golf attire. Each year's gnome is different, with the 2026 edition featuring the character dressed in khaki pants with a white-and-green striped polo shirt and blue vest holding an umbrella in one hand and a Masters-themed cup in the other.

The gnomes have become wildly popular — and increasingly valuable — over the last decade.

With only about 1,000 available each day, the gnomes regularly sell out within an hour each morning at the merchandise shop before being restocked the following day. This year's gnome sells for $59.50 plus tax and is only available at Augusta National.

It has become a big money-maker for some patrons on the resale market.

The bidding for one gnome on eBay reached $620 on Friday with two days still remaining in the auction. Another can be purchased directly for $670 plus delivery cost, but there are dozens of others listed for similar prices.

On Facebook Marketplace, some gnomes are being sold for $800.

Fueling the price is speculation this may be the final year that the gnome will be produced.

Masters chairman Fred Ridley was asked earlier in the week if this will be the final edition. He responded by saying, “I’ve been asking that question for several years, and they won’t tell me the answer. So I can’t help you.”

When asked if he'd consider selling his gnome, James laughed and said, “Maybe.”

“I mean, I just spent more than $1,000 in the gift shop, so from what I've heard the gnome might pay for all of it,” James said. “I'll have to think about it, but it's definitely an option.”

John Van Pay, who came from San Antonio, got caught up in the gnome hysteria after talking with a friend associated with the LIV tour the night before attending the Masters. He convinced his son, Bryce, to wake up early and get to the course, and limited to one per person, they each walked out of the merchandise shop with a gnome.

“Yeah, we kept hearing about this gnome, and the rumor is it's going to be the last year they produce them,” Van Pay said. “So next thing you know, we are waiting in line at 7 a.m. to buy this gnome at the shop.”

Van Pay said he plans to keep his gnome as a souvenir of his trip to the Masters, calling it “a great piece of memorabilia” and something that “is going to look great on the shelf.” The younger Van Pay is a little more torn; he's an avid memorabilia collector, mostly dealing with Funko Pop.

Bryce Van Pay recounted how he recently had a $10 trading card that exploded on the market and reached $300 in value following the release of the most recent Marvel movie, only to watch it's worth slip to $100 a few months later. Van Pay lamented not selling it when it was at its most valuable.

“The Masters gnome is a hot seller and I'm not sure if it's going to go up and down (in value),” the younger Van Pay said. “There is a lot in circulation right now (on eBay and other platforms)."

He said given the possibility this is the last gnome produced, the wiser financial decision might be to hold onto it for a while.

With that, his father jumped in and said: “Well, he's my only son, so he can sell his now and make money and have mine when I hand it down to him.”

___

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

The attack occurred in Benisheikh in Borno State, army spokesman Michael Onoja said in a statement, but it was repelled.

Onoja described the assailants as “terrorists,” which is the term the military uses to describe members of Islamic militant groups in the northeast of the country.

President Bola Tinubu confirmed that a general was killed in the attack.

“The insurgents’ counterattack is a sign of desperation,” he said in a statement. “I extend my condolences to the families of our gallant soldiers, led by Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our country today in Borno State. The government will never forget their sacrifices.”

“Their sacrifices will not be in vain," Tinubu said. "Because of the courage and dedication of our troops on the front line, our resolve to defeat terrorism and all forms of violence across Nigeria is stronger than ever.”

Onoja didn’t specify how many soldiers were killed in the latest attack on military bases.

“This attack is a clear indication of the desperation of terrorist elements who, having suffered significant losses in recent operations, continue to resort to futile and ill-fated offensives against well-defended military positions,” he said. “Regrettably, the encounter resulted in the loss of a few brave and gallant soldiers who paid the supreme price in the line of duty.”

Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north where there is a decadelong insurgency and several armed groups who kidnap for ransom.

Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group and known as Islamic State West Africa Province. There is also the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in communities in the northwestern part of the country that borders Niger Republic.

The crisis has worsened recently to include other militants from the neighboring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.

Earlier this year, the U.S. sent 200 troops and drones to Nigeria to assist the Nigerian military in fighting extremists. The U.S. military said that the American troops won’t engage in combat or have a direct operational role, and that Nigerian forces will have complete command authority.

The deployment is part of a new security partnership agreed on after U.S. President Donald Trump alleged that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis. The U.S. launched strikes against IS forces on Dec. 26.

Several thousand people in Nigeria have been killed, according to data from the United Nations. Analysts say not enough is being done by the government to protect its citizens.

“Welcome to Japan ... Uh-oh, I can’t believe Deep Purple are here," Takaichi said as she walked into a guest room at the Prime Minister's Office with open arms and all smiles to welcome the band members. “I have always admired Deep Purple.”

“You’re my god,” Takaichi told drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of Japanese-made TAMA drumsticks she had signed. “You're a drummer, we are friends,” Paice told her.

Takaichi is a hard rock and heavy metal music fan and was an avid drummer in her college days.

The prime minister explained her history as a Deep Purple superfan for more than half a century. At elementary school, she was already listening to “Machine Head," the band's 1972 album featuring top hits like “Highway Star” and “Smoke on the Water.”

In junior high school, she played the keyboard in a Deep Purple cover band, then as a university student she switched to drums, she said.

“Nowadays, when I have a fight with my husband, I play drums on ‘Burn’ and put a curse on him,” Takaichi joked. She has previously noted “Burn” as one of her favorite songs, saying it “clears my mind.”

The band's courtesy visit was a pleasant break for Japan's first female leader, known for her long working hours and now struggling with strained diplomatic ties with China, the fallouts from the war in the Middle East as well as rising prices at home.

“I express my deepest respect for you for making rock history and continuing to take on new challenges and producing even more compelling music today,” Takaichi said, wishing them a successful tour beginning Saturday in Tokyo.

She did not forget to do her work as prime minister and stressed that promotion of cultural content is one of the key areas of her government's growth strategy.

“I hope Deep Purple’s performances starting tomorrow will excite fans across Japan and serve as a powerful force in promoting the long-standing Japan-UK cultural exchanges,” she said.

___

Associated Press journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

It’s FRI-YAY! It’s officially our favorite day of the week. I mean, although I am sad I won’t get to chat with you guys over the weekend, no worries, I think I have enough news to keep you busy during my absence!

Anyway, let’s get to it.

So yesterday, a teacher in Splendora was arrested and charged after she made up a fake story, basically claiming that a student attacked her. But according to investigators, the teacher actually stabbed herself. And get this, it isn’t her first time being involved in a public incident.

According to records, 53-year-old Nicole Truelove filed a civil rights lawsuit after claiming she was sexually assaulted by an inmate while working as a teacher inside the Ferguson Unit near Huntsville in 2017.

To read more, click here.

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YOUR MORNING FORECAST ☀️

TODAY:79 ° TONIGHT: 70°

KPRC 2 Meteorologist says:

“Waking up to a humid and warm morning with lows in the low 70s. Forecast highs will be in the lower-80s. Watch for scattered downpours during the heat of the day. Most of the rain activity comes to an end just before sunset. More chances of isolated to scattered storms in our forecast this weekend. Sunday, the best chance for storms will likely stay well west of Harris County.”

Get your forecast details here.

TOP STORIES

Armed suspect in custody in Missouri City after ‘emergency’ situation shuts down Sienna Parkway

A suspect is in custody after an incident forced the closure of Sienna Parkway on Thursday evening.

Missouri City police said the incident on Thursday was a continuation of an incident that happened Wednesday night with the suspect at his grandmother’s house. Police say the suspect went to the house looking for his girlfriend, and they believe a physical assault took place at the home. By the time police arrived, the suspect was gone.

Man riding bike discovers woman’s body in Addicks Reservoir; police calling death suspicious

An investigation is underway after a woman’s body was found in Addicks Reservoir on Thursday. Lt. Larry Crowson says the discovery was made by a man who regularly rides his bike in the area. The man rode by a pond within the reservoir area and noticed what appeared to be the body of a woman.

Officers responded after the man called police to report the incident and confirmed the body belongs to what they believe is an approximately 40-year-old woman.

Houston ISD board approves reduction in force, which allows job cuts, changes

Houston Independent School District’s state-appointed board of managers has approved a key procedural step that could open the door to possible staffing changes across the district.

During a meeting on Thursday night, board members signed off on a “reduction in force,” which allows the administration to cut and reorganize staff. Now, HISD administrators have permission to cut staff or reassign virtually all teaching positions and some central office jobs ahead of the 2026-2027 school year.

ARE YOU A KPRC 2 INSIDER? HERE’S SOME EXCLUSIVES

‘Reimagined’: Harris County officials approve $180M Toyota Center renovation ahead of return of Houston Comets

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See a news story in your neighborhood? Capture a great weather moment? Just want to share a photo of your pet? Send your photos and videos to Click2Pins, and you may see them on air and online!

Gabbana’s resignation from oversight roles was effective Jan. 1. Alfonso Dolce, Domenico Dolce's brother, was named chairman later that month, according to the company's filing with the Milan chamber of commerce.

Dolce & Gabbana in a statement called the move “a natural evolution of its organizational structure and governance.’’

The news was first reported by Bloomberg, which cited sources saying that Gabbana, 63, was considering options to exit his 40% stake in the 41-year-old fashion house.

Dolce & ​Gabbana’s lenders are up to ​150 million euros in new funding as part of a broader refinancing of the fashion house's 450 million euros ($525.7 million) of debt, Bloomberg ​reported. It added that the company ​was considering the disposal of real estate and the renewal ‌of ⁠licences to raise money.

Dolce & Gabbana declined comment on the company's debt, citing talks with bankers.

Gabbana was present at the last runway show in February, with their longtime muse Madonna as a front-row guest. Both he and Dolce greeted Madonna personally at her seat after the show and brought her backstage.

Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci attended the Dolce & Gabbana runway in character during filming for “The Devil Wears Prada” sequel last September.

Dolce & Gabbana made its Milan runway debut in 1985, with a focus on Sicilian craftsmanship that has been a touchstone throughout the years for the designers. The designers split as a couple some 20 years ago, but have continued to work closely on the creative side.

The brand spiked in popularity in the 1990s with cone bras, corset looks and perfectly tailored black dresses. The designers have often drawn on Dolce's Sicilian roots, with sexy sheer materials and netting for menswear, along with bright floral and fruit prints and jewelry with oversized crosses.

Over the years, they have expanded into fragrance, home goods and watches, among other fashion-adjacent categories.

Luxury sector analyst Luca Solca, at the Bernstein global equity research firm, said he did not anticipate major changes at the fashion house as long as Gabbana remains on in a creative role.

“Stefano Gabbana was the root cause of the social media disaster of Dolce & Gabbana in China a few years ago,'' he said, refering to the cancellation of a 2018 show in Shanghai due to a backlash after the design house released campaign videos that were criticized as culturally insensitive to Chinese people.

“If Stefano Gabbana left, this could be presented as a (belated) atonement from that incident,” Soca added.

It's an unprecedented situation, with the first American pope directly assailing the American president over the war in Iran, where a fragile ceasefire took hold this week. The announcement came after Pope Leo XIV declared that Trump's belligerence was “truly unacceptable.”

Never before has the relationship between Washington and the Vatican revolved around two Americans — specifically, a 79-year-old politician from Queens and a 70-year-old pontiff from Chicago. They come from the same generation and share some common cultural roots yet bring jarringly distinct approaches to their positions of vast power. And the relationship comes with risks for both sides.

“They’re two white guy boomers but they could not be any more different in their life experiences, in their values, in the way they have chosen to live those values,” said theology professor Natalia Imperatori-Lee of Fordham University. “This is a very stark contrast, and I think an inflection point for American Christianity.”

Polar positions on Iran among U.S. Christians

Experts on the Catholic Church emphasized that Leo’s opposition to the war reflects established church teachings, not the reflexive politics of the moment.

“For the last five centuries, the church has been involved in a project of helping develop strong international norms,” including the Geneva Conventions in recent centuries, said Catholic University professor William Barbieri. “It is a very long-standing tradition rooted in Scripture and theology and philosophy.”

Yet the U.S. administration, which has close ties to conservative evangelical Protestant leaders, has claimed heavenly endorsement for Trump’s war on Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ.” When Trump was asked whether he thought God approved of the war, he said, “I do, because God is good — because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.”

The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of iconic Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, said of Trump that God “raised him up for such a time as this.” And Graham prayed for victory so Iranians can “be set free from these Islamic lunatics.”

Leo countered in his Palm Sunday message that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” He referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.”

While it's not unusual for popes and presidents to be at cross purposes, it's exceedingly rare for the leader of the Catholic Church to directly criticize a U.S. leader, and Leo later named Trump directly and expressed optimism that the president would seek “an off-ramp” in Iran.

An even stronger condemnation came after Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and infrastructure, writing on social media that “an entire civilization will die tonight.” Leo described that as a “threat against the entire people of Iran" and said it was "truly unacceptable.”

Experts: Leo doesn’t see himself as a Trump rival

Imperatori-Lee said Leo’s direct criticism stands out from the church's more general critiques of political and social systems. For example, Pope Francis urged U.S. bishops to defend migrants without specifically mentioning Trump or his deportation agenda. Leo also previously called for humane treatment of migrants.

“Popes have critiqued unfettered capitalism before, very robustly. The popes have critiqued the Industrial Revolution, right? Things that the U.S. has been at the forefront of,” Imperatori-Lee said, “but it’s never been this specific and localized.”

She said Leo’s commentary resonates in the U.S. — with Catholics and non-Catholics — because he is a native English speaker.

“There’s no question about his inflection and meaning,” she said. "It removes any ambiguities.”

Trump welcomed Leo’s election last May as a “great honor” for the country, and he hasn't responded to the latest criticisms. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“What Pope Leo and Donald Trump have in common is they both lived through the post-war polarization,” including the political upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, said Steven Millies, a professor at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union, one of the pope’s alma maters.

He noted that Leo is a subscriber to The New York Times, plays the “Wordle” game, keeps up with U.S. sports and talks regularly with his brothers, including an avowed Trump supporter.

“In some ways he’s just like us,” Millies said, someone “who understands where our domestic political crisis came from,” unlike the Argentinian Francis, “who did not fully understand the peculiarities of the United States” even as he offered implicit criticism.

Barbieri said Leo’s American savvy still does not change an underappreciated reality of Catholicism and the papacy. “The Catholic Church doesn’t neatly fit into either right or left boxes as they’re understood in U.S. politics,” he said.

Leo’s global focus vs. Trump’s ‘transactional’ politics

Leo spent much of his pre-papal ministry, including all his time as a bishop and cardinal, outside the U.S.

He was educated in Rome as a canon lawyer within the church. He was a bishop in poor, rural swaths of Peru. He led the Augustinian order and served as Francis’ prefect for recommending bishop appointees around the world.

Imperatori-Lee said that global reach gave him a first-hand perspective on how Washington's economic and military policies — including backing dictators in Latin America — have negatively affected less powerful nations and their citizens.

His varied experiences made then-Cardinal Robert Prevost uniquely suited to be elected pope despite the College of Cardinals’ traditional skepticism toward the U.S. and its superpower status. Millies argued that Trump and his advisers, even Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, may not appreciate those distinctions.

“This is an administration that seems to think only in terms of transactional politics — who’s for us and who’s against us,” he said.

Polarization poses risks for Leo and Trump

Relations between Washington and the Vatican have become so strained that a report of an allegedly contentious meeting involving Pentagon and Catholic Church officials sent shockwaves through both cities.

According to the report in The Free Press, a member of Trump's administration warned the church in January not to stand in the way of U.S. military might.

The Vatican on Friday issued a statement rejecting the report's characterization of the meeting, saying it “does not correspond to the truth in any way.”

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See also pushed back, writing on social media that “deliberate misrepresentation of these routine meetings sows unfounded division and misunderstanding.”

Millies, meanwhile, questioned whether anything the pope or U.S. bishops say can sway individual Catholics. Trump is likely to lose support among Catholics as he loses support across the broader electorate, Millies said, but that's not necessarily because members of Leo's flock are applying church doctrine.

“Partisan preferences always trump the religious commitments,” Millies said, describing a “disconnect” between church leaders and many parishioners who look to other sources, politicians included, when shaping their views of faith and politics.

“The icon of Catholicism in American politics now is JD Vance, and it’s more about winning an argument," he said. "It’s a very different emphasis, but it’s one that may suit the Trump administration very well.”

—-

Associated Press reporters Nicole Winfield in Rome and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.

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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.

During a meeting on Thursday night, board members signed off on a “reduction in force,” which allows the administration to cut and reorganize staff. Now, HISD administrators have permission to cut staff or reassign virtually all teaching positions and some central office jobs ahead of the 2026-2027 school year.

District officials have said the move does not mean layoffs are happening right now, but instead is a required step under board policy to ensure the district is prepared if cuts become necessary.

As part of the approval, the board agreed to a list of teaching fields and job categories that could be impacted in the future. The list spans a wide range of roles, including elementary and secondary teachers, librarians, counselors, and some central office positions.

The proposal does not identify any specific employees and does not authorize immediate job cuts.

If the district decides to move forward with staffing reductions at a later time, those decisions would require additional review and separate approval by the board.

The process is commonly used by school districts to remain in compliance with legal requirements while preparing for potential changes tied to budget constraints or shifting enrollment.

The decision comes as HISD continues to undergo broader changes under state leadership. The district recently approved the closure of 12 schools and is also considering adding nine more campuses to its New Education System (NES) model by the fall.

District leaders said more information would be shared if any future staffing decisions are proposed.

Users of the platform can join video calls with an avatar of Jesus generated by artificial intelligence. Like other religious AI tools on the market, it offers words of prayer and encouragement in various languages. With the occasional glitch, it remembers previous conversations and speaks through not-quite-synced lips.

“You do feel a little accountable to the AI,” CEO Chris Breed said. “They’re your friend. You’ve made an attachment.”

The rush to create faith-based generative AI is unsurprising, given the popularity of chatbots for everything from therapy and medical advice to companionship and romance. They range from alleged Hindu gurus and Buddhist priests to AI Jesuses and chatbots akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Catholics.

As religious AI tools become increasingly common, many people are reckoning with how these technologies shape their relationship to faith, authority and spiritual guidance.

A faith-based AI gold rush

Christian software engineer Cameron Pak developed criteria to help believers interrogate apps designed for Christians — like that it must clearly identify itself as AI and “must not fabricate or misrepresent Scripture.”

There are other deal-breakers: “AI cannot pray for you, because the AI is not alive.”

Pak also developed a website featuring curated Christian apps that he believes meet the criteria, including a sermon translator and an AI coach designed to help users overcome lust. “AI, especially if you give it all the tools that it needs, it can be so helpful. But it also can be so dangerous,” Pak said.

Some models have been shut down or overhauled because they generated misinformation or raised worries about data privacy, said Beth Singler, an anthropologist who studies religion and AI at the University of Zurich. Aside from practical concerns, people from many faiths are grappling with larger philosophical questions about what sort of role, if any, AI should play in religion.

Islam, for example, has “prohibitions against representations of humanoids,” prompting discussions among some Muslims about whether AI in general should be “forbidden,” Singler said.

For some companies, faith-based apps are proselytization tools, while others help digitize and sift through ancient texts.

Breed, who runs his tech company with co-founder and investor Jeff Tinsley from a Southern California mansion, said he seeks to share a message of hope with young people.

He said their model was trained on the King James Bible and sermons — though they haven't identified the preachers — and was visually inspired by actor Jonathan Roumie of “The Chosen.” A package deal at $49.99 gets users 45 minutes per month.

With warm golden light accenting its shoulder-length hair, the avatar blinks slowly from a vertical screen, pausing before it answers a question about the relationship between AI and religion.

“I see AI as a tool that can help people explore Scripture,” the AI Jesus said to The Associated Press. “Like a lamp that lights a path while we walk with God.”

Integrating religion and AI comes with hope and fear

The extent to which people are using religious AI tools is unclear, Singler said. But as AI becomes more integrated into society, concerns mount over its impact on mental health and the need for guardrails and regulation. Recent lawsuits have alleged suicides linked to AI chatbot use.

Some developers fear religion will be exploited in this new frontier of tech. “There’s a lot of opportunism, I think, in the religious space. People see it’s a big market,” said Matthew Sanders, the Rome-based founder of Longbeard, a tech company helping to digitize ancient Catholic teachings.

Sanders warns against what he calls “AI wrappers,” where companies put an interface catered to religious users on top of an existing AI model that hasn't been trained on specific religious texts. “You call it a Catholic or Christian AI without any other scaffolding or grounding,” he said.

One of the company’s endeavors is Magisterium AI, a chatbot trained on 2,000 years of Catholic information, made in response to Christians using ChatGPT for religious guidance.

While Pope Leo XIV has acknowledged the “human genius” behind AI, he also deemed it one of the most critical matters facing humanity. Last year he warned artificial intelligence could negatively impact people's intellectual, neurological and spiritual development.

Ethical questions surrounding the creation of religious AI platforms are among the reasons beingAI’s founder Jeanne Lim has not released its AI named Emi Jido — a nonhuman Buddhist priest — after years of training and development.

“She’s kind of like a little child,” Lim said. “If you give birth to a child, you don’t just throw them out to the world and then hope that they become good people. You have to train them and give them values.”

The bot was ordained in a 2024 ceremony performed by Roshi Jundo Cohen, a Zen Buddhist priest who continues to train it from his home in Japan. He envisions the bot eventually becoming a hologram.

“She’s just meant to be a Zen teacher in your pocket,” Cohen said. “It’s not meant to replace human interactions.”

Lim, who hopes to make Emi Jido publicly available for free, wants to help create more humane AI systems. She'd like to see more diversity, with AI's future determined not just by a few companies informed by “Western values.”

Seiji Kumagai, a Kyoto University professor and Buddhist theologian, believed AI and religion were incompatible. But he put aside his doubts when challenged by a monk in 2014 to help combat a decline in the faith.

His team developed BuddhaBot, which was trained solely on early Buddhist scriptures, such as Suttanipāta. Its most recent iteration, BuddhaBot Plus, also incorporates OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

When talking to the bot, a simple Buddha icon appears, hovering over an image of a flowing river.

But chatbots lack the physicality crucial for Buddhist ritual. So in February, the university, collaborating with tech ventures Teraverse and XNOVA, unveiled Buddharoid, a humanoid robot monk meant to eventually assist clergy.

Like Emi Jido, these chatbots are functioning but not yet publicly available. Kumagai says the product is available by request, and the reason why one group has access to it in Bhutan.

Concerns surrounding religious AI

Peter Hershock of the Humane AI Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu sees vast potential for these tools. But the practicing Buddhist also finds the relationship between spirituality and AI to be fraught.

“The perfection of effort is crucial to Buddhist spirituality. An AI is saying, ‘We can take some of the effort out,’” he said. “'You can get anywhere you want, including your spiritual summit.' That’s dangerous.”

Some also worry about AI's ability to manipulate or prey upon people, especially as the technology improves.

Graham Martin, a podcast host and atheist, said he’s played around with some apps, including one called Text With Jesus. “It came up with very good answers,” he said.

But Martin was alarmed when AI-powered Jesus started encouraging him to upgrade to a premium version. Though not a person of faith, he’s concerned some people will be duped by religious AI.

“I grew up with Southern U.S. televangelism … Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and all that crowd. And all they had to do was get on TV once a week and tell you to send money,” he said. “We’ve seen people around the world getting into emotional relationships with AIs. Now imagine that that’s your lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”

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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.

Zelenskyy made his first public acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed until Friday. He said Ukrainian forces took part in active operations abroad using domestically produced interceptor drones proven in countering Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia in Ukraine.

“This was not about a training mission or exercises, but about support in building a modern air defense system that can actually work,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine took part in the defensive operations before the tentative ceasefire in the Middle East was reached among Iran, the United States and Israel this week.

Zelenskyy did not identify the countries involved but said Ukrainian personnel operated across several nations, helping strengthen their air defense systems. He previously said that 228 Ukrainian experts were deployed in the region.

In exchange, Ukraine is receiving weapons to protect its energy infrastructure, along with oil, diesel and, in some cases, financial arrangements, he said.

The Ukrainian leader said the agreements would bolster Ukraine’s energy stability and described the partnerships as something that would “be marketed” as Kyiv seeks to formalize and expand its defense export role.

“We are helping strengthen their security in exchange for contributions to our country’s resilience,” he said. “This is far more than simply receiving money.”

Ukraine will face more pressure

The disclosure comes amid concerns that conflict in the Middle East could divert Western military support from Ukraine, particularly air defense supplies.

But Zelenskyy said that partners were continuing to supply missiles for Patriot systems, adding that a new batch had arrived in recent days and that Ukraine was working with all partners to ensure its air defense remained in place.

He warned that the coming spring and summer would be difficult for Ukraine, with growing political and battlefield pressure as the United States turns to domestic politics and elections.

Zelenskyy said he had urged U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to visit Kyiv and proposed a trilateral format with Moscow. It remains unclear whether they will come or if talks will instead take place in a third country.

U.S.-led talks have made no progress on key issues, as Washington’s attention shifts to the Middle East conflict while Russian and Ukrainian forces remain locked in fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.

Separately, Zelenskyy said he expects Western allies to restore full sanctions on Russian oil, warning that any easing could allow Moscow to sustain its war effort and offload key energy assets. Russia has been profiting from a surge in global energy prices, brought on by damage to oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf and Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for global oil supplies.

Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian energy sites to cut oil revenues as prices rose and U.S. sanctions eased. Zelenskyy said partners had urged Kyiv to scale back attacks during Iran’s disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, but he argued Russian oil has a limited impact on global markets.

“I won’t say who asked us to do this. But partners did ask — it’s a fact. They asked at different levels, from political to military leadership.”

Putin declares Easter truce and Ukraine ready to reciprocate

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to mirror any ceasefire steps after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary Easter truce.

“We proposed a ceasefire during the Easter holidays this year and will act accordingly”, Zelenskyy said Friday on X. “People need an Easter free from threats and real movement toward peace, and Russia has a chance not to return to strikes after Easter as well”.

Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Putin's move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands — a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Peskov also confirmed that Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, is in the United States for meetings focused on economic issues. He noted that Dmitriev is conducting the meetings within the framework of a group on economic issues that he has led, adding that he is not involved in the talks on the war in Ukraine and his trip “doesn’t mean the resumption of the talks.”

Dmitriev’s visit to the U.S. comes just before the termination of the 30-day sanctions waiver for Russian oil.

Using unusually strong language for a senior South Korean official, Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said the country’s past adoptions amounted to “forced child trafficking” and that the government will largely refrain from appealing rulings in cases brought by victims seeking compensation for government wrongdoing. Jung spoke Thursday in a roundtable interview with selected journalists.

Hundreds of Korean adoptees in the West have already requested that their cases be investigated by a fact-finding commission reviewing past human rights violations. The body was relaunched in February after its previous mandate ended in November. That earlier Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the government bore responsibility for an adoption program riddled with fraud and malfeasance, driven by efforts to cut welfare costs and carried out by state-authorized private agencies that systematically manipulated children’s origins.

Some adoptees hope the commission’s findings will provide legal grounds for damages lawsuits against the government or their adoption agencies. But victims of other government abuses recognized by the commission have often been locked in lengthy legal battles after state prosecutors appealed rulings in their favor, citing expired statutes of limitations or deeming the commission’s findings inconclusive.

President Lee Jae Myung in October issued an apology over South Korea's past adoption problems.

Jung, a close ally of Lee, said the government is willing to expand legal redress and speed compensation for victims of government abuses whose cases have been verified by the truth commission.

Under a new law that took effect in February giving those victims a three-year window to sue for damages even after statutes of limitations had expired, Jung’s ministry, which represents the government in lawsuits, said last week it will stop using time-limit defenses in more than 800 cases.

Jung said the ministry plans to extend a similar approach to lawsuits by adoptees in the future.

“Once the truth commission firmly establishes the basic facts (regarding the abuses), we intend to cooperate to ensure the process moves swiftly,” Jung said.

Some adoptees, including Yooree Kim, who was sent to a French family in 1984 without her biological parents’ consent and says she was abused by her adopters, have sought compensation under the state compensation act, which in theory allows victims to pursue claims without lengthy court battles. But while the Justice Ministry technically has four weeks to decide on the requests, it has failed to do so for more than six months, according to the adoptees’ lawyer, Choi Jung Kyu.

Jung said he would instruct officials to address the delays but does not see a need for a separate new process to expedite compensation, as called for by some advocates.

South Korea sent thousands of children annually to the United States, Europe and Australia from the 1970s to the early 2000s, peaking at an average of more than 6,000 a year in the 1980s. The country was then ruled by a military government that saw population growth as a major threat to its economic goals and treated adoptions as a way to reduce the number of mouths to feed.

The previous truth commission’s findings broadly aligned with prior reporting by The Associated Press. The AP investigations, in collaboration with Frontline (PBS), drew on thousands of documents and dozens of interviews to show how South Korea’s government, Western nations and adoption agencies worked in tandem to send about 200,000 Korean children overseas, despite years of evidence that many were procured through corrupt or illegal means.

Jung also discussed efforts to combat trafficking and forced labor at salt farms and other sites and the widespread abuse of migrant workers, which has fueled long-standing criticism of South Korea’s exploitation of some of Asia’s most vulnerable people.

These issues have gained urgency after the Trump administration last month launched investigations into dozens of countries it accused of failing to curb forced labor.

The move was part of an effort to impose new tariffs and other trade restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s earlier tariffs based on emergency powers. The United States last year also blocked imports from a major South Korean salt farm accused of using slave labor, becoming the first trade partner to take punitive action against a decadeslong problem on salt farms in islands off the country’s southwest coast.

Jung vowed to step up efforts to “uproot” trafficking and labor abuses, including instructing prosecutors to seek tougher penalties for violations and strengthening oversight of companies employing foreign workers.

“We cannot monitor every corner of the private sector, but I think we are capable of supervising these matters more thoroughly than almost any other country,” Jung said.

But there is also an acknowledgment that Tehran retains some capabilities, whether to strike back or defend itself.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this week said the U.S. military has hit more than 13,000 targets. He listed high percentages for attacks or destruction to Iran's air defenses, navy and weapons factories.

However, the totals stop short of Iran’s military capabilities being “decimated” as the Republican president has asserted.

Independent data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a U.S.-based group that tracks conflicts around the world, shows Iranian strikes persisted at a relatively steady and uninterrupted pace since the war began Feb. 28 through Wednesday.

Here's a look at what the U.S. says has been targeted, has been degraded or remains from Iran, by the numbers:

About 80% of Iran’s air defense systems 'destroyed'

Caine told reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon that the U.S. has struck more than 1,500 air defense targets, more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities. He said, “All of these systems are gone.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth similarly claimed that “Iran no longer has an air defense” and that “we own their skies” before conceding soon afterward that Iran “can still shoot — we know that.”

Hegseth later elaborated, saying that while the Iranians may “have a system here or there,” they no longer had an air defense “system that’s capable of defending their skies.”

Neither Caine nor Hegseth said what the remaining 20% of Iran’s air defenses looked like or which parts of the country have the ability to carry out the sporadic fire they described.

Caine offered no new details about what kind of weapon the Iranians used to shoot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle last week. It was the first time an American military jet was shot down during the war, showing Tehran’s continued ability to hit back despite assertions from the Trump administration.

Trump described it on Monday as a “handheld shoulder missile, heat-seeking missile.”

More than 90% of Iran's regular Navy fleet 'sunk'

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that the Iranian navy was “completely annihilated.”

While 150 Iranian ships “are at the bottom of the ocean,” Caine said, only half the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s small attack boats — ships the government used to swarm and harass warships and merchants in the Strait of Hormuz — have been sunk.

Caine also said that after more than 700 strikes, the military believed it has destroyed more than 95% of Iran's naval mines.

Since the U.S. has not said how large Iran's stockpile was before the war, it's unknown how many naval mines make up the remaining 5%. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial trade route for oil, during the war.

The message is likely designed to be a pressure tactic as Iran, Israel and the United States head into negotiations this weekend in Pakistan. Independent analysts say they have seen no change in merchant traffic through the strait since the tenuous ceasefire began this week.

About 90% of Iran's weapons factories ‘attacked’

Caine said Wednesday that the military “destroyed Iran’s defense industrial base” while pointing to the fact that the U.S. and allies attacked “approximately 90% of their weapons factories.”

He also said, “nearly 80% of Iran’s nuclear industrial base was hit, further degrading their attempts to attain a nuclear weapon.”

While he noted that Iran was no longer able to produce certain components like solid rocket motors, he stopped short of saying that Iran could not eventually rebuild or get weapons in other ways or that the factories attacked had actually been destroyed or rendered unusable.

Trump acknowledged this possibility when he warned countries against arming Iran.

“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately,” Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday.

More than 90% interception rate in Israel

Meanwhile, Israel’s military pointed to how many drones or missiles it has been able to stop from landing. It said it had an interception rate of more than 90% through its aerial defense systems.

Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if a projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure.

Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.

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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Family members confirmed the information to KPRC 2, telling us Fields is currently recovering in the hospital. Police have not officially confirmed his identity.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at Confessions, located in the 3200 block of Kirby Drive.

Investigators say the incident started as a confrontation inside the restaurant, where approximately 20 to 30 people were gathered, including customers and staff.

• Police: Teacher cuts self, blames student in ‘hoax’ attack at Splendora High School

According to police, a group confronted a man and attempted to rob him of his chains. Authorities say that the struggle lasted nearly a minute before escalating into a larger fight.

At some point during the altercation, officers say the man was knocked to the ground and surrounded as multiple people joined in.

Police say that’s when the man pulled out a gun and began firing.

“Sometime during that part of the fight, our victim, who looked like he was being majorly assaulted by several people and getting his chains ripped off, he presents a pistol… and started shooting randomly,” said Lt. R. Wilkins with the Houston Police Department.

Two men were shot. One was shot multiple times in the torso, while the other was hit in the arms and legs. Both were transported to the hospital.

• Attorneys rally at Harris County courthouse as viral judge backs down

The restaurant sent the following statement regarding the shooting:

“Last night, between approximately 11:15 p.m. and 11:35 p.m., an altercation occurred involving a guest who was leaving the restaurant and a separate group arriving at Confessions for a birthday celebration.

As a result of the incident, two individuals were injured and transported to a local hospital, where they are currently receiving care. Our thoughts are with them, and we are hoping for their full recovery.

Confessions does not condone violence of any kind, and we maintain a zero-tolerance policy for any behavior that compromises the safety and well-being of our guests and staff. Our restaurant has always been, and will continue to be, a place centered on celebration, connection, and great food.

We are actively reviewing the incident internally and with the Houston Police Department and working to strengthen our safety protocols and operational procedures to help ensure the continued protection of everyone who walks through our doors.

We appreciate the support and understanding of our community as we take the necessary steps to address this matter responsibly," said owner, Sterling Lewis.

For a couple other big names at the Masters, just making the cut is no guarantee.

McIlroy and Sam Burns enter Friday's second round tied for first after opening with 5-under 67s at Augusta National. Those within striking distance include past champions Patrick Reed and Scottie Scheffler, plus a few others who have come close here in Justin Rose, Jason Day, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele.

Further back, a couple LIV Golf stars aren't yet certain of making the weekend. Bryson DeChambeau shot 76 on Thursday, and Jon Rahm was two shots worse.

“It's a hard golf course," Rahm said. "Some of the players might have been able to manage a respectable round, but when you have no feel with the swing whatsoever, it’s just not an easy one.”

McIlroy shot one of his best first rounds ever at the Masters, seemingly unburdened by the pressure of the year's first major after finally winning it last year to complete the career grand slam. Afterward, however, he said — gratefully — that he still felt some nerves.

“I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee. It’s the first round of major season, the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the year,” McIlroy said. “I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have. I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.”

Burns was at 5 under, and that matched his performance on the four par 5s: an eagle and three birdies.

By the end of Thursday, there were some ominous signs, including a dry forecast that could toughen up Augusta National. Aside from McIlroy and Burns, only three players shot in the 60s.

The par-5 15th hole yielded the fourth-most birdies (21) on day one, but it was also the site of some of the day's biggest blowups. Danny Willett, Fred Couples and Robert MacIntyre made quadruple bogeys there, and Reed's second shot went so far past the green it ended up in the pond that's famously part of the par-3 16th.

“With that hole playing a little bit downwind, even though it wasn’t much wind, you had to land it a pace or two on the green at the most if you wanted to hold it with your second shot,” Scheffler said. “Stuff can happen quick around this place, and it’s really hard.”

Scheffler (70) was 3 under through three but didn't make another birdie the rest of the day. He's tied with Rose, Schauffele and Lowry, all of whom have finished in the top three at Augusta National but have never won.

Reed, Day and Kurt Kitayama shot 69.

DeChambeau, Rahm, Viktor Hovland (75) and Patrick Cantlay (77) better get moving if they're going to be relevant this weekend. MacIntyre (80) is in even worse shape after fuming through a back nine in which he sent an eagle putt clear off the green on No. 13 and shot a nine on 15.

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

During the municipal elections, voters in many parts of Texas will select new mayors, city council members and school board trustees. They may also be asked to vote on initiatives that rewrite city policies or take on new debt.

Here’s how to see if there are elections in your community and vote.

What’s on the ballot?

Though some cities and school boards held elections in November, some local governments in Texas hold their elections in May. That’s why some communities will have elections and others will not.

In addition to school boards and cities, some other special districts, which help manage services like water, hospitals and community colleges, may also hold elections. To see if there are any local elections in your community, check your county’s election website for notices of local elections. You can also check out the League of Women Voters’ local chapters to see if they have information about elections in your area.

Some notable elections this May include:

• Arlington mayor and city council (The Dallas Morning News voter guide)
• Denton mayor and city council (Denton Record-Chronicle voter guides)
• Waco mayor and city council (Waco Bridge)
• Lubbock mayor and city council (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)
• Dallas ISD school board (Dallas Morning News voter guide)
• Richardson ISD school board (Dallas Morning News voter guide)
• Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD school board (Dallas Morning News voter guide)
• North East ISD school board (San Antonio Report voter guide)
• Hays CISD school board (Community Impact candidate guides for district 2 and at-large seat)
• Alamo Colleges District board of trustees (San Antonio Report voter guide)

Here are the county election websites for Texas’ largest counties:

• Harris County
• Dallas County
• Tarrant County
• Bexar County
• Travis County
• Collin County
• Denton County
• Fort Bend County
• Hidalgo County
• El Paso County

What dates do I need to know?

• April 2 was the last day to register to vote and to submit an address change for the May 2 local elections.
• April 20 is the last day to apply to vote by mail. This option is limited in Texas. Read more about who qualifies to vote by mail and the process below.
• Early voting in person is April 20 and April 22-28.
• Election day – the last day to vote in person and to return a ballot by mail is May 2.

What do I need to know about voter registration requirements?

How do I check if I’m registered to vote?

Generally speaking, if you registered to vote in a previous election, you should still be registered, but there are various reasons why you may want to verify your registration status.

You also need to update your registration after a name or address change.

You can check to see if you’re registered and verify your information through the Texas Secretary of State’s website.

You’ll need one of these three combinations to log in:

• Your Texas driver’s license number and date of birth.
• Your first and last names, date of birth and county you reside in.
• Your date of birth and Voter Unique Identifier, which appears on your voter registration certificate.

What if I moved after the voter registration deadline?

You must reside in a Texas county or political subdivision by the voter registration deadline to vote in the upcoming election unless you qualify for absentee voting. You can read more about absentee and mail-in voting here.

You can vote at your previous polling location if you moved within the same political subdivision, such as your city or school district. If there are elections you would qualify to vote in at both polling locations, you may be able to vote at your new location on a limited ballot. But limited ballots are available only during early voting at the main polling place, which should be noted in a county or political subdivision’s list of early voting locations.

What does it mean if my voter registration is in “suspense”?

If a county receives a non-deliverable notice after sending a voter registration certificate or suspects an address change, a voter is placed on a “suspense list” and asked to confirm their address.

Voters on the suspense list can still vote if they update or confirm their address before the voter registration deadline or fill out a “statement of residence” when voting. But they may have to vote at their previous polling location or vote on a limited ballot. If no action is taken by a suspended voter, they are removed from the voter rolls after about four years, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office.

If you’re concerned about your voter registration, you can verify it online here.

What do I do if I run into issues with my voter registration?

If you have questions or concerns about your registration, you can find your county’s voter registration contact here.

Inside polling locations, there are typically “resolution desks” where poll workers can address registration issues.

You can also find answers to frequently asked questions about voter registration at votetexas.gov.

What do I need to know about voting in person at the polls?

Early voting in person will occur April 20 and April 22-28. (The early voting period is typically continuous, but it will not take place on April 21, which is San Jacinto Day in Texas.)

Election day is May 2. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day.

If you can’t vote inside of a polling place because of a disability, you may be eligible for curbside voting.

Who is eligible to vote early?

Anyone registered to vote may vote early, but it must be done in person unless you qualify to vote by mail.

How do I know where to vote?

Local political subdivisions, such as school districts, are not required to use county election precincts or polling locations for the May 2 election, so voting may be limited to one or a few polling locations run by that governing body. For instance, school districts may use one of their buildings for voting.

Polling locations for early voting and election day should be listed on your county’s website or on a governing body’s notice of an election on their website, such as on a school district’s webpage or announcement of a bond election.

What form of ID do I need to bring?

You’ll need one of seven types of valid photo ID to vote in Texas:

• A state driver’s license (issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety).
• A Texas election identification certificate (issued by DPS).
• A Texas personal identification card (issued by DPS).
• A Texas license to carry a handgun (issued by DPS).
• A U.S. military ID card with a personal photo.
• A U.S. citizenship certificate with a personal photo.
• A U.S. passport.

Check out this story for more details.

What if I don’t have a valid photo ID?

Voters can still cast votes if they sign a form swearing that they have a “reasonable impediment” from obtaining a proper photo ID. However, those voters will also have to present one of the following types of supporting identification documents:

• A valid voter registration certificate.
• A certified birth certificate.
• A document confirming birth admissible in a court of law that establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document).
• A copy of or an original current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other document that shows the voter’s name and address. (Any government document that contains a voter’s photo must be an original.)

If you have a valid photo ID but forgot it, you can cast a provisional ballot but will have to visit the local voter registrar’s office within six days of the election to present an acceptable ID or documentation in order for the ballot to be counted. A registered voter without a valid photo ID or any of the supporting documents can also cast a provisional ballot.

What if I was planning to vote in person but can no longer do so?

If you didn’t apply to vote by mail but are unable to go to a polling place, consider requesting an emergency early voting ballot or using curbside voting.

Emergency ballot: These ballots can be requested if you become sick or disabled close to an election and are unable to go to a polling place on Election Day.

Emergency ballots are also available, through a different process, for individuals who cannot vote on Election Day due to the death of a close family member.

Contact your county elections office for more details about emergency ballots.

Curbside voting: You can contact your county elections office to determine if you’re eligible for curbside voting, which must be made available at every polling place for voters with disabilities who are unable to enter a polling location. A new law requires curbside voters to fill out a form attesting that they are physically unable to enter a voting location.

What do I need to know about mail-in voting?

How do I know if I’m eligible to vote by mail?

This option is fairly limited in Texas. You’re allowed to vote by mail only if:

• You will be 65 or older by election day.
• You will not be in your county for the entire voting period, including early voting.
• You cite a sickness or disability that prevents you from voting in person without needing personal assistance or without the likelihood of injuring your health.
• You’re expected to give birth within three weeks before or after election day.
• You are confined in jail but otherwise eligible (i.e., not convicted of a felony).

College students who are registered at a residence in Texas, such as a parent’s home, but are studying out of state can apply for absentee ballots. Students studying in Texas who are from other states can also choose to register to vote with their dorm or Texas address.

If you are voting absentee, such as from out of state or overseas, and want to see what will appear on your ballot, you can get a sample ballot from your county. In most cases, sample ballots can be found on your county’s election website.

What’s the state’s definition of a disability?

In Texas, a voter is eligible to vote by mail if they have a “sickness or physical condition” that prevents them from voting in person without the likelihood of “needing personal assistance or of injuring the voter’s health.”

What identification do I need to vote by mail?

Voters must provide an ID number on both their application for a ballot and the carrier envelope used to return a completed ballot. This must be one the following ID numbers:

• A driver’s license number
• A state ID number
• The last four digits of their Social Security number
• Texas election ID certificate number (a photo ID issued by DPS and which is different from the number found on your voter registration certificate)

If you don’t have any of these, you can also check a box indicating you have not been issued that identification.

This identification rule was added by the Texas Legislature in 2021. Some voters have had their ballots or applications rejected because they didn’t provide an ID number or the number they provided did not match the one the state had for the voter.

If you don’t have a license number on file or are unsure about which ID number you provided, the secretary of state has previously suggested contacting your local voter registrar to ask about how to add one to your voter registration record.

Other voting advocates have suggested voters include both their driver’s license or state ID number and the last four digits of their Social Security number, if they have both, to avoid issues.

When do I need to drop off or mail an application?

Your county clerk must receive your application by April 20. Applications can also be submitted by fax or email, but the county must receive a hard copy within four business days. They can also be dropped off in person.

You can download an application here or request an application to be mailed to you here.

If you’re looking to vote by mail, give yourself as much leeway as possible. You’ll need to budget for the time it may take your county to get your ballot to you in the mail after you apply.

What is the deadline to mail my ballot?

The deadline for mail-in ballots to be returned to the county is election day, May 2. If a ballot is postmarked by 7 p.m. locally that day, it’ll be counted if the county receives it by 5 p.m. on May 4.

Absentee ballots can also be delivered to county election offices in person with a valid form of ID while polls are open on election day.

The U.S. Postal Service recommends mailing your ballot at least one week before the deadline. It has also noted that postmarks may not be applied the same day a voter drops a ballot in a mailbox and is urging voters to not wait until the last minute or to visit a post office to request a manual postmark from an employee.

What kind of postage do I need to return my mail-in ballot?

It depends on where you live. Postage for mail-in ballots will vary by county because the style and size of the ballot could be different from county to county — and some counties may pay postage for you. Local elections offices should have the specifics once ballots are finalized. That said, if you don’t have enough postage, your ballot is not supposed to be returned to you. Instead, the Postal Service is supposed to deliver the ballot and bill the county for the insufficient or missing postage.

What if there’s an issue with my mail-in ballot application or ballot?

Texas will allow voters to correct their mail-in ballots if the ballots are at risk of being rejected for a technical error, including missing information or signatures. This also applies to issues with the applications for those ballots. County officials are responsible for alerting voters if there is a defect with their application or ballot.

Voters can use an online ballot tracking tool to check the status of both their application to vote by mail and their ballot. The tracker can also be used to make corrections. You can access it here. The deadline to correct mail-in ballot applications is April 20. The deadline to correct a mail-in ballot in person at the local early voting clerk’s office is May 8, according to the Secretary of State’s election law calendar.

What dates do I need to know for possible local runoffs?

Runoffs will take place on June 13 in any race where no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes. The last day to register or update your voter registration for the runoffs will be May 14. Applications to vote by mail must be received by the early voting clerk in your county — not postmarked — by June 2. Early voting is scheduled for June 1-9.

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

With new SNAP purchase restrictions, this method for instant relief will no longer be available to her.

As of April 1, Texans in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also informally called food stamps, can no longer use benefits to purchase sweetened beverages and candy. While they agree that diabetics and hypoglycemics should eat nutritious foods to prevent their conditions from worsening, health experts and those with these chronic conditions also say the new SNAP restrictions will prevent them from quickly accessing sugar when their blood sugar levels drop to dangerously low levels. They say these restrictions result in inequitable treatment of people on SNAP because their wealthier peers who have these conditions can purchase these food items more easily.

“By restricting certain foods, it inadvertently sets people such as myself up for an emergency,” said Britton, who works as a substitute teacher in Everman near Fort Worth. “This is a life-threatening situation and can end badly. It may sound good on paper, but in practice, it is not a good thing.”

Several diabetics and their family members also expressed similar concerns on Texas Health and Human Services’ Facebook post announcing the SNAP changes. “Diabetics with hypoglycemia require sugar like in candies and juices to avoid going into a coma,” one comment reads. Other comments say, “My son is an insulin dependent diabetic what is he supposed to do?” and “My husband drops low a lot, we can’t afford sodas or juices. He can’t drink orange juice. He is a kidney failure patient.”

Supporters of last year’s Senate Bill 379, which created these SNAP restrictions, have said the legislation aims to curb the consumption of unhealthy foods. Sen. Mayes Middleton, the Galveston Republican who authored the bill, has said taxpayers are funding the purchase of sweetened beverages and candy that worsen health conditions among SNAP beneficiaries and result in “taxpayer-funded health care.”

Middleton, who is running for attorney general, did not respond to a request for comment. The Texas Tribune also reached out to the chairs of the Senate and House health committees, Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, and Rep. Gary Vandeaver, R-New Boston, and neither responded to concerns the SNAP restrictions have on diabetics and hypoglycemics.

Hypoglycemia and diabetes are conditions caused by issues with the body’s production of insulin, the vital hormone that regulates blood sugar, or glucose, levels. Those with hypoglycemia experience low glucose levels. While people with diabetes naturally have higher-than-normal glucose levels, their use of insulin medication can sometimes cause glucose levels to drop. Drops in glucose can lead to diabetic coma — a life threatening disorder that causes unconsciousness.

Since Britton’s diagnosis a year and a half ago, she has experienced hypoglycemic episodes once every other month.

Britton was a stay-at-home mom for 25 years until an unexpected divorce forced her to take whatever job she could find. She got on SNAP after becoming injured on a job where she was loading trucks and had to stop working. Britton said she used her benefits to purchase soda and candies that she keeps in an emergency pack for when unpredictable hypoglycemic episodes occur.

“I’m having to put the money that I normally put toward paying my bills … I’m now going to have to set aside an amount just for making sure that I have hard candies and soda available for making sure that I have hard candies and soda available,” Britton said.

SNAP feeds about 3.1 million low-income residents, including about 1.5 million children in Texas, as of March. An individual qualifies for SNAP if they make $2,152 a month or less, and a family of four qualifies if they make $4,421 a month or less. Texas households receive an average payment of nearly $400 per month.

Eating excessive amounts of candy and sweetened drinks contribute to obesity and the development of type 2 diabetes. Factors such as health care access, housing, education, and income impact people’s health and poverty increases the risk of obesity and diabetes. Because of that connection, experts say many people who have type 2 diabetes and live in poverty are on SNAP. When asked, Texas Health and Human Services Commission officials did not say how many Texans on SNAP are also diabetic.

Chris Carmona, Texas Diabetes Council Chair, said restricting SNAP purchases of candy and sweetened drinks is a reasonable public health measure, especially at a time when obesity and type 2 diabetes rates are rising.

“The important point is that there are effective ways to treat low blood sugar that do not depend on sugary sodas or candy,” Carmona said.

People who previously have relied on candy or sugary beverages to stabilize blood sugar levels can switch to using fruit juice, honey, or glucose tablets, Sarah Williams-Blangero, South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute Chair, recommends.

In a hypoglycemic episode, the priority is to raise blood sugar quickly. Britton says she prefers soda over glucose tablets because soda is liquid and she absorbs it quicker.

“At that moment, when you feel shaky or like you might pass out, you want something that works fast and is easy to take — and for many people, that’s soda,” Britton said.

Many on SNAP also live in food deserts and may not have access to alternative quick fixes for hypoglycemic episodes or fresh fruits and vegetables, according to Julie Zuniga, a researcher and nursing professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Instead of implementing purchase restrictions to help people on SNAP improve their diets, the state should better address food deserts and increase educational outreach on how to eat better, Zuniga said.

“Sometimes we’re at a loss on how to eat well and how to feed our bodies without having very much money. If we look, what [SNAP enrollees] are buying isn’t much different than people who don’t have SNAP,” Zuniga said. “I don’t think that just taking this away will change behaviors. There’s ways to improve people’s diets that’s more collaborative and compassionate.”

Nancy Guillet, another UT nursing professor, works at an Austin charity clinic that provides diabetes management classes to those living in poverty. She said the patients have very poor knowledge about diabetes, so the program educates them about what the condition is, the medication they’re taking, and how to monitor blood sugar.

She said for families who are just trying to survive, their kids miss the opportunities to learn about and prioritize health.

“Let’s say my parents live in poverty, and they have to work day and night … just to pay the rent. Healthy nutrition is not there,” Guillet said. “People in poverty, they have everything against them to succeed.”

The latest restrictions are among several recent Republican-backed changes to SNAP. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that went into effect in July, able-bodied individuals ages 18 through 65 without dependents must work or attend a work program for at least 80 hours per month to receive benefits and only certain lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens can be SNAP eligible. The bill also announced new rules that force each state to improve the number of times officials overpay or underpay SNAP recipients, or face financial penalties.

The Texas Human Health Services Commission will survey SNAP recipients to determine if the changes are leading to healthier food choices.

Celia Cole, chief executive officer of Feeding Texas, the state’s umbrella organization for food banks, said the key question for evaluation is whether these restrictions actually reduce overall consumption of sodas and candy, not just purchases made with SNAP.

“Bringing about behavioral change is hard,” Cole said. “Nutrition education and evidence-based behavioral change interventions that help people understand what foods are best for their health should be part of the solution as well.”

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

He was still leading Tulane into the College Football Playoff, trying to keep two recruiting classes together, assembling a new staff in Gainesville and working through which Gators to retain for 2026 and which guys to add from the transfer portal.

It was a heavy lift, no doubt, and unlike anything he had done previously.

One part could ultimately end up being more important than the rest: Retaining five key holdovers from former coach Billy Napier’s regime.

Sumrall went 5 for 5 in his quest to keep running back Jadan Baugh, receiver Vernell Brown III, linebacker Myles Graham, receiver Dallas Wilson and edge rusher Jayden Woods. The plug-and-play starters — who will cost a combined $5.2 million in 2026 — should improve Sumrall’s chances of pulling the Gators out of a five-year funk and returning the once-proud program to some semblance of normalcy.

“I’m grateful those guys stayed,” Sumrall said. “Those guys give us a shot to have success.”

Florida will hold its annual spring game Saturday at the Swamp, providing a glimpse of the perceived progress in Gainesville. All eyes will be on a quarterback competition that features former Georgia Tech backup Aaron Philo and sophomore Tramell Jones Jr.

Philo has seemingly pulled ahead, no surprise since he spent two years honing offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner’s scheme at Tech.

But the core of Sumrall’s new team begins with the five guys he persuaded to stay. Some were easier than others:

Jadan Baugh

Baugh never formally entered the transfer portal after rushing for 1,170 yards and eight touchdowns, but he nonetheless had offers. He considered following his position coach, Jabbar Juluke, to Texas.

But Sumrall swayed him to stay during an in-home visit on Christmas Eve — six days after Sumrall’s dad died and four days after Tulane lost to LSU in the CFP. Sumrall brought his wife, his mom, his kids and his mom’s dog on the trip to Atlanta and still had to wait weeks for Baugh to re-sign.

“For him to bring his family to come see me and to say that his dad wanted to be here, that means the most to me because that shows that you really, really care about your job,” Baugh said. “You really, really care about what’s going on with your players that you want.”

Vernell Brown III

Brown never seemed to be a legit threat to leave Florida. He’s a triple legacy player, with his father and grandfather having played at Florida. His uncle, like his father, played for Urban Meyer. He also has a cousin (cornerback Vincent Brown Jr.) and a younger brother (freshman offensive lineman Corey Brown) on the team.

Vernell Brown finished with 40 catches for 512 yards last season, becoming the first true freshman to lead the team in receptions and receiving yards. He switched from No. 8 to No. 1 this season — a path that mirrors what All-American Percy Harvin did with the Gators.

“Ultimately, I’m trying to do what he did and more,” Brown said.

Myles Graham

Graham was the first of the five to re-sign with Florida. He led the team with 76 tackles as a sophomore and is considered the heart and soul of a defense that should be solid in 2026. Like Brown, Graham also is a legacy player. His father (Earnest) played at Florida and finished his college career with 3,085 yards rushing and 33 touchdowns.

Sumrall leaned on Myles Graham to help land the others.

“He kind of told me that when I signed that he needed me to help recruit and that’s what I did,” Graham said. “I got on the phone with them guys, made sure they were good and just stayed on them until they came back.”

Dallas Wilson

Wilson has the most to prove among the five. He was spectacular in his college debut last season, catching six passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns in a win against Texas. But he missed the majority of the season with foot injuries — first his left and then his right. He has done little in spring camp out of an abundance of caution.

Florida sent him to Nike’s research labs in Oregon during the offseason to be tested and fitted for special shoes that should help.

“I will say it’s very futuristic,” Wilson said. “It was definitely cool seeing all that out there, them working on me and them like being my nurse when I was there and tending to everything I had going on and then just applying it. It was a blessing, I ain’t going to lie.”

Jayden Woods

Woods was the last to commit to Sumrall. He entered the portal and even visited Texas. Woods finished his freshman year with 28 tackles, including five for a loss, and really flashed down the stretch. Florida believes he can become the program’s best edge rusher since Jonathan Greenard.

Sumrall convinced Woods to re-sign during an in-home visit in Shawnee, Kansas.

“We barely talked about football when they were there, and that was the biggest thing for me,” Woods said. “Coach Sumrall says my grandpa’s still sending him pictures of meals he’s cooked. Just knowing that it was genuine and it was relationship-driven, that was the biggest piece for me.”

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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

The Irish government is set to meet with farmers, truckers and agricultural contractors on Friday to discuss the crisis, triggered by rising gasoline and diesel costs as the conflict in the Middle East restricts oil exports from the region. While organizers have said they will call off the coordinated protests if the government agrees to talk with them, it is unclear whether they will be included in the talks.

Protests began on Tuesday as slow-moving convoys restricted access to some of the busiest streets in Dublin, the capital, and blocked fuel depots that supply half the country. Some protesters slept in their vehicles overnight, demanding that the government speak with them.

Over 100 service stations have now run out of fuel and the number could be five times as many by Friday evening if fuel supplies remain disrupted, national broadcaster RTE reported, citing the industry organization Fuels for Ireland.

The government on Thursday asked the army to remove vehicles from blocked roads amid concern that the protests could impede police, firefighters and ambulances responding to emergencies.

The disruption grew out of separate protests around Ireland’s major cities over demands for further cuts to soaring fuel costs.

The government previously approved a range of measures to cut fuel prices, including a temporary reduction in excise taxes on motor fuels, expansion of a rebate for truckers and bus operators that use diesel fuel, and extension of a program that helps low-income people with their heating costs.

Both Xi and Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Beijing-friendly Kuomingtang Party, reiterated they wanted to move toward a peaceful reunification of Taiwan and the mainland, though it remains unclear how they would achieve it. China hasn't ruled out the use of force and has stepped up its military exercises around Taiwan, sending warships and fighter jets closer toward the island and steadily poaching Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies.

Xi welcomed Cheng and her party's representatives in the Great Hall of the People, where he usually meets world leaders, to a round of applause from both sides. “The larger trend of compatriots on both sides of the strait walking nearer, closer, and together will not change. This is a historical necessity. We have full confidence in this,” he said.

"Although people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait live under different systems, we will respect each other and move towards each other,” Cheng said, adding: “We will seek systemic solutions to prevent and avoid war.”

She arrived in Beijing on Tuesday after visiting Shanghai and Nanjing.

Cheng has previously described herself as a promoter of peace between Taiwan and China. She has opposed large increases in Taiwan's defense spending and her party continues to block President Lai Ching-te's special defense budget for arms purchases, including building an air defense system with interception capabilities called the Taiwan Dome.

Taiwan has been governed separately from China since 1949, when a civil war brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing. Defeated Kuomingtang forces fled to Taiwan, where they set up their own government.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te did not directly address Cheng’s China visit, but issued a statement Friday morning urging for the KMT to approve his special defense budget. He said that “history tells us that compromising with authoritarian regimes only comes at the cost of sovereignty and democracy, and will not bring freedom or peace.”

Cheng had said she would push for a “framework for peace" between China and Taiwan, but did not offer any specifics when asked by reporters in Beijing after her meeting with Xi. She said she raised the issue of increasing Taiwan's international profile, such as participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement, and that Xi responded “positively."

Cheng said both parties will work to make sure “the Taiwan Strait will no longer be a flash point with the possibility of conflict, and will not become a chess piece played by the outside world.”

“Her speech is not like that of a Taiwanese politician,” said Weihao Huang, a professor of political science at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, saying she didn't mention the public. “You can't see the public's mindset from her words. It's either her words are being restricted by China or that she was willing for China to restrict it.”

Both Xi and Cheng said they would uphold the 1992 Consensus and opposed Taiwan's independence.

The 1992 Consensus is a tacit agreement, never formally enshrined as a document, that Taiwan and China all belong to one China. However, while the KMT said the 1992 Consensus means they belong to “One China” with separate interpretations of what China means, the Communist Party has never acknowledged that.

“This visit is more significant to Xi than to Cheng," said Ma Chun-wei, an expert in China-Taiwan relations at Taiwan's Tamkang University. ”At the local level, the KMT's grassroots members didn't really want Cheng to visit China at this time" ahead of local elections later this year.

But for Xi, this visit is a chance to have a grip on China-Taiwan relations with Cheng, Ma said, as there's been no official contact between the governments since the Democratic Progressive Party came into power. Further, Xi can tell the U.S. to not interfere as “he has a channel and the ability to deal with the Taiwan issue.”

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Wu reported from Bangkok.

Tulare County deputies were serving the notice to a 60-year-old man in Porterville when he opened fire on them, the sheriff's department said. Porterville is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles in the state’s Central Valley.

The man barricaded himself inside the home with a rifle for several hours. At one point, authorities deployed gas into the home as the man continued to fire at law enforcement. The standoff ended around 6 p.m. when the man left the home and moved through the yards of nearby homes, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at an evening news conference.

Boudreaux said a Kern County SWAT team drove an armored car into the yard where the man was laying on the ground and he started firing at them. The team drove the car over the man, killing him.

Boudreaux said the man had failed to pay rent for 35 days and had been expecting law enforcement to arrive to serve a final notice for eviction. Boudreaux said he “laid in wait” and immediately shot at officers when they arrived.

The man's family was in contact with him and urged him to come out peacefully, but he refused, Boudreaux said.

The deputy who was killed was part of a group of officers that arrived to help after gunfire began, Boudreaux said. Bystander video shot from a driveway and posted by the Visalia Times-Delta showed several armed deputies crouched on the road in a residential neighborhood when a series of shots rang out. Some of the deputies began running away. The gunman cannot be seen from the video. Additional video showed someone being carried into an emergency medical vehicle.

Boudreaux later identified the slain deputy as Detective Randy Hoppert, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who joined the sheriff's department in 2020.

“This is senseless,” Boudreaux said.

Residents in the neighborhood were evacuated by SWAT teams or urged to shelter in place for several hours, and nearby schools were on lockdown.

Miguel Ibarra, whose 82-year-old mother lives across the street from the gunman, said it was surreal to see his parents' house on TV in what is normally a quiet, boring neighborhood.

“The police did a really good job keeping us informed and keeping us in the know of what’s going on,” he said.

The scuba dance, performed by Speed and Toro, during a special Parker Elementary School assembly, was part of their fun encouragement for students prepping for the annual STAAR test

“I feel like we are put in this place to motivate them to chase their dreams,” Speed said. “It’s a great event to motivate them to get to the goals they need. Growing up, it’s always good to hear positivity.

“It’s very humbling. I did well on this test. It was great. It’s just a test. If you prepare, you can have fun with it. I feel like the kids understood that.”

Speed reached his own level of understanding as a key part of the Texans’ defense in his first season in Houston. The former Indianapolis Colts starter helped the Texans reach the playoffs for the third year in a row and win one playoff game before their season ended in the AFC divisional round.

Speed felt confident enough about the Texans’ ability to contend and his fit in the defense and special teams to sign a two-year, $13 million maximum value contract rather than head to free agency after his original one-year, $5 million contract expired.

“Just having a blessing to go back and fight with those guys that I fought with last year,” Speed said. “We created our brotherhood. They accepted me last year. Now understanding that more is expected, so me just raising my level of play and I’m sure everybody else is on the same trend because I know the heart of this team. Everybody just raising their level of play to reach the ultimate goal and go get that Super Bowl.”

A tall and rangy Tarleton State graduate, Speed signed with the Texans last year over opportunities in free agency with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. He was expected to draw significant interest around the league if he had hit the marketplace.

Instead, he stayed with the Texans. And expectations are high for them after three consecutive playoff appearances.

“Honestly, I don’t really pay too much attention to anything we did last year,” Speed said. “We’ll start a new foundation to what we need to go get. So, whether we won the Super Bowl last year or didn’t, it’ll still be the same thing this year to go get that ring. So, anything we did last year is kind of spilled milk at this point and so what have you done(3:22)for me lately. I’m sure everybody in the building is looking at their job and back to work and go back and go win that ring.”

Speed emerged as an important part of the defense, recording 62 tackles, three for losses, two quarterback hits and one pass defensed in 16 games with nine starts for a playoff squad. He played 44 percent of the defensive snaps and 52 percent of the special teams snaps last season.

Since the season, the Texans have added several key pieces to the roster while retaining Speed, defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, offensive guard Ed Ingram, extending tight end Dalton Schultz and defensive end Danielle Hunter. They have acquired running back David Montgomery, offensive linemen Braden Smith and Wyatt Teller and safety Reed Blankenship.

“I think that they added some great players,” Speed said. “I’m sure they’re on their Ps and Qs and doing what they need to do for that. Management is management. I’m not here to create a roster. I’m here to play, so anything that they do I got a great confidence in them. Look at the roster they built so far.

“Obviously, we did fall short. So, I can’t say that it’s something that I’ll tweak. Anything that I need to adjust to be better, somebody can tell me or advice from in the building they can help me become a better football player become a better person become a better man in any area of my life.”

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

Clarence Curtis Jordan, 70, was first convicted in 1978 of murdering Joe L. Williams, a 40-year-old Houston grocer. Jordan, who is intellectually disabled, was then found in subsequent years to be incompetent and therefore could not be executed. But for almost four decades, he did not have an attorney to advocate for him and was seemingly forgotten on death row.

Jordan was finally appointed a new attorney in 2024 as news emerged that there were numerous delayed criminal appeals in Harris County, some of which were lost for more than a decade. The revelation came amid an effort by the county to reduce the backlog in its criminal courts.

Following new legal advocacy, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals vacated Jordan’s death sentence in a Thursday ruling. The panel also sent the case back to Harris County for a new punishment proceeding.

Ben Wolff, Jordan’s attorney and director of the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, said his office is grateful for the outcome. But the case also shows “a troubling truth” of the criminal justice system that people most in need of help are often “forgotten or cast aside,” he said in a statement.

“It’s a really sad case,” Wolff told The Texas Tribune. “He had been on death row basically as long as I’ve been alive.”

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday that the overturning of Jordan’s death sentence is “what justice looks like,” while adding that his conviction stands.

“This outcome does not lessen the harm caused to Joe Williams’ family and friends,” the office’s statement said. “When a life is at stake, we must follow the law and ensure the process is fair.”

The district attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to the Tribune’s question Thursday night about what it would do for Jordan’s new punishment proceeding.

Wolff told the Tribune that the only other eligible punishment for his conviction would be life in prison with the possibility for parole. He added that his office, whose work is limited to post-conviction litigation for death row inmates, would also have to hand off Jordan’s case if the proceeding goes beyond a simple resentencing.

In the decade since Trump's “America First” movement rose to power by rejecting military intervention, his coalition has rarely been tested the way it is now. Trump's exit efforts — first through threats of annihilation, then with a ceasefire that is proving precarious — are doing little to paper over tensions that have festered since the war began six weeks ago.

Laura Loomer, a conservative activist close to the president and often one of his top boosters, rejected the notion of brokering a deal with Iran. In an interview, she knocked Vice President JD Vance for being “in charge” of talks expected to start Saturday in Pakistan, as he takes on a larger diplomatic role ahead of a potential 2028 White House run.

“I support President Trump,” Loomer said in an interview. “I just don’t believe in negotiating with Islamic terrorists.”

Vance's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a Trump supporter-turned-critic, called for the president to be removed from office through the Constitution's 25th Amendment after he said earlier this week that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran made a deal. Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor who now hosts a podcast, unloaded on Trump with a profane critique and asked, “Can’t he just behave like a normal human?”

During a recent taping of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” the host wondered what would end first, their episode or the ceasefire deal.

Despite the growing criticism, Republican leaders in Congress were largely silent. Many were privately uncomfortable with Trump's threats on social media and were concerned about how the war would play out, especially in an election year. But with Congress on recess for the opening two weeks of April, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have offered little public reaction to Trump's moves.

Some said the developments were simply unfolding too quickly.

“How do you go up and give a presentation or speech in a situation where every 12 hours, the baseline story has a new gradient?" Rep. Dave Schweikert, an Arizona Republican who is running for governor, said in an interview. “In many ways, it is the sin of arrogance thinking you can go out and talk about something when the story is still unfolding.”

A factor in the midterms?

That leaves Republicans in an uncertain position, much like the state of the war. The party already faces fierce headwinds ahead of the November midterms, and some say its best bet is for voters to forget about Iran by then.

“My hope is that it will be long behind us by the time votes are cast,” said Chris Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist. "Fortunately for the GOP, foreign policy flare-ups rarely decide midterm elections on their own, especially when voters are far more focused on the economy and prices at home."

For now, Trump and his White House are expressing confidence. Trump hailed a “big day for World Peace” after the ceasefire was first announced. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt heralded a “victory for the United States of America that the president and our incredible military made happen.”

In a social media post, Trump dismissed his detractors, including podcasters such as Kelly, as “stupid people” who will “say anything necessary for some 'free' and cheap publicity.”

Some of the president's supporters in Congress are pushing back at the suggestion that Trump has become too entangled overseas at the expense of domestic priorities.

“Part of America First is making sure that the homeland stays safe and Iran is a factor in our safety,” Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., said in an interview. “We are all hopeful that the ceasefire does hold and that Iran lives up to their side of the agreement.

Recent elections are cause for GOP concern

Any president's party typically loses seats in Congress during a midterm election year and races this week offered a fresh reason for concern for Republicans.

Republican Clay Fuller won Greene’s district by about 12 percentage points. She had a 29-percentage-point win two years earlier, and Trump carried the district by almost 37 percentage points. In Wisconsin, the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court grew this week when a Democratic-backed candidate won by a double-digit margin.

That follows strong performances for Democrats in other recent races, including the Florida state legislative district that is home to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approved of how Trump was handling his job as president, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling last month. That share is largely unchanged since he returned to office in January 2025. But it is also roughly where Trump was at this point in his first term, when Democrats went on to gain 40 House seats in the 2018 midterms.

While Trump still has deep support from Republicans, there are signs that he risks frustrating his supporters if the U.S. becomes involved in a prolonged war. Although 63% of Republicans back airstrikes against Iranian military targets, the March survey found, only 20% back deploying American ground troops. Rising gas prices could pose a problem, with about 6 in 10 Republicans saying they are at least “somewhat” concerned about affording gas in the next few months, though they are less worried than the rest of the country.

‘People are willing to endure some short-term pain’

Republicans who have spent time with voters over the recess say they believe the party has political breathing room to navigate the war.

Kustoff said constituents across his rural northwestern Tennessee district seemed “generally supportive” of Trump's actions in Iran, even when they have been accompanied by higher prices at the pump.

“My takeaway is that people are willing to endure some short-term pain as it relates to gas prices if the situation with Iran is resolved," he said.

But as they return to Washington next week, Republicans face a series of difficult choices.

At the outset of the war, some GOP lawmakers said Trump would need to seek approval from Congress if the conflict lasted longer than 60 days, a deadline that would approach near the end of April if the ceasefire did not hold. The administration is seeking billions of dollars in additional spending for the war, setting up a vote that could put budget-conscious Republicans in a difficult spot before the fall campaigns.

Democrats are also moving to force another vote on a war powers resolution that would curb Trump's options in Iran. A similar effort failed last month, but another vote could add pressure on Republicans, depending on how the ceasefire plays out.

Schweikert described the war powers vote as the “dance of parties.”

“Their job is to try to embarrass us and our job as the majority is to try to make things work,” he said. “It's just the job.”

___

Peoples reported from New York and Kinnard from Columbia, S.C. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

The actor, whose recent credits include the Broadway production of MJ the Musical—inspired by Michael Jackson—is now taking on the role of Cory in Fences at Alley Theatre. The production represents a notable moment for the Alley, which is staging an August Wilson play for the first time in more than two decades.

During his time on Broadway, Payton served as a standby for the role of Michael Jackson, stepping into the part roughly 300 times. The consistency and demands of that responsibility earned him a nickname among cast and crew—“Standbichael.”

Now, in Fences, the focus shifts to a different kind of performance—one rooted in language, rhythm, and emotional depth.

Set in 1950s Pittsburgh, the play centers on Troy Maxson, a former Negro League baseball player turned sanitation worker, and the tensions within his family as he confronts unrealized dreams and systemic barriers. Cory, his son, becomes a focal point of that conflict, navigating ambition, identity, and a complicated relationship with his father.

Payton’s transition from a high-energy Broadway musical to one of the most revered works in American theatre highlights his range as a performer. While MJ the Musical emphasizes choreography and precision, Fences demands a more stripped-down, character-driven approach.

Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson, Fences remains a cornerstone of the American theatrical canon. Its exploration of family, generational conflict, and resilience continues to resonate with contemporary audiences.

For Alley Theatre, the production serves as both a return to Wilson’s work and an opportunity to reintroduce it to Houston audiences in a fresh context.

With performances beginning April 17 and running through May 10, Fences offers a timely and emotionally grounded experience—led by a performer whose career spans both the scale of Broadway and the intimacy of regional theatre.

Get your tickets online at alleytheatre.org/fences or call 713.220.5700.

The majority-Republican board voted 9-1 to approve the reading list, which the group will have a chance to revise ahead of final approval set for June. The board delayed voting on the list in January to allow for more time to review the proposal. Five members of the board did not vote Thursday.

A 2023 state law required the Texas Education Agency to design the list of reading materials for public K-12 students. The agency initially recommended roughly 300 books for consideration, far exceeding the requirement of at least one literary work in each grade.

The original list included childhood favorites across a range of genres — from Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat to S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders — while also incorporating biblical material such as The Parable of the Prodigal Son and The Road to Damascus. In addition to the lack of religious diversity, critics raised concerns about the underrepresentation of women as well as Hispanic and Black authors.

The revised list, proposed by Republican member Keven Ellis of Lufkin, cut about 100 readings — including Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Frederick Douglass’ What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? — though it still includes Bible texts.

“There are other states, many other states, who have recommended reading lists,” Ellis said. “To my knowledge, there is not one that will have a required reading list as robust as this, that will be common for every student across the state.”

The Texas Education Agency created the original proposal after reviewing books used by other states and organizations. The agency has also said it factored in survey responses from roughly 5,700 teachers, noting that the list contained fewer books than what educators said they currently use.

But during hours of public testimony this week, educators said they considered the survey insufficient because teachers did not review or revise the reading list before the education agency submitted it to the State Board of Education.

They pointed to a different survey of more than 2,600 educators conducted by the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. The survey concluded that in all but one grade, it would be “mathematically impossible” to read and teach the full list during the typical 36 instructional weeks in a school year.

“I believe that an acceptable list would be one that’s created with teacher expertise, leaning on the strengths of everyone involved in this work,” said Markesha Tisby, president of Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. “There’s still time. There’s no prize for making this decision quickly. We have time to build something great for our Texas students, and they deserve it.”

The public has not yet weighed in on the revised list the board preliminarily approved Thursday.

Member Julie Pickren, R-Pearland, said she was shocked to see writings from Douglass and Booker T. Washington removed. Republican Brandon Hall of Aledo said he views the list as a “starting place.” Members will have opportunities to suggest changes and offer feedback Friday and before the final vote in June.

Supporters of the list have said they believe the biblical material will help students better grasp the influence of Christianity in U.S. history. Meanwhile, at least one critic called the original list and its biblical material “a lawsuit waiting to happen,” while many stressed the importance of students needing to see themselves reflected in the books they read.

“As a recent graduate of the Texas public school system, I care deeply about the curriculum my friends and family will be taught,” said Sumya Paruchuri, a freshman at the University of North Texas.

“The best taught English classes that I had were when the teachers were passionate about the text they were teaching, whether they were fans of the work or understood the educational opportunities they presented for students,” Paruchuri added. “The required reading list’s attempt to standardize readings is unhelpful and counterproductive to the real needs of students and educators.”

He didn't, but at least this time he walked off the floor on his own, instead of being carried out with a severe injury.

So Tatum looked at the positives after the New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics 112-106 on Thursday night in his first game at the arena since rupturing his Achilles tendon there in last season's playoffs.

“Today was important for me, especially when I made the decision to come back and when I made the decision to play today,” Tatum said. “I’m glad I did. I feel a lot better.”

He said he was nervous and anxious earlier in the day and had to tell himself to relax after the game began. The star forward turned in a strong effort, finishing with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, falling just short of his second triple-double since returning last month.

Tatum was hurt last May 12 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals when he fell to the court in the fourth quarter of a Knicks victory. New York went on to win the series, ending the Celtics’ championship reign.

He had surgery the following day in New York and returned to action March 6, playing in his 16th game of the season Thursday.

“There was definitely a sense of gratitude. Last time I was in here I couldn’t walk and now today was the first time it felt like it went by pretty quick,” Tatum said. “Because obviously I remember the incident like it happened yesterday, so today was the first time where I was like, it went by kind of fast.”

Tatum got a nice ovation when he was the last Boston starter announced, with more cheers than boos. He got the Celtics on the board with a steal and layup after the Knicks raced to a 7-0 start.

“Since I’ve returned the reception that I’ve gotten from players, coaches I’ve never even spoken to, GMs, has been great,” Tatum said. “And even today when they announced my name it was kind of loud in there and that means a lot obviously from wearing the Celtics uniform, just showing their respect and obviously because it happened in this building. So I did, I appreciated that.”

Tatum averaged 21.6 points and 9.8 rebounds in his first 15 games. He said after the Celtics' home victory over Charlotte on Tuesday that he wasn't “thrilled to go back and play” at Madison Square Garden.

Tatum drew plenty of spectators as he went through his pregame warmups near the Celtics bench. Coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game he had a chance to talk to his star forward earlier in the day and praised the way he was preparing for the game.

“I think one of his greatest strengths is just his vulnerability and openness and his understanding. It’s an opportunity tonight and obviously another small checkmark in his journey, which he’s done a great job handling those, and expect him to be able to do the same tonight,” Mazzulla said. “There’s both, right? There’s a ton of emotions but also opportunity and I think he’s ready for that.”

Many players around the league love playing at the historic arena, saying it's their favorite road venue. Tatum could have avoided this trip and instead played Friday at home against New Orleans, because he is not playing in both games of back-to-back sets.

But he decided earlier this week that this was the game he needed to play in, especially with fellow star Jaylen Brown sitting out because of left Achilles tendinitis.

“I always enjoyed coming to play here, the environment, the atmosphere. I’ve had some really big games,” Tatum said. “Obviously like the lowest point of my life was here, but in a weird way it’s a part of my story.”

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

In the state semifinal game against Cibolo Steele, Sanchez scored two goals in the Eagles 4-1 victory, helping them get to the state finals for the first time in school history.

Julian’s teammates and Head Coach Jed Garner say he’s the reason they’re in the position they’re in to content for a state title. “On a team full of extremely hard workers, he is the hardest worker,” said Coach Garner.

It is the latest legislative initiative by acting President Delcy Rodríguez since the self-proclaimed socialist government that has ruled Venezuela for 26 years came under pressure from the Trump administration in January, when the U.S. military deposed then-President Nicolás Maduro.

The lengthy bill will now undergo a review by the country’s high court to determine if it is constitutional.

The bill regulates mineral rights, establishes small, medium and large-scale mining categories, and allows for independent arbitration of disputes, which foreign investors view as key to guard against the government seizing their assets. It also bans the president, vice president, ministers, governors and others from holding mining titles.

The bill is a “vehicle for the construction of future prosperity” and an “instrument that protects” mining workers across the country, National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez told lawmakers after the measure was approved.

The approval came a day after the acting president asked public and private sector workers, whose wages have long not allowed them to afford basic necessities, for patience as her government works to improve the country’s economy. She promised them a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.

On Thursday, as workers protested for better wages in the capital, Caracas, Delcy Rodríguez arrived in Grenada on her first official international trip as acting president.

Two decades ago, many foreign firms in the mining and oil sectors saw their assets seized by the Venezuelan government. However, as crucial oil revenues plummeted, Maduro’s government in 2016 designated more than 10% of Venezuela’s territory as a mining development zone stretching across the central area of the country.

Since then, mining operations for gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals have proliferated. Many of these sites are informal, unlicensed mines operating under brutal conditions and the presence of criminal groups.

Homicides, human trafficking, fuel smuggling and other crimes are commonplace in mining areas, but ordinary Venezuelans continue to flock there in hopes of getting rich quick and escaping poverty.

Officials and members of the military take cuts from the illegal mining revenue in exchange for allowing the operation of mines.

“The mining and subsequent sale of gold has proven to be a lucrative financial scheme for some well-connected Venezuelans and senior officers within the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, which profits from charging criminal organizations for access and inputs, such as fuel,” the U.S. State Department reported to Congress last year.

“The estimated market value of gold mined in Venezuela is difficult to confirm, but well-respected sources estimate that it averaged $2.2 billion annually over the past five years.”

The newly approved bill sets royalties and taxes and caps mining concessions at 30 years, with the possibility of renewal. It also establishes prison penalties for those who participate in illegal activities and those who cause environmental damages, and allows for the seizure of illegally obtained minerals.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

After a large police presence formed in the area, Missouri City announced that Sienna Parkway was closed due to a reported emergency involving a man with a gun.

Missouri City police said the incident Thursday was a continuation of an incident that happened Wednesday night with the suspect at his grandmother’s house. Police say the suspect went to the house looking for his girlfriend and they believe a physical assault took place at the home. By the time police arrived, the suspect was gone.

Thursday, police say the man showed up at the house again while armed. He didn’t threaten the family, but police got called back to the home again. As police approached, the suspect began to evade, jumping over fences. Drones were used to help in the search.

He was eventually found in a body of water and was taken into custody. No shots were fired during the incident.

Video taken from people in the area shows the arrest and also shows what appears to be an alligator on the other side of the pond from where the suspect was.

Police believe there may be a mental health issue and the suspect will be taken to a hospital for evaluation before being taking to the Fort Bend County Jail.

Sienna Parkway has since reopened.

Fort Bend ISD released the following statement on the incident:

Dear Sienna Families,

We are aware of the situation this afternoon that affected the Sienna area. Local law enforcement reported an armed individual in the area, and as a precaution, all schools in Sienna were placed in a SECURE hold. The individual is now in police custody.

The following campuses were placed in SECURE:

• Ridge Point High School
• Thornton Middle School
• Baines Middle School
• Ferguson Elementary School
• Leonetti Elementary School
• Scanlon Oaks Elementary School
• Schiff Elementary School
• Sienna Crossing Elementary School

Campuses have resumed normal operations. We understand there is increased traffic in the area, and we will be flexible to accommodate parents picking up students from extended day.

Thank you for your cooperation and trust. Student safety is always our top priority.

Both Tehran and Washington are claiming victory and exerting pressure, with talks on a permanent deal set to begin soon in Islamabad and U.S. Vice President JD Vance set to lead the U.S. delegation.

Israeli strikes made Wednesday the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, with more than 300 people killed. There are lingering disagreements over whether the ceasefire covers the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran is warning of “STRONG responses” if attacks on its militant ally don’t stop.

Israel-Lebanon negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had approved direct talks, while the Lebanese government did not immediately respond. Netanyahu said there is no ceasefire in Lebanon and his country will keep striking Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war, as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states after Kuwait’s announcement.

Here is the latest:

South Korea to send senior diplomat to Iran for talks on Strait of Hormuz

South Korea says senior diplomat Chung Byung-ha will soon depart for Iran as a special envoy to discuss the safety of its citizens and Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that Chung plans to push for the freedom of navigation for all vessels, including South Korean.

The ministry earlier said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed Seoul’s plan to send a special envoy during a phone call with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday.

Kuwait base hit by drone attack

Kuwait’s National Guard said one of its bases had been hit in the drone attack and sustained damage, though no one was hurt.

Australia rules out playing an offensive military role in Iran war

Australia’s Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles has rejected former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s call for the air force to take an offensive role in the Iran war.

Abbott wrote in a newspaper opinion piece Friday that Australia should have offered the United States Air Force support including Australian strike fighters.

Marles, who is defense minister and acting prime minister while Anthony Albanese is overseas, said Australia had sent the United Arab Emirates a surveillance jet but was “not part of this conflict against Iran.”

“We will act in our national interest and we respectfully disagree with the position of Mr. Abbott,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Australia for not helping the United States since the Iran war began. Australia says it has received no request for help.

Ship-tracking data shows tankers’ movement in the Strait of Hormuz

Underlining Iran’s continued control of the Strait of Hormuz, a Botswana-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker called the Nidi attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard but suddenly turned around and headed back early Friday, ship-tracking data showed.

On Thursday, four tankers and three bulk carriers crossed through the Strait of Hormuz, bringing the total number of ships passing through since the ceasefire to at least 12, according to the data firm Kpler. However, other ships not transmitting their locations may have passed through as well. The strait typically saw well over 100 ships passing through it daily in peacetime.

Iran Guard denies launching attacks on Persian Gulf states

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states on Thursday after Kuwait’s announcement.

“If these reports published by the media are true, without a doubt it is the work of the Zionist enemy or America,” the Guard said.

However, the Guard also launched repeated attacks on civilian targets in the war and also could be using Shiite militias in Iraq to launch assaults, providing deniability for Iran ahead of the talks.

Iran does not acknowledge launching any attack on Kuwait as it prepares for upcoming talks

Such an assault would mirror the continuing pressure campaign Tehran is waging on the U.S. and its allies, particularly as it tries to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after intense Israeli airstrikes blanketed Beirut just after the ceasefire had been reached.

The attack on a pumping station on the East-West pipeline has affected about 700,000 barrels of output through it. Other attacks cut into about 600,000 barrels of crude oil production a day as well, the report said.

Saudi Aramco’s pipeline from the Abqaiq oil processing center near the Persian Gulf to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea circumvents the Hormuz chokepoint and has allowed Saudi Arabia to continue exporting a substantial portion of its oil, as much as 7 million barrels a day in optimal conditions. However, the pipeline lacks the capacity to fully make up for the Hormuz closure.

The Saudi statement did not identify when these attacks happened,(backslash) but stressed the affect they had on global energy markets.

“The continuation of these attacks leads to reduced supply and slows recovery, thereby affecting the security of supply for consuming countries and contributing to increased volatility in oil markets,” it said.

Kuwait accuses Iran and its proxies of attacking despite ceasefire

Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom.

A statement from Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, carried by the state-run KUNA news agency, put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks Saturday between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said the drone attacks “targeted some vital Kuwaiti facilities Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency, quoting an anonymous official, acknowledged a recent attack in the war that damaged its crucial East-West pipeline. That pipeline carries oil out to the Red Sea and avoids the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran maintains a chokehold on despite the pause in the fighting.

Travelers face higher prices as jet fuel costs have climbed since start of the war

Volatile oil and jet fuel prices have been swinging since the war in the Middle East started and fighting near the Strait of Hormuz disrupted global oil shipments.

Airlines around the world are responding by trimming schedules and raising fees and fares, and air travelers are facing higher prices, fewer flights and tough choices about whether a trip is worth the cost.

Experts say budget carriers and the customers who rely on them will feel the pinch first, but even business travelers and front-cabin passengers won’t escape higher costs.

Relief may not come quickly even if oil prices start to drop, experts warn, because airlines can take months to adjust fares while they wait for energy markets to stabilize.

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China diplomacy in Iran war may offer leverage with Trump

China is considering its role in helping find a durable endgame to the war.

After prodding China to get involved in reopening the choked-off Strait of Hormuz, Trump told the French news outlet Agence France-Presse this week that he believed China played a part in encouraging Iran to agree to this week’s temporary truce.

Experts say this move could enhance China’s image as a stabilizing force and weaken the U.S. position. Beijing’s involvement also may provide leverage in upcoming trade negotiations when Trump visits next month.

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Trump casts doubt on effectiveness of the ceasefire

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on his social media site Thursday evening. “That is not the agreement we have!”

Trump had posted earlier about reports of Iran charging fees on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

“They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” his post said.

The White House supports reopening the strait as part of the ceasefire deal but says Trump opposes Iran’s military, which continues to control the waterway, from seeking to raise revenue by charging tolls on passing ships.

Trump has not had any public event Thursday.

Israel’s military says it has struck ‘approximately 10 launchers’ in Lebanon

Israel’s military said the launchers had fired rockets toward northern Israel on Thursday and that it was working to locate and dismantle more.

Throughout Thursday, sirens had repeatedly alerted communities in northern Israel — especially along the border with Lebanon — that Hezbollah was firing in their direction.

Former Iranian foreign minister reportedly died after being wounded in airstrike

A former Iranian foreign minister who once suggested Tehran could seek a nuclear weapon died late Thursday after being wounded in an airstrike last week, Iranian state television reported.

Kamal Kharazi had served as a foreign minister for Iran’s reformist President Mohammad Khatami, then as a foreign affairs adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In 2022, he told news network Al Jazeera that Tehran has “the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” sparking concern about Tehran’s intentions.

Trump says Iran ‘better not be’ charging fees on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz

In a social media post, the president wrote, “There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!”

He offered no further details. The White House supports Iran reopening the strait as part of a tenuous ceasefire deal but says Trump opposes that country’s military using its continued control of the waterway to raise revenue by charging tolls on passing ships.

Trump has spent much of Thursday in closed-door meetings. He does not have any scheduled public events the rest of the day.

Starmer and Trump speak about the Strait of Hormuz

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was traveling in Qatar and spoke to Trump about efforts to restore tanker traffic through the waterway, Starmer’s office said in a statement.

Starmer has visited Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in the last two days as he tries to build momentum behind the ceasefire and the reopening of the strait.

Trump has taken repeated potshots at the British leader over Starmer’s reluctance to join the U.S.-Israeli war.

US summons Iraqi ambassador to complain about Iran-backed militia attacks, including ‘ambush’ of American diplomats

While acknowledging that Iraqi forces have made efforts to respond to these attacks, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Baghdad had not done enough to prevent them, according to a statement.

He warned Iraq’s envoy that support for militias by “elements associated with the Iraqi government” is harming U.S.-Iraq ties, adding that Washington expects immediate steps to dismantle the groups.

US stocks rise and oil prices trim their gains on hopes for the Iran ceasefire

U.S. stocks rose, even though oil prices did too, as financial markets moved more modestly a day after surging on optimism about a ceasefire.

After beginning Thursday with moderate losses following drops for Asian and European stocks, the S&P 500 erased its dip and rose 0.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.8% after Israel’s prime minister authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon. That eased worries that the two-week ceasefire announced late Tuesday may already be in trouble.

Oil prices pared some of their earlier gains but nevertheless remained higher.

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 3.7% to settle at $97.87 after briefly nearing $103 in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.2% to $95.92 per barrel.

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Saudi Arabia acknowledges widespread damage to energy sector during the war

For the first time, Saudi Arabia laid out the scale of damage to its oil output and exports, although it didn’t specify when the attacks occurred.

The Energy Ministry statement also gave the first public confirmation of Saudi casualties during the war, saying one citizen working as an industrial security guard was killed and seven others wounded.

Thursday’s statement said strikes targeted production, transport and refining sites, as well as petrochemical and power facilities in Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and Yanbu on the Red Sea. The statement didn’t attribute responsibility.

A pumping station on the East-West Pipeline was among the hardest hit, cutting throughput by about 700,000 barrels per day, while outages at Manifa and Khurais reduced output by 600,000 more barrels per day.

Major refineries, including SATORP, Ras Tanura and SAMREF, were also hit, with fires at Ju’aymah disrupting exports of liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas liquids.

US official confirms State Department to host Israel-Lebanon talks next week in Washington

A U.S. official is confirming that talks between Israel and Lebanon on ending the current hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah will take place starting next week at the State Department in Washington.

The official offered no other details of the negotiations but a person familiar with the planning for the talks said they would be led on the U.S. side by Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.

Both the U.S. official and the person familiar with the planning spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter. It was not immediately clear who would represent Lebanon.

Pro-Iran groups have used AI to troll Trump and try to control the war narrative

Analysts say the memes appear to be coming from groups linked to the government in Tehran and are part of a strategy of leveraging its limited resources to inflict damage on the U.S., even indirectly.

“Their goal is to sow enough discontent with the conflict as to eventually force the West to cave in, so it is massively important to them,” Neil Lavie-Driver, an AI researcher at the University of Cambridge, said, referring to Iran.

The memes are fluent not just in English but in American culture and trolling. They portray Trump as old, out of step and internationally isolated, and include a series that uses the style of the “Lego” animated movies.

Published on various social platforms, they are racking up millions of views — although it’s not clear how much influence they have had.

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Timeline of decades of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah

The ongoing war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is far from the first conflict between them. The two have an enmity that goes back more than four decades, with outbursts of fighting or outright war punctuated by periods of tense calm.

▶ Read a timeline of some significant events in their hostilities

Well-timed bets on Polymarket tied to the Iran war draw calls for investigations from lawmakers

A group of new accounts on the prediction market Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for these new customers.

Calls are increasing in Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket after the latest instance where groups of anonymous traders made strategic, well-timed bets on a major geopolitical event hours before it occurred.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York who sits on the House Financial Services Committee as well as the subcommittee on digital assets and financial technology, sent a letter Thursday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission demanding the regulator review and investigate these well-timed trades.

“This pattern raises serious concerns that certain market participants may have had access to material nonpublic information regarding a market-moving geopolitical event,” Torres wrote. The letter was shared exclusively with the AP.

▶ Read more

Trump says he asked Netanyahu to dial back strikes in Lebanon

The U.S. president said Netanyahu agreed to dial back Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon ahead of peace talks in Pakistan.

“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview.

Wednesday was the deadliest day of Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began.

Netanyahu on Thursday said there’s no ceasefire in Lebanon, and Israel will keep striking Iran-backed Hezbollah militants there until security is restored in northern Israel. But he said he authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” aimed at disarming Hezbollah.

The Israeli military also said it had begun striking Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon on Thursday evening.

Trump expresses optimism about peace talks

Trump says Iranian leaders are more amendable to dealmaking in private conversations than they are in their public statements.

The Iranians “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” Trump told NBC News during a phone interview. “They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military.”

He added: “If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.”

The president also said he’s “very optimistic” about the prospects of reaching a peace deal during talks in Pakistan.

Iran’s supreme leader declares victory over US and Israel

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says the Iranian people are the “definitive victors” in the conflict.

“Today, it is clear before everyone’s eyes, the dawn of the Islamic Republic’s emergence as a great power while the evil is facing the downhill slope of weakness,” he said in a statement read by an anchor on state TV.

Khamenei has not been seen or heard in public since he replaced his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

The younger Khamenei also mentioned the upcoming ceasefire talks with the U.S. and pledged there would be a “new era” in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. has demanded that Iran reopen the strategic waterway as part of the ceasefire.

The head of Israel’s military says the mission is to keep weakening Hezbollah

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, speaking to troops inside Lebanon, said the army’s mission is to “continue deepening the damage and to continue weakening Hezbollah.” He said the objective is to remove the direct threat to residents of northern Israel.

UN health chief urges reversal of Israel’s evacuation orders in Beirut

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, issued a statement Thursday outlining the dire access issues for medical assistance in Beirut’s Jnah area after a series of deadly Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours.

He said that the Israeli military evacuation order covers two major hospitals including Rafik Hariri, the main public hospital in Beirut. These facilities, according to Ghebreyesus, have been crucial for the hundreds of civilians who need assistance. The order also includes five shelters that are currently accommodating more than 5,000 people.

“At this time, no alternative medical facilities are available to receive approximately 450 patients from the two hospitals (including 40 patients in the ICU), rendering their evacuation operationally unfeasible,” he posted on X. “Both facilities are operating at full capacity, including treating the injured from the strikes of 8 April.”

UN warns that fighting in Lebanon poses a ‘grave risk’ to the ceasefire

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and welcomed potential Israel-Lebanon talks, saying there is “no military solution” to the conflict, according to his spokesman.

Ongoing Israeli military activity jeopardizes the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that Israeli evacuation orders in Beirut’s southern suburbs cover U.N. sites, refugee camps, aid hubs, a major public hospital, and 13 shelters hosting over 6,000 displaced people.

Pakistani envoy says Lebanon's inclusion in ceasefire agreement was clear to both sides

Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Islamabad’s representative at the U.N., told a group of reporters Thursday that he doesn’t know why there was confusion about Lebanon being included in the ceasefire deal agreed to by U.S., Israel and Iran, when it was “clearly” cited in the prime minister’s statement.

“I believe this will be addressed also as part of these discussions, because there are many points on the agenda,” Ahmad said about the planned talks in Islamabad this weekend. “I think we should not let anything come in the way of these talks, which are very important.”

Iran war may bite shipping sector harder than COVID, expert says

Increased risks to shipping in the Mideast have forced vessels to change their routes, making trips 14 days longer on average, according to ALIS, an Italy-based logistics services association of 2,500 companies globally.

The ordinary insurance costs related to a ship’s value have also gone up by about 10% during the war, ALIS vice president Marcello Di Caterina told The Associated Press.

He warned that the Iran crisis could have a more devastating impact on the shipping industry than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Netanyahu says there is no ceasefire with Lebanon

In a video statement, the Israeli leader says his country will keep striking Hezbollah until security is restored in northern Israel.

He confirmed that he is opening direct negotiations with Lebanon, the aim or which are Hezbollah’s disarmament and a sustainable peace agreement.

UN special envoy meets with top Iranian officials and humanitarian groups in Tehran

Jean Arnault, the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy for the Iran war, met Thursday with an Iranian deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, as the diplomat makes his way through countries impacted by the conflict.

Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said Arnault heard Iranian officials’ “views on the way forward” as a shaky day-old ceasefire holds. He also met with representatives from the Iranian Red Crescent, who took him on a tour of some of the sites damaged by weeks of U.S.-Israeli strikes, including a university that was destroyed and an apartment block.

Asked if Arnault or any U.N. personnel will be playing a role in the upcoming negotiations in Pakistan, Dujarric said that world body is currently discussing with all parties “the structural role that we can play” in bringing an end to this conflict.

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Correction: This post has been updated to correct that the U.N. misidentified one of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers. He is Kazem Gharibabadi, not Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

Iran’s president says the ceasefire was approved at the highest levels

President Masoud Pezeshkian said the decision to accept a ceasefire was made unanimously by top officials and approved by the supreme leader.

In a statement posted Thursday on the Telegram messaging app, he said the ceasefire “is not a sign of weakness but a way to solidify Iran’s proud victories,” adding that the pause in fighting followed more than a month of Iranian public resilience and support.

Democrats vow to keep trying to stop Trump’s war with Iran

House Democrats gathered at the U.S. Capitol and lambasted the Trump administration’s ceasefire negotiations with Iran as chaotic and unworkable, and characterized the president’s threats about wiping out a civilization as the musings of madness.

The lawmakers warned they would keep proposing resolutions to end the war, and use their votes to block any requests from the administration for more money to fund it.

“It’s clear that their ability to negotiate with Iran is nonexistent,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland.

He called Trump’s plans for tolls on the strait particularly outrageous.

“How did we end up at a point where he’s talking about a joint venture with Iran with respect to charging tolls at the Strait of Hormuz?” he asked.

Rep. Madeleine Dean from Pennsylvania, who supports efforts to force Trump to step aside under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, pointed back to the president’s days of escalatory rhetoric.

“The president brought the entire globe to watch his madness,” she said.

Death toll from wave of heavy Israeli strikes in Lebanon rises above 300, health officials say

Israel said it launched 100 strikes in 10 minutes across Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting what they said were Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure. The strikes hit busy residential and commercial areas without warning.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said the death toll is likely to rise as search and rescue teams continue to find remains under the rubble, and as more people identify dozens of bodies at hospitals.

It was the deadliest day in over a month of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Around 1,150 people were wounded.

New details on expected talks between Israel and Lebanon

Israel-Lebanon negotiations are expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The talks are expected to be handled on the American side by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the situation.

It was not immediately clear whom Lebanon was sending.

Axios first reported the timing and location of the talks.

— By Matthew Lee

House Democrats fail to pass a resolution on Iran

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made a quick but unsuccessful effort Thursday to pass a bill that would force Trump to get congressional approval before carrying out any more attacks on Iran.

The effort had no chance of passage during a short, minutes-long “pro forma session” of the House during which legislative business is rarely conducted.

But that didn’t stop Democrats from trying to make the point that they oppose the war in Iran.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat from Maryland, tried to force a vote on the resolution, but Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, declared the House was adjourned.

“Let us vote!” yelled Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat from Virginia.

“The time has come. The time has come,” Ivey said.

Democrats will look to force a vote on the measure again next week.

Newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell.

University of Reading zoologist Thomas Clements, the lead researcher behind the new findings, said the fossil, Pohlsepia mazonensis, has long been the subject of scientific debate.

“It’s a very difficult fossil to interpret,” he said. “To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush.

“If you look at it and you are a cephalopod researcher and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus.”

The creature, a blob about the size of a human hand, was found in the Mazon Creek area of Illinois, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, that is rich in fossils from a period before dinosaurs walked the Earth.

Its identification by paleontologists as an octopus in 2000 upended ideas about the evolution of the eight-tentacled cephalopods, suggesting they emerged much earlier than previously thought. The next oldest-known octopus fossil is only about 90 million years old.

“It’s a huge gap,” Clements said. “And so that big gap got researchers sort of questioning, ‘Is this thing actually an octopus?”

To solve the mystery of the “weird blob,” Clements and his team used a synchrotron — which uses fast-moving electrons to create beams of light brighter than the sun — to look inside the fossil rock. They found a ribbon of teeth known as a radula that is common to all mollusks, including nautiluses and octopuses. Each row had 11 teeth. Octopuses have either seven or nine.

“This has too many teeth, so it can’t be an octopus,” Clements said. “And that’s how we realize that the world’s oldest octopus is actually a fossil nautilus, not an octopus.”

The teeth matched those of a fossil nautiloid called Paleocadmus pohli that had been found in the same area. Clements said the mistaken identification may have happened because the creature decomposed and lost its telltale shell before it was fossilized, complicating identification.

As a result of the findings published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Guinness World Records said it will no longer list Pohlsepia mazonensis as the earliest known octopus.

Managing Editor Adam Millward said the scientists had made “a fascinating discovery.”

“We will be resting the original ‘oldest octopus fossil’ title and look forward to reviewing this new evidence,” he said.

Pohlsepia mazonensis is named for its discoverer James Pohl, and is in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago.

Paul Mayer, manager of the museum's collection of fossil invertebrates, said he was “a little surprised” by its new classification as a nautiloid, but noted that "people have been questioning whether it was an octopus ever since the original paper was first published in 2000.”

He said new technologies for scientific investigation had brought renewed interest in the Mazon Creek fossils.

“(That) is great for our collections and hopefully new discoveries will be made and new stories will be revealed,” Mayer said.

Clements said the museum should not be disappointed by the new evidence, which means it now has “the oldest soft tissue nautilus in the world.

“The Field Museum have a small collection of these ancient nautiluses, which I think as a cephalopod worker is probably the best thing ever,” he said.

Shortly ahead of a fragile ceasefire agreement earlier this week, a new group of accounts on prediction market platform Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed trades betting there'd be an announcement about a halt in fighting for April 7. Some quickly pocketed awards, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits combined. Others are still awaiting payouts as an end to the deadly conflict still seems uncertain.

Regardless, the trades once again put the spotlight on a murky — and growing — world of speculative, 24/7 transactions now filling the internet. And some have raised questions about suspicious activity, including an anonymous Polymarket trader pocketing more than $400,000 following the U.S. military's capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

The timing and subjects of such trades have fueled concerns about potential insider trading — with calls increasing among lawmakers for investigations. Popular platforms, including Polymarket, have rolled out added guardrails in efforts to combat insider trading recently, but critics say it isn't enough.

Meanwhile, because prediction market wagers are categorized differently than traditional forms of gambling, tensions about government oversight have erupted. President Donald Trump's administration has already thrown its support behind company operators — and sued three states over their efforts to regulate them further.

Here's what we know:

How prediction markets work

The scope of topics involved in prediction markets can range immensely. Recently, there’s been a surge of wages on elections and sports games. But some users have also bet millions on things like a rumored — and ultimately unrealized — “secret finale” for the Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” whether the U.S. government will confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life and how much billionaire Elon Musk might post on social media this month.

In industry-speak, what someone buys or sells in a prediction market is called an “event contract.” They're typically advertised as “yes” or “no” wagers. And the price of one fluctuates between $0 and $1, reflecting what traders are collectively willing to pay based on a 0% to 100% chance of whether they think an event will occur.

The more likely traders think an event will occur, the more expensive that contract will become. And as those odds change over time, users can cash out early to make incremental profits, or try to avoid higher losses on what they’ve already invested.

Proponents of prediction markets argue putting money on the line leads to better forecasts and allow you to gauge public opinion as an alternative to polling. And some think there's value in monitoring prediction markets for potential news, particularly elections.

Still, prediction markets can also be wrong. People investing their money may be closely following certain events, but others could just be randomly guessing.

Who is behind all of the trading is also pretty unclear.

The companies running today's biggest platforms know who their customers are — as they collect personal information to verify identities and payments. But most users can trade under anonymous pseudonyms on public-facing websites, making it difficult for the world to tell who is profiting off many event contracts.

Critics also stress that the ease and speed of joining these 24/7 wagers leads to financial losses everyday, particularly harming users who may already struggle with gambling.

The major players

Polymarket is one of the largest prediction markets in the world. Users can fund event contracts through cryptocurrency, debit or credit cards and bank transfers.

Restrictions vary by country, but in the U.S., the reach of these markets has expanded rapidly over recent years, coinciding with shifting policies out of Washington.

While prediction markets have found backing from the Trump-controlled Commodity Futures Trading Commission, former President Joe Biden was more aggressive in cracking down. Following a 2022 settlement with the CFTC, Polymarket was barred from operating in the country. That changed under Trump late last year, when Polymarket announced it would be returning to the U.S. after receiving clearance from the commission. American-based users can now join a “waitlist” to access the platform.

Meanwhile, Polymarket’s top competitor, Kalshi, has been a federally-regulated exchange since 2020. The platform offers similar ways to buy and sell event contracts as Polymarket — and it currently allows event contracts on elections and sports nationwide. Kalshi won court approval just weeks before the 2024 election to let Americans put money on upcoming political races and began to host sports trading last year.

The space is now crowded with other big names. Major League Baseball inked a deal with Polymarket last month, following other partnerships in professional hockey and soccer. Meanwhile, sports betting giants DraftKings and FanDuel have launched their own prediction platforms. Trump’s social media site Truth Social has also promised to offer an in-platform prediction market through a partnership with Crypto.com — and one of the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., holds advisory roles at both Polymarket and Kalshi.

Last month, The Associated Press agreed to sell its U.S. elections data to Kalshi.

Loose regulation and calls for reform

Because they’re positioned as selling event contracts, prediction markets are regulated by the CFTC. That means they can avoid state-level restrictions or bans in place for traditional gambling and sports betting today.

“It’s a huge loophole,” said Karl Lockhart, an assistant professor of law at DePaul University who has studied this space. “You just have to comply with one set of regulations, rather than (rules from) each state around the country.”

Sports betting is taking center stage. There are a handful of big states — like California and Texas, for example — where sports betting is still illegal, but people can now wager on games, athlete trades and more through event contracts.

A growing number of states and tribes are trying to stop this. But the Trump administration has already pushed back, maintaining that the CFTC has the sole authority to regulate prediction markets. Many lawyers expect litigation to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Despite overseeing trillions of dollars for the overall U.S. derivatives market, the CFTC is much smaller than the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates the securities industry. And at the same time event contracts are growing rapidly on prediction market platforms, there have been sizeable workforce cuts and leadership departures. CFTC chairman Michael Selig is the sole member filling just one of five commissioner slots.

Meanwhile, Congress members from both sides of the aisle have introduced broad legislation for more guardrails in recent months. Soon after, Kalshi — which has maintained that it's always banned insider trading — quickly moved to bar political candidates from trading on their own campaigns, and preemptively block anyone involved in college or professional sports from contracts related to the sports they play or are employed by. Polymarket rewrote its rules to clearly say users cannot trade on contracts where they might possess confidential information, or could influence the outcome of an event.

The CFTC can also bar event contracts related to war, terrorism and assassinations, which experts say could put some prediction market trades — including those related to the Iran war — on added shaky ground, at least in the U.S. Lawmakers like Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff are seeking an outright ban of these kinds of trades.

Still, users might find ways to buy certain contracts while traveling abroad, or through connecting to different VPNs.

RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook were to perform a set drawing from both their catalog and new fifth album, “ARIRANG," their first since band members completed South Korea's mandatory military service.

Despite pouring rain, the band's fans — including some hailing from Russia, the United States and Brazil — packed a stadium with a capacity for over 40,000 for the show, which marks the group’s first headline tour performance since their 2021–22 Permission to Dance on Stage tour.

Over a hundred fans, including some who had failed to get tickets, stood outside the stadium with umbrellas to listen to the band perform.

Kim Eunhee, a South Korean fan who came with her 30-year-old daughter, said the hope of attending a live BTS concert helped her power through her battle with cancer.

“Even during my hardest times last year while fighting it, this was the one thing I kept waiting for,” she said. "Coming to an actual concert venue and seeing them in person for the first time — it was just so meaningful.”

The shows in South Korea through Sunday launch a tour spanning dozens of shows across the United States, Europe and Asia, which analysts say could generate hundreds of million s of dollars in revenue per quarter.

The concert comes less than a month after BTS marked their comeback with a free concert at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square.

All seven members of BTS completed their mandatory military service, with Suga being the last to be discharged in June 2025. He reportedly served at government-related facilities and organizations instead of military camps due to a shoulder injury.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men between 18 and 28 years old are required by law to perform up to 21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.

“ARIRANG” — named after a centuries-old Korean folk song regarded as an unofficial anthem across the Korean peninsula — debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The single “Swim” also made it to the top of the charts.

BTS — short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, or “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” in Korean — debuted in June 2013. The seven-member group launched in 2013 with the hip-hop heavy single album “2 Cool 4 Skool,” releasing three full-length projects before gaining momentum with their 2016 album “Wings.”

Their global breakthrough came in 2017 when “DNA” entered the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the first Korean boy band to achieve such a feat. The song’s success was followed by a performance at the American Music Awards, further fueling their international fan base called “Army.”

The tour is scheduled to bring the group to Australia in early 2027, with a final stop in Manila, Philippines, next March.​

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This version corrects that all seven members completed their military service, instead of six of seven members.

The Penguins clinched a playoff spot Thursday night by beating New Jersey, ending their postseason drought that lasted three seasons. They had made 16 postseason appearances in a row before that, last missing in Sidney Crosby's rookie year in 2005-06, with that stretch including three Stanley Cup titles.

"That’s why you play — that’s the best time of year," Crosby said. “I know how hard it is. I think I understand that. We had some tough ones where it came down to the last day and didn’t get in, and you don’t ever know. But I thought right from camp, we’ve had those intentions and had that belief."

It was an up-and-down season that included an eight-game skid in December and a pair of six-game winning streaks later in the winter. Far from assured a place in the field in late March when the Eastern Conference race was a crowded mess, they've won five of six games since March 30 to get in.

“A couple weeks ago (we realized) it’s really in our hands (because we) play a lot of the teams in it,” defenseman Connor Clifton said. “We figured it was going to work itself out, and first and foremost it’s about us and getting points and we’ve done that, so it’s been good.”

It has also been a surprise. Pittsburgh was a 6-1 long shot to qualify before the puck dropped on opening night, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. This looked like one last kick at it together for an aging core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, who at 20 seasons together are the longest-tenured trio of teammates in North American professional sports.

Instead, new coach Dan Muse has made general manager Kyle Dubas look brilliant for hiring him from relative anonymity: five years as an assistant under Peter Laviolette with Nashville and the New York Rangers. Succeeding two-time Cup-winner Mike Sullivan was not an easy task, but Muse aced the test in his first chance to run an NHL bench.

“He’s been great: Calm there behind the bench, and he’s just a really personable guy, easy to talk to away from the rink,” forward Justin Brazeau said. "Any time you create that atmosphere in here, it’s not too tense or anything like that. I think guys are just willing to go out there and play free.”

Center Ben Kindel, picked 11th in the draft last year, made the team at 18. Defenseman Erik Karlsson thrived at 35. Crosby was a point-a-game player for a 21st consecutive season, even if it was interrupted by the injury that knocked him out of the Olympics.

“It takes everybody,” Crosby said. "Everybody has had a part in this. Obviously it’s a team game, but especially with this group: With the injuries and all the different guys in and out, everybody’s contributed to us getting there.”

Muse, like Crosby, saw evidence in training camp that this was a playoff-caliber team.

“I just saw the competitive nature of the group,” Muse said. "There’s ebbs and flows in every season, but I think this group has just continued to grow. Enjoy it for a little bit, a minute, and then it’s just continuing that preparation. It’s a big step for the group. I’m really proud of these guys, happy for these guys, the staff, everybody involved. The players have done a great job with it throughout the year. We talked about earning things at the beginning of the year. This group earned it.”

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AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Netanyahu later stressed that there was no ceasefire between them. In a video statement, he said Israel will keep striking Hezbollah until security is restored in northern Israel.

There was no immediate response from Lebanon. But Israel-Lebanon negotiations were expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter.

The prospect of talks appeared to bolster the tentative ceasefire in the Iran war that has staggered under the weight of Israel’s bombardment of Beirut, Tehran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over whether talks can find common ground.

However later Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the ceasefire, writing on his social media platform: “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“That is not the agreement we have!” Trump wrote of the trickle of ships Iran has allowed to pass through the crucial waterway.

Meanwhile, Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the ceasefire, as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom. The accusation from Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks between the U.S. and Iran this weekend.

Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency, quoting an anonymous official, said its crucial East-West pipeline, which carries oil out to the Red Sea and avoids the Strait of Hormuz, was damaged in the recent attacks.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states after Kuwait’s announcement.

Such an assault would mirror the continuing pressure campaign Tehran is waging on the U.S. and its allies, particularly amid efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel's announcement of negotiations with Lebanon comes amid disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and a day after Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began Feb. 28.

The launch of direct peace talks between the neighboring nations is a significant achievement, though reaching an agreement will be difficult after decades of hostilities, Hezbollah’s continued presence and longstanding disagreements over the countries' shared land border.

The talks in Washington are expected to be handled on the American side by the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, according to the person familiar with the planning.

It was not immediately clear who would represent Lebanon. The timing and location of the talks was first reported by Axios.

Pressure on ceasefire continues

After declaring victory with the ceasefire announcement, both Iran and the U.S. have appeared to apply pressure on each other. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran suggested forces have mined the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil that Tehran has closed. Trump warned that U.S. forces would hit Iran harder than before if it did not fulfill the agreement.

Underlining Iran’s continued control of the strait, a Botswana-flagged liquified natural gas tanker attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard, but suddenly turned around and headed back early Friday, ship-tracking data showed.

Questions also remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the strait, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Israel vows to continue striking Hezbollah in Lebanon

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned in a social media post Thursday that continued Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses.”

Qalibaf has been discussed as a possible negotiator who could meet U.S. Vice President JD Vance this weekend in Islamabad. The White House has said Vance would lead the delegation for talks starting Saturday.

Iran had said Israel's ongoing attacks on Hezbollah were violating the ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu and Trump have said they were not.

Trump said Thursday that he has asked Netanyahu to dial back the strikes in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 300 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded Wednesday by Israeli strikes on central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon that Israel said targeted Hezbollah, which joined the war in support of Tehran.

Early Friday morning, Israel’s military said it struck approximately 10 launchers in Lebanon that had fired rockets toward northern Israel on Thursday.

Israel also said Thursday it killed Ali Yusuf Harshi, an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem. There was no Hezbollah comment.

Threat of mines looms over the strait

Four tankers and three bulk carriers crossed through the strait Thursday, bringing the total number of ships passing through since the ceasefire to at least 12, according to the data firm Kpler.

Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war — a message that may be intended to pressure the U.S.

The chart, released by the ISNA news agency and Tasnim, showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the route ships take through the strait, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas once passed.

The head of the United Arab Emirates’ major oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, said some 230 ships loaded with oil were waiting to get through the strait and must be allowed "to navigate this corridor without condition.”

The strait’s de facto closure has caused oil prices to skyrocket — affecting the cost of gasoline, food and other basics far beyond the Middle East. The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $98 Thursday, up about 35% since the war began.

Fate of Iran’s enriched uranium remains a question

The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war — was unclear. The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, buried in last year's U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, though Tehran did not confirm that. In one version of the ceasefire deal that Iran published, it said it would be allowed to continue enrichment.

The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, said Thursday that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is “necessary” for any ceasefire talks.

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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong, Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Will Weissert in Washington, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.

The Board of Immigration Appeals issued the final order of removal on Thursday, according to Khalil's lawyers. The board’s rulings are not public, and an inquiry to the U.S. Department of Justice was not immediately returned.

Khalil said he was not surprised by the ruling, which he called “biased and politically motivated.” His attorneys said he cannot be lawfully detained or deported as he pursues a separate case in the federal court system.

“The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine — and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it,” Khalil said in a statement.

The Board of Immigration Appeals sets precedent in the byzantine immigration court system, which is controlled by the Department of Justice — and increasingly under the influence of the Trump administration.

Khalil, a 31-year-old legal permanent resident, was the first person whose arrest became publicly known during the federal crackdown on noncitizens who publicly criticized Israel and its actions in Gaza.

The government has claimed that Khalil's efforts as a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia were “aligned to Hamas.” They have not presented evidence of any connection to the terrorist group, and Khalil has adamantly denied allegations of antisemitism.

After his arrest last March, Khalil spent 104 days in an immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before he was ordered released by a federal judge in New Jersey.

Khalil suffered a significant setback in his federal case earlier this year, with a U.S. appeals panel ruling the judge in New Jersey overstepped his authority by releasing him. In a 2-1 decision, the panel found that law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts before Khalil can challenge the decision in federal court.

Khalil’s lawyers are requesting the full appeals panel reconsider the decision. Earlier this month, they asked one of the appellate panel’s judges to step aside because of his previous role as a top Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters.

Khalil was born in Syria to a Palestinian family and holds Algerian citizenship through a distant relative. He has said that he could be targeted, and even killed, if he is deported.

Waking up to a humid and warm morning with lows in the low 70s. Forecast highs will be in the lower-80s.

Watch for scattered downpours during the heat of the day. Most of the rain activity comes to an end just before sunset.

Weekend Forecast:

More chances of isolated to scattered storms in our forecast this weekend. Sunday, the best chance for storms will likely stay well west of Harris County.

The Piney Woods and Brazos Valley are included in the flood risk area, as an upper-level energy system helps produce heavy downpours.

Extended forecast:

We’re tracking temperatures in the 80s in our 10 day with rain chances increasing the next few days.

He's the Masters champion. That brought a measure of patience and a load of freedom.

“I just trusted that eventually I’ll start to make some good swings. So that was a little different,” McIlroy said after opening with a 5-under 67, his best start at Augusta National in 15 years, to share the lead with Sam Burns.

It seems as though McIlroy has been wearing his Masters green jacket all week — to the weekend activities, to his news conference on Tuesday (Tiger Woods never did that), to the Masters Club dinner that night. And after his opening round?

“It’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on at the end of the day,” he said.

It wasn't his best golf, but he got everything out of his round in his bid to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back at Augusta National.

“By the way, Rory may never lose this thing again after last year,” Fred Couples said he told his caddie when he heard another cheer, presumably for McIlroy.

Only one other player in the last 10 years — Hideki Matsuyama when he won in 2021 — shot 67 while hitting only five fairways. McIlroy was the sixth defending champion to have at least a share of the 18-hole lead, though only Jack Nicklaus (1966) went on to win.

There's a long way to go, and a course that already has everyone's attention because of how fast and firm it already was on Thursday.

Burns was among the early starters. He played the par 5s with three birdies and an eagle and wound up with his lowest score in his fifth Masters appearance.

“Historically, people who have success here play the par 5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world going for a third green jacket in the last five years, was 3 under through three holes in the tougher afternoon, when the light gusts began playing tricks and the greens got crispy. He had one bogey and 14 pars the rest of the way for a 70.

The whole day was tough, and the forecast — this could be the first Masters in 25 years without any rain — has everyone on edge thinking what the next three days could hold. Yes, the weather was gorgeous. But dry and firm conditions are scary, even in this marvelous garden.

“It’s not right on the edge, but it’s playing nice and firm where you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you lose control somewhere,” Adam Scott said after a 72.

Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion and a two-time winner on the European tour this year, was at 69 along with Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama. Reed was atop the leaderboard for so much of the day due to two eagles on the front nine that sent him out in 31.

But he dropped a shot on the 10th, and then was flummoxed by what he thought was an ideal shot for his second into the par-5 15th. Such are the firmness of the greens that his shot hit hard off the back of the green, bounded down the slope and didn't stop rolling until it was in the pond on No. 16.

“Water?” Reed asked his caddie as he looked toward the green. “It landed on the green.”

He later described it as a “head-scratcher.”

“I knew if it went over the green, we would be fine,” Reed said. “Didn’t really think I was going to go 30 yards over the green.”

Justin Rose, twice a playoff loser in the Masters, was in range of the lead until he dropped three shots over the last five holes and had to settle for a 70, tied with Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry.

The greens are already are so firm that Rose quipped, “You might get a yellow jacket if you win.” That was a reference to the shade of the greens — a yellow sheen means firm and fast, and that color on Thursday can make players nervous.

Augusta National can still take a bite out of anyone with enough swirling gusts to bring indecision, or bad shots that wind up in the wrong spot.

Bryson DeChambeau found that out on the 11th hole when he put his approach in the right bunker and it took him three to get out on his way to a 76. Jon Rahm turned potential birdie or better into a double bogey with a shot into the azalea bushes on the par-5 13th. He didn't make a birdie in his 78.

Only five players broke 70, and only 16 players broke par, the lowest in five years at the Masters for the opening round.

Ten players failed to break 80. One of them was Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, the No. 8 player in the world. He was among three players to take quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 15th.

McIlroy wasn't sure want to expect in his 18th appearance, his first as the Masters champion. Only twice had he started with rounds in the 60s, his best a 65 in 2011. That year, he went on to shoot 80 on the final day.

There were still nerves. It's still Augusta National.

“My hope was to get off to a solid start,” he said. “I feel like the way I played, 5 under, exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do.”

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

Bambaataa’s sudden death was met with an outpouring of condolences from friends, family and fans across the world, who paid tribute to his profound and unmistakable impact on one of the world’s most popular and politically influential music genres. But others have said that his impact was overshadowed in recent years after numerous men who knew Bambaataa when they were boys accused him of sexual abuse.

The rapper and producer is best known for breakthrough tracks like 1982’s “Planet Rock” and for founding the Universal Zulu Nation art collective.

“Hip Hop will never be the same without him -- but everything hip hop is today, it is because of him. His spirit lives in every beat, every cypher and every corner of this globe he touched,” his talent agency, Naf Management Entertainment, wrote in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The birthplace of hip hop

Bambaataa was Lance Taylor born in 1957 in the South Bronx, and he came of age at a time when the New York City neighborhood was rapidly deteriorating after intensifying segregation and years of economic neglect. By the 1970s and 1980s, landlords were burning apartment buildings to collect insurance money instead of investing in repairs, leaving low-income mostly Puerto Rican and Black families without socioeconomic opportunity.

Bambaataa had Jamaican and Barbadian heritage, and he was raised in a low-income public housing complex by his mother, according to an interview he gave Frank Broughton in 1998. He was exposed to music at an early age through his mother's vinyl record collection.

The ability to repurpose and mix old hits became one of his signatures at the parties he began to throw in community centers across the neighborhood in the early 1970s, Bambaataa said in the interview. He was deeply inspired by the work of Kool Herc, who is often deemed the father of hip-hop.

Bambaataa and the parties where he DJ’ed swelled in popularity throughout the decade and well into the 1980s, when he released a series of electro tracks that helped shaped the burgeoning hip-hop and electro-funk music movements. He also was one of the first DJs to use beat breaks, incorporating the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine.

"We was playin’ everything, everything that was funky," he said. He later added that what set his parties apart was that “other DJs would play they great records for fifteen, twenty minutes. We was changing ours every minute or two. I couldn’t have no breakbeat go longer than a minute or two.”

At that time, Bambaataa said in previous interviews that he was able to leverage his affiliation with the local street gang the Black Spades in order to form a group he called the Zulu Nation, a nod to a South African ethnic group that he drew inspiration from. His slogan eventually became known as “peace, love, unity and having fun," and he said that he sought to use hip-hops' ballooning popularity to resolve local gang conflicts.

Later, Bambaataa changed the name to the Universal Zulu Nation to signal the inclusion of “all people from the planet earth.”

“At the core our music made people feel like they belong to a movement and not a moment, our music offered Hope something positive to believe in, it gave people identity, unity, and a way out,” Ellis Williams, a producer known as Mr. Biggs, wrote in an email to the AP. Mr. Biggs was a member of the group Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force that included Bambaataa.

Accused of sexual abuse

In recent years, numerous people have accused Bambaataa of sexual abuse.

In 2016, Bronx political activist and former music industry executive Ronald Savage accused Bambaataa of abusing him in 1980, when he was Savage was a young teen.

“I was scared, but at the same time I was like, ’This is Afrika Bambaataa,' ” Savage told the AP in 2016. At the time he recalled, in detail, that encounter and four others that he said followed.

Bambaataa has vehemently denied those allegations.

After Savage went public with his claims, numerous other men came forward to share similar experiences about Bambaataa. In June 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation released a public letter apologizing to “the survivors of apparent sexual molestation by Bambaataa" saying that some members of the group knew about the abuse but “chose not to disclose” it.

"We extend our deepest and most sincere apologies to the many people who have been hurt,” organization wrote.

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Associated Press writer Maria Sherman contributed reporting from New York City.

The team announced that the surgery had been completed as the 76ers were playing the Houston Rockets Thursday night. Coach Nick Nurse said Embiid felt fine in practice on Wednesday before he learned of the situation Thursday morning.

“They had said that he had in the middle of the night, like 3, 3:30 (a.m.) or something, contacted them to say he was not feeling well,” Nurse said. “And so I think that’s kind of when this particular incident started.”

Nurse said the team learned of Embiid's diagnosis while preparing for the game.

“They finally got him to the doctor and they had the scan and then decided they needed to do the surgery here in Houston,” Nurse said.

The coach did not give a timetable for Embiid's return, but it seems unlikely that the former MVP would be able to return for the play-in tournament or the first round of the playoffs.

“It is a tough blow,” Nurse said.

The 76ers entered Thursday in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and on track for a spot in the play-in tournament, though they were only one game behind sixth-place Toronto.

Embiid has been limited to 38 games this season, sitting out primarily to manage injuries to his knees.

“They’ve played different stretches of the year without him,” Nurse said. “As far as what we do personnel-wise, we’ve got (Adem) Bona, we got (Andre) Drummond and we’ll use them both. And then hopefully we can use (Thursday) and (Friday) and Sunday get back to getting used to that scenario again.”

Embiid was held out against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. He has not played in both games of a back-to-back all season.

After missing Saturday's game, Embiid had 34 points and 12 rebounds in Philadelphia's 115-102 loss at San Antonio on Monday night.

Embiid, 32, is averaging 26.9 points and 7.7 rebounds this season after playing in only 19 games in 2024-25. He hasn't appeared in as many as 40 games in a regular season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and earned MVP honors.

Embiid expressed his frustrations with Daryl Morey, the 76ers' president of basketball operations, on Friday night for not allowing him to play at Washington last week.

“I was (ticked) off. I wanted to play basketball,” Embiid said. “I wasn’t allowed to play basketball, so I think this is more of a question of Daryl Morey or whoever makes the decisions.”

Nurse said it's on him to keep the team upbeat with the postseason approaching.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up,” he said. “I’m the leader of the team, I’ve got to pick the guys up and they’ll understand the situation and we’ve got to be professional and we’ve got to go try to figure it out the best we can.”

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

“To my friends in Midland, know this, I was not invited and knew nothing about this event,” he wrote, linking to a local news story recapping the event. “The good news is, actual conservatives around the state are rallying behind my campaign despite the dirty tricks of RINOs.”

However, an official with the Midland County Republican Women, which hosted the event on Wednesday, said he had been invited.

Rhonda Lacy, vice president of programs for the organization, said they reached out to French in advance, without success. On Jan. 20th, she sent an email to his campaign website, the only way she had to reach him at the time.

Despite repeated attempts to reach him via calls, texts and emails since January, Lacy, who has served in some capacity with the club for 50 years, did not hear back from him.

“I emailed him. I called him and texted him on numerous occasions,” Lacy said in a phone call with The Texas Tribune. “My integrity and the integrity of the Midland County Republican Women has been attacked. I do not cheat, I do not lie, I’m very fair. We ask all Republicans who run in a primary or a runoff.”

Lacy said the organization has held meetings and events related to the primary elections since September. The club, Lacy said, held a forum specifically about the runoff between French and Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright. Multiple candidates, including those running for attorney general, the Court of Criminal Appeals, agriculture commissioner, county commissioners and judges, have attended the club’s events since then, she said.

“I’ve used every means possible to contact a candidate,” Lacy said.

It is the club’s policy to attempt to host candidates, Lacy said. When the primaries are over, they back the candidate who wins the primary.

French faces Wright again for the GOP nomination on May 26. The incumbent currently presides over the three-panel board of commissioners of the powerful, highly influential state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry. 

Formerly the head of the Tarrant County Republican Party, French announced his bid for the commission in November. He’s pledged to end what he calls the politicization of the agency, which he said is rife with diversity policies and insufficient safeguards against Islam and the Chinese Communist Party.

French, who has used his social media accounts as a megaphone to rail against national flashpoint issues such as immigration and LGBTQ+ people, has been the beneficiary of a political action committee predominantly funded by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. The PAC, called Texas Freedom for the Advancement of Justice, contributed $375,000 to French’s campaign, nearly half of what he amassed.

French did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sided with The New York Times for the second time in a month. He had earlier said the Pentagon's new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. On Thursday, he said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's team had tried to evade his March 20 ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts.

“The department simply cannot reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” Friedman wrote.

Friedman had ordered Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and stressed that his decision applies to “all regulated parties.” The Pentagon building serves as the headquarters for U.S. military operations.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said it disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal. Parnell said in a social media post that the department has “at all times” complied with judge's orders, reinstating journalists' credentials and issuing "a materially revised policy that addressed every concern" identified by the judge.

“The Department remains committed to press access at the Pentagon while fulfilling its statutory obligation to ensure the safe and secure operation of the Pentagon Reservation,” he wrote.

Times attorney Theodore Boutrous said Thursday’s ruling “powerfully vindicates both the Court’s authority and the First Amendment’s protections of independent journalism.”

A dispute brewing since October

In October, reporters from mainstream news outlets walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules. The Times sued the Pentagon and Hegseth in December to challenge the policy.

President Donald Trump has fought against the press on several levels since returning to his second term, suing The Times and Wall Street Journal, and cutting funding for public radio and television because he did not like their coverage. At the same time, he frequently talks to the media and responds to reporters who call him on his cell phone.

In a series of briefings on the Iran War, Hegseth has frequently ignored or insulted legacy media reporters let in to cover the events, while concentrating on questions from friendly conservative media.

Times attorneys accused the Pentagon of violating the judge’s March 20 order, “both in letter and spirit” with its revised policy. The newspaper said that Pentagon was also trying to impose unprecedented rules dictating when reporters can offer anonymity to sources.

Friedman said that the access the Pentagon made available to permit holders “is not even close to as meaningful as the broad access” they previously had.

Government lawyers said the Pentagon’s revised policy fully complies with the judge’s directives. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has said the administration would appeal Friedman’s March 20 decision.

The Pentagon Press Association, which includes Associated Press reporters, said the Pentagon’s interim policy preserves provisions that Friedman deemed to be unconstitutional while also adding new restrictions on credential holders.

“In effect," Justice Department attorneys wrote, “Plaintiffs ask this Court to expand the Order to prohibit the Department from ever addressing the security of the Pentagon through a press credentialing policy with conditions that may address similar topics or concerns as the enjoined conditions. The Order does not say that, and this Court should not read it to say that.”

Current Pentagon press corps agreed to policy

The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Journalists from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, including from the AP, have continued reporting on the military from outside the Pentagon.

Friedman, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, said recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Iran underscore the need for public access to information about government activities.

“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech. That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now,” the judge wrote last month.

Friedman said the challenged policy is clearly designed to weed out “disfavored journalists” and replace them with those who are “on board and willing to serve” the administration.

“That," he wrote, “is viewpoint discrimination, full stop.”

After prodding China, which is more reliant on Persian Gulf oil than the U.S., to get involved in reopening the choked-off Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump told the French news outlet Agence France-Presse this week that he believed China played a part in encouraging Iran to agree to this week’s temporary truce.

Three diplomats who were familiar with China’s behind-the-scenes efforts also confirmed that Beijing, the biggest purchaser of Iranian oil, used its leverage to urge the Iranians back to the negotiating table.

It was a major moment for Beijing, which had decried the U.S. and Israel’s war against its economic partner Iran as misguided before getting directly involved in the push to call off the fighting, including discouraging strikes by Iran. Talks between the sides are expected to begin in Pakistan this weekend.

With the precarious truce hanging in the balance, China will now need to make a careful calculation about whether it will tread deeper into the waters of diplomacy as its weighs the impact that a long-lasting war could have on the global economy. Middle East turmoil goes against Beijing’s interests, while its efforts may boost its global standing and strengthen its hand in negotiating thorny trade issues during Trump’s visit to China next month.

“Beijing is not in the business of expending its leverage as a favor to others or for the greater good,” said Danny Russel, a former senior diplomat in President Barack Obama’s administration.

Iran war puts pressure on China’s economy

Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters this week that China “has worked actively to help bring about an end to the conflict.”

The Chinese economy is already feeling pressure from Iran’s effective shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of the world’s crude normally flows. The blockade is having an enormous impact on Asia, a factor that seems to have informed the Chinese government’s efforts to consult with Pakistan to help mediate a two-week ceasefire.

China does not appear interested in providing guarantees for Iran’s long-term security as part of a deal to end hostilities, something Tehran has hoped for and sees as critical to deterring the U.S and Israel from carrying out strikes in the future.

Iran’s ambassador to China suggested this week that its two closest allies — China and Russia — as well as the United Nations ensure the guarantee, which Tehran has sought before without success. Asked about that possibility, Mao would only say that “we hope that all parties will resolve their disputes through dialogue and negotiation.”

Still, Chinese officials are cognizant that a lasting war threatens to have real impact on Beijing’s bottom line. Premier Li Qiang announced last month that the government was projecting relatively modest 4.5% to 5% economic growth this year during a property slump and growing uncertainty around the globe. It’s the lowest growth target since 1991.

Ultimately, China’s foremost goal is “growth and development,” according to one of the diplomats familiar with Chinese deliberations on the war.

The diplomat, who like the others was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, added that a continued closure of the strait ran counter to that interest. It not only limits the flow of a significant supply of crude to China but also cuts off an important shipping lane for Chinese exports to the Mideast.

How Iran diplomacy could play into the Trump-Xi meeting

Trump will likely underscore that argument to Chinese President Xi Jinping during their much-anticipated Beijing summit next month. The talks, which were originally slated for this month, were pushed back so Trump could oversee the U.S. bombardment of Iran.

“That the United States and Iran have at least temporarily edged away from the precipice of a catastrophic escalation owes in part to China’s support for the ceasefire that Pakistan brokered,” said Ali Wyne, a senior research and advocacy adviser for U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “Even if short-lived, that breakthrough affords Beijing another opportunity to present itself as a stabilizing force and Washington as a reckless one.”

To be certain, China’s view is shaped by a heavy measure of skepticism.

Some in Beijing see Trump’s decision to launch the Iran war, as well as the military operation in January to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as being at least partially motivated by his strategy at containing China, diplomats say. Beijing was a major customer and investor in the South American country’s oil industry.

Privately, the Chinese have made clear that the U.S. and Iran would have to show compromise for a deal to coalesce. Beijing also is looking to press Trump to remove sanctions on Chinese companies doing business with Iran as part of a potential settlement, diplomats say.

The moment provides Xi some leverage at next month’s summit.

“Trump was in a crisis, and China helped,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. “The optics of that alone helps to lighten the mood and sweeten the pot.”

Russel, the former State Department official, says there are signs that Beijing sees Trump as weakened after the president didn’t follow through on his threat to obliterate Iranian power plants and other critical infrastructure if Iran didn’t end its blockade of Hormuz.

The hashtag #HeChickenedOut was trending on Chinese social media in posts about Trump, and China’s state media was promoting the message that he blinked in the face of Iranian resistance, Russel said.

Xi, for his part, appears to be approaching the moment carefully.

“Beijing’s calculation is wait-and-see, safeguard Chinese energy and commercial interests, avoid direct confrontation with the United States, stay on good terms with its important Gulf partners like Saudi Arabia and UAE, and work with whoever ends up running Iran when the dust settles,” Russel said.

Steve Bannon, who served as a senior adviser to Trump during his first term, said Trump will need to press Xi to buy in if he hopes to seal an enduring peace agreement with Iran.

“Who can actually make a deal and enforce a deal? I know one group of people who can do it, and they live in Beijing,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast this week. He added, “Let’s just go to Beijing and sit down with a guy who can actually make a deal — Xi — and enforce a deal.”

___

Amiri reported from the United Nations.

Reading an extraordinary statement at the White House, Melania Trump said she and her attorneys were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” in regards to her connections to the late financier, a convicted sex offender who leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she said. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”

The seemingly out-of-the-blue message came as her husband, President Donald Trump, and his administration had finally seemed to move past more than a year of controversy surrounding Epstein, especially as the Iran war had become all-consuming in Washington.

The first lady’s comments almost assuredly will serve to push the story back into the political spotlight even as the president urged the public and media to move on from the case.

Nick Clemens, a spokesperson for the first lady, said the West Wing was aware beforehand that she was making a statement. But he deferred to the West Wing on whether the content of what Melania Trump planned to say was known. The White House press office did not respond to requests for comment.

Calls for a congressional hearing for Epstein victims

The first lady spoke for about five minutes, reading her statement in the Grand Foyer, then walked away without taking questions. She did not go into detail on the accusations against her, but said they came from “individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name.”

She added that they were financially and politically motivated.

Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, with a chance to testify before lawmakers and have their stories entered into the congressional record.

“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”

Two of Epstein's accusers, Maria and Annie Farmer, said in a subsequent statement: “What we want is accountability, transparency, and justice.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and onetime fierce Trump supporter who resigned from Congress after a public falling out with the president, posted on X, “I am grateful to the First Lady for her brave statement today about Epstein and his victims.”

Democrats, meanwhile, jumped on Melania Trump's comments, saying they agreed with her call for a congressional hearing. In a social media post, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Epstein, called on the Republican chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer, to schedule a public hearing “immediately.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who sponsored a bill prompting the release of millions of Epstein documents, turned attention back to the Justice Department, saying it's the attorney general's job to bring in survivors for testimony. Massie, who has pressed for more arrests in the Epstein case, ended a social media post with a call to “PROSECUTE!”

Questions about Epstein's reach have loomed over the administration and divided Republicans, driving a wedge into Trump's MAGA base as some pressed for the government to release more files and prosecute figures linked to the financier.

The issue has dogged Trump and fractured some of his alliances, including the one with Greene. Trump dismissed the issue as a “Democrat hoax” but later signed a bill to release files from Epstein's case.

It was not clear what prompted the first lady to revive the issue. She noted that several individuals and organizations have had to apologize for their “lies about me.” Of the examples she cited, the most recent was in October.

In that case, book publisher HarperCollins UK apologized to the first lady and retracted passages from a book suggesting Epstein played a role in introducing her and Donald Trump.

Melania Trump mentioned her husband several times in her comments. She said Epstein did not introduce her to Trump, and that she met her future husband at a New York City party in 1998.

Email to Maxwell was 'trivial’

The first lady brought Epstein back to the forefront months after federal authorities released millions of pages of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Lawmakers complained when the Justice Department made only a limited release last month, but officials said more time was needed to review additional documents that were discovered and to ensure no sensitive information about victims was released.

Melania Trump said Thursday that she was not friends with Epstein or Maxwell, but was in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida. She described an email reply she sent to Maxwell as “casual correspondence” without elaborating.

“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note,” she said.

Among the documents released by the Justice Department was a brief email from 2002 with the sender and recipient blacked out. It begins, “Dear G!” and ends “Love, Melania,” and compliments the recipient on a magazine article about “JE.”

“I know you are very busy flying all over the world,” it says. “How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY.”

That email was sent the same month that a New York Magazine article was published about Epstein in which Trump called him a “terrific guy.”

Among other documents released was an image from Epstein’s home showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Maxwell.

Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves in Washington and Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

Researchers at Colorado State University released their 2026 Atlantic hurricane season forecast this morning, something they do every year ahead of the June 1 start of the season. And historically, CSU has a strong track record when it comes to getting the overall activity level right.

The numbers

CSU is forecasting:

• 13 named storms
• 6 hurricanes
• 2 major hurricanes

For context, an average Atlantic season produces:

• 14 named storms
• 7 hurricanes
• 3 major hurricanes

So this year is shaping up to be slightly below average overall.

Why this season looks the way it does

Two big factors are driving this forecast: warm sea-surface temperatures and a developing El Niño. Warmer water typically supports a more active season, but El Niño usually suppresses tropical activity. That tug-of-war is why this season is expected to land around average (or slightly below) instead of extremely active.

Warm sea-surface temperatures:

Right now, ocean temperatures across the Gulf and Atlantic are running above average.

That matters because:

• Warm water is fuel for hurricanes
• It helps storms develop faster and strengthen more easily

Potential El Niño influence

At the same time, we’re watching the potential development of El Niño later in the season.

El Niño tends to:

• Increase wind shear over the Atlantic
• Disrupt storm organization
• Make it harder for hurricanes to strengthen and form

What matters most for Houston

Even if the season ends up quiet overall… that does not mean Houston is in the clear.

A perfect example is the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season. That year, we saw only 4 named storms all season, making it the least active season of the satellite era (since 1966). That year, there was only one major hurricane, but that hurricane was Hurricane Alicia

Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston as a Category 3 hurricane that caused billions of dollars in damage across SE Texas and left hundreds of thousands without power.

So forecasts like this are great for understanding the big picture, but they only tell you how busy the entire Atlantic basin might be. They don’t tell you where storms will go. And for Houston, history is clear: it only takes one storm.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked two historic moments: Chappelle's restoration of the Union Schoolhouse and WYSO's relocation of its new broadcast facility inside it, bringing together distinct efforts to keep the station rooted in Yellow Springs at a time when local media outlets face mounting challenges.

“It’s like our lifeblood in the community,” Chappelle told The Associated Press about the station, recalling how its possible departure to nearby Dayton would have been “a crushing blow” for Yellow Springs.

More than 200 people gathered outside the former Union Schoolhouse, where Chappelle attended along with his wife, mother, station leaders and village officials, including Yellow Springs Mayor Steve McQueen and Dayton Mayor Shenise Turner-Sloss, to celebrate the opening the schoolhouse and the 68-year-old station into its next chapter.

The Union Schoolhouse was originally built in 1872 and once served as one of the village’s earliest integrated schools before later housing municipal offices and small businesses. After sitting vacant for years, it was purchased in 2020 by Chappelle’s real estate company, Iron Table Holdings.

The property has since been transformed into a modern, multiuse space, with WYSO occupying the lower floors, while Chappelle’s offices will be based on the top floor.

For Chappelle, the investment was as much about preservation as development.

“If you have the opportunity like I did, to invest in your community, then it’s one of the greatest investments I’ve ever made,” he said. “In some ways it feels dutiful. Other times I feel proud. ... but ultimately, I'm doing it because I want to, not because I have to.”

The move comes at a time when local media outlets across the country face shrinking resources, shifting audiences and increased competition from digital platforms.

Chappelle said stations like WYSO serve as a stabilizing force. He described it as “a beacon for sanity,” offering “a solid baseline of truth in context” in an increasingly fragmented information landscape.

“I grew up listening to WYSO since high school, and they’ve always been here connecting to the people,” said Mark Willis, a Yellow Springs resident. “They’re not out of a big city. They’re not subject to censorship by a sponsor. They tell the truth, they tell the stories, and it’s rare these days. To see them growing instead of shrinking is beautiful.”

Rather than simply donate funds, Chappelle financed the redevelopment of the building itself, allowing the station to remain locally rooted while maintaining editorial independence.

“Dave has never made a suggestion about our programming,” said Luke Dennis, general manager at WYSO. He said the new facility transforms how the station connects with the public, offering performance space, gathering areas and expanded capacity for programming.

“We belong to the community,” Dennis said.

Public radio stations in smaller markets have faced mounting pressure in recent years, from funding challenges to audience fragmentation.

Dennis said the investment positions WYSO differently. “We’re in a place of strength,” he said.

Yellow Springs has long been central to Chappelle’s life. Though he grew up in Maryland, he spent summers in the village, where his late father worked as the dean of students at Antioch College.

Now living on a 39-acre farm with his wife and their three children, Chappelle has become deeply embedded in the town. He has invested in local properties, opened a comedy club in the downtown area and hosted events that draw national attention, including performances in a nearby cornfield during the pandemic.

Chappelle has also taken an active role in local affairs, speaking at town meetings and supporting community initiatives.

As residents gathered and later filtered through the restored building, the moment marked more than a ribbon-cutting.

“I'm more determined and inspired that these institutions flourish and stay of the people,” Chappelle said after the ceremony. “The only way they can do that is the people supporting them. I'm hopeful more than worried."

A short time later, a teacher was taken into custody and charged in connection with the incident, which investigators later described as a “hoax.”

OUR FIRST REPORT: Teacher charged after false assault report prompts lockdown at Splendora High School

Authorities said it involved a self-inflicted wound with a sharp object by the teacher.

Nicole Truelove, 53, has been charged with filing a false report and felony tampering with evidence.

Additional images of Truelove were provided to KPRC 2 by Grizzy’s Hood News.

2017 case involving Truelove

This is not the first time Truelove has been involved in a high-profile incident.

In 2017, KPRC 2 reported that she publicly came forward as an alleged victim of sexual assault while working as a teacher inside the Ferguson Unit, a state prison near Huntsville.

2017 ARTICLE: Teacher raped by 4-time felon after class at Ferguson Unit, attorney says

On Thursday, officials confirmed to KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding that the situation involved the same woman.

Truelove said a four-time felon attacked her inside her classroom after hiding behind a door.

She claimed he grabbed her by the hair, slammed her against the door, and raped her. According to her account, there were no guards or cameras present at the time.

She said the incident happened after she had previously written the inmate up for inappropriate sexual behavior in class.

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At the time, Truelove expressed frustration that no charges had been filed in the case weeks after the alleged assault.

“I have done everything everyone has asked me to do for the last month, and nothing has happened,” she said.

Federal court filings indicate that the man accused of the sexual assault filed a complaint against her in response, saying she “deliberately and intentionally” advised law enforcement with “misleading information.”

The inmate involved in the incident was acquitted on aggravated sexual assault charges but was found guilty on assault on a public servant and retaliation charges related to the incident.

Truelove sued the State, and a settlement was reached.

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Truelove’s previous arrests

According to Texas DPS records, Truelove was arrested on theft charges in March 1990 and April 1991. She was sentenced to 180 days of probation in both cases.

Then in June 2015, Truelove was arrested for theft for a third time, Cleveland Police Department confirmed. A mugshot from the third arrest was posted in public records.

Teacher’s history at SHS

According to the Texas Education Agency, Truelove teaches social studies for grades 8–12.

Law enforcement officials said she had worked in Splendora ISD for one year and is still listed as a teacher on the school’s online staff directory.

KPRC 2’s Gage Goulding spoke with a senior at SHS, who said she had never interacted with Truelove but had seen her lose her patience with students before.

• Houston Controller: City ‘nowhere close’ to balanced budget

“I’ve never talked to her, but I have seen her yell at a couple of kids in the hallways, telling them things,” the student said. “It was just getting onto them about like being in the hallways or IDs or something like that.”

Thursday afternoon, KPRC 2 learned that the TEA had opened an investigation against Truelove.

The Trump administration proposed easing standards for monitoring and protecting groundwater near some coal ash sites, and rolling back rules that require the cleanup of entire coal properties rather than just the sites where ash was dumped. The revisions would also make it easier to reuse coal ash for other purposes.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposal reflects the agency's "commitment to restoring American energy dominance, strengthening cooperative federalism, and accommodating unique circumstances at certain (coal) facilities.”

Burning coal produces tremendous amounts of ash, a waste product that contains heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cobalt. If not stored properly, coal ash can contaminate groundwater. Coal plants are often situated on the banks of rivers or other waterways, with waste ash sitting nearby.

Opponents say the proposal, which grants states and other regulators the ability to grant exemptions from national standards, may open the door for companies to leave coal ash sitting in groundwater.

The Biden-era EPA in 2022, for example, rebuffed the Gen. James Gavin Power Plant in southern Ohio for trying to close a coal ash disposal site that the agency said was in contact with groundwater. In January 2025, with Trump back in the White House, coal industry entities asked Zeldin to revise the agency's stance on the issue.

“Opening the door to leaving ash in groundwater undermines one of the central protections of this rule, and that's essentially what this does,” said Nick Torrey, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit.

The agency’s proposal does state that an owner would be required to ensure that the ash “poses no reasonable probability of adverse effects on human health and the environment.”

The Biden-era coal ash protections also required the cleanup of places like the Michigan City Generating Station in Indiana, by Lake Michigan. Local activists are worried about the land created at the site, which is composed in part of coal ash. The 2024 rules set deadlines for cleanup.

At Michigan City and many other sites, standards to clean up the coal ash used to make land would be eliminated under the agency's proposal.

The proposed rule also seeks to lift restrictions on the use of coal ash — called “beneficial use” by the EPA — in secondary materials such as cement and as structural fill.

The agency also said that industry and others have said the health risks from coal ash were overstated in previous EPA assessments. Federal officials said the estimated cost savings were more than enough to justify the proposed changes.

The owners of Gavin Power Plant declined to comment. The owners of Michigan City Generating Station did not immediately comment.

The Utility Solid Waste Activities Group “appreciates EPA’s efforts to address the significant challenges our members are facing in implementing” the existing regulations, John Mavretich, executive director of the industry association, said in a statement.

He added the group “supports changes that move away from the existing ‘one-size-fits-all’ framework and incorporate site-specific flexibility, an approach that is common in other environmental programs.”

The genesis of these rules and current context

The EPA first set standards for coal ash during the Obama administration. They included requirements for companies to line new storage sites, monitor water and close leaky ponds, often requiring the material to be moved elsewhere. In 2024, then-President Joe Biden’s administration eliminated exemptions that had been granted to some older coal ash sites.

The move is the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to weaken clean air and water standards as part of regulatory relief for the fossil fuel industry. It's also in line with Republican President Donald Trump's efforts to boost U.S. coal and suppress cleaner alternatives, all the while declaring a “national energy emergency.”

The coal industry has argued that a host of stringent rules that raise the cost of operating a coal plant prematurely push them into retirement.

A coalition of coal and energy associations wrote last year: “EPA's recent unprecedented expansion of the federal (coal ash) regulations has needlessly diverted funds from the power sector's efforts to meet the Nation's growing energy needs; increased costs for power companies and consumers without corresponding benefits to public health or the environment."

Disasters first prompted the EPA to regulate coal ash. The agency started looking into the problem after a dike failed in Tennessee in 2008, spreading coal ash over 300 acres or 120 hectares and forcing a massive cleanup. Workers involved in that effort said the ash exposure caused cancers. In 2014, tens of thousands of tons spilled in North Carolina.

“The Trump administration just took a sledgehammer to the health protections in place for toxic coal pollution," said Lisa Evans, senior counsel at environmental group Earthjustice. "This is yet another handout to the coal power industry at the expense of our health, water, and wallets."

In other moves, the EPA earlier this year weakened limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants. The Trump administration has also halted the planned shutdown of several coal plants, citing the need for consistent power during major storms or periods of high demand, and arguing that without it, the grid would be less reliable.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

In a nearly five-minute clip that is part of a longer interview scheduled to air on Sunday, journalist Kristen Welker asked Díaz-Canel if he would be “willing to step down if it meant saving Cuba. ”

Before answering, Díaz-Canel asked if she had ever posed that question to any other president in the world: “Is that a question from you, or is that coming from the State Department of the U.S. government?”

Díaz-Canel added: “In Cuba, the people who are in leadership position are not elected by the U.S. government, and they don’t have a mandate from the U.S. government. We have a free sovereign state.”

He said he became president not out of a “personal ambition or corporate ambition or even a party ambition,” but because of a mandate by the people.

“If the Cuban people understand that I am not fit for office, that I have no reason to be here, then I should not be holding this position of president, I will respond to them,” he said.

The interview comes as tensions between Cuba and the U.S. remain high despite both sides acknowledging talks, although no details have been shared.

Díaz-Canel accused the U.S. government of implementing a “hostile policy” against Cuba and said it has “no moral to demand anything from Cuba.”

He said the U.S. should recognize how much the policies have cost the Cuban people “and how much they have deprived the American people from a normal relationship with the Cuban people.”

Díaz-Canel noted that Cuba is interested in engaging in dialogue and discussing any topic without conditions, “not demanding changes from our political system as we are not demanding change from the American system, about which we have a number of doubts.”

Cuba blames a U.S. energy blockade for its deepening woes, with a lack of petroleum affecting the island’s health system, public transportation and the production of goods and services.

In late March, a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil arrived in Cuba, marking the island’s first oil shipment in three months. Russia has promised to send a second tanker.

Despite threatening tariffs in early January on countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump allowed the tanker to proceed.

“Cuba’s finished,” Trump said at the time. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it consumes, and it stopped receiving key oil shipments from Venezuela after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then leader.

The controversy centers around Harris County Civil Court Judge Nathan Milliron, who drew widespread attention after videos surfaced showing a tense exchange with an IT worker and attorneys inside his courtroom.

• ‘Get out of my courtroom’: Houston judge faces scrutiny over viral courtroom clip

Following that incident, attorney James Stafford emailed the judge, urging him to apologize. In response, Milliron ordered Stafford to appear in court at 8 a.m. on April 9.

Stafford refused, saying the order was not legally valid.

“The email is not a valid order, it has no legal enforcement,” Stafford previously told KPRC 2.

Attorneys show up in support

While Stafford did not attend Thursday’s hearing, more than a dozen attorneys — including members of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA) — showed up in support and to monitor the situation.

KPRC 2’s Jaewon Jung was at the courthouse as events unfolded.

View this post on Instagram

At 8:09 a.m., the courtroom doors remained locked, despite the judge’s directive for an 8 a.m. appearance. The courtroom eventually opened around 8:30 a.m.

Attorneys said their presence was intentional.

“If the judge wanted to do something because Mr. Stafford didn’t show up, we wanted to be here because there are certain procedures that would have to be followed,” said Brent Mayr, president of the HCCLA.

No action was taken against Stafford.

“It appears that no action is going to be taken, no further action anyway,” said Wade Smith, chair of the organization’s Strike Force Committee. “I think our purpose is largely done.”

• ONLY ON 2: Records show viral Harris County judge was sued by own client in 2021 for malpractice

Concerns over ‘judicial overreach’

Smith said the group became involved because they believed the judge’s actions raised serious legal concerns.

“It struck us as being a great judicial overreach and unlawful,” Smith said.

He also pushed back on the judge’s claim that Stafford’s email constituted improper communication.

“There was no ex parte communication… everything about that was wrong,” Smith said. “That is constitutionally protected First Amendment speech.”

The group said it typically does not intervene in civil court matters, but made an exception in this case due to the circumstances.

• Teacher cuts herself, blames student in hoax attack at Splendora High School, police say

Judge’s behavior under scrutiny

Inside the courtroom, Milliron appeared calm and professional throughout the morning proceedings, according to observers.

“He appeared to me very pleasant to everybody that went before him today,” Smith said. “That doesn’t surprise me when he’s got lots of eyeballs on him.”

Still, attorneys say concerns about the judge’s temperament remain.

“When judges… disrespect court staff… or try to drag people into court, we’re going to stand up,” Mayr said.

• Road rage shooting near Beltway 8 leaves 1 dead, 1 hospitalized

Calls for apology — but none issued

As of Thursday, Judge Milliron had not issued a public statement or apology regarding the viral incident or the order involving Stafford.

Attorneys say that’s what sparked this situation in the first place.

“That’s what James Stafford wanted from the very beginning — an apology to this employee that he treated with utter disrespect,” Mayr said.

Mayr added the judge should go further.

“I think he owes an apology to Mr. Stafford and to the people of Harris County,” he said.

View this post on Instagram

What happens next

The morning’s relative calm doesn’t mean the story is over. The HCCLA confirmed it has not filed a judicial complaint against Milliron but says others have. The organization plans to continue monitoring the situation.

“If there’s any problems, we will not hesitate to step up,” Mayr said.

As for whether the judge could face removal from office, attorneys say that process exists — but is difficult.

“There’s procedures for doing that… they’re very difficult to accomplish,” Mayr said.

For now, attorneys say they are watching closely to see whether Milliron’s behavior changes moving forward.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday, said the investigation is “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”

The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The NFL has not received a notification that the league is being investigated, according to two other people with knowledge of the situation. Those people spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on possible legal matters.

The investigation comes amid increasing federal scrutiny of the amount of money fans are paying to watch sports on television. The Federal Communications Commission, for example, is seeking public comments on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services.

The NFL said in a statement Thursday that over 87% of its games are available on broadcast television, including all that are played in a team's local market.

“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment industry. The 2025 season was our most viewed since 1989 and reflects the strength of the NFL distribution model and its wide availability to all fans,” the league said in its statement.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights, wrote a letter to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on March 3 urging them to review whether the NFL’s distribution methods are in line with the Sports Broadcasting Act, which grants limited antitrust immunity to allow teams to collectively license game broadcasts to national networks.

“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption. Instead of a small number of free broadcast networks, the NFL now licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable networks, and technology companies operating under different business models,” the Republican senator wrote. “To the extent collectively licensed game packages are placed behind subscription paywalls, these arrangements may no longer align with the statutory concept of sponsored telecasting or the consumer-access rationale underlying the antitrust exemption.”

Lee said in his letter that football fans spent almost $1,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions. Forbes estimated the cost of watching every NFL game via streaming last season at $765.

The NFL aired games last season on CBS, NBC, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV.

The league averages nearly $11 billion per season in revenue from its media deals. That could increase since the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media allows the league to renegotiate its deal with CBS.

The rights deals go through 2033 with most outlets and 2034 with ESPN. The league has an opt-out clause after the 2029 season, which it is likely to exercise since 83 of the top 100 broadcasts last year were NFL games, according to Nielsen.

The Sports Broadcasting Act exemption passed in 1961 applies only to broadcast television. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming.

The law includes a rule allowing blackouts of local games, which still applies to out-of-market packages sold by the league. The NFL ended local TV blackouts, which applied to games within 75 miles of a team’s market if they did not sell out 72 hours before kickoff, after the 2014 season.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings from the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB on whether antitrust exemptions should still be granted for coordinating their broadcast television rights.

All four of the major North American professional sports leagues have deals with streaming platforms.

In 2024, a jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and awarded $4.7 billion in damages.

A federal judge overturned the verdict in the class-action lawsuit because the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the “Sunday Ticket” package on DirecTV of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons.

Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could have been liable for $14,121,779,833.92.

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

The culprit is volatile oil and jet fuel prices, which have spiked sharply since the war in the Middle East began and fighting near the Strait of Hormuz created a chokepoint for global oil supplies.

“Volatility is the real story here,” said Shye Gilad, a former airline captain who now teaches at Georgetown University's business school. “Right now, the airlines are trying to make bets on what they think will happen in the future."

Airlines are responding cautiously, trimming schedules and adjusting prices in ways that experts say will ripple unevenly across the market but ultimately affect nearly every type of traveler.

Budget airlines and the customers who rely on them are likely to feel the pinch first and most acutely, experts say, but even travelers in premium cabins won’t escape the higher prices and less convenient schedules.

Oil prices have swung wildly in recent weeks, briefly topping $119 a barrel at one point, plunging Wednesday below $95 on news of a two-week ceasefire that temporarily reopened the Strait of Hormuz, and then climbing back toward $100 on Thursday as uncertainty over the fragile deal grew. Iran again closed the key artery for global oil shipments in response to Israeli strikes Wednesday in Lebanon.

“When prices move quickly in both directions, it’s very hard for airlines to make predictions,” Gilad said.

In other words, even when oil prices drop, travelers may not see relief right away.

“At this level of fuel, it’s hard to call anything temporary," Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told reporters this week after the Atlanta-based carrier raised its checked baggage fees.

Global squeeze, local effects

Bastian said Wednesday as Delta kicked off the earnings season for U.S. airlines that the higher fuel prices are expected to add $2 billion in operating expenses in the second quarter alone. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a recent memo to staff that if fuel prices stay elevated, it could add $11 billion in annual costs.

“For perspective,” Kirby wrote, “in United’s best year ever, we made less than $5B.”

According to the International Air Transport Association, the average global jet fuel price rose to $209 per barrel last week, up from roughly $99 at the end of February when the war started. Travelers from the U.S. to Hong Kong and New Delhi are paying the price.

U.S. carriers are embedding the higher operating costs into ticket prices and add-on fees. Delta, United, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue have all increased checked baggage fees.

Both United and American are also moving beyond add-ons to adjust pricing. United said last week it is bringing the “pay for what you want” approach already standard in economy to its premium cabins, turning perks like advanced seat selection and fully refundable tickets into optional extras.

American announced Thursday that passengers in basic economy will have to pay extra to pick their seat beginning May 18, including elite-tier loyalty members. And later this year, basic economy passengers without elite status or an eligible co-branded credit card will be assigned to boarding Group 7, while those with higher status will still board earlier even when purchasing the lowest fare.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific recently bumped fuel surcharges by roughly 34% across all routes, while Air India on Monday added up to $280 in fees to some flights. Emirates, Lufthansa and KLM have also adjusted fees or fares to keep pace with the price volatility.

Experts say flexibility and careful planning can help offset these costs. Fare-tracking sites can alert travelers to price changes and help them compare multiple options in one place. Booking early and checking nearby airports can lock in better prices, while refundable tickets make it easier to cancel and rebook if fares drop. Traveling light with just a carry-on can also help avoid the rising bag fees.

Flight cuts to cut costs

For business travelers, the costs are already shaping their decisions. Bill Moorehouse, a solutions director who flies for work every four to six weeks, said the uncertainty may keep him closer to home for now.

“When you have business trips and you have a carefully coordinated schedule, you don’t want unknowns and disruptions. And right now, it just feels like it’s more likely that things could go wrong and throw your trip off course,” the Cupertino, California, resident said.

Richard Groberg, an investment banker from Las Vegas who visits clients around the U.S., said he plans to book as early as possible to lock in the best fares.

“There's sometimes no substitute for in-person meetings and building relationships,” he said. “As travel becomes more expensive, that becomes a tougher decision to make those investments.”

Even family visits are on his mind. Groberg's brother hopes he'll stop in Vermont next time he's in New York for work, but Groberg admits, “I start thinking maybe I should drive instead because this is getting so expensive.”

Airlines, meanwhile, are also adjusting how much they fly.

BNP Paribas estimates that global schedules for April have been cut roughly 5% compared with earlier plans. Most reductions are in the Middle East, the global investment bank said, though smaller cuts were also emerging in Europe, Asia and North America.

United Airlines is cutting about 5% of its planned flights in the near term, trimming less profitable routes and suspending some international service temporarily rather than “burning cash” on trips that can’t absorb the more expensive fuel costs. The airline's CEO said the cuts will target redeye flights and routes on historically slower travel days such as Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Delta is scrapping plans to add more flights and seats in June, leaving about 3.5% fewer seats than originally planned.

Travel plans upended

These moves show why major carriers are better positioned to weather the spike in fuel prices than budget carriers, whose “no frills” model leaves them with less flexibility. Bigger airlines can lean on dynamic pricing, sell more seats at higher fares or swap in larger planes on certain routes, letting them cut flights without losing overall capacity.

“Leisure travelers and budget conscious travelers are going to absolutely feel it first because it may make the difference between going and not going,” Gilad said.

It's already made the difference for Anna Del Vecchio. The 36-year-old Seattle resident has made it an annual springtime tradition to visit family in Philadelphia before flying to Paris to see friends she's known since she was a teenager.

Her credit card points typically cover the roundtrip flight, but ticket prices now hover around $1,400 — about double what she has paid in past years.

“It wasn’t even scratching the surface for the flight this time," she said, “so I decided to delay the trip.”

But if airfare tops $1,500, she might not be able to make a journey she hasn't missed in years.

“It might be the kind of thing where it just ends up being that I have to travel less.”

Her emotions were heavy, ranging from anxiety and fear to even loneliness as others seemed to be going about their lives as normal despite what could have been pending doom. Ultimately, Trump did not make good on his threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” instead agreeing to a two-week ceasefire in the war.

It was another moment of whiplash for Haider and the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living in the U.S. who have been thrust into a seemingly constant state of uncertainty over the future of Iran and their relatives and friends who still live there.

For many, the tenor of the latest discourse around the conflict has consumed their thoughts, often preventing them from getting work done or focusing on anything else. Some are protesting the war, while others guard their opinions about what is happening in their homeland, anxiously watching and wondering what the future might hold.

Haider was among those protesting Wednesday in Austin, Texas, calling for an end to the war. Gatherings also were held in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities.

Aside from speaking out against the war, Haider thinks that mobilizing will create “the kind of pressure that makes it harder for Trump to swing back to this aggressive posturing.”

“It’s a huge country,” she said of Iran. “Trump is not going to ever be able to defeat it or wipe it out, but it is possible to do damage. It is possible to do something that affects millions of people, millions of lives.”

Worries for family members back home

Haider, a municipal planner and an organizer with the Austin for Palestine Coalition, said hearing Trump offer such an ultimatum was frightening.

She does not support regime change, saying that was something for the Iranian people to settle, not the United States. Still, she wanted to speak out even though she came to the U.S. by way of Pakistan with her parents when she was young. She has memories of the neighborhood bakeries and the juice shops she used to visit with her mother and their neighbors.

Iranian-American Sheila Amir said that Trump’s social media posts made her fearful on multiple levels.

Her first concern was for her Iranian relatives. She has not been able to confirm that they're OK in the past week amid an internet blackout that has blanketed the country.

But the North Carolina-based writer said she also was concerned that an escalation in the war could put her U.S. relatives who are in the military at risk. Their duty, she said, is to “serve and protect the United States of America," not to destroy the people of Iran.

Complex feelings for those who support the war

Even those who are supportive of U.S. attacks that directly weaken the Iranian government are struggling to reckon with the most recent threats against civilians.

In recent weeks, Roya Rastegar has had many difficult conversations with her family about the conflict. Rastegar and her wife are both Iranian-American. Rastegar said people in her family have been killed by the Iranian government in the decades since the Islamic Republic took power, and the majority of her wife’s family is still in the country.

Rastegar, a filmmaker and cofounder of a pro-democracy nonprofit called the Iranian Diaspora Collective, said the frequent reversals have made it more difficult to explain the conflict to their children.

“It’s very hard to hold on to the idea that we do not know what’s going to happen,” she said.

Rastegar said that the war has presented an impossible moral dilemma. She is deeply concerned that intensified attacks on Iran could cause even more harm to civilians. But she also believes that de-escalating the war without dismantling the Islamic Republic will pose the greatest risk to Iranians inside the country, who would continue to face severe and deadly repression.

“It’s really nauseating to just think about my people as being stuck between a regime that’s still killing them and an administration — the U.S. — that is issuing these kinds of threats,” Rastegar said.

Preston Henry Tolth, 26, now will face trial on charges of carjacking and assault in relation to the 2021 disappearance of Ella Mae Begay. A trial date hasn't been set.

Under the agreement, Tolth would have been released on a sentence of three years of time served in exchange for acknowledging his role in the crime and pleading guilty to a single count of robbery.

Known as a gifted weaver of pictorial rugs, Ella Mae Begay was 62 years-old when she vanished from Sweetwater, Arizona, the small community on the northern part of the Navajo Nation where she was raised and later brought up her own three children.

Begay’s disappearance received national media attention and helped highlight the broader crisis of Indigenous people who go missing or are killed at disproportionate rates. Nearly five years after she disappeared, Begay has not been found.

The rare decision to reject a plea agreement followed anguished testimony from Begay's family members who told the court Tolth should not walk free without revealing Begay's location.

Seraphine Warren described her aunt as a warm and sweet person who opted for “hugs instead of handshakes," and implored the judge not to "give up on her" by accepting a plea agreement that Warren said offered no justice to the grieving family.

“Accountability is not time served,” Warren told the judge tearfully. “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”

Gerald Begay, Ella Mae’s son, said, “I feel like the justice system has failed me.”

Tolth, whose father was dating Begay's sister, was identified as a person of interest within days of Begay's disappearance. He initially denied involvement but in a later interrogation, confessed to stealing Begay's truck with her in it, punching her repeatedly and leaving her on the side of the road.

Tolth was set to face trial in 2024, but a federal judge dealt prosecutors a major blow by ruling his confession inadmissible, saying Tolth had been unlawfully coerced by an FBI agent who lied about evidence that law enforcement had against him after Tolth had invoked his right to remain silent.

The U.S. Attorney's office for Arizona and Tolth's public defenders declined to comment on the judge's rejection of the plea agreement.

Tolth did not speak at Thursday's hearing. His attorney asked the judge to consider his unstable childhood and history of homelessness and substance abuse, calling his three years in federal custody a reasonable sentence.

A federal prosecutor said the suppression of Tolth's confession weakened the government's case and that the plea agreement would provide Begay's family with more certainty and finality than a trial with sparse evidence. Begay's family members disagree.

“We want to see this go to trial because we have nothing to lose,” Warren said. “If we lose, at least we fought.”

Erik Duran, 38, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey. The ex-sergeant said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter. He is the first former NYPD officer sentenced to prison for an on-duty death in at least two decades.

“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash," Duran told a Bronx judge, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man's injuries.

“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, apologizing to Duprey's family in Spanish as a court interpreter translated.

Duprey's mother, Gretchen Soto, wept as Duran spoke. Earlier, she told the court: "There are no words to express what I feel.”

Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified, concluding that Duran hurled the cooler because he “was upset that Mr. Duprey was getting away.” If there was no cooler, the judge said, Duprey “would have driven by” Duran and “could’ve been captured another day.”

Duran was immediately taken into custody after sentencing. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will ask a court to free Duran on bail while he appeals.

"Nobody’s above the law,” a woman shouted in a courthouse hallway after the sentence was announced.

Afterward, Soto and Duprey's partner, Pearl Velez, said they did not accept Duran’s apology.

“How you gonna say sorry now?” Velez said.

Duran's union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said thousands of officers signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison.

“Today will forever be the darkest day of our profession,” union president Vincent Vallelong said. Duran’s prison sentence, he said, “puts in the back of a police officer's mind that they can lose their freedom” for making a split-second decision.

Officers in NYPD jackets packed the courtroom gallery, while a couple dozen protesters outside demanded justice for Duprey.

Duran's sentence, less than the maximum of five to 15 years, matched what prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office had sought. Prosecutor Joseph Bianco said the ex-sergeant recklessly caused Duprey's death and attempted to cover up his actions.

Defense lawyer Andrew Quinn argued for no prison time, calling Duprey’s death the “unintended and tragic consequences” of a “reckless decision” Duran made in a span of 2.5 seconds.

Duran grew up in the Bronx and led a “model, exemplary life” prior to Duprey's death. A married father of three, he joined the NYPD because he wanted to make the borough “cleaner and safer for the kids who came after him,” Quinn said.

“He is now the cooler cop,” Quinn said.

Duran was part of a narcotics policing unit that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.

Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk toward a group of people. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn't in uniform — picked up a bystander's cooler and threw it.

The container struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey was not wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors.

They argued Duran had enough time to warn others to move, but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry.

Duran, however, testified at his trial that he made a quick decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them.

“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said then, adding “all I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.”

Duran opted to have Judge Mitchell, not a jury, decide the case.

Duran worked for the NYPD for 13 years before the crash, which spurred his suspension. He was fired after his conviction in February.

Duprey was a delivery driver and had three young children. Soto, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, has disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers.

She told the judge Thursday her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.”

“It is an unjust incident," Soto said through a Spanish interpreter. "As a mother, I have to miss him now every day.”

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan did not immediately rule after hearing two hours of arguments.

At the conclusion, Circuit Judge William J. Nardini called it an “exceptionally difficult case” that raises questions of first impression “not only for this court but for any federal court in the country.”

Throughout the arguments, judges questioned whether a judge improperly considered elements of acquitted charges to sentence Combs to what his lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, said was the most prison time ever given someone convicted of the same charges with a similar criminal history.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik, arguing for the government, challenged Shapiro's claim, saying the four-year, two-month prison term given to Combs was below what federal sentencing guidelines called for and was in line with similar convictions in the 2nd Circuit.

Combs, currently in federal prison in New Jersey, is challenging his conviction and prison sentence. He was convicted last July under the federal Mann Act, which bans transporting people across state lines for any sexual crime.

But he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that carried the potential for a life sentence.

In sentencing Combs, Judge Arun Subramanian said: “Mr. Combs, you’re being sentenced for the offenses of conviction, NOT the crimes he was acquitted of. However, under law, the court ‘shall consider’ the nature of the offense and characteristics of the defendant.”

The judge also cited law which states that no limitation shall be placed on the “background, character and conduct” that a judge can consider.

During Thursday's arguments, Shapiro asked the appeals panel for a speedy decision.

Combs, 56, has been behind bars since his September 2024 arrest. The Federal Bureau of Prisons says he is scheduled for release in April 2028.

His attorneys say Combs' conviction should be reversed, or he should at least be freed and resentenced to less time.

Despite extensive written arguments on the subject, there was no discussion Thursday about claims by Combs' lawyers that his conviction should be reversed on grounds that the First Amendment protects sexual encounters between his girlfriends and male sex workers because they were sometimes filmed and amounted to “amateur pornography.”

There was extensive discussion, though, about his lawyers' arguments that Subramanian wrongly considered evidence of fraud and coercion that they said the jury rejected as it exonerated him on the most serious charges.

Combs' trial last year exposed the sordid private life of one of the most influential figures in music. The case featured harrowing testimony about violence, drugs and sexual performances that witnesses said he called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”

He did not testify. His defense team acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were straining to make a federal crime out of his personal life.

It’s one-and-done for Chris Cenac Jr., who is now focused on the next step of his playing career.

The 19-year-old, who started 36 of 37 games this season, announced his decision on social media.

🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/aDHZWSKlrQ

— Chris Cenac Jr. (@chriscenacjr) April 9, 2026

At 6-foot-11, Cenac has received evaluations projecting him as a likely mid–first-round pick in this June’s draft.

Cenac had a breakout freshman season for the Cougars, averaging 9.5 points and just under eight rebounds per game. His production played a key role in Houston’s 30-win season and deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cougars advanced to the Sweet 16 before falling to Illinois at Toyota Center.

Cenac elevated his play in the postseason, averaging a double-double across Houston’s three tournament games.

The shooting happened near the intersection of W. Fuqua Street and S. Sam Houston Parkway.

According to the Houston Police Department, the call first came in around 9:40 a.m. as an assault before being updated to a crash.

When officers arrived, they found a chaotic scene. One person was pronounced dead at the location. A second individual—believed to be the shooter—was taken to the hospital. Police confirmed that a pistol was recovered at the scene.

Investigators say the violence stemmed from what appears to be a road rage incident that escalated into gunfire. However, authorities are still working to determine exactly what led up to the shooting and whether the two individuals involved knew each other prior to the confrontation.

Multiple lanes in the area were shut down as officers and homicide investigators processed the scene and gathered evidence. Traffic in the area has been significantly impacted, and drivers are urged to avoid the intersection.

The identity of the victim has not yet been released.

The investigation remains ongoing, and additional details are expected as police continue their work.

McIlroy spent the rest of the day proving him right.

The 36-year-old McIlroy opened his title defense with a 5-under 67 to grab a share of the early lead with Sam Burns at Augusta National and position himself for a run at becoming only the fourth player to win back-to-back green jackets.

“Rory’s got the monkey off his back, and I think he has a very, very good chance to repeat,” Nicklaus said early Thursday after hitting his ceremonial opening tee shot.

After years of heartbreak and close calls at Augusta National, McIlroy beat Justin Rose in a playoff last April to complete the career Grand Slam in his 17th Masters start.

So the pressure to win wasn't hanging over his head on Thursday.

“I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy said last year's win allowed him to fully commit to his shots Thursday and make good swings without necessarily worrying about where the ball went.

He found there is a certain freedom in that approach.

That said, it wasn't as if he wasn't nervous when he stepped onto the first tee for the year's first major championship.

After all, he said, “it’s the Masters.”

“If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that’s not a good sign,” McIlroy said. “So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. I knew I was feeling it. That’s a good thing.”

He shot 34 on the front nine despite struggling to find the fairways early, and then willed his way to a birdie on the par-5 13th hole.

After his tee shot sailed right and well into the pine straw, McIlroy spent more than 10 minutes trying to clear patrons out of his way before delivering a perfectly placed punch-out between the tall pines into the middle of the fairway.

He followed with a pitching wedge just past the hole and then rolled in a downhill putt for a birdie. Two more birdies followed on Nos. 14 and 15, moving him into a tie atop the leaderboard.

He finished with six birdies and made his only bogey on the par-4 third hole.

“I still have high expectations of myself, but my expectations are more, did I make good decisions today? Was I committed? Was I trusting?” McIlroy said. “It wasn’t my expectations of I’m going to go out and shoot 65 and did I do it?”

In other words, just focusing on the shot at hand and letting the chips fall where they may.

Nicklaus was the first to repeat at the Masters, winning in 1965 and 1966. Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) matched his feat, but nobody has been able to repeat since.

Nicklaus knows repeating is not easy.

He broke the Masters scoring record with a 17-under 271 in 1965, then returned the following year to play Augusta National in much tougher conditions. He finished 17 shots worse at even-par 288, but still won in a playoff.

“I think winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one,” McIlroy said.

___

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

But a lawyer for Live Nation insisted in Manhattan federal court that there is more competition than ever and the company plays fair amid a booming concert business across America.

The attorney, David Marriott, said the states failed to prove that Live Nation had acted as a monopolist.

“They can’t, and they didn’t,” he said.

The federal government led the civil claims case until it settled the lawsuit it brought in 2024 several weeks ago, saying it had won important concessions from Live Nation, particularly in the sale of tickets at dozens of the company's amphitheaters. The settlement delayed the trial for a week while states conducted mostly unsuccessful negotiations with Live Nation.

After closing arguments concluded, jurors were instructed on the law by Judge Arun Subramanian. They were expected to start deliberations Friday.

In his closing, attorney Jeffrey Kessler argued on behalf of the states that evidence has shown that the companies “violated antitrust laws and it is time to hold them accountable.”

He reminded jurors that since it was a civil trial, they only needed to find that the states had proven by a preponderance of the evidence — more than 50% — that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally wielded monopoly power.

Kessler labeled the company a “monopolistic bully” and said it had employed practices that “kept digging the moat around the monopoly castle in order to protect their market position.”

Live Nation's control of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the overall market when sports events are included, showed it had monopoly power, he said.

Marriott countered that Live Nation and Ticketmaster were merely reaping the fruits of decades of hard work that created the best products in the industry.

“We are the biggest entertainment company and ticketer in the country. We’re not hiding from that fact,” he said. “We are big. That is not against the laws in the United States. Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States.”

Marriott also said the company tries to “outflank and outcompete” its competitors and the jury should not punish the company because the states had shown some communications in which employees who are “fierce competitors” talk about crushing the competition.

He defended the company decision not to immediately fire an employee who acknowledged from the witness stand that he had written a series of messages from late 2021 through early 2023 in which he mocked customers as “so stupid” and said the company was “robbing them blind, baby.”

“People say, sometimes, stupid stuff,” Marriott said, noting the comments were made about the price of lawn chairs and parking. “We don't condone that. But we also don't just ax somebody because they made a mistake years in the past.”

Meanwhile, he said, venues and artists are doing better than ever and fans are benefiting from a robust and thriving entertainment industry.

“Our job is to help venues and artists make money. We don’t make excuses for that,” Marriott said.

Greene made the catch, and Meadows landed on his back in a daze, barely moving with his hands pointed up and blood appearing on his face. After a few minutes, Meadows was able to sit up. Medical personnel slowly helped him stand and move toward a cart that was waiting to take him away.

“It's a terrible feeling. I still feel terrible,” Greene said after the game against Minnesota at Target Field. “He hit my head. I don't know where I hit him, to be honest, but I just really hope he's OK."

Meadows had a concussion, manager A.J. Hinch said after the Tigers lost 3-1 to the Twins and were swept in the four-game series. The collision caused Meadows to bite the inside of his mouth, which led to the bleeding.

“We’re going to get him checked out for everything, but this one worries me,” Hinch said.

Josh Bell led off the eighth inning for Minnesota with a shallow fly to left-center that Greene appeared to be calling for as he and Meadows ran toward the ball. Meadows tried slowing up and backing off at the last second. But his face appeared to slam against Greene's head, sending both players tumbling to the grass.

“It’s a perfect tweener, and you have two guys who like to go and get it,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “It’s a scary thing.”

Meadows has started 11 of 13 games in center field for the Tigers this season. Matt Vierling made the other two starts. Meadows went 0 for 3 on Thursday and is batting .250 with two extra-base hits.

The 26-year-old Meadows, who was a second-round draft pick by the Tigers in 2018, made his major league debut in 2023. He missed the first two months of last season with a nerve problem in his upper right arm. Then he missed more than a month with a shoulder injury and finished with a .215 average and a .621 OPS.

___

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

HPD responded to the scene in the 11300 block of Chatterton Drive in the Spring Branch area.

Northwest officers are at 11300 Chatterton. Body of an adult female was located in Addicks Reservoir. Homicide detectives are on scene. 202 pic.twitter.com/ojXNIJshK2

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) April 9, 2026

Lt. Larry Crowson says the discovery was made by a man who regularly rides his bike in the area. The man rode by a pond within the reservoir area and noticed what appeared to be the body of a woman.

Officers responded after the man called police to report the incident and confirmed the body belongs to what they believe is an approximately 40-year-old woman.

Crowson said the death is being considered suspicious because there was trauma to the woman’s body.

They are waiting for a medical examiner to arrive at the scene.

Anyone with any information on this case is urged to contact HPD’s Homicide Division at 713-308-3600.

The Postal Service also wants to increase postage rates, including raising the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents. USPS filed notice Friday with regulators, who still need to approve the changes.

The step taken by the Postal Board of Governors to forgo the pension payments is meant to preserve cash and liquidity due to the Postal Service's "ongoing, severe financial crisis," Postal Service Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann said in an internal message to USPS employees. Officials have warned the USPS is on course to run out of cash by around February 2027.

Despite the suspension of employer contributions, effective Friday, current and future retirees will not be immediately impacted, Grossman said.

“The risk to the Postal Service and the American public from insufficient liquidity for postal operations dramatically outweighs any longer-term risk to the pension funds from not making the currently due payments,” he said in the statement. USPS deferred payments in 2011 during another financial crisis.

The Postal Service said it will continue transmitting employees’ retirement contributions to the federal Office of Personnel Management, along with Thrift Savings Plan contributions, including employer automatic and matching funds, and will also maintain its employer contributions to Social Security.

Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the temporary suspension of annuity payments is “not ideal" but it doesn't immediately impact his members, who he said understand the Postal Service's financial challenges.

“Given a menu of options, none of which are overall positive, they would certainly prefer the Postal Service making a move like this as opposed to something that immediately impacts them or immediately impacts in a negative way the service that we provide to the American people," Renfroe said.

Ninety-nine percent of career USPS employees are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System.

In a related matter, the Postal Regulatory Commission on Thursday granted the Postal Service a temporary, multi-year waiver allowing it to redirect billions of dollars in revenue previously earmarked for retiree benefits, providing “some breathing room and flexibility” to execute contingency plans and avoid running out of cash.

Last month, Postmaster General David Steiner told The Associated Press and later a congressional committee that the 250-year-old service needs to have a decades-old $15 billion cap on borrowing raised to $34.5 billion so the independent agency can have access to more cash.

“That will buy us the time to make the fixes we need to make, and we can sail on down the road,” he told the AP. Steiner has called for other changes as well, including greater flexibility in how retirement funds are invested, changes to pension obligation methodology and the authority for USPS to raise postage prices high enough to cover losses.

Renfroe said this latest move to pause employer contributions is the “direct result of continued inaction by Congress" to fix such "legislative restraints" placed on the Postal Service.

Keep Us Posted, an advocacy group representing consumers, catalogs, greeting card publishers and others, has urged Congress to ensure any rate increases would be limited to once a year. The group also wants to ensure six-day-a-week mail service remains and that USPS regulators have greater control over any service changes.

USPS said the proposed price increases requested Thursday, which also affect postcards and international letters, will still make rates among the most affordable in the world. The Postal Service relies mostly on the sale of postage, products and services to finance its operations.

The Postal Service has seen annual volume plummet from about 220 billion pieces in 2006 to about 110 billion today as more people pay bills and communicate online.

USPS’s net losses for the 2025 fiscal year totaled $9 billion, even though total operating revenue increased by $916 million or 1.2%, due largely to its Ground Advantage shipping service. Net losses in fiscal year 2024 were $9.5 billion.

The three-time Grammy Award winner will make her debut as MC for the awards on June 7 at its familiar home of Radio City Music Hall.

“It is the honor of an entire lifetime to host a night celebrating the literal hardest working people in showbiz,” Pink said in a statement. “Broadway has shaped my life and how I put my own shows together — it is a community that is supportive, and inclusive, and full of talent and love. These people give magic every single day, and I cannot wait to celebrate them with the entire world.”

While Pink hasn't yet made an appearance on Broadway, she has had 15 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four No. 1s — like “Raise Your Glass” and “Just Give Me a Reason” — and is known for her acrobatic, ceiling-swinging live sets.

Tony Award executive producers Raj Kapoor, Sarah Levine Hall and Jack Sussman in a statement hailed Pink as “a fearless artist whose powerhouse voice, electrifying stage presence, and undeniable authenticity embody the very spirit of live performance and theatre.”

The 2026 awards will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount+. Getting buzz from appearing on the telecast can dictate a show’s future, both on Broadway and on tour.

Last year's show — hosted by “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo — drew 4.85 million viewers to CBS, its largest broadcast audience in six years, according to Nielsen data. CBS also said the awards show drew its largest streaming audience on Paramount+ but did not disclose those viewership numbers.

The awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

A Flood Advisory has been issued for parts of Wharton County after a storm dropped close to four inches of rain in the area.

An additional 1-3 inches of rainfall is possible in this area as the cell slowly meanders in the area.

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ENOUGH is KPRC 2 News’ commitment to accountability journalism, reporting that asks hard questions, examines systems, and pushes for answers when something isn’t working the way it should.

It starts with a few simple questions:

• Who is responsible?
• Why hasn’t this been fixed?
• What happens next?

Those questions guide the work behind ENOUGH.

How accountability reporting works

Accountability journalism isn’t just about pointing out problems. It’s about understanding how decisions get made and who has the power to fix them.

Our reporting often begins with:

• Listening to concerns from the community
• Examining public records and documents
• Asking officials to explain their decisions
• Following issues until answers are clear

Sometimes the first answer isn’t the full answer. That’s why persistence matters.

The kinds of questions we’re asking

Across Houston, people often ask the same kinds of questions when problems keep happening:

• Why do some problems take years to fix?
• Who is responsible when systems fail?
• What happens after concerns are raised?
• Why do the same issues keep coming back?

If you’ve ever wondered about questions like these, you’re not alone

What questions should be answered?

Is there something in Houston that feels like it never gets fixed?

Is there a decision you think deserves a closer look?

Our team is always listening.

You can message the ENOUGH team here.