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Israel, Lebanon agree to renew fragile ceasefire and create Lebanese security zones

Kareem Chehayeb, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:57:41 +0000

Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.

In a joint statement released after a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas.

“These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement,” the statement said. “All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage.”

The latter is a reference to Iran, which supports Hezbollah and has insisted that Israeli attacks on Lebanon be halted as part of a tentative agreement with the U.S. to end the conflict with Iran. Hezbollah is not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

BEIRUT (AP) — President Donald Trump acknowledged criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy” in a phone call that involved expletives, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran.

But even as the U.S. president conceded the tensions in an interview released Wednesday, he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was solid and that they connected, in part, because they are both “wartime” leaders.

“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump told The New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”

In an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC, Netanyahu responded that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but have “common goals” and “agree on the main things.”

“He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences,” the prime minister said.

The president's comments about the Monday call offered a sign of the growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war as higher energy prices and economic uncertainty threaten Republican prospects in the midterm elections and hamper global commerce.

Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek to extend a fragile ceasefire into a more enduring truce. The negotiations are further strained by Israel’s broadening war with the Iranian-backed militia group in Lebanon. The conflicts have become increasingly intertwined as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.

Trump does not commit to timeline for ending Iran war

Trump remained noncommittal about a timeline for settling the Iran conflict, saying the Strait of Hormuz might stay blocked through the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7. He has insisted that Iran stop any efforts that could lead to a nuclear weapon and that the strait be reopened for shipments of oil and natural gas.

“I don’t know. I mean, I think it could be (closed through Labor Day), but I think it’s unlikely. I think that we’ll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his late father, is “involved” in peace talks, Trump added.

“They have a lot of respect for him,” the president said in the interview.

Trump said that Khamenei is not doing well due to wounds sustained in an airstrike, but “they say he’s giving approval because that’s the way it has been for a long, long time." Khamenei's father was killed in an airstrike when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February.

Meanwhile in the Persian Gulf region, Kuwait briefly shut its main airport Wednesday after Iranian drones hit a passenger terminal building, killing one person and wounding dozens. It was the latest in the back-and-forth attacks by Tehran and Washington that have tested the ceasefire.

The strike again brought home the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative safe havens before the war, now in its fourth month.

Path to a lasting ceasefire in Lebanon is obscured by new strikes

The path toward a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah remained unclear as hostilities continued in Lebanon.

An Israeli strike Wednesday hit a car on a busy highway just south of Beirut, hours before the second day of talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington were set to take place. The strike in Khaldeh came without warning, and it was not immediately clear if the person targeted was killed.

Israel and Lebanon on Monday reached a U.S.-brokered agreement in which Israel would not strike Beirut's southern suburbs and Hezbollah would end its attacks on northern Israel.

The agreement was made hours after Israel announced that it was going to launch strikes across the sprawling urban neighborhoods near the Lebanese capital in what would have been the most intense strikes since a nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17.

Lebanon hopes to widen the scope of the ceasefire so it becomes comprehensive across the country. Israel wants to disarm Hezbollah immediately before the Israeli military ends its operations in Lebanon and withdraws its troops from dozens of villages and towns.

Not long after the strike on Khaldeh, the Israeli military said it intercepted what it called a hostile aircraft coming from southern Lebanon, but it did not immediately blame Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not claimed a cross-border attack since the agreement.

Israeli military warning rattles coastal city

Israeli strikes over southern Lebanon continued, especially in and around the battered cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh. Two overnight strikes near Tyre, a coastal city, killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.

Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that Hezbollah members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas in recent days because they were spared from the aerial bombardment along the Mediterranean coast.

After the warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.

Israel launched an invasion of southern Lebanon days after the latest war was sparked on March 2, when Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli troops have pushed deeper into Lebanon over the past week, as Hezbollah continues to claim rocket and drone attacks.

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,468 people in Lebanon and displaced 1.2 million people. According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.

Strike on village kills most of a family

Many residents of southern Lebanon remained in villages near the hostilities or returned to areas where strikes occurred after evacuation warnings.

The Al-Abdallah family returned to their home in Marwanieyh, which they left because they thought the village was unsafe following earlier strikes. A day later, two rockets hit the home, bringing down the three-story building and killing six family members, said the brother of Hassan Al-Abdallah, who was killed.

Ahmed Al-Abdallah, 13, was thrown away from the building by the force of the blasts and was the only member of his family to survive. His uncle, Eissa Al-Abdallah, said the boy has two broken legs and shrapnel wounds all over his body.

“What good is talking now? They are gone, and nothing will bring them back,” the uncle told The Associated Press in a phone call Tuesday. “This land costs blood.”

___

Boak reported from Washington.

___

This version has been updated to correct that the Iran war began at the end of February, not March.

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Celebrate Freedom Festival returns to Emancipation Park this Saturday

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:56:44 +0000

One of Houston’s signature Juneteenth celebrations returns to Emancipation Park this weekend, bringing together culture, community and history in honor of freedom.

The fifth annual Celebrate Freedom Festival takes place Saturday, June 6, from 1 to 7 p.m. at Emancipation Park. Organized by Juneteenth Houston, the event is part of the city’s 19 Days of Juneteenth initiative, a series of community events leading up to June 19. For the complete event list, visit juneteenthhouston.org/19-days-of-juneteenth.

According to John Nicklos, this is the first year to expand the festivities from one big day to 19 days, bringing communities together.

Founded in 2022, Juneteenth Houston was created to connect and amplify celebrations taking place across the city while honoring the generations of Black Houstonians who have preserved the holiday’s traditions. The organization works with Houston’s historic Black communities, including Third Ward, Fourth Ward, Fifth Ward, Independence Heights, Sunnyside, Acres Homes and South Park.

This year’s festival theme is “Homecoming: Our Heritage, Our Home.”

Visitors can enjoy live entertainment, drum circles, cultural performances, community villages representing Houston’s historic Black neighborhoods, a spades tournament and a community quilt project highlighting stories and shared history.

The festival will also feature a Red Foods Cookoff, celebrating one of Juneteenth’s most recognizable culinary traditions. Contestants will showcase creative dishes inspired by the longstanding custom.

Admission is free, although registration is encouraged. Click here to reserve your spot.

SpaceX's IPO is set to be the biggest ever and could make Elon Musk a trillionaire

Bernard Condon, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:01:50 +0000

SpaceX says it plans to raise up to $75 billion when it goes public this month, setting the stage for the largest-ever stock market debut and putting Elon Musk on course to becoming the world's first trillionaire.

The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said Wednesday it will sell 555.6 million shares at $135 a piece in an initial public offering. The estimated proceeds would easily top the $26 billion raised by oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2019. The offering would also give SpaceX a market value of $1.77 trillion. Only six companies in the S&P 500 are currently worth more, with Nvidia tops at $5.2 trillion.

Besides the size of the offering and the expected proceeds, SpaceX’s amended prospectus updates details about how much control of the company Musk will have. As SpaceX’s CEO, chief technical officer and chairman, Musk’s voting power will come primarily through his ownership of 5.22 billion Class B shares, which give the holder 10 votes for every share held. According to the filing, Musk would have 82.4% of the voting power in the company.

Forbes currently values Musk's net worth at $826 billion and his stake in SpaceX at $542 billion. The estimated value of his SpaceX holdings was based on an overall value for the company of $1.25 trillion. Based on those numbers, a $1.77 trillion valuation for SpaceX would boost Musk’s net worth by $223 billion, making him a trillionaire. However, much of Musk's worth is in stock that he has yet to cash in.

Even as it makes a bid for a blockbuster market debut, SpaceX is currently losing billions of dollars a year. The filing shows that the company lost $2.6 billion from operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue, and the losses kept piling up at the start of this year, too.

Fantastical plans

Time will tell how SpaceX fares on the market. Musk’s plans for the company are as fantastical as the money he hopes raise in the sale.

Colorful, even frightening in parts, the IPO document strikes a contrast with the typically dry, technical prose in IPO documents, detailing plans to use proceeds from the sale to help put men on the moon again and perhaps even Mars. In one section, it talks of a need to build “a permanent human colony” on the red planet with “at least one million inhabitants” as existential threats loom that could consign man to “the same fate as the dinosaurs.”

Musk has almost equally ambitious plans for his other publicly traded company, Tesla. His goal is to transform the maker of electric vehicles into a producer of robotaxis and humanoid robots. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities wrote in a research note that he expects Tesla and SpaceX to merge next year.

AI plays a key role

Key to the success of both companies — and any merged entity — is artificial intelligence. In its IPO filing, SpaceX says it sees potential revenue from AI of up to $26.5 trillion. But that depends on another lofty Musk ambition — putting data centers in space, which is not technologically possible at the moment.

Transforming his space company into a primarily AI-focused company will be a challenge for Musk, who started xAI in 2023 with 11 other co-founders who have all since left. Some were recruited away by rivals.

Its main AI product, the chatbot Grok, is “less impressive than anything that we see from any other major player in the space, whether that’s OpenAI, or Anthropic, or (Google’s) Gemini,” said IDC analyst Arnal Dayaratna.

Dayaratna said that doesn’t mean SpaceX doesn’t have potential as a major AI player, thanks in part to its computing partnership with Anthropic and Musk’s recent deal that gave SpaceX the rights to buy AI coding tool Cursor for $60 billion later this year. Folding in Cursor’s capabilities would give SpaceX access to the coveted business customers now using Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

SpaceX plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO to fund the expansion of infrastructure for its AI and rocket businesses, and to beef up the constellation of satellites that power Starlink Mobile, among other investments.

The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “SPCX” and could begin trading as soon as the end of next week.

And SpaceX isn’t the only colossal market debut investors are now bracing for. Earlier this week, Anthropic submitted a confidential filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to officially start its own IPO clock.

OpenAI has not yet reported filing the initial SEC paperwork, but an IPO from the ChatGPT maker is widely expected.

“This listing represents the first major test for public markets after years of muted IPO activity with SpaceX paving the way for AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI to follow soon after,” Ives wrote.

___

Associated Press Technology Writer Matt O’Brien contributed.

Why this red velvet cornbread recipe belongs on your Juneteenth table

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:58:57 +0000

Long before Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, families across the country were already gathering to celebrate the occasion with food, community and tradition.

One of the most recognizable traditions is the presence of red foods on the table. From red velvet cake and fruit punch to watermelon and barbecue, red-colored dishes have long been part of Juneteenth celebrations. The color red is often associated with resilience, sacrifice and the enduring spirit of African Americans, with roots tracing back to West African cultural traditions.

Today, red foods continue to be a meaningful part of Juneteenth gatherings, connecting generations through recipes, stories and shared experiences.

For Chef Cassi, food is also deeply personal.

Her love of cooking began at age 12 while experimenting with recipes from her father’s cookbooks. Her father was one of her biggest supporters, helping with events and championing many of her recipes, including her Red Velvet Cornbread. As a former participant in the Celebrate Freedom Festival’s Red Foods Cookoff, Chef Cassi continues to honor the traditions and family connections that inspired her culinary journey.

Chef Cassi built her career in Houston’s restaurant industry and now operates Chef Cassi’s Table, creating customized dining experiences and menus for clients across the region.

Today, she stopped by “Houston Life” and shared one of her favorite Juneteenth-inspired recipes: Red Velvet Cornbread with Cinnamon Butter Pecan Spread.

Red Velvet Cornbread

2 boxes Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 box Betty Crocker Red Velvet Cake Mix
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients.
Add eggs, milk, butter or oil and vanilla.
Stir until just combined.
Pour into a greased 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Cinnamon Butter Pecan Spread

1 stick salted butter, softened
3 tablespoons cognac butter pecan syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Optional: splash of vanilla and pinch of nutmeg

Directions

Blend ingredients until light and whipped.
Garnish with candied pecans, if desired, and serve alongside the cornbread.

Connect with Chef Cassi at www.chefcassi.com.

Polymarket cuts ties with George Santos as regulators probe trades on rival prediction market

Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:17:01 +0000

The online prediction platform Polymarket is ending its paid relationship with George Santos as federal regulators investigate whether the former congressman illegally bet against his own attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union.

Santos placed the bets on another prediction marketplace, Kalshi, after publicly announcing his intention to be at the Feb. 24 speech, according to a person familiar with the investigation. He later blamed a delayed flight for missing the event.

The suspicious trades were detected by Kalshi and referred to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, a federal regulator that has opened a probe into Santos for possible insider trading, according to a second person familiar with the investigation.

Both spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Santos was released from federal prison last October after Trump granted him clemency in a fraud case.

By the time of the State of the Union address, four months later, he was already working in an influencer capacity for Polymarket, using his substantial online platform to promote the controversial brand.

In response to an inquiry from the AP, a Polymarket spokesperson said the company was in the process of terminating the contract as a result of this week’s revelations.

Santos did not respond to phone calls and text messages from the AP. He wrote on social media Wednesday that the allegation was “preposterous,” adding that his legal team was in touch with the Justice Department.

On his podcast, “Doing Time with George Santos,” the former congressman has suggested that prediction markets are “easily manipulable,” and rife with abuse.

“There’s definitely some space for speculation. There will be investigations. There will be scrutiny,” he said in March. “I just want to make sure that people understand: It is not straightforward. It is not a crime to do prediction market. I don’t think people should be taking this seriously.”

The financial regulator overseeing prediction markets, meanwhile, has pledged to take the issue of insider trading “extremely seriously.”

“There is a myth in the mainstream media and social media that insider trading law doesn’t apply in the prediction markets. That is wrong,” David Miller, the director of enforcement at CFTC, said during a recent talk at New York Law School. “Insider trading in the prediction markets — where there is misappropriated information — is precisely the kind of serious violation that we are going after vigorously.”

That pledge comes as the Trump administration has thrown its support behind the prediction market operators and is actively suing states that have tried to regulate them. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has invested in Polymarket through his venture capital firm and is a strategic advisor for Kalshi. And the CFTC has faced allegations of maintaining a friendly posture toward the industry it is meant to regulate.

Still, some bets have not escaped federal scrutiny.

Last week, prosecutors charged a Google engineer who allegedly used the company’s 2025 “Year in Search” data, before it was published, to enter Polymarket wagers about the most searched people of last year.

A spokesperson for Polymarket said the company had worked closely with the CFTC, along with federal prosecutors, ahead of the insider trading charges.

Experts said Santos’s own alleged actions didn’t appear to meet the same threshold for insider trading, since they would not have been based on stolen information. But the bets — coupled with his public statements — may run afoul of other financial laws.

“What he’s accused of sounds a lot more like market manipulation than insider trading,” said Todd Phillips, the director at Klaros Group and a former Georgia State University professor who has written extensively about prediction market regulation.

The federal regulator could also bring a civil action against Santos, potentially resulting in a steep fine and a ban from trading, he noted. But the rapid rise of online betting platforms has meant there are few similar cases to draw from.

“We didn’t have examples of people trading on contracts involving themselves. That is new, and it allows people to change their behavior in order to profit,” Phillips said. “Until pretty recently, the question of George Santos being at the State of the Union was not something that had ever been traded before.”

___

Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report

House approves war powers resolution to halt military action against Iran, in a rebuke of Trump

Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:43:24 +0000

The House for the first time Wednesday approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long conflict that has reordered politics at home and abroad.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war, abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a plan for peace.

“Enough is enough,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the effort.

“It is time for the president to do the right thing," he said. “The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice — suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the supermarkets.”

The roll call Wednesday was 215-208, but next steps are uncertain. Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to limit his commander-in-chief authority. Still, the tally, with four Republicans joining Democrats, was a rebuke of the president's war strategy, and cheers erupted in the House chamber.

Opposition to war grows

It’s the fourth time the House has tried to curb the U.S. war against Iran. The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution last month when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a rare show of political pushback from his party.

Each time Democrats have pushed forward the war powers resolution, the vote tallies have inched higher as political unease with the U.S. war swells. Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end U.S. entanglements abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has shifted attention back to the Middle East.

Johnson insisted Trump is “laser focused” on the domestic front, particularly ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

The speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week and Trump is calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume the flow of commerce.

Since the U.S. joined Israel in launching the Feb. 28 strikes on Iran, Americans have seen gas prices spike at the pumps, adding to inflationary pressure on consumer spending.

Iran has been able to interrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for a large segment of the world’s oil, natural gas and related products such as fertilizer.

“We’re working on that final piece,” said Johnson, R-La. “The entire world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being reopen for commerce. That what he’s working on.”

While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain. Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Meanwhile, military strikes between the U.S and Iran continue to flare.

Congress exerts its war powers authority

The war powers resolution from the House would not immediately stop the war, but it would provide a symbolic — if not legal — step against further military action.

The resolution next goes to the Senate, where four Republican senators last month joined Democrats in advancing a similar measure to curtail the U.S. campaign against Iran. The Senate has yet to take a final vote to approve or reject its own war powers resolution.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Wednesday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the Iranians would think that the administration's “hands are going to be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said they would think ”we won’t be able to do anything to them, so why make a deal?”

It's not the only action Congress is taking in the national security arena as Democrats, in the minority, work to peel off Republican support for measures beyond the war against Iran.

The House also voted Wednesday on another Democratic-led effort, a procedural step toward a measure that would authorize U.S. support for Ukraine's military operations as it battles Russia and would help reconstruct the war-torn country. That vote is expected later this week. The House also expected to consider a war powers resolution to block U.S. action in Lebanon.

While Congress has the authority under the Constitution to declare war, the president also has power as the commander in chief to engage in military action, creating a legal dispute over which branch of government has ultimate say in matters of war and peace. If Senate joins the House to approve the resolution, it could set the stage for a fresh legal test of war powers.

Under the war powers act, the White House has a 60-day window to seek approval from Congress for military action. The administration, however, has indicated that because a ceasefire has been declared in the current conflict in Iran, the hostilities have ceased.

___

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

Multiple power outages reported across Houston area due to severe weather

Brittany Taylor — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:48:58 +0000

Multiple power outages have been reported as severe thunderstorms move across the Houston area Wednesday.

LATEST: Daily downpours will continue through the weekend in Houston

As of 5:47 p.m., CenterPoint Energy reports the following:

Less than 6,000 customers remain without power.

As of 5:47 p.m., Entergy reports 722 customers are experiencing power outages.

See: CenterPoint’s current Outage Tracker here.
See: Entergy’s current Outage Tracker here.

Are Houstonians drinking enough water? New report says probably not

Brittany Taylor — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:46:00 +0000

In a city known for sweltering summers, sticky humidity and months of triple-digit heat indexes, a new report suggests many Houstonians may not be drinking enough water to keep up.

According to the first-ever Liquid I.V. Hydration Vitality Barometer Report, Houston ranks No. 9 among the 50 U.S. cities with the biggest hydration challenges, placing the Bayou City in the top 10 nationwide when it comes to struggling with healthy hydration habits.

The findings highlight what researchers are calling America’s growing “Hydration Gap.” While 96% of Americans recognize that hydration is important for their overall health, only 44% report feeling completely hydrated on a typical day.

For Houstonians, that statistic may not come as a surprise.

Between the region’s relentless humidity, scorching summer temperatures and long stretches of outdoor activities, staying hydrated can feel like a full-time job. In fact, Houston recently ranked among the nation’s “sweatiest” cities because of its combination of high heat, humidity and warm overnight temperatures that make it harder for the body to recover from daytime heat.

Why Houston struggles with hydration

The report found that hydration challenges aren’t just about forgetting to drink water.

Americans cited several barriers that prevent them from staying properly hydrated, including busy schedules, lack of access to water throughout the day and simply not recognizing the signs of dehydration.

In Houston, the climate can make those challenges even more significant.

Unlike dry-heat cities where sweat evaporates quickly, Houston’s humidity keeps moisture trapped on the skin, causing people to feel hotter and sweat more. That means residents can lose significant amounts of fluid during everyday activities such as walking the dog, attending outdoor events, commuting or exercising.

A hydration truck is coming to Houston

To raise awareness about hydration and encourage healthier habits, Liquid I.V. is launching its Hydratruck Tour, a mobile hydration experience that will visit some of the nation’s most dehydrated cities.

Houston is among the stops scheduled for this summer.

The company says the tour will provide hydration education, product samples and interactive experiences designed to help people better understand their daily hydration needs.

The stop comes at a fitting time, as Southeast Texas enters its hottest months of the year and residents begin spending more time outdoors for summer vacations, sports and festivals.

Signs you may not be drinking enough water

Health experts say dehydration doesn’t always show up as extreme thirst.

Common signs can include:

Headaches
Fatigue
Dizziness
Dry mouth
Difficulty concentrating
Dark-colored urine

Experts generally recommend increasing fluid intake during periods of extreme heat and paying extra attention to hydration before, during and after outdoor activities.

Houston may not be America’s most dehydrated city, but ranking ninth nationally suggests many residents could benefit from paying closer attention to their water intake.

As summer temperatures continue climbing across Southeast Texas, the report serves as a reminder that staying hydrated isn’t just about comfort. It can play an important role in energy levels, physical performance and overall health.

And with a hydration truck headed to town, Houstonians may soon have one more reason to grab a bottle of water before heading out into the heat.

Senate begins voting on funding immigration enforcement after Trump's settlement fund is dropped

Mary Clare Jalonick And Kevin Freking, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:33:38 +0000

The Republican-led Senate is moving forward with legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies after forcing the Trump administration to say it will drop its settlement fund for political allies and stripping a separate proposal for White House security from the bill.

The Senate voted 53-46 on Wednesday to begin debate on the roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. The legislation was delayed for weeks as Republican senators navigated the various obstacles to passage created by President Donald Trump and the White House, but they are now moving quickly to pass it after paring it back to its original form.

“Right now, the goal is to get the base bill across the finish line,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Still, Republicans will need to find enough votes to beat back multiple amendments that Democrats — and some Republicans — say they will offer to permanently ban Trump’s $1.776 billion settlement fund.

After fierce Republican pushback, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told House lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday that “we are not moving forward with the fund, period.” But shortly after the Senate voted to move forward with the bill on Wednesday, Trump repeatedly defended the settlement in response to reporters’ questions at the White House.

When asked directly whether the fund is dead or just on hold, Trump responded: “I’d have to ask the lawyers, I don’t know.”

“I love it,” Trump said of the settlement. “I think it's so important.”

Republicans are using a process called budget reconciliation that enables them to pass the legislation without any Democratic votes, but they must first wade through a long series of amendment votes that could pose problems for the bill. That process is expected to start on Thursday.

Democratic amendments will test GOP unity

Republicans said they felt reassured by Blanche's promises to scrap the fund, which was part of a settlement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. GOP senators had revolted and left town two weeks ago after the Justice Department announced the payouts, which could potentially go to participants in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and other Trump allies.

Democrats say they want it written into the law.

“It is only a matter of time before Blanche and Trump go back on their word,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted Wednesday morning.

After Trump's comments, Schumer posted on X that “this is EXACTLY why" Democrats would be forcing votes to ban it.

Some Republicans also planned to try and put Blanche's promise in writing. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has said he will offer an amendment to block any attempt at resurrecting the fund.

“We’ve got a sufficient number of Republicans who have been very clear they’ve got concerns there,” said Tillis.

Thune said earlier on Wednesday that Blanche’s comments were “extremely helpful” and that he thought most GOP senators were satisfied. He said he was working with Tillis and others who have discussed amendments as he tries to ensure he has enough votes for a simple majority in the 53-47 Senate.

“Keep in mind, we’ve got to keep them all together, make sure we’ve got 50 votes for it,” Thune said.

Money dropped for Trump's ballroom

The legislation was also delayed by the opposition to $1 billion in security funding for the White House, including for Trump’s new ballroom, that was added to the original bill.

Democrats and some Republicans questioned using taxpayer money for the massive project in a time of economic hardship for many voters. Democrats had planned amendments to strip that language, as well.

As various side issues temporarily derailed the legislation, Republicans have said their top priority is passing the ICE and Border Patrol funding that Democrats have blocked for months in protest of the administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

But success requires GOP unity in the Senate and the House before it can reach Trump.

Republican House leaders said Wednesday they would like to pass the bill before the end of the week, if the Senate can finish it. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said that House leaders were having internal conversations about it.

“We just need to make sure everybody’s there,” Scalise said.

It was unclear how Trump’s comments on the settlement would affect Republicans’ votes on the immigration spending bill. In addition to defending the settlement, he also praised the Jan. 6 defendants who could get payouts, saying they had been subjected to “abuse.”

Friction between White House, Senate threatens other priorities

Even as Republican senators have strongly defended Trump's agenda, a growing number of them have become frustrated with the president as he ignores what they see as their political needs.

The Justice Department announced the settlement fund just as the Senate had planned to move forward on the immigration spending bill, giving Democrats an opportunity to offer amendments that could divide Republicans in an election year. That came just as Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas both lost reelection bids after Trump endorsed their primary opponents.

Trump also tapped real estate scion Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as acting director of national intelligence on Tuesday, angering both Republicans and Democrats who said Pulte has no clear national security credentials. The appointment has complicated bipartisan negotiations on revising the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which expires at the end of next week.

At the same time, an increasing number of Republicans are voting against Trump's war in Iran. The House voted on Wednesday to halt U.S. military action there, following a Senate vote in May to advance its own war powers resolution.

Thune said he wasn't yet sure whether Republicans would be united on the immigration bill.

“We’ll find out," he told reporters.

___

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred worries cap proposal could lead to repeat of 1994-95 strike

Ronald Blum, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:02:49 +0000

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred worries the owners' salary cap proposal could lead to a work stoppage like the one that caused the cancellation of the 1994 World Series and says the plan is needed because management concluded that the luxury tax system in place since 2003 no longer is working.

Owners last week made their first cap proposal since 1994, when a 7 1/2-month strike caused the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years. Manfred was a junior lawyer on the owners' bargaining team in those negotiations.

Players have vowed to fight a cap as long as it takes. Asked whether he is concerned the events of 1994-95 will be repeated, Manfred responded: “Of course I do.”

“We’re open to whatever ideas people have, but we need a realistic framework that addresses the fans' concerns about competitive balance and you just can’t ignore that financial penalties have not gotten it done for us,” he said Wednesday at a news conference during an owners’ meeting.

Baseball owners and players started the current luxury tax system for the 2003 season and in subsequent agreements have increased tax rates while adding surcharges.

“We have tried mightily over several rounds of bargaining to use a competitive balance tax to address competitive concerns and sometimes you got to admit you failed,” Manfred said.

More teams have been willing to exceed tax thresholds in recent years, with a record nine teams paying the penalty in both 2024 and 2025, when the Dodgers were hit with a $169.4 million bill. Total tax rose from $78.5 million in 2022 to $222.8 million the following year, $311.3 million in 2024 and $402.6 million last year.

“We never thought about the CBT as a revenue-generating device," Manfred said. “And when you see more and more tax getting paid, you realize that it is not the kind of speed bump that would help on the issue of competitive balance.”

Baseball's five-year collective bargaining agreement, agreed to in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout, expires on Dec. 1. Management is expected to impose a lockout, which would bring free-agent signings and trades to a halt.

Manfred wouldn’t publicly say whether management thought a stoppage would be worth the cost to obtain a cap.

“I’m not going to speculate about work stoppages,” he said. “I think that the proposal we’ve made is grounds for constructive dialogue and back and forth with the MLBPA about how we can address the number one concern of our fans and that is a lack of competitive balance in the game.”

MLB would limit spending in 2027 to $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million, forcing some teams to spend more. The Dodgers had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year while the lowest payroll was Miami at $81.8 million.

“The players are smart people," Manfred said. "I think they understand that payroll is a significant advantage for certain clubs and that high-payroll clubs win more than low-payroll clubs.”

No small-market team has won the World Series since the 2015 Kansas City Royals.

“Teams that go through periods, particularly longer periods, of non-competitiveness not only have lower revenues, but they are slower to recover once they become competitive," Manfred said.

MLB proposed a 50-50 split with players of defined revenue and an escrow system in which portions of salaries would be withheld for payback to the league in the event the players' share in a year is above 50%.

Players asked for expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum and increasing revenue sharing.

Baseball has had nine work stoppages since 1972, the last the 99-day lockout that slightly delayed the 2022 season.

The NFL has had a cap since 1994, the NBA since 1984-85 and the NHL since 2005-06.

Expansion

MLB won’t consider the possible addition of two teams until there is a new CBA. Among those expressing interest have been groups from Charlotte, North Carolina; Montreal; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Sacramento, California; and Salt Lake City.

“We’ve made clear to all of the cities that have expressed an interest to say a post-labor topic,” Manfred said.

Olympics

Manfred hopes the union will agree to a decision on whether major leaguers will go to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics earlier than reaching a labor deal.

”It is my impression that they’re thinking about on a separate track,” he said. “I hope that’s the case because we can’t wait until we have a collective bargaining agreement to make a commitment on that one.”

Union head Bruce Meyer says a work stoppage that cancels regular-season games could disrupt Olympic plans.

Local broadcast media

MLB's proposal would pool and evenly distribute local broadcast revenue, tied to agreement to a salary cap. MLB plans to negotiate new national broadcast contracts for the 2029 season.

“Certainly there are going to be more national games. It’s our number one priority in terms of reach going forward,” Manfred said. “How the inventory after those national games is monetized is going to depend on the market.”

With the decline of regional sports networks, MLB is producing and distributing local broadcasts of 14 teams this season. Local media revenue is “down significantly," according to Manfred.

“Certainly the form of revenue sharing in the proposal was influenced by developments in the media market and where we think we need to be in order to extract the maximum revenue from the media environment as it exists today,” Manfred said. “You need more control over rights.”

Padres sale

Owners have yet to approve the proposed sale of the San Diego Padres from the Seidler family to an investor group led by Kwanza Jones and José E. Feliciano. The deal was announced on May 2. The sale has an enterprise value of a baseball-record $3.9 billion, with some investors remaining in the ownership group.

“Not ready for a vote today,” Manfred said. “It will probably be at some point this summer.”

Rays ballpark

Manfred is pleased with the Rays’ efforts to gain government approvals for a new ballpark in Tampa, near the spring training stadium of the New York Yankees.

“They need to get to definitive documents. My understanding is they’re on a mid-July-ish timeline on that,” he said. “We’re hopeful they get over the next hurdle.”

___

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

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka: 'just want to quit tennis' after French Open quarterfinal defeat

Jerome Pugmire, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:36:48 +0000

After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible.

“Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.”

Sabalenka's wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory while serving for the match at 5-4. What followed was a complete collapse as she lost 12 of the last 13 games against a player appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, looking increasingly frustrated and forlorn in the windy conditions.

Just like her loss to Coco Gauff in last year's final, when she also won the first set before becoming undone with a slew of unforced errors, this one will take some time to get over.

“You know those rooms where you just go in and you smash everything,” Sabalenka said. “Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help, maybe not.”

Shnaider next faces Maja Chwalinska, who extended her remarkable Roland Garros run by beating No. 22-seeded Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Italian men's finalist

In the men’s quarterfinals, 10th-seeded Flavio Cobolli beat No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and will face fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi for a spot in the final.

Arnaldi advanced when Matteo Berrettini, yet another Italian, retired due to a left hip injury with Arnaldi leading 7-5, 5-2.

Berrettini had his hip treated during a medical timeout earlier in the second set.

The strong Italian showing comes despite top-ranked Jannik Sinner getting stunned in the second round.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev and No. 26 Jakub Mensik will meet in the other semifinal.

Sabalenka's missed opportunities

Sabalenka stood still and screamed loudly after losing a point to fall 0-30 down in the sixth game of the decider and, although she saved two match points at 0-40 down, she lost when she sent a shot into the net.

“I just think it’s combination of everything,” Sabalenka lamented. “You overthink, then you make easy mistakes, then you miss opportunities.”

Her struggles were reminiscent of the match against Gauff, when she remonstrated loudly, shouting to herself and glaring at her team box.

“I just have to sit back and openly think about what’s going on in my head in those tough moments,” Sabalenka said, recalling that match. “Because I’m quite an experienced player. I have been through so many things, and I overcome so many things.”

Sabalenka had already looked agitated when serving for the first set but still looked in control as she served for the match in the second, holding a 30-15 lead.

“Of course I saw some moments of her frustration,” Shnaider said. “I know Aryna, that she’s a very emotional person."

Shnaider, who was already on her best run at a major, broke Sabelenka before taking complete control.

“Well, honestly I am speechless. Super happy,” Shnaider said. “I feel like I was trying to focus point by point. Not thinking about the score. She is the world No. 1, so I just trying to do my best. I just had to fight for every point.”

Sabalenka looked increasingly frustrated as the third set wore on, and when she missed a volley at the net in the fourth game of the decider she crouched and rested her head on her racket.

Another upset

It was another big upset in a tournament where defending champion Gauff (third round) and four-time winner Iga Swiatek (fourth round) already tumbled out.

Sinner, last year's runner-up, served for the match in a second-round defeat, and 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic wasted a two-set lead in a third-round loss.

That opened things up for lesser-known players. According to Opta, this is the first major without a former champion in either the men’s and women’s semifinals since the French Open in 1977.

From qualifier to contender

The unseeded Chwalinska came through three qualifying rounds to become only the second Polish woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros, along with Swiatek.

Chwalinska said British player Emma Raducanu’s run to the 2021 U.S. Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier had inspired her.

“It was such an impressive run, you know,” Chwalinska recalled. “Also, she was so young.”

When Kalinskaya’s big forehand from the back of the court went out, the 24-year-old Chwalinska had her biggest win, having never been beyond the second round at any major before this tournament.

Chwalinska’s total prize money heading into Roland Garros was $864,030 and reaching the last four here earns her 750,000 euros (about $872,000).

Windy conditions

The roof was open on Court Philippe-Chatrier and there was a lot of wind.

“I don’t know why would they keep the roof open when it was crazy windy,” Sabalenka said. “It was very dirty tennis. I don’t know how people could actually just sit there and watch me play.”

Kalinskaya also struggled.

“I feel like I was fighting against the wind,” she said. “It was cold today, so the ball was going slower. I couldn’t use my speed, my power.”

___

This story has been corrected to show that Jannik Sinner was the French Open runner-up in 2025, not champion.

___

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

Looking for NBA Finals seats? The Knicks are making 2 in celebrity row available in an auction

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:09:58 +0000

Still looking for tickets to the NBA Finals? The New York Knicks are making available two of the best seats in the house — right by the likes of Ben Stiller and Spike Lee — to the highest bidder.

The Knicks are auctioning two celebrity row seats for Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, when the NBA Finals return to New York for the first time since 1999.

Ticket prices are skyrocketing with the league's biggest market finally back in the series, with tickets inside the Garden so hard to acquire that Knicks fans have instead bought up seats in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Cleveland as their team romped through the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The seats for the game Monday night are located in section VIP 10; row AA; seats 25 and 26, which the Knicks say is right off center court. It's impossible to know what they would usually cost, because the team doesn't sell them. Instead, they are given to the celebrity fans such as Tracy Morgan and Timothée Chalamet who are courtside fixtures.

The auction begins Thursday at noon at knicks.com/celebrityrowauction and proceeds benefit the Garden of Dreams Foundation, the organization that works with MSG's companies to assist children at need in the tristate area. It runs through Sunday at 5 p.m.

___

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

One dead and another injured after train strikes semi-truck in Iowa

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:01:01 +0000

A train struck a semi-truck in eastern Iowa on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring another, authorities said.

The crash occurred at the crossing of a state highway and the Iowa Interstate Railroad in a rural area about 70 miles (113 kilometers) east of Des Moines, according to Poweshiek County Sheriff Matt Maschmann.

One person in the semi-truck died and another was transported with “serious injuries,” Maschmann said in a statement.

Seventeen train cars and two power engines derailed after the crash and caused "significant damage" to the railroad, he said. Images of the scene showed a massive heap of railcars with billowing smoke.

No hazardous material was spilled, according to Iowa State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Alex Dinkla.

Daily downpours will continue through the weekend in Houston

Justin Stapleton — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:26:04 +0000

CHECK RADAR HERE: YOU CAN TRACK RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE.

Tonight’s Forecast:

Tonight we will see a mild and muggy night with temperatures dropping through the 70s. There is a chance for showers and storms, especially by the coast after 1AM.

Thursday’s Forecast:

Similar to Wednesday, there will be more afternoon thunderstorms. We’ll wake up in the 70s with a high in the mid-80s. We’ll keep a close eye on radar as we get into the afternoon.

Tracking rain and thunderstorms Thursday

Tracking tropical moisture at the end of the week:

There is a large, disorganized area of tropical moisture in the Gulf. It shouldn’t form into a tropical storm or depression, but it will bring more organized heavy rain to the Gulf Coast. There is a 60% chance of moisture here on Friday and Saturday. Both of these days we have a street flooding threat.

This disorganized area could bring widespread heavy rain to Houston at the end of the week

Street flooding possible at the end of the week

Your extended forecast:

After these next several stormy days, things are expected to trend drier as we get to the start of next week. Have your plans ready for changing weather, keep the Storm Tracker 2 radar handy, and check back for the latest local updates.

10 Day Forecast

Sheriff breaks silence after Brazoria County deputy shooting leaves 18-year-old dead in his family’s garage

Jason Nguyen, Bryce Newberry, Michael Horton — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:32:30 +0000

Brazoria County Sheriff Bo Stallman broke his silence Wednesday regarding the shooting death of 18-year-old John Mendoza Jr., saying the Texas Rangers were called in to conduct an independent investigation from the moment the incident occurred.

The statement marked the first time the sheriff has spoken publicly since the fatal shooting early Monday morning.

Just after midnight on June 1, a deputy followed Mendoza Jr. into his father’s garage after an attempted traffic stop led to a pursuit.

The deputy fired a single shot that dispatch communications later described as an accidental discharge.

“Our limited public comments should not be interpreted as a lack of concern, urgency, or recognition of the seriousness of this incident,” Sheriff Stallman wrote.

He said his office is committed to full cooperation with the investigation “no matter the results,” but cited the ongoing nature of the probe as the reason he cannot address specific facts publicly.

The deputy involved has not been identified by law enforcement. The case is being investigated by the Texas Rangers and the Brazoria County District Attorney’s Office.

The reason for the original attempted traffic stop has not been disclosed. The deputy remains on paid administrative leave.

“Please continue to keep the family, our community and all those affected by this tragedy in your prayers as our community grieves,” the sheriff added.

The statement comes after surveillance footage obtained exclusively by KPRC 2 News and shared by family attorney Charles Adams showed Mendoza Jr. pulling into his father’s driveway just after midnight Monday. Within eight seconds of the deputy’s sirens stopping, a shot is heard.

In the video, no audible commands from the deputy can be heard before the shot was fired.

More than 30 seconds after the shooting, scanner traffic appears to capture the deputy reporting an accidental discharge. The first ambulance arrived roughly 10 minutes after the shot was fired.

Mendoza Jr. had just completed his freshman year at Texas State University, where he played football. His father described him as a dedicated student and athlete.

Adams said Mendoza Jr. had spent the evening at a park with childhood friends, all of whom were unarmed.

“My son was murdered in his garage, and this just isn’t right,” John Mendoza Sr. said. “This is a senseless situation that could have been avoided.”

District Attorney Tom Selleck issues statement

Brazoria County District Attorney Tom Selleck also issued his first public statement Wednesday, saying the findings of the investigation will be presented to a grand jury for review.

According to prosecutors, investigators are conducting a “thorough and comprehensive investigation” that will include forensic testing and other evidence analysis.

Officials said those investigative steps could take several months to complete.

Once finished, investigators will present the case “in its entirety” to a grand jury for review and possible action.

“Our office extends its deepest sympathy, our thoughts and our prayers to all parties involved. We thank the community for its cooperation, understanding, and patience as we move through this process,” Selleck wrote.

The District Attorney’s Office also said no additional public comments will be made while the matter remains under grand jury consideration.

FULL STATEMENTS

Sheriff Bo Stallman:

I know there are many questions surrounding the recent officer-involved shooting that resulted in the tragic loss of a young man.

This is a serious matter, and I hear the concerns and emotions expressed throughout our community. I also understand why people are seeking answers. I assure you, we seek those same answers. Our limited public comments should not be interpreted as a lack of concern, urgency, or recognition of the seriousness of this incident.

From the outset, I requested an independent investigation of the shooting and the events that led up to it. This investigation is being conducted by the Texas Rangers and the Brazoria County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. One of my responsibilities as your Sheriff is to ensure that this investigation proceeds objectively and without interference. The Sheriff’s Office is committed to full cooperation with the investigation, no matter the results.

Because this investigation is ongoing, I am unable to comment on specific matters and facts related to the active investigation.

Please continue to keep the family, our community and all those affected by this tragedy in your prayers as our community grieves.

Respectfully,

Sheriff Bo Stallman

District Attorney Tom Selleck

The District Attorney’s Office provides this statement concerning an officer involved shooting that occurred on June 1, 2026, in Lake Jackson.

It is the policy of the District Attorney’s Office to request that the Texas Rangers investigate all officer-involved shootings concerning the law enforcement agencies within Brazoria County.

Accordingly, this matter is currently being investigated by the Texas Rangers with the assistance of this office.

A thorough and comprehensive investigation is being conducted and this matter will be presented, in its entirety, to the grand jury for their review and action. It is anticipated that necessary investigative tasks, such as forensics and other testing, may take several months to complete. In accordance with the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and other applicable law and rules, this office, the Texas Rangers, and the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office will not publicly discuss any aspect of the ongoing investigation or proceedings at this time.

Our office extends its deepest sympathy, our thoughts and our prayers to all parties involved. We thank the community for its cooperation, understanding, and patience as we move through this process.

No further comment will be provided by this office while the matter is pending before the grand jury.

Tomball baseball heads to third straight state title game with only one loss in 2026 season

Nick Mantas — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:14:30 +0000

Sustained success is rare in high school sports, but the Tomball Cougars have built one of the most dominant baseball programs in Texas.

Over the past three seasons, Tomball has compiled an impressive 117-11 record while making three consecutive appearances in the UIL 6A State Championship game. Now, the Cougars are one win away from adding another title to their growing legacy.

Tomball will face Memorial High School in an all-Houston showdown for the UIL 6A Division I State Championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

The Cougars’ remarkable consistency hasn’t happened by accident. Coaches and players point to a culture built on leadership, mentorship, and preparation. Each senior class takes responsibility for guiding younger players through the expectations and pressures that come with competing at the highest level.

That tradition of older players mentoring underclassmen has helped create a seamless transition from year to year. By the time those younger players become upperclassmen, they’ve already experienced the intensity of deep playoff runs and understand what it takes to succeed on the biggest stage.

The formula has paid off. Tomball has become a perennial state contender and now has an opportunity to capture its second state championship in three seasons.

Standing in the Cougars’ way is a talented Memorial squad, setting up a highly anticipated battle between two Houston-area powers with a state title on the line.

First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at Dell Diamond, where Tomball will look to continue its dynasty and bring another championship trophy back home.

Houston Rockets Skills Camp returns to various locations this summer

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 22:16:01 +0000

The Houston Rockets Skills Camp presented by Adidas is back this summer with four camp sessions designed to help young players build confidence and sharpen their skills on the court.

The first camp session is already underway this week at Alodia Basketball Academy in Tomball. Houston Life reporter Lauren Leal took the trip to the camp where NBA veteran forward and Rockets Alum Carl Landry was on-site explaining his workout routines and sharing basketball knowledge and drills with the youth.

The camps are open to boys and girls ages 8-16, with instruction led by experienced coaches using a structured curriculum developed by Rockets Legend, Matt Bullard. Each day runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and focuses on fundamentals including shooting, ball-handling, footwork and agility, with an emphasis on keeping the environment encouraging and high-energy.

Campers will also have access to exclusive training from Memorial Hermann specialists, including guidance on dynamic stretching, nutrition, and mental health resources.

Participants receive a T-shirt, water bottle and backpack, along with two tickets to a 2026-27 Rockets home game.

Registration still available for two upcoming camps

June 15-19: Tellepsen Family Downtown YMCA (Houston)
July 27-31: The Den Sports Facility (Cypress)

Registration is available at HERE.

Dutch court allows rapper Ye concerts in the Netherlands

Molly Quell, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:05:26 +0000

A judge in Amsterdam on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a Jewish organization to block two performances by the rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, ruling that the concerts are not a threat to public order.

Ye has drawn widespread controversy in recent years for a series of antisemitic remarks, leaving Dutch authorities under mounting pressure to cancel the gigs on June 6 and 8.

The Central Jewish Council filed the emergency lawsuit on Tuesday, arguing that Ye should be banned from the country for voicing admiration for Adolf Hilter and selling T-shirts featuring swastikas.

According to the Amsterdam District Court, there were no grounds to bar Ye from performing. “There are no indications that West’s presence in the coming days will lead to concrete public order dangers,” the court said in a statement.

The Central Jewish Council expressed disappointment with the ruling. “The feeling we are getting is that it is okay if you are antisemitic,” Chanan Hertzberger, the organization’s chair, told The Associated Press.

Lawmakers in the Netherlands supported a motion to bar Ye from entering the country but the country's immigration minister said there was no legal basis for such a move. Ye's remarks were “reprehensible” but there was “no reason to bar him," Bart van den Brink told journalists last week.

The 48-year-old was set to perform his first European dates in more than a decade. In April, he was barred from entering the U.K. over his remarks, setting off a series of cancellations. Shows in Italy and Poland have been scrapped.

More than 100,000 fans turned out in Istanbul on Saturday evening to watch Ye’s first performance in Turkey.

Concert organizers say 70,000 tickets have been sold for the two upcoming shows at the Gelredome in the eastern Dutch city of Arnhem.

Ye apologized in January through a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal, stating that his bipolar disorder led him to fall into “a four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”

11 years after one teen's death sparked massive Argentine protests, a new case shakes the nation

Isabel Debre, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:27:45 +0000

In May 2015, the grisly killing of a pregnant 14-year-old girl named Chiara Páez by her 16-year-old boyfriend triggered massive protests in Argentina that evolved into a generation-defining movement throughout Latin America under the motto of “ Ni Una Menos," or “Not One Woman Less."

Now, 11 years after the first Ni Una Menos protest created a collective consciousness about what would come to be known as femicide — the killing of women and girls because of their gender — the nation is convulsing with anger once again.

This time, it's over the killing of 14-year-old Agostina Vega, in the central city of Cordoba. She arrived at a family friend's home the night of May 23, expecting to pick up a gift for her mother. Instead, she was sexually assaulted and hanged, initial autopsy results indicate, her body dismembered with a kitchen knife.

Her remains were found in a drainage ditch Saturday, a week after her disappearance, as vigils in her home province erupted into clashes with police.

The outrage has reverberated across the country, and on Wednesday, thousands of protesters gathered for the annual Ni Una Menos demonstration in downtown Buenos Aires. Many held posters printed with the faces and names of women who've been killed or who disappeared in recent years, including Agostina. Her case brought renewed energy and purpose to the protest, amplifying demands for government action and intensifying criticism of President Javier Milei.

The libertarian ally of U.S. President Donald Trump has called the feminist movement “a ridiculous and unnatural fight," promoted scrapping femicide from the penal code, and defunded programs supporting victims of gender violence as part of his cultural war and cost-cutting campaign.

This year, lawyers at the Center for Legal and Social Studies, a leading Argentine human rights group, have counted 63 legally registered femicides. But they and other advocates say it can be an uphill battle against the government to get that classification. Some have compiled a list of more than 100 names of women killed this year, arguing that many aren’t properly labeled.

Reports of femicide in Argentina fell 12%, to 200 cases last year compared with 2024, according to statistics published by the Supreme Court. Victims' lawyers say the change doesn’t reflect a drop in gender-based violence, but instead a failure to properly classify crimes.

“To stop calling femicides by their name, to deny the existence of gender violence — it's an attempt to rewind the past 20 years,” said Natalia Gherardi, director of the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender, a Buenos Aires-based rights group. "I hope this reaction generated by Agostina’s case, what we show in the streets, will be enough to counter the desire to move backward.”

Questions plague the handling of 14-year-old Agostina's case

After Agostina's death, protesters directed anger at local law enforcement, setting tires alight in the streets of Cordoba. Her family filed a missing person’s report the morning after her disappearance, but over 80 hours passed before phones across the province buzzed with a child abduction alert, according to family lawyer Gustavo Vaca.

The day after her death, a taxi driver reported that he'd driven Agostina to the house of the family friend, 33-year-old Claudio Barrelier, which security camera footage confirmed.

Agostina’s family has complained that security forces were consumed by concerns of fan violence during a major soccer game in the city of Cordoba that day. Three days later, police raided the house of Barrelier, an ex-boyfriend of Agostina's mother.

Barrelier is in custody as the main suspect in the case and denies killing Agostina. Investigators say his criminal history shows he had been arrested for abducting a young woman a year ago but was released on bail of $3,500 after 20 days.

When peppered with accusations of foot-dragging, lead prosecutor Raúl Garzón said last week that authorities “are not engaging in any self-criticism.”

Calls grew to characterize Agostina’s killing as a femicide. Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva has refused to do so.

“A homicide, whatever its nature, is not solely defined by what happens during one hour, two hours, or three hours, where the act itself occurs,” Monteoliva told reporters Monday in her only public comments on the case.

Advocates insist using the term femicide — which carries harsher penalties than other forms of homicide, with a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment in Argentina — is crucial for effective prosecution and victim protection.

“If we don't name the specific form of violence, if we don't recognize it, then we can't understand the problem in all its dimensions, and we can't create policies to prevent and combat it," said Lucila Galkin, director of the gender and diversity program for the Argentina chapter of Amnesty International.

Milei has waged his culture war against policies on gender

Milei has waged a cultural war against gender-based policies — what he sees as a dangerous consequence of socialism.

After Milei railed against the crime of femicide as “legally making a woman’s life worth more than a man’s” at the Davos summit last year, his justice minister announced plans to strip the category from the legal code.

Nothing came of that, but his government now is working to stiffen penalties for women who falsely report cases of gender-based violence. It is awaiting congressional debate.

In the last two and a half years, Milei has dissolved Argentina’s women’s ministry, shut down its anti-discrimination institute, gutted support programs for victims of gender violence, banned the use of gender-inclusive language in official documents, and defunded training in gender issues for public school students and state employees.

Among the affected programs is Acompañar, which assisted 350,000 women with aid equivalent to six months’ minimum wage before it was defunded. A 24-hour hotline to help victims lost two-thirds of its budget and half its staff last year. A government-sponsored program providing free legal assistance to people experiencing domestic violence or sexual abuse has also been dismantled.

With the latest case, an annual protest has gained urgency

On Wednesday, protesters gathered at Plaza Congreso, opposite the seat of the National Congress, as they have every year since Chiara Páez's death in 2015.

Laura Lenaza, 41, said she hadn’t attended a street protest in almost a decade. But the shock of recent cases moved her to bring her 17-year-old daughter, Milena.

“I’m fighting for myself, for my 11-year-old sister, and for all the women I know," the young woman said, squeezing her mother’s hand.

María Cacharo, 54, said she came with her 18-year-old daughter in honor of her sister, killed by her husband several years ago.

“Whenever resources are reduced, somehow we’re the ones who have to bear the cost,” she said of the impact of Milei’s cost-cutting on women, adding that the way police handled Agostina's case makes her sick.

Carrying “Justice for Agostina” signs, her family led a march in Cordoba on Wednesday to push for accountability in her killing under the banner of the movement that once made Argentina a regional beacon for social and legal action on gender equality.

“I think this femicide, which caused so much pain, so much shock, also mobilized us, reminded us that this is a problem concerning all of society,” Galkin said of Agostina's case.

“We are being forced to have conversations about issues we thought we had agreed on, a topic that we thought had been settled."

Spanish hotel chain Meliá to shutter hotels in Cuba in latest blow to island's tourism sector

Andrea Rodríguez, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:55:03 +0000

Spanish hotel chain Meliá has joined a growing list of companies with a long-standing presence in Cuba that are withdrawing or limiting their operations on the island after the U.S. announced new sanctions while upholding an oil embargo.

Meliá will cease operations at 15 of the 34 hotels it manages on the island, according to state website Cubadebate, dealing a blow to Cuba’s vital tourism sector, which has plummeted since its 2018 peak.

The report on Wednesday stated that Meliá’s decision was based on “a sense of corporate responsibility and external factors that have significantly affected the operation, legality and security of these establishments.”

The decision was announced May 26, just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island. Most of the sanctions targeted Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, with the U.S. asserting it was a threat to its national security.

Meliá did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The executive order freezes the assets of foreign companies, seizes their accounts in the United States and prohibits travel by their shareholders, investors and employees— virtually eliminating their activity in the U.S. financial system.

GAESA, a Cuban conglomerate created in the 1990s, owns a wide range of businesses, from car rentals and retail stores to transportation companies. It is Meliá’s partner in hotel management through one of its subsidiaries, Gaviota.

Meliá deals new blow to Cuba's crumbling tourism sector

Meliá is one of Cuba’s most important partners in its vital tourism sector. Until its partial withdrawal, it operated some 14,000 rooms.

Spanish and Canadian firms are the biggest investors in Cuba’s hotel sector, noted Lee Schlenker, a research associate at the Quincy Institute’s Global South program, a Washington think tank.

“With the lack of international tourism, the fuel shortages, and just the broader decline since COVID…I’m sure that these companies will be rethinking their operations in Cuba with major implications for the people of Cuba, not just GAESA,” he said. “There are thousands of Cubans who work in these hotels.”

Several of the hotels that Meliá abandoned in idyllic destinations like the resorts of Varadero, Cayo Santa María and Jardines del Rey “were already closed and inactive due to energy problems and the drop in demand in Cuba,” according to Cubadebate.

Cuba’s government has blamed the U.S. energy blockade for prolonged blackouts, water shortages, supply problems, deficiencies in the healthcare system and disruptions in all aspects of daily life.

Those who work in Cuba’s crumbling tourism sector lamented Meliá’s announcement.

“It’s going to affect us, our families, and everyone involved in tourism. Our pay and income depend on this,” said Erich López, a driver of a green 1950s Dodge who has been driving for two decades to support his family.

For Carlos Luis Carbonel, a 62-year-old parking attendant who works in front of the giant Meliá Cohiba hotel in Havana, the situation “is going to be a blow.”

“This is terrible for everyone: for tour guides, for parking attendants, for hotel workers, for everyone," he said.

Other major hotel chains including Canadian-owned Royalton and Spain’s Iberostar have limited or suspended operations in Cuba in the past week.

Tourism in Cuba, which reached a peak of 4.3 million visitors in 2019, saw a significant drop in the number of tourists arriving in the first quarter of this year, 48% lower than in the same period in 2025.

Only 298,000 tourists arrived in Cuba in January, February and March, compared to 573,300 international visitors during the same period last year, according to government data.

Cuba struggles to breathe

On Wednesday, the enormous and iconic sign of the Royalton Paseo del Prado hotel at the entrance of Old Havana was removed, as confirmed by The Associated Press during a visit. Meanwhile, the 500-room Iberostar Selection — also known as Tower K — the most modern and luxurious of the hotels slated to open in 2025, standing over 150 meters (490 feet) tall, has remained closed for days.

Airlines including World2Fly, Air France and Iberia have canceled flights to and from Cuba.

Also on Wednesday, Cuba’s Central Bank announced that Visa and MasterCard operations on the island would be suspended following the termination of relationships between foreign entities and FINCIMEX S.A., a Cuba-based agency affiliated with GAESA.

Last month, Canadian miner Sherritt International Corp. signed a non-binding agreement with Gillon Capital LLC, a family office linked to a former Trump adviser, to sell its stake in a mining business in Cuba.

In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba, as his administration pressures for a change in its political system and government. The move has deepened a crisis caused by seven decades of U.S. sanctions.

While U.S. and Cuban officials held talks earlier this year, tensions have risen. In late May, former President Raúl Castro was charged in a U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles in 1996 in Cuban waters.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Live updates: House passes resolution to halt military action in Iran in rebuke of Trump

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:39:28 +0000

The House approved a war powers resolution Wednesday that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying President Donald Trump as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to seek to end the three-month-long war. Opposition to the war has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a quick resolution.

The resolution from the House does not immediately stop the war. It now goes to the Senate, where four Republican senators last month joined Democrats in advancing a similar measure to curtail the U.S. campaign against Iran. The Senate has yet to take a final vote.

Trump, in an interview released Wednesday, confirmed an earlier report that he criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy," and said he's “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon is holding back peace talks with Iran.

The Trump administration is sticking with a deal to permanently drop tax claims against Trump, an extraordinary flex of executive power that could help shield the president from further examination of his finances and legal conduct, even as it scraps a $1.8 billion fund to compensate the Republican president's allies amid a fierce political backlash.

Trump's endorsements helped end the political careers of two senators and a congressman deemed insufficiently loyal, but he couldn't lift Rep. Randy Feenstra to victory in Iowa’s Republican primary, setting up a Democratic opportunity to pick up a governorship. See other AP coverage of Tuesday's primary results here.

The Latest:

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visits Venezuela

The president’s top military adviser, Gen. Dan Caine, visited the capital of Venezuela on Wednesday, his office said in a press release.

“Gen. Caine participated in bilateral discussions with senior interim government leaders and U.S. Embassy leadership and staff, and visited the Embassy’s Marine Security Augmentation Unit,” the statement said. It also noted that this was Caine’s first official visit to the country.

The visit comes less than two weeks after the head of U.S. military operations in Latin America, Marine Gen. Francis Donovan, also visited Caracas as part of a rapid response exercise involving Marines and military aircraft.

Venezuela’s acting President, Delcy Rodríguez, is currently on an official state trip in India.

House approves war powers resolution to halt military action against Iran

The House approved a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, defying the president as a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to end the three-month-long war that has reordered politics at home and abroad.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war, abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the war powers resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a quick resolution.

The roll call Wednesday was 215-208, and cheers erupted in the House chamber.

“This reckless and costly war of choice needs to end today,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said earlier in the week.

Rubio wraps up marathon two-day Capitol Hill hearings

The secretary of state faced a litany of questions over nearly a dozen hours of hearings combined about the Trump administration’s tentacles around the war and bipartisan concern over the status of the Iran war and negotiations.

It was the first time Rubio had to face lawmakers since the U.S. first issued strikes on Iran and he spent large portions of his testimony defending the rationale and execution of the military operation.

Rubio faces bipartisan criticism for waivers on Russian oil sanctions

Democrats and Republicans, on both sides of Capitol Hill, peppered Rubio about the Trump administration’s decision to extend its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments to ease shortages from the Iran war.

“President Trump was right to impose those sanctions last fall, but the waivers provide Moscow with badly needed revenue, and, I think, make little difference to American consumers in the price of gas,” GOP Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas said during a hearing.

Rubio defended the decision, saying these are short-term waivers and “will not be permanent.”

In April, the Treasury Department extended the so-called general license for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11. The extensions have underscored how the fallout from the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, which had been restrained since the invasion of Ukraine.

Trump suggests he could ‘be the greatest’ communist – if he were actually a communist

The president directed a reporter to read Trump’s own past words on communism back to him, then scoffed at efforts in New York and other large, blue cities to expand social services.

“I’d be the greatest in the world. Nobody would be as good as me. I’d give away everything. I could be the greatest,” Trump said, commenting on what he’d be like if he were to undertake similar social giveaways.

“I would sell them: You’re going to get free rent. You’re going to get free houses. You’re going to get free food. You’re going to get free everything,” he said. “But, eventually, that ends and it leads to death, destruction and squalor 100% of the time.”

Trump also said of New York’s democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, “I would be better than him” at expanding free services, but “I had to sell free enterprise.”

“Free enterprise is tougher to sell,” Trump said.

Trump on fate of anti-weaponization fund: ‘I don’t know’

In his first public comments since his Justice Department said a controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund would not go forward, the president equivocated.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers,” Trump said when asked directly whether the settlement fund was dead or merely on hold. “I don’t know.”

He spent much of his response to reporters defending the fund, which he called a “beautiful thing.”

His comments came just after Senate Republicans voted to advance an immigration funding bill, which they did only after testimony from acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the fund was dead.

Trump downplays that the US and Iranian strikes are testing fragile ceasefire

“We’ve been hitting them pretty hard,” Trump said when asked by reporters on Wednesday if the ceasefire remains in place amid back-and-forth attacks by the two sides. He added, “It’s a different part of the world. You know, I’d say in that part of the world, a ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”

Trump also insisted that ongoing negotiations to extend the temporary ceasefire and open new nuclear talks with Tehran continue to progress.

He suggested that it’s possible an agreement could be reached “over the weekend.” Trump, however, has been predicting for weeks that the two sides are on the cusp of reaching a deal.

Trump signs executive order on federal workforce reform

The president on Wednesday signed an order that was described as an attempt to make it easier to fire or discipline federal workers.

Introducing the order at an Oval Office event, White House staff secretary Will Scharf said existing personnel rules make it difficult to discipline or promote workers in policymaking roles. He said the goal is to make the federal workforce more accountable.

James Sherk of the Domestic Policy Council added that it has been “almost impossible” to fire federal employees even in cases of serious misconduct.

“What this does is basically treat those employees like private sector workers that are being hired on the basis of merit and competence,” Sherk said. “But if they’re messing up, then they can be removed quickly.”

Trump signs executive order related to the U.S.-Mexico border

After hastily bringing reporters to the Oval Office, the president signed an executive action that will empower customs officials to more carefully track what importers bring across the U.S.-Mexico border.

His order is meant to improve the tracking of goods imported into the U.S. for tariff purposes. Federal authorities said it would also allow them to improve holding importing firms accountable, who have long used shell companies to avoid taxes.

Rubio: Adding countries to Abraham Accords would be “difficult to do at this moment” in Iran war

Asked why it’s important to increase normalization between Israel and Arab countries, Rubio laid out the benefits that it would provide both sides, but provided a sober outlook on the unlikelihood, given the ongoing hostilities in the region.

“We do want to expand the Abraham Accords obviously, but it’s difficult to do at this moment,” Rubio told senators Wednesday afternoon. “But we’re laying the groundwork for it. It’ll be a top priority of this administration.”

His testimony strayed from Trump’s recent comments, including last week, when the president said that signing on to the Abraham Accords “should be mandatory” as part of a U.S.-Iran deal being negotiated right now.

The accords were a series of diplomatic and commercial agreements forged with U.S. influence between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in 2020, during Trump’s first term.

Trump talks to press about reflecting pool

Shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday, reporters were suddenly summoned to the Oval Office.

The reason was ostensibly to watch the president sign executive orders. But Trump kicked off the event by talking up the reflecting pool outside the Lincoln Memorial, which he announced earlier would get its final coat of protection today.

“It’ll last for 50 to 100 years before you have to do anything, very strong, powerful substance that we used,” Trump told reporters. At one point, he held up a poster that said: “Our Pool is Bigger than Skyscrapers.”

After that opener, Trump moved to the topic at hand: a customs-related executive order.

Republicans have won the partisan redistricting battle

Since Trump urged Republicans to redraw U.S. House districts last year, officials in eight states have enacted new districts that could help Republicans win up to 16 additional seats in the November elections.

Democrats suffered setbacks in their counterattacks. But they could gain up to six additional seats from new districts in two states.

The aggressive mid-decade redistricting carries high stakes, because Democrats need to gain just a few seats in the midterms to win control of the House. It remains to be seen whether the redistricting will help Republicans hold on to their slim majority.

US reduces the forces it would provide to NATO in a crisis

The U.S. military is reducing the number of forces it would contribute to NATO during an emergency, a change that’s been expected from the Trump administration as it pushes European allies to shoulder more of the continent’s defense burden.

U.S. European Command on Wednesday publicly announced changes to the NATO Force Model, a contingency plan for European defense in the event of serious security concerns, such as increased Russian aggression. The announcement lacks specifics, but said allies could step up with planes and ships as the U.S. reserves more of its own forces to thwart potential threats in other parts of the world.

U.S. and British officials said the change was already announced in classified meetings to NATO allies in recent weeks.

Demonstrator kicked out as Rubio kicks off 4th and final Capitol Hill hearing

As the secretary of state entered his fourth and last congressional hearing, a young demonstrator who said she was 18 years old yelled that the foreign policy actions of the Trump administration were being taken “against the will of the American people” before being removed from the Senate hearing room.

She yelled, “Free Palestine,” as the door was closing.

It was the first interruption of the day but part of a series of protests against Rubio and the administration in the past two days, specifically against U.S. support for Israel and the impacts of that on war-torn Gaza.

3 UN experts accuse US of `unlawful coercion’ against Cuba’s sovereignty

The independent U.N. human rights investigators urged the Trump administration in a statement Wednesday to immediately halt all threats against Cuba’s sovereignty and revoke sanctions “adopted contrary to international law.”

The experts said efforts to change Cuba’s “constitutional order” through threats and coercion “echo colonial-era practices.”

They said Trump’s declaration of a “Donroe Doctrine” in March, asserting U.S. predominance in the Western hemisphere, has raised “significant alarm.” And they said his statements about the “honor of taking Cuba” reflect “a deeply concerning strategy of coercion” against the country.

The experts on democracy, the negative impact of sanctions and counterterrorism, also pointed to the longstanding U.S. embargo and recent fuel blockade of Cuba.

They called the recent U.S. indictment of former Cuban president Raúl Castro “a misuse of domestic judicial proceedings” and “an instrument of coercive foreign policy,” and the announced deployment of the USS Nimitz to the southern Caribbean another element of “unlawful coercion.”

Rubio wraps up nearly 4-hour congressional hearing

The secretary of state has finished nearly four hours of testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he received praise from Republicans and sparred with Democrats over the Iran war, President Donald Trump’s relationship with NATO and U.S. aid to Africa.

The hearing before lawmakers on Capitol Hill was the third of four in two days for the former Republican senator from Florida. The purpose of each hearing has been to discuss the State Department’s budget. But they’ve often veered into discussions about the Trump administration’s dealings with countries around the world.

Rubio insists to lawmakers that any US-Iran deal will be ‘better’ than Obama agreement

Republicans and Democrats have raised concerns about the reported details of a deal between Tehran and Washington. And on Wednesday, Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky, questioned whether the deal was similar to the one former President Barack Obama made in 2015.

Rubio went on to outline the various issues being discussed and how they differ from the previous nuclear deal, which Trump withdrew from in 2018.

“Ultimately, any deal we do will be a good deal, or there won’t be a deal, and it’ll be better than JCPOA,” Rubio said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

That agreement, which included Germany, France and Britain, had lifted most U.S. and international economic sanctions against Iran for restrictions on its nuclear program, making it impossible to produce a bomb and establishing rigorous inspections.

Rubio says Trump still wants to be part of NATO, but alliance needs significant reform

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has no intention of abandoning NATO but won’t back down on demanding significant reforms.

Rubio told lawmakers Wednesday that the president plans to attend the annual NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey next month, at which he will make the U.S. case for changes and again call for allies to increase their defense spending. The summit is to be held in Ankara on July 7-8.

“The president himself will be attending the next NATO, a meeting of heads of state where all of these points will be made clear. We’re still in NATO, but NATO needs significant changes, and the president has made that clear,” Rubio said.

Trump has been particularly irked by some NATO countries, mainly Spain, denying the use of airbases for the war against Iran.

Senate GOP officially strips $1 billion in White House security funding from immigration spending bill

After weeks of discussions, the Senate has officially dropped a $1 billion proposal for White House security and Trump’s ballroom project.

The Senate is set to begin voting on legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies on Wednesday afternoon, and the bill’s final text, released just hours before the vote, does not include the security funding.

Republicans had already indicated they would drop the security proposal after backlash from within their own caucus and criticism from Democrats.

Rubio says Greenland is part of Denmark ‘for now’

Rubio made the “for now” statement when Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware asked Rubio about Trump’s calls for the U.S. to own the semiautonomous territory of Denmark to better defend the U.S.

Rubio said talks about the use of Greenland for collective defense are “in a good place,” though he declined to publicly discuss the details.

McBride had asked Rubio if he shares Trump’s belief that the U.S. needs to own land within NATO to defend it.

“The president’s view is that it’s a lot easier to defend it when you have control and complete control of it,” Rubio said. “We are obviously having conversations with both Denmark and Greenland. They are ongoing on a monthly basis now. I think we’ll have pretty good news.”

Abelardo de la Espriella thanks Trump for endorsement, predicts stronger US-Colombia ties

Colombian lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, who pulled ahead in the first round of Colombia’s presidential race, on Wednesday thanked Trump for endorsing his campaign, saying he predicts stronger bilateral ties if the conservative defeats progressive Iván Cepeda in the presidential runoff.

Writing on the Truth Social platform the previous day, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” for de la Espriella, calling him an “intelligent, strong, and tough leader” who will take on a “radical leftist Marxist” in the June 21 runoff election.

“With my head held high and my heart throbbing with patriotic gratitude, I receive your words and your steadfast support,” de la Espriella, known as “El Tigre” or “The Tiger,” wrote on the social platform X. “Thank you, Mr. President!”

Hurricane Melissa: storm chaser’s terrifying story — and Houston missionaries’ mission to help Jamaica

Daji Aswad — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:47:08 +0000

“I was actually pretty scared… scared like I wished I was, you know, not there.”

That’s how veteran storm chaser Josh Morgerman described the moment Hurricane Melissa tore into the west coast of Jamaica — a storm so violent he says it shattered assumptions about what’s “safe” in a hurricane.

For many Jamaicans along the coast, the experience was even more personal.

“Hurricane Melissa was really traumatic for most of us who live near the coastline,” one resident said in the aftermath.

A historic Category 5 landfall

Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Oct. 28, 2025, as a Category 5 storm with winds clocked at 185 mph and peak gust over 200 mph , strength that tied for the most powerful hurricane landfall in the Atlantic, and the strongest hurricane ever to hit Jamaica.

Morgerman, known for documenting extreme weather, stayed through the entire event, hunkered down in a hotel as the storm peaked.

“It lived up to what the data was showing before it hit — absolute ferocious,” he said.

“The wind was screaming”

Even for someone who chases the world’s worst storms, Melissa was different.

“The sound of the wind — the screaming sound — it hurt your ear,” Morgerman said. “You wanted to cover your ears.”

What unsettled him most wasn’t just the noise or the pressure — it was what the storm did to buildings that were supposed to hold.

“I always thought concrete buildings were totally safe in hurricanes,” “Not in Melissa. Some concrete buildings collapsed. That’s how intense it was.”he said.

After the winds: families left with nothing

When the storm finally passed, the view outside revealed just how much had been stripped away.

Destruction stretched as far as the eye could see, and families were left with nothing but debris and uncertainty. Residents on in Black River told missionaries from Bethel’s Family Church that it will take years to build the infrastructures back.

A call for help from southwest Houston

That setback weighed on people far beyond the island.

More than a thousand miles away, Bethel’s Family Church — nestled in southwest Houston — began mobilizing support for Jamaica, urging its congregation to give what they could.

“We start seeking donations — financial donations — as well as donations that involve meds, clothing,” Pastor Craig Taylor said.

A volunteer who knows hurricanes — and heartbreak

Alfred Sterling Jr. was among the first to step up, heading to Jamaica just months after the storm.

“Stores, communities, schools, even churches, hospitals… had all been pretty much devastated by the hurricane,” Sterling said. “It was very heartbreaking.”

Sterling is no stranger to disaster. He’s lived through hurricanes like Betsy and Katrina — experiences he says helped prepare him for what he saw in Jamaica.

“Experiencing those things in the past helped me and prepared me to be of better help… to those that I came in contact with in Jamaica,” he said.

Bringing medical care — and hope

Now, Sterling is heading back to the island with 40 other volunteers, carrying dozens of suitcases filled with medical supplies.

“Our primary function is to serve the people in a medical capacity,” Sterling said. “Providing any type of medical assistance… over-the-counter medications… doing eye exams, dental work, hearing exams.”

Pastor Craig Taylor says the goal is bigger than supplies.

“Hope — that’s the main thing,” said Pastor Taylor.

“We are the hands and feet of God,” Taylor added. “And we want to be that visible hope… because we actually are the prayers answered.”

How you can help:

Check out Bethel’s Global Reach if you want to donate to their next mission trip: bethelsglobalreach.org/contact/

Caleb Williams strikes jump-throw pose for Madden NFL 27 cover

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:06:16 +0000

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was announced Wednesday as EA Sports’ cover athlete for Madden NFL 27.

On the standard cover, Williams is depicted in a position similar to his pivotal, scrambling, fourth-and-8 jump pass to Rome Odunze in a stirring comeback victory over Green Bay in a wild-card playoff game on Jan. 10.

With his arm cocked to throw and his feet spread, Williams appears to soar above a silhouette of the Chicago skyline that is set against a blue backdrop.

The deluxe edition features a tight shot of Williams with arms crossed over his white game jersey, a dark, night-like background and snow falling around him.

Being featured on the game's cover is “like my childhood dream was coming true,” Williams said in a statement. “I grew up playing Madden and imagining what it would be like to be part of the game."

Williams and the 2025 Bears became synonymous with late-game theatrics last season, staging more than a handful of comeback victories to go with some dramatic rallies that came up just short — including their season-ending playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

“He had a spectacular season and the cover was dope, his kind of little (Michael Jordan) tribute,” Odunze said after the Bears practiced on Wednesday. “I know the Chicagoans are happy to see that one. It was kind of a throwback. It was pretty cool.”

Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson also liked the cover.

“It’s tough. I told him he has to sign mine,” Stevenson said. "Definitely proud of him for that. I’m honored to be on a team with someone who is on the Madden cover.”

In 17 regular-season games, Williams passed for a franchise-record 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in his second season since being drafted first overall out of Southern California.

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

Texas leads nation in flood insurance cancellations as costs rise ahead of hurricane season

Gage Goulding, Gage Divin, Sydney Wallace — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:45:33 +0000

As hurricane season begins, Texas is losing flood insurance coverage faster than any other state in the nation, raising concerns among flood experts and researchers in a state with a long history of devastating floods.

Data from the National Flood Insurance Program shows more than 45,000 flood insurance policies were canceled across Texas over the past 12 months, a decline of roughly 7.2%, according to figures reviewed by KPRC 2. Nationwide, flood insurance policies also declined, but at a significantly lower rate.

The trend comes despite repeated flood disasters across Texas in recent years and as many homeowners continue to face rising housing, insurance and living costs.

“We know it’s raining more. We know it’s raining more intensely and that rain is more unpredictable now than ever,” said Emily Woodell, chief external affairs officer for the Harris County Flood Control District. “That’s why flood insurance is more important now than perhaps ever before.”

A state built around flood risk

Flooding has long been one of Texas’ most persistent natural hazards.

Houston alone has experienced numerous major flood events, including Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, the Tax Day Flood of 2016 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The region’s extensive network of bayous was designed to move water away from homes and businesses, but flood officials say no system can eliminate flood risk entirely.

“If you live in the Houston area, you are at risk of flooding,” Woodell said.

She said flood control projects completed since Harvey have significantly reduced risk for many residents.

“If that were to happen today, hundreds of thousands of homes would be in a better position than they were then,” Woodell said, referring to Harvey. “However, that risk still exists.”

KPRC 2’s 2026 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide

Woodell said periods without major flooding can lead some residents to become less focused on the threat.

“Unless you’ve been hit recently, you’re right. You become complacent and it becomes much more of a comfortable issue versus one that you think you need to take action on,” she said.

Still, she believes flood insurance remains essential for families across Harris County.

“Most homeowners would not have an insurance policy that doesn’t cover fire,” Woodell said. “But in Harris County, you’re at a much greater risk of flooding than you are for a fire destroying your home.”

Rising costs squeeze household budgets

Researchers say the decline in flood insurance coverage is likely tied more to affordability challenges than to residents forgetting about flood risk.

Daniel Potter, director of the Houston Population Research Center at Rice University’s Kinder Institute, said housing affordability has become one of the biggest financial pressures facing Texans.

“Across the board affordability challenges are going on,” Potter said. “People are going to look for ways to save money.”

Potter said Houston’s median home prices have risen dramatically over the past decade while wages have not kept pace.

Living paycheck to paycheck? Here’s how Houston families can build a hurricane kit affordably

He noted that home prices that once ranged between roughly $160,000 and $180,000 are now above $320,000 in many cases. At the same time, residents are dealing with higher rents, insurance premiums, grocery bills, utility costs and child care expenses.

“You’ve got to keep a roof over my head. I’ve got to get food on my table. I’ve got to get back and forth from work,” Potter said. “All of a sudden you start to have to go and look at things like flood insurance.”

Unlike homeowners insurance required by mortgage lenders in many cases, flood insurance is often optional for homeowners outside designated flood zones.

That makes it a target for budget cuts when finances become strained.

“Insurance is one of those things that, especially with flood insurance, I don’t necessarily need to have it,” Potter said. “People are going to look to make cuts there.”

One homeowner’s dilemma

Suzanne Bennett faced that decision firsthand.

The Oak Forest homeowner said she intentionally purchased a home that had never flooded and was not located in a flood zone. Even so, she decided to purchase flood insurance.

“It’s Houston, Texas,” Bennett said. “I thought if I flood and get two feet of water in my home, I’ll lose everything.”

When she first purchased coverage, Bennett said her annual premium was $817.

By last year, that cost had increased to approximately $1,300.

“Every year that I get it, I just take a big gulp,” Bennett said. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do it again this year.”

After losing her job, Bennett said canceling the policy became a serious consideration.

“It was absolutely on the table because I lost my job and money was difficult,” she said.

Ultimately, she decided to keep the coverage after recalling stories from people she knew who experienced devastating flood losses.

“I don’t think I could afford not to get the flood insurance,” Bennett said.

Instead, she said she reduced coverage in other areas to keep her flood policy active.

Flood insurance premiums climbing

Potter said rising premiums may also be contributing to policy cancellations.

He shared his own experience as a homeowner whose flood insurance costs have more than doubled since moving to Houston in 2017.

At the time, he paid about $500 annually for coverage. Today, he said, his premium exceeds $1,100 despite not being located in a newly designated FEMA floodplain.

“It’s more than doubled in its cost,” Potter said.

As costs continue increasing, many homeowners are forced to weigh flood protection against other necessities.

“When you’ve got these types of pressures on people’s wallets and pocketbooks the way that you do right now, I’m not saying it’s the right choice, but I think there’s a degree to which it’s an understandable choice that people are making,” Potter said.

Complacency or financial necessity?

While some experts believe homeowners may become less concerned about flooding after years without a major disaster, Potter said survey data suggests affordability is likely the larger factor.

Following Hurricane Harvey, support for stricter flood-related development policies was strong among Houston-area residents. While that support dipped in the years immediately afterward, Potter said more recent surveys show concern about flooding remains high.

“I don’t know that it’s an out-of-sight, out-of-mind issue for Houston area residents,” Potter said.

Instead, he believes many residents understand the risk but are struggling to afford protection.

“It does look to be more reflective of an affordability challenge as opposed to a psychological challenge,” he said.

Bennett agreed.

“I think it’s more false hope, not necessarily comfortability,” she said. “It hasn’t happened. I can’t afford it. I’m just going to grit my teeth and keep my fingers crossed.”

Then she added a warning for others considering dropping coverage.

“Hope isn’t a strategy.”

No easy solution

Potter said there may not be an immediate answer to the growing affordability challenge surrounding flood insurance.

As flood risk expands beyond traditionally vulnerable areas and insurance costs continue climbing, he said policymakers may eventually need to explore new approaches to maintaining coverage.

“We do need to find ways that don’t require people to gamble with their wealth, their well-being, their lives in some cases,” Potter said.

For now, flood officials continue urging residents not to underestimate the threat.

At the Harris County Flood Control District, Woodell said flooding remains one of the most significant risks facing local families.

“Flood risk continues to be the most pressing issue facing families in Harris County,” she said. “Flood insurance is part of the equation.

Fatal Virginia crash raises questions about bus safety and the records of the driver and company

Josh Funk And Holly Ramer, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:56:14 +0000

A commercial bus crash in Virginia that killed five people and injured dozens of others has raised questions about the driver, the company that employed him and the overall safety of the industry.

It’s not yet clear what could have prevented last week's crash because the National Transportation Safety Board investigation is just beginning. Still, it highlights the inherent dangers whenever a bus or semitruck crashes into other vehicles — even if riding a bus is much safer statistically than driving a car.

While collision-avoidance technology and emergency braking systems are standard on many new cars, commercial buses still lack them — even in the face of longtime NTSB recommendations and proposed regulations to require them.

Observers say the circumstances of the crash that happened early Friday also raise questions about driver fatigue. Court records, meanwhile, show that the E&P Travel Inc. bus driver, who now faces manslaughter charges, was previously ticketed for excessive speeding, along with other drivers for the same company.

While those tickets might not have been enough to automatically revoke the man's commercial driver's license, industry experts say even one similar violation would normally get a driver fired.

“The fact that there was one conviction and another citation and this driver is still on the road goes against industry norms and best practices in a pretty significant way,” said Fred Ferguson, who leads the American Bus Association trade group.

That NTSB crash investigators also have no power to enforce their recommendations factors into why so many have gone unfulfilled for years, as the industry and regulators often focus on the potential costs involved.

“Everybody walks a walk in talking safety at the industry level, at the congressional level. And then at the end of the day, it’s the same old excuses,” said Jim Hall, who was chairman of the NTSB during the 1990s. “And if it costs money, there’s going to be a strong resistance.”

A history of speeding

Federal rules say that a driver who is convicted twice within three years for driving more than 15 mph over the limit should be disqualified for 60 days.

The bus driver in last week's crash, Jing Sheng Dong, of New York City, was previously convicted of driving 73 mph (117 kph) in a 55 mph (89 kph) zone in Virginia in 2024, and received a second ticket in March in Annapolis, Maryland, that accused him of driving a motorcoach 72 mph (116 kph) in a 50 mph (80 kph) zone. The 48-year-old is now facing five charges of involuntary manslaughter and one count of reckless driving.

But Ned Einstein, an expert witness in some 700 transportation lawsuits, said he doubts the criminal charges filed after the crash will be effective at making roads safer because Dong didn’t create the conditions that likely contributed to it.

“They never hit the heart of the problem and never go after the person who’s responsible, and the person that’s responsible for these things is the person that runs the company,” Einstein said, explaining that drivers have to take the shifts they are given while company owners set the schedules and run the businesses.

Friday’s crash also happened around 2:30 a.m. ET — roughly five hours into a trip from New York to North Carolina. That makes former state trooper Jeremy Disbrow, who helps train law enforcement with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, wonder whether fatigue may have been a factor.

Bus drivers are prohibited under federal law from driving more than 10 hours or working more than 15 hours without taking at least eight hours off to rest. Electronic logs have helped better enforce those rules than paper logbooks, although there have been instances where the former have been tampered with.

Records show that another E&P Travel driver was involved in a similar crash in North Carolina in 2024 that injured nine people after the bus failed to slow down for a traffic control vehicle that was performing a moving lane closure. The bus hit that vehicle, and a third vehicle rear-ended the bus. The bus driver, Pei Jie Lu, later pleaded guilty to failure to reduce speed. That crash occurred three months after Lu was ticketed in Maryland for negligent driving and changing lanes unsafely, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in that case in September 2024.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said federal investigators are looking into Dong’s background as well as the company that hired him and the school that trained him. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is also trying to confirm that New York followed the rules when it awarded Dong a commercial driver’s license. Duffy has worked to strengthen and enforce standards for CDL holders, but that effort has focused on truck drivers.

A long list of unfulfilled recommendations

Even when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration agrees that something is a good idea, like automatic braking, it often takes years to finalize a rule requiring it. Commercial buses, for example, have only been required to have seat belts since 2016.

Numerous NTSB recommendations for buses and other commercial vehicles have never been adopted, including stricter standards to reduce driver fatigue and ensure drivers get enough rest between trips. A rule to require collision-avoidance technology in commercial buses and trucks was proposed in 2023, but it remains pending.

Ultimately, it falls to regulators, Congress and the industry to adopt them. Unlike regulators who must conduct a cost-benefit analysis, the NTSB isn't required to consider how practical its recommendations are. It simply urges safety improvements to prevent future tragedies.

The Transportation Department didn’t immediately respond this week to questions about why so many recommendations go unfulfilled.

Many bus companies do invest in safety

The American Bus Association trade group works to promote safety measures and Ferguson said driver-monitoring technology, such as inward-facing video cameras and advanced telematics systems similar to those used by major auto insurers, has become common. Some of those systems can even send alerts about driver behavior to a bus company.

Ferguson also said some companies have installed collision-avoidance technology on their buses because “the difference between catastrophic accidents and not having catastrophic accidents is you keeping your company.”

But cost is a factor — a new motorcoach previously cost roughly $650,000, and the industry is now dealing with the impact of 10% tariffs. Ferguson said newer buses have the most safety features, but increasing costs will slow upgrades.

“Operating safely not only is morally and ethically what they believe in, but it’s good business,” said Ferguson, whose group represents about 40% of the 1,800 companies that operate about 50,000 motorcoaches across the United States and Canada.

___

Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writer Allen G. Breed contributed from Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Oil prices climb back toward $100, and US stocks halt their record-breaking rally

Elaine Kurtenbach, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 02:01:36 +0000

Oil prices rose Wednesday following the latest flare-up in fighting to threaten the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and U.S. stocks retreated from their records.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% from its all-time high for its first drop in 10 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 620 points, or 1.2%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9%.

Weighing on the market was a climb of 1.9% for the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, which brought it back to $97.81. It rose after both the United States and Iran said they launched retaliations for earlier attacks or attempted ones.

Palo Alto Networks helped drag the market lower, and it fell 5.6% even though it reported profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. Investors may have been looking for even more after its stock came into the day with a surge of 61.3% for the year so far, more than quintuple the S&P 500’s already big 11.2% rise.

Stocks also felt pressure from higher yields in the bond market, which climbed with the price of oil. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.49% from 4.46% late Tuesday and from just 3.97% before the war began.

High yields worldwide are threatening to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. They have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level in nine months, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the artificial-intelligence data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

More expensive loans can hurt smaller companies in particular because many need to borrow to grow. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks fell 1.3%, more than the rest of the market.

Reports released Wednesday on the U.S. economy came in mixed. One from the Institute for Supply Management said growth accelerated more last month for U.S. construction, agricultural and other services businesses than economists expected.

That’s an encouraging signal, but the survey also showed businesses are feeling the pinch of higher prices caused by tariffs and more expensive oil. “This is the definition of inflationary pressure starting to affect us,” one company in the accommodation and food services industry said in the survey.

Still, stocks remain near their records, even with all the pressure on the global economy created by higher inflation.

Oil prices remain below their peaks from earlier in the war with Iran, and hope seems to be remaining on Wall Street that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would improve the global flow of crude and hopefully lower its price.

Such hopes, along with strong profit reports from U.S. companies, helped launch the S&P 500 on its nine-day winning streak that ended Wednesday, one day shy of its longest in three decades.

Medtronic climbed 5.7% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also increased its dividend payout going to investors.

GameStop rose 6% after the video-game retailer said its revenue in the latest quarter grew 14% from a year earlier. It also announced a program to send up to $2 billion to its investors by buying back its own stock.

Macy’s added 0.6% after swinging between gains and losses through the day. The retailer reported profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ forecasts, while saying an overhaul of its merchandise and better customer service is resonating with customers.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 56.10 points to 7,553.68. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 620.72 to 50,687.07, and the Nasdaq composite sank 239.93 to 26,853.98.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes fell following a mixed finish in Asia.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.6%, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.5% to another record.

Excitement around the boom created by AI technology has been a huge engine for stock markets worldwide. On Wall Street, Marvell Technology rose another 3.7% following its best day on record, a surge of 32.5%, after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be “the next trillion-dollar company.”

The last company to enter the expanding club of behemoths was Micron Technology, which is likewise riding the AI wave.

___

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

This is your 2026 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide

Anthony Yanez — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:00:53 +0000

I’ll never forget my first day on the job in Houston, July 15, 2003. It was supposed to be routine, filled with HR meetings and paperwork. Instead, I found myself in the studio as Category 1 Hurricane Claudette made landfall in Galveston and pushed into Houston.

July 15, 2003 - My first day at work

One memory from that storm has stayed with me ever since. Two lives were lost, not during the storm itself, but afterward. One person was killed by a falling tree branch, another by a downed power line. It was a sobering reminder that the danger doesn’t end when the winds die down.

If you’ve been here a while, you remember Hurricane Beryl in 2024. It was also a Category 1 storm, but it hit an area where many trees hadn’t been pruned since Hurricane Ike in 2007. The result was devastating. Falling trees knocked out power to millions and caused more than $3 billion in damage across Texas. Tragically, 43 people in the Houston area lost their lives, most due to heat-related illness. Once again, the aftermath proved deadlier than the storm itself. That’s why, this year, the National Hurricane Center is emphasizing power outages and extreme heat in its warning messages.

Picture from click2pins

Even in years without a direct hurricane landfall, like 2025, we’re not immune to tragedy. The July 4th floods in Kerr County are a painful reminder. Tropical moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry combined with a slow-moving, intense area of storms, dumping more than 10 inches of rain in just an hour over one of the most flood-prone regions in the country, Flash Flood Alley. In the end, 139 lives were lost, including 28 at Camp Mystic.

The investigation into Camp Mystic revealed there was no written evacuation plan and according to testimony provided to state legislators, staff had not been adequately trained or equipped for an emergency. Counselors acted bravely, but without preparation and organization, they didn’t have what they needed to safely get those girls evacuated after the first flood warning was issued.

The stories are heart wrenching. But they also carry an important lesson. If you’re a business owner, a manager, or an employee, ask yourself: are you prepared for a worst-case scenario?

Every year, we put together this Hurricane, Flood, and Survival Guide for you, for this community we all care about so deeply. It’s not meant to alarm you, but to prepare you. Because going into hurricane season hoping for the best isn’t enough. We must be ready for the worst.

That starts with a few simple steps:

Have a family plan
Practice that plan
Build an emergency kit
Stay informed

History can be a powerful teacher but only if we’re willing to learn from it. A recent study from Rice University’s Kinder Institute found that just 8% of Harris County residents are adequately prepared for hurricane season. Given everything we’ve been through, that number should be much higher.

We’ll continue doing our part to keep you informed. Please do yours by staying weather-aware, watching KPRC 2, visiting Click2Houston.com, and streaming on KPRC 2+.

We’re here for you, and we’re committed to helping keep you and your family safe.

The hurricane & flood survival guide is below. Open it up and print it. There is vital information and a checklist to make sure you are prepared for whatever this season brings.

Be sure to check out these pages to help prepare your children for disaster: Ready.gov games and the National Hurricane Center’s education resources.

We have more resources on the KPRC 2 Hurricane Headquarters page here.

Millions expected in Houston for FIFA World Cup, DPS urges fans to download this app for emergencies

Brittany Taylor — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:14:35 +0000

With Houston set to take center stage during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Texas officials are urging residents and visitors to download a free safety app that could help prevent crimes and potential threats before they happen.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is encouraging Texans to install the iWatchTexas mobile app ahead of next year’s international soccer tournament, which is expected to bring millions of visitors to the state, including hundreds of thousands to Houston.

Houston’s NRG Stadium will host several FIFA World Cup matches, making the city one of the key destinations for fans traveling from around the globe.

DPS officials say the iWatchTexas program gives the public a quick and anonymous way to report suspicious activity, behaviors or threats that may be linked to criminal activity, terrorism or school safety concerns.

“Safety and security will be our top priority as Texas hosts the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches,” DPS Director Colonel Freeman F. Martin said in a statement. “iWatchTexas will play a vital role in that, by giving people a simple and effective way to report any type of suspicious behavior and helping law enforcement take quick action to stop those potential threats before anything happens.”

The app allows users to submit reports in less than five minutes. Reports can also be made online or through a dedicated hotline. DPS says every submission is reviewed by law enforcement analysts, and reports remain confidential.

Officials stress that many crimes, threats and acts of violence often show warning signs before they occur. Those signs may be noticed by friends, family members, coworkers or members of the public but never reported.

Examples of suspicious activity DPS wants people to report include:

Threats or comments about harming others.
Social media posts suggesting a possible attack.
Individuals asking unusual questions about building security measures.
Attempts to obtain sensitive information such as security plans, blueprints or VIP travel schedules.
Suspicious purchases of materials that could be used to make weapons or explosives.
Unauthorized purchases or possession of official uniforms or credentials.
Taking photos or videos of security checkpoints, cameras or restricted areas.
Attempted or successful cyberattacks.
Online accounts promoting vandalism, sabotage or arson.

The reminder comes as Houston continues preparations for one of the largest sporting events in the world. City leaders, law enforcement agencies and event organizers have spent months coordinating security plans designed to manage large crowds and international visitors.

DPS officials say downloading the app before World Cup festivities begin can help ensure residents and visitors are prepared to report concerns quickly if they see something suspicious.

The iWatchTexas app is available free through Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Reports can also be submitted online at iWatchTexas.org or by calling 1-844-643-2251.

Officials emphasize that iWatchTexas is not intended for emergencies. Anyone facing an immediate threat or emergency situation should call 911.

Tropical Storm Amanda is the first of the Pacific hurricane season, meteorologists say

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:07:10 +0000

Tropical Storm Amanda formed Wednesday in the Pacific Ocean, marking the first tropical cyclone of the season, the National Hurricane Center said.

Amanda was located about 1,505 miles (2,420 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, according to the Miami-based weather center. With the center of the storm at sea, the cyclone posed no immediate threat to land.

Amanda had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), meteorologists said. The storm was forecast to strengthen over the next couple of days and then weaken over the weekend.

The Pacific hurricane season started May 15. The Atlantic hurricane season began Monday, and no cyclones have formed in that basin yet this year.

Shia LaBeouf gets probation after pleading guilty to punching bargoers during Mardi Gras

Jack Brook, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:28:53 +0000

Actor Shia LaBeouf was sentenced to probation Wednesday after pleading guilty to punching three people outside a New Orleans bar during Mardi Gras.

LaBeouf must attend an alcohol treatment program under the sentence handed down by an Orleans Parish judge, according to Sarah Chervinsky, an attorney for the actor.

LeBeouf, most widely known for his starring roles in 2007’s “Transformers” and in 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull,” had been released on bail following his arrest near the city's historic French Quarter. Video of the Feb. 17 encounter shows a shirtless LaBeouf outside a bar shoving one person to the ground and hitting another person in the face, “causing his nose to possibly dislocate,” according to a New Orleans police report. Police said LaBeouf repeatedly used homophobic slurs, including while he was arrested.

LeBeouf pleaded guilty to three counts of simple battery. Orleans Parish Judge Juana Marine-Lombard handed the actor a six month suspended sentence and two years of probation. LaBeouf also must stay away from the victims and the bar.

Chervinsky said LaBeouf wanted “to take accountability for his part in what happened" and called it a “minor Mardi Gras bar tussle.” Chervinsky said there was “no evidence it was about bias or prejudice.”

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said in a statement that his office consulted with the victims to ensure their support before offering LaBeouf the plea deal.

Jeffrey Damnit, a local entertainer whom police identified as Jeffrey Klein, said he was one of the people attacked by LaBeouf. He has said LaBeouf had pushed him from behind at the bar earlier in the night, shouting homophobic slurs and threatening his life.

Damnit's attorney said his client hopes LaBeouf's behavior improves after the actor undergoes substance abuse treatment.

"In New Orleans we are all equal, we should all feel safe, and we don’t treat people different based upon relative fame,” attorney Michael Kennedy said.

After LaBeouf was charged in February, a judge ordered him to return to drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

Days later, LaBeouf denied having a “drinking problem” in an interview with journalist and YouTuber Andrew Callaghan. LaBeouf said he doubted rehab would help him. He told Callaghan that the issues leading led to his aggressive behavior during Mardi Gras were more rooted in “anger and ego” than alcohol.

LaBeouf also said that “big gay people are scary to me.”

“When I’m standing by myself and three gay dudes are next to me touching my leg, I get scared,” he told Callaghan. “I’m sorry. If that’s homophobic, then I’m that.”

LaBeouf, who converted to Catholicism a few years ago, has had several run-ins with the law during his career, including a 2017 New York City arrest on suspicion of assault that happened during a livestream.

While on location in Georgia filming “The Peanut Butter Falcon” later that year, he was arrested for public drunkenness and accused of disorderly conduct and obstruction and sentenced to probation.

In 2020, he was charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft in Los Angeles.

That year, the English singer and actor FKA Twigs, whose legal name is Tahliah Barnett, also filed a lawsuit alleging LaBeouf was physically and emotionally abusive to her during their relationship, which they settled in July.

The actor first gained acclaim as a child for his role on the Disney Channel series “Even Stevens.”

___

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

Hurricane evacuation routes: Know before you go

Sydney Wallace, Talisa Treviño — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:14:23 +0000

When a hurricane threatens the Texas Gulf Coast, the question isn’t always if you should leave — it’s when, and by which route. The answer depends entirely on one thing: your evacuation zone.

Brazoria, Chambers, Galveston, Harris and Matagorda counties are divided into hurricane evacuation zones — Coastal, A, B and C — each corresponding to a level of storm surge risk and a priority order for when residents should hit the road. The interactive TxDOT evacuation route map below shows the corridors designed to move residents safely inland.

Find your hurricane evacuation zone and route

Search any Houston-area address to see whether it falls within a mapped evacuation zone and view nearby evacuation routes.

What the zones mean

Not every storm requires a full regional evacuation. The zone system exists precisely to prevent that — staggering departures so roads don’t gridlock and those at the highest risk get out first.

The “Know Your Zone” map, published as part of KPRC 2’s 2026 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide, lays out four evacuation zone designations across the five-county Houston-Galveston region:

Zone Coastal — The highest-risk areas, closest to open water and most vulnerable to life-threatening storm surge. Residents here are ordered to evacuate first.

Zone A — High-risk areas that face significant surge and flooding threats. Zone A residents should be prepared to leave immediately after Coastal zone orders are issued.

Zone B — Moderate-risk areas with serious flood potential. Evacuation orders for Zone B follow Zone A.

Zone C — Lower-risk inland areas that may still require evacuation in a major or direct-hit storm event.

Evacuation corridors vs. evacuation connections

The map identifies two types of evacuation road designations — and knowing the difference matters.

Evacuation Corridors — shown in red — are the primary, high-capacity routes designed to move the greatest number of evacuees inland as quickly as possible. These are the routes TxDOT prioritizes for contraflow operations during large-scale evacuations.

Evacuation Connections — shown in blue — are secondary roads that feed evacuees onto the main corridors. These are the roads most residents will use to get from their neighborhood to a primary evacuation route.

Together, the two systems work like a funnel: local evacuation connections channel residents from neighborhoods and zip codes onto the high-capacity corridors that lead safely inland and away from the storm.

When to go: Follow the zone order

When local officials issue evacuation orders, they do so in zone sequence — Coastal first, then A, B and C. Evacuating in order is critical. Leaving too early can clog routes for those in higher-risk zones who need them most. Waiting too long puts lives at risk.

Here’s what officials recommend:

Monitor local news and official government channels for evacuation orders specific to your zone.
Leave immediately when your zone is called. Don’t wait to see how the storm develops.
Use designated evacuation corridors, not shortcuts. Unmarked roads may flood or become impassable.
Fill your gas tank before your zone is called. Fuel availability drops fast once orders go out.

Ground stop lifted at Hobby Airport following strong thunderstorms

Brittany Taylor — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:40:16 +0000

A ground stop that was issued at Houston’s Hobby Airport due to thunderstorms has been lifted.

Click here for weather updates.

Dark horse Republican candidate threatens California Democrats’ US House redistricting goal

Nicholas Riccardi, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:18:12 +0000

Michael Stansfield, a 50-year-old tech support worker, decided to run as a Republican in his congressional district in the suburbs of California's capital to make a statement about the need for peace in the Middle East.

The ex-seminary student and father of two took out a loan against his home to pay for the $17,000 cost of filing the various forms to run for the seat. He received no other donations. He had no visible campaign and no staff.

Yet on Wednesday, the day after California's primary, Stansfield had done well enough with voters to be holding on to second place, potentially locking Democrats out of the November general election in a U.S. House race that the party had put at the center of its national redistricting strategy.

“I wanted to show Christianity and Judaism a God from the Bible who loves Muslims,” Stansfield said in a telephone interview before rushing to his son's sixth-grade graduation. “I wasn't necessarily going after it to win a race.”

It is too soon to know which two candidates will advance in the 6th Congressional District, but the early results are already serving as a cautionary tale about the assumptions both major parties make when they gerrymander political boundaries to expand their power. California Democrats won voter approval last year to redraw the state's congressional map as a way to counter Republican moves elsewhere before this year's midterm elections. Democrats had planned on gaining five seats in the state, and one was the 6th District, which stretches from Sacramento into Republican-leaning suburbs to the east.

Redistricting goal meets reality of campaign politics

Democrats assumed that one of the top two finishers would be a member of their party. But Stansfield's showing is evidence that the best-laid partisan mapmaking plans can go awry when they run into the unpredictable reality of campaign politics.

Kevin Kiley is the congressman whose conservative district was split in two and fused with a more Democratic area. Kiley, who left the Republican Party and filed to run as an independent and has nabbed the largest share of votes so far. That left Stansfield the only candidate on the ballot with an “R” next to his name, helping him land, for now, above the nine Democrats who split the majority of the votes recorded at this point.

Both Democratic and Republican strategists expect heavily Democratic-leaning mail ballots that comprise the tens of thousands and have yet to be counted to break for the party's candidates, making it likely one of them supplants Stansfield in the final tally.

“I would think there'd be an advantage to Democrats,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant in Sacramento.

The state allows mail ballots to count if they are postmarked by Election Day and received up to seven days afterward. Officials also must contact each mail voter whose signature does not match the one on file and offer that voter a chance of proving identity in other ways. Close races in the state often take weeks to resolve.

Stansfield intended to send a message to Republicans

Stansfield, who said he is married to a Muslim woman from the Middle East and was kicked out of seminary for arguing that Palestinians have a biblical right to the Holy Land, has made a quixotic run for Congress before. In 2018, he sought an Oregon congressional seat as a Democrat, a party he joined after the Iraq War.

He ended up losing badly in that primary, receiving about 4% of the vote in a district that included part of Portland, but a candidate survey he completed at the time offered more insight into his views. In a response to a question about his top priorities if elected, Stansfield said, among other things, that he was “against ignorance in all its forms.”

“If we are ever going to call ourselves a tolerant society we need to learn to embrace the diversity of our world with love,” he wrote.

In the questionnaire, he described himself as Jewish and said one of the public policies he was most passionate about was supplying water and medical equipment in Gaza.

Stansfield said he left the Democratic Party after the Israel-Hamas war broke out, during Democrat Joe Biden's presidency, and over what he described as the “genocide” in Gaza. After moving to California, he decided to run in the congressional district before last year's redrawing and when it was reliably conservative because he wanted his message to reach as many Republican voters as possible.

“I wanted to go to the Republican Party and say ‘Guys, I love you, but you’ve messed up,'” Stansfield said.

He had no idea he would end up in such a potentially pivotal role.

Democrats' concerns under new map had focused elsewhere

Democrats had fretted about being locked out of one of the five seats they expected to gain in their redistricting bid, but their concern was centered on a San Diego-area district where they had a similarly broad field of candidates. One of them, San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert, surged ahead to secure a spot in the general election and will face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County Supervisor, in November.

In another redrawn congressional district, Republican Rep. Ken Calvert secured a slot on the November ballot after a bruising campaign against fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim. The second slot in that race was still up for grabs on Wednesday.

Three veteran Democratic members of Congress who were challenged by younger upstarts from within their party seemed to have avoided upsets.

Reps. Brad Sherman and Mike Thompson emerged as the top voter-getters in their respective races and will move on to the general election. Rep. Doris Matsui was leading the tally Wednesday in her Sacramento district, although it remained uncertain which two candidates would move on to the general election.

____

Associated Press writer Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.

Kuwait says Iranian drones hit airport and killed 1 as ceasefire is tested again

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 06:10:44 +0000

Kuwait said Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at its main airport Wednesday, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield — the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the U.S. that test a fragile ceasefire.

The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Iran denied causing the damage.

Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the war, now in its fourth month. They are increasingly strained by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

A regional official said Iran wanted a separate ceasefire in Lebanon enforced before returning to talks. President Donald Trump said negotiations continue to extend the Iran ceasefire, even as the U.S. launched strikes against military sites on an Iranian island.

“We’ve been hitting them pretty hard,” Trump said when asked by reporters on Wednesday if the ceasefire remains in place. “I’d say in that part of the world a ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”

The fighting in Lebanon has exposed a rift between Israel and the U.S., which is pushing its ally for restraint. In a measure of the friction, Trump acknowledged that he'd called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a phone call earlier this week. Nonetheless, both men say their rapport is solid.

Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas and related products like fertilizer — and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports. Global fuel prices remain high, and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.

In Washington, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he, Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio huddled for three hours at the White House Monday as Trump worked on “that final piece” of getting commerce flowing. Rubio, meanwhile, faced grilling in Congress over the war and its economic fallout.

An Indian national is killed at Kuwait's main airport

A spokesperson for Kuwait's Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, said “a number of hostile drones” targeted a passenger building at Kuwait International Airport. It had opened only Monday after a months-long closure because of the war, which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it didn't fire at the airport, instead claiming via state broadcaster IRIB that the terminal was damaged by a U.S.-made interceptor that failed to hit Iranian missiles. U.S. Central Command called the claim false and said on X that Iranian drones made a “deliberate, calculated and unjustified attack” on the airport. Neither side provided further information.

India’s embassy said the person killed was an Indian national. Authorities said 63 were wounded, including passengers and workers, and some suffered serious injuries.

Kuwait's Defense Ministry said it destroyed over a dozen missiles and a similar number of drones from Iran.

The airport partially reopened later, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming at a different terminal, according to civil aviation authorities. No other flights were operating.

The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait will “neither accept nor tolerate” the attacks and was kicking out two Iranian diplomats. Such expulsions are an established means of communicating international ire.

US and Iran say they are retaliating for earlier attacks

The U.S. military said two Iranian missiles fell apart en route to Kuwait and that it “downed multiple drones” targeting American forces in the country.

The military also said U.S. and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet. Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said its military intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran.

The Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S. military facilities in another country.

Both the U.S. and Iran said they were retaliating for earlier attacks or attempted ones.

Netanyahu told the American business-news channel CNBC that Iran was “playing with fire,” but he said any decision about whether to scale up a military response would rest with Trump. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared on X that “any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response.”

The U.S. military said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said a telecommunications tower was struck. It called this attack, and others, "acts of aggression” that it said violated the ceasefire.

The war is increasingly tied to Israel’s fight in Lebanon

Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter-century, while Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks. The declared ceasefire in Lebanon is officially in place, and no side has formally withdrawn or declared it over even as attacks continue.

Iran insists that any larger potential truce must quell the fighting in Lebanon. Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for elections this fall.

In a podcast interview released Wednesday, Trump confirmed a report that he had called Netanyahu “crazy” Monday in a phone conversation peppered with an expletive. Trump told The New York Post’s “Pod Force One” that he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fight with Hezbollah was holding back talks with Iran.

Still, Trump said his relationship with Netanyahu was good, and “we’ve worked very well together.”

Netanyahu responded on CNBC that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but have “common goals” and “agree on the main things.”

“We always find a way to work out our differences,” the prime minister said.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Sam Mednick in Jerusalem, Jennifer Peltz in New York, and Lisa Mascaro, Aamer Madhani and Konstantin Toropin in Washington. contributed to this report.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refuses to say whether Trump remains exempt from IRS audits

Fatima Hussein, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:19:42 +0000

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether President Donald Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.

“There’s continuing litigation, and I’m unable to comment on ongoing litigation,” Bessent told lawmakers at the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

It was a frustrating answer for Democratic lawmakers looking to get answers from Bessent at a hearing ostensibly focused on the Treasury Department’s budget and came a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seemed to indicate that the portion of the settlement dealing with the IRS audit immunity would still be in effect for the Republican president.

After several failed attempts to get Bessent to answer, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said, “It’s been very clear you’re dodging this and you’re trying to use it as an excuse. It’s just outrageous on behalf of the American republic.”

A White House representative did not respond to an Associated Press inquiry about the status of the settlement. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump did not confirm whether the compensation fund had been scrapped or was simply on hold. “I’d have to ask the lawyers, I don’t know," he told reporters. “As far as I’m concerned, it was a beautiful thing,” he said.

The administration decided to scrap plans for the compensation fund, which could have included payouts to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, after bipartisan outrage and a fierce political backlash that threatened to stall key elements of the White House agenda. Still, the status of the IRS immunity deal as part of the controversial settlement crafted to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS remained unclear, though Blanche said Tuesday that “nothing has changed” in that regard.

Last week, a federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, who had initially dismissed the case, reopened the case and ordered the president’s attorneys to respond to allegations that Trump abandoned his claims to avoid the court’s scrutiny of the deal.

When she initially dismissed the case, Kathleen Williams, the judge handling the lawsuit, admonished the Justice Department for a lack of transparency and said no agency “submitted any settlement documents nor filed any documents ensuring that the settlement was appropriate where there was an outstanding question as to whether an actual case or controversy existed.”

Matt Platkin, a former New Jersey attorney general now at the law firm Platkin LLP, which is representing lawmakers and judges challenging the settlement agreement, called it “one of the greatest scams in American history.”

He told The Associated Press that Blanche’s testimony on Tuesday over plans to scrap the weaponization fund and grant Trump audit immunity “underscores the need for the court to continue its inquiry in Florida.”

Lawmakers on Wednesday tried to grill Bessent on the agreement without success.

“Secretary Bessent owes the committee an explanation of what the Treasury knows about the dirty settlement. That’s because his department was involved from beginning to end,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Wyden asked Bessent: “Does the IRS audit immunity given to Trump, his family, and his businesses still stand?”

Bessent declined to answer, citing the unresolved legal dispute.

If audits and examinations into the president's taxes were thrown out under the settlement, an untold figure could be wiped from his bill to the federal tax collector.

Previous reporting from the New York Times and ProPublica shows that a long-standing audit of a technique Trump reportedly used to avoid paying taxes years ago could have resulted in an estimated $100 million bill if the IRS had found wrongdoing.

Even some Republicans expressed concern on Wednesday over the plan to shield Trump from the IRS.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaking to reporters outside the chambers, said, “I don’t think any American should have a deal like that.”

Nina Olson, founder of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, which has sued the Trump administration over IRS disclosures to immigration enforcement, called the settlement “the lowest point for the IRS since the 1970s and President Nixon’s efforts to help his friends by trying to stop IRS audits of them and hurting his enemies by urging IRS audits on them.”

New York City's 9/11 memorial fundraises to educate youth with $25 million match from Mike Bloomberg

James Pollard, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:33:14 +0000

The 9/11 Memorial and Museum has launched a $75 million fundraising campaign as the nonprofit tries to educate the millions of U.S. youth who don't remember the terror attacks on their upcoming 25th anniversary.

Boosting The Never Forget Fund's latest appeal, announced Wednesday, is Mike Bloomberg. The former New York City mayor, who has rallied hundreds of millions of dollars toward the 9/11 Memorial and Museum as its chair, pledged to match the next $25 million in donations through his Bloomberg Philanthropies. Organizers already secured the first $25 million through unspecified initial gifts.

Officials count about 97 million memorial visitors and nearly 28 million museum attendees since they opened in 2014 at the site where hijacked jetliners destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers in lower Manhattan. But recent years have seen a budget crisis following pandemic closures and interest from the Trump administration in taking control of the site.

Beth Hillman, the organization's president and CEO, says they need a permanent funding source to reach the roughly 100 million Americans born after the attacks. The goal is to frame the aftermath as one that inspired selfless acts of service and provide basic facts through new on-site exhibits and classroom materials.

“The ongoing importance of remembering 9/11 is to remind people that they can come together even in the face of incredible loss,” Hillman told the Associated Press.

The legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people remains hotly contested. Younger generations have only ever known the existence of airport screenings, immigration enforcement officers and other security measures pursued afterwards by the U.S. government. Many engage with the events through popular memes of the photograph showing then-President George W. Bush learning about the developments. Conspiracy theories abound about what government officials knew in their leadup.

Also debated is the notion of unity advanced by the memorial and museum. The Sept. 11 attacks fueled 20 years of war abroad that grew increasingly unpopular as the death toll rose. Young American Muslims growing up under their shadow have faced hostility, mistrust and suspicion.

As the 25th anniversary approaches this September, Hillman sees a “compelling story of service, of hope, of resilience, of coming together” for the people who didn't live through that period. Those stories will be told in an exhibit called “In Their Honor." Celebrity chef Bobby Flay, she noted, was among the many chefs who prepared meals for first responders in the months following the attacks. Theater workers brought their lights to power the blacked-out area around ground zero. Victims' family members started social services organizations such as 9/11 Day to inspire volunteering in memory of their lost relatives. Hillman also wants to inform more people of the first responders who developed chronic illnesses and still face hurdles to care.

The funds raised by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum will ensure free museum access continues for students, first responders and veterans, according to Hillman, who said “we don't want the price to be a barrier to them.” Standard adult admission currently costs $36. The nonprofit's website notes that it “relies primarily on ticket sales to help fund its operational costs.”

The organization plans to reach more educators with the funds. As teachers enter the workforce without lived experiences of Sept. 11, Hillman said they want to help prepare lesson plans. The nonprofit runs summer teachers' institutes, offers professional development programs and remakes a 30-minute film each year with firsthand stories.

Hillman acknowledged a greater “degree of distraction and confusion” today than in the past when it comes to efforts to memorialize recent historical events. She sees a need to give “simple representations of what happened." The March/April issue of the National Council for the Social Studies' magazine, which was guest edited by 9/11 Memorial and Museum staff, features a timeline of the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

"9/11 is heavy and compelling and full of inspiring stories,” Hillman said. "But also, just a trusted set of what happened on that day, of materials that can convey the basics of it — that’s the beginning of people learning and starting to understand, too.”

Alex Edgar, a Gen Z civic leader who is working with a group called Made By Us to amplify youth voices ahead of the United States' 250th birthday, sees value in emphasizing the power of service. His peers, he said, have “never really seen a country that has worked” or one that “really lived up to the promise of America.” He finds that narratives about overcoming division to accomplish shared goals serve as an antidote to the political polarization frequently experienced by young people.

But he emphasized that those narratives must permeate classroom walls and museum doors.

“They invite young people to consider what’s preventing us from using any of the issues of our time as a rallying cry for folks to come together across backgrounds to build the type of country, the communities, that we want to live in,” he said.

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

How climate change is making hurricanes more dangerous

Caroline Brown — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 19:11:41 +0000

Hurricane season is here — and the science is clear. Climate change is not creating hurricanes, but it is making them more dangerous. From the Gulf of Mexico to the streets of Houston, three major shifts are underway, and every coastal resident needs to understand them.

Warmer oceans are the starting point

Hurricanes run on heat. The warmer the ocean, the more energy a storm can pull from the water below it. Right now, global sea surface temperatures are running well above average — in 2026, nearly tracking the record-breaking levels we saw in 2024. That sustained ocean warmth is not a seasonal anomaly. It is a trend, and it is loading the atmosphere in favor of stronger storms.

Ocean Temperatures

Storms are spinning up faster

One of the most alarming changes scientists are tracking is rapid intensification — when a hurricane’s winds increase by at least 35 miles per hour in a 24-hour window. Data from 1980 through 2024 shows this phenomenon is becoming more frequent. Storms are going from manageable to dangerous with very little warning time.

What is Saharan Dust? How it travels to Texas and impacts hurricanes, air quality, sunsets and the whales

Houston knows this firsthand. When Hurricane Beryl crossed the Gulf in July 2024, it rapidly intensified fueled by record-warm ocean temperatures and sustained that strength all the way into the metro area. The power outages that followed lasted weeks for some residents. Rapid intensification is not a forecasting problem — it is a climate signal.

Rapid Intensification

A warmer atmosphere means heavier rain

It is not just the winds getting more dangerous. The atmosphere itself is holding more water. For every degree of warming, the air can hold approximately 4% more water vapor. That translates directly into rainfall — storms that might have dropped several inches a generation ago are now capable of dropping significantly more.

KPRC 2’s 2026 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide

Here in Houston, that trend shows up in the data. Rainfall intensity has increased 22% since 1970. We are not just getting more rain — we are getting it harder and faster. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 dropped more than 60 inches in some areas, a record that reshaped how meteorologists and engineers think about extreme rainfall. Harvey was not a fluke. It was a preview.

Warmer air holds more moisture

Rising seas make storm surge worse

Storm surge — the wall of ocean water pushed ashore by a hurricane’s winds — is historically the deadliest part of any storm. As global sea levels continue to rise, that surge starts from a higher baseline. Water that once stopped at the shoreline now reaches further inland, threatening neighborhoods that never flooded before.

For a low-lying, flat city like Houston, the math on storm surge is sobering. Infrastructure built to handle the storms of the last century is increasingly being tested by the storms of this one.

Storm surge pushes further inland with rising sea levels.

What this means for Houston

These are not distant threats. They are showing up in our data, in our streets, and in our power grid. Warmer oceans fuel stronger winds. Rising seas worsen storm surge. A warming atmosphere brings heavier rainfall. For Houston, all three converge at once.

Living paycheck to paycheck? Here’s how Houston families can build a hurricane kit affordably

No zip code is immune. The question heading into every hurricane season now is not whether these storms are getting more dangerous — the science has answered that. The question is whether we are ready.

What is Saharan Dust? How it travels to Texas and impacts hurricanes, air quality, sunsets and the whales

Caroline Brown — Wed, 13 May 2026 20:06:53 +0000

Saharan dust is something we talk about almost every summer in the Houston forecast, but it’s often misunderstood. Each year, plumes of dust from the Sahara Desert travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic and sometimes reach the Gulf Coast. While it can create hazy skies and lower air quality, Saharan dust also plays a surprising role in our weather, from hurricane activity to vibrant sunsets and even ocean ecosystems. Let’s break down how it works.

What is Saharan Dust?

At its most basic, Saharan dust is exactly what it sounds like — dust from the Sahara Desert in North Africa. Every summer, large amounts of this dust are kicked up during the West African monsoon season.

The West African monsoon is a active storm period in early summer. During this time warm, moist air moves inland from the Atlantic and collides with hot, dry desert air over the Sahara. This creates powerful thunderstorms and strong wind gusts across the region. Those gusty outflow winds can lift huge amounts of loose desert dust into the atmosphere.

African Monsoon

Once the dust is lifted high into the atmosphere, it becomes embedded in a layer of very dry, warm air called the Saharan Air Layer. Strong easterly trade winds then carry this dusty air mass westward across the Atlantic.

In about a week or so, the dust can travel thousands of miles and reach the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and even Texas.

Dust travels across the Atlantic

Reduces air quality:

When Saharan dust arrives, it can reduce air quality because the tiny particles stay suspended in the air we breathe. This dust can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, especially for people with allergies, asthma, or other respiratory issues.

During thicker dust events, we often recommend limiting time outdoors if you’re sensitive. You may also notice the sky looking milky or hazy instead of its usual bright blue.

Air quality is reduced

Suppresses tropical development:

Saharan dust can suppress tropical development because the dry air within the dust layer absorbs moisture from the surrounding atmosphere. With less moisture available, thunderstorms struggle to organize and strengthen into tropical storms or hurricanes.

A helpful way to picture it is like cedar wood chips on a wet floor—they soak up the water, leaving the surface drier. In the same way, the dusty air pulls moisture out of the tropics and makes storm development harder.

Dust absorbs water

More vibrant sunrises and sunsets:

Saharan dust can make sunrises and sunsets more vibrant because the tiny particles scatter sunlight as it passes through the atmosphere. Dust tends to scatter shorter blue wavelengths, allowing more reds, oranges, and pinks to reach our eyes.

When the Sun is low on the horizon, its light travels through more of this dusty air, enhancing those warm colors. The result is often brighter and more colorful sunrise and sunset displays.

Dust creates vibrant sunrises/sunsets

Supports our marine ecosystem:

As Saharan dust travels across the Atlantic, some of the particles slowly settle onto the ocean’s surface. Over thousands of miles, this creates a steady supply of dust falling into the water.

Dust transport

That dust is rich in minerals, including important nutrients like iron and phosphorus. When these particles reach the ocean, they act almost like a natural fertilizer.

Dust Nutrients

Those nutrients help fuel the growth of phytoplankton, tiny plant-like organisms that live near the ocean surface. With extra nutrients available, phytoplankton populations can grow quickly, creating blooms.

Dust leads to phytoplankton growth

Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food chain. They feed zooplankton, which are eaten by small fish and other marine life. Those animals then support larger predators like tuna, seabirds, and whales. In this way, dust from Africa helps support marine ecosystems across the Atlantic.

Marine Food Chain

Dust summary:

Saharan dust begins in the deserts of North Africa and can travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic before reaching the Caribbean and Gulf Coast.

When it arrives, it can reduce air quality and create hazy skies. But the dust also has big global benefits. The dust can suppress tropical development, create more vibrant sunrises and sunsets, and deliver nutrients that help support marine ecosystems.

Impacts of Saharan Dust

The history of how hurricanes get named

Daji Aswad — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:20:22 +0000

Ever wonder where hurricane and tropical storm systems get their name or if your name could make the cut?

My name is Daji and it is very unlikely that my name would land on a hurricane list. The names are chosen by World Meteorological Organization and represent the diverse cultures in the Atlantic basin region, including American, French, Latin, Dutch, and English names.

However, this wasn’t always the standard, 1979 was the first year that the World Meteorological Organization started alternating female and male names after complaints about inequality. In the 1950s, storm names were named all female names.

In the 1940s the weather agency proposed using the military phonetic alphabet but there simply wasn’t enough names to continue with the system.

Names here to stay , while others have to go:

Sometimes storm names might ring a bell and that’s because they are on a loop. There are 6 alphabetic lists with 21 names each, used every year. They naming lists are recycled every 6 years, so 2026’s list of names won’t show back up till 2032.

Leah replaced Laura because Laura was retired in 2020

It is also important to know that storms that broke records with costly damage or high death rates, are retired - so for example, we will never see the names beryl, Ike, or Allison appear on a hurricane naming lists again because they’ve been retired.

This year there is a new L named storm, Leah, it replaced Laura. Laura retired in 2020 after being the strongest hurricane to hit southwest Louisiana.

Living paycheck to paycheck? Here’s how Houston families can build a hurricane kit affordably

Brittany Begley — Mon, 18 May 2026 19:44:50 +0000

It’s no secret that groceries are getting more expensive as hurricane season, which begins June 1, approaches.

So how do you prepare, especially if you’re already living paycheck to paycheck?

The price of groceries are going up!

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery prices in Houston rose 1.7% over the 12 months ending February 2026.

Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research reports that only 34% of Harris County residents are financially secure, meaning they could cover three months or more of living expenses using savings if they lost their paycheck.

Financial Pressure after the storm

After Hurricane Beryl hit Houston, lower-income residents recovered more slowly. Among families earning less than $25,000 a year, nearly one in three were still struggling just weeks after the storm; after a year, three in ten had not fully bounced back, compared with higher-income households. But even higher-income households are feeling the squeeze: the number of households reporting difficulty getting by doubled between 2025 and 2026, including some earning more than $150,000.

With all this in mind, here are realistic steps for Houston residents living paycheck to paycheck to prepare hurricane kits focused on the basics, items you can gradually buy now:

Water (one gallon per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation)
Food (at least several days’ supply of non-perishable items)
Battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert
Flashlight
First-aid kit
Extra batteries
Whistle (to signal for help)
Dust mask (to help filter contaminated air)
Plastic sheeting and duct tape (to shelter in place)
Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties (for personal sanitation)
Manual can opener
Local maps
Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery

Experts recommend stocking up slowly so you don’t break the bank but are prepared for whatever comes our way this hurricane season.

Storm surge explained: The hurricane threat that kills the most people

Daji Aswad — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:26:32 +0000

Hurricane-force winds can knock out power and tear roofs apart. The powerful winds also contribute to coastal flooding through storm surge.

Storm surge, in basic terms, occurs when strong winds from a hurricane or tropical storm push water towards shore, causing it to rise rapidly.

The image depicts a high level storm surge based on a major hurricane.

The Gulf Coast is no stranger to this destructive wall of water - Rita’s storm surge towered 15 feet, Ike’s storm surge climbed to 17 feet, and Katrina reported a 28-foot storm surge , which is the height of a telephone pole! Katrina and Rita were Category 5 storms, while Ike was a Category 2 - despite the vastly different wind speeds, the storm surge impact remained the same, devastating.

Photos from NOAA

Water during hurricanes and tropical storms is responsible for 90% of fatalities, according to NOAA, and half of those are due to storm surge.

Remember, we can hide from wind but can’t run from water, so if your zip code is ever in an evacuation order, you’ll want to take those instructions from local officials seriously.

MAHA candidate beats Trump's choice in Republican primary for Iowa governor

Hannah Fingerhut And Ali Swenson, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:04:01 +0000

Businessman Zach Lahn's win in Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary over President Donald Trump’s pick, Rep. Randy Feenstra, delivered a rare electoral setback for Trump in a primary season that had handed him back-to-back victories.

The narrow upset Tuesday revealed cracks in Trump's coalition in the red state that helped the president mount his comeback, encouraging Democrats who are hopeful they can flip control of the governor's office this year. It also marked a potential breakthrough moment for the Make America Healthy Again movement, which has clashed with the Trump administration over its embrace of pesticides and backed Lahn's message in favor of regenerative farming and against large agricultural corporations.

“I will take on the big ag cartels. I will break up their monopolies, and I will get Iowa farmers a fair deal," Lahn said in his victory speech late Tuesday.

Members of the MAHA movement, a diverse coalition of supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with priorities ranging from ending vaccine mandates to promoting healthy soil and organic food, cheered the win as a sign their political message was resonating with voters.

“This election is a signal that pro-pesticide does not mean pro-farmer,” said Tony Lyons, president of Kennedy-aligned MAHA PAC, which endorsed Lahn. “Zach Lahn made transitioning away from toxic chemicals the cornerstone of his campaign and won this election decisively with strong farmer support.”

Lahn carved out a MAHA fandom

Lahn, a farmer and former conservative political director, was relatively unknown in Iowa before launching his campaign in November. He championed traditional policies that appealed to Iowa's conservative voters, such as further restricting abortion and keeping liberal ideology out of schools.

But Lahn, who owns an investment company and lives on an eastern Iowa farm that had been in his family for a century, also carved out a niche with the MAHA movement, vocally rebuking agricultural monopolies and acknowledging health questions involving farming products.

MAHA activists loudly backed Lahn as they grew increasingly impatient with the Trump administration and its Environmental Protection Agency for actions they view as antithetical to making America healthier.

Earlier this year, they revolted after Trump issued an executive order aimed at boosting production of a controversial herbicide ingredient known as glyphosate. They also protested at the Supreme Court in April against glyphosate producer Monsanto's Trump-backed effort to protect itself from lawsuits.

Lahn has opposed liability shields for pesticide companies.

“Iowa has the fastest growing cancer rate in the world,” Lahn said in Tuesday's speech. “We all know something is terribly wrong. But too many politicians from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines have had their heads stuck in the sand while big ag and big pharma printed money. This will not go on when I’m governor.”

Those positions helped Lahn gain endorsements from MAHA PAC and the late Charlie Kirk's conservative political organization, Turning Point Action. Figures from both celebrated Lahn's victory as their own.

“MAHA has done its job proving it’s politically radioactive to stand with chemicals over children,” Turning Point USA podcaster Alex Clark said on social media. “Iowa knows pesticides are causing cancer which is exploding in their state. Tonight they opted for change.”

Kelly Ryerson, a Florida-based activist whose social media account Glyphosate Girl focuses on nontoxic food systems, said she wants candidates in other states to take note. Ryerson had previously criticized Trump's endorsement of Feenstra, describing the congressman as “straight from the poison swamp.”

“Decreasing pesticides and improving food quality are common ground issues that drive votes,” she said.

A setback for Trump after repeated victories

Trump had stayed quiet on Iowa's gubernatorial race until last week, when he praised Feenstra as “MAGA all the way” and said he would “fight tirelessly” for Iowa on the economy and border security.

The power of the president's endorsement was proven earlier in the primary season, taking down two senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

The Republican National Committee denied the Iowa results signaled a weakening of Trump’s influence with voters.

“President Trump’s endorsement is the most valuable force in politics and worth its weight in gold,” spokesman Zach Kraft said in a statement. “The record speaks for itself.”

Some political observers viewed Massie's loss as a stumble for the MAHA movement. The Republican congressman had helped lead a bipartisan effort to remove liability protections for chemical companies from the recent farm bill, in line with activists' concerns.

Trump campaign veteran and Iowa political operative Alex Latcham said Tuesday's result does not detract from the grassroots goodwill Trump has built in Iowa. After all, Latcham said, it was Trump who recognized and embraced the MAHA issues that middle America cares about, which led him to appoint Kennedy as health secretary.

Latcham emphasized that all five Iowa primary candidates ran pro-Trump campaigns. Ultimately, Latcham said, Iowans want to see candidates up close to make their own assessments. Lahn and others criticized Feenstra for avoiding debates and spending limited time on the campaign trail.

“At the end of the day the president still remains the undisputed leader of the party,” said Latcham, who currently serves as executive director of Senate Republicans' main super PAC. “I wouldn’t necessarily read into this as being a diminishment of the president’s political standing.”

But Feenstra's loss, marking a win for MAHA and a miss for the president, creates an opening Democrats may try to seize.

State Auditor Rob Sand, the lone Democrat currently holding statewide office, is the party’s nominee for governor. Unopposed in the primary, Sand has been able to hone his moderate message, remind voters of his rural upbringing and amass an $18 million campaign fund.

Lahn, looking ahead to November in his victory speech, pivoted from talking about cancer rates and family farms to the cultural issues that have riled up the GOP base in recent cycles, saying Sand would “veto any culture war bill.”

“Rob Sand is not a moderate," Lahn said. "He’s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he’s not.”

___

Swenson reported from New York.

Should hurricanes be rated differently?

Anthony Yanez — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:51:27 +0000

Most of us are familiar with how hurricanes are categorized.

Storms are ranked from Category 1 to Category 5 based on their wind speeds using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

The scale was developed in the early 1970s by engineer Herbert Saffir and National Hurricane Center director Robert Simpson.

At the time, there wasn’t a simple way to communicate the damage potential from hurricane-force winds, so they created a system that focused specifically on wind intensity and the type of damage those winds could cause.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale

But there’s a problem with how hurricanes are categorized.

The current scale only measures wind.

It doesn’t account for storm surge, inland flooding, or rainfall, even though storm surge is the deadliest part of a hurricane.

That’s why researchers in South Florida are proposing the idea of an “Enhanced Hurricane Scale.” The goal would be to rate hurricanes not just on wind speed, but also on storm surge and rainfall impacts.

Adding storm surge and rainfall to the category

The idea is similar to the Enhanced Fujita Scale used for tornadoes. Instead of focusing on just one factor, the scale would combine wind, storm surge, and rainfall into a single impact rating.

For example, imagine a storm with relatively modest winds, but catastrophic storm surge and historic flooding rainfall totals. Under this proposed system, that storm could receive a much higher rating because of its overall impact.

In this case storm surge and rainfall are considered higher impacts

What you are looking at in the above graphic is how Harvey would have been rated for Houston.

Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi as a Category 4 hurricane. But by the time it stalled over Southeast Texas, it had weakened significantly in terms of wind speed. It was not classified as a hurricane in Houston.

Yet we all know what happened next.

Historic flooding devastated Houston and changed countless lives. Under an enhanced scale focused on total impact, Harvey would have been categorized as a Category 5 in Houston before the storm ever made landfall.

The category would have been a 5 for us in Houston

But does an enhanced hurricane scale make sense?

There are definitely benefits. It would help communicate the full danger of a storm, not just the wind threat. It could better highlight flooding rain and storm surge, which are bigger, life-threatening hazards.

But there are also challenges.

Unlike wind speed, rainfall and storm surge impacts can vary dramatically from one location to another depending on the track and movement of the storm. One community could experience catastrophic flooding while another nearby sees far less impact. That could make the ratings more confusing for the public.

And for now, this idea is still just a proposal. Changing the scale isn’t being considered by NOAA, the people in charge.

So, what’s the most important takeaway?

Never focus only on the category number.

Whether it’s a tropical storm, a Category 1 hurricane, or a major hurricane, the real question should always be:

What are the impacts where you live?

That’s what helps families make the best decisions to stay safe, no matter the category.

One June 3 at 8 PM

To help get you prepared for this hurricane season, the KPRC 2 Weather Team is presenting our Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide on Wednesday night at 8:00. You can watch on TV, click2houston.com or KPRC 2+. Hope you can tune in.

El Niño and gulf warmth set stage for Houston’s hurricane season

Anthony Yanez — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:15:33 +0000

This is your hurricane forecast, but more importantly, it’s what you need to watch for this hurricane season and how it could impact you and your family.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. This year, most of the major forecast groups are calling for a season that’s near or slightly below average.

The major forecasts call for a below average number of storms to form

Colorado State University, which has issued hurricane forecasts for the past 42 years and is considered one of the most accurate groups, is forecasting 13 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes. NOAA, the National Hurricane Center, is also forecasting a season that’s close to average or slightly below average. WeatherBell, one of the forecast companies we work with, is predicting an even quieter season with 11 named storms, four hurricanes, and two major hurricanes.

But those aren’t the only forecasts out there.

There are 30 different agencies who make a seasonal hurricane forecast

More than 30 organizations, including universities, government agencies, and private weather companies, issue seasonal hurricane outlooks. When you compare them side by side, most are pointing toward fewer storms than average this year. There are a couple of exceptions, including 268Wx and the University of Arizona.

All but two forecasts are below average

The University of Arizona uses machine learning and artificial intelligence in its hurricane outlook. Their forecast is more active because of the warm waters in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf could overpower some of the suppressing effects of El Niño.

And that’s the key battle this season: El Niño versus the Gulf.

Who wins this hurricane season

You’ve probably heard we’re expecting a strong El Niño pattern this year. In simple terms, El Niño changes global weather patterns by warming the equatorial Pacific Ocean. One of the biggest impacts of hurricane season is increased wind shear across the Atlantic Basin. Wind shear rips apart storms and usually limits hurricane development in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

At the same time, though, Gulf waters are exceptionally warm.

Right now, Gulf temperatures are already running in the lower to middle 80s, and current data ranks this among the top three warmest Gulf water temperature years ever recorded. That’s plenty warm enough to fuel tropical systems.

Near record warmth this time of year

While the overall number of storms may be lower, my concern is where storms form.

History shows that even during strong El Niño years, it only takes one storm close to home to make it a dangerous season.

In 1983, another strong El Niño year, Hurricane Alicia rapidly developed near the Louisiana coast and strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall near Galveston and Houston. It went from a cluster of thunderstorms to a major hurricane in 36 hours!

August 15-21 1983

That’s the type of setup we have to watch carefully this year.

When storms form close to the Gulf Coast, they can sometimes avoid the stronger wind shear that’s farther out in the Atlantic. That means they can organize quickly and rapidly intensify with very little warning time.

Unlike storms that spend days crossing the Atlantic or Caribbean, these systems may develop close to land, giving people far less time to prepare.

That’s why the most important message this hurricane season is simple:

Be prepared now... not later.

If a storm develops near the coast, you may only have 24 to 48 hours to make important decisions for your family. The goal is to avoid scrambling at the last minute because supplies aren’t ready, plans haven’t been made, or evacuation decisions haven’t been discussed.

Preparation today brings peace of mind tomorrow.

That’s what the KPRC 2 Weather Team tries and do for you, to help you stay informed, stay prepared, and most importantly, keep you and your family safe this hurricane season.

Suspect who took 10 people hostage in California standoff has been shot and killed, police say

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:53:32 +0000

A man was shot and killed by the FBI early Wednesday after taking 10 school employees hostage inside a Southern California office building and warning that he had strapped explosives to himself and some of the hostages, police said.

Authorities stormed the building in downtown Bakersfield overnight, ending a nearly 16-hour standoff during which the suspect tied up half the hostages, police said.

The hostages — employees of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools — were found unharmed inside the building that also houses a bank, said Bakersfield Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Blakemore.

“Throughout the night, their families questioned whether or not they would be seen again but we are very grateful for the outcome,” Blakemore said during a news conference Wednesday.

Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, 41, was shot and killed around 4:20 a.m., according to Sid Patel, special agent in charge in the FBI’s Sacramento office. Authorities said he was an Army veteran who was dishonorably discharged, had a history of trouble with law enforcement and was a registered sex offender.

Searles-Harris told police he had a bomb after barricading himself within the second floor of the building, Blakemore said. Authorities were testing the devices Wednesday that Searles-Harris said were explosives, but Patel said they do not appear to be a concern.

One of the hostages was able to communicate with law enforcement using her phone until her battery died, Patel said. She was diabetic and didn’t have her medicine so officials knew she was at risk, he said.

“I’m sure there’ll be mental scars that they’re living with, and we’ll have our victim specialist to help them,” Patel said.

While authorities declined to discuss details about how they ended the standoff or the motive behind it, Blakemore said some of the demands Searles-Harris made involved asking for materials from an earlier case.

"He had concerns related to how his previous case had been handled and what the aftermath of that was, the sentencing and those kinds of things,” Blakemore said, without specifying details.

California Department of Justice and court records show Searles-Harris was on the state’s sex offender registry due to convictions in 2014 for sexual crimes related to a child under 14 years of age. Those records show he was released from prison in 2018.

FBI officials said Searles-Harris served about a year in the Army before being dishonorably discharged in 2007 for going AWOL.

Court records in Kern County, California, show Searles-Harris filed a petition to prevent domestic violence, and was involved in divorce proceedings that began in 2009 and note a young child, as well as a fight for guardianship years later in which he was listed as an objector.

During the news conference, Blakemore said he was aware of videos Searles-Harris had apparently posted criticizing the sheriff’s office and claiming he was innocent of his previous sex crimes convictions. He said the videos were being reviewed but the department had no plans to investigate the claims of innocence.

It wasn't clear why Searles-Harris targeted the school district office.

"What unfolded was undoubtedly a terribly frightening and unsettling experience, and the composure our employees demonstrated throughout the 16-hour ordeal was extraordinary, John Mendiburu, the county schools superintendent, said in a statement.

The standoff began early Tuesday afternoon, when officers responded to a call of a bomb threat at the Chase Bank building, a four-story office building with dark-tinted glass windows in Bakersfield, a city of about 380,000 residents about 100 miles (160 kms) northeast of Los Angeles.

The police department’s crisis negotiation team talked with Searles-Harris by phone and he released two hostages Tuesday.

Authorities evacuated buildings nearby, including City Hall and the police headquarters that are just a block away.

More than 100 FBI personnel assisted, including two SWAT teams, bomb technicians and crisis negotiation teams, Patel said. A hostage rescue team was deployed from its headquarters on the East Coast, he said.

___

Associated Press reporters Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed.

Cannons lost underwater during the American Revolution will soon go on display at a Georgia museum

Russ Bynum, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:37:30 +0000

A museum in Georgia's oldest city on Wednesday welcomed a truckload of treasures from the earliest period of U.S. history — 17 cannons that experts believe sank to the bottom of the Savannah River during the American Revolution and remained undiscovered for nearly 240 years.

Workers carefully hoisted the big guns one-by-one from the back of a truck and wheeled them inside their new home at the Savannah History Museum, which will put them on display just in time for the Fourth of July celebration of America's 250th birthday.

“They look brand new,” said Andrea Farmer, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist who was part of the team that researched and preserved the cannons. "They could pretty much be fired if someone wanted to.”

The artifacts were discovered in 2021 when a dredge scooping sediment from the riverbed as part of an Army Corps project to deepen Savannah's shipping channel pulled up a cannon in its metal jaws. The crew soon dug up two more.

In the course of just over a year, a total of 19 cannons were hoisted from the location just downstream from Savannah, which is where Georgia was founded in 1733 as the last of Britain's 13 American colonies.

After being pulled from the river, most of the cannons left Georgia for several years to undergo cleaning and preservation work at a Texas lab.

One of the Revolution's bloodiest battles was fought in Savannah

Archaeologists initially assumed the cannons likely dated to the Civil War. But further research indicated they’re likely almost a century older and sank during the buildup to the American Revolution’s bloody siege of Savannah.

Savannah was under British occupation in the fall of 1779, when colonists planned an attack to retake the city with help from French allies.

When French ships carrying troops were spotted off the Georgia coast, British forces scuttled at least six ships in the Savannah River downstream from the city to block the French vessels.

The land battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war. British forces killed nearly 300 colonial fighters and their allies, and wounded hundreds more.

The Savannah History Museum sits right next to the battlefield. Its staff on Wednesday hoisted the cannons, weighing up to 1500 pounds (680 kilograms) apiece, onto custom display mounts that staffers likened to giant wine racks.

The cannons will be part of a new exhibit on Savannah's role in the American Revolution, which is scheduled to open Fourth of July weekend, said Samantha Moss, the museum's curator.

"Our great team has been prepping for months -- building mounts and planning how we can safely display these very large, very special artifacts,” she said.

Cleaning the crusty cannons took years

Each of the iron cannons emerged from the river covered by a thick crust of mud and minerals.

Two were left in that raw state and put on display at the museum. The other 17 were sent to Texas A&M University, which has a lab that specializes in preserving underwater artifacts. Its staff spent years painstakingly cleaning the big guns and coating them in paint and wax to prevent rusting and corrosion.

“A lot of them have scour marks on the side from anchors or dredging, so there’s some scarring on the cannons," said Chris Dostal, a professor of nautical archaeology who leads Texas A&M's Conservation Research Lab. "But most of them look pretty exceptional.”

Most of the cannons arrived with wooden plugs still sealing their bores, which remained packed with cannonballs and gunpowder charges.

Dostal said radiocarbon dating of the wooden stoppers placed them roughly in the late 1700s. His team shared the cannons' measurements and other details with experts in London, who concluded three of them were very likely forged by the British military.

The rest appeared to be of French design but bore no telltale markings. Dostal said he suspects those guns may have been cast in America around the time of the war.

Other artifacts found with the cannons included pieces of anchors and a portion of a ship's bronze bell. Like the cannons, none of them bore engravings indicating which ship they came from.

That means many details of the cannons' origins remain a mystery.

“You don't have all of the information,” Farmer said. “You're trying to piece it together as best as you can.”

NOAA releases its 2026 hurricane forecast: Here’s what it means for Houston

Daji Aswad — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:34:33 +0000

NOAA forecast for the 2026 Hurricane season is in! NOAA is predicting the season will be below normal. A similar prediction to Colorado State University’s forecast that went live in April.

NOAA and CSU both predicting a below average season

The dip in hurricane activity is tied to an El Niño pattern that will develop this summer. When El Niño is in place, it creates more wind shear in the parts of the Atlantic Basin. The wind shear limits storm development, as it acts like scissors, shredding the hurricane’s circulation apart.

However, it will be a tug-of-war, as NOAA predicts warmer waters in the Atlantic that could aid storm development. The bottom line is to stay prepared.

How El Nino Works

Although hurricane activity is trending lower this season, it only takes one storm to cause devastation. As a reminder, hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th. We want to help you prepare, so be sure to let us know if you have any questions related to hurricane season.

You can submit your question here: What questions do you have about Houston’s 2026 hurricane season?

Takeaways from primaries featuring Spencer Pratt, a missing congressman and a rare Trump setback

Steven Sloan And Steve Peoples, Associated Press — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 04:01:06 +0000

The contours of a premier Senate race took shape in Iowa, while President Donald Trump’s endorsement streak ran into a roadblock there.

Democrats chose a nominee for a House race in New Jersey that could decide control of the chamber. But much of the focus was on California, home to Hollywood but not a governor's race packing much star power.

Here are takeaways from primary elections Tuesday in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Iowa Democrats rally behind former Paralympian in marquee Senate race

Democrats stunned by how Trump has remade American politics have spent the past decade debating which type of candidate is best positioned to energize voters and win elections, not moral victories.

Iowa marked the latest stop in this sometimes agonizing conversation.

The party’s establishment supported Josh Turek, a state representative who presented a compelling personal biography that included competing for the United States in four Paralympics. State Sen. Zach Wahls offered himself as a more disruptive figure, refusing to back Chuck Schumer of New York as the Senate Democratic leader if he were elected.

Democratic voters united behind Turek, who will face Republican Ashley Hinson in November.

At this point, many of the party’s most fractious races are behind them. But Turek's win could be closely watched in Michigan, where one of the last major Democratic primaries will unfold on Aug. 4. Rep. Haley Stevens is emerging as the establishment candidate there vying against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and progressive Abdul El-Sayed.

Both races are important for Democrats increasingly bullish about regaining the Senate majority. To get there, they must retain the open seat in Michigan while looking for pickup opportunities in places such as Iowa.

The results in the fall could have longer-term implications as Democrats look to rebuild their standing in the Midwest, which swung to the Republican president in 2024.

Trump's endorsement streak faces setback in Iowa

In just the past month, the power of Trump’s endorsement helped end the political careers of two senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

But Trump was unable to lift Rep. Randy Feenstra to victory in Iowa’s Republican primary for governor. Even though Trump jumped in with his backing last week, Feenstra narrowly lost to Zach Lahn.

The outcome was a rare setback for Trump, who basks in his ability to sway the vote among Republicans with his endorsement. It now sets up what Democrats see as one of their best opportunities to pick up a governorship this year.

Democrats nominated Rob Sand, who ran unopposed in the primary. He has the rural roots that have become rare among Democrats and is a proven winner in a Republican-leaning state, having been elected twice as auditor.

Lahn was not well known in Iowa politics when he launched his campaign in November, but he built support among conservatives. He championed policies including a total ban on abortion and keeping liberal ideology out of public school classrooms.

Lahn also developed a following with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which has clashed with the Trump administration over its embrace of pesticides.

The California drama drags on

The Los Angeles mayor's race was jolted by the candidacy of Spencer Pratt, who starred on the reality television show “The Hills.” The Republican has been trying to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Democrat Karen Bass, who is seeking a second term.

Bass secured enough votes to make the November runoff, but it was unclear who her opponent will be. Also running is Nithya Raman, a progressive members of the City Council.

The race for California governor has been especially chaotic.

With Democrat Gavin Newsom barred from seeking a third term, about 60 names were on the ballot to succeed him. Some of the state’s most prominent politicians, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla, did not run. One who did, former Rep. Eric Swalwell, withdrew after being accused of sexual assault, which he denied.

Under the state’s primary system, all candidates appear on a single ballot and the top two finishers advance to the November general election, regardless of party.

In the final days of the campaign, much of the attention focused on Democrats Xavier Becerra, a former congressman and state attorney general who was health secretary under Democratic President Joe Biden, and Tom Steyer, a billionaire known for his climate activism. Republican Steve Hilton campaigned with Trump’s endorsement.

The three were leading in early returns after polls closed.

If Becerra were to advance to one of the two slots on the fall ballot, he presents a natural choice for voters more comfortable with a traditional candidate. Steyer and Hilton have both presented themselves as advocating significant changes.

California has been governed by establishment-oriented Democrats for two decades. The primary results will indicate the level of change being sought in a state confronting serious challenges ranging from affordability to crime and will signal whether the $200 million Steyer put into the race from his own money turned out to be a good investment.

Independents emerge in Senate races in Republican strongholds

If Democrats hope to compete in Senate contests in Republican strongholds this fall, they may have to abandon their party’s nominees and rally around independents.

That’s one of the takeaways after voters on Tuesday finalized general election matchups in Montana and South Dakota, where little-known Democrats earned their party’s nominations. In both states, however, higher-profile independent candidates also qualified for the general election ballot.

It’s much the same in Idaho and Nebraska, which held Senate primaries last month. Democratic leaders in Nebraska are openly endorsing independent Dan Osborne over their party’s nominee, who has promised to drop out to make it easier for Osborne to win.

In Montana, independent Seth Bodnar, a former University of Montana president, looks like the strongest opponent to Republican Kurt Alme — on paper, at least. Bodnar raised more money than all of the five Democratic primary candidates combined. He has even significantly outraised Trump-backed Alme.

In South Dakota, Sen. Mike Rounds cruised to the Republican nomination on Tuesday. He will face Democrat Julian Beaudion, a former highway patrol trooper and small business owner. But it’s a former Democrat now running as an independent, military veteran Brian Bengs, who some Democrats believe may be the tougher challenger.

The Democrats shift toward independents reflects the party’s toxic brand in Republican strongholds.

Absent congressman gets a Democratic challenger

Democrats nominated Rebecca Bennett to take on Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, which stretches from the New York City suburbs to the Pennsylvania border.

The seat is critical for Republicans as they defend a narrow majority in Congress. The race was always going to be one of the most competitive on a map that has been increasingly gerrymandered to protect both parties. But it’s under particularly close scrutiny because of Kean’s extended and unexplained medical absence.

He's missed more than 100 votes since casting his last one on March 5.

Bennett, a former Navy pilot, was among the Democrats in the primary who made the absence and the lack of clarity surrounding it an issue, arguing Kean wasn’t around to protect money for a new rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City. That line of criticism will likely only grow heading into the general election.

Trump reiterated his endorsement of Kean on Monday. The congressman released a statement Tuesday saying he is “focused on my recovery" and would return to “in person work within a matter of weeks.”

New Mexico could make history in governor's race

The stage is set for Deb Haaland to make history this fall after Biden's interior secretary secured the Democratic nomination for governor in New Mexico.

Haaland was the first Native American to serve in the Cabinet. This fall, she could become the first Native American woman in U.S. history to be elected governor.

She defeated Albuquerque-based District Attorney Sam Bregman, the father of Chicago Cubs All-Star Alex Bregman, in a Democratic primary campaign that emphasized her ancestral roots in addition to lowering costs and her governing experience.

Haaland will face Republican Greggory Hull in the general election.

___

Peoples and Lodhi reported from New York. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa contributed to this report.

'We’re still behind' in Congo's Ebola outbreak even as testing improves, WHO chief says

Ope Adetayo And Geir Moulson, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:38:48 +0000

Congo’s Ebola outbreak “had a big head start, and we’re still behind,” the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday, adding that the medical community was “catching up” even as militant attacks plague the stricken region.

Congo's military said an attack late on Tuesday by an Islamic State affiliate — a group known as the Allied Democratic Forces — killed 16 people in the Beni territory in North Kivu province.

The militants struck in response for a joint operation of Congolese and Ugandan armies, which have been battling the group that operates in the border regions of the two countries. Last month, the group attacked Congolese villages near the Ugandan border, killing at least 40 people and burning and looting homes.

The violence has hampered efforts to combat the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, which was announced in mid-May in eastern Congo's provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu.

Since then, Congolese authorities have confirmed 60 deaths in the outbreak out of 344 cases. The number of suspected cases has gone down from 906 to 116. Neighboring Uganda has 15 confirmed cases, including one death, its health ministry said Tuesday.

WHO chief offers some hope for the outbreak

The agency's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that testing is improving in the struggle against Ebola, with scaled-up laboratory and diagnostic capacity though contact tracing in Congo “is not yet where it needs to be.”

"The outbreak had a big head start, and we’re still behind,” he said. But “we are catching up.”

Tedros spoke a day after returning to Geneva from Congo, where he visited the epicenter of the outbreak. "What I saw gave me hope, although challenges remain.”

He also said that blanket travel restrictions imposed by some countries “are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response,” and asked for them to be lifted. He stressed that WHO recommends exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings.

He avoided a reporter's question about a U.S. quarantine center in Kenya where American Ebola patients would be quarantined, which has drawn protests.

“I think based on their risk assessment … they (the United States) can do whatever they think is right for them,” the WHO chief said.

The outbreak struck in an extremely vulnerable region

Experts have said the virus spread for weeks in one of the world's most vulnerable regions before lab testing confirmed it. Resources, including protective gear, have been rushed to the outbreak for a type of Ebola with no approved medicine or vaccine.

At least five people have recovered from the virus, rare signs of hope.

“The true extent of the outbreak remains difficult to assess. Extremely limited testing capacity and difficulties accessing certain areas necessitate interpreting these figures with caution,” Doctors Without Borders, said Monday about the case numbers.

Getting a potential vaccine to the region could take months.

“It’s difficult to have an effective vaccine that adheres to the scientific protocol available quickly," Dr. Aruna Abedi, a Congolese epidemiologist who has managed previous outbreaks in the country, told The Associated Press.

While laboratory and diagnostic resources improve for the outbreak, Tedros said the tracing of people who had contact with infected people in Congo is still behind.

"Only about 45% of contacts have been followed up, and to get ahead of the outbreak we need to get that number up to above 90%,” he said. “Insecurity, displacement and mobile populations make contact tracing especially difficult.”

Congo has long struggled with a multitude of security crises and insecurity has over the years created a huge and vulnerable displaced population. Eastern Congo, where the latest Ebola outbreak is taking place, has several active armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group that seized key cities Goma and Bukavu over a year ago, and the IS affiliate.

Wary residents have attacked health centers in the outbreak, at times demanding the bodies of loved ones. Health workers also have been battling mistaken beliefs among some residents that Ebola isn't real, which has kept some from seeking care.

___

Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Jean Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.

Portugal and Austria defeat Germany for seats on the UN Security Council

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:54:37 +0000

Portugal and Austria defeated Germany for seats on the powerful but deeply divided U.N. Security Council on Wednesday in a hotly contested race after intense campaigning.

The 10 rotating seats on the 15-member Security Council are earmarked for different regions of the world. The assembly elects five countries by secret ballot every year to serve two-year terms alongside the council’s five permanent veto-wielding members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

In the other contested race, after four rounds of voting in the 193-member General Assembly, Kyrgyzstan defeated the Philippines by a vote of 143-49 and will join the council for the first time.

Zimbabwe, the African candidate, and Caribbean candidate Trinidad and Tobago had no opponents and both were elected with more than 180 votes.

The Security Council is mandated under the U.N. Charter with ensuring international peace and security, but it has failed in the three major current conflicts because of the veto power of Russia on Ukraine and of the United States, Israel’s closest ally, often on Gaza and on Iran.

There have been decades of efforts to reform the Security Council to reflect the geopolitical realities of the current world, not of the post-World War II era 80 years ago, when the United Nations was established. But they have all failed, though a new attempt is underway.

In the race for the two seats for the group of mainly Western nations, Portugal received 134 votes and Austria 131 votes, while Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse which had served six previous terms on the council, received 104 votes.

“Obviously, the result is a real disappointment,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters. He said Russia campaigned against Germany because of its strong support for Ukraine. “It also may have cost us votes that Germany must always assume a special responsibility for Israel with regard to the Middle East conflict," he said.

Austria’s foreign ministry said its election capped a 15-year campaign and is a “strong international sign of confidence” in the country.

Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev told reporters “we understand now is a turbulent time” and said Kyrgyzstan will work together with other council members.

The five new members will take up their seats on Jan. 1. They will replace Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia.

___

Associated Press writer Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria contributed to this report.

Ukrainian drones hit St. Petersburg oil terminal before city hosts Russian economic forum

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:26:56 +0000

Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, sending smoke billowing over the city where Russian President Vladimir Putin was born as it hosts Russia’s leading event for attracting foreign capital.

The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to hit the terminal in Russia’s second-largest city, Zelenskyy said on social media, a day after Moscow launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted St. Petersburg’s infrastructure, without providing details. The city's airport briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack. Authorities cut off mobile internet services.

With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight.

Ukraine's drone successes embarrass Putin

The latest strikes are another embarrassment for Putin, weeks after he pruned back an annual Victory Day parade in Moscow because of fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Putin is set to speak on Friday at the economic forum in St. Petersburg that the Kremlin views as a prestige event. The gathering is sometimes called Russia’s Davos, likening it to the World Economic Forum held in Switzerland.

Major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Saudi Arabia is a special guest this year and is due to send a large business delegation.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine aimed only at “legitimate targets” related to Russia's war effort and indicated that Kyiv plans to escalate its long-range drone attacks. "It is only a matter of time when we will be able to increase the scale of our own mass strikes,” he told reporters.

The strikes on St. Petersburg came a day after Russia's attack on Ukraine killed 23 civilians and wounded 151 other people, as Moscow followed through with its threat of escalating its barrages.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia’s deep strikes have already taken on a “systematic” character.

Ukraine needs more air defense help

Ukraine’s own long-range attacks are aimed at diminishing Russia’s oil production, which is a key source of funding for Moscow, and disrupting weapon production. Kyiv has repeatedly targeted oil facilities in St. Petersburg and nearby ports.

But Ukraine is short of American-made Patriot air defense missiles, in part because of U.S. stocks being depleted by the Iran war, leaving Ukrainian territory vulnerable to Russia's ballistic missiles.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday expressed frustration with his own government's officials, saying there's an agreement “at the highest political level” for the purchase of Patriot systems, but implementation is being held up by financial, legal and technical considerations.

“The wait has taken too long,” he said on social media, demanding that officials unblock the purchase or there will be “serious personnel decisions.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, visiting Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian officials, said the flow of interceptor missiles from the U.S. to Ukraine continues. The U.S. is “doing what it can” to keep supplying them although it is limited by the production rate, he told a news conference.

Rutte also said young Russians and their families “are being sold a raw deal” by Moscow, as incorporation in the Russian military dooms soldiers to poor training and equipment and low chances of surviving battlefield wounds.

Ukraine also strikes a Russian naval base

Other Ukrainian drone attacks overnight set fire to the Russian guided-missile corvette Boikiy, which was in dry dock at the Kronstadt naval base, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Kronstadt is an old base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet located west of St. Petersburg. Satellite images showed fire crews working to control the fires onboard.

Drones also hit a Russian manufacturing plant involved in weapon production in the Tambov region, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 354 Ukrainian drones overnight.

In the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a Ukrainian strike hit a bus that was traveling from Moscow to the Crimean Peninsula, killing seven people and wounding 11 others, according to the Kremlin-appointed head of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin.

In the Smolensk region, two firefighters were killed by a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional governor, Vasily Anokhin. He said that two other firefighters and a local resident were wounded.

Meanwhile, Russia fired 198 long-range drones at Ukraine last night, according to Ukraine’s air force, with air defenses neutralizing 189.

Authorities in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said that over the previous 24 hours, one civilian was killed and 15 more were wounded, including three children, by Russian strikes.

In the southern Kherson, Russian overnight shelling and drone strikes killed an 86-year-old woman and wounded five other people, according to regional authorities.

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

First U.S. suspected case of New World screwworm reported in South Texas

Texas Tribune, Berenice Garcia — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 20:06:26 +0000

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.

McALLEN — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a suspected case of New World screwworm — the parasitic fly poised to harm the state’s $15 billion cattle industry — in South Texas.

The USDA is testing a sample of the potential infestation at the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, lowa, the agency announced on social media on Wednesday.

The USDA added it had already activated personnel on the ground and were working with local partners.

The announcement comes one day after Secretary Brooke Rollins debunked the claims of a state lawmaker that the screwworm was less than 1 mile from the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Energy, water use and pollution of AI and data centers rival most countries

Seth Borenstein, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:00:11 +0000

The environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some of the world's largest countries, according to a United Nations University report, which also predicts their water and energy use and pollution will double in just four years as use of artificial intelligence grows.

Last year, global data centers used 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity, more than all but 10 countries of the world, said the report issued Wednesday. That electricity use produced about 208 million tons (189 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, about the same amount as Argentina, and producing that much energy consumed about 1.2 trillion gallons (4.5 trillion liters) of water, according to the report on the environmental consequences of AI's energy use.

By 2030, data centers will account for nearly 3% of the world's projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours. If data centers were a country, the country would be projected to rank sixth-highest in power use in 2030. That would produce nearly 440 million tons (399 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, the report said. The study focused on energy use and didn’t examine the massive amount of water used to cool data centers.

“If you look at these numbers, we're seeing scales comparable to nations,” said study co-author Kaveh Madani, a water scientist and director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Canada. “The demand is enormous.”

Much of the growth of data centers is being driven by AI. About 20% of data centers’ energy is currently due to AI, but that should grow to 40% by 2030, the report said.

First global look at ecological impact

The report is significant because of the credibility and authority of the U.N., not just because of any one set of eye-popping numbers, said Fengqi You, a Cornell University energy engineering professor who directs the college’s AI sustainability issues.

“Its value is that a U.N. institution is putting carbon, water, land, life-cycle impacts and environmental justice into one frame” for an issue that is often shrouded in secrecy and partial disclosures, said You, who was not part of the report.

“The general public should be concerned, but not panicked,” he added.

Jean Su, director of the Energy Justice Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the report is important because it is the first U.N., or even global, report “that shines a light on the environmental harms of AI.”

National Artificial Intelligence Association President Caleb Max emphasized how his industry is becoming more efficient and how it benefits the public: “AI is rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives and adding benefits that improve safety, live longer, work more efficiently, enhance food production, and reduce poverty. The evidence is growing daily that the energy return on investment of AI development is transformative for our world and therefore more than worth it.”

Josh Levi, president the Data Center Coalition, said the industry takes its environmental impact seriously.

“We remain committed to working with policymakers, local communities, and industry partners to ensure that as data centers grow, they do so responsibly, transparently, and in ways that reflect the best available practices,” he said in a statement.

How much energy your query uses and how to trim it

Madani, also the winner of the most recent of the Stockholm Water Prize, said the numbers show the environmental cost of AI, which may seem cleaner at first glance than other mechanical devices, such as cars and furnaces, that have visible pollution.

"AI is not just a virtual thing. We’re talking about something that has physics, something that has real impacts. There is infrastructure there. There is energy that is being used,” Madani said. “A lot of hardware is behind all these operations that to us seem very, very clean because we don’t see smoke out of our devices. On our cellphone, there is no visible smoke or out of our computer or something. But somewhere else someone is suffering.”

People can reduce AI’s massive energy appetite by being less polite and more concise in their queries, Madani said. The report found that cutting word use in requests by 30% can reduce energy used by AI by 25%. That would save about the same amount of electricity as what about 700,000 people in Africa use in a year, the report said.

“If you’re too polite, then that extra ‘please’ you put there can make a huge difference,” Madani said. “You’ve got to be very precise and be short.”

A typical ChatGPT-style query is about 200 times more energy-intensive than the type of basic text classification used in an email spam filter, for example. AI-generated images or video require much more energy.

And the more complicated the AI, the more energy it takes to train or learn. The report said GPT-3 used about 1.3 billion watt-hours to train, but the next version used 50 to 70 billion watt-hours.

But it's not training that really feasts on power, said study co-author Miriam Aczel, a United National University environmental policy researcher. About 90% of the power use of AI comes from operational requests, she said. GPT alone accounts for 2.5 billion prompts a day, she said.

Efficiency still means more power use

Even though tech advocates can argue that their machines are becoming more efficient, there's a common paradox that finds when things get more efficient, they are used more often and total energy use soars even if individual uses are more efficient, Madani said. While some companies tout the use of renewable energy for data centers, Madani said that means the supply of clean electricity is depleted and thus dirtier energy is used elsewhere.

One of the problems in conducting this study is that many companies and places are not transparent about what data centers and AI are consuming or even where and how big they are, Aczel and Madani said.

“We cannot manage what companies do not disclose,” Cornell's You said.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

United Against Human Trafficking helps lead efforts to prevent human trafficking as the world comes to Houston

Mariah Gardner — Fri, 29 May 2026 18:40:28 +0000

For 20 years, United Against Human Trafficking (UAHT) has been on the front lines of one of the most urgent human rights crises in the country. Founded in Houston in 2005, the organization has grown from a coalition of passionate advocates into a leading agency in the Greater Houston Area — and its impact is undeniable.

Since its founding, UAHT has served more than 272,000 individuals through three core pillars: preventing exploitation, educating the community, and empowering survivors.

Scale of human trafficking

Human trafficking is not a distant problem. It is happening in Houston — and across Texas — every day.

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 10,227 cases were reported across the United States in 2024 alone. In Texas, the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work estimates 313,000 survivors of labor and sex trafficking. Globally, the International Labour Organization reports 24.9 million people are victims of trafficking worldwide.

Traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion to exploit people for commercial sex or forced labor. Their tactics range from physical restraint and debt bondage to fake job offers and false romantic relationships. For survivors, the effects do not end with escape — trafficking can disrupt their ability to work, find safe housing, rebuild trust, and create the stable, fulfilling lives they deserve.

Preventing exploitation

UAHT’s prevention work starts with youth. The organization has reached more than 27,519 young people through awareness programming since 2016, equipping teens with the knowledge to recognize the signs of trafficking and avoid exploitation.

Informed youth are less likely to fall victim to traffickers’ tactics, which often include intimate partner or marriage propositions, false promises of jobs or housing, and recruitment through social networks. UAHT also helps community members identify red flags — such as someone accompanied by a controlling person, evidence of physical or mental abuse, or a lack of identification — so trafficking can be spotted and reported before it escalates.

Educating the community

Education is at the heart of UAHT’s mission. Through targeted workshops and training programs, the organization equips frontline professionals, first responders, and community members to recognize and respond to human trafficking situations with a trauma-informed approach.

UAHT has conducted 282 educational trainings and reached 106,762 individuals through its education programs. The organization’s podcast further extends its reach, helping everyday community members understand and dismantle the systems that allow trafficking to flourish.

Empowering survivors

For those who have experienced trafficking, UAHT offers a lifeline through its client services program. Survivors receive wrap-around care, including advocacy, counseling, housing assistance, and financial literacy training.

UAHT’s Real Talk program — a trauma-informed support group for teens and adults — has served 7,972 participants since 2017. The group helps survivors process their experiences, build resilience, and connect with others who understand their journey.

The organization also runs Stopping Sexual Exploitation (SSE), a prevention-focused program for men that provides education and accountability to help break the cycle of exploitation.

“I’m a different man because of SSE. UAHT’s work stays with you, even long after the sessions end. I’m ready to come back and support the next group,” one SSE participant said.

Since 2020, UAHT’s client services program has logged 249 client service touchpoints and 270 SSE touchpoints, connecting survivors with the resources they need to reclaim their freedom.

A vision for freedom

UAHT’s vision is simple and powerful: “We fight so that all may live free.”

Human trafficking is a violation of basic human rights, and UAHT believes no human life should be for sale. The organization marked its 20th anniversary in 2025, and its work is a reminder that ending trafficking requires a community-wide commitment — to prevention, education, and restoration.

To learn more about United Against Human Trafficking or to get involved, visit their website.

KPRC 2 and our partners at Energy Transfer and Houston Christian University are proud to feature United Against Human Trafficking in our KPRC 2 Community June spotlight.

What to know: Protests grow over Trump family-linked resort in Albania

Zana Cimili, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:22:44 +0000

A massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, is facing growing resistance from protesters in Albania.

The government says the development on the Adriatic coast would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership.

But the venture, spanning an abandoned island and a nearby stretch of seafront on Albania’s southern coast, has drawn opposition from environmental campaigners and critics of long-time Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump found the site on a barefoot hike

The luxury project has two components: a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area, which is a wildlife reserve, and a smaller resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan, a communist-era military base.

The planned development of hotels, apartments, villas and a marina is linked to Kushner and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.

In an interview this week with U.S. podcaster David Senra, Ivanka Trump said they discovered the site by accident.

“We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it,” she said. “We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.”

An investment firm linked to Kushner has been granted special investor status by Albanian authorities.

Harsh rule, pristine beaches

Albania has 450 kilometers (280 miles) of coast that remained largely underdeveloped during decades of harsh communist rule.

Protest groups fear the sections of that pristine coastline could be snapped up by powerful investors. And public anger grew after video showed an activist being dragged by a private security guard while demonstrating at the site.

The development is planned within a nature reserve and one of Albania’s most valuable biodiversity areas, a key stopover for migratory birds along the Adriatic coast.

Protesters have carried cardboard cut-outs of pink flamingos, one of the protected migratory bird species, at rallies in the capital Tirana.

Since late May, excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing.

Environmental groups from Albania and elsewhere in Europe condemned the work, with one prominent local group charging that long-protected habitats are being "irreversibly destroyed.”

A multi-billion dollar bonanza?

Albania’s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project but has not disclosed details.

The government says the land earmarked for the project is privately owned. But competing claims have emerged questioning the privatization — a common type of legal dispute.

Rama has committed to the venture, saying it would align with Albania’s ambition to become a major global tourism destination.

“Albania should not be a country that fears an extraordinary project like this one, where exceptional partners have come together to invest 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion),” Rama said.

He added: “There is no chance for this investment to stop as long as I am here.”

However, the demise of a similar project in Serbia offers a cautionary tale. In November, Serbia's Parliament passed a special law to enable the building of a luxury complex in the capital, Belgrade, to be financed by an investment company linked to Kushner.

The following month, Serbia's prosecutor for organized crime charged four people, including a government minister, with abuse of office and falsifying of documents to help pave the way for the development.

Kushner later withdrew from the planned multi-million investment that would have replaced a sprawling bombed-out military complex, a designated heritage zone whose legal protection was lifted by the former officials now on trial.

Trump administration seeks new path forward with tariffs after first attempt hit legal roadblocks

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 03:52:13 +0000

President Donald Trump is in a hurry to rebuild the tariff wall the Supreme Court tore down less than four months ago.

The administration this week has proposed slapping double-digit tariffs on products from dozens of major U.S. trading partners after an investigation into imports of goods allegedly made with forced labor. And more tariffs are likely coming.

Under the proposal released in Washington late Tuesday, 16 economies — including Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Taiwan and the United Kingdom — would face 10% levies for allegedly failing to enforce bans on forced labor. Another 44 trading partners — including China, Japan, India, South Korea and Switzerland — would be hit with 12.5% import taxes.

The tariffs are part of Trump's push to replace revenue lost when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sweeping global tariffs he'd imposed last year. This latest barrage is likely to unsettle key trading partners that have been hit with waves of tariffs since Trump returned to the White House early last year.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. "This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.''

Greer's office said failure to prevent such imports is "unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce."

Trump's tariffs are paid by U.S. importers who usually try to pass along those higher costs to customers.

The administration, mindful that Americans are growing increasingly unsettled by high prices with midterm elections just months away, said that it would limit the impact by exempting from the latest proposed tariffs a long list of products, including aircraft parts, food products (from coffee to beef) and rare earth minerals crucial in the production of smartphones and cars. Also spared would be products from Canada and Mexico covered by a North American trade pact.

The new tariffs would not take effect immediately. They are subject to public comment and review. Public hearings on the proposed duties are due to begin on July 7.

The plan drew immediate pushback. A Chinese government spokesperson denied the forced labor allegation and called for resolving economic issues through dialogue, saying a trade war doesn’t serve anyone’s interests.

“There is no such thing as forced labor in China, and we oppose using it as an excuse to engage in political manipulation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.

The U.S. has long said imports of goods that include material from China’s far-western Xinjiang are at risk of using forced labor. Beijing denies allegations of forced labor in the Muslim majority region.

But critics saw the proposed tariffs as a pretext to reinstate tariffs on dozens of countries across the globe that hadn’t passed legal muster.

“Accusing EU of not doing enough against forced labour is absurd,″ Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, posted on social media. “The EU has adopted the world’s most stringent rules against products made with forced labour. This looks very much like trying to make the facts fit a legal justification for tariffs that has already been decided.″

The new maneuver shows how determined the Trump administration is about keeping a wall of tariffs around the American economy, the world’s largest, despite repeated setbacks in court.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose double-digit tariffs on almost every country on Earth last year. The justices struck down the tariffs and set the stage for companies who paid them to seek refunds.

After the loss in court, Trump turned to another law to impose temporary 10% tariffs globally. But those stopgap levies expire July 24. And a specialized trade court ruled last month that they, too, were illegal – though the government can continue collecting them while that case works its way through the courts.

Trump’s tariffs have provided tens of billions of dollars in revenue for a federal government that persistently spends more than it collects in taxes. He had been counting on the IEEPA tariffs to make up for some of the revenue lost to his massive 2025 tax cuts.

But tariff collections have begun to fall since the legal defeats. They peaked at more than $31 billion last October but were down to $22 billion in both March and April of this year, according to the Treasury Department.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have vowed to replace the lost revenue. And they’ve turned to a legal authority that has withstood legal challenges in the past: Section 301 of Trade Act of 1974, which authorizes tariffs and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. Trump used Section 301 to impose big tariffs on China in his first term.

"What's somewhat brilliant about this way of approaching 301 is that politically it's very hard to argue that you shouldn't go after forced labor and force countries to enforce forced labor laws on the books,'' said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will soon introduce legislation on forced labor in supply chains. “Canada has a very strong legislative regime against forced labor in supply chains,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa. “We don’t want any element of forced labor coming in goods and services, and we want to use our influence to eliminate this practice of forced labor and child labor.”

In its nearly 100-page report on forced labor, the USTR said that even if a country enforces a ban on forced labor domestically, importing goods made with forced labor violates the rules of fair trade.

Majerus expects to the new tariffs to be ready by the time the temporary ones expire next month. “The USTR is under enormous pressure to make sure there's no gap (in tariff revenue), probably from the White House,'' he said. ”I'm confident, based on the schedule they're on now, that they will have these done and ready to implement.'' He noted that the investigation on forced labor is "working at about two times the normal speed'' of typical 301 cases.

The administration is also pursuing a Section 301 case into whether 16 U.S. trading partners (accounting for 70% of U.S. imports) — including China, the EU and Japan — are overproducing goods, driving down prices and putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage.

And on Monday the administration proposed 25% Section 301 tariffs on Brazil, charging that the world's 10th-biggest economy with "unreasonable'' trade practices including lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own.

Tuesday's report defined forced labor as “work or service exacted from a person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily.”

It cited an estimate by the UN’s International Labor Organization that as of 2021, 27.6 million people were engaged in forced labor.

Rice imported from Myanmar, tobacco from Malawi, beef from Brazil, and cotton and polysilicon from China were among the many products it said are prone to involving forced labor.

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Elaine Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok.

Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this story.

Colombian presidential candidate de la Espriella thanks Trump for endorsing his campaign

Astrid Suárez, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:58:51 +0000

Colombian lawyer and presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who secured the most votes in the first round of Colombia’s elections, on Wednesday thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for endorsing his campaign, in an election that serves as a litmus test as the region shifts towards the right.

Writing on the Truth Social platform the previous day, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” for de la Espriella, calling him an “intelligent, strong and tough leader” who will take on a “radical leftist Marxist,” referring to progressive Iván Cepeda, in the June 21 runoff election.

He emphasized the importance of the elections for the two countries' relationship.

“With my head held high and a heart full of patriotic gratitude, I receive your words and your steadfast support," de la Espriella, known as “El Tigre” or “The Tiger,” wrote on X. "Thank you, Mr. President!”

This is not the first time Trump has backed candidates in foreign elections, a practice that has drawn criticism from opponents who say the U.S. should not meddle in other countries’ domestic politics. Last year, Trump endorsed Honduras’ National Party presidential candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, who went on to win. He also backed libertarian President Javier Milei in Argentina during legislative elections that proved critical to the leader’s political agenda.

Cepeda in comments to the press Wednesday denounced Trump's remarks as having an “interventionist tone” and called on him to respect Colombia's sovereignty.

Trump’s support in the Colombian presidential campaign underscores the current tension between Washington and Bogota as relations between the countries have grown strained under Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Sharp disagreements have emerged over migration, Israel’s military actions in Gaza and anti-narcotics strategies, particularly regarding the bombing of drug boats in the Caribbean.

Petro rejected Trump’s support for the conservative candidate and urged citizens to vote freely so as to “not become anyone’s slaves or colony.”

“When a country intervenes in the decisions of another country, freedom dies,” Petro wrote on X.

While the U.S. remains Colombia’s largest export market and was long considered Washington’s primary ally in the hemisphere, relations have cooled significantly under the current administration.

De la Espriella, who holds dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship, is a Trump supporter and a member of the Republican Party. With no prior experience in elected office, he secured 43.74% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election, followed by Sen. Cepeda — an ally of Petro — with 40.90%, according to preliminary counts.

The candidate has said his views align with U.S. policies, particularly regarding the fight against narcotics. He has promised to eradicate thousands of hectares of coca leaf crops — the raw material for cocaine — and to halt the trafficking bound for the United States.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

NASA declares its Mars Maven spacecraft dead after six months of silence

Marcia Dunn, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:48:45 +0000

After six months of radio silence, NASA’s Maven spacecraft around Mars has been declared dead.

The space agency confirmed Wednesday that the mission had ended after more than a decade of observations.

“The team really did experience the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission here,” said NASA project manager Mike Moreau.

Launched in 2013 to study the red planet’s atmosphere from orbit, Maven mysteriously fell silent in early December after passing behind Mars. Data indicated the spacecraft went into a fast spin, which disrupted its orbit and drained the onboard batteries.

A review board convened by NASA earlier this year concluded that the spacecraft is useless and unable to be recovered. It's expected to remain in orbit for another 50 to 100 years before crashing into the planet, posing no issue to other spacecraft until then. An investigation continues into what caused the problem.

Besides studying Martian weather and observing a stray interstellar comet last year, Maven helped relay information from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the surface. NASA officials said four other spacecraft around Mars — two U.S. and two European satellites — will pick up the slack, with no rover science lost.

"The team is certainly broken up about this, but at the same time we are incredibly proud of the science we've accomplished over the last decade,” said Maven's lead scientist, Shannon Curry of the University of Colorado Boulder.

The spacecraft advanced scientists' understanding of the Martian atmosphere and evolution, Curry said.

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

Arrest warrant issued for 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk for misdemeanor speeding charge

Josh Dubow, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:25:32 +0000

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has issued an arrest warrant for San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk on a misdemeanor charge of exhibition of speeding.

District attorney's spokesman Sean Webby confirmed Wednesday that the warrant has been issued in response to a video Aiyuk posted to social media last December that appeared to show him speeding on the road in front of Levi's Stadium.

The California Post first reported the arrest warrant.

Aiyuk posted an apology a few days after the video that appeared to show him driving well over the posted speed limit of 40 mph.

"Sorry ya’ll, my car content won’t come with speeding anymore,” Aiyuk wrote in a social media post. “Was praying with my son tonight and wouldn’t want anybody else to miss out on an opportunity to do the same with their loved ones! My apologies.”

Aiyuk is currently on the reserve/left squad list after he stopped showing up late last season as he rehabilitates a knee injury that has sidelined him since October 2024.

The issues with the 49ers and Aiyuk go back to last summer when the team previously voided $27 million guaranteed in his contract for next season for failing to participate in meetings and other team activities.

General manager John Lynch has said he doesn't expect Aiyuk to play again for the 49ers. The team has been waiting to see if another team is willing to trade for Aiyuk. The 49ers otherwise could either cut him or keep him on the reserve list.

Aiyuk has three years remaining on the four-year, $120 million extension he signed last year. But he now has no guaranteed money remaining.

The 28-year-old Aiyuk has 294 catches for 4,305 yards and 25 TDs since being drafted in the first round in 2020.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

Universal free lunch ending at some HISD campuses; Here’s what parents need to do

Lisa Hernandez — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 21:06:40 +0000

HISD parents, heads up: nearly three dozen campuses will lose universal free lunch next school year.

HISD says those schools will no longer participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, which lets every student eat free without an application. The district hasn’t said why the change is happening, but it comes as federal cuts to SNAP could reduce the number of students qualifying for assistance—one factor that can affect whether a campus remains eligible for CEP.

HISD defends special education changes as parents raise concerns over student transfers

Free lunch isn’t going away—but families who qualify may now need to apply to make sure their kids keep getting meals this fall.

The USDA bases eligibility on household income. A family of four qualifies at or below $61,050. For a family of five, it’s just under $72,000. And for a family of six, it’s just over $82,000.

Families can apply online through the SchoolCafe app. To request a printed application, contact HISD’s Student Eligibility and Accountability Department at 713-491-5944 or email eligibilityinfo@houstonisd.org.

And HISD says this change does not impact its free summer meals program. Summer meals are scheduled June 10 through July 17, offering free breakfast and lunch at select campuses for all kids and teens 18 and under—even if they’re not enrolled. Campus locations are listed at houstonisd.org/summerschool.

Nick Saban lends support to college sports bill as SEC, Big Ten push back

Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:36:48 +0000

Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and others testified Wednesday in support of a bipartisan bill aimed at overhauling a college sports system where players can increasingly earn millions of dollars while moving freely between schools.

The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing as they push legislation unveiled last week that supporters hope can break the congressional gridlock over how to regulate college athletics. But it's already facing criticism from some senators and the two most influential conferences in college sports.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would regulate payments to athletes, limit them to one “free” transfer during their careers and create a “Lane Kiffin Rule” restricting coaches from leaving programs during the season. Cruz touted the proposal as “the last, best hope we have to save college sports.”

“If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon, somebody needs to tap the brakes. And I think that’s what we all need to do here,” Saban said in his opening remarks.

Notably absent from the the witness list, which included Notre Dame’s athletic director and the commissioner of the newly reconstructed Pac-12 conference, were any representatives from either the Big Ten or Southeastern Conferences. Saban won seven national championships at SEC schools Alabama and LSU but said he was not in Washington to represent any conference or team.

The SEC and the Big Ten, the two most powerful conferences in college sports, oppose the bill, arguing it “leaves critical issues unresolved.”

Asked after the hearing about opposition from the SEC and Big Ten, Cruz told the Associated Press he remains confident the bill can pass Congress.

“We're going to get the votes," Cruz said. “If we do nothing, there is no alternative. As every witness testified, college sports is facing a crisis.”

Cantwell said at Wednesday's hearing that the legislation is intended to restore competition to college athletics by ensuring success is determined by how universities “build a team, and not because they have a billionaire in their back pocket.”

She also addressed the conferences’ opposition directly, suggesting they fear a more level playing field and the idea “that somebody’s going to come in and rearrange the deck chairs of those conferences, steal the eyeball schools, and then basically leave everybody with everything else.”

While Cruz and Cantwell, the two top-ranked lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, support the bill, passage through the Senate is far from certain. President Donald Trump has yet to comment on the bill publicly.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, an ally of Trump's, said he had “grave concerns” about the bill. He said his most important concern was “it does nothing about protecting, biological women from competing with men and sports" — an issue that Trump has dealt with via executive orders but that has not come up in any version of these bills.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a former college football coach at Auburn, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that “there’s going to have to be some changes” to the bill in order for him to support it.

House Republican leadership had been working toward a vote on its own college sports bill, known as the SCORE Act, before the Congressional Black Caucus announced its unanimous opposition.

The CBC said the legislation should not move forward in the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively disabled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. They say athletic leaders are failing to address concerns about the decision’s impact on Black political representation.

On Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Cruz and Cantwell urging the committee to pause consideration of their bill as well.

“Meaningful engagement and action by college athletics leadership should be viewed as a necessary first step,” the letter stated.

‘The classic, with extra sauce’: Houston Rockets tease return of ‘ketchup and mustard’ ahead of June 4 jersey release

Michael Horton — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:29:19 +0000

The Houston Rockets are set to debut a new look tomorrow, and it’s shaping up to be the franchise’s biggest brand overhaul in more than two decades.

On Wednesday morning, the Rockets posted a promotional video across their social media channels teasing the upcoming jersey reveal.

The video, set in the fictional “Rudy T’s Diner,” featured numerous references to Rockets history and hints about the team’s unrevealed new look.

Ketchup and mustard are back on the menu! 🔴🟡

Reservations open June 4. pic.twitter.com/DhCkLQLeIV
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) June 3, 2026

The promo also included cameos from Rockets legends Hakeem Olajuwon, Rudy Tomjanovich, and Calvin Murphy, along with Houston celebrities Slim Thug and Mo Amer.

The biggest clue fans have received so far is confirmation that gold will be incorporated into the new uniforms and possibly the team’s logo.

If so, it would mark the first time gold has appeared on a primary Rockets uniform since the 1994-95 season.

Rockets Uniform History

San Diego Green-and-Gold Era (1967-71)

Before the franchise arrived in Houston, the San Diego Rockets wore green as their primary color and gold as a secondary accent. Their uniforms featured green and white jerseys with gold numbering and striping.

NEW YORK - CIRCA 1970: Walt Frazier #10 of the New York Knicks shoots over Jim Barnett #33 of the San Diego Rockets during an NBA basketball game circa 1970 at Madison Square Garden in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Frazier played for the Knicks from 1967-77. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

While the team made minor adjustments to the numbers and piping during its six seasons in San Diego, the overall look remained largely unchanged.

Houston Arrival: Red Replaces Green (1971-75)

When the Rockets relocated to Houston, the overall uniform design stayed mostly intact, but the color scheme underwent a dramatic change.

LANDOVER, MD - CIRCA 1973: Rudy Tomjanovich #45 of the Houston Rockets drives to the basket against the Capital Bullets during an NBA basketball game circa 1973 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Tomjanovich played for the Rockets from 1970-81. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Rudy Tomjanovich

The team replaced green with red, creating a look that featured red and white jerseys accented with gold numbering and striping.

The Championship Era (1975-95)

This is where the Rockets established one of the most recognizable looks in franchise history.

In 1975, the team reduced the use of gold, opting instead for white lettering and numbering with subtle gold piping along the seams. They also introduced their iconic red-and-gold logo on the shorts.

19 Jun 1994: HOUSTON ROCKETS OTIS THORPE AND HAKEEM OLAJUWON EXCHANGE HIGH FIVES AS THE MINUTES CLOSE DOWN IN THEIR 86-84 GAME 6 VICTORY OVER THE NEW YORK KNICKS IN THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS. THE ROCKET''S WIN FORCES A GAME 7 ON WEDNESDAY IN HOUSTON.

These uniforms became synonymous with Rockets greatness.

When fans think of Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and the franchise’s back-to-back NBA championships, these are often the jerseys that come to mind.

A Bold Departure (1995-2002)

Following their second consecutive championship, the Rockets completely reinvented their visual identity.

Gold was eliminated entirely, and the team shifted from its traditional red-heavy look to navy blue uniforms with vertical pinstripes.

The Rockets also unveiled a dramatic new logo featuring a red basketball wrapped by a light-blue rocket and a large “ROCKETS” wordmark.

30 Dec 2000: Shandon Anderson #40 of the Houston Rockets points down the court during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. The Rockets defeated the Mavericks 114-99. NOTE TO USER: It is expressly understood that the only rights Allsport are offering to license in this Photograph are one-time, non-exclusive editorial rights. No advertising or commercial uses of any kind may be made of Allsport photos. User acknowledges that it is aware that Allsport is an editorial sports agency and that NO RELEASES OF ANY TYPE ARE OBTAINED from the subjects contained in the photographs.Mandatory Credit: Ronald Martinez /Allsport

Rather than the traditional centered team name and number, the logo was placed prominently on the chest, with a beveled jersey number positioned near the right shoulder.

At the time, the redesign was polarizing among fans. However, the team’s pinstripe throwback uniforms introduced in recent years were met with widespread praise, suggesting opinions on the era may have softened over time.

The Modern Era (2003-19)

If there was any indication the pinstripe era failed to resonate long-term, it was how quickly the Rockets moved on.

The franchise abandoned the navy-blue color scheme, pinstripes, and unconventional numbering system in favor of a cleaner, more traditional look.

A new logo was introduced, featuring the now-familiar “R” designed to resemble both a rocket and a basketball hoop.

Red and white once again became the primary colors, while gray was introduced as a secondary accent.

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 17: Tracy McGrady #1 and Yao Ming #11 of the Houston Rockets look for the rebound during the game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center on December 17, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. The Clippers defeated the Rockets 89-81.NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Although the team made minor tweaks to striping and trim over the years, the core design remained consistent for more than a decade and a half. This era featured stars such as Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, and James Harden.

Like many NBA franchises, the Rockets also experimented with alternate uniforms during this period.

Gold accents returned for the first time since the Olajuwon era on several alternate designs between 2009 and 2014.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MAY 01: Kevin Durant #35 of the Oklahoma City Thunder puts up a shot against Francisco Garcia #32 and James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets during the first half of Game Five of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena on May 1, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The team also introduced black and gray alternates and several uniforms featuring Chinese characters, paying tribute to Houston’s popularity in China following Yao Ming’s arrival.

OAKLAND, CA - FEBRUARY 09: Trevor Ariza #1 of the Houston Rockets, Dwight Howard #12 of the Houston Rockets and Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors go for a loose ball at ORACLE Arena on February 9, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The Current Look (2019-Present)

Compared to previous overhauls, the Rockets’ most recent rebrand was relatively modest.

The team retained its traditional red and white primary uniforms but replaced gray accents with black. The lettering was also redesigned, moving away from the thinner font style used during the previous era in favor of a larger, bolder look.

ORLANDO, FL - DECEMBER 13: James Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets during the game against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center on December 13, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. The Rockets defeated the Magic 130 to 107. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)

The Rockets also embraced more creative alternate uniforms.

Several featured “H-Town” across the chest, marking one of the first times the team prominently incorporated Houston’s popular nickname into its on-court identity.

HOUSTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 26: John Wall #1 of the Houston Rockets in action during a game against the Washington Wizards at Toyota Center on January 26, 2021 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

In recent years, the franchise has continued to experiment with throwbacks and alternate concepts, including an Oilers-inspired blue uniform in 2020, a return of the beloved pinstripe design in 2022, and the introduction of the “Dunkstronaut” logo in 2023 — an astronaut soaring through the air for a slam dunk.

HOUSTON, TEXAS - DECEMBER 23: Jalen Green #4 of the Houston Rockets in action against the Dallas Mavericks during the second half at Toyota Center on December 23, 2022 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

What’s Next?

With gold officially returning to the Rockets’ color palette and a full redesign expected, tomorrow’s reveal could mark the beginning of a new visual era for the franchise.

Whether the new look draws inspiration from the championship years, the franchise’s San Diego roots, or something entirely new, Rockets fans won’t have to wait much longer to find out.

Congo's soccer team seeks alternatives after Spanish city cancels World Cup warmup game due to Ebola

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:26:17 +0000

Congo was still hoping to play its World Cup warmup against Chile after the mayor of the Spanish city of La Linea de la Concepcion denied authorization for the match because of health concerns related to the Ebola crisis.

Congo's soccer federation said it was in discussions with the Spanish soccer federation and relevant international bodies to find solutions.

Government authorities in the southern city of La Linea de la Concepcion announced the decision to not authorize next Tuesday's friendly citing possible health risks linked to the Ebola crisis.

Congo was playing a warmup against Denmark in Liege, Belgium, on Wednesday.

An outbreak of a rare type of Ebola virus has plagued Congo and Uganda. The World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency of international concern.

Congo had already canceled a three-day World Cup preparation training camp and a planned farewell to fans in the capital Kinshasa because of the outbreak the eastern part of the country.

All of the Congo players and the team’s French coach, Sébastien Desabre, are based outside of the central African country with most of them playing in France.

Soccer's governing body FIFA previously issued a statement saying it was aware of and monitoring the situation regarding an Ebola outbreak and was in close communication with Congo soccer officials to ensure the team was made aware of all medical and security guidance.

Congo will play in Group K at the World Cup. It faces Portugal for its opening game in Houston on June 17.

The Leopards then face Colombia in Guadalajara on June 23 before playing Uzbekistan in Atlanta for their final group game on June 27.

Congo's first World Cup qualification since 1974, when it was called Zaire, sparked scenes of jubilation across the nation, which has been battered by decades of conflict.

___

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Macy's raises annual outlook after the fourth straight quarter of sales gains

Anne D'Innocenzio, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 11:02:44 +0000

Macy's reported its fourth consecutive quarter of comparable sales gains as the department store said an overhaul of its merchandise and better customer service is resonating with customers.

The New York company raised its outlook Wednesday and shares dipped less than 1% in midday trading.

“We're off to a strong start to the year,” said CEO Tony Spring, who is in the third year of an attempted turnaround of the storied retailer. “We're operating with discipline and focusing on what matters most — our customers.”

Comparable sales — sales at established online channels and stores— rose 3% during the first quarter. That was higher than the 1.8% gain during the final quarter of 2025 and it was the strongest first quarter for such sales in four years, the retailer said. Macy's stores posted a comparable sales increase of 1.6%, while the company's Bloomingdale's stores delivered a 10.2% increase, its highest first-quarter sales volume on record. Bluemercury, the cosmetics chain also owned by Macy's had a 6.4% comparable sales gain.

It’s the latest encouraging sign for Macy’s, which had been mired in a yearslong sales slump. Under Spring, who took over the top job in early 2024, Macy’s has closed unprofitable stores and spent millions modernize others. The company has beefed up customer service. It’s also been trying to differentiate its luxury business from its rivals with exclusive merchandise.

Some of the outsized performance at Bloomingdales has been attributed by retail analysts to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Saks Global, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

Still, Macy’s is contending with the same challenges faced by its the retailer sector as a whole.

U.S. retailers have spent months navigating an uncertain economic environment, from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the impact of soaring gasoline prices due to the Iran war. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline has been above $4 per gallon since March, according to according to AAA. A gallon costs 40% more than than it did before the war. The latest batch of earnings reports from major retailers underscore how shoppers are under increasing financial strain as they try to factor in higher prices for gasoline, groceries, utilities and almost everything else.

Spring told The Associated Press in a phone call Wednesday that the company is closely monitoring events given the uncertainty about the U.S. economy, but there's been no noticeable pullback in customer spending at its stores since gas prices started rising.

He reasons that Macy's improved assortment and perceived value are landing with customers. There have been strong sales in prom dresses, men's shoes, dresses and fragrances. Spring, however, noted disappointing furniture sales with shoppers continuing to put off purchases of big ticket items.

“Despite the choiceful consumer, despite all the things that are going on that we read about every day in terms of the geopolitical, macroeconomic environment, fashion and newness and the consumer’s desire to indulge is still happening,” Spring told The AP. “And we’re very pleased that we are taking share.”

The Macy’s customer generally makes over $75,000 a year, while a majority of Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury customers earn more than $100,000, Spring said.

Spring said that higher-income shoppers continue to spend freely, boosted by gains in the stock market, while the middle income shopper has remained more selective. He said lower-income customers continue to struggle but are focusing on Macy's designated areas for heavily discounted merchandise.

Macy's sales have also been helped by its online business. The retailer recently launched Ask Macy’s, an artificial-intelligence-powered shopping assistant. The tool helps shoppers discover brands and get personalized product recommendations.

Macy’s reported net income of $63 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended May 2. Adjusted earnings per share was 13 cents, a dime better than Wall Street had expected, according to FactSet.

That compares with a $38 million profit, or 13 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales rose to $4.68 billion from $4.6 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue this quarter also edged out projections on Wall Street.

The company now expects annual net sales of between $21.5 billion and $21.75 billion, up from previous guidance of $21.4 billion to $21.65 billion in March. Macy’s upped its projections for comparable sales, saying on Wednesday that they will likely increase between 0.5% and 1.2%. The company in March predicted a decline of 0.5% to a gain of 0.5%.

It also now anticipates adjusted earnings per share for the year to be in the range of $2 to $2.20, up from its previous guidance of $1.90 to $2.10 per share.

For the full fiscal year, analysts were expecting $2.09 in adjusted earnings per share on revenue of $21.6 billion, according to FactSet analysts.

LIVE RADAR: Scattered thunderstorms impacting parts of Houston area

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 20:23:22 +0000

Tropical moisture and the sea breeze is leading to instances of isolated to scattered thunderstorms in parts of the Houston area Wednesday.

Track it all on our live radar:

Texans defensive backs Jaylin Smith ‘stronger, faster,’ Jaylen Reed ‘lights out’ poised for second-year growth

Aaron Wilson — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:53:48 +0000

Backpedaling and matching receivers step for step, Texans cornerback Jaylin Smith displayed the athleticism that prompted the team to draft him in the third round last year.

Smith showed that he’s made a full recovery from a torn meniscus in his knee that required surgery as he was placed on injured reserve after four games during his rookie season.

The Texans plan to have Smith as their third corner behind Pro Bowl selections Derek Stingley Jr. and Kamari Lassiter. Smith, playing under a four-year, $6.16 million contract, had six tackles and one fumble recovery last year before his season was cut short.

Smith started 21 games at USC at nickel, 10 games at outside corner and once at safety. Smith was a third-team All-Big Ten Conference selection, recording 49 tackles, four for losses and two interceptions.

“I feel like Jaylin has taken a really nice jump in his second year,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. He’s put in the work. Although he was down with injury, he’s come back stronger, looks faster. He’s making a lot of plays out here on the practice field. So, I’m excited and encouraged by his development of what he’s been able to do."

Texans safety Jaylen Reed, another second-year player, is also poised for a solid role.

Reed, a hard-hitting former sixth-round pick from Penn State where he was a second-team All-Big Ten selection, played in seven games with one start last season. Reed was named a starter after recording 11 tackles and a fumble recovery against the Buffalo Bills. He got hurt in a road game against the Indianapolis Colts, aggravating a forearm injury as a metal place got displaced while tackling Jonathan Taylor.

Now, Reed is competing for playing time behind starting safeties Calen Bullock and Reed Blankenship and is slated for a solid special-teams role. He’s the new personal protector on punts.

Like Smith, Ryans is confident in Reed and his ongoing development.

“Jaylen Reed, you can put him in the same category,” Ryans said. “Young player, second year, he was able to play more snaps for us towards the end of the year until he had an injury.

“But man, he’s been lights out when it comes to his communication, starting with the punt team communication for us, put a lot on their plate. He’s handled it really well, done a great job in the meetings and also making it translate to the field. So, I just love to see the growth. That’s what is expected. I’m excited about that as a coach to see what they’re going to do this season.”

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

Source: Further tests for Texans’ E.J. Speed reveals fully torn quad tendon, out for regular season, surgery successful

Aaron Wilson — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:00:09 +0000

Texans veteran linebacker E.J. Speed is expected to miss the entire regular season after further examination of his quadriceps revealed a completely torn tendon that has been successfully surgically repaired, per a league source.

Speed partially tore his quadriceps muscle, and fully tore his quadriceps tendon while performing a one-legged, split squat during the Texans’ offseason workout program. The initial prognosis was a partial tear of the quadriceps tendon, which would have allowed Speed to return at some point during the season, perhaps in the October to November range. Now, that is not the case.

The surgery was performed by Dallas Cowboys team doctor and renowned orthopedic surgeon Dan Cooper.

There is a slim, outside chance Speed could get healthy enough to be ready to return for the playoffs, but that is not currently the expectation, per a source.

With Speed out on a long-term basis, the Texans will lean heavily on Pro Bowl middle linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and Henry To’oTo’o. They have veterans Jake Hansen, Jamal Hill, Marte Mapu and Jake Hummel on the roster along with rookie draft picks Wade Woodaz and Aiden Fisher.

“The competition is high at every position,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said last week. “Unfortunately, we won’t have E.J. for some time, but we’ll see how that recovery process goes. I’m hopeful that we’ll get E.J. back at some point this year.”

Speed, a key linebacker and special-teams contributor, signed a two-year $13 million maximum value contract rather than head to free agency after his original one-year, $5 million contract expired.

Speed received a $4 million signing bonus and $7.5 million of the deal is guaranteed, with base salaries of $1.75 million (fully guaranteed), another $250,000 total available through per game active roster bonuses and an additional $1.5 million in incentives.

His total first-year payout has a base value of $5.75 million and a max value of $7.5 million. In the second year, he has a $3.75 million base salary with $1.75 million of that guaranteed and identical playtime per game and incentives as this season.

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.

The Texans traded for former New England Patriots linebacker and safety Marte Mapu this offseason.

The Patriots receive a sixth-round pick and the Texans receive a seventh-round selection as well as Mapu.

Mapu (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) is a former Patriots third-round draft picks from Sacramento State who had been informed he would be released. Instead, he has a fresh start with the Texans.

“Marte, what I like about him, he’s a very smart linebacker,” Ryans said. “Smart, he’s long, fast guy. But Marte does a really good job of being where he’s supposed to be in position. He’s communicating. We’re moving him around. He’s taking some reps at the Mike linebacker spot.

“He does a really good job of communicating. He’s also taking some spots at the, some reps at the Will linebacker. He’s a smart guy who you’re able to move around at multiple spots. He’s done a really good job on special teams as well. He’s a very versatile athletic linebacker.

A former Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year, Mapu is in the final year of a $5.563 million rookie contract. He’s due a $1.508 million base salary.

He played in every game last season and recorded 25 tackles, one forced fumble, one interception and five pass deflections. He has also started at safety.

Mapu played 12 percent of the overall defensive snaps, primarily in sub packages. Twelve of his tackles were on special teams.

He recorded 89 tackles, three interceptions and a half-sack for New England in 44 games with 10 starts.

“Still a young player,” Ryans said. “Young player who’s played in three or four different schemes already to be so young in his career. Hoping he just settles in to what we’re being able to teach him. Coach Bill Davis has done an outstanding job of working with him this offseason.

“Marte is the type of guy, he’s always in the building. We have to kick him out. He’s always doing the extras, the film, the recovery, body maintenance. He’s a true worker. I’m proud to see how he transitions and how he looks during training camp.”

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

Artist suing FIFA over destruction of Dallas whale mural before World Cup

Russ Bynum, Associated Press — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 20:33:50 +0000

The artist who painted a giant mural on a building in downtown Dallas of life-sized swimming whales has filed a $25 million lawsuit against soccer's international governing body and others, saying they illegally painted over his work to promote the city's upcoming World Cup matches.

The artist Wyland says he hand-painted the sprawling mural that covered roughly 17,000 square feet (1,580 square meters) across two of the building's walls.

The mural stood for nearly three decades before workers began painting over it last month, causing an uproar among residents who admired the mural's grand scale and message of ocean conservation.

The area’s World Cup organizing committee said in a statement that, in place of Wyland's mural, new artwork is planned "that captures this current historical moment and reflects the energy, unity, and global spirit surrounding the World Cup 2026.” It said a portion of Wyland's mural would be preserved.

Wyland filed suit Monday in U.S District Court in Dallas saying that World Cup organizers, along with the building's owner and management company, painted over his mural without his consent or even notifying him. He says their actions violated a 1990 federal law passed to protect visual artists from destruction of publicly displayed works.

Wyland is seeking at least $25 million in damages. His lawsuit says world soccer's governing body, FIFA, and other defendants “hastily and irrevocably destroyed a civic landmark” to promote the World Cup.

“Though FIFA claims they were working to develop art for the host city, in truth, they defaced an historic fixture of the host city,” the artist's lawsuit says.

A FIFA spokesperson said Tuesday the federation “has no involvement in this whatsoever” and referred a reporter to the tournament's local organizing committee.

A spokesperson for the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee declined to comment. The committee isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Slate Asset Management, which manages the building where the mural was painted over, said in a statement that local World Cup organizers asked Slate in March to donate the mural space for “a new public art installation.”

“Slate is not being compensated in any way for the use of the wall space and was told by the local groups that Mr. Wyland had been notified,” the management company's spokesperson said in an email.

Dallas is hosting more World Cup matches than any of the other sites in the event co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with nine matches set to be played at AT&T Stadium in suburban Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Wyland's Dallas mural, titled “Whaling Wall 82,” was finished in 1999 and is among more than 100 similar murals known as Whaling Walls the artist painted around the world to promote the conservation of ocean life.

An online petition protesting the mural's destruction and calling for protecting of public artwork in Dallas has received more than 2,600 signatures.

Wyland's lawsuit alleges violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 federal law that protects artwork of “recognized stature” even if someone else owns the physical artwork.

A judge cited that law in 2018 when he ordered a property owner to pay a group of New York graffiti artists $6.7 million for whitewashing dozens of their spray-painted murals on buildings that once housed a factory in Queens. The ruling was upheld on appeal.

___

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

A Hong Kong artist tries to mark the Tiananmen crackdown. Police quickly stopped him

Kanis Leung, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:08:59 +0000

A performance artist in Hong Kong tried on Wednesday to honor the victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown but was quickly stopped by police, the latest sign of the city's shrinking freedom of expression.

Sanmu Chen tried to tie a symbolic red thread to a street signpost in Causeway Bay, a busy shopping district close to a park that had for decades hosted an annual candlelight vigil on June 4 to commemorate those who died in the crackdown that ended student-led protests in Beijing in 1989.

Hong Kong was for decades the only place in China where a large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown was held. The massive annual vigils were banned in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and public acts to mark the Tiananmen Square killings have become increasingly sensitive in the city in recent years.

Chen said his thread was 6.4 meters (about 21 feet) long — an apparent reference to the June 4 crackdown date.

Police officers stopped Chen and searched his bag before letting him go. When asked by a reporter about his gesture with the red thread after his release, Chen said it was meant to express his condolences for those who died.

“It's abnormal when people monitor you when you are saying or doing something,” he told reporters.

Chen has been detained at least twice in recent years

In 2024, Chen was briefly detained on June 3 after appearing to write the Chinese characters of “eight nine six four” — a set of numbers referencing the date of the crackdown — with his hand in the air.

The year before, he was also detained on the same date in the same neighborhood, where he chanted “Hong Kongers, do not be afraid. Don’t forget, tomorrow is June 4.”

As night fell on Wednesday, another artist, Chan Mei-tung, stood outside a nearby department store holding up a question-mark-shaped balloon. Police officers also stopped her quickly and escorted her back to a subway station.

The police did not immediately comment Wednesday's actions.

Authorities banned vigils and arrested organizers

In 1989, under then-leader Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese military was sent to Tiananmen Square to end weeks of student-led protests on the night of June 3-4. Soldiers fired live rounds. Hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed, including dozens of soldiers.

Annual vigils in Hong Kong's Victoria Park used to attract tens of thousands each year until the event was banned in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.

That same year, Beijing imposed a national security law in the city following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Since then, authorities have increasingly silenced dissent. Many leading activists have been arrested and some vocal media outlets shut down. Dozens of civil society groups have been disbanded, including the one that organized the vigils.

Three former vigil organizers were charged in 2021 with inciting subversion under the national security law. Two of them have gone on trial and are waiting a verdict, possibly in July. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The third organizer entered a guilty plea, which can typically result in a sentence reduction.

The Hong Kong and Beijing governments say the security law is crucial for the city’s stability. Hong Kong authorities say the law stipulates that human rights shall be respected and protected in safeguarding national security.

A carnival is now held at the former vigil site

After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site became the location of a yearly carnival organized by pro-China groups.

Over the past three years, some people who tried to commemorate the Tiananmen Square killings on the crackdown’s anniversary, have been detained there.

This year's carnival began on Wednesday. Later in the day near the site, Tang Ngok-kwan, who was also a vigil organizer in the past, bowed in commemoration. He told reporters he read the list of the victims in a low voice and criticized that the event name contains the word “carnival,” which carries a festive vibe.

The action by Tang and similar muted expressions in Hong Kong underlined the decline in civil liberties promised by Beijing when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

But even as public commemoration faded in Hong Kong, overseas communities keep the memories alive by hosting vigils and rallies in places like London and Canada.

Wu’er Kaixi, who was a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, told reporters in Tokyo that the democracy movement in China “is still there.”

“We are managing to survive, (it’s) not easy, but we are surviving, because just like 37 years ago, we were driven to the square, to the streets of Beijing by one thing — hope,” he said.

___

Associated Press video journalist Alice Fung in Hong Kong contributed to the report.

Wim Wenders pulls 1975 film over nude scene with then-13-year-old Nastassja Kinski

Jake Coyle, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:03:05 +0000

German filmmaker Wim Wenders on Wednesday said he has pulled his 1975 movie “The Wrong Move” over a nude scene featuring a then-13-year-old Nastassja Kinski.

Kinski, now 65, has urged Wenders to reedit the film. Last month, she told the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung: “That was my first film, he was my first director and he didn't protect me.”

Wenders, the acclaimed director behind “Paris, Texas” and “Wings of Desire,” issued a statement apologizing to Kinski.

“I recognize that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then,” Wenders said. “For that, I apologize to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs and buts.”

“The Wrong Move” marked the film debut of Kinski, the daughter of actor Klaus Kinski. It stars Rüdiger Vogler as an aspiring writer wandering through Germany. His encounters include an apparently mute teen acrobat played by Kinski, who appears topless in a scene.

Wenders said he was “withdrawing it from all current forms of distribution and exhibition,” including streaming services and broadcast television. His nonprofit Wim Wenders Foundation owns “The Wrong Move.”

The film will remain unavailable, Wenders said, until a mutually agreed upon solution can be found. He said he will seek “a broad dialogue” that includes Kinksi, the German Film Academy and other film groups.

“It is necessary for our society to find appropriate ways of dealing with controversial film works from the 20th Century and to face new learning processes and inclusive perspectives regarding cinema,” said Wenders.

Representatives for Kinski did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment Wednesday.

At the German Film Awards last week, Wenders spoke about his quandary over the film. Speaking to the audience at Germany's equivalent of the Oscars, Wenders said retroactively editing it “sets a precedent that affects you all, and then it becomes possible with all your films later on.”

Kinski would go on to co-star in Wenders' 1984 film “Paris, Texas,” but long maintained misgivings about her introduction to the film business. At the ages of 14 and 17, she also appeared nude in the films “To the Devil a Daughter” and “Stay As You Are.”

“If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things,” Kinski told W Magazine in 1997. "And inside it was just tearing me apart.”

Belmont Park rebuild nears the finish line as the Belmont Stakes is a year from returning home

Stephen Whyno, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:25:48 +0000

A stroll by the paddock at Belmont Park is a glimpse into the past before becoming a window into the future. The white pine tree that has stood there for more than two centuries remains.

Around it, everything else is brand new.

The racetrack that straddles the border of Queens and Long Island is smack in the middle of a massive $550 million reconstruction project that included knocking down the gargantuan brick grandstand and rebuilding a smaller, modern facility suited for horse racing in the 21st century. A year from now, the Belmont Stakes will return to its traditional home at Belmont Park after a three-year hiatus upstate at Saratoga Race Course to allow for the work to get done.

“It’s hugely important to get it back to Belmont,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “The opening of a new facility is something that can really give the industry a shot in the arm.”

Belmont Park 2.0

Aqueduct Racetrack will close to consolidate racing in New York to two locations after shiny new Belmont Park reopens on a limited basis Sept. 18. It is scheduled to be fully complete by next spring, ahead of the 159th Belmont Stakes and then the Breeders' Cup World Championships in the fall of 2027.

“Once you’re in the paddock and you get towards the building, you start to really see how it’s going to feel on a big day here,” said New York Racing Association president and CEO David O’Rourke, who has been with the organization since 2008.

“This consolidation was always discussed from Day 1. It was always on paper. To finally get to that point, we’re really excited."

The Associated Press took a hard hat tour of the construction site last month, where tarps and ladders are everywhere and tools strewn about the building, which is significantly smaller than the structure that reopened in 1968 after the last demolition and rebuild and held 100,000 people.

Roughly 300 construction workers plus 100 more support staff have put in more than 2 million hours, installing 1,728 tons of structural steel and pouring 40,000 cubic yards of concrete.

Building for horses and people

All the perks are there, including 31 suites — the old Belmont Park had none — along with a sports bar, a giant infield video screen and all the amenities of a stadium or arena. Lone Star Park in Texas was the last new racetrack to open in the U.S., back in 1997.

“This is a modern facility,” O'Rourke said. “It’s state of the art.”

That includes the racing surfaces because unlike stadiums and arenas for all-human sports, a ton of effort goes into making sure conditions are as good as possible for the horses. While the building is still a work in progress, the surfaces are done and ready: the dirt track known as “Big Sandy," two turf courses with grass that look straight out of European racing, and a synthetic track designed to race through the winter.

Updated technology allowed NYRA executive VP of operations and capital projects Glen Kozak and his team to install new drainage systems, along with track mats and bases designed to make the surfaces as safe as possible. Each marker pole has a robotic camera, and a 15-million gallon pond in the infield should hold enough water to irrigate without needing outside hydration.

“We’ve been given the opportunity here to start from the ground up and put all best practices in place,” Kozak said. “The quality of the irrigation, the health of the grass — all those components that go into better racing and better for the horse and rider, we were able to implement here.”

Back to Belmont

While the Belmont has been up at Saratoga, the third leg of the Triple Crown was shortened to 1 1/4 miles from the “test of the champion” 1 1/2-mile distance that was its hallmark. O'Rourke confirmed the plan is to go back to normal next year.

“The Belmont being a mile and a half with their big racetrack, I really kind of think that’s a unique opportunity as a lot of these horses won’t ever have to do that again in their career,” Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Cherie DeVaux said.

When American Pharoah ended the sport's 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015 and Justify swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 2018, each won the final race at 1 1/2 miles in front of a huge crowd. Pletcher wondered if it would have been the same the past three years at Saratoga and is glad the future includes the traditional distance.

“It’s such a unique race, and you don’t get the opportunity to run that far very often,” Pletcher said. “And to do it at a facility like Belmont, where it’s a once around mile and a half oval that's, to me, the ultimate race, especially when there’s a Triple Crown on the line.”

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AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing

Republicans won the redistricting battle. Now voters will decide whether they win Congress

David A. Lieb, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:49:47 +0000

A no-holds-barred bout of partisan redistricting has been won by Republicans. Now it's up to voters to decide whether it matters for control of Congress.

Republicans could net about 10 additional U.S. House seats in the November elections if redrawn voting districts perform as they were intended. The question is whether that's enough for the GOP to hold on to a majority in the chamber, where Democrats need to gain only a few seats to take control.

Political trends and historic patterns favor Democrats. President Donald Trump's approval ratings are negative. And the incumbent's party has lost House seats in every midterm election over the past two decades.

This election season already has been unusual. Voting districts typically are redrawn only after a census at the start of each decade. But Trump urged Republicans last summer to redraw congressional districts to their advantage to try to prevent losses in the 2026 midterms.

Since then, Republicans think they could win as many as 16 additional seats from new House maps enacted in eight states — Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats, whose counterattack faced several setbacks, think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah.

Nearly 145 million people — about two of every five U.S. residents — live in states with new congressional districts for this election.

Yet the mid-decade redistricting battle didn't go as far as it could have.

Republicans in Kansas and Democrats in Illinois both rebuffed party pushes to take up redistricting. In Republican-led Indiana and South Carolina and Democratic-led Maryland, new congressional districts passed the state House but ultimately died in the state Senate. The Virginia Supreme Court invalidated new voter-approved districts that could have helped Democrats win up to four additional seats. And the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a lower court order that could have helped Democrats gain a congressional seat in New York.

Here's a look at the states with new U.S. House maps:

Texas

Current map: 13 Democrats, 25 Republicans

New map: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a revised House map into law last August that could help Republicans win five additional seats. Democrats think they could still win some of those seats.

Missouri

Current map: two Democrats, six Republicans

New map: Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a revised House map into law last September that could help Republicans win an additional seat by reshaping a Democratic-held district based in Kansas City. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has until Aug. 4 — the date of Missouri's primaries — to decide whether to reject an initiative petition seeking a statewide vote on the map.

North Carolina

Current map: four Democrats, 10 Republicans

New map: The Republican-led General Assembly gave final approval in October to revised districts that could help Republicans win an additional seat.

Ohio

Current map: five Democrats, 10 Republicans

New map: A bipartisan panel composed primarily of Republicans voted in October to approve revised House districts that improve Republicans’ chances of winning two additional seats. Democrats think they could still win those seats.

California

Current map: 43 Democrats, nine Republicans

New map: Voters in November approved revised House districts drawn by the Democratic-led Legislature that could help Democrats win five additional seats.

Utah

Current map: no Democrats, four Republicans

New map: A judge in November imposed revised House districts that could help Democrats win a seat in the Salt Lake City area.

Florida

Current map: eight Democrats, 20 Republicans

New map: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed revised House districts in May that improve the GOP’s chances of winning four additional seats. Legal challenges are pending.

Tennessee

Current map: one Democrat, eight Republicans

New map: Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed new House districts in May that improve the GOP’s chances of winning an additional seat by carving up the lone Democratic-held seat, a majority-Black district based in Memphis. Legal challenges are pending.

Louisiana

Current map: two Democrats, four Republicans

New map: Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed off on new House districts in May that improve Republican chances of winning an additional seat by eliminating a majority-Black district held by a Democrat that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as an illegal racial gerrymander.

Alabama

Current map: two Democrats, five Republicans

New map: The U.S. Supreme Court in June allowed the state to use a congressional map approved by Republican state lawmakers that improves the GOP's chances of winning an additional seat by reshaping a Democratic-held district that has a large number of Black voters.

Person dies after being hit by car driving along Summer Street

Michael Horton — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:47:43 +0000

A person has died after being hit by a car in the Washington Avenue area Wednesday morning.

The collision happened in the 2300 block of Summer Street. Houston Police Department received the report just before 9:40 a.m.

HPD’s Vehicular Crimes Division is leading the investigation, and it’s unclear if criminal charges will be filed.

Drivers and pedestrians are urged to use caution in the area as the investigation continues.

Swiss forward Embolo goes to US embassy for urgent World Cup visa after travel denied

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:40:35 +0000

Switzerland forward Breel Embolo applied for an urgent visa at the United States embassy in Bern on Wednesday, one day after he was denied boarding the team’s flight to the World Cup because of a criminal conviction.

The Swiss soccer federation at the team's training camp in San Diego confirmed why Embolo’s travel approval to the U.S. had been put under review Tuesday. He has a conviction that became binding this year.

Embolo was charged after an altercation in Basel city center in 2018 and his guilty verdict was upheld at appeal last September. The verdict was finalized in April, just weeks before Embolo was due to travel to the U.S. for the third World Cup of his career.

“The embassy’s inquiries focused specifically on whether any physical violence had been involved. This was not the case,” the Swiss soccer body said. “Breel and the team are now awaiting approval so that he can travel to San Diego and join the squad as soon as possible.”

Switzerland starts its World Cup campaign on June 13 against Qatar at the San Francisco 49ers’ stadium in Santa Clara.

The Swiss then play Bosnia-Herzegovina in Inglewood, California and finish Group B against tournament co-host Canada in Vancouver on June 24.

The 29-year-old Embolo is set to be Switzerland’s first-choice striker and has scored 24 goals in 86 internationals.

___

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Federal judge pauses sentencing to weigh argument in Wisconsin judge's immigration case conviction

Scott Bauer, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:29:41 +0000

A federal judge on Wednesday considered whether to throw out a jury's guilty verdict against former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted of felony obstruction for helping an immigrant evade federal officers.

The case was an early test of how the courts would respond to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Dugan had been scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, but U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman postponed the proceedings indefinitely to instead hear arguments about whether to overturn her conviction.

Adelman did not rule from the bench and did not indicate when he might issue a decision. Dugan and attorneys for both sides left the courtroom without commenting to reporters.

Former judge's attorney points to a Virginia case

Dugan’s attorney Steven Biskupic argued that her conviction was invalid and should be overturned. He said that was necessary because a federal appeals court in April overturned a key Virginia immigration case that the judge and prosecutors had cited in the Dugan case.

Biskupic argued that based on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturning that ruling, Dugan was improperly convicted, procedurally, under a certain federal law.

“Our primary argument is this was an invalid theory of conviction," Biskupic said.

In the Virginia case, an immigrant who was in the country illegally was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and later escaped. He was recaptured and indicted on a charge of obstructing a pending immigration proceeding.

The federal appeals court found that the ICE action did not constitute a “pending proceeding,” as is required under the federal obstruction law.

Dugan’s attorneys argue that she should not have been charged because there was no “pending proceeding” against the immigrant in her courtroom being sought by ICE agents, only a warrant filed for his arrest. The filing of a warrant does not constitute a “proceeding” under the law, Biskupic argued.

Prosecutors countered that the facts in the Virginia case are different and don’t apply to Dugan's. They also argued that other cases support Dugan's conviction.

“The court should stick with its ruling,” said Richard Frohling, acting U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Wisconsin.

In response to a question from the judge, he contended that the appeals court was wrong to overturn the Virginia case. The judge also quizzed Frohling on what constitutes a proceeding under the law and how long it lasts.

“It could be a couple minutes, it could be a couple years," Frohling said. "It all depends on the context.”

Dugan's sentencing was postponed so the court can hear new arguments

Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison after a jury convicted her on Dec. 19. But it is unlikely that Dugan would be sentenced to prison. Federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation for defendants like her who have no criminal history and are convicted of a nonviolent crime.

She resigned from her position as a Milwaukee County circuit judge two weeks after her conviction amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers. She had been a judge for nine years.

Dugan was present for Wednesday's arguments but did not speak.

The Trump administration brought the case against Dugan as the president pressed ahead with his sweeping immigration crackdown. Trump’s administration and his allies branded Dugan as an activist judge, while Dugan’s attorneys said she was being unfairly targeted and argued, unsuccessfully, that she was immune from being charged because she was a judge.

Dugan’s case marked the first time that a state judge in Wisconsin went to trial on charges of obstructing immigration agents. She was acquitted of concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor.

Dugan helped an immigrant wanted by ICE agents

On April 18, 2025, immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the chief judge’s office because she told them their administrative warrant wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

After the agents left, she led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. A week later, FBI agents arrested Dugan in the courthouse, leading her outside in handcuffs.

Flores-Ruiz was deported in November.

Exit polls suggest landslide win by South Korea's ruling liberal party in local elections

Hyung-Jin Kim, Associated Press — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 23:15:58 +0000

South Korea's ruling liberal party was projected to win a landslide victory in Wednesday's mayoral and other local elections, exit polls and ongoing vote counts suggested, a result that if confirmed would give President Lee Jae Myung a firmer political mandate to advance his agenda.

A victory by Lee's Democratic Party had been widely expected because its main rival, the conservative People Power Party, remains in disarray after President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office and sentenced to life in prison over his martial law debacle in late 2024.

The joint exit polls by South Korea’s three major TV stations — KBS, MBC and SBS — showed the Democratic Party was forecast to win at least 11 of the 16 mayoral and provincial gubernatorial posts up for grabs in Wednesday's elections. The polls suggested the PPP had a clear lead in only one race, while the other four races were too close to call.

Vote counting was underway, with early results suggesting that Democratic Party candidates led in 12 contests.

“The conservatives’ support base has been fractured and weakened in the wake of Yoon’s impeachment, while the liberals’ support base has grown stronger," said Jeong Han-Wool, director of the Korean People Research Institute. “A win by the ruling party would help provide the Lee government with a considerably stable political foundation."

Election win would give Lee a further boost

Thursday will mark one year in office for Lee, who won a snap election triggered after Yoon's ouster. Lee's approval ratings still hover over 60%. He's been credited with what he calls “pragmatic diplomacy” that eased concerns that his rule would hurt ties with the U.S. and Japan. His popularity has also been attributed to a booming stock market and efforts to be more transparent about government decision-making procedures.

Whatever the outcome of Wednesday’s election, Lee’s foreign policy agenda will likely remain unchanged. The Democratic Party would also maintain its majority status at parliament, though 14 new members of the 300-member National Assembly will be chosen in separate by-elections on Wednesday.

With more allies at mayoral and gubernatorial posts, Lee could pursue his regional policies more easily and effectively, given 14 of the 16 regional leadership posts are currently held by the PPP, said Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership.

That will help his party's preparations for the 2028 parliamentary elections, Choi said.

Much attention is focused on Seoul’s mayoral race

The Seoul mayoral election is considered the most important one. The exit polls and early vote counts showed Democratic Party candidate Chong Won-o ahead of his PPP rival and current mayor Oh Se-hoon.

Bipartisan disputes flared late Wednesday after the election commission announced a shortage of ballot papers in 14 polling stations in Seoul caused a temporary suspension of voting there. Commission officials said they allowed voters to cast ballots past the poll closing time.

PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said the incident seriously hurt voters' rights to cast their ballots. He called for vote counting to be halted, and said authorities must hold a new election depending on investigation results.

The Democratic Party flatly rejected the PPP’s demands, saying they were “not even worth considering.” But it expressed deep regret over the election commission's flawed management.

Election results are crucial for the conservative opposition

The PPP is still struggling with internal feuding between reformists who joined the Democratic Party-led push to impeach Yoon and his loyalists who attempted to protect the embattled leader.

Among the candidates running for the parliamentary by-elections is Han Dong-hoon, leader of the reformist faction who was eventually expelled from the PPP. Pre-election surveys show Han, now an independent, holding a slim lead over the Democratic Party’s Ha Jung-woo, a former Lee adviser on artificial intelligence, in a race in Busan, the country’s second biggest city.

Jeong, the institute director, said that a Han victory could help anti-Yoon reformists regroup and emerge as a new force among the struggling conservatives in South Korea. But Choi said Han’s win could worsen a divide in the conservatives because Yoon loyalists would feel a sense of crisis and close ranks further.

Trump takes the lead for America’s 250th birthday and World Cup celebrations

Will Weissert, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:03:43 +0000

When nearly all the scheduled musical performers pulled out of a concert series marking America’s 250th anniversary — fearing the event had become too closely tied to President Donald Trump — he responded by making it official.

Trump announced he'd now be the headlining act of the Great American State Fair.

That put to rest any possible scenario where a president who has built his personal and political persona on seizing the spotlight might cede the stage to avoid overshadowing a national celebration bigger than himself. It also offered a peek into how the president is likely to approach hosting the upcoming World Cup.

From his reality shows before becoming a politician, to hours spent entertaining at events in ways planned and impromptu, to proudly showing off his various properties and efforts to overhaul the White House, the president relishes hosting. Last year he even jokingly mused about leaving the presidency to do it again full time on TV.

Trump can be a gracious, personable and highly watchable master of ceremonies — but he's also one who tends to make every event about himself.

“The president has an outsized personality,” said Timothy Naftali, former director of Richard Nixon’s presidential library and professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “There’s a predictability to the way in which the president frames his actions — or any actions around any event associated with him — and that’s just part of who he is, and his makeup and his professional background.”

Exhibit A is the fair, which begins June 25 and was supposed to feature concerts but now will be kicked off by a Trump rally. That will follow a UFC bout at the White House on June 14. Trump is a longtime cage match fan and the event marks his 80th birthday, but the president has sought to bill it as part of the anniversary festivities.

Many presidents relished hosting — but not like this

Andrew Jackson threw open the White House for an 1829 Inauguration Day bash so unruly that staff eventually dispersed the crowd by moving tubs of whiskey and ice cream to the lawn. Franklin D. Roosevelt mixed pre-dinner cocktails for friends and aides at White House gatherings he playfully dubbed “The Children’s Hour.” Audrey Hepburn was among the luminaries Ronald Reagan hosted at the White House.

Trump frequently had first-term dinners with business leaders but has more fully embraced the role since returning to the White House. He built a patio area similar to one at his Mar-a-Lago estate and frequently travels to Florida and his properties in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Sterling, Virginia, to headline fundraisers and other swanky gatherings.

Asked if Trump might overshadow events meant to bring the country and the world together, White House spokesman Davis Ingle pointed to the president's efforts to lead extensive renovations at the White House and around Washington. He said in a statement that the “historic beautification" gives the city "the glory it deserves during our nation’s historic semiquincentennial celebration — something everyone should celebrate."

Still, Trump has found unprecedented ways to inject himself into the anniversary.

The State Department is issuing passports with the president's picture and officials have designed a new $250 bill with his likeness. The Trump Organization, being run by Trump's children while he's president, applied to trademark “Trump 250" logos and other merchandise.

The U.S. Mint is also producing a 24-karat gold commemorative coin with Trump’s face, though that recalls a half-dollar silver coin bearing the likeness of President Calvin Coolidge to help mark America's 150th anniversary in 1926.

Past presidents had starring anniversary roles

Ulysses S. Grant opened a Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1876. Richard Nixon, in 1971, inaugurated a five-year “Bicentennial Era” ahead of the 200-year mark, though he resigned before the big day arrived.

Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, then in the midst of an ultimately unsuccessful reelection campaign, began the week of July 4, 1976, by inaugurating the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum and attending a Kennedy Center event featuring Bob Hope, O.J. Simpson and others reading patriotic texts.

On Independence Day, Ford spoke at historic Valley Forge, then traveled to Philadelphia's Independence Hall, declaring, “Liberty is a living flame to be fed, not dead ashes to be revered.“ He also went to New York Harbor for a tall ship parade, presided over naturalization ceremonies at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate and hosted a state dinner for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Still, “while Ford certainly hoped to use the bicentennial to promote his reelection campaign, he didn’t do it in such a self-aggrandizing, self-centered, narcissistic way,” said Marc Stein, a history professor at San Francisco State University and author of “Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s.”

Ford, added Naftali, “knew when to step out of the limelight and make sure the focus was on what mattered, which was the United States of America and the Declaration of Independence."

Trump, by contrast, “generally has contempt for norms” and rarely mentions “the great sweep of history,” Naftali said.

Dueling anniversary planners as Trump pushes to revise history

Congress charged a national organization, America250, with planning commemorative events. Ahead of the 2024 election, the group drafted a memo asking whomever the incoming president was to mobilize federal agencies and welcoming presidential involvement in events and initiatives.

Asked about Trump, America250 Chair Rosie Rios said the group “has had a very supportive and collaborative relationship with the organizations planning initiatives on behalf of the president.”

But Rios' organization is separate from Freedom 250, a mix of public and private partnerships which the Trump administration established to fund and prepare anniversary events — which has caused confusion.

America250 aims to "inspire our fellow Americans to reflect on our past, strengthen our love of country, and renew our commitment to the ideals of democracy through programs that educate, engage, and unite us as a nation."

That might seem a departure from the “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order Trump signed last year. It sought to beat back a “revisionist movement” responsible for “replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

Stein, now serving a one-year term as president of the Organization of American Historians, is helping organize “We Want More History,” a push to coordinate local events celebrating the public's love for the subject in fact-based ways.

He said Trump's version of history is "closer to propaganda, and it’s closer to cheerleading.”

World Cup gives Trump another platform to play host

The president has similarly taken his exceeding-normal-limits approach to the soccer tournament the U.S. is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada.

He created a federal World Cup task force, and leads it. He collected a peace prize from soccer's governing body, FIFA, and said he'd be on stage to present the tournament's golden trophy to the winning team.

Trump even oversaw the tournament's draw at the Kennedy Center, which he's sought to rename for himself, sparking legal challenges.

He returned to the same building to headline December's Kennedy Center Honors, noting, “We never had a president hosting the awards before." He later posted on social media, "Would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make ‘hosting’ a full time job?”

Naftali noted, “Whatever filters there were in the first term — and there weren’t many — are gone."

“It’s undiluted Donald Trump."

Game 1: Spurs and Knicks set to open the NBA Finals on Wednesday night in San Antonio

Tim Reynolds, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:30:34 +0000

For the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks, Game 1 of the NBA Finals might feel like old times.

It's the Knicks' ninth time in the title series, and the eighth time they've played Game 1 on the road. It's the Spurs' seventh time in the title series, and the sixth time they've played Game 1 at home.

Granted, a good amount of time has passed for both teams since they've been on this stage: The Knicks haven't played in the finals since losing to the Spurs in 1999, and the Spurs haven't been there since beating the Miami Heat in 2014.

“I think we’re just locked in and focused on the task at hand,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “Then we can look back when everything is all said and done and really embrace this process and this run. It’s an honor, but can’t focus too much on the outside world and the run so far.”

The run the Knicks are on coming into this series is without compare: 11 straight wins by a total of 262 points, the most lopsided 11-game run — regular season or playoffs — in NBA history.

The Spurs have a different kind of streak going into Wednesday night. They've never lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals, going 6-0 in openers when they make the title round.

Most players on both teams are making their finals debuts in this series. Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said it's still going to be important for his team to remember how they got to the finals in the first place.

“This is a hard thing to do. It’s hard to get back to these places,” Fox said. “Don’t change anything that we’re doing. There’s a reason that we’re in the finals. There’s a reason that we won (62) games. There’s a reason we didn’t lose three games in a row the whole year. So, we don’t want to get to this place and then start changing the way we play.”

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

A diet of royal jelly isn't the only thing that makes a queen bee

Adithi Ramakrishnan, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:00:07 +0000

Scientists have identified a group of worker honeybees that are specially adapted to build their queen's waxy abode within the hive.

Worker bees perform a myriad of jobs to keep up the hive, including collecting food, nurturing young bees and caring for the queen, who lays all the eggs. New research reveals that the honeybees responsible for crafting the queen's home effectively run a fever to help melt and blend special chemicals into the wax.

“No one had ever thought that there might be a specialized group of workers that were building these queen cells,” said bee researcher Julia Bowsher with North Dakota State University, who had no role in the study.

These newly identified bees were younger and also had patterns of expression in their genes that made them uniquely suited to the task. The resulting peanut-shaped home was also distinct in its makeup, as it was made of softer wax with a higher melting point than the kind used to build worker bees' homes.

Queens are raised eating royal jelly secreted from the glands of worker bees and scientists have long believed diet was the main key to making a monarch. The new findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, suggest that the queen's environment might also play a role.

To test that theory, researchers raised baby queens in cups capped with either queen or worker wax. Despite eating royal jelly, the queens raised in worker wax were smaller and didn’t survive as well.

“For centuries, we believed ‘you are what you eat’ was the only rule for making a queen bee. Our study rewrites that rule to say ‘you are where you live, too,'" Kai Wang, a study co-author with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an email.

The findings offer a rare look inside the hive, but questions remain.

Honeybees pollinate and ensure the survival of crops such as blueberries, squash, watermelon and almonds. Further research is needed to learn more about the secret lives of queen cell-building bees and the exact combination of factors that produce the hive's head honcho.

“I would really like to know more about the specific chemical composition of this wax and which active ingredients are directly affecting the growth of the queens,” Bowsher said.

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Nas and Nicholas Britell help tell the story of the NBA Finals with spot debuting Wednesday

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 05:41:46 +0000

The NBA brought in Grammy-winning rapper Nas and three-time Emmy-winning composer Nicholas Britell to help tell the tale of this season's NBA Finals.

The league debuted a new spot — “History is Calling” — promoting the finals early Wednesday, hours before the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks begin this year's title series.

Britell — the composer known for “Succession,” “Moonlight” and “Andor” — envisioned a piece that the league said, “draws inspiration from the emotional progression of basketball, from anticipation and momentum shifts to the defining moments that shape outcomes.”

Nas provides the voice, with nods to the 80-year history of the league and what it takes to get to the NBA Finals. Nas worked closely with Britell on the music itself, collaborating to shape the final sound of the project.

“Thirty teams start this journey, but only two are left standing,” Nas begins. “The math is simple. The quest, anything but. This isn't just a series. This is legacy. Everything's on the line, because history is calling. This is the NBA Finals.”

The NBA said Britell's score “marks the first expression of the league’s new signature audio identity,” and that Britell and Nas will have an expanded partnership with the league going forward.

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

Indonesia arrests former nutrition agency head and officials in corruption probe

Edna Tarigan, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:13:40 +0000

Indonesia’s recently dismissed head of the National Nutrition Agency was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges related to a multi-billion-dollar free-meals program.

The program delivered on a campaign promise of President Prabowo Subianto and aimed to fight malnutrition by feeding nearly 90 million children and pregnant women. But it has come under steep criticism due to high costs and cases of food poisoning among schoolchildren who consumed the meals.

Prabowo fired Dadan Hindayana on Tuesday and replaced him with the agency's deputy chief. Investigators searched the agency’s offices early Wednesday.

Before Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office made Wednesday’s arrest announcement, Hindaya could be seen being led out in handcuffs, wearing a detainee red vest and a black shirt, and escorted into a green prison van.

Prosecutors also arrested two other suspects, Sony Sonjaya, the Deputy Head of the Nutrition Provision Division and Lodewyk Pusung, the Deputy Head of the Organizational Development and Institutional Relations Division. Both were fired on Tuesday. Prosecutors only published their initials, but the Minister of the State Secretariat, Prasetyo Hadi, shared their names with reporters.

Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, AGO’s Director of Investigation, told reporters that based on the “examination ... and two pieces of sufficient evidence,” the three were named as suspects “in the criminal investigation of corruption related to the management of the Free Nutritious Meal program at the National Nutrition Agency for the 2025–2026 period.”

The Free Nutritious Meal program is implemented through foundations operating in schools. Investigators allege these foundations were used to facilitate criminal activities and were linked to agency officials and employees. Despite failing to meet the eligibility requirements to become program partners, they were allegedly approved by manipulating the agency’s partner verification system, with the suspects' help, Nahdi said.

“These foundations receive incentives worth billions of rupiah every day,” he said, adding that investigators are still calculating the damage to state coffers.

Hadi said Tuesday the three suspects were dismissed for failing to adhere to "standard operating procedure ... implementing governance, including maintaining food quality."

Hadi stressed the government's continuing commitment to the free meals program. “Services to the public must not be disrupted in any way,” he told reporters.

The meals program is expected to cost $28 billion through 2029.

One of Prabowo's goals was to fight malnutrition and help farmers by purchasing their harvests, but critics had questioned whether the program was affordable and logistically possible in a vast archipelago of more than 282 million people.

Sean McVay doesn't shoot down speculation on Aaron Donald returning to Rams alongside Myles Garrett

Greg Beacham, Associated Press — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:41:40 +0000

When Sean McVay was asked about Aaron Donald during Myles Garrett’s introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday, the coach gave no indication Donald would make the decision to return — but he didn’t exactly tamp down the speculation, either.

“Aaron is a guy that I stay really close in touch with, and I know the respect that he has for Myles,” McVay said. “Talked to him about the opportunity to be able to bring (Garrett) on board. If Aaron decides he wants to dust them off at the age of 35, I bet you he could still do it at a pretty high clip.”

While the Rams would never close the door on Donald's possible return to the NFL, McVay confirms it's entirely up to the superstar defensive tackle to open that door if he wants to play alongside Garrett.

The possibility of Donald's return from two seasons in retirement became a hot topic almost immediately after the Rams swung their blockbuster trade Monday to acquire Garrett from the Cleveland Browns. Now 35 years old, Donald walked away in March 2024 after a prolific 10-year career spent entirely with the Rams.

ESPN personality Pat McAfee stoked the idea on Tuesday when he said he had texted about a comeback with Donald. McAfee said Donald told him that Garrett’s arrival in LA “for sure got me thinking,” and that he’s “gotta see if that fire can light back up.”

Donald racked up eight All-Pro selections, 10 Pro Bowl nods, three AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and a Super Bowl ring during 10 seasons in St. Louis and Los Angeles. He went out near the top of his game with a franchise-record 111 sacks as the NFL's best interior pass rusher, saying he was ready to step back from the daily grind required to maintain that level of play.

But because Donald retired at a relatively young age for defensive linemen, his possible return has been a topic of conversation for two full years in Los Angeles, where the Pittsburgh native still spends most of his time with his family. Rams fans openly pined for his return last season while the team appeared capable of making a second Super Bowl run, but Donald resisted the lure.

Donald even worked out with Jared Verse, the first-round pick and rising star edge rusher who was traded to Cleveland along with three high draft picks. The Rams gave up a fortune to get Garrett, the two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and one of Donald's very few peers in the 21st century.

Garrett has previously spoken of his respect for Donald's game, and the Rams' new superstar nodded along Tuesday while McVay praised Donald.

The Rams' defensive line is already strong, with Garrett joining 12-sack edge rusher Byron Young and strong interior linemen Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Poona Ford. Garrett has already secured his No. 95 jersey from Ford, who wore it with the Rams last season.

“There was a conversation,” Garrett said with a laugh.

“A conversation and a couple of bucks?” McVay interjected.

“Maybe more than a couple of bucks,” Garrett said with a laugh. “He was open to it.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

From festering infections to untreated cancer, ICE detainees across the US describe medical neglect

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:13:09 +0000

An Albanian man’s pain grew so unbearable, he said, he pulled out his own tooth as he languished for months in a New Mexico immigration detention center. A Honduran mother of two said she was hospitalized for a heart problem after she was denied blood pressure medications while held in Florida. A Venezuelan man said his leg grew purple and swollen from flesh-eating bacteria when staffers at a Vermont facility did not bring him to a scheduled doctor’s appointment.

Hundreds of detainees across at least 33 states allege in federal lawsuits that immigration detention facilities are failing to provide adequate medical care, an investigation by KFF Health News and The Associated Press found. Detainees say they didn’t get medications on time — or at all — for conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and HIV. Requests for help went unanswered for weeks. Blood sugars rose. Infections festered. Cancers remained untreated. Detainees collapsed and had seizures.

U.S. jails and immigration detention centers have long struggled to meet the medical needs of the people in their charge. But the system is sagging under an influx of detentions since President Donald Trump returned to office: More than 75,000 immigrants were being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as of mid-January, up from around 40,000 a year earlier.

KFF Health News and AP analyzed thousands of court cases filed since Trump’s second inauguration that use a legal route known as habeas corpus to argue people are being held illegally by ICE. The records offer a rare window into how those detained say — often under penalty of perjury — ICE is handling their medical needs. Reporters also interviewed more than 50 detainees, family members and lawyers.

The investigation revealed that medical neglect is alleged across the sprawling detention system, including in offices not designed to house people, county jails and quickly staged sites with nicknames such as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

ICE custody is deadlier than it has been in two decades, researchers wrote in JAMA in April. The Department of Homeland Security reported 51 people had died in detention since the start of Trump’s second administration, with suicides spiking to an unprecedented number.

KFF Health News and AP asked DHS to respond to the findings six days before publication but it did not provide comment. The department’s acting chief medical officer, Sean Conley, previously said “it is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody” and that DHS recruits healthcare professionals to maintain high standards. “This is better, more responsive healthcare than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives,” he said.

Individual facilities and private prison companies contracting with DHS that responded to requests for comment said they follow ICE standards and that detainees receive medical care when it is required. Some said they were unfamiliar with the allegations outlined in court documents; others blamed the detainees themselves for lapses in their medical care.

“I have never seen such disregard or medical neglect like this anywhere,” Vardan Gukasian, a political dissident and former paramedic who spent years behind bars in Armenia, wrote in a court declaration in March to contest his detention in Henderson, Nevada, as it stretched to 13 months despite his health problems.

Madeleine Skains, a spokesperson for the city of Henderson, said medical care is always available at the facility and that the court had not ordered changes to his care.

Last June, as Gukasian experienced the symptoms of uncontrolled high blood pressure — dizziness, a nosebleed and a headache — his cellmate banged on their door for help.

“When it did not arrive, the rest of the block banged on their doors,” he wrote. Gukasian was hospitalized that day.

‘Brazen indifference to really obvious problems’

The administration’s mass deportation effort has swept up hundreds of thousands of people during routine immigration check-ins, at traffic stops, at their homes and in hospitals.

About 70% of detainees have no criminal conviction. Their immigration proceedings are civil, not criminal.

“I couldn’t understand why they treated me so harshly,” said a father of six in Georgia. He said he was injured while shackled in custody when the vehicle transporting him to an Atlanta facility jolted, throwing him out of his seat and into a metal armrest. His wound became infected with E. coli, he said, because he had to sleep on a dirty concrete floor amid leaking toilets.

Like other detainees interviewed, he spoke on the condition of anonymity; they said they fear for their safety, for the safety of their families or that speaking out would jeopardize their immigration cases. The AP and KFF Health News are not naming anyone identified in court documents without their consent.

Staffers at Stewart Detention Center in rural Lumpkin, Georgia, didn’t adequately respond to that man’s request for medical help, court records say, until he passed out and was taken to a hospital about an hour away. There, he said, a doctor told him he’d narrowly escaped amputation of his left leg. Medical staff found no records of a case matching this description, according to Brian Todd, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, a private prison company, which runs the facility.

The 48-year-old, who moved to the U.S. from Guatemala more than two decades ago, was released in October and is now a legal permanent resident. But he is unsure if he’ll be able to return to his job in construction because he said he can no longer lift heavy things due to his injury.

Some detainees or their lawyers said even basic care was denied: gauze to protect an open foot wound, prenatal care for a high-risk pregnancy, a pillow to ease the pain of sleeping with advanced stomach cancer, sanitary pads for postpartum bleeding.

“I would like to believe the government has the best interest of those it holds in detention for whatever period of time,” Judge Benita Pearson, a federal judge in Ohio, said during a hearing in October concerning a 70-year-old who alleged the government lost her glasses during her arrest. “If one is unable to see due to the loss of glasses when detained, that should be fixed.”

Dora Schriro, who worked for ICE and now serves as a special adviser to the American Bar Association, said case law requires the government to treat people in immigration detention with the same care it affords those in traditional jails awaiting trial. But administrators are granted discretion and medical care standards vary.

Detainees are frequently moved across the country, often without warning, interrupting treatment. A woman from El Salvador said she missed a week of HIV medication when she was transferred from Colorado to a county jail in Wyoming.

A Russian man wrote that he saw a gastroenterologist about his painful gallstones while detained in Texas and scheduled an appointment with a surgeon. “Unfortunately, I never got to see him, due to my being moved around various detention centers.”

Advocates say even obvious disabilities, like legal blindness, are ignored.

A detainee who lost one eye and had severe glaucoma in the other required twice-daily drops to maintain what vision remained. But, he said, some days the drops never came.

“Now, I can only see a little bit straight in front. It now often looks like I’m seeing through gauze,” the man wrote in a court declaration. “This makes me very afraid that one of these times I am going to open my eyes and not be able to see anything at all.”

He wrote that he was scared he wouldn’t be able to see his infant son grow up.

“It’s just sort of brazen indifference to really obvious problems, things you would have thought absurd a decade ago — like the fact that you can’t see,” the man’s attorney, Brian Hoffman, said. “Before, you could attempt to work with folks on the government side and maybe shame them into doing the right thing. Now, it’s sort of like anything you want done you have to go to court and sue over.”

Even court orders aren’t always enough. One California judge ordered the government to take a man showing signs of prostate cancer to a specialist for diagnosis and treatment. Records show they did not take him.

Lawyers representing ICE told the judge that officials missed the appointment because of an “internal scheduling error.” CoreCivic, which runs that facility, said it was unable to comment on active litigation.

A surge in cases

When immigrants file habeas corpus petitions, they exercise a right to challenge unlawful imprisonment that dates back to medieval times.

More than 40,000 such petitions have been filed during Trump’s second term, fueled by decisions last year to deny bond to many people held on immigration charges. Judges are split on whether that’s legal; the question appears headed to the Supreme Court.

Many habeas claims have been successful, but judges typically cite reasons unrelated to the medical neglect described in the petitions, such as being held too long before being deported.

The more than 300 medical neglect claims found in this investigation represent a fraction of the problem. The details of habeas corpus cases are often hidden due to a federal rule barring the public from viewing such documents online. KFF Health News and AP obtained some documents directly and received records on 4,400 cases from Habeas Dockets, a project of the nonprofit Immigration Justice Transparency Initiative. But tens of thousands more remain largely inaccessible.

Some judges have written that the habeas process is not how to raise allegations of medical neglect and have declined to release detainees over those claims. Not every detainee who believes they experienced medical neglect files a habeas petition or cites their medical issues if they do.

Jose-Antonio Segismundo’s petition made no mention of being unable to see an oncologist for the cancer in his abdomen while detained for more than seven months at the Florida detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz and Folkston D Ray ICE Processing Center in Georgia. Medical records in his court filings show he was arrested about five weeks before his scheduled appointment with a cancer specialist.

His wife, Maria Jose Gonzalez, said he didn’t receive any treatment even though she sent his medical records and explained his condition to officials at Folkston. When his stomach pain erupted, often suddenly and intensely, she said, they gave him Tylenol.

Geo Group, which runs Folkston, follows ICE standards and provides healthcare and access to off-site medical specialists when needed, spokesperson Christopher Ferreira said.

This spring, Segismundo, 48, was deported to Mexico, a country he left nearly 30 years ago, Gonzalez said. Now, she said, he will have to restart his search for care in the Oaxacan village where he grew up.

Watching loved ones deteriorate

Detainees receiving inadequate healthcare have little recourse. DHS last year gutted the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. In early May, it shut the office entirely, citing a lack of funding from Congress.

Previously, ombudsman staffers could facilitate medical care or investigate complaints of neglect, according to Matt Boles, an immigration attorney in Georgia. Now, he said, there’s no one to call.

Meanwhile, detainees’ families said they feel helpless, making desperate calls to facilities, the government and their legislators while watching their loved ones deteriorate.

Riya Khan saw her mother get sicker at the California City Detention Facility, which is owned by CoreCivic. When she visited a week after her mother arrived at the facility in the Mojave Desert, Riya said, the 64-year-old woman stumbled into her seat. She was shaking and her breathing was labored.

Masuma Khan came to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 1997. She has no criminal history, her records say, and was detained in October when she showed up for her regular ICE check-in.

For the month she was detained, according to her daughter, she only intermittently received her medications for conditions including high blood pressure, hypothyroidism and prediabetes.

CoreCivic treats chronic conditions in line with applicable medical standards, Todd said.

“Nothing matters more to CoreCivic than the health, safety and well-being of the people in our care,” Todd said.

Khan said she got her asthma medication for the first time two days before she was released and her eye drops for glaucoma never arrived. Staffers told Khan she needed to buy some of her medications from the commissary but it didn’t stock them, her daughter said.

Before ICE detained Masuma Khan, she made friends with everyone, her daughter said. She had worked for years at Lucky Boy, an iconic Pasadena fast-food restaurant, and in her free time fed birds and left out fruit for bees that visited her apartment’s balcony.

Now she’s too scared to go outside. She still must regularly check in with ICE, and she’s terrified each time.

A stroke on a video call

Previously, detainees with serious medical needs would likely have been released on humanitarian parole, in part to avoid the cost of their care, Vermont attorney Andrew Pelcher said.

In fiscal year 2023 — before the detained population soared — ICE spent more than $390 million on healthcare for detained noncitizens, according to its most recent annual report to Congress. At a conference in May, then acting director Todd Lyons said ICE has spent “almost half a billion dollars” on detainee healthcare this year.

Now, under “mandatory detention,” attorneys say people are staying locked up with serious — and expensive — conditions.

A Romanian citizen underwent several heart surgeries, including an emergency triple bypass in April 2025, before he was arrested in July. As part of his recovery, the 52-year-old was required to take 16 daily medications. While at an ICE field office in Baltimore, his court filings allege, he went two days without any medication before officials moved him to a facility in New Jersey.

He was hospitalized three times while detained, complaining of chest pains — in part, medical records and court documents say because, despite “countless requests,” the detention center did not provide all his medications. Hospital discharge papers cited by his lawyer show he received only eight of the 16 medications after his second release from the hospital.

“Can you please talk to the ICE facility to make sure they give him his medications?” his treatment providers wrote in medical records included in his court filings. “He was admitted last week for chest pain and today he was readmitted again for chest pain secondary to non compliance for medications.”

Several weeks later in August, he had a stroke while on a video call with his daughter, according to court filings. “He was struggling to breathe, and was pointing at his chest where he was again experiencing pain, and suddenly stopped speaking.” His daughter screamed for help through the video monitor, according to his petition. “Eventually an officer came in to assist him and cut the feed.”

The man lost his ability to speak for four days, the document says. He was returned to detention, where he remained until a federal judge ordered his release in November.

Families of ICE detainees are left with impossible choices

Cassandra Amador waits for the phone to ring every morning, desperate to ask her husband the question that’s woken her up every night for months: “Did you get your medicine?”

Her husband, Pedro Javier Amador Gutierrez, 36, has high blood pressure and depends on the state-run facility in Florida nicknamed “Deportation Depot” to administer the prescriptions that have kept him alive for years. Many mornings, he tells his wife he did not get them.

When she talks to him, she said, he sounds weaker and more scared every day, not like the upbeat man who would take her kids out for ice cream.

“You can hear in his voice how he feels,” she said.

Now, she said, he’s considering returning to Cuba, which he fled because of political persecution, out of fear that he will die in detention without his medicines. Amador and her children would go with him, she said, even though she was born in New Jersey, has never been to Cuba and doesn’t speak much Spanish.

He has already collapsed twice at the Baker Correctional Institution in Sanderson, Florida, his wife said. She’s terrified that the next time, he won’t get up.

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This report is a collaboration between The Associated Press and KFF Health News. Associated Press journalists Garance Burke, Valerie Gonzalez and Tim Sullivan as well as KFF Health News correspondent Kate Wells contributed.

18-year-old charged after accidental shooting leaves 19-year-old injured in Humble

Ninfa Saavedra, Cathy Hernandez — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:12:30 +0000

A teenage boy was flown to a hospital in critical condition after an apparent accidental shooting at a Humble home, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded to a residence in the 10700 block of Spring Brook Pass, where investigators learned an 18-year-old man may have unintentionally shot a 19-year-old man.

Life Flight transported the injured teen to a hospital, where he remains in critical condition, authorities said.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Authorities have not released the identities of those involved, and it remains unclear what led to the gun being discharged.

Deputies said the 18-year-old has since been charged with aggravated assault, but the charges could be updated if the 19-year-old dies.

The investigation is ongoing.

Police investigate man suspected of killing 6 of his relatives and then himself

Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:42:52 +0000

Authorities in Iowa are investigating the fatal shootings of six people who they believe were killed by a relative who took his own life when confronted by police Monday.

Four people were found fatally shot when police were called Monday to a home in Muscatine, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Cedar Rapids, Muscatine Police Chief Anthony Kies said during a news conference.

Officers later found the suspect, 52-year-old Ryan Willis McFarland, of Muscatine, on a trail in the city, Kies said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

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“While talking to Ryan Willis McFarland, he took his own life,” the police chief said.

Two other men who also are believed to be relatives of McFarland were later found fatally shot elsewhere in the city, according to Kies. One man was found in his home and the other was discovered dead inside a business, he said.

Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims and any details about them.

“Today I simply do not have the words, this act of evil and what it has done to our community,” Kies said.

The city’s police department is continuing to investigate the shootings, working to process the crime scenes and conduct interviews. Police have asked anyone with information to contact its major crimes unit.

Kies confirmed that McFarland had a criminal record, but wouldn’t share any details.

Cruz and Lowe hit 3-run homers as the Pirates beat the Astros 10-6

Kristie Rieken, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:40:55 +0000

Oneil Cruz and Brandon Lowe hit three-run homers and Endy Rodríguez added a two-run shot to power the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 10-6 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

Jake Mangum tied a career-high with four hits to help the Pirates to their fourth straight victory.

Yordan Alvarez had three RBIs and hit his 21st home run, which ranks second in the majors behind Kyle Schwarber’s 22. But his big game wasn’t enough to keep the Astros from their third loss in four games.

The Pirates trailed by 2 with no outs and two on in the sixth before Cruz launched his 14th homer of the season into the bullpen in right-center field to give them a 5-4 lead.

Lowe’s home run, which clanged off the foul pole in right field, came in the eighth to make it 9-4.

Pittsburgh starter Bubba Chandler (2-6) allowed five hits and four runs — three earned — in five innings.

Houston added two runs in the ninth to cut the lead to 4 before loading the bases with one out off Dennis Santana. Gregory Soto took over and struck out the next two batters for his eighth save.

Mike Burrows (3-7) permitted eight hits and six runs — five earned — in five-plus innings after being traded from Pittsburgh to Houston in December.

Jeremy Peña hit a leadoff single before Alvarez gave Houston an early lead with his opposite field shot to left field.

There was one out in the second when Rodríguez hit his first home run this season to tie it 2-2.

Peña reached on an error by Nick Gonzales with no outs in the third before Alvarez walked. The Astros took a 3-2 lead when Peña scored on a single by Christian Walker.

Brice Matthews hit a one-out single in the fourth and moved to third on a single by Christian Vázquez. Matthews scored when Peña lined into a force out that made it 4-2.

Up Next

Pittsburgh RHP Paul Skenes (6-5, 2.89 ERA) opposes RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-1, 1.34) on Wednesday night.

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

UK government condemns violence at protest over teen's stabbing death

Jill Lawless, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:36:50 +0000

Britain’s interior minister accused activists of hijacking a tragedy to stir up violence after police were attacked at a protest over the death of a teenager who was handcuffed as he lay dying while his killer stood nearby.

Police were pelted with chairs, cans, rocks and flares on Tuesday by some of the hundreds of people who attended a protest in the English southern coastal city of Southampton, where Henry Nowak was killed in December. Two people were arrested and 11 officers and a police dog were injured, police said.

Nowak's death has triggered debates about policing and knife crime and has spurred claims by far-right activists and politicians that there is bias against white people in the justice system.

Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist assault by 18-year-old Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday that the case had left “serious questions to answer, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking." But he called the street violence “disgraceful and completely unacceptable.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Nowak's family had "made a powerful call to us all yesterday to not let Henry’s death be used to create further division, hatred or tension.

“There can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder. Those responsible can expect to face the full force of the law,” she said.

Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder and sentenced Monday to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years. The judge said he didn’t believe Nowak had said anything racist to his attacker.

After the sentencing, police released video showing officers dismissing Nowak when he told them he had been stabbed and repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates allegations of police wrongdoing, is probing the actions of the officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said it will review its anti-racism guidance in the wake of the killing.

After the sentencing hearing, the victim’s father, Mark Nowak, said the case was not about racism or religion, and that he wanted his son’s death to lead to safer streets and not to be used to create “further division, hatred or tension.”

But Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, said on Tuesday that it was an example of so-called two-tier policing — a popular far-right talking point that claims ethnic minorities are better treated than white people.

Farage urged people to respond to the incident with “pure cold rage,” and said, “white lives matter just as much as Black lives.” X owner Elon Musk and British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, have also expressed outrage at the crime.

Starmer said Farage's “appeal for rage” was “unforgivable.”

“I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country," he said Wednesday in the House of Commons. “I’m really shocked that he pretends to have respect for Henry’s family and then acts in this way.”

In the wake of the killing, some politicians have called for Sikhs to be banned from carrying ceremonial knives, known as kirpans. The judge said Digwa had a small kirpan but also had an 8-inch (21-centimeter) sheathed Sikh dagger that was used as the weapon to kill Nowak.

Hampshire Police chief constable Alexis Boon said he understood the “desire for answers and accountability.”

“But that must be done in the right way and not used as an excuse to threaten and intimidate my officers and bring violence to our streets, causing fear and harm to those living and working in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight,” he said.

George Santos reported to prosecutors over suspicious Kalshi trades, AP source says

Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 01:19:02 +0000

A prediction market reported former U.S. Rep. George Santos to federal prosecutors after he boasted he'd be going to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, then bet against his own attendance, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Kalshi, the online prediction marketplace, referred Santos to the Department of Justice after detecting suspicious trades made by him ahead of Trump’s Feb. 24 speech, the person said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Kalshi also reported the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal regulatory body that has vowed to crack down on insider trading in prediction marketplaces.

The Justice Department and the CFTC didn't immediately respond Tuesday to inquiries from the AP.

Santos also did not respond to text messages or phone calls.

The referral was first reported by NPR. Santos told NPR that he wasn't aware of the investigation. He declined to say whether he had a Kalshi account.

“I’m not saying yes, I’m not saying no,” Santos told NPR.

The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union, which came just four months after he was granted clemency by Trump in a fraud case that led to his expulsion from the U.S. House.

On the eve of Trump's speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%.

Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.

“Santos talking to his accountant and telling him to open his Kalshi account and bet all his money on No,” one user wrote, alongside a meme of Al Pacino counting money in the movie Scarface.

In March, Santos addressed the complaints on his podcast.

“I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.”

Santos, who won office as a Republican after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024.

After serving just 84 days, he was ordered released by Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he didn’t deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican.

Prediction markets, including Kalshi and its chief rival Polymarket, have drawn scrutiny as their businesses have expanded — with some lawmakers urging the platforms to do more to guard against insider trading.

Both companies have said they are reporting suspicious trades to federal regulators. Some investigations have led to criminal charges. In April a soldier involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged with using classified information to win more than $400,000 predicting the date of his capture on Polymarket.

In April, the Senate approved a bipartisan resolution to prevent its own members from using prediction markets.

___

The story has been updated to correct in the first sentence that Santos is a former congressman, not a current one.

🔒Staycation destinations: These are luxurious Houston, Texas resorts that make your home state the best place to take a break this summer

Briana Edwards — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 19:48:43 +0000

Whether it’s a road trip to a neighboring city or a resort a few miles away, sometimes you just need to get out of your house.

From the Hill Country to downtown and from lakes to beaches, Texas is home to a variety of “staycation” destinations.

With record gas prices and skyrocketing airline ticket costs, many folks are likely taking a closer look at staying close to relax and recharge without the heaps of costly travel that come with multi-state or international trips.

These luxury resorts in Houston and within a few hours of driving from Houston’s center offer everything from helicopter tours over Houston to floating water meditation at Lake Austin. Take a closer look at these options that just might be your perfect “staycation” destination this summer:

Houston

C. Baldwin Hotel

400 Dallas St., Houston, Texas

“A luxe hotel experience with inspiration rooted in Houstonian style. Our interior design and culinary partners have completely redefined the idea of modern indulgence, making it a truly alluring experience,” according to the hotel’s website. “Through a fusion of sensuous materials, sophisticated touches, impressive guest rooms, and incomparable culinary offerings – the C. Baldwin holds secrets of the past and promises of the future.”

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The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston

1600 W Loop S, Houston, Texas

“The Post Oak Hotel is the only Texas Forbes Five-Star Hotel and Spa and Houston’s only AAA Five-Diamond destination boasting elegant accommodations masterfully blended with extensive conference space, prominent office space, designer fashion, signature dining and sophisticated amenities all in one tower.<’ the hotel’s website reads “The 700,000-square-foot tower embraces every desire of savvy business and leisure travelers alike. Add commanding views of downtown Houston, the unmatched culinary excellence of Mastro’s, Texas’ only Forbes Five-Star Spa and direct helicopter pad access, The Post Oak Hotel is sure to satisfy even the most discerning taste.”

The Post Oak Hotel at Uptown Houston – a lavish experience so uniquely refined there can only be one.

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Level-up your stay with a private helicopter excursion, departing directly from the hotel’s helipad. To reserve or for more information, please email experiences@thepostoak.com.

A post shared by The Post Oak Hotel (@postoakuptown) on Jun 14, 2020 at 9:00am PDT

Hotel Granduca Houston

1080 Uptown Park Blvd, Houston, Texas

“This hotel offers a luxurious, sophisticated, and secluded environment reminiscent of an Italian Villa,” the hotel’s website reads. “Discover the magic of our ‘little corner of Italy’ in the heart of Houston, Texas. Our guest rooms and suites are recently renovated, featuring new carpeting, furniture, and updated lighting.”

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A post shared by Hotel Granduca (@hotelgranducahouston) on Jun 16, 2020 at 7:00pm PDT

Spring

City Place

1250 Lake Plaza Dr., Spring, Texas

The 2,000-acre City Place community boasts three Marriot hotels, an array of restaurants, retail and entertainment offerings, a waterfront plaza, plus miles of trails and hundreds of acres of greenspace to enjoy. Located just north of Houston and south of The Woodlands, City Place also provides convenient access to a multitude of nearby family-friendly activities, including TopGolf, Hurricane Harbor Splashtown, iFly Indoor Skydiving and City Place’s own Star Cinema Grill. There’s also plenty of shopping and the opportunity to visit Old Town Spring and expansive Woodlands Mall, both located within minutes of City Place.

Galveston

Grand Galvez

2024 Seawall Blvd, Galveston, Texas

“Grand Galvez has pleased guests worldwide for more than 100 years. Our AAA four-Diamond property is the only historic beachfront hotel on the Texas Gulf Coast and renowned as one of the finest Galveston hotels on the beach,” the resort’s website reads.

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Looks pretty enticing don't you think? You have to love some sand between your toes while you unwind with the sound of the waves or while you enjoy the laughter of your children. #hotelgalvez #galvestonbeach #makingmemories 🕶😎⛱

A post shared by HotelGalvez (@hotelgalvez) on Sep 7, 2019 at 1:15pm PDT

The Woodlands

The Woodlands Resort

2301 North Millbend Drive, The Woodlands, Texas, 77380

Celebrate the season with access to multiple pools, a double helix waterslide, a 1,000-foot lazy river and a weekend packed with programming like poolside games, karaoke, turtle feeding, arts & crafts and more. Choose from unique experiences like the Kid’s Glamping Package with in-room tent and sleeping bag setup, plus camping-themed gifts and games, as well as Independence Day S’mores kit for the outdoor fire pit – or more adult-oriented offerings such as the Tame Your Game Package, which incorporates deluxe accommodations, breakfast for two daily in The Woodlands Dining Room and 18 holes of play on either the Panther Trail or The Oaks courses with a cart and unlimited access to practice facilities and range balls. And don’t forget to reserve your table at Back Table Kitchen & Bar.

San Antonio

La Cantera Resort & Spa

16641 La Cantera Pkwy, San Antonio, Texas

“Total relaxation is a way of life at La Cantera Resort & Spa,” the resort’s website reads. “Each of the resort’s rooms and suites overlook the rolling hills of Texas Hill Country yet offer serene, sophisticated décor within. More than just a place to rest, their allure also lies in the amenities and activities available at La Cantera. Treat yourself to a Hill Country escape like no other.”

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A post shared by La Cantera Resort & Spa (@lacanteraresort) on Jun 25, 2020 at 5:55pm PDT

JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa

23808 Resort Pkwy, San Antonio, Texas

“Nestled amid 600 acres of oak-covered hills in Texas Hill Country, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa is a luxury haven within a stunning landscape,” the resort’s website reads. “Explore San Antonio’s most popular attractions near our hotel, including wineries, SeaWorld, Shops at La Cantera, Natural Bridge Caverns and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Retreat to our hotel for a River Bluff Water Experience, a nine-acre water park featuring a 1,100-foot lazy river. Celebrate or collaborate in 268,000 square feet of sophisticated event space, featuring outdoor pavilions and elegant ballrooms. After a full day of business or sightseeing in San Antonio, savor delectable fare at one of our six resort restaurants or rejuvenate in our luxury spa. Find your respite in upscale hotel accommodations with expansive floor plans, plush furnishings, premium amenities and breathtaking views of Texas Hill Country. An inspiring destination with something for everyone, our resort offers quiet luxury in the beautiful Texas Hill Country near San Antonio.”

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A post shared by JW Marriott San Antonio (@jwsanantonio) on Jun 15, 2020 at 9:57am PDT

Austin

Four Seasons Hotel Austin

98 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, Texas

The hotel’s website reads, “Austin’s particular brand of cool is evident in every detail of our downtown Hotel, from local art to Texas-inspired spa treatments. Come for our incredible margaritas and saltwater pool, then stay for lawn games, miles of lakeside trails and spacious rooms overlooking idyllic Lady Bird Lake.”

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A dose of vitamin D is just what you need. Could you use a breath of fresh air at our lakeside retreat?

A post shared by Four Seasons Hotel Austin (@fsaustin) on Jun 26, 2020 at 12:12pm PDT

Lake Austin Spa Resort

1705 S Quinlan Park Rd, Austin, Texas

“At our secluded hideaway only 30 minutes from downtown Austin, our guests enjoy the luxuries of comfort in accommodations that complement our beautiful natural setting,” the resort’s website reads. “With just 40 rooms, every guest experiences the added luxury of truly personal service. Our fabulous food and plentiful activities are all included in our special packages.”

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Mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness comes in many different forms; there is no one-size-fits-all approach. At Lake Austin Spa Resort we offer a full spectrum of experiences just as unique as you are. ✨ #WellnessWednesday Visit our website to learn how to experience wellness from every level, link in our bio.

A post shared by Lake Austin Spa Resort (@lakeaustinspa) on Jul 8, 2020 at 8:20am PDT

Dallas

Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas

4150 N MacArthur Blvd, Irving, Texas

“Discover an unexpected mix of cosmopolitan amenities and nature-filled surroundings at Texas’ original urban resort,” the resort’s website reads. “Meet us for a round of golf, cool off in our pools, get your adrenaline pumping at our expansive sports and recreation club, or take a break from it all at the Four Seasons Spa and Salon. Come nightfall, gather with friends and family near our larger-than-life, rustic fireplace on OUTLAW Taproom’s patio, drinks in hand and hearts full.”

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Sway to the tunes of local musicians on the patio with a side of poolside views. Live music returns to the #FSSoundstage every Friday and Saturday from 5:00 – 8:00 pm.

A post shared by Four Seasons Resort Dallas (@fsdallas) on Jun 17, 2020 at 9:05am PDT

The Ritz-Carlton

2121 McKinney Avenue, Dallas, Texas

“At The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas in Uptown, the Lone Star spirit is alive and thriving,” the hotel’s website reads. “Recognized as the only Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Hotel in Texas, guests will enjoy our legendary service, locally inspired amenities, and exclusive experiences on The Ritz-Carlton Club Level. Dining is led by Dean Fearing, the Father of Southwestern Cuisine, whose margaritas are the inspiration behind one of the spa’s signature treatments.”

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Join our Guacamologist every night in the Lobby Living Room at 6:00 pm for a taste of our signature Guacamole and Dean’s famous Margaritas. #ritzcarltondallas #rcmemories #guacamologist #luxurytravel

A post shared by The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas (@ritzcarltondallas) on Feb 25, 2020 at 10:31am PST

Grapevine

Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center

1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, Texas

“Standing on the shores of the majestic Lake Grapevine, Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center welcomes guests to a stunning, one-of-a-kind experience,” the resort’s website reads. “From the 10-acre Paradise Springs Water Park, to an exciting lineup of family-friendly activities and entertainment, there’s something for the entire family to enjoy. Guests can explore the four-and-a-half acres of airy, indoor garden atriums, four award-winning restaurants, bars, the world-class Relâche Spa, and a state-of-the-art fitness center. For those planning or attending their next meeting or event, the resort features 490,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, 1,814 beautiful guest rooms, and 127 spectacular suites as well as our lakeside events venue, Glass Cactus, perfect for live entertainment and events. Located near DFW Airport, LEGOLAND Discovery Center, Cowboys Golf Club, Historic Downtown Grapevine, and water sports on Lake Grapevine itself, are all convenient so everyone can do more of what they love.”

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A post shared by Gaylord Texan (@gaylordtexan) on Jan 21, 2020 at 3:10pm PST

Are you planning a staycation this summer? Let us know in the comments where you’re planning to go.

Report: Disruption of Mideast energy supplies into next year would slam global economy

David Mchugh, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:03:24 +0000

Prolonged disruption of energy supplies from the Middle East due to the Iran war would deal a severe blow to the global economy, sending some countries into recession and spreading inflation and higher unemployment, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report Wednesday.

Hardest hit would be Asian economies that depend on crude oil, fuel and natural gas from the Persian Gulf, supplies that have been largely choked off by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the risk of Iranian attack. And poorer countries where people spend more of their incomes on fuel and food would also be severely affected, the OECD said.

But the consequences of sharply higher energy prices and inflation would be felt around the world. Global growth would slump to levels not seen except for major setbacks like the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis and recession of the late 2000s. Under the OECD's prolonged disruption scenario, global growth slows from 3.4% last year to 2.1% this year and 1.8% in 2027, potentially pushing some economies into or close to recession.

Under a different OECD scenario for a time-limited disruption, in which energy production and shipments from the Gulf start to return to pre-war levels in the middle of this year, growth would slow to 2.8% this year and rebound to 3.1% next year.

“The global economy entered 2026 with robust momentum, but the outlook has weakened significantly since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, with effects likely to be felt for some time," OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. “The longer the disruptions last, the larger the economic and social costs become.”

Cormann warned that government spending aimed at relieving energy costs needed to be aimed at those most in need and temporary, to avoid running up excess government debt and preserving incentives to save energy.

Despite repeated outbreaks of violence, a declared ceasefire in the war between the US and Iran remains officially in place. The ongoing risk to shipping however means that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled to a trickle, down more than 90% compared to before the war. That has disrupted about a fifth of the world's supplies of crude oil and fuel products as well as of natural gas.

The OECD report follows a UN study warning that higher energy prices will impact almost billion people in poorer countries and small island states that depend on imported fuel, forcing tradeoffs between covering energy bills and investing in essential public services. More than 30% of people in those countries already live below the extreme poverty line, defined as living on $3 or less a day.

The OECD is an international intergovernmental organization and policy forum of 38 democracies with market-based economies, headquartered in Paris.

Raúl Castro turns 95 as Cuba celebrates enigmatic figure

Dánica Coto, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:31:26 +0000

Raúl Castro turned 95 on Wednesday, a landmark birthday for a man still helping lead one of the last communist countries in the world.

His name and face became synonymous with the 1959 revolution led by his brother, Fidel Castro. Decades after the triumphant revolution, Fidel Castro stepped down, and Raúl Castro served as Cuba's president for 12 years.

He formally retired from politics in April 2021 but still serves as general of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces, has a seat in the National Assembly and is considered to play a central role in rising tensions with the U.S., which recently indicted him.

Here’s a look at the life of a man known as the “hero of the Republic of Cuba.”

Raúl Castro became involved in politics early

Castro was born on June 3, 1931, in the village of Birán in eastern Cuba. He was the fourth of seven children; his mother was Cuban and his father Spanish.

As a child, he attended school in Santiago de Cuba but later moved to Havana, where he began studying law at the university and became deeply involved in student politics, opposing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

By 1953, he was part of a group that attacked military barracks in Santiago de Cuba as part of a failed effort to overthrow Batista. He was charged, jailed and later released, fleeing to Mexico, where he joined the guerrilla group that would soon unseat Batista.

After a victorious revolution in 1959, Castro was appointed minister of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and oversaw battles in Africa and Latin America that rankled some U.S. Republicans.

Many Cubans, including María Cristina Barrio Ramos, a 62-year-old teacher who lives in Havana, praised him for his actions.

“He gave us everything so that we could be free,” she said. “We owe our freedom and dignity to him.”

In October 1965, Raúl Castro became the second secretary of the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party. At the time, Fidel Castro lauded him in a speech.

“It is a privilege for me that, in addition to being an extraordinary revolutionary figure, he is a brother,” Castro said as his sibling stood up and smiled as the crowd around him applauded.

Fidel Castro was known for praising his brother: “Everyone who gets to know him and become close to him realizes his humanism, his great character, and his feelings; they are surprised by the image of Raúl as belligerent, aggressive and harsh, when they see the feelings of friendship, affection, and love he is capable of having for people. And he has been a great mentor and a great educator.”

Castro rises to power after brother’s health worsens

In 2006, Fidel Castro’s health began to decline, and Raúl Castro was temporarily handed power in late July of that year until Cuba’s National Assembly elected him as president in February 2008.

In the years that followed, Castro proved himself to be more liberal than his brother, allowing private enterprises to operate in Cuba while former U.S. President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on remittances and family travel, and allowed U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba under certain conditions.

By 2015, the U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations and reopened embassies. A year later, Obama traveled to Cuba to meet with Castro. That same year, commercial flights between the two countries restarted.

During a historic 2016 press conference in Havana, Castro famously tried to raise Obama's left arm, whose hand went limp in an image that went viral.

Under Castro, Cuba also entered negotiations with Russia’s government in June 2014 that led to the cancellation of 90% of a multibillion-dollar debt dating from the time of the Soviet Union.

In 2018, Raúl Castro left the presidency in the hands of Miguel Díaz-Canel, marking the first time in decades that a person without “Castro” as their last name took control of the government.

In April 2021, Castro announced he would not seek another political position. Since then, he has made only sporadic public appearances.

Castro retires but remains a high-profile figure

Ever since officially retiring from politics, Raúl Castro has appeared in public only sporadically, but he is believed to still wield power behind the scenes even as he leads a discreet life.

His grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean summit earlier this year. Since then, Cuban and U.S. officials have confirmed talks, but tensions between the two countries remain high.

Raúl Castro was last seen at a May 1 rally that drew tens of thousands of Cubans. He was dressed, as usual, in olive green military garb and stood at the side of Díaz-Canel. Behind him was Castro's grandson.

Almost three weeks later, the U.S. government indicted Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles over Cuban waters. He faces charges including murder and destruction of an airplane.

While the government and its supporters have condemned the indictment, Raúl Castro has remained mum.

As his birthday approached, social media was flooded with the hashtag #RaúlesRaúl, a political figure who has long been adverse to birthdays, monuments and statues, just like his brother.

The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. noted on X: “Not many people have the privilege, the health, the stoicism — and if you like, you can also add: that quintessentially Cuban stubbornness — to reach the age of 95.”

Meanwhile, Cuba's Communist Party posted several videos Tuesday on X of Cubans praising Castro.

“To talk about Cuba, you have to talk about Raúl,” said Digna Guerra, director of the island’s national choir. “He represents Cuban identity, he represents the Cuban people, he represents the revolution, which for us has immense significance. … Thank you for existing.”

___

Associated Press videographer Ariel Fernández contributed.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Some Medicare recipients may soon get Wegovy, Zepbound for $50 a month

Ninfa Saavedra — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:04:46 +0000

Some Medicare beneficiaries may soon be able to access popular weight-loss medications for as little as $50 a month under a new agreement involving the federal government and two major drug manufacturers.

The deal, announced by the Trump administration, involves Eli Lilly, the maker of Zepbound, and Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Wegovy.

Under the agreement, Medicare will cover $245 per month for the medications, while eligible beneficiaries will pay $50 out of pocket.

Federal health officials say the move is designed to make the highly sought-after GLP-1 medications more affordable for patients who could benefit from their use.

“We’ve been working hard to push down on these prices to make sure that these medications, which can be life-changing and even lifesaving because of their impact on weight loss and downstream complications like diabetes and hypertension,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

However, not all Medicare recipients will qualify for the lower-cost medications.

Eligibility is limited to overweight individuals who also have certain qualifying health conditions, including prediabetes, a history of stroke or cardiovascular disease, or uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Federal officials estimate that about 10% of Medicare beneficiaries meet those requirements.

GLP-1 medications have surged in popularity in recent years because of their effectiveness in helping people lose weight and manage chronic health conditions. Studies have also shown the drugs may help reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events in some patients.

The new agreement could significantly lower costs for eligible Medicare recipients, many of whom have been unable to afford the medications because of their high price tags.

Officials have not yet announced when the discounted pricing will become available to eligible beneficiaries.

Nico Collins grateful for how Texans handled contract with a large raise: ‘It’s a business, at the end of the day’

Aaron Wilson — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 23:04:31 +0000

It was a time for business, and the Texans and Nico Collins took care of that by working out a financial compromise.

Although the Texans didn’t extend the Pro Bowl wide receiver with additional years on his contract, they did grant his request for a market value raise. And that $17 additional million over the next two seasons, paid through a $27 million signing bonus in addition to fully guaranteeing and boosting his 2027 salary to $28.5 million, the stage for a potential market value contract extension down the road.

Collins is happy with the outcome. He acknowledged the importance of securing an upgraded deal. While this round of contract talks on the heels of his three-year, $75 million maximum value extension ran smoothly, things could have gotten bumpy if Texans general manager Nick Caserio and agents Drew Rosenhaus and Jason Rosenhaus hadn’t been proactive about the financial situation.

“Of course, you want to set your family up for long-term,” Collins said. “We know in this business, it’s a business at the end of the day. It’s definitely something that you work hard for. You come into this league to get extended, get contracts. It’s definitely a blessing. It’s definitely motivation for me and this team to continue to chop wood, continue to keep going.

“But at the end of the day, I’m definitely blessed for that. A lot of people don’t get that first, second contract, third contract. It’s definitely rare, definitely a blessing. It’s definitely a great situation for me and my family long-term. I’ve just got to continue to be myself, not making the decision bigger than what it is. It’s a blessing for sure, and I’ve got to use that as motivation.”

Collins’ base salary was lowered to $1.5 million this year, bringing his salary cap figures down to $14.939 million from an originally scheduled $27.517 million. He also has annual $1.5 million in per game active roster bonuses, at a rate of $88,235 per game.

The contract now has $50 million void years in 2028, 2029 and 2030 for salary-cap purposes to prorate the deal.

It’s regarded as likely that the Texans may do a contract extension within the next year for Collins, a Pro Bowl selection.

Collins has a $9 million cash increase this year and an $8 million cash increase next year.

The revised contract reflects Collins’ value and a dramatic increase in average wide receiver salaries across the league.

That includes the Seattle Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($42.15 million), the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase ($40.25 million), the Minnesota Vikings’ Justin Jefferson ($35 million), the Dallas Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb ($34 million), the Pittsburgh Steelers’ D.K. Metcalf ($33 million), the New York Jets’ Garrett Wilson ($32.5 million), the Washington Commanders’ Terry McLaurin ($32.333 million), the New England Patriots’ A.J. Brown ($32 million), the Detroit Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30.002 million), the San Francisco 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk and then Collins at $30 million annually.

Originally ranked 18th in average compensation per year for 2026, Collins is now due $30 million total this year. He ranks 11th in terms of annual average per year and will be 10th once the 49ers officially move on from Aiyuk.

“It means a lot,” Collins said. “It’s a blessing, especially being in this league. To be able to get the third contract with one team, that means a lot. It doesn’t happen often coming across this league. But it’s definitely a blessing. It’s underrated. I can’t speak more highly about it.

“But I’m definitely thankful to the organization, the Texans, for giving me this opportunity to come out here another year, another two years to go out here and show myself and show my abilities. I’m blessed for that.”

In the first season under offensive coordinator Nick Caley, the Texans averaged 23.8 points per game, ranking 13th in the NFL in scoring offense. They finished 18th in total offense, 14th in passing offense and 22nd in rushing offense.

The running game struggled to complement the passing attack after Joe Mixon missed the entire season due to a foot injury involving an infection that ultimately required surgery. With new running back David Montgomery in the backfield, there should be more balance overall and more options for Caley as a play-caller.

“Absolutely, you got to take one play at a time,” Collins said. “We know what our mission is. We know where we want to go. At the end of the day, we got to take one play at a time.

“We’ve got to move the sticks. We’ve got to continue to put points on the board for the defense because we know the type of defense we’ve got. So, I’m excited about this year, second year with Caley, and let’s rock.”

Collins’ value was underscored by his absence during the playoff game due to a concussion.

He caught 71 passes for 1,117 yards and six touchdowns during the regular season on 120 targets.

Not having a prototypical 6-foot-4, 222-pound wide receiver with 4.44 speed in the 40-yard dash dramatically changed the equation for the Texans’ suddenly ineffective passing game.

A concussion meant he couldn’t play in an AFC divisional round playoff game against the New England Patriots his team ultimately lost. As tough as it was on him and as much as he didn’t think his season would end because of an awkward landing on his head against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Collins took the moment to reflect with deep thoughts about the future.

However, Collins has decided at this time to not wear a protective Guardian cap on his helmet to prevent potential future concussions. He plans to work on his upper body to be stronger to absorb hits better. He’s of the opinion the Guardian cap would hamper his game.

“For sure, I’ve thought about it,” Collins said. “A lot that goes into your brain. You only get one. You’ve got to take care of it. It’s definitely a thought, but I feel like for me I’ve got to work on my spinal cord, my neck, and just work on my strengthening of my shoulders and everything around it. I can’t wear a Guardian Cap.

“I’m a receiver. I’ve got to find the ball, track it and everything. I’ve got to do a better job of doing shoulders, upper body exercises, whatever I need to make sure contacts, I’m good. I’m not worried about that.”

Watching from the bench area at snowy Gillette Stadium, Collins watched as quarterback C.J. Stroud uncorked an uncharacteristic four interceptions in one half of a 28-16 defeat. Normally accurate, Stroud had several misfires as he went 20 for 47 for 212 yards, one touchdown pass and a 28.0 passer rating.

As off as Stroud was, Collins could have potentially steadied the damage. Playing without Collins — and losing Dalton Schultz, the team’s leading receiver during the regular season with 82 receptions — proved too much to overcome.

Collins previously called Stroud a “man on a mission.” He sees a difference in the former NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

“C.J., he’s one of a kind,” Collins said. “He’s a leader. He’s poised and he’s ready to lead every single day. You see it in the meeting room and on the practice field. He’s coming in with a mission and a chip on his shoulder. That’s who you want as a quarterback. You’ve got his back 100 percent of the way and he knows that. He’s going to ride for you.

That’s how it is with everybody. He’s QB1. You’ve got to take care of him. You’ve got to love him. That’s how it is. I can’t wait for this year. Can’t wait for this season for everybody. I feel like there’s so much at stake. The sky’s the limit for both sides of the ball and I can’t wait for this season to get rolling.”

No Guardian cap planned for #Texans receiver Nico Collins after concussions last season. He explains why @kprc2 pic.twitter.com/wygxhCY0Nr
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) June 2, 2026

Now, Collins is determined to elevate his game even further.

“Not get complacent, not get comfortable, continue to find the things I need to improve on,” Collins said. “Even though you have success, it’s still not good enough. Continue to aim for the stars and continue to be the best version of yourself every day.”

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

Houston budget vote: Advocacy group proposes alternatives to Houston Mayor’s trash fee plan

Ninfa Saavedra — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:46:22 +0000

As Houston City Council prepares for a final vote Wednesday on Mayor John Whitmire’s proposed $7.5 billion budget, members of the Houston People’s Budget Campaign are calling on city leaders to consider a different approach to funding city services.

More than a dozen supporters of the coalition spoke during public comment at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, urging elected officials to reject what they describe as fee-based solutions and instead adopt alternative revenue proposals.

Houston mayor unveils $7.5 billion budget proposal; trash fee, revenue changes spark debate

The group, which identifies itself as a coalition of taxpayers, climate organizers and immigrant-rights advocates, plans to hold a news conference Wednesday morning outside City Hall ahead of the council vote.

Mayor Whitmire’s proposed budget includes a new $5 monthly trash administrative fee and a right-of-way charge on water and wastewater utilities. City officials say the measures are needed to help close a budget deficit and create more stable funding for city services. The administration estimates the trash fee would generate roughly $24 million to $25 million annually.

Houston’s proposed trash fee wouldn’t be a new line. Here’s where you’d see it

The proposal has sparked debate across the city.

Houston Controller Chris Hollins has criticized the plan, arguing it shifts costs onto residents and relies on financial projections that have not been fully explained to the public.

The Houston People’s Budget Campaign says it has submitted four alternative proposals for consideration. According to organizers, their plans would rely on a property tax-based funding model rather than service fees to pay for priorities, including trash collection, illegal dumping cleanup, drinking water infrastructure, flood mitigation projects, parks, libraries and other public services.

Advocates argue their approach would distribute costs differently than the mayor’s proposed fees and provide a more sustainable funding source for city investments.

“The people’s budget offers an alternative to the current plans being discussed at City Hall,” organizers said in a statement.

The budget debate comes after weeks of public discussion over how Houston should address long-term financial challenges while maintaining city services. Mayor Whitmire has defended the proposal as a necessary step toward stabilizing the city’s finances and modernizing the way certain services are funded.

Why Houston’s mayor says a new trash fee is key to fixing waste issues

If approved by the City Council, the new budget would take effect July 1.

Attitudes toward same-sex marriage and transgender issues are shifting, Gallup poll shows

Geoff Mulvihill And Amelia Thomson-Deveaux, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:01:10 +0000

Acceptance of same-sex marriage and relationships in the U.S. has flattened after more than two decades of steadily increasing support, with an ongoing decline among Republicans, according to a new Gallup poll.

About 65% of U.S. adults believe same-sex marriage should be legal, down slightly from 71% in 2022 and 2023.

Most of the change is due to dropping acceptance among Republicans. In the new survey, which was conducted in May, only 37% of Republicans say same-sex marriage should be legally valid, while 35% say gay and lesbian relations are “morally acceptable.”

The views of Democrats and independents are largely stable in the findings released Wednesday, with most in both groups saying same-sex marriage should be legal and that gay or lesbian relations are moral.

The widening partisan divide is also reflected in policy around LGBTQ+ issues across the U.S., particularly regarding transgender people, and a rising push in some states to ban same-sex marriage.

Recent shifts have been subtle and partisan

The downtick in support for same-sex marriage, while slight, is still striking because of how dramatically American views on the issue have shifted over the past few decades.

According to Gallup’s trend data, only 27% of U.S. adults supported legal same-sex marriage in 1996. Since then, support for same-sex marriage rose steadily until a few years ago, when it peaked with around 7 in 10 U.S. adults saying same-sex marriage should be legal.

Opinion about the morality of same-sex relationships followed the same pattern. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults said same-sex relations were morally acceptable in 2001. That increased nearly 30 percentage points over the next two decades.

Over the past few years, Gallup's data has shown signs of a shift in the other direction. In addition to the slight decline on same-sex marriage, the new poll also found that 62% of U.S. adults view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, down from 71% in 2022.

Same-sex marriage remains recognized nationwide

Same-sex marriage has been recognized nationally since a 2015 Supreme Court ruling. That case capped a 12-year run in which court rulings and state laws recognized it in most states.

By last year, there were more than 800,000 married same-sex couples, according to data compiled by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law.

The pushback has never stopped, though. A call to overturn the 2015 reached the Supreme Court last year, invoking the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has called for undoing it. The court turned away the appeal without comment.

Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly called for reversing the ruling that led to nationwide marriage recognition and imposing a ban.

Lawmakers in at least 11 states introduced legislation for their current or most recent sessions calling on a ban on same-sex marriage, according to an Associated Press analysis of bills compiled by the legislation tracking service Plural. Most didn't pick up momentum. But the Tennessee House passed a measure to allow private citizens and organizations not to recognize the unions; Idaho's House passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to undo the 2015 decision.

A similar number of states have had measures aimed at protecting same-sex marriage introduced recently.

Acceptance of transgender people is also down

In a sign that views of LGBTQ+ issues may be shifting more broadly, the new Gallup poll found that about 4 in 10 Americans view changing one’s gender as morally acceptable, down from nearly half in 2021.

The rights of transgender people have been a hot-button political issue this decade.

Most Republican-controlled states have adopted laws in the last five years to bar gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors, restrict which school bathrooms transgender people may use and bar transgender girls and women from some sports competitions.

Trump has signed executive orders seeking some of the same policies on a federal level.

This week, one of those policies suffered a blow when a court ruled that the military illegally banned transgender troops.

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The Gallup poll, conducted May 1-17, was based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,001 U.S. adults. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal are all going to the World Cup after injury scares

James Robson, Associated Press — Thu, 07 May 2026 10:14:01 +0000

Injuries to some of soccer’s star players, including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal, sparked concern ahead of the World Cup.

All three have been included in their national team squads for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but others have not been so fortunate.

France striker Hugo Ekitike sustained an Achilles injury in April that could take more than six months to heal, ruling him out of the World Cup and probably the start of next season with Liverpool.

Brazil stars Rodrygo and Éder Militão are out. So is Bayern Munich and Germany forward Serge Gnabry after injuring his adductor in training.

Messi caused the biggest scare after the Argentina great left the field injured while playing for Inter Miami last month. He has been included in coach Lionel Scaloni's squad as defending champion Argentina aims to retain its trophy, but it is still not known whether he has fully recovered from what was described as muscle fatigue.

Yamal, Spain's new superstar, missed the final weeks of the season for Barcelona because of a hamstring injury that made him fear he would miss out on his first World Cup.

“I remember the play in which I got injured,” he said. “I was praying inside for it not to be serious, for it to be a cramp or something like that, because I knew the World Cup was very close.”

Players and coaches have increasingly warned about the impact of an ever-packed schedule, and the expanded World Cup comes a year after the relaunched, supersized Club World Cup. The Champions League has also been expanded in recent years.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta describes the demand on players as “an accident waiting to happen."

Players definitely ruled out of the World Cup

Argentina: Joaquín Panichelli (ACL)

Brazil: Éder Militão (hamstring), Rodrygo (ACL)

England: Ben White (medial ligament)

France: Hugo Ekitike (Achilles)

Germany: Serge Gnabry (adductor)

Netherlands: Xavi Simons (ACL)

United States: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles), Patrick Agyemang (Achilles), Johnny Cardoso (ankle)

Scotland: Billy Gilmour (knee)

Spain: Fermin Lopez (foot)

Ones to watch

Argentina: How soon Messi will be involved is not known. Cristian Romero sustained a knee injury at the end of the season, but has been included in Argentina's squad.

Canada: Star left back Alphonso Davies injured his hamstring and it is not certain he will recover in time for his team's opening game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatia: Veteran midfielder Luka Modrić broke his cheekbone in April. He was back playing for AC Milan well in time for the World Cup, but was wearing a protective face mask. Defender Joško Gvardiol returned to training for Manchester City in early May after four months out with a broken leg, but is going to the World Cup.

United States: Gio Reyna made just four league starts this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach, and none since Dec. 19. “He can help because he’s a different player, different talent, and I think in all the roster you need to have a player like him,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

Videos showing groups of people entering NYC sewers at night baffle residents and investigators

Philip Marcelo, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:14:12 +0000

Mole people? Crocodile catchers? Mario brothers? A series of bizarre sightings of people popping in and out of New York City’s vast subterranean sewer system has the city wondering what exactly is going on, with police now probing the underground mystery.

Security cameras have recorded at least three nighttime instances where groups of people entered or exited sewer tunnels via maintenance holes on streets in Brooklyn and Queens.

In one video, taken early Friday morning in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a group of roughly seven people were recorded popping out of a maintenance hole in the middle of an intersection, in full view of passing cars.

Some wore headlamps and carried what appeared to be shovels and other tools. One narrowly missed getting run over by a vehicle as they pulled themselves out of the ground.

In another video, a group of about seven people could be seen emerging from a maintenance hole around 2 a.m. on a quiet street in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighborhood. They made their way to a couple of parked cars and pulled out fresh clothes to change into. Police say the group entered the sewers about 11 p.m., meaning they could have been underground for three hours.

On May 5, three people dressed in waterproof hip waders and other protective gear pried open a maintenance hole cover and descended into the sewer on a street in Queens. The last person pulled the cover shut as approaching cars slowed to a stop.

Aki Jakupovic, the owner of an auto detailing shop, said his shop’s surveillance cameras recorded that group of sewer spelunkers. He said he couldn’t venture a guess as to what the people did below ground but worried they were “up to no good.”

The city Department of Environmental Protection said it inspected the sewers at both Brooklyn locations and verified the sewer infrastructure wasn’t damaged. The incident in Queens is still under investigation, the agency said.

Rob Wolejsza, the department’s spokesperson, stressed that entering the sewers is not only illegal but “extremely dangerous.”

“Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces,” Wolejsza said in a statement. “For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole, or outfall.”

Last month, a woman fell into an open maintenance hole on a busy street in midtown Manhattan and died. Utility officials said the hole cover had been dislodged by a truck.

Police, meanwhile, said they don’t believe there’s any threat to public safety after conducting a thorough sweep of the areas. There have been no reports of injuries and no arrests, and the investigation is ongoing, the department said.

On Tuesday, at the busy intersection in Williamsburg where the second group was spotted, resident Anthony Purdie said he isn’t convinced it was simple curiosity that drew the group to explore the sewers in the cover of night.

“They look like they were looking for something important, like money, or for doing some type of hurting,” he said. “Ain’t no fun and games. I mean, seven grown adults going down there? Got to be something, man.”

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

Payroll tax fraud could slash your future Social Security benefits without warning

Ninfa Saavedra, Bill Spencer — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:55:41 +0000

Most workers assume that when payroll taxes are deducted from their paychecks, that money is being sent to the federal government to fund programs like Social Security and Medicare.

But federal investigators say that’s not always the case.

A little-known crime called payroll tax fraud occurs when employers withhold payroll taxes from employees’ paychecks but fail to turn that money over to the government. Instead, they keep it.

The scheme can generate huge sums of money for dishonest business owners, sometimes reaching millions or even tens of millions of dollars.

At first glance, many workers may think payroll tax fraud only hurts the government. However, experts say employees can also pay a steep price.

Payroll taxes help fund Social Security benefits, and a worker’s retirement payments are based largely on earnings reported throughout their career. If wages are not properly reported or payroll taxes are not paid as required, workers could find themselves receiving smaller Social Security benefits when they retire.

That’s why IRS investigators urge workers to pay close attention to their earnings records and payroll documents.

According to IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Rodrick Benton, employees should regularly review their pay records and maintain copies of paychecks, pay stubs and tax documents. Those records can help workers identify discrepancies and protect themselves if questions arise later about an employer’s payroll practices.

Experts also recommend creating an account with the Social Security Administration and periodically reviewing your earnings history to ensure your wages are being accurately reported.

Payroll tax fraud is not a rare crime.

Just two months ago, a business owner was sentenced to federal prison for withholding payroll taxes from employees and failing to pay them to the government.

According to federal prosecutors, Harry Lamar Curtis III, the owner of a cybersecurity company, was sentenced after failing to pay approximately $1.6 million in payroll taxes.

Federal authorities say cases like that serve as a reminder that workers should never assume payroll taxes are being handled properly behind the scenes.

The best protection is vigilance. Keeping pay stubs, W-2 forms and other payroll records could help workers spot problems early and avoid discovering years later that their retirement benefits have been affected.

For employees, payroll tax fraud isn’t just a crime committed against the government. It can also be a crime that quietly steals from their financial future.

Rare albino buffalo named after Donald Trump for its golden locks draws crowds at Bangladesh zoo

Al Emrun Garjon And Julhas Alam, Associated Press — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:31:29 +0000

With his shock of golden hair and trim 700-kilogram (1,500-pound) build, Donald Trump has been drawing crowds from across Bangladesh since he arrived at the national zoo last week.

The rare albino buffalo became a sensation when a farmer noticed that his blond tuft of hair resembled the distinctive locks of the U.S. president. After a video of the pale horned mammal went viral on social media, large numbers of people started showing up at the farm outside Dhaka to see him for themselves.

The animal was originally meant to be slaughtered for the Muslim festival of sacrifice. But citing security concerns, the government ordered him transferred to the zoo in the capital, where large crowds are now braving sweltering heat to see him.

On Tuesday, visitors pressed against the fence of the buffalo's enclosure, filming with their phones as some fathers hoisted small children on their shoulders for a better view.

A zoo worker pampered the animal, brushing his hair to one side and hosing him down with water to keep him cool as fans blew on him.

“There is a resemblance to Donald Trump in its eyes, hairstyle, and skin color,” said Mohammed Nasim, a student in Dhaka. “And just as Donald Trump has a distinctive personality and lifestyle, this buffalo, after going viral, is now living a similar kind of life, enjoying a lot of attention and special treatment.”

Local media reported that the exhibit initially included a sign that said “Donald Trump,” which has since been removed. The zoo curator was fired on Saturday, though no official cause was given for the dismissal.

Some clearly found the naming in poor taste.

“Giving a farm animal the name of one of the world’s most influential leaders was certainly the wrong thing to do," said Dhaka resident Mohammad Joynal Adedin, who visited the zoo to see the buffalo anyway. “It seems disrespectful. I think the farmer who did this made a poor decision.”

The buffalo was sold ahead of Eid al-Adha, the “Feast of Sacrifice.” When Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed ordered police to take it into custody, the authorities refunded the buyer.

"Since before Eid, I had been seeing posts on Facebook saying that ‘Donald Trump’ would be sacrificed. Later, I heard that instead of being sacrificed, it had been placed in a zoo,” said Mohammad Habibur Rahman, a visitor to the zoo from the southwestern Bangladeshi city of Jashore.

“So, I thought I would come to the zoo and see ‘Donald Trump’ for myself," he said.