Giolito is guaranteed $2,775,401 in the deal, which includes a 2027 mutual option, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because terms were not announced.

A Southern California native, the 31-year-old Giolito went 10-4 with a 3.41 ERA over 26 starts last year for the Boston Red Sox, earning $19 million under a player option. He bounced back solidly after missing the 2024 season because his right ulnar collateral ligament was repaired with an internal brace that March.

He gets a $1.5 million salary from San Diego — which comes to $1,275,401 for the final 159 days of the 187-day season. Giolito's contract includes an $8 million mutual option for 2027 with a $1.5 million buyout.

Giolito's buyout can escalate by up to $3 million for starts this year: $250,000 for eight, $500,000 each for 12 and 16, $750,000 for 20 and $1 million for 2024.

He also can earn bonuses for his finish in Cy Young Award voting: $2 million for finishing among the top five and $1 million for sixth through 10th.

San Diego optioned him to Class A Lake Elsinore.

Giolito has played parts of nine seasons in the major leagues for Washington, the Chicago White Sox, the Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland, going 71-66, with a 4.30 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP.

He has been durable and dependable for most of his career while earning an All-Star selection in 2019 and throwing a no-hitter in 2020. Despite missing a season because of injury, he ranks in the top five among AL pitchers from 2018-25 in innings pitched (1,092), strikeouts (1,153), wins (68) and complete games (5).

But Giolito remained on the free agent market nearly one month into the regular season before landing with the Padres, who are pitching superbly despite major upheaval and injury problems in their rotation.

Opening day starter Nick Pivetta went on the injured list last week with a right elbow flexor strain that could keep him out for months, while Joe Musgrove has yet to make his season debut after a slower-than-expected return from Tommy John surgery. Yu Darvish already is out for the season with an elbow injury, and Dylan Cease left last fall for a $210 million free-agent deal with Toronto.

Yet the Padres' team ERA is the second lowest in the majors at 3.22 after they beat Colorado 1-0 on Tuesday night for their 11th victory in 12 games. San Diego (16-7) is even with the back-to-back champion Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the majors.

General manager A.J. Preller figured out a way to fit Giolito under his budget even while his team is in ownership transition. The family of late Padres owner Peter Seidler is nearing a sale of the team to billionaire Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones.

Giolito will slot immediately into a rotation that currently includes Michael King, Randy Vásquez, Germán Márquez and former Dodgers star Walker Buehler. Right-hander Matt Waldron took a start last week after Pivetta's injury but struggled in a loss to the Angels.

Giolito agreed to a $38.5 million, two-year contract with Boston in January 2024. He will attempt to build on his strong work with the Red Sox in 2025, when he went 9-1 with a 2.26 ERA in 15 starts from June 10 to Aug. 31 after a slower start. Opponents hit .194 (25 for 129) against his changeup and .200 (3 for 15) against his curveball.

He was left off Boston’s postseason roster after experiencing some elbow discomfort in mid-September, but there was no structural damage — something he said was “a small relief in a very unfortunate situation.”

“As it was described to me in layman’s terms, my flexor is very irritated and at this point it’s hard for me to describe,” Giolito said after Game 1 of Boston’s AL Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees. “It’s like weird stuff going on with my bone. It’s one of those things I was told you got to stop throwing and let it calm down.”

Giolito hasn't pitched in the postseason since 2021, when he made his second career playoff appearance for the White Sox.

San Diego transferred right-hander Bryan Hoeing to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Giolito on the 40-man roster.

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AP Baseball Writer Jay Cohen contributed to this report.

___

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

The stoppage was issued at 12:49 p.m. Wednesday and was scheduled to last until 2 p.m., according to the FAA website. The stoppage has now been extended until 3:30 p.m.

At 3:30 p.m., it was lifted.

MORE ON THE STORMS: TIMELINE: Flood threat Wednesday in Houston

There have not been any stoppages or delays issued for George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) at this time.

No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy’s top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war.

Phelan’s departure is the latest in a series of shakeups of top leadership at the Pentagon, just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth also has fired several other top generals, admirals and other defense leaders since taking office last year.

Showing how sudden the latest move was, Phelan the day before had addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington and spoke with reporters about his agenda.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post that Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately" and Undersecretary Hung Cao will become acting secretary.

Cao ran a failed U.S. Senate bid in Virginia to try to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He had Trump’s endorsement in the crowded Republican primary.

Cao is a 25-year Navy veteran who served in combat zones. His biography includes fleeing Vietnam with his family as a child in the 1970s. In a campaign video for his Senate bid, he compared Vietnam’s communist regime during the Cold War to the administration of President Joe Biden.

“We are losing our country,” Cao said in video during the campaign, which blamed Biden for the criminal cases against Trump and showed footage of border crossings and store lootings. “You know it. But you also know that you can’t say it. We’re forced to say that wrong is right. We’re forced to lie.”

Phelan had not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service before President Donald Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024.

Phelan was a major donor to Trump’s campaign and founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC. According to his biography, Phelan’s primary exposure to the military came from an advisory position he held on the Spirit of America, a non-profit that supported the defense of Ukraine and the defense of Taiwan.

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Phelan’s office for comment.

Carter Page asserted in a 2020 lawsuit that he was the victim of “unlawful spying” by an FBI agency that was investigating whether Trump's 2016 campaign had conspired with Russia to affect the outcome of the election. The lawsuit alleged a series of omissions and errors made by FBI and Justice Department officials in applications they submitted in 2016 and 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to eavesdrop on Page on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia.

Page vigorously denied any claim of improper ties to Russia and was never charged with any wrongdoing.

Page appealed to the Supreme Court after lower courts tossed out his suit, with appellate judges saying last year that he had waited too long to file his complaint. But as the appeal was pending, the Trump administration informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it had reached a settlement with Page on his claims against the federal government. The settlement does not cover claims Page had made against former FBI officials he had also sued.

The court filing to the Supreme Court did not reveal a dollar figure, but a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss non-public information said the amount of the deal was $1.25 million.

Page's lawsuit followed a harshly critical Justice Department inspector general report that found significant problems with the four surveillance applications. Former FBI and Justice Department leaders who were involved in signing off on the surveillance have since said they wouldn’t have done so had they known of the extent of the issues, and the FBI has said it had initiated more than 40 corrective steps aimed at improving the accuracy and thoroughness of applications.

Despite the problems with the warrant applications, the scrutiny of Page accounted for only a narrow portion of the overall investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russia had interfered on Trump's behalf during the 2016 campaign and that the campaign welcomed the assistance. Mueller's team said it did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia.

The Justice Department in March settled a separate lawsuit with another figure from the Trump-Russia probe, reaching a roughly $1.2 million settlement with Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian diplomat and was later pardoned.

The incident has increasingly fueled speculation in the Latin American nation as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for more than a year has repeatedly underscored her country's sovereignty and publicly turned down offers by U.S. President Donald Trump of intervention on cartels.

The Mexican government acknowledges the presence of U.S. agencies on Mexican territory but says that they cannot participate in on-the-ground operations.

Mexican and U.S. officials have been offering contradictory accounts for days. After the Mexican government originally said it had no knowledge of any sort operation or U.S. involvement, the president admitted Wednesday that federal forces were involved and another high-level official acknowledged that the government at least discussed the matter with the U.S.

The collaboration came to light this week after two local investigators in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua and two CIA agents — originally identified as U.S. Embassy officials — reportedly died in a car crash in the early morning on Sunday while driving back from an operation to destroy cartel laboratories in a rugged area of Mexico. The local government said the convoy drove off the side of a ravine and the car exploded.

The Americans killed were from the CIA, The Associated Press confirmed on Tuesday with a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

Sheinbaum on Wednesday maintained that she had no knowledge of the operation between the U.S. and local Chihuahua authorities, and that it could constitute a violation of Mexico's law, because any such action should be approved by the federal government.

In her press briefing she said she was considering possible sanctions on Chihuahua’s government, and emphasized that the operation didn’t constitute a new security strategy by Trump in her country. She added that she sent a letter to the U.S. ambassador requesting that he provide all available information regarding the incident and that she planned to speak to Chihuahua's governor.

“There cannot be agents from any U.S. government institution operating in the Mexican field,” Sheinbaum said Wednesday. “It is very important that something like this not be allowed to go unaddressed."

The CIA particularly has a tainted legacy in Latin America, associated in decades past with orchestrating coups and backing military dictatorships in a number of countries. Despite that, the agency has maintained a presence in Mexico for many years, which has also been the subject of contention in Mexican politics.

On Wednesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on Sheinbaum's comments, saying that U.S. efforts to counter cartels in Mexico “is not only a benefit to the American people, but to her people as well.”

“I think the president would agree that some sympathy from Claudia Sheinbaum would be well worth it for the two American lives that were lost, considering all that the United States of America is doing currently under this president to stop the scourge of drug trafficking through Mexico to the United States,” Leavitt said in an appearance on Fox News.

The Trump administration has provided very few comments on the incident since the Sunday crash. The CIA declined to comment on Wednesday.

The back-and-forth comes after days of contradictions in accounts, which have raised eyebrows and have prompted experts to say it underscores heightened U.S. involvement in security operations in Mexico and across the region.

Those only continued on Wednesday when Sheinbaum acknowledged that Mexico's army participated in the operation, but didn't know that the U.S. agents were present. Days before, Chihuahua's Attorney General César Jáuregui said the investigation came following months of investigation by state prosecutors and Mexico's military.

Later on Wednesday, Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said at a news conference that the Defense Ministry had previously “received a petition for security support” by the U.S. But, he added, that “going to support an operation is different from actually being part of the planning of a operation.”

“Agents have never been in the field with us," he added.

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David Klepper and Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City, contributed to this report.

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

• Houston City Council passes Whitmire’s amended immigration ordinance in 13-4 vote to preserve state funding

KPRC 2 requested written policies and internal guidance from constable precincts across the county. While not all agencies publish detailed procedures online, several offices provided direct responses outlining how deputies are instructed to handle situations involving immigration concerns or potential ICE involvement.

• RELATED: Houston mayor unveils proposed amended immigration ordinance in hopes to restore state funding

Across the precincts that responded, a consistent theme emerged: deputies are generally not allowed to independently contact ICE, and decisions are routed through supervisors and, in some cases, legal counsel.

• PREVIOUS: Harris County leaders to take closer look at new guidelines for ICE interactions

Below is a precinct-by-precinct breakdown:

Precinct 1

KPRC 2 has reached out to Precinct 1 and is awaiting a response.

Precinct 2

In a statement provided to KPRC 2, Precinct 2 officials said deputies follow both departmental policies and applicable county guidance when directed by the Harris County Attorney’s Office.

When immigration-related questions arise:

• Deputies must contact a supervisor at the rank of lieutenant or higher
• Deputies are required to wait for guidance before taking further action
• Legal questions are referred to the County Attorney or District Attorney

This same process applies to any request to assist ICE. Officials noted they have not yet encountered a situation requiring action under this guidance.

Precinct 3

KPRC 2 has reached out to Precinct 3 and is awaiting a response.

Precinct 4

KPRC 2 has reached out to Precinct 4 and is awaiting a response.

Precinct 5

KPRC 2 has reached out to Precinct 5 and is awaiting a response.

Precinct 6

KPRC 2 has reached out to Precinct 6 and is awaiting a response.

Precinct 7

KPRC 2 has reached out to Precinct 7 and is awaiting a response.

Precinct 8

According to information provided by Precinct 8, the office has a written directive outlining how deputies must handle potential immigration-related situations.

Under that guidance:

• Deputies are prohibited from directly contacting ICE during calls for service, traffic stops, or field encounters
• Any concerns about immigration status must be reported to an on-duty supervisor
• Only a supervisor can determine whether contacting ICE is appropriate
• If approved, dispatch, not the deputy, contacts ICE to ensure proper documentation

The directive was issued in August 2025 at the request of Constable Phil Sandlin, according to the precinct. Officials say the process mirrors how deputies confirm arrest warrants with outside agencies and is designed to ensure proper verification and accountability.

• RELATED: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Houston over immigration ordinance

What’s consistent across agencies

While policies differ by precinct, the responses highlight several shared practices:

• Deputies do not independently initiate ICE contact
• Situations involving immigration concerns are elevated to supervisors
• Legal guidance may be sought before action is taken
• Any contact with federal authorities is documented through official channels

Because each constable is independently elected, there is no single countywide policy governing how deputies interact with ICE in the field.

But across the precincts that have responded so far, the approach is similar: deputies are expected to defer decisions, follow a chain of command, and ensure any interaction with federal immigration authorities is handled within established legal and procedural boundaries.

In his testimony to various committees in both the Senate and the House over multiple days this week and last, Kennedy was tasked with defending President Donald Trump’s proposed 2027 budget, which would boost defense spending while cutting more than 12% of funding from Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services.

With lawmakers of both parties raising concerns about programs and research funding being reduced or eliminated, Kennedy acknowledged the cuts were “painful” but said they were necessary to address the federal government’s record $39 trillion deficit.

When Democrats came out swinging, Kennedy became more defiant, even at times screaming his rebuttals — though some of them didn’t align with the facts. He accused multiple Democratic lawmakers of grandstanding, making things up and seeking sound bites over meaningful responses.

Here are takeaways from Kennedy’s gauntlet of budget hearings:

Kennedy deflects blame for Americans not vaccinating

One of the central fights shaping Kennedy’s interactions with Democratic lawmakers was over who bears responsibility for the decline in childhood vaccination rates and measles outbreaks that have ripped across the country over the past year, threatening the country’s measles elimination status. Kennedy’s refrain was consistent: It’s not my fault.

“It has nothing to do with me,” Kennedy said Tuesday of the uptick in measles across the country over the past year. He noted there is a global rise in measles cases, including in other countries like Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Kennedy, who spent years as an anti-vaccine crusader before entering politics and in 2021 said he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines, disputed accusations that he is anti-vaccine, saying he is “pro-science.”

Throughout the hearings, he sought to focus on HHS’s initiatives unrelated to vaccines — part of a broader administration pivot toward less controversial health topics like nutritious eating.

Kennedy argued that fewer Americans are vaccinating because they lost trust in government recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he was working to restore that trust. In fact, surveys show trust in federal health agencies has continued to decline during Kennedy’s tenure.

Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat from Washington, argued Kennedy’s vaccine views have caused a “spillover effect” that has led to mothers not giving their babies vitamin K injections common at birth to prevent brain bleeding.

“I’ve never said anything about vitamin K,” Kennedy said.

“That’s exactly the point,” Schrier replied.

Kennedy did get credit, however, from Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who said his work was crucial in helping the state manage a troubling measles outbreak over the past year.

“We would not be on the right side of this outbreak without your leadership,” Scott told Kennedy.

Kennedy forcefully denies there are Medicaid cuts – a claim experts call political spin

Nearly every time Democrats brought up the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade largely being created through new work requirements for enrollees, Kennedy lashed back to argue there are no cuts to Medicaid.

“Only in Washington is it considered a cut,” Kennedy told New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat, on Wednesday.

Kennedy cited a Congressional Budget Office report showing that Medicaid outlays are estimated to increase by about 47% over the next decade. But experts say his analysis of that report is disingenuous, politicized framing and that the increased spending reflects factors like inflation and a growing population.

“This is an old, sort of tired argument that’s been used by conservatives to justify spending cuts by saying, well, if spending is still growing in nominal terms, somehow there wasn’t a cut,” said Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University. “The federal government is spending nearly a trillion dollars less than it otherwise would have in the absence of the legislation.”

Lawmakers of both parties are concerned about affordability

A major concern for voters in the 2026 midterm elections is affordability — including skyrocketing costs for health care and health insurance. That wasn’t lost on those questioning Kennedy, as lawmakers from both parties raised the issue.

On Tuesday, Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican from Oregon, shared the story of his brother who pays $26,000 per year for his health coverage.

“What in the world can I go back to him and say? ‘Hey, the administration is working on trying to drive these prices down?’” he asked Kennedy.

Kennedy, for his part, cited several Trump administration initiatives to lower prices, including the White House's TrumpRx website for discounted drugs and Trump’s so-called most favored nations deals with pharmaceutical companies.

Pressed by senators, Kennedy pledged to provide details of those deals that didn’t include proprietary information or trade secrets. Some Democrats wanted him to do more.

“Why don’t you do an agreement yourself? he said in a jab to Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. “You’ve had power to do that for 20 years and haven’t done it.”

Kennedy acknowledges some HHS cuts are ‘painful’

To achieve a more than 12% cut of the more than $100 billion HHS budget, the Trump administration is proposing slashing some $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and cutting a bevy of other programs and initiatives, including a low-income home energy assistance program.

Several senators asked Kennedy why different areas were being cut. NIH cuts, in particular, raised bipartisan outcry.

“There’s an argument to be made that we’re handing China our lunch,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Kennedy was candid that neither he nor others at his agency wanted to see the cuts, which he called “painful.”

“There’s a lot of cuts to the agency that nobody wants,” he said.

For the Kennedy Center’s new leadership, it’s a gargantuan structure corroded by water damage so severe that steel in some places is tissue-thin.

Away from the political controversy that has consumed the iconic performing arts venue for the better part of Trump’s second term, Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s new executive director and chief operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the building on Wednesday. They viewed the outdoor terrace overlooking the Potomac River, along with parking decks, loading docks, an electrical vault and the Opera House stage.

A theme emerged at virtually every stop: The water damage was real, apparent in some places through discoloration and pooling. Some pieces of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the building, are decades old and in need of replacement.

And the building is so massive — sprawling across more than 1.5 million square feet — that repairs will require time to finish.

Two years of time, in fact.

Trump plans to shutter the building for a massive renovation slated to begin in July, supported by nearly $257 million provided by Congress to fund repairs. The institution is expected to turn to private donors to help support refurbishing some of the building's more exclusive areas, such as lounges.

The Kennedy Center is hardly the first fixture of the Washington skyline to undergo lengthy renovations. The Smithsonian Castle, one of the most recognizable buildings along the National Mall, has been closed for renovations since 2023. The Washington Monument was shrouded in scaffolding from 1998 to 2001 and covered again at points in 2013 and 2014 to repair earthquake damage.

None of those changes, however, were guided so closely by a sitting president.

The president is hands-on with this renovation

Trump, who is also trying to build a ballroom on the grounds of the former East Wing of the White House and is pushing for the construction of a triumphal arch near Arlington Cemetery, is deeply involved in the Kennedy Center plans. That's in line with the far more hands-on approach he's taken to the institution during his second term, ousting its previous leadership and replacing it with a handpicked board that named him chairman.

His name is now bolted to the building's facade along with that of John F. Kennedy, the slain president that the venue memorializes.

“It’s a public building, and I completely acknowledge that, but the president is really great at this, and I think his input is invaluable,” Floca said. “He’s in the details, and it’s amazing. I really respect the input he’s given.”

As Trump tightened his grip on the building, artists abandoned the institution in droves, prompting concern that the closure is more of an effort to cover for plunging sales. The Kennedy Center hasn't released sales figures.

Floca considered doing the repairs individually but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the building and move forward with the renovation all at once.

“When the President asked: ‘How do you make these projects the best? How do you make them really excellent and deliver them efficiently?’ my recommendation was you close the building and you do everything over a definite period of time, two years,” he said.

He acknowledged that once the building is closed, staffing will be “pretty bare bones.”

“We’re working on all of those plans now and exactly what those numbers will be after July,” he said. "And we will staff up before reopening.”

Still, the tour offered the institution something of a reset opportunity after more than a year of tumult, demonstrating the need for repairs while easing some fears. A bipartisan group of lawmakers and their staff, along with representatives for Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and some corporate and individual donors, have received a similar walk-through.

There will be scaffolding around the building but the construction won't be so dramatic that someone could see through the building. That's notable considering Trump has suggested the steel supporting the structure could be “ fully exposed.”

It's not entirely clear how much change will be apparent to the general public once the Kennedy Center reopens. Much of the structural repair, which will unfold during the renovation's first year, will happen in the building's private core.

The venue's more public elements, including the red-on-red decor of the Opera House, are expected to be maintained, though with some updating. There aren't plans at the moment to change the presidential boxes.

Quotes attributed to Kennedy will stay on the building's walls and the famous bust of the former president that sits outside the Opera House will be there again when the building reopens.

“I can’t think of any JFK changes,” Floca said.

It’s unclear, however, whether there will be additional tributes to Trump, who will be in the final months of his presidency when the public can return to the building.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that it violated the constitution because the state was directly seeking to regulate the federal government.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal. It had already granted a temporary administrative injunction to block the implementation of the law while the appeal took place.

The measure was one of two major pieces of legislation enacted last fall aimed at reining in federal immigration agents after a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration in Southern California in June. Advocates have raised concerns about masked agents conducting workplace raids or arresting people on the street, often without showing identification.

The other law would have banned most law enforcement officers from wearing masks, neck gaiters, and other facial coverings. It was blocked by a federal judge in February, who said that it discriminated against the federal government because it did not apply to state troopers. The law made exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and other situations where not wearing a mask would jeopardize the operation.

At a hearing March 3, Justice Department lawyers argued that the California identification requirement law sought to regulate the federal government, violating the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

The appeals court agreed unanimously, saying the law “attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions,” in an opinion written by Judge Mark J. Bennett. The panel was composed of two Trump appointees, Bennett and Daniel P. Collins, and Obama appointee Jacqueline H. Nguyen.

California lawyers argued that the law applied equally to all law enforcement officers without discriminating against the U.S. government, and that states could apply “generally applicable” laws federal agents. They also argued that the law was important to address public safety concerns.

People are more likely to attack officers in self-defense if there's no visible identification letting the public know they are law enforcement, California lawyers said in a brief opposing the injunction.

“This confusion has resulted in federal law enforcement officials being mistaken for criminals and vice versa, creating serious risk of harm to peace officers and members of the public,” they wrote.

In October 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a report warning that the increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity had spurred “criminal actors impersonating ICE agents to commit violent crime,” California attorneys noted.

The appeals court judges said they did not consider the public safety factors because the federal government has demonstrated its constitutional rights would be violated by the legislation, and “all citizens have a stake in upholding the Constitution,” it ruled, quoting previous case law.

The decision could have implications nationwide for other states that have pursued their own measures to place restrictions on immigration agents.

When a lower court struck down California’s mask ban, it left open another way of achieving the same goal. The judges in that case had indicated they would be more open to a law that banned masks for all law enforcement officers, not just federal ones. A new California bill attempts to revive the mask restrictions by also applying them to state troopers.

But the appeals court’s opinion signals a stricter view on the state government’s ability to regulate federal officers.

“The Supremacy Clause prohibits States from enacting a law that directly regulates federal operations even if the law regulates state operations in the same manner,” the judges wrote.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called it a “huge legal victory” in a post on X.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said they are reviewing the order.

“Transparency and accountability are the foundation of good law enforcement,” the office said in a statement. “The Trump Administration has stepped well outside the boundaries of normal practice, deploying masked and unidentified agents to carry out immigration enforcement, despite the risks these tactics pose to public safety and basic civil liberties.”

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait — where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime — with no end in sight. Iranian media said the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was bringing the two ships to Iran, marking a further escalation, though the White House said the seizures didn't violate ceasefire terms.

The conflict has already sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, nosed over $100 per barrel, marking a 35% increase from prewar levels, but stock markets still appear to be shrugging it off.

The European Union energy commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, warned of lasting impact for consumers and businesses, likening it to other major energy crises over the last half-century. He said the disruption is costing Europe around 500 million euros ($600 million) each day.

Iran holds firm in apparent tit-for-tat with US

Iranian media said the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas were being escorted to Iran. The U.S. had earlier seized two Iranian vessels as the ceasefire talks were due to take place in Pakistan.

Technomar, the management company behind the Liberian-registered Epaminondas, said it was “approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat” off the coast of Oman. It said the ship's bridge was damaged.

A second cargo ship came under fire hours later, with no report of damage, though the vessel was then stopped in the water. No injuries to the crew of either vessel were reported. The MSC Francesca's owner could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Guard attacked a third ship, identified as the Euphoria, which had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, Iranian media reported, without elaborating.

Iran taking control of two ships didn't violate truce terms because “these were not U.S. or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel.

There have been more than 30 attacks on ships in the Mideast since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28 with a surprise attack on Iran. Before then, the strait was open for all traffic.

Vortexa, an analytics firm focusing on global energy and freight markets, said it has recorded 34 movements of sanctioned and Iranian-linked tankers in and out of the Persian Gulf in the week after the U.S. imposed its blockade on April 13.

The firm identified 19 outbound and 15 inbound movements. Six of the outbound movements were “confirmed laden with Iranian crude, representing about 10.7 million barrels,” it said in an email.

It was not immediately clear whether all those barrels reached markets overseas.

It's not clear when talks will restart

Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait — which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean — has proved a major strategic advantage

While the ceasefire means that American and Israeli airstrikes have stopped in Iran — and Tehran’s missiles no longer target Israel and the wider Middle East — the maritime standoff continues and could escalate further.

Without any diplomatic agreement, the attacks will likely deter ships from even attempting to pass through the waterway, further squeezing global energy supplies.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker who met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Pakistan earlier this month, said a complete ceasefire “only makes sense” if not violated by the blockade that is “taking the world’s economy hostage.”

“Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such flagrant breach of the ceasefire,” he wrote on X.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told state TV that Iran has not decided whether to take part in a new round of negotiations with the U.S. He accused the United States of a “disregard and lack of good faith” in the negotiations.

Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, the head of the Iranian mission in Egypt, earlier told The Associated Press no delegation would go to Pakistan until the U.S. lifts its blockade.

Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters that Trump hasn’t set a deadline for receiving a proposal from the Iranians. “Ultimately, the timeline would be dictated by the commander in chief in the United States,” she said.

In the Iranian capital, Tehran, many grappled with the uncertainty.

“We should know where we stand. Is it going to be a ceasefire, peace, or the war is going to continue?” said Mashallah Mohammad Sadegh, 59. “The way things currently are, one doesn’t know what to do.”

Casualties mount in Lebanon amid plans for new talks

In southern Lebanon, three separate Israeli strikes killed at least six people and wounded others, according to local authorities. Israel denied carrying out one of the strikes and did not immediately comment on the others.

The attacks came as Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors prepared for a new meeting in Washington on Thursday toward extending a fragile 10-day ceasefire that began last week and provided an opening for Iran and the United States to move toward ending the wider war.

An Israeli drone struck the village of Jabbour, killing one person and wounding two others, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. Israel’s military denied it attacked the area.

Lebanon’s health ministry said two Israeli strikes on al-Tiri village killed three people, including a newspaper correspondent, and injured one other journalist.

Authorities said the body of Lebanese reporter Amal Khalil, who worked for the daily Al-Akhbar, was pulled from the rubble hours later. Lebanon’s health ministry said a team searching for her was unable to reach her while Israeli forces fired at an ambulance. Khalil had been covering Israel-Hezbollah hostilities since October 2023 and was reporting during the latest war, the newspaper said.

Israel’s military alleged people in al-Tiri violated the ceasefire and posed a risk to its troops safety. It denied it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area or that it targets journalists.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said a separate Israeli strike on the village of Yohmor killed two people and injured two others.

Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel from Lebanon days after the war's outbreak, sparking retaliatory strikes and an Israeli ground invasion. The ceasefire that started Friday has been marred by several Israeli strikes and Hezbollah claimed its first attack Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said a French peacekeeper wounded in a weekend attack in Lebanon died of his wounds. Another French peacekeeper was killed in the attack Saturday when the force came under small-arms fire in southern Lebanon.

Macron blamed the attack on Hezbollah, which denied involvement.

Since the war started, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran, according to authorities. More than 2,290 people have been killed in Lebanon, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen have died in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Epaminondas container ship.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan; Lorne Cook in Brussels; Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

Rivas Hernandez did not live long enough to study there. She was killed before her 15th birthday. An autopsy report released Wednesday said she still had braces when she died.

Her brief life unfolded in this unassuming community with a population of more than 70,000 and a sprawling lake at the center of town that is home to a lively water sports scene.

Almost eight months have passed since her decomposed and dismembered body was discovered in the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer D4vd. The 21-year-old musician, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder and other offenses in connection with the death and his relationship with Rivas Hernandez. He pleaded not guilty this week.

Little is known about teen's relationship with singer

Little is known about how the young girl entered Burke's orbit or what their relationship looked like. She grew up roughly 80 miles (129 kilometers) from the Hollywood Hills rental home where Burke lived and near where his car was abandoned with her body inside.

Their lives unfolded in contrasting environments. The street where Rivas Hernandez grew up has chain-link fences and small front yards. The street where Burke lived had security gates at nearly every driveway and privacy hedges interspersed between palm trees.

Rivas Hernandez's home has a white picket fence around the front yard and plants and flowers lining a walkway. Two rosary beads hang on the front door, and a painted rock nearby says “You Matter.”

More than half of the town's residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the latest census data. The streets are dotted with fast food chains and local businesses.

Several neighbors on the family's street and other Lake Elsinore residents said they did not personally know the family or Rivas Hernandez and that the family tended to keep to themselves. Even the neighbor who set up a sprawling memorial in her honor, Kayleigh Cortez, said she did not know her.

Seventh grader was reported missing in 2024

Rivas Hernandez was a 13-year-old seventh grader when her family reported her missing in 2024. Authorities said she had run away, and several residents remembered seeing flyers with her photo around town when she was missing.

“I didn’t know her personally, but she was a girl with a normal life. She had friends at school,” Elizabeth Davalos, a Lake Elsinore resident, said in Spanish.

Her parents, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, issued a statement Tuesday through their attorney that marked the first time they publicly commented on the case or their daughter. They described her as “a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance.”

“Every Friday night was movie night, and we spent wonderful times together,” the statement said. “We love her very much, and she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”

Some neighbors declined to be interviewed, citing fatigue from the media attention that has followed the case.

Town is a tight-knit community

Katie Favreau, a local business owner and longtime Lake Elsinore resident, said the town is a tight-knit, supportive community. Her appliance repair shop is a few doors down from where Hernandez grew up, but Faverau did not know her or her family.

“It’s just a really good, old-fashioned place to live. It’s like small towns in the Midwest. It’s just stuck in the middle of Southern California instead,” Favreau said. “If somebody is in need in this town, the whole town will rally.”

Favreau said the community has been supportive of Rivas Hernandez's family, and the majority of residents respect their privacy and grief. Conversations about the young girl's life and death are now “sporadic,” she said.

The memorial honoring Hernandez's memory showed signs of recent visitors this week, with fresh flowers mixed in with ones that had wilted long ago. There was an Easter bunny mixed in with a plush Hello Kitty toy that appeared to have been there for months.

Artificial tea candles spell out Celeste at the base of a sign that says “Justice for Celeste Rivas” and has handwritten notes from friends and mourners. Many included Bible verses or wishes that she is now at peace.

“God looked around his garden. He put his arms around you and lifted you to rest," one note read. "God's garden is beautiful, he always takes the best.”

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Associated Press journalists Leslie Ambriz and Damian Dovarganes in Lake Elsinore, California, and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Civil rights groups have called the proposed changes a “backdoor attempt” at repealing the ordinance, which the City Council approved 12-5 earlier this month. But under questions from council members Wednesday, the city’s attorney Arturo Michel said the amendment makes no major changes to the original measure. The mayor’s staff and the governor’s public safety office had negotiated the new language, Michel said, as some council members called the revision the “Abbott amendment.” 

Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s spokesperson, called the amendment approval “a step in the right direction.”

“Governor Abbott expects any policy HPD ultimately adopts to comply with the City’s certification that it would fully cooperate with [the Department of Homeland Security],” Mahaleris said in a statement. “Governor Abbott will continue to use every necessary tool to protect Texans.”

But in a subsequent interview with Fox News Wednesday afternoon, Abbott said the Houston Police Department “has not fully agreed to fully comply” with the contract for the state’s public safety grants so that funding could still be at risk for the city. The governor did not specify  whether the police department disagreed specifically with the city council’s change to the ordinance. When reached by phone, the police department deferred the comment request to City Hall. The mayor’s office did not immediately provide a statement.

“If the Houston Police Department does not fully comply with the terms of that agreement to detain any illegal immigrant they encounter and to notify DHS of the encounter, then the city and the police department still stand to lose that $110 million,” Abbott said.

On April 8, Houston’s City Council removed a rule directing police to wait 30 minutes for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents to arrive, if local officers encounter people with administrative immigration warrants during situations like traffic stops. The ordinance that replaced it also mandates quarterly reports from Houston police on its coordination with ICE. 

But after Abbott’s office threatened to withdraw more than $110 million in public safety grants on April 13, Mayor John Whitmire — who voted for the ordinance — immediately backtracked and pushed for a special City Council meeting on Friday to consider repealing the measure. Whitmire then canceled that meeting a few days later because the deadline to respond to the state’s demand was postponed.

The City Council discussed for more than two hours during its regular meeting Wednesday the amendment to the ordinance, which Whitmire said protects $114 million in state funding and reinforces people’s rights against unreasonable arrest or detention.  

“We have no alternative for Houston to survive,” the mayor said at the start of the meeting.

The ordinance says per the Fourth Amendment, officers can detain someone “only as long as reasonably necessary to complete the legitimate purpose of the initial stop or investigation.” The amendment strikes “only” and adds to it that officers may also detain the person “for other legitimate purposes discovered during the detention,” giving police more leeway for deciding when to extend the detention during these stops.  

“HPD will ensure the policy complies with this reasonable standard,” the proposal added. 

The amendment also removes emphasis that ICE administrative warrants are civil and that they do not by themselves justify a stop or continued detention by local police. 

In addition, the amendment redefines an ICE administrative warrant as “an administrative warrant issued by ICE personnel commanding the arrest of an individual either to conduct removal proceedings or for removal.” It strikes out language that says these warrants “are not reviewed by a neutral magistrate or judge and are not probable cause for a criminal arrest.”

During Wednesday’s discussion, some council members said some of the additional language is vague. Council member Alejandra Salinas, who spearheaded the ordinance, also pushed for clarification on how the amendment would change Houston police’s procedures on the ground. 

“I’m not aware of any change,” said Michel, the city’s attorney.

After another follow-up question, Whitmire responded that the amendment preserves the removal of the 30-minute wait for ICE agents. But he added that the revision gives officers the discretion to hold or release the person based on “reasonable consideration” and “the totality” of the situation. The mayor then said the explanations from him and Michel are “consistent” when Salinas sought another clarification. 

Following the vote, Salinas promised to continue fighting on this issue, noting that the amendment doesn’t resolve legal concerns that she and others raised about the city’s cooperation with ICE. 

“While I remain hopeful based on the City Attorney’s assurances that this amendment will continue to end HPD’s 30-minute wait policy and not permit HPD officers to detention on the basis of a civil administrative warrant alone, that language was struck by the Governor and Houstonians shouldn’t need to rely solely on assurances,” she said in a statement.  

Meanwhile, other city council members stressed the importance of restoring the state funding under threat — even as some spoke about the importance of immigration reforms and the values that immigrants bring to Houston. 

“Losing that funding would directly weaken services that people rely on every day. That is why this vote is not about the headlines or politics. It’s about responsible governance,” said Council member Joaquin Martinez. “At the same time, immigrants are Houstonians. I will continue to stand with immigrant families, support efforts that build trust between local law enforcement and the community, and push for policies grounded in fairness, transparency and dignity.”

A day before the Wednesday vote, Houston Police Officers’ Union President Douglas Griffith said he is in favor of the suggested changes, when read the proposed amendment by The Texas Tribune. The union had previously spoken out against the ordinance. 

“It’s my understanding it’s supposed to comply with state law,” Griffith said Tuesday. “And as long as it does that and protects our officers, we’re good with it.”

On the other hand, Travis Fife, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said the proposed changes would gut the ordinance. He also questioned why the proposal cuts details that inform the public about ICE administrative warrants. 

“At best, it is redundant and confusing,” Fife said. “And at worst, it’s a green light to unconstitutional police enforcement.”

The ACLU of Texas, which has expressed similar concerns about the proposal Tuesday, reiterated following the vote that the adopted amendment is effectively a repeal. Instead of allowing police to focus on public safety, the revised ordinance leaves officers without clear guidance and puts them in a role that they are not trained for, the rights group said. 

“Houston City Council caved to the governor’s threats and intimidation,” Caro Rivera Nelson, an attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. 

Besides Houston, the governor’s office has similarly threatened $2.5 million in grants from Austin, as well as more than $87 million in grants and World Cup public safety funding from Dallas. These two cities also have rules directing local police not to prolong the detention of people during encounters like traffic stops for ICE agents. 

Whitmire also said during the meeting that Austin and Dallas are in discussions with the state government over their ICE policies and will likely adopt language similar to what he had proposed. 

The two cities didn’t immediately respond to comment requests. But Ramon Batista, Austin’s assistant city manager for public safety, recently told the Austin Current that the city is continuing conversations with the governor’s office “in a good faith effort” to resolve the issue. 

“The public safety grant dollars are vitally important to our community — providing funding for things like victim services, timely processing of sexual assault evidence, targeted resources to address violence against women, youth diversion programs that keep kids out of the juvenile justice system, and cybersecurity enhancements that protect against cyber attacks and terror threats,” Batista said in a Tuesday statement. “The City must be able to allocate its resources in a way that protects public safety.”

Democrats and community organizations in North Texas also released a joint letter Wednesday pushing back against the governor’s threat to Dallas. 

In addition, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has also sued Houston over the issue. No lawsuits have been announced against the other cities as of Wednesday. 

Sam Stark contributed to this report. 

Some of the biggest blazes were near Georgia’s coast while others were popping up in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades.

It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia is perilously dry and the conditions prompted the state's forestry commission to issue a burn ban for the first time in its history. Southeastern Georgia has seen just 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain since the beginning of September — almost 15 inches (38 centimeters) below normal, the National Weather Service said.

The fires spread so quickly in southern Georgia that residents received no warnings or alerts.

“I wish that I had knew something more,” said Brianna Elliott, who left home Tuesday only to find her route back blocked by the fires 90 minutes later. “I would have turned around in that moment and gone home and got my animals before anything.”

She now fears that her home and her dogs are gone.

Georgia’s two biggest wildfires together have burned more than 31 square miles (80 square kilometers), and at least four other smaller fires have been reported in the state.

Dry timber feeds Georgia fires

The fast-moving Brantley County fire was threatening roughly 1,000 homes Wednesday after destroying almost 50 a day earlier.

That fire grew by roughly six times in just a half day Tuesday, said Joey Cason, the county manager. There were fires erupting “in the backyard and people taking off in the front yard,” he said Wednesday.

So far, no major injuries have been reported, Cason said.

The rural county is roughly midway between Georgia's coastal beaches and the Okefenokee Swamp and is dotted with livestock and fruit farms as well as thick stands of planted pines grown for timber.

Crews were working to create fire breaks and stop flames from reaching populated areas. The biggest concern was the gusting winds that could easily spread embers.

Authorities said rain was desperately needed. The area with the worst fires is in exceptional or extreme drought, the most dire levels, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“If you could start praying for that right now, we’d be grateful,” Cason said.

Pine and hardwood forests in the region are helping charge the fires, said Seth Hawkins, a spokesperson for the Georgia Forestry Commission. Swampy lowlands with thick layers of leaves and woody debris are “super flammable” when they dry out, he said.

The commission's 30-day burn ban is for the southern part of the state.

More residents are told to evacuate

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state's counties.

More people were told to evacuate from Brantley County on Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 800 evacuations that had already taken place there. Another large fire that started in nearby Clinch County also prompted evacuations.

Mike Reardon and his wife packed family photos and their dog, Molly Rose, along with new e-bikes before leaving their Brantley County home.

The fire was about a mile away and a shift in the wind would put flames “in our backyard in a matter of minutes,” he said.

The couple just built the home two years ago.

“It’s more than our house. It’s land that my dad bought years ago,” said Liz Reardon, fighting back tears. “It’s the most beautiful place in the world to me.”

Florida's sees its worst wildfire season in decades

In Florida, firefighters were battling 131 wildfires that had burned 34 square miles (88 square kilometers), mostly in the state’s northern half.

“Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years or it’s turning out to be that way,” Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said. “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state.”

A wildfire disrupted Amtrak train service Monday in the northeast part of the state. Service was back to normal Wednesday, according to Amtrak spokeswoman Beth Toll.

Wildfire smoke blows into Atlanta and Jacksonville

A dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds will keep the fire danger elevated Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

Smoke drifted to Atlanta, Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. The air quality in parts of south Georgia declined to the unhealthy category Wednesday, meaning all residents might feel health effects.

Smoky conditions were expected to linger throughout the Atlanta area on Wednesday, according to the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency. The worst fires were burning more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) southeast of the city.

The high fire risk was expected to continue each afternoon through Friday due to the very dry conditions, the weather service said.

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Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporters Jeff Amy and Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

The result condemned American-owned Burnley to relegation after one season back in the top flight.

Haaland ran onto Jeremy Doku's pass to convert a deft finish in the fifth minute for his league-high 24th goal of the campaign, which allowed City to back up its 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Sunday that, for many, turned Pep Guardiola’s team into the title favorite.

However, with goal difference potentially coming into play, City might regret not putting more past Burnley at Turf Moor.

Winning by a one-goal margin left City and Arsenal tied on both points (70) and goal difference (+37). City only leads courtesy of more goals scored (66 to Arsenal's 63).

“I was not frustrated, why would I be?" Guardiola said. “We won three points, we are top of the league.”

Haaland and Rayan Cherki struck the goal frame and Nico O'Reilly had a weak shot saved with the net at his mercy as City's players threw everything at Burnley — they finished the game having had 28 shots — in an effort to rack up the goals.

“In these types of games, if you score the second or third that you deserve, everything’s more fluid and natural,” Guardiola said.

“But,” he added, “the main target was winning the game.”

City was nine points adrift of Arsenal after drawing with West Ham on March 14. Three straight wins, combined with back-to-back losses for Arsenal, has seen the title race turn on its head.

Relegation was inevitable for Burnley

For next-to-last Burnley, a third relegation from the Premier League in the last five seasons has been an inevitability for weeks.

Scott Parker's team slipped to its 22nd loss of the campaign and is 13 points from safety with four games left.

Burnley will be going down with last-place Wolverhampton, whose fate was sealed at the weekend, and one other team.

Leeds edges further clear of relegation

In the other match Wednesday, Leeds scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time to draw 2-2 at Bournemouth and edge nine points clear of third-to-last Tottenham, which occupies the other place in the relegation zone.

Sean Longstaff's late equalizer denied Bournemouth a win that would have lifted the team to sixth place, four points off the Champions League qualification positions.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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

“We don’t really get to experience this kind of energy and fandom in person very often,” Tierney told The Associated Press just after their joint appearance, a highlight of the weekend gathering of (mostly) young book fans. “It’s been a bit more of an amorphous online thing.”

Since the first episode of “Heated Rivalry” dropped last November, Tierney's adaptation of Reid's “Game Changer” series featuring star-crossed hockey greats Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov has become a phenomenon that boosted the sport's popularity, made Reid a leader of the thriving genre of sports romance fiction and made Olympic torchbearers out of lead actors Hudson Williams (Shane) and Connor Storrie (Ilya). Tierney expects to begin filming the second season this summer, based in part on the second of Reid's novels about Shane and Ilya, “The Long Game.” The author, meanwhile, is working on a third Shane and Ilya book, “Unrivaled.” Both are scheduled for 2027 releases.

“Heated Rivalry” fans know well the story of how the HBO Max show was born, and of Reid's jarring swing from despair to exhilaration. In August 2023, she learned that she had early onset Parkinson's disease. Days later, she received an Instagram message from a man she had never met, but would soon change her life in a very different way: Tierney.

The 46-year-old Tierney is a Montreal native, former child star and award-winning filmmaker whose credits include the TV series “Letterkenny.” In October, Little, Brown and Company will release a collection of Tierney's annotated scripts, “I'll Believe in Anything: The Making of Heated Rivalry Season 1.”

Reid, 44, is a longtime hockey fan. Born Rachelle Goguen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she chose her pen name for the practical reason that it's easier to pronounce and remember. She's been open about the impact of fame and her health, posting an Instagram announcement in February that she was pushing back the release date of “Unrivaled” from this fall to next summer. Onstage, she acknowledged it had been “tricky” to write since the series took off.

“I'm in a place where the whole world seems to care about what happens next to these characters,” she said. “I'm still determined to stick to what I've always done when I was writing, just kind of pretend I'm writing for me and I hope other people like it.”

During their AP interview, Reid and Tierney spoke of the joy of sex on the page and screen and how Shane and Ilya just won't leave them alone. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: Writers talk about writing the books they want to read, and filmmakers making the movies they want to see. With these books, it comes out of that?

REID: I really like a forbidden romance. I really like the rivals-to-lovers element. I just also like a queer love story with a happy ending. And I really like hockey, so I think there’s just a lot of elements in it that are just very much what I personally would like. I think if this show had come out and had nothing to do with me, I would be obsessed with it still.

TIERNEY: I did not grow up with stories like this. We don’t as gay men, as queer people. We do not get to have happy endings in media very often. I would definitely have watched it (even if he didn't direct it), that’s for sure. I’m sure I would have had notes. I'm a little picky.

AP: At what point for either of you did you realize that you had something big here?

TIERNEY: It was a kind of a series of increasingly surreal and overwhelming moments. And by the time the sixth episode aired, it really did feel like we were kind of at the center of a strange maelstrom. But I also was like, “Am I making this up? Is this actually happening?”

REID: I did a bookstore event the day after the trailer came out. They showed the trailer at the event, and everybody in the audience knew every word of the trailer and was saying it along with the trailer. So that was when I was like, “OK, this is going to be nuts.”

AP: Writers and filmmakers have talked about the difficulty of writing or filming sex scenes. Was that a challenge for either of you?

REID: Honestly, I love writing them and I’ve never found that to be the difficult part. I think it might be the easiest part for me. I actually really enjoy it. Not to praise myself too much, but I think maybe that’s why people like the scenes. They weren’t hard for me. It’s not a scary thing. It’s not the part that I have to close my eyes and write or anything. It's my favorite part.

TIERNEY: Sex is a language in this show, sex is a way that we watch this couple evolve over the course of a fairly long amount of time in terms of the story, eight years. And so the sex is different every time, a way of watching them evolve both separately and together. I think sex reveals a lot about yourself that you don’t even intend to reveal. And I find that quite fascinating as a storyteller.

AP: How real are Ilya and Shane for you? Do they live on in your heads?

REID: Yeah. That’s why I keep writing books about them, because they just keep talking. With other characters, I’ve written the books and they’ve left. But these guys just stick around.

AP: What is it about them that makes it that way?

REID: They're fun to write. I love it.

AP: You've talked about your struggles with getting the next book done. Any updates on that?

TIERNEY: It's a coloring book now.

REID: It’s 20 pages.

TIERNEY: Don’t tell the truth.

REID: The thing that hasn’t changed is how much fun they are to write. I find their voices very easy to put on the page. More than any other characters I’ve created, they arrived fully formed. They kind of just appeared one day.

AP: Were they based on anybody, at least loosely, who you know?

REID: There’s a lot of myself in Ilya, for sure. There’s a lot of, kind of hockey player archetypes — the flashy, cocky European superstar, that’s definitely a type. The uptight, very serious good boy-captain. And there’s been plenty of NHL players from decades of hockey. And I’ve been a fan for decades. And obviously there have been some really great rivalries. And we’re getting probably to the end of the (Sidney) Crosby-(Alex) Ovechkin rivalry right now. But that rivalry at its peak was so fun.

AP: What do you see of yourself in Ilya?

REID: A sense of humor, mostly. It's a little bit mean. I also kind of like to use humor to cover up emotions, you know, things like that. I think I also notice things about people a bit, but maybe stay quiet about it.

AP: I've heard a lot of writers talk about writing a book that gets made into a film. And the actors are just so good that when the writer comes back to writing about those characters, they’re seeing those actors in their head. Is it going that way for you?

REID: I told Jacob I wish I had never met them. (Laughing) It is challenge writing without thinking about somebody having to actually say or do what I’m writing, for sure. I’m trying to just block that out. I just need to pretend it definitely will never happen, because I think that’s the only way I can do it.

AP: And you still hope to have the next book out at some point next year?

RR: Yeah. That book will come out June 1. Hell or high water, it's coming out.

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This story has been updated to corrected Reid's first name at birth was spelled ‘Rachelle,’ not

‘Rachel.’

Pickens hasn't signed the one-year deal worth $27.3 million, which means the 25-year-old would face no financial penalties if he didn't report to mandatory minicamp in June. The rest of the offseason program, which starts Monday, is voluntary.

“We’ve made a decision that we’re going to have George play under the franchise tag, which won’t be a first for us,” Stephen Jones said. “So there won’t be negotiations on a long-term deal. But that’s certainly not a first for this organization and certainly won’t be a first in the league in terms of this decision as we move forward.”

Stephen Jones said he hasn't talked to Pickens recently, but said owner Jerry Jones and coach Brian Schottenheimer met with him recently.

“It was good,” Schottenheimer said during the Cowboys' news conference leading into the NFL draft, which starts Thursday night. “The thing that George knows about Jerry and myself is we’re very upfront and we’re honest. We had great conversation. We informed him. We think that’s important because that’s the way we handle all of our players and coaches.”

David Mulugheta, Pickens' agent, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pickens, acquired last offseason in a trade with Pittsburgh, had career highs in catches (93), yards receiving (1,429) and touchdowns (nine) for one of the best offenses in the NFL last season. Dallas had one of the worst defenses in the league and finished 7-9-1, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.

The 2022 second-round pick out of Georgia thrived alongside CeeDee Lamb, who is going into the second year of a $136 million, four-year contract that currently ranks him third among NFL receivers with an average annual value of $34 million.

Lamb missed the entire offseason and training camp in 2024 holding out for the deal he signed about two weeks before the season opener.

The Cowboys couldn’t use the tag on Lamb because he was going into the fifth year of his rookie contract. The fifth year is a team option that goes with all deals for first-round picks. Second-rounders have four-year deals, and Pickens earned $6.8 million on his rookie contract.

Pickens’ talent was on display during three seasons with the Steelers, but so were enough instances of petulant or indifferent behavior for then-coach Mike Tomlin to question his maturity.

Schottenheimer never took issue with Pickens publicly in his first season as a head coach after a quarter-century as an NFL assistant. But Pickens and Lamb were benched for the first series in Las Vegas after missing curfew following a casino visit the night before the game.

“There’s a lot of things that go into that,” Stephen Jones said of the decision not to go forward on a long-term deal this offseason. “Let’s start with the fact that it’s not easy having two receivers being paid top of the market. A quarterback that’s been here, being the highest-paid player in this league for many years now.”

“The other thing is the newness of George being here,” Stephen Jones said. “I think George has just done an amazing job. I mean he’s exceeded all expectations. And a lot of those things, they make their way toward a long-term deal, but that’s the biggest part of it — between the business and newness of it, I think that’s a big part of it."

The Cowboys have until July 15 to reach a long-term deal with Pickens, who could stay away from the team well into the season without signing the offer under the franchise tag.

Quarterback Dak Prescott and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence played a season under the franchise tag within the past eight years for Dallas before reaching long-term deals. Tight end Dalton Schultz and running back Tony Pollard also played under the tag before leaving in free agency the next year.

The Cowboys are a year removed from contentious negotiations with Micah Parsons that ended with the star pass rusher getting traded to Green Bay. Mulugheta was also Parsons' agent.

“I expect that he’ll be around. I really do,” Schottenheimer said of Pickens. “The one thing that I love about George is George likes honesty and that’s who we are. That’s not just because his name is George Pickens and he’s a great player. We do that to undrafted free agents, and that gives you the best chance to make sure you’re all on the same page.”

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

Multiple videos from bystanders show a masked agent grabbing and pulling Franci Stagi across the street during a protest in October against the detention of three Colombian asylum-seekers in Durango, Colorado. She said he grabbed her by the hair and put her in a chokehold. The state is among several that prohibited or severely limited police officers from using chokeholds and neck restraints since George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations launched an investigation into the officer's actions against Stagi at the request of Durango Police Department Chief Brice Current, who raised concerns about possible violations of state law — an unusual if not unprecedented request.

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which launched its own investigation, acknowledged a request Wednesday seeking comment but didn’t immediately respond to questions about the charges. Court documents didn’t list any attorney as representing the officer, Nicholas Rice.

Stagi said she was standing close to the officer and filming him outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Durango, a college town popular for outdoor recreation, when he hit her hand hard, causing her to lose her cellphone. Stagi, a retired hypnotherapist, said she then reached for the officer's shoulder to get his attention. After she said he put her in a chokehold, she said he threw her down an embankment next to the street. She said she still experiences pain in her arm doing normal everyday activities, like putting on her jacket.

Court documents allege that Rice committed third-degree assault by causing bodily injury to Stagi, but the documents don’t describe how she was injured or make mention of a chokehold. Rice also is charged with criminal mischief for allegedly damaging Stagi’s cellphone.

Stagi said Wednesday she was disappointed Rice was charged with less serious crimes. The assault charge, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum sentence of just under a year in jail. But she hopes the prosecution sends a message that immigration officers can't tackle people indiscriminately and use excessive force.

“It did open my eyes to how quickly I can be under someone else's control, and it's frightening,” said Stagi, whose legal name is Anne Francesca Stagi.

Federal law enforcement officers have broad legal protections when acting in the course of their official duties, and the Justice Department has in recent months taken a hard line against state efforts to arrest or prosecute federal agents. Late last year, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said arrests of federal officers performing their duties would be “illegal and futile,” citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and federal law. Legal experts say those protections are significant but not absolute and the Supremacy Clause does not provide blanket immunity.

Chokeholds have been at the center of public discourse and state legislative initiatives about what constitutes an unreasonable use of force since Eric Garner died in New York in 2014 after he was put in a chokehold by a white police officer.

Garner’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

While some states have banned chokeholds and other tactics, sweeping changes were met with resistance.

A federal package of reforms that would have banned chokeholds nationwide passed the U.S. House in 2021 but failed to reach then-President Joe Biden’s desk. The bill was named in honor of Floyd, who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee to his neck.

Within a month of Floyd’s death, Colorado lawmakers approved a ban on chokeholds as part of broader police reform legislation. The law overrode more limited chokehold restrictions that were put in place four years earlier.

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Slevin reported from Denver. Lee contributed to this report from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs one committee that oversees Kennedy's department and sits on another, took a tough but measured posture in two high-stakes hearings Wednesday, where he asked the health secretary about affordability, fraud, abortion drugs and the rise of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles.

A liver doctor, Cassidy has clashed with Kennedy’s vaccine agenda even though he provided crucial support for the health secretary’s nomination last year.

At the same time, Cassidy is fighting for his political future in next month’s primary in Louisiana, where President Donald Trump has endorsed one of his opponents in an unusual attempt to oust a sitting senator from his own party.

Ahead of Wednesday's hearings, experts said his handling of them could affect his chances at a pivotal moment of his reelection campaign and set the tone for how Congress oversees the nation's health agenda at a time of rampant distrust and misinformation.

“He’s taken a risk showing any sort of resistance to RFK,” said Claire Leavitt, an assistant professor at Smith College who studies congressional oversight. “He may pay an electoral price for that.”

Cassidy took that chance on Wednesday, noting that trust in vaccines has declined in the U.S. over the past year and asking Kennedy how he would address expected outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases with the upcoming World Cup and America 250 events.

“I am a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine preventable diseases,” Cassidy said. “And when I see outbreaks numbering in the thousands and people dying once more from vaccine preventable diseases, particularly children, it seems more than tragic.”

Louisiana political consultant Mary-Patricia Wray said the senator's approach was like a “polite ‘I told you so.’”

“Cassidy reinforced the real-world consequences of declining vaccine confidence while subtly signaling that the administration's posture is moving closer to where he has been as a physician,” Wray said.

Cassidy has long advocated for vaccines

Cassidy has spent years walking a political tightrope. He's one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

As a liver doctor, he advocated for babies to receive hepatitis B vaccines shortly after birth, a step that could have prevented the disease in his patients. But when Trump nominated Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, Cassidy supported him. He did so after securing various commitments, including that Kennedy would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring system and support the childhood vaccine schedule.

The vote for Kennedy did not appear to mollify Trump. The president endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, one of Cassidy's two primary opponents.

Cassidy also faces opposition from Kennedy's allies in the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, a group that includes both anti-vaccine activists and a wide variety of other crusaders for health and the environment. The MAHA PAC, aligned with Kennedy, has pledged $1 million to Letlow’s campaign. While the organization hasn't publicly said so, some have questioned whether the support is partly in retaliation against Cassidy for criticizing Kennedy's vaccine policy agenda.

“I’m not really sure what MAHA’s beef is,” Cassidy told reporters earlier this month. “Let me point out that I am the reason that Robert F. Kennedy is now the secretary of HHS. He would not have gotten there otherwise.”

Cassidy argues that he has “strongly supported” the MAHA agenda, especially when it comes to the fight against ultraprocessed foods. However, the physician-turned-senator acknowledged that he and MAHA have “disagreed on vaccines.”

“We’ve seen, frankly, that I am right,” Cassidy added, pointing to recent measles-related deaths of children who were not vaccinated.

At a hearing in September, he slammed Kennedy’s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccine development. He interrogated Kennedy over his attempt to replace members of a vaccine committee, suggesting the new members could have conflicts of interest. He also raised concerns that Kennedy's vaccine policy decisions could be making it harder for Americans to get COVID-19 shots.

Later that month, Cassidy convened a hearing featuring former CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was ousted by Kennedy less than a month into her tenure after they clashed over vaccine policy, and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who resigned in August citing an erosion of science at the agency.

“I want to work with the president to fulfill his campaign promise to reform the CDC and Make America Healthy Again. The president says radical transparency is the way to do that,” Cassidy said at the time.

Experts say Cassidy's vaccine stance might not hurt him

Political consultants said they expect Cassidy’s primary opponents, Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, to seize on any sound bites from Wednesday’s hearings that can make Cassidy seem at odds with the Trump administration.

But Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at UC Law San Francisco, said the political risk of his vaccine advocacy may not be as strong among Republicans as some people assume. That's in part because Kennedy and the Trump administration have recently pivoted away from discussing vaccines, focusing instead on less controversial topics like healthy eating.

“He’s probably not alienating voters by focusing on the issue and calling it out,” she said.

Cassidy also showed during Wednesday's hearings a willingness to be tough on Kennedy from the political right. He asked Kennedy why HHS hasn't reinstated an in-person dispensing requirement for chemical abortion drugs.

Through that line of questioning, Wray said, he's courting non-MAHA Republican voters who want to see the Trump administration do more on their priorities.

He's proving that “working with this administration doesn't mean he works for this administration,” Wray said.

Election outcome will shape future oversight of HHS

Also at stake if Cassidy doesn’t make it to November’s general election is what will happen to his responsibility to oversee the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

Leavitt, the Smith College professor, said seniority typically plays the most important role in who chairs Senate committees. She said another Republican in today’s increasingly hyperpartisan Congress may not be as willing as Cassidy to check Kennedy’s power.

Reiss, the vaccine law expert, said she wishes Cassidy had done more hearings or introduced legislation to rein in Kennedy. And she said the senator bears the blame for allowing Kennedy to bring unfounded vaccine fears into the government in the first place.

“His original sin, of course, was voting for Kennedy at all,” Reiss said.

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Associated Press writer Sara Cline contributed to this report.

Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran who heads a coalition that supports Afghan resettlement efforts called #AfghanEvac, said Wednesday that U.S. officials informed him and other groups of discussions between the United States and Congo about taking the Afghan refugees who have been in limbo at a U.S. base in Doha for the past year.

The 1,100 refugees at Camp As-Sayliyah include Afghans who served as interpreters and with Special Operations Forces as well as the immediate families of more than 150 active duty U.S. military members.

The State Department said Wednesday that it is working to identify options to “voluntarily” resettle the refugees in a third country, but it did not confirm which nations were being discussed.

An alternative provided to the refugees, VanDiver said, is to return to Afghanistan, where they face likely reprisal or even death at the hands of the Taliban for working alongside the U.S. during the two-decade war.

“You cannot call a choice voluntary when the two options are Congo and the Taliban, civil war or an oppressor who wants to kill you,” VanDiver said at a virtual press conference. “That is not a choice. That is a confession extracted under duress.”

The discussions — which were reported earlier by The New York Times — come more than a year after President Donald Trump paused his predecessor’s Afghan resettlement program as part of a series of executive orders cracking down on immigration.

That policy left thousands of refugees who fled war and persecution, and had gone through a sometimes yearslong vetting process to start new lives in America, stranded at places worldwide, including the base in Qatar.

From one war-torn country to another

Negotiations between the U.S. and several other countries, including Botswana and Malaysia, started months ago, according to an executive at a refugee resettlement agency who was briefed by U.S. officials. The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share private negotiations, said Botswana was seen by many refugee advocates as the most promising option but that talks between senior U.S. officials and the country’s leadership fell through. In early April, the executive was briefed that Congo was now the main option being discussed.

A person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity said they had heard from State Department personnel that the U.S. was looking at sending the Afghans at the base in Qatar to countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The person said the Afghans were told Wednesday that there was no final deal on where to send them.

The base in Doha “was always intended as a transit platform. It was never designed to hold families for months or years, which is the situation that people are currently in,” said Jon Finer, who was deputy national security adviser to then-President Joe Biden. “What I want to emphasize is that this was intended to honor a wartime commitment.”

Finer and other former U.S. officials and refugee advocates warned of the risk of resettling Afghans in Congo, a country that U.N. officials say is facing “one of the most acute humanitarian emergencies in the world."

The African country has been battered by decades-long fighting between government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels in its eastern region.

Congolese authorities did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment on the discussions, which did not come as a surprise to some there. Congo is one of at least eight African nations that were paid millions in controversial deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.

Like most other African nations involved in the deportation program, Congo is also among the worst hit by the Trump administration’s policies on aid and trade. At least 70% of the country’s humanitarian aid came from the U.S. before Trump's second term, and aid workers say American aid cuts have led to avoidable deaths in the conflict-hit region.

Sean Jamshidi — an Afghan American who served in the U.S. military, including a stint in Congo — said he was deeply concerned about his brother possibly being sent from the Doha base to the war-torn country.

“I saw the security situation and what it looked like there. I saw the displacement camps. ... I stood in places where the United Nations has counted the dead,” Jamshidi said. “I’m telling you, as someone who has been in uniform, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not a place you send vetted Afghan allies and their children to live.”

Refugees are in the dark as they await their fate

Negina Khalili, a former prosecutor in Afghanistan who fled during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal, has been waiting to hear about the resettlement status of her father, brother and stepmother since they arrived at the Doha base in January 2025. That was just days before Trump suspended the refugee program soon after he returned to the White House.

Khalili told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she spoke to her family about reports that they could be sent to Congo.

“They are not giving them any information or updates regarding which countries they will go to,” she said. “They were so stressed and worried about it and said that Congo is not a safe place either. They don’t know if it’s a temporary location for them there or a permanent location. They are worried.”

She said U.S. officials at the camp have been suggesting to refugees that they go back to Afghanistan and offering them money to do so.

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Amiri reported from New York and Asadu from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 jumped 1% and t opped its prior all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 340 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite set its own record after jumping 1.6%.

GE Vernova flew 13.7% higher after the company, whose products help generate about a quarter of the world’s electricity, reported profit for the first three months of the year that blew past analysts’ expectations.

Like the broader stock market, GE Vernova is benefiting from the rise of artificial-intelligence technology, and its electrification business booked more equipment orders for data centers during the quarter, $2.4 billion, than it did during all of last year. The company also raised its forecasts for revenue and other financial measures over the full year.

The vast majority of companies in the S&P 500 have so far been delivering results for the start of 2026 that have topped analysts’ expectations, even with the war in Iran driving up oil prices and uncertainty for the global economy. Such strong performances have helped the S&P 500 power higher, and the index recorded its 13th gain in its last 16 days.

Boston Scientific rallied 9%, Boeing climbed 5.5%, and Philip Morris International rose 7% after all likewise delivered results for the latest quarter that were stronger than analysts expected.

Still, another rise in oil prices helped keep enthusiasm in check on Wall Street. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 3.5% to $101.91 on uncertainty about when the war with Iran could let up and allow petroleum to flow freely to customers from the Persian Gulf again.

The war has restricted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway off Iran’s coast that oil tankers typically use to exit the Persian Gulf. Iran fired on three ships in the strait and seized two of them on Wednesday.

A day earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire but also said he was maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports. The blockade keeps Iran from making money by selling its own crude oil.

The standoff over Iran’s closure of the strait and the U.S. blockade raised doubts about when or if talks would resume to end the crisis.

Brent crude has shot up from roughly $70 per barrel since before the war on worries about a long-term disruption to the flow of oil. But moves in both the oil and stock markets have become more modest in recent weeks, following vicious swings where Brent’s price briefly topped $119 and the S&P 500 dropped nearly 10% below its prior all-time high.

On the losing end of Wall Street Wednesday was Best Buy, which fell 4.6% after the electronics retailer announced the departure of CEO Corie Barry. She will be replaced by longtime insider Jason Bonfig, the company’s chief customer, product and fulfillment officer.

Stocks of cannabis companies rose amid reports that the Trump administration is preparing to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Trump signed an executive order in December meant to speed up the Drug Enforcement Administration’s process for reclassifying the drug, a move that would not make it legal for recreational use by adults nationwide, but could change how the drug is regulated and reduce a hefty tax burden on the cannabis industry.

Tilray Brands jumped 14.2%, and Canopy Growth soared 20.2%.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 73.89 points to 7,137.90. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 340.65 to 49,490.03, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 397.60 to 24,657.57.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.2%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady despite the gain in oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.30%, where it was late Thursday.

A day before, it had climbed after Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, said he never promised Trump he would cut interest rates even though Trump has been angrily calling for lower rates.

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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Now that it's been approved by voters, the new Virginia map will have to clear additional legal hurdles. On Wednesday, the state attorney general’s office said it would immediately appeal a ruling earlier in the day from a judge in rural southern Virginia who ordered that the results of Tuesday’s vote not be certified.

Ultimately, the Virginia Supreme Court will decide whether Democratic lawmakers violated procedural rules when they referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot authorizing the new U.S. House districts that could help Democrats win as many as four additional seats in the state. If so, that could invalidate the map voters narrowly approved Tuesday.

What happens next in Florida also will matter.

The state's Republican-controlled Legislature is to meet in a special session next week that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis called in part to draw a new map to expand the party's congressional majority there. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to issue an opinion by the end of June in a Louisiana case that could overturn a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and lead to redrawn political maps across the South, though almost all of those could not happen until 2028.

After voters passed the Virginia amendment, Democrats could tentatively claim that they netted 10 seats nationally from the mid-decade redistricting, compared with the nine that Republicans claim. Even if things swing again in the GOP's favor, the net result of Trump's campaign would be at best an incremental increase in the number of GOP-leaning House seats at a time when his approval rating is dropping and Republican anxiety over losing control of Congress in November is rising.

“We have successfully blunted Trump’s attempt to completely hijack the midterms," said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Many Republicans agreed.

“The GOP will now lose net seats across the country. If you’re going to pick a fight, at least win it,” Ari Fleischer, who was a spokesman for President George W. Bush, posted on the social media site X after the Virginia vote. “All this was foreseeable and avoidable. We should not have started this fight.”

Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, argued that it is too soon to declare one party a victor.

“It's an ongoing process with many legal challenges pending, and it's far too early for sweeping statements on the final outcome,” he said.

Trump on Wednesday tried to undermine the Virginia result by leveling groundless accusations of fraud similar to ones he made after losing the 2020 presidential election. He called the Virginia vote “RIGGED” and “Crooked” in a post on his social media site and added, “Let’s see if the Courts will fix this travesty of 'Justice.'”

Redistricting spread from Texas to other states

Redistricting is typically done every 10 years after each census, unless ordered by a court. But last summer, Trump pushed a redrawing in Texas, prodding the state's Republican-controlled Legislature to add up to five winnable House seats for his party. Trump then began pressuring other Republican-run states to follow. Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have since created more GOP-leaning seats in addition to Texas.

Democrats began to fight back, even though they were more constrained because several Democratic-controlled states had maps drawn by independent commissions rather than lawmakers and governors.

To counter Texas, California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, pushed the Democratic-controlled Legislature to place a redistricting initiative on last fall's ballot. After voters overwhelmingly approved it, the measure will replace a commission-approved map with one that could gain Democrats five seats.

Democrats reclaimed the Legislature and governor's office in November in Virginia and swiftly moved to replicate California's move with an even more aggressive redistricting plan. It replaces a congressional map imposed by a court after the last census that had resulted in a 6-5 edge for Democrats with one that could allow Democrats to win as many as 10 seats.

“We are not going to let anyone tilt the system without a response,” state Senate President L. Louise Lucas said at a news conference Wednesday.

Courts could still have a say on redistricting

In Washington, U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York warned Florida Republicans, who have been openly nervous about redrawing their district boundaries and potentially spreading their core voters too thin before an election that appears to be trending against them.

“Our message to Florida Republicans right now is, ‘F around and find out,’” Jeffries said.

House Majority Forward, the nonprofit arm of the super political action committee aligned with House Democrats, has spent nearly $60 million to push back against Republicans' redistricting efforts. Some $40 million of that was on the Virginia campaign.

Another obstacle in Florida is an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment that was approved by state voters in 2010. It is likely that any new Florida map would trigger significant litigation, although six of the state Supreme Court's seven justices were appointed by Republicans.

Nicholas Stephanopolous, a Harvard law professor, said a challenge for DeSantis is that the Florida amendment forbids drawing lines for purely partisan purposes, so he has to find some other excuse for revising the map. “Even with that sort of acquiescent state supreme court, I don't think it's a done deal,” Stephanopolous said.

The Virginia move comes with its own legal issues. Republicans have challenged the process that Democrats used to place the measure on the ballot and the state Supreme Court opted to wait for the vote before even scheduling arguments in the case. It is unclear when a ruling could come.

Wednesday's ruling stopping certification came from a separate case that Republicans filed with the same lower court judge, whose initial ruling against the initiative was put on hold by the state supreme court.

“The ballot box was never the final word here,” Terry Kilgore, the Virginia House Republican leader, said in a statement after Tuesday's vote. “Serious legal questions remain about both the wording of this referendum and the process used to put it before voters.”

The biggest legal wild card is held by the U.S. Supreme Court. Its conservative majority could throw out a requirement under the Voting Rights Act that in areas with a large minority population, mapmakers draw districts that are more favorable to the election of minority candidates.

That provision has led to the creation of several majority-minority congressional seats, especially in the South. Without it, Republicans in conservative states could shrink the number of U.S. House seats winnable by Democrats even further.

But it's unlikely that any state other than Louisiana, which brought the lawsuit the high court will rule on, would be able to adjust its congressional lines in time for November even if the court eliminates that provision, known as Section Two. That's because the November election is already officially underway in most states and candidate filing deadlines — and, in some cases, primary elections — have already passed.

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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam in Washington contributed to this report.

The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility, Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said.

A chemical gas reaction occurred at the plant involving nitric acid and another substance, Sigman said at a news briefing. He added that there was "a violent reaction of the chemicals and it instantaneously overreacted.”

“Starting or ending a chemical reaction are the most dangerous times,” Sigman said.

The chemical reaction that was believed to have occurred during a cleaning process produced toxic hydrogen sulfide, Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango said.

Among the injured were seven ambulance workers responding to the leak, officials said.

Other people were taken to the hospitals in private cars or even in one case a garbage truck, Sigman said.

One person was in critical condition, Salango said.

Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center, one of several hospitals in the area, was treating multiple patients, some brought by ambulance, while members of the community were arriving Wednesday afternoon asking to be checked, hospital spokesman Dale Witte said.

Witte said patients were experiencing respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, sore throat and itchy eyes. They were being evaluated in the emergency room.

WVU Medicine Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston said in a statement it has cared for a dozen patients, including eight who arrived by personal vehicle and were not at the scene but were in the area at the time. It said those injuries were not considered life-threatening.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding area and lifted more than five hours later. Officials said all the deaths occurred on the plant site.

“You had to get really close to the facility to smell it,” Sigman said.

The leak required a large-scale decontamination operation in which people had to remove their clothes and be sprayed down, authorities said.

Catalyst Refiners works to remove silver from what remains of chemical processes and can find thousands of dollars of the precious metal just by vacuuming the floors in a plant's offices, Sigman said.

Ames Goldsmith Corp., the owner of Catalyst Refiners, said it is saddened by the deaths and its thoughts were with all those impacted and their families.

“This is an unfathomably difficult time,” company President Frank Barber said in a statement released at the briefing. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families.”

Ames Goldsmith promised to work with local, state and federal officials as they investigate the leak. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into what happened, a spokesperson said, adding that the agency has six months to complete its examination.

Silver is in a number of items ranging from circuit boards and other electronics, photographic and X-Ray films and jewelry. Nitric acid is used to dissolve materials, leaving behind silver nitrate that can be processed to recover pure silver. Recovery businesses can also crush or sandblast items with silver and use magnets or differences in density to sort out the precious metal.

Sigman said Ames Goldsmith recovers silver from the various plants at the Institute complex "and they'll use it again. When they vacuum their carpets in their office, they recover so many thousands of dollars’ worth of silver out of it just vacuuming their carpets.”

The plant is located near Institute, a community about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Charleston, the state capital. The plant is in a region known as West Virginia’s “chemical valley,” although many plants that lined the area along the Kanawha River and produced hazardous materials have closed or changed ownership in the past several decades.

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Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad said Thursday that it earned $807 million, or $0.43 per share, as it continued to improve efficiency. That's up from $646 million, or $0.34 per share, a year ago.

CSX easily topped the expectations of the analysts surveyed by FactSet Research who predicted earnings per share of 39 cents.

The railroad said it cut expenses by 6% to $2.2 billion in the quarter as CEO Steve Angel, who took over last fall, continued to improve operations. At the same time, the railroad's revenue grew 2% to $3.48 billion.

“CSX performed well this quarter by providing reliable and efficient service to our customers through changing market conditions, while improving our expense profile,” Angel said.

The railroad’s executives said many of its efforts to cut costs across the board started to pay off even quicker than expected, and the bottom line was helped by a $44 million gain on real estate sales in the quarter.

The railroad, which is one of the nation's biggest, said it now expects revenue growth in the mid single digits this year. Previously, CSX predicted growth in the low single digits.

CSX will soon be able to haul metal shipping containers stacked two high across its network after completing a major tunnel renovation project in Baltimore. But it will take time for traffic to grow as the railroad signs up new customers once the line is fully open.

Pakistan had planned to host a second round of talks, but the White House suspended Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Islamabad as Iran rebuffed efforts to restart negotiations. Iran acknowledged the ceasefire extension but didn't say Tehran was ready to attend a new round of talks to end the war, state television reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Iran’s semiofficial news agencies are reporting that the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has attacked a third ship on Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, throwing into question efforts to end the war. Nour News, Fars and Mehr all reported the attack by the Guard on a vessel called the Euphoria. They said the vessel had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, without elaborating. The Guard has seized the other two ships that were attacked, Iranian state television separately reported.

Here is the latest:

US stocks rally to records, but Brent oil also tops $100 on worries about the Iran war

The U.S. stock market rallied to more records Wednesday after GE Vernova, Boston Scientific and other big companies joined the parade, reporting fatter profits for the start of the year than analysts expected. But caution still hung over Wall Street, and oil prices rose on uncertainty about what would happen in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 jumped 1% and topped its prior all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 340 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite set its own record after jumping 1.6%.

Strong performances have helped the S&P 500 power higher, and the index recorded its 13th gain in its last 16 days.

Still, another rise in oil prices helped keep enthusiasm in check on Wall Street. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 3.5% to $101.91.

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Paramedics recover body of Lebanese journalist hours after Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon

The body of a Lebanese journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Wednesday has been pulled from under the rubble hours after the attack.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper confirmed that its reporter, Amal Khalil, was killed in the strike on the southern village of al-Tiri.

Information Minister Paul Morcos also confirmed Khalil’s death.

Khalil had been covering the Israel-Hezbollah war since it started in October 2023 and had been reporting from different parts of southern Lebanon on the hostilities.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, called on the international community to immediately pressure the Israeli army to allow the rescue of Khalil.

Iran says it is prepared for 2026 World Cup participation in the US

However, it was unclear whether it would ultimately take part.

“The Ministry of Youth and Sports made an announcement about the full preparedness of our national soccer team for presence in the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., by the order of the minister,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohejerani told Iran’s state TV on Wednesday.

“They informed that the necessary arrangements that these dear ones need for the team’s proud and successful participation, (have been made),” Mohejerani added.

The tournament is scheduled to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.

White House says only Trump knows how long extension of Iran ceasefire will last

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump hasn’t set a deadline for receiving a proposal from the Iranians.

“Ultimately, the timeline would be dictated by the commander in chief,” she said.

Trump announced a ceasefire extension on Tuesday.

White House says Iran seizing 2 ships doesn’t violate ceasefire terms

Iran taking control of two ships is not a violation of the truce terms because “these were not U.S. or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel.

She said Iran’s navy has been decimated and that the ships in question “were taken by speedy gun boats,” meaning that Iran is acting “like a bunch of pirates.”

Leavitt said Trump’s blockade remains in place “on ships coming to and from Iranian ports” and that the seizure by Iranian forces “is piracy that we are seeing on display.”

Hezbollah says it launched drones at Israeli positions in southern Lebanon

The group added in a statement that the two attacks targeting soldiers and vehicles in the village of Qantara on Wednesday evening were in retaliation for alleged Israeli violations of the 10-day ceasefire that took effect Friday.

The strikes marked the group’s third attack on Wednesday. Israel did not immediately comment on the latest attacks but has previously accused Hezbollah of breaching the ceasefire.

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli troops fired at rescuers searching for missing journalist

The ministry said two Israeli strikes on al-Tiri in southern Lebanon killed two people. The journalist Amal Khalil and her colleague took cover in a house, which the ministry said was targeted in the second strike. When rescuers arrived, they were able to recover the two bodies and one injured journalist. But the Israeli military fired live ammunition at the ambulance, preventing the team from completing the search for Khalil, the ministry said. Lebanon’s National News Agency showed pictures of the damage to the ambulance.

Khalil’s condition is not clear. She is a prominent journalist with the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.

Israel’s military alleged the individuals in the village violated the ceasefire, posing a risk to the troops’ safety. It denied that it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area or that it targets journalists.

Reopening Strait of Hormuz ‘impossible’ amid breaches, Iranian official says

“A complete ceasefire only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime/naval blockade and taking the world’s economy hostage, and if the Zionist warmongering across all fronts is halted,” Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Wednesday.

“Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such flagrant breach of the ceasefire,” Qalibaf added. “The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation.”

Israeli military says it struck targets in south Lebanon, denies blocking rescue

Lebanese officials and Reporters Without Borders said a journalist was missing following an Israeli strike near the southern village of al-Tiri on Wednesday, while another journalist was wounded.

The Israeli military said it struck a vehicle and a structure in the area after identifying what it described as militants posing an immediate threat near the border.

The military said it was aware of reports that journalists were injured but did not confirm them and denied preventing rescue teams from reaching the area.

The details of the incident are under review, it added.

Trump says Iran respected his request, will free women whose release he demanded

The president said he has been informed that four of the women will be “released immediately,” while four others will be sentenced to one month each in prison.

“I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request ... and terminated the planned execution,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.

He said the women protesters were expected to be executed Wednesday.

Rights groups that monitor Iran had said two of the women were already released on bail in March, and two others were known to face charges that carry the death sentences. They had been arrested during the January anti-government protests.

Trump re-posted a photo of the women, including two teen girls, on Tuesday on social media, which a conservative activist noted are facing prosecution in Iran.

The Iranian judiciary responded promptly, denying that any of them were on the verge of execution, saying some were already released.

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli strike on southern Lebanon kills 2

The ministry added that the Wednesday afternoon strike on the village of Yohmor also wounded two people.

UN’s global shipping regulation body condemns Persian Gulf shipping attacks

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, on Wednesday condemned attacks on shipping after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, seizing two and taking them to Iran. Earlier, Trump said the United States would continue to blockade Iranian ports.

“The attacks on and seizures of commercial ships are unacceptable,” Dominguez said, urging an immediate halt and the release of vessels and crews. He warned that the situation remains “extremely volatile” and questioned why companies risk seafarers’ lives.

Nearly 20,000 seafarers remain at sea after seven weeks, uncertain when they can return home, he added.

Firm says over 10M barrels of Iranian oil left Persian Gulf since US blockade of Iran’s ports

An analytics firm focusing on global energy and freight markets says it recorded 34 movements of sanctioned and Iranian-linked tankers in and out of the Persian Gulf in the week after the U.S. imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The firm, Vortexa, says it identified 19 outbound and 15 inbound movements of such vessels between April 13 and Monday.

Six of those outbound movements were “confirmed laden with Iranian crude, representing about 10.7 million barrels,” it said in an email to The Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear whether all those barrels reached markets overseas.

Lebanese journalist missing after Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, called on the international community on Wednesday to immediately pressure the Israeli army into allowing the rescue of journalist Amal Khalil, who works for the daily Al-Akhbar.

RSF added that Khalil is currently trapped near the southern Lebanese village of al-Tiri following an Israeli airstrike close to her vehicle.

“Her life is in danger right now! Continued Israeli airstrikes are preventing rescuers from reaching her,” RSF said.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called on the Lebanese Red Cross to work on the rescue of Khalil, along with another journalist, Zeinab Faraj, who was with her.

Aoun requested the Lebanese Red Cross to coordinate with the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers “to carry out the rescue operation in the shortest possible time.”

Crew of a ship attacked in the Strait of Hormuz is safe, management company says

The management company of a container ship that was fired upon in the Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday says the Liberian-registered Epaminondas was “approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat” while transiting the strait about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.

The Technomar company said all crew were “safe and accounted for” and no injuries were reported, but that preliminary inspections indicated the ship’s bridge had been damaged.

“Technomar remains in close contact with the crew and relevant authorities. Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our crew as we work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure their continued safety and investigate the incident,” the company said. It did not provide further details, but said more information would be released “when there are material developments.”

Iranians have long sought work and relative stability in Turkey. The war could force some to return

Sadri Haghshenas spends her days selling borek — a layered, savory pastry — at a shop in Istanbul, but her mind is on her daughter in Tehran.

The family had to send her home to Iran after they ran into difficulties renewing her visa, despite fears that a shaky ceasefire could soon collapse.

For years, short-term residency permits have allowed tens of thousands of Iranians to pursue economic opportunities and enjoy relative stability in neighboring Turkey. But it’s a precarious situation, and the war has raised the stakes.

“I swear, I cry every day,” Haghshenas said, raising her hands from behind the counter of the pastry shop. “There is no life in my country, there is no life here, what shall I do?”

Turkey hasn't seen an influx of refugees, as most Iranians have sought safety within their country. Many who've crossed the land border were transiting to other countries where they have citizenship or residency.

▶ Read more

Israeli strike kills two people in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

The strike targeted a vehicle in the town of Tayri on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

No further details on the identities of the victims were immediately available.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

The strike comes despite a 10-day ceasefire that went into effect Friday. Since then, several Israeli strikes have been reported, while Hezbollah has claimed a couple of attacks since Tuesday.

A second French soldier has died after an attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

On Saturday, a U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon came under attack with small arms fire leaving one French peacekeeper dead and three others wounded, two of them seriously.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that a wounded soldier, who was repatriated Tuesday from Lebanon “where he had been seriously wounded by Hezbollah fighters, died this morning from his injuries.”

Hezbollah had denied is was behind the attack.

Iran says it has yet to decide whether to join a new round of talks with the US

“We entered the negotiations in good faith and with seriousness, but the negotiating party (the United States) has shown disregard and lack of good faith,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, said Wednesday, according to Iran’s State TV.

A second round of negotiations, expected in Pakistan’s capital later this week, has not yet been confirmed. On Tuesday, President Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, leaving the next steps for resuming talks unclear.

“Iran has not yet decided whether it will participate in the new round of peace negotiations with the United States scheduled for later this week,” Baqaei said.

US stocks climb, but so do oil prices with uncertainty rising about the war with Iran

GE Vernova, Boston Scientific and Boeing are leading the U.S. stock market toward another record after joining the list of companies reporting fatter profits for the start of the year than analysts expected.

But caution is still hanging over Wall Street on Wednesday, and oil prices are also rising on uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and was on track to top its all-time high set Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 360 points and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly topped $100.

▶ Read more

Energy agency head says energy crisis will trigger major response by governments and industry

Talking about the repercussions of the Iran war, the head of the International Energy Agency said Wednesday that “we are facing the biggest energy crisis in the history.”

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin that what ”we lost in the this war is much bigger than all the crises put together in terms of oil and gas. Plus, plus, there are vital commodities that we are losing — petrochemicals, fertilizers, helium, sulfur.”

However, Birol also pointed out that “there will be a major response to this crisis as well” and that “it is now the job of the governments to design their energy policies in terms of industrial sector, while keeping the competitiveness of the existing industries, preparing the next steps for the tomorrow’s industries.”

He said he also expects that “there will be a similar response in all parts of the economy, car manufacturing industry, electric industry and in the industry sector.”

“And this is a wonderful opportunity,” he added.

Dozens of Israeli civilians attempt to enter Syria

The Israeli military said it intercepted around 40 Israeli civilians that attempted to enter Syria on Wednesday afternoon. The military said the civilians gathered at the border and then were able to infiltrate several hundred meters into the Israeli-military controlled buffer zone in Syria before being returned to Israel and taken into police custody.

The Israeli media identified the infiltrators as part of the right-wing group “Pioneers of Bashan,” which calls for establishing Jewish settlements in Lebanon and Syria.

Hezbollah says it fired a drone at Israeli post in southern Lebanon

The group added in a statement that its attack on the post in the southern village of Bayada on Wednesday came in retaliation for Israeli violations of the 10-day ceasefire that went into effect Friday.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah is violating the ceasefire adding that the Iran-backed group launched “a hostile aircraft” toward Israeli soldiers operating in the area of southern Lebanon.

The military said the aircraft was intercepted by Israel’s air force and did not cross into Israel.

The Iran war could drive up costs for petroleum-derived products like clothes and crayons

It might be hard to imagine the Iran war weighing on stuffed toys with names like Snuggle Glove, Bizzikins and Wobblies, but even plush playthings aren’t immune when oil shipments from the Middle East are constrained.

Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are made with polyester and acrylic, synthetic fibers derived from petroleum. Three weeks after the war started, suppliers in China notified Aleni Brands that getting the materials already was costing them 10% to 15% more, CEO Ricardo Venegas said.

“I think this situation demonstrates how much oil permeates throughout our system, and we can’t get away from it,” said Venegas, who founded Aleni Brands last year and is in the process of adding product lines. “Who would have thought that the price of a toy would have a direct relationship with oil?”

It’s not just toys. Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas go into making more than 6,000 consumer products, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

▶ Read more

Lebanon’s president says contacts ongoing to extend ceasefire

President Joseph Aoun’s comments on Wednesday came a day before a second meeting is scheduled to take place in Washington between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors.

Aoun said in comments released by his office that preparations are ongoing for negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.

He said the aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process.

Aoun said the support to Lebanon that was promised by U.S. President Donald Trump and other countries “provided us with an opportunity that we must not miss, as it may not come again.”

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war was halted by a 10-day ceasefire that went into effect Friday.

Iranian news agency suggests undersea cables vulnerable in Strait of Hormuz

A semiofficial news agency close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard again raised the idea Wednesday that Gulf Arab states remained vulnerable to having their undersea data cables being cut in the Strait of Hormuz.

The report by the Tasnim news agency suggested that “simultaneous damage to several major cables — whether through accidents or deliberate action — could trigger severe outages across the Persian Gulf.”

Multiple cables run through the strait. Already, the region has faced outages after undersea cables were cut multiple times in the Red Sea. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels had threatened cables in the past.

Iranians waited tensely overnight to learn if ceasefire would continue

With uncertainty over whether the ceasefire lasts, residents of Tehran say they are anxious about what comes next.

“Last night my family all stayed awake, waiting for the clock to show 3:30 a.m. and see who really has the upper hand,” said Reza Tehrani, a 34-year-old resident of Tehran.

Tehrani said Trump is making a series of false claims, including that Iran will give up its enriched uranium. “It’s obvious that he will eventually take his warships back and nothing will happen. We will win, rest assured,” he said.

One resident voiced frustration with the uncertainty.

“We should know where we stand. Is it going to be a ceasefire, peace or the war is going to continue?” said Tehran resident Mashallah Mohammad Sadegh, 59. “The way things currently are, one doesn’t know what to do.”

EU energy chief warns war could hit prices for years to come

The European Union’s top energy official is warning that the massive energy crisis sparked by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is set to hit prices for months, even years, to come.

EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said Wednesday that “this is not a short-term, small increase in prices. This is a crisis that is probably as serious as the 1973 and the 2022 crises combined.”

Jørgensen says the war is costing Europe around 500 million euros ($600 million) each day and that “we are looking into some very difficult months, or maybe even years” ahead. “Even in a best-case scenario, it’s still bad,” he told reporters.

Iran acknowledges ceasefire extension

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei acknowledged the ceasefire extension in comments reported Wednesday by Iranian state television.

Baghaei did not specifically say Tehran was ready to attend a new round of talks with the United States in Islamabad.

“Diplomacy is a tool for securing national interests and security, and whenever we reach the conclusion that the necessary and reasonable conditions exist to use this tool to achieve national interests and to consolidate the achievements of the Iranian nation in thwarting the enemies’ malicious objectives, we will take action,” he reportedly said.

POSITION OVERVIEW

As the Executive Reporter, you will help lead our mission in storytelling by working with and coaching multimedia journalists and reporters. You’ll also organize and coordinate the Content Center staff to facilitate the strongest, most impactful daily news coverage on multiple platforms.

Joining the KPRC 2 team, you’ll have the opportunity to work in a dynamic, fast-paced environment while immersing yourself in the vibrant community. You’ll inspire and mentor talent at all levels to find creative ways to grow their skills.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead, develop, and enhance the storytelling skills and abilities of all reporters and MMJs in the station.
• Collaborate with other newsroom leaders to consistently execute the content strategy through authentic, meaningful storytelling.
• Oversee the writing of stories for all platforms; provide timely feedback to foster continuous improvement.
• Develop and supervise effective workflow strategies and procedures for multiple news programs and outlets.
• Ensure that all content adheres to journalistic standards and ethical guidelines.
• Deliver a vision and create trust among reporters, photographers, and newsroom staff.
• Manage daily editorial flow, including assigning multi-media journalists, photojournalists, and Content Center staff to cover daily news stories and events.
• Supervise and schedule assignment desk and reporting staff.
• Assist editorial staff in developing all news coverage plans.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS:

• A college degree in Journalism, Communications, or a related field.
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PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

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• Deep understanding of the content strategy

Location: KPRC 2

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To apply: Please submit your updated resume and application to:

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Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications, and reference checks. You must hold a valid driver’s license and be insurable under Texas Law.

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The site, located at 16803 Eastex Freeway, is now the focus of an investigation involving Houston police and BARC’s animal cruelty unit.

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, went to the property during a storm, hoping to find a stray dog she had seen days earlier.

Instead, she found something else.

“I looked down at the ground outside of my driver’s side door and there’s like a literal dog … and then I walked a few more steps and see just like a graveyard of dogs,” she said.

• ‘We got him’: Grand jury indicts suspect in 1990 ‘Lovers’ Lane’ killings after decades-long cold case

She said at first she thought the remains could belong to wildlife. That quickly changed.

She said could clearly see paw pads, canine teeth and even features suggesting some of the dogs were young.

“I just felt like something sketch was going on just with the sheer number of dogs,” she said.

When KPRC 2 arrived at the property on Tuesday, a City of Houston vehicle was already there. Soon after, BARC investigators were seen heading toward the back of the facility where the remains were found.

Some of the animals appeared to be fully decomposed. Others were still partially intact, according to the video shared with KPRC 2. This video contains graphic imagery that’s not suitable for public release.

• ‘Extremely disturbed’: Houston Police Department officer relieved of duty after racist rant goes viral on social media

The discovery raises questions about how the animals got there and whether any laws were broken.

In Houston, dumping dead animals on land or in water is illegal.

“It shall be unlawful for any person to dump or place on any land or on any water or waterway within the city any dead animal..." reads Sec. 10-482 of Houston City Ordinances.

Texas regulations classify animal carcasses as municipal solid waste and explicitly prohibit disposing of that waste without authorization from the state.

The Texas Department of Transportation, which operates the facility, did not respond to questions about the situation.

Smith said beyond the legality, the discovery is hard to process.

“If my dog had gotten out, hit by a car and left on the side of the road … and then I knew that it was just dumped in this graveyard, that would be devastating,” she said.

Investigators have not said who may be responsible. The case remains open.

Her death was ruled a homicide in the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office that had been blocked from release for months.

The autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes” to the body that was dismembered and decomposing when it was found in two bags in the trunk of a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills in September.

The examination revealed “two penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries.” One wound on the upper abdomen penetrated the liver. Another on the left chest damaged her ribs. A tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places.

A judge had ordered the report sealed late last year at the request of law enforcement, but prosecutors agreed this week to allow its release.

The 21-year-old alt-pop singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged in the killing Monday. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. Burke’s attorneys said he did not cause Rivas Hernandez’s death and they will vigorously defend his innocence.

The girl's parents made their first public comments on Tuesday night, thanking investigators for their work and the people of their hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, for their support. Lake Elsinore is about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

“Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night and we spent wonderful times together,” Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez said. "We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”

Prosecutors allege Burke killed Rivas Hernandez because she threatened to report they had a sexual relationship that began when she was 13 years old and he feared it would ruin his rising career.

A criminal complaint alleges he killed her with a sharp object and dismembered the body about two weeks later.

Medical Examiner's investigators called to the scene where the body was found discovered her torso and head in a black, zippered body bag in the Tesla's trunk, with arms and legs in a separate trash bag.

Her body had so degraded that examiners couldn't even determine her eye color. She had braces at the time of her death, and a tattoo that read “Shhh....” on the inside of a finger, according to the report. Two other fingers were missing — as were parts of her arms and legs.

Toxicology tests on the liver showed a low level of alcohol, but it may have been due to postmortem chemical changes and didn't appear to be a factor, the report said.

LA County's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey C. Ukpo has sought to emphasize his agency's independence from law enforcement and to make its work as public as possible since he took over the job three years ago. He has said he does not believe sealing reports of his office's work helps investigations and has said he would only put holds on releasing the reports if compelled by a court order.

“After several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss,” Ukpo said in a statement Wednesday. “It is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter.”

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among young fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

His debut full-length album, “Withered,” was released one year ago, two days after the date prosecutors estimate that Rivas Hernandez was killed.

Enriquez, who finished 11th in the Republican primary for Texas’ 21st Congressional District with 1.4% of the vote, traded less than $100 worth of contracts related to his own candidacy, according to Kalshi regulatory documents. Kalshi fined Enriquez $784 and suspended him from the platform for five years after a “full investigation” with which Enriquez was “fully cooperative,” the company said.

Two other political candidates, in Minnesota and Virginia, were also caught trading on their own elections and suspended from the platform, Kalshi said.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have faced growing scrutiny in recent months, with lawmakers and others raising concerns about insider trading and fears that the exploding industry could undermine the integrity of U.S. elections with the 2026 midterms underway. The suspensions and fines mark the most robust enforcement actions taken yet by a prediction market platform against political candidates, according to CNN.

Prediction markets have expanded in Texas through a federal loophole, even as traditional sports betting and casinos remain outlawed in the state. Ahead of next year’s legislative session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick instructed Texas state senators to “study the sudden inundation of prediction market gambling” and “make recommendations to ensure the integrity of Texas elections and Texas sports.”

Prediction sites allow users to bet on almost any subject, from sports and elections to entertainment and the economy. The platforms are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission. While the Biden administration sought to prohibit election-related prediction markets, the agency under the Trump administration withdrew that proposal earlier this year.

Kalshi has sought to convince regulators and lawmakers that it is a responsible operator, publicizing the three cases Wednesday and last month announcing it would preemptively block political candidates from trading on their elections, along with barring athletes and coaches from betting on their own sports outcomes.

“Cases like these demonstrate Kalshi’s commitment to policing all types of unfair or improper trading on our platform,” Bobby DeNault, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, said in the statement announcing the suspensions Wednesday. “Regardless of the size of a trade, political candidates who can influence a market based on whether they stay in or out of a race violate our rules. No matter how small the size of the trade, any trade that is found to have violated our exchange rules will be punished.”

But for Wall Street, everything eventually comes back to a different, basic question: How much money are companies making? And at the moment, they're earning so much that investors are willing to pay higher prices than ever for a piece of ownership of U.S. companies.

It's been a jarring ride for investors, many of whom may have felt the urge to dump their stock investments last month when the S&P 500 fell nearly 10% below its prior record. But as it has every time so far in its history, the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts rewarded investors who remained patient by not only recovering all its losses but also forging to new heights. On Wednesday, the index closed at a record 7,137.90.

Here's a look at what's been behind the market's surprising strength:

What sets a stock's price

Stock prices flitter up and down every second for myriad reasons, many of which no one can explain. But at its heart, and over the long term, a stock's price depends on two things: how much money a company is making and how much an investor is willing to pay for each $1 of that.

More fear

The latter part of that formula tends to swing up and down with interest rates and how much greed investors are feeling versus fear.

When fear prevailed in the early days of the war, stock prices dove. The worry was that a long-term surge for oil prices because of the war could send a debilitating wave of inflation crashing into the global economy.

Interest rates also rose, further undercutting stock prices, as investors worried the threat of high inflation would prevent the Federal Reserve and other central banks worldwide from cutting the short-term interest rates they control. While lower interest rates can give the economy a boost, they can also worsen inflation.

Less fear

Since late March, expectations have built that the United States and Iran will avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy. It would be in both countries' economic interests to do so, and for Iran's leadership, an end to the war would also likely mean survival.

The ceasefire that the two sides agreed to earlier this month is still holding, though it's tenuous.

The market's shift away from abject fear has also shown itself in oil prices. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, went from roughly $70 before the war to $119 when worries reached their heights. It has since pulled back and was bouncing around $100 on Wednesday.

Much of the focus has been on the Strait of Hormuz, which oil tankers use to exit the Persian Gulf. If Iran keeps the strait closed, and if the U.S. Navy continues to blockade Iranian ships, everyone will get hurt. Customers worldwide will not get oil, and Iran will not get revenue from selling its own crude.

“By denying Iran its oil-related revenue, traders may be thinking that the economic war may be more effective in getting concessions from Iran’s regime than was the kinetic war only, and that this will end the war sooner, rather than later,” according to Thierry Wizman, a strategist at Macquarie Group.

Traders on Wall Street are also betting again on a chance that the Fed could resume its cuts to interest rates later this year. They see a much lower probability than they did before the war, according to data from CME Group. But they're no longer worried about the possibility of hikes to rates.

Profit strength

As fear has eased, investors have been able to turn their focus more to the first part of the equation making up stock prices: profits. And those have been coming in strong.

A little more than 15% of S&P 500 companies have already reported how much profit they made during the first three months of 2026, and the vast majority have topped analysts' expectations. That includes everyone from Citigroup to J.B. Hunt Transport Services to UnitedHealth Group.

If the rest of the companies in the index just match analysts' estimates, earnings for S&P 500 companies will end up being roughly 14% higher than a year earlier, according to FactSet.

Those results include a month of wartime, and while companies say they're still wary about potential risks because of the fighting, they're not showing many signs of it hurting their earnings.

Bank of America's chief executive officer, Brian Moynihan, said last week that “we saw healthy client activity, including solid consumer spending and stable asset quality, indicating a resilient American economy.”

That's even though many U.S. households are feeling nervous about more expensive gasoline and higher prices broadly due to tariffs, as shown in recent surveys.

Expectations for more

Analysts have actually raised their expectations for upcoming profits for S&P 500 companies since the war began. They're forecasting growth for S&P 500 profits to accelerate to 20% in the second quarter, and companies aren't giving them many reasons to reconsider.

Delta Air Lines said earlier this month that it's seeing strong demand from people flying both for business and for vacations. PepsiCo last week stuck by its forecast for profit over 2026, which it initially gave before the Iran war began, and CEO Ramon Laguarta said he's encouraged by how resilient its international business has been. GE Vernova on Wednesday said demand is soaring for power from AI data centers, and it raised its revenue forecast for the year.

All is still not clear

Of course, the U.S. stock market can easily return to falling. Wall Street's mood could swing quickly back to fear if U.S.-Iran talks break down and the oil market looks to be facing shortages.

And if oil prices stay high for long enough, it would erode some of those profits for companies. Not only would it raise costs for businesses, it would also weaken the spending power for U.S. households and other customers.

Scott, who was seeking his 13th term in Congress despite challenges from within his party, was once a leading voice for Democrats on issues related to farm aid policy and food aid for consumers and a prominent Black member of the party’s moderate Blue Dog caucus. But he faced criticism and concerns in recent years because of declining health, enduring a primary challenge in 2024 and facing another one at the time of his death.

Democrats on Capitol Hill praised the longtime lawmaker.

“The news of Congressman Scott’s passing is deeply sad,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Wednesday.

“David Scott was a trailblazer who served the district that he represented admirably, rose up from humble beginnings to become the first African American ever to chair the House Ag Committee,” Jeffries said. “He cared about the people that he represented. He was fiercely committed to getting things done for the people of the great state of Georgia, and he’ll be deeply missed.”

News of Scott’s death came during the Congressional Black Caucus’ weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill. The Black Caucus’ chair, Rep. Yvette Clarke, told lawmakers at the outset of the meeting.

The White House lowered its flags to half-staff after Scott’s death.

Death creates another vacancy

Scott’s death slightly widens Republicans’ narrow House majority going into the thick of this midterm election year The GOP began the current Congress with a 220-215 advantage, but the margin has fluctuated. Scott is the fourth House Democrat to die in office during this Congress.

Scott had been mostly absent from the campaign trail in 2024 and 2026 and had become a noted example of Democrats' aging leadership targeted by younger generations of the left. He dodged questions from reporters when he qualified for another term in March, but he earlier dismissed pressure to retire.

“Thank God I’m in good health, moving and doing the people’s work,” the congressman said in 2024.

His wife and campaign adviser Alfredia Scott was even more direct. “When the congressman decides to leave, he won’t be pushed out,” she said in 2024. “He will bow out.”

State officials will have to schedule a special election to fill out the rest of Scott’s term, which could overlap with elections to choose a representative for the next two-year term. Early in-person voting starts Monday for May 19 party primaries for the next full term.

Scott was a pioneering Black lawmaker

David Albert Scott was born in rural Aynor, South Carolina, on June 27, 1945, in the era of Jim Crow segregation. He spent part of his childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania, along with stints New York and Florida. Scott graduated from Florida A&M University, one of the nation's largest historically Black college campuses — and in office he was an outspoken advocate for federal support of HBCUs. Scott also earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1969.

He settled in Atlanta, opened his own advertising business and got his start in politics as a staffer on Andrew Young's 1972 congressional campaign. Young would go on to be Atlanta mayor and United Nations ambassador under President Jimmy Carter, another Georgian.

The support of Young and baseball legend Henry “Hank” Aaron, who was the older brother of Scott's wife, helped launch Scott into Congress in 2002, said Democratic state Sen. Emanuel Jones. He was opposing Scott in the May 19 primary, although he called Scott "a good friend."

Scott was one of a pioneering generation of Black state lawmakers in Georgia, winning election to the state House in 1974 and the state Senate in 1982 before being elected to Congress. Once identifying as a moderate "Blue Dog" — Scott had sponsored a law mandating a moment of silent school prayer in the state Senate — he evolved into a more mainstream liberal.

An advocate for historically Black schools

Scott served decades in Congress while living outside his district after maps were redrawn. He maintained support, focusing intently on constituent service including hosting job and health fairs.

Among his notable achievements on Capitol Hill, Scott secured $80 million for historically Black land-grant schools as part of the 2018 Farm Bill. The money was steered to agriculture-related scholarships at 19 campuses. He helped author various housing and mortgage aid measures, and he pushed for better health care and other benefits for veterans and their families. On foreign policy, Scott was an outspoken advocate for NATO and post-World War II American alliances.

Scott's fellow Democrats ousted him from his post as ranking minority member on the Agriculture Committee in 2024 amid concerns about his age and health.

Scott is survived by Alfredia Scott, the couple's two adult daughters and grandchildren.

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Brown reported from Washington.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited too long to try to move the case to federal court.

The case is part of a messy legal dispute about a pipeline that has moved crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Enbridge to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel, a Democrat, won a restraining order shutting down the pipeline from Ingham County Judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.

Enbridge moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects U.S. and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024, finding that the company missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.

The pipeline at issue is called Line 5. Concerns over the section beneath the straits rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge engineers revealed they had known about gaps in the section’s protective coating since 2014. A boat anchor damaged the section in 2018, intensifying fears of a spill.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked the straits easement for Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the revocation.

Enbridge won a ruling from a federal judge blocking the move, but Whitmer, a Democrat, has appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In March, the Supreme Court rejected Whitmer’s appeal claiming that she couldn't be sued in federal court.

It was unclear how the federal ruling blocking Whitmer’s revocation attempt would affect Nessel’s case in state court. The company said in a statement that the judge in the Whitmer case has already decided federal regulators, not the state, are responsible for Line 5 safety and they have found no issues that would warrant shutting it down.

But Nessel said the case is far from over. “This unanimous ruling from the United States Supreme Court makes emphatically clear that our lawsuit against Enbridge belongs before the state court, where we’ve argued since 2019 that Line 5 does not have a legal right to the Straits bottomlands,” she said in a statement.

Enbridge also is seeking permits to encase the section of pipeline beneath the straits in a protective tunnel. The Michigan Public Service Commission granted the relevant permits in 2023, but a coalition of environmental groups and Michigan tribes has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state permits for the tunnel. The state Supreme Court is weighing that case.

Enbridge also needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

The pipeline is at the center of a separate legal dispute in Wisconsin as well. A federal judge in Madison last summer gave Enbridge three years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation. The company has appealed the shutdown order to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but it started work in February to reroute the line around the reservation.

The Bad River and environmental groups have filed a state lawsuit seeking to halt the work, arguing regulators have underestimated the damage the reroute construction will cause. That case also is pending.

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Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report from Madison, Wisconsin.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

• First report: Man being released from Harris County Jail dies following altercation with detention officers, investigation underway

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said its Internal Affairs Division will present the case to the Administrative Disciplinary Committee to determine whether any policy violations occurred and, if so, recommend appropriate disciplinary action.

A sergeant and four detention officers involved in the incident remain on temporary assignments that do not involve contact with inmates.

What happened

Alexis Jovany Cardenas died while being escorted out of the Harris County Jail on July 8, 2025.

• Previous: Medical examiner rules death of man being escorted out of Harris County Jail a homicide

Cardenas had been in custody since Sunday, July 6, when the Houston Police Department arrested him on multiple outstanding municipal misdemeanor warrants.

Video footage from the jail shows a detention officer opening a door for Cardenas to leave at about 12:50 a.m. on July 8. Cardenas appears to point at his phone before a struggle begins.

During the altercation, Cardenas was dragged, and his pants were removed. One detention officer was pulled to the ground, and another deployed a Taser. Authorities said Cardenas then forced his way into another secure area of the jail where other inmates were awaiting release.

• Family of man who refused to leave Harris County Jail wants deputies charged in his death

Several detention officers ultimately restrained him on the ground for about eight minutes before realizing he was unresponsive.

Cardenas was transported to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:57 a.m.

The medical examiner ruled Cardenas’ manner of death a homicide. The report lists the primary cause of death as cardiac dysrhythmia. It also notes the toxic effects of multiple drugs in his system, along with physical and electrical restraint, as contributing factors.

Lauren Bonds, an attorney representing the family of Cardenas and executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, responds to the decision:

“Deputies at the Harris County Jail turned old traffic tickets into a death sentence for our client, Alexis Jovany Cardenas, who should never have been there in the first place. The grand jury’s refusal to issue indictments does not exonerate the officers, the Sheriff’s Department, or the jail. It is, itself, an indictment of our system. A system that believes law enforcement officers can do no wrong, and that every person killed by the police deserved it. The Harris County Jail is notorious for systemic violence and in-custody deaths. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has known about these problems for years, and covered them up instead of fixing them. The greater Houston community is simply not safe when officers of the law are allowed to kill us with impunity.”

She continued, “Alexis Jovany Cardenas was a son, father, husband, and friend. He didn’t lose his humanity when he was arrested. He didn’t lose his humanity when he told police he couldn’t be released at 1AM with a dead phone. He wanted to live. The officers who killed him and Sheriff Gonzalez — who has repeatedly minimized, covered up, and excused this behavior — must be held accountable. We are moving forward with our civil case and will keep fighting until Mr. Cardenas, his family, and the residents of Harris County achieve transparency and a measure of justice, and the deaths at the Harris County Jail end.”

Leo’s visit to the prison in the Central African port city of Bata followed in the tradition of Pope Francis, who frequently met with inmates on his foreign visits to give them a message of hope.

But Leo’s stop, at the end of his four-nation African tour, took on added significance after it emerged that Equatorial Guinea was one of several African nations that have been paid millions of dollars in controversial deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.

While none of those migrants are being held at Bata, the visit put the spotlight on Equatorial Guinea’s overall human rights record and its judiciary, which rights campaigners have criticized for its lack of independence, arbitrary detentions and other abuses.

“You are not alone. Your families love you and are waiting for you. Many people outside these walls are praying for you,” Leo told the inmates in Spanish. “If any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the Church will stand by your side.”

The inmates, all dressed in new neon orange and beige uniforms, had gathered in a central courtyard of the prison, which appeared to have been recently painted salmon pink. As soon as he started speaking, a huge rainstorm opened, drenching the inmates.

In his remarks, Leo also reminded authorities that justice is meant to protect society, but that incarceration is not meant to be punishment alone.

“To be effective, it must always promote the dignity and potential of every person,” he said. “True justice seeks not so much to punish as to help rebuild the lives of victims, offenders and communities wounded by evil.”

After Leo left, the drenched inmates broke into a raucous dance party in the courtyard as the rain continued to pour, shouting “Libertad! Libertad! Libertad!” (Freedom, freedom, freedom).

'Greater room for freedom'

Leo began the day with Mass in Mongomo, an eastern city on the border with Gabon that has experienced major development since Equatorial Guinea’s oil boom in the 1990s.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism in his four-decade rule, comes from Mongomo and the city has benefited from government investment and infrastructure, even though no official institutions are located here.

While more than half of Equatorial Guinea’s population lives in poverty, Mongomo boasts opulent buildings, curated gardens behind gilt-tipped gates, an 18-hole golf course and is the starting point of the lone highway in the country, linking the city to Bata on the west coast.

Obiang and his wife were on hand for Leo’s Mass, as was their son, Teodoro “Teddy” Nguema Obiang, the country’s vice president who was convicted of embezzling millions of euros by a French court, which handed him a three-year suspended sentence, a 30 million euro ($35.2 million) fine and ordered the seizure of his luxury homes and cars in France worth tens of millions of euros. The country has protested the seizures at the International Court of Justice.

Last year, the United States gave the younger Obiang a temporary waiver on U.S. corruption sanctions so he could travel to a U.N. gathering and visit other American cities. Obiang also met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.

The Vatican said an estimated 100,000 people attended the Mass, most standing in the grand entryway to Mongomo’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The monumental church was consecrated in 2011 and is modeled on St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

In his homily, Leo urged all citizens to work together to build a society “capable of engendering a new sense of justice,” where there is “greater room for freedom” and where “the dignity of the human person always may be safeguarded.”

He urged everyone, according to their roles, to work to “serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.”

“My thoughts go to the poorest, to families experiencing difficulty and to prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions,” he said.

‘Troubling disregard for human life’

Equatorial Guinea’s prisons and justice system have been repeatedly faulted by the United Nations and condemned by human rights groups and the U.S. State Department.

In its 2023 report on the country, the U.S. listed a host of abuses, including arbitrary or unlawful killings and arrests, political detentions, torture, life-threatening prison conditions and “serious problems” with the judiciary’s independence.

Speaking to journalists at the Bata prison, Equatorial Guinea Justice Minister Reginaldo Biyogo Ndong denied the rights abuses and said the country’s prison and justice systems respect international human rights laws. He said the country's justice system features an “enviable” infrastructure and that it's “ready to guarantee human rights, fundamental rights.”

On the eve of his prison visit, 70 human rights organizations published an open letter to Leo, urging him to speak out especially about the U.S. deportation of migrants here and encourage African nations to not be complicit.

“These practices circumvent humanitarian protections, expose refugees to detention and coercion, and subject individuals to refoulement, in direct contravention of international law,” they wrote.

In the run-up to Leo’s arrival, the government released nearly 100 people who had been arrested in a 2022 crackdown on street violence, according to a local lawyer, who requested anonymity given the country’s human rights record.

The lawyer termed the releases one “positive outcome” of the visit but also noted that the government still hasn’t taken action on releasing jailed activists and politicians.

EG Justice, a rights group which has repeatedly denounced the detention of political prisoners in Equatorial Guinea, urged Leo to use his moral authority to speak out about abuses and the detention of activists and politicians especially.

“There are individuals — prisoners of conscience, and human rights activists — in detention whose cases raise serious humanitarian and due process concerns,” said Tutu Alicante, a U.S.-based activist who runs the EG Justice group.

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Monika Pronczuk contributed to this report from Malabo.

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

London was released from jail on April 17, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office confirmed—about three years and three months after he was accused of fatally shooting Jaquary White in northeast Houston.

Surveillance video appeared to capture the Jan. 28, 2023, shooting involving two homeless men, according to records.

The footage also reportedly showed an argument earlier in the day, along with a witness who described a possible motive.

Despite a motion to quash the indictment filed by his attorney, a request for a new court-appointed attorney, letters London sent to the judge, and concerns about a forensic investigator who had been fired for dishonesty and lack of candor in an unrelated case, nothing appeared to alter the trajectory of the case—until just before trial.

On April 7, three days before trial was scheduled to begin, prosecutors wrote in court records that they met with a key witness.

Records said that a woman—who had previously dated London and later began a relationship with the victim—reportedly “gave multiple statements that contradicted what she had previously told patrol officers and the detective.”

The murder investigation

Around 10 p.m. on Jan. 28, 2023, White was found shot in a parking lot on Collingsworth Street.

Houston police investigators determined the shooting occurred near Boswell Street, with White running to the parking lot for help.

Investigators interviewed the woman, who said she was in a relationship with White and that the two had been staying in a tent in a vacant lot near Elysian and Boswell.

She told police that earlier in the day, she argued with her ex-boyfriend, London, over money he had lent her.

According to her initial statement, London threatened both her and White before leaving, and she did not see him again.

She told officers she believed London shot White “because London did not like that she was in a relationship with [White],” records stated.

Police reviewed surveillance video showing White running from the area of the tent and collapsing in a parking lot.

Investigators also cited “continuous surveillance video” that appeared to show London riding a bike in the area shortly before the shooting and remaining there until he left.

At one point, he was seen with his “right arm pointed toward the vacant lot, as if he is shooting a pistol,” according to records.

Phone records showed London contacted or attempted to contact the woman 167 times over roughly an hour and 15 minutes leading up to the shooting, with no further attempts afterward.

Cell tower data from T-Mobile also placed London’s phone in the area of Collingsworth Street at the time of the shooting, investigators said.

Contradicting statements

In a meeting with prosecutors just days before trial, the woman reportedly said London primarily got around on foot but occasionally used a bike—sometimes switching between two or three different bikes.

During the initial investigation, however, she told officers London always rode a beige or off-white bike, which is how she identified him in the surveillance footage.

Later, she told prosecutors the bike he rode that day was yellow, according to records.

She also initially told police she had contacted London about money for a down payment on a house.

In her later statement to prosecutors, she said she made that up and had been using London for money for months “because she felt like he owed her for putting a case on her in 2020 and her losing her kids,” records state.

Three days after that meeting, prosecutors filed paperwork to dismiss the case, writing: “Cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt at this time. Subject to refile.”

Suspect’s criminal history

London has more than a dozen arrests in Harris County dating back to 1992, according to records and law enforcement sources. He also has prior convictions for drug-related charges and aggravated robbery.

At the time he was charged in White’s murder, prosecutors described him as a habitual felony offender with at least three prior violent convictions.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles filed a motion to revoke London’s parole after his arrest in July 2023, records show. That hold was lifted on April 16—days after the murder case was dismissed and one day before his release.

The DA’s Office declined to provide additional comment, citing the possibility the case could be refiled.

Royals owner John Sherman was joined by Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, along with other local and state dignitaries, in making the announcement Wednesday near Hallmark headquarters.

While the finalized master plan has yet to be complete, Sherman said the $1.9 billion stadium would break ground next year in the middle of Crown Center as part of the first phase of an 85-acre project. Two-thirds of the funding will come from private sources and the remaining one-third from public partners, including money earmarked by the state for stadium projects.

“This is a partnership between two treasured Kansas City institutions,” Sherman said. “We are committed to creating a vision which honors our history, the rich past of both organizations, while reinvigorating and reimagining what our future can be together.”

The announcement came about a week after Kansas City officials passed an ordinance authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a $600 million deal to help the Royals move downtown. Most believed the stadium would sit on Washington Square Park, which is next to Union Station, but it will instead be located just south of it, with the park featured in the development.

Hallmark intends to build a new headquarters in the area, which is connected by a streetcar to the Power & Light District, where the T-Mobile Center serves as its anchor. That part of downtown Kansas City will provide the backdrop beyond the outfield fence.

Officials touted the availability of public parking already in the area and convenient traffic flow from nearby highways.

Missouri's contribution comes from a law enacted last year that authorized bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.

“We think it's a great investment for our Missouri taxpayers, because this does not affect existing programs,” Kehoe said. “The ripple effect from this facility will truly be far-reaching into rural Missouri and other parts of the state.”

The Royals have insisted they would leave Kauffman Stadium when their lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex in 2031, and the intention of Sherman ever since purchasing the club in 2019 was to build a downtown ballpark as its replacement.

Yet reaching Wednesday's announcement did not come without plenty of pitfalls.

The biggest stumbling block came in April 2024, when the Chiefs joined the Royals in a plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium. The plan hinged on the extension of a sales tax that had been paying for stadium upkeep, and voters in Jackson County, Missouri, overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, forcing the franchises to go their own way.

The legislature in neighboring Kansas aggressively pursued the Chiefs, committing last December to issuing $2.4 billion in bonds to cover 60% of the cost of a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The NFL franchise ultimately decided to move across the state line, where it also will build a new training facility in the nearby suburb of Olathe, Kansas.

Officials in Kansas briefly pursued the Royals, too, but their interest in the MLB franchise had always been lukewarm.

The Royals had been weighing several options in recent months. But they ultimately rejected an option in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and allowed a deadline to pass for a site north of downtown and across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.

Economists have long concluded that subsidizing stadiums isn’t worth the cost for communities because the venues pull economic activity away from other parts of the area, rather than expanding the overall economy. Yet states and cities continually provide money to renovate stadiums or build new ones — 49 of the 60 used by MLB or NFL teams are publicly owned or sit on public land.

One of the stadiums that Sherman has cited as an example of what's possible in Kansas City is Truist Park in Atlanta.

The stadium was a public-private partnership in which the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority issued up to $397 million in bonds, the county raised millions more from transportation taxes and businesses added millions in cash. The Braves contributed the remaining money for the park and The Battery, a mixed-used development, with a total cost of more than $1.1 billion.

“There are many great ballpark neighborhoods in Major League Baseball,” Sherman said, “but this is a bigger project with more land in downtown and in the heart of the city. We are bringing a modern, state-of-the-art ballpark experience to our fans, closer to our public transportation and where more people work and live.”

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

Here’s what we are watching as we get into the afternoon and evening: We continue to watch a low but real, flash flood risk as more rain and thunderstorms head our way this afternoon and evening.

YOU CAN TRACK RADAR HERE:

Timeline:

Your weather team is watching the chance for heavy rain and thunderstorms for your drive home today.

4 pm: We’ll watch for the majority of storms just south of I-10.

6 pm: We’ll watch for storms south of I-10 and on the east side of the map.

9 pm: The majority of the activity will be near Victoria, right outside of our area.

WATCH: For a video forecast of the above information click my forecast below:

Make sure to check in with the KPRC 2 Weather Team as we track the storms throughout the day on KPRC 2 and the KPRC 2 Live Stream. If you record any videos or take any pictures of the storms, please share with us at www.click2pins.com.

Police say Ryder was last seen Monday, April 20, around 5:34 p.m., walking on foot in the 5000 block of Mallow Street in the Sunnyside area.

He was last seen wearing a gray shirt, gray shorts, a baseball cap and Crocs.

Anyone with information about Ryder Bryant’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Houston Police Department at 832-394-1840. The case number is 507641-26.

The court ruled 6-3 in favor of former Army Spc. Winston Hencely, who was wounded when he stopped a man on his way to detonate an explosive vest at a Veterans Day weekend 5K race at Bagram Airfield in 2016.

Ahmad Nayeb instead blew himself up when he was confronted, killing five people and wounding more than a dozen, according to court documents.

The projectiles fractured Hencely's skull and tore through his brain, leaving him without the full use of much of the left side of his body. He also has abnormal brainwaves, seizures and traumatic brain injury, his lawyers wrote.

An Army investigation faulted the company’s failure to supervise Nayeb, an Afghan employee who built the vest on the job site inside the base, court documents say.

Hencely sued Fluor Corporation in South Carolina, where two of its subsidiaries are based, and made claims under the state's law for negligent supervision, negligent entrustment of tools and negligent retention of an employee.

The Irving, Texas-based engineering construction company argued that it could not be sued because it was working during wartime for the federal government, which is generally immune to lawsuits.

The high court disagreed. The majority said companies are protected when they are fulfilling government contracts, but that Fluor allegedly failed to carry out its duties in supervising Nayeb.

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Justices Samuel Alito, John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. Alito wrote that Hencely's lawsuit may intrude on the government's wartime powers and decisions, including a policy requiring contractors to maximize employment of Afghans.

State-funded preschool enrollment in the U.S. rose to 1.8 million kids, reaching 37% of 4-year-olds and about 10% of 3-year-olds, according to an annual report published Wednesday by the National Institute of Early Education Research. In total, states added 44,000 students to their preschool enrollment. But the report's authors noted that the gains were smaller than the year prior and said preschool access remains wildly uneven from state to state. Some states even lost ground.

“If providing high-quality preschool education to all 3- and 4-year-olds were a race,” the authors wrote, “some states are nearing the finish line, others have stumbled and fallen behind, and a few have yet to leave the starting line.”

Free preschool has expanded in California

More than half the nation's public preschool enrollment gain — some 25,000 students — came in California, which this year made every 4-year-old eligible for its “ transitional kindergarten ” program, or “TK.” The rapid rollout has had its tradeoffs. The national institute outlines 10 quality benchmarks for preschools, related to teacher training, class size and curriculum. California met just two of them last school year. And private preschool owners say the rush of 4-year-olds joining public schools threatens to cripple their businesses.

“Universal TK ... is a real win, but it’s also just the start of the work and not the end of it,” said Jessica Sawko of Children Now, which advocates on early childhood issues in California. She noted that the state will hit two more quality benchmarks in next year's report, by lowering its student-teacher ratio to 10-to-1 and by requiring lead teachers to have early education training.

The report illustrates some of the difficult tradeoffs states face when they scale up programs quickly or have limited funding. Hawaii is one of six states that meet all the institute's benchmarks. Its state preschool program also only serves 10% of 4-year-olds.

Evidence is mounting that the impact of high-quality preschool can follow children into adulthood, making them better prepared for kindergarten, more likely to graduate high school and more likely to find work. And it is increasingly seen as essential for success in kindergarten and beyond. Educators now also expect youngsters to start their first year of school already equipped to navigate kindergarten.

“We have a lot of kids who still do not fulfill their potential,” said Steven Barnett, founder and director of the early education institute. “We have evidence — very strong evidence — that preschool programs substantially improved the foundation for later success.”

Some states also recognize that free prekindergarten can make a difference for the wider economy, allowing parents to return to work at a time when private child care is becoming less affordable.

Preschool means confident kindergartners

Heather Sufuentes witnessed the impact of preschool when she was principal of Parkview Elementary in Chico, California, as it began its transitional kindergarten program. She said students who attended the program, which has a play-based curriculum and runs the length of a workday, arrived with more confidence and often volunteered to be class leaders.

“They're well prepared to transition into that big elementary school setting,” said Sufuentes, now director of elementary education for Chico Unified School District. Chico has more than doubled the number of TK seats it offers since 2022.

Marisol Márquez, a secretary who works for the state, sends her daughter to transitional kindergarten at 1st Street Elementary in Los Angeles. She had been sending her for free to a learning center underwritten by COVID-19 relief funding. But she would have had to start paying tuition this year, and she's not sure how she and her husband, a UPS driver, would have made it work. She was elated to hear 1st Street Elementary was offering free transitional kindergarten.

Educators there quickly discovered her daughter was bright and began sending her to kindergarten for math and reading lessons.

“If it hadn’t been for this program, we would have never found that out," Márquez said.

In some states, preschool is expensive. In others, it's free

Despite the raised expectations for 5-year-olds, no state mandates that children attend preschool, and only some cities and states make it accessible to every 4-year-old. Preschool offerings differ vastly. A family living in Wyoming, which has no state-funded preschool, could move to Colorado, where every parent can send their 4-year-old to part-time preschool without paying a dime in tuition. In the District of Columbia, even affluent families have access to two full years of prekindergarten, while neighboring Virginia has a far less robust program.

The uneven access across states can exacerbate disparities. Wealthier families can often afford private preschool tuition, regardless of what their state offers. In 2024, private child care centers, which often use preschool curriculum, averaged annual tuition of more than $12,000 for 4-year-olds, according to Child Care Aware of America.

For families that can't afford preschool tuition, the options can be limited. State-funded preschool programs often have waitlists.

If a family's earnings are low enough, they can qualify for programs like Head Start, which provides early education for the neediest Americans. But the number of children in Head Start is falling, in part due to staff shortages. Lower-income families may also qualify for state or federal child care subsidies that can help with private preschool, but those have growing waitlists, too.

Trump says states should pay

Federal support for expanding early education funding is sparse and shrinking. Recently, President Donald Trump said the federal government couldn’t afford to support child care while it was waging a war with Iran.

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care,” Trump said. States, he added, “should pay for it. ... They’ll have to raise their taxes.”

The map of states that offer the highest-quality public preschool programs would surprise some partisans. Republican-led states have pioneered universal prekindergarten, with Oklahoma introducing it in the late 1990s. Alabama and West Virginia also have preschool-for-all programs that receive top marks. Wealthier, Democratic-led states have lagged behind, even as many blue-leaning cities have moved ahead with their own initiatives. New York state lost enrollment last school year, even as New York City, which already has universal prekindergarten, is charging ahead with a plan to make all child care free for younger children.

And Georgia, another state with Republican leadership, is the first to have a universal preschool program that meets all quality benchmarks set by the National Institute of Early Education Research.

Rebecca Ellis's son John Patrick, 5, attends the private Capitol Hill Child Enrichment Center in Atlanta free of charge, thanks to the state's preschool-for-all program. She said it saved her family a huge amount of money, and she is impressed by how much her son has grown socially and emotionally.

“They focus so much on just helping kids learn how to calm down, to make friends, to regulate their feelings, to solve problems,” Ellis said.

John Patrick and her older son, who attended the same preschool, have even given their parents advice. When they become agitated, the children urge them to take deep breaths.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

According to an update released Wednesday, Floyd William Parrott has been formally charged with capital murder in the 1990 killings of Cheryl Henry, 22, and Garland “Andy” Atkinson, 21 — a case long known as the “Lovers’ Lane” murders.

READ MORE: Crucial tip, DNA link leads to capital murder arrest in 1990 ‘Lovers’ Lane’ cold case that shook Houston

Parrott, now 64, was arrested last month in Lincoln, Nebraska, and is expected to be extradited back to Harris County.

During a press conference, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the break in the case is especially meaningful to him, as he was just 11 years old when the murders happened and remembers how deeply it shook Houston.

“It gives me so much pride to be able to say, ‘We got him,’” Teare said.

KPRC 2’s Bryce Newberry is working to learn more about Parrott’s extradition. Prosecutors have not released additional details, citing the ongoing legal process.

Investigators previously said Parrott is believed to have been in the Houston area in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

UPDATE: Today, a Harris County grand jury returned an indictment charging Floyd William Parrott with Capital Murder in the 1990 Lovers’ Lane killings of Cheryl Henry and Garland “Andy” Atkinson.

One month ago, Parrott was arrested in Lincoln, Nebraska. Days after that, we asked… pic.twitter.com/bgFfGxQQ4O

— Harris County District Attorney (@HarrisCountyDAO) April 21, 2026

Authorities are also asking the public to review previously released photos — including images of a vehicle — and come forward with any information that could assist the case.

“We truly believe there are more victims out there,” Teare said. “If you met him once, if you met him at a club, let us know. Because over the next months, we are going to get a complete picture of what this individual was doing in our community for decades.”

The announcement comes during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, observed April 19–25, with officials noting the decades-long wait families often endure in cases like this.

After Parrott’s arrest was announced last month, Henry’s sister told KPRC 2’s Bryce Newberry the news was overwhelming and difficult to process after so many years.

“It’s hard to see that it’s real after 35 years of nothing,” she said.

• READ THE FAMILY’S FULL STATEMENT HERE.

Information on the murders

Henry and Atkinson had been dating at the time of their deaths in August 1990.

Henry was last seen after a night out with her sister and Atkinson. When she failed to show up for work the next day, her family reported her missing.

On Aug. 23, 1990, a security guard found a white Honda Civic parked at the end of a cul-de-sac near the 1300 block of Enclave Parkway. Henry’s purse was still inside the vehicle, along with her identification.

A search of the nearby wooded area led to a grim discovery.

Investigators found Henry’s body hidden under wooden boards, in what appeared to be an attempt to conceal it. Roughly 200 yards away, Atkinson’s body was found propped against a tree, where he had been tied.

Autopsies later determined both victims died from sharp-force injuries to the neck.

Court records allege Atkinson was tied up and killed first. Investigators believe Henry was then restrained, sexually assaulted, and killed.

Investigation that led to suspect’s arrest

The case remained unsolved for nearly 36 years until new developments emerged.

Investigators say a tip — followed up in late 2025 — led them to Parrott as a potential suspect.

That tip ultimately connected to DNA evidence through the national CODIS database.

Authorities said DNA from a 1996 sexual assault case, in which Parrott was identified as a suspect, matched evidence collected during Henry’s autopsy.

Another DNA link was also made to a separate sexual assault reported in June 1990.

Those connections helped investigators build the case that led to Parrott’s arrest.

We have rain chances through Wednesday afternoon. You can check out our current radar below:

Wednesday’s Forecast:

Wednesday morning looks calmer before things ramp up again later in the day. There could be an isolated shower or storm, but most will not have any issues for the morning commute.

As we head through the day, we will see showers and storms become more widespread, especially after lunchtime. This means you could be dodging rainfall for any after school pick-ups.

Timing for afternoon storms on Wednesday look to be most likely from 2 p.m. - 8 p.m. The highest threat of heavy downpours and thunderstorms will be for locations east of I-45, but everybody will have the chance of seeing storms.

Plan for extra time on the roads and keep your umbrella handy.

Your extended forecast:

Looking ahead past Wednesday, the organized rain systems leave our area. Small rain chances, around 20%, could linger thanks to the warmth and humidity, but no organized storm systems are expected after mid-week.

You’ll notice May is on the 10 day forecast, and we can expect a much more summer-like forecast. Highs in the 80s with humid conditions and isolated afternoon showers and storms.

Have storm or flood photos from your neighborhood? Share what you’re seeing with the KPRC 2 Weather Team through Click2Pins at click2houston.com/pins/.

Researchers at the University of Alabama used 16 different factors including the geographic hazards, the population and infrastructure exposed and the vulnerability of people living there. They then brought in past damages from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's database and applied three different artificial intelligence tools to figure out flood risks from Texas to Maine, calculating that 17.5 million people were at “very high” risk and an additional 17 million were at “high" risk, the next level.

The authors looked at all sizes of flooding and examined separately what FEMA considers the most extreme, which are the top 1% of events. The study found 4.3 million people along the coasts to be at the highest level of risk of extreme flooding, but 20.5 million to be at high risk, the second highest level.

They found a lot of vulnerability, highlighting eight different cities from Houston, which flooded in 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, to New York, which was inundated in 2012’s Superstorm Sandy.

Wednesday's study in the journal Science Advances found that New York City has 4.75 million people at the two highest risk levels for all flooding, with more than 200,000 buildings likely to be damaged.

And while the number of people at risk in New Orleans is far lower, about 380,000, it involves 99% of the city's population. That doesn't mean 99% of the people will be affected in the next hurricane or nontropical flood, but that they might be depending on the storm's individual path and rain pattern, said study co-author Wanyun Shao, a climate scientist at the University of Alabama.

“Just look at the magnitude,” Shao said. “Those numbers are shocking, are alarming.”

The elderly and poor are most at risk

“When the next big storm hits New York City, when the next Hurricane Katrina -like hurricane makes landfall in New Orleans, people will get hurt, especially those socially vulnerable populations,” Shao said referring to the poor, the elderly, children and the uneducated.

Shao and outside experts said the numbers stunned them even though they were familiar with the worsening effects of climate change.

“New York is known to be susceptible to floods and it has the largest population. But the fact that New York has nearly an order of magnitude more flood-exposed population than any other city is surprising,” said Alex de Sherbinin, a geographer who directs Columbia University’s Center for Integrated Earth System Information. He wasn’t part of the study.

Flood problems are becoming more frequent in New York and New Orleans because of human-caused climate change, the study said.

Other cities are also threatened

Jacksonville has 679,000 people at high or very high risk of flooding, while Houston is just behind at just under 600,000. Other cities highlighted include Miami, Norfolk, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, Mobile, Alabama.

Shao and outside experts said what separates her study from others is the sheer comprehensiveness of all the factors it considers, including sinking land and pavement that doesn't allow water to seep into the ground, as well as incorporating human social vulnerability such as poverty and age.

“This could be applied to other places in the world, such as Manila,” said University of Virginia engineering professor Venkataraman Lakshmi, who heads the hydrology section of the American Geophysical Union, referring to the capital of the Philippines. He wasn't part of the study, but said the flooding problems it highlights will get more frequent and intense due to human-caused climate change.

Columbia University's Marco Tedesco, who wasn't part of the study, said "it reinforces the crucial concept that future flood disasters are not just about water—they are about where people live, how cities are built, and who is least protected.”

Actions can lessen the risk

De Sherbinin said, "the analysis of the flood risk factors is important for local planners, emergency managers, and even highway crews and utility providers. We all know that low lying areas are more flood prone, but the data they have assembled provide more insights into flood risk, particularly for flash floods.”

Study lead author Hemal Dey, a geospatial scientist, said he hopes local officials look at not just building more dams and levees, but more natural infrastructure such as wetlands, grasslands, rain gardens and estuaries.

“The research is solid confirmation of what emergency managers have been saying for years. Realtors will hate it,'' said Craig Fugate, a former FEMA director who wasn't part of the study. "The harder question is what we’re actually going to do about it."

___

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.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates reportedly spoke “candidly” about his relationship to Epstein in a February town hall meeting of the influential foundation he started with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates. But the external probe marks the nonprofit's plainest attempt yet to address associations that have cast a pall over its concentrated efforts to end preventable maternal/child deaths and control key infectious diseases.

"In March, with the support of our chair, Bill Gates, and our independent Governing Board members, Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman commissioned an external review to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein, and our current policies for vetting and developing new philanthropic partnerships,” the Gates Foundation said in a statement. The Wall Street journal first reported news of the staff memo detailing the review.

The philanthropic giant has already undergone a period of change. The Gates Foundation shared plans in January to cap operating costs and incrementally cut as many as 500 positions, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030. The move follows last year’s announcement that the foundation would close in 2045, earlier than previously expected.

The Justice Department's files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting dates they held meetings and photos of Gates at events attended by the two men. Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding their connection, denies knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claims they met only to discuss philanthropy.

The foundation acknowledged that “a small number” of employees met with Epstein based on his “claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development” in a February statement. They never created a fund together and the foundation made no financial payments to Epstein, according to the previous release.

“The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way,” the statement read.

The files' disclosures are being closely followed by one of the Gates Foundation's earliest and most ardent supporters. Investor Warren Buffett, who donates a portion of his annual Berkshire Hathaway shares to the nonprofit, told CNBC's “Squawk Box” last month that it's clear “there was a lot I didn't know."

Buffett, who resigned as the foundation's trustee in 2021, has completed his donation every year around the end of June. But he said he will “wait and see what unfolds” in the Justice Department's documents and congressional hearings on their contents. He noted the foundation is “sitting” on a large endowment, which totals $86 billion, and said Gates has “plenty of his own money.”

“So, in any event, I’ll just wait and see. And there’s three and a half million, or whatever it is pages – I mean, it is astounding,” Buffett said of the Epstein files.

A Gates Foundation spokesperson described Buffett as “an extraordinarily generous partner” for nearly two decades in a statement Wednesday to the Associated Press.

“We are deeply grateful for his support, which has enabled us to accelerate progress on some of the world’s toughest challenges that would not otherwise have been possible,” the spokesperson said.

The Gates Foundation expects its board and management will receive an update on the Epstein review this summer. The third-party investigators have not been publicly named.

___

The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and statehouses from Melinda French Gates’ organization, Pivotal Ventures. ___

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.

U.S. Air Force divers used an underwater drone on Tuesday to search inside the overturned ship, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release. Divers from Japan's coast guard further examined the ship, called the Mariana, but didn't find the other five, it said.

“Coast Guard aircrews continue to search for the five missing crewmen and an orange 12-person life raft in the vicinity of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” the news release said.

The National Weather Service said Super Typhoon Sinlaku, the strongest tropical cyclone this year, was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph (241 kph) when it made landfall last week in the Northern Mariana Islands, which, like Guam to the south, are a U.S. territory.

The Coast Guard and agencies from Guam, Japan and New Zealand have covered more than 99,000 square miles (256,000 square kilometers) in their search for the crew, the guard said this week. That's an area roughly the size of Oregon.

The ship notified the U.S. Coast Guard on April 15 that the U.S.-registered vessel lost its starboard engine during the typhoon and needed assistance. The guard said it lost contact with the ship the next day.

“Our hearts are with the families of the Mariana crew members and the communities impacted by this tragic incident,” Cmdr. Preston Hieb, the search and rescue mission coordinator for the Coast Guard Oceania District, said in the statement.

Heavy wind hindered initial search efforts, but the overturned ship was eventually spotted Saturday about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Pagan, one of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Coast Guard said Monday that debris including a partially submerged inflatable life raft was spotted about 110 miles (177 kilometers) from the ship.

While specific safety requirements for the 145-foot (44-meter) ship were not known, federal and international codes call for cargo ships to have life rafts stocked with food and water. The rafts have to be able to withstand exposure for 30 days, according to a code put out by the International Maritime Organization.

Aaron Davenport, a retired Coast Guard officer with search and rescue experience who isn't involved in the current operation, said it would have been very difficult to deploy a raft during the typhoon.

“If they didn’t hook it somewhere and they just deployed it into the water, it would probably blow away,” he said.

Davenport wondered if searchers spotted any more safety equipment aboard the overturned ship.

“That would determine how long they need to search. Because if they have safety gear, if they’re in another life raft or if they’re in a survival suit or if they even have a life jacket — that tells me that they’re going to survive longer, probably," he said.

Davenport also questioned whether the partially submerged raft that was found came from the Mariana.

“So if there’s another ship that was affected by the weather there, they could have a life raft get washed off the top,” Davenport said.

Sinlaku battered the Northern Mariana Islands, causing wind damage and flooding. Island ports reopened to commercial traffic this week, and the Coast Guard delivered pallets of water and supplies to areas that had been cut off.

Wednesday, April 22

• The George Ranch
• Texas Medical Center BioPath Program
• Follow Nia Sioux on Instagram
• Nia Sioux’s Memoir “Bottom of the Pyramid”

Tuesday, April 21

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

Monday, April 20

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

Friday, April 17

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

Thursday, April 16

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

Wednesday, April 15

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

Tuesday, April 14

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

Monday, April 13

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

Friday, April 10

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

Thursday, April 9

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

Wednesday, April 8

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

Tuesday, April 7

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

Monday, April 6

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

Friday, April 3

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

Thursday, April 2

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

Wednesday, April 1

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

Tuesday, March 31

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

Monday, March 30

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

Friday, March 27

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

Wednesday, March 25

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

Tuesday, March 24

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

Monday, March 23

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

Thursday, March 19

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

Wednesday, March 18

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

Tuesday, March 17

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

Monday, March 16

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

Friday, March 13

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

Thursday, March 12

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

Tuesday, March 10

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

Monday, March 9

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

Friday, March 6

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

Thursday, March 5

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

Wednesday, March 4

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

Tuesday, March 3

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

Monday, March 2

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

Friday, February 27

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

Thursday, February 26

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

Wednesday, February 25

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

Tuesday, February 24

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

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

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

February 6 - 20

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

Thursday, February 5

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

Wednesday, February 4

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

Tuesday, February 3

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

Monday, February 2

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

Friday, January 30

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

Thursday, January 29

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

Wednesday, January 28

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

Tuesday, January 27

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

Monday, January 26

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

Friday, January 23

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

Thursday, January 22

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

Wednesday, January 21

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

Friday, January 16

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

Thursday, January 15

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

Wednesday, January 14

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

Tuesday, January 13

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

Monday, January 12

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

Friday, January 9

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

Thursday, January 8

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

Wednesday, January 7

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

Tuesday, January 6

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

Monday, January 5

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

Friday, January 2

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

Thursday, January 1

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

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Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, was found unresponsive in his cell, according to a statement from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. Officials provided medical treatment to the U.S. Navy veteran, but he was later pronounced dead.

The official cause of death has not been determined, but officials don't suspect foul play, according to the office. Officials are conducting an internal review.

Adon Abel was accused of killing Prianna Weathers, 31, and DHS auditor Lauren Bullis, 40, in last week's attack. Authorities also had been seeking an additional murder charge for Tony Mathews, 49, who was injured in the attack and died Sunday.

Authorities haven’t offered a potential motive for the shootings. It’s unclear if Adon Abel knew any of the victims. Police have said they believe at least one was targeted at random.

Adon Abel was represented by a public defender, and the state council overseeing defenders' work said Wednesday in a statement that his death denies him “the opportunity to contest the charges in court.”

“We also regret that the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims may now be left without the fuller answers a public legal process might have provided about how these deaths occurred,” the statement said. “That is a painful and sobering reality for everyone affected.”

Adon Abel faced state malice murder, aggravated assault and gun charges over last week's attacks, court records show. He also faced a federal charge of illegally possessing the gun as a person previously convicted of a felony, which was filed Friday.

His roommates told The Associated Press that shortly before the shootings, he got in an intense argument over the air conditioning in their home and stormed out. He lived with six others in separate units of the home.

The United Kingdom native was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022 while serving in the U.S. Navy and stationed in the San Diego area.

The attacks in Georgia quickly drew the Trump administration’s attention, with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin raising concern that Adon Abel was granted U.S. citizenship when Democrat Joe Biden was president. Mullin cataloged a litany of Adon Abel's previous alleged crimes, but it is unclear whether any of them occurred before he became a citizen.

Military records show the Adon Abel enlisted in the Navy in 2020, last serving in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, California, and as a petty officer received a Navy “E” Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness.

Adon Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person when he was stationed in Coronado, near San Diego, according to California court records.

The attorney who represented him in that case, Brandon Naidu, has described him as polite, calm and soft-spoken in their interactions. He said Wednesday that his obligation to protect the confidentiality of their conversations limits what he can say publicly but, “Mental health was absolutely at the center of his San Diego case.” "“t was fueled by suicidal ideation as a result of mental health that he was self-treating with substances,” he said.

He added: “Nobody wins in this. We’ll never know the motives, what could have been done beforehand or even afterward. Nobody gets proper closure on this.”

___

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas, and Golden, from Seattle.

Council members Edward Pollard, Abbie Kamin, Alejandra Salinas and Letitia Plummer Thomas voted against the measure.

The ordinance takes effect immediately as an emergency measure.

• RELATED: Houston mayor unveils proposed amended immigration ordinance in hopes to restore state funding

What the amended ordinance does

The updated policy refines how the Houston Police Department handles immigration-related encounters, particularly interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Key provisions include:

• Defines ICE administrative warrants: The ordinance establishes a formal definition for administrative warrants used in deportation proceedings.
• Reinforces cooperation with federal authorities: It states the city cannot prohibit or materially limit cooperation with ICE when required under Texas law or by agreement.
• Clarifies detention rules: Officers may detain individuals for the duration of a lawful stop and for other legitimate purposes discovered during that detention, aligning with constitutional standards.
• Expands transparency: HPD must provide quarterly public reports to City Council detailing immigration-related activity, including when officers inquire about immigration status or contact ICE, along with demographic and location data while protecting confidential information.
• Immediate implementation: The ordinance was approved as an emergency measure and goes into effect right away.

Background: funding fight with the state

The vote comes amid an ongoing legal and political battle with Ken Paxton, who has challenged the city’s earlier ordinance and prompted the state to freeze more than $110 million in public safety funding.

Mayor Whitmire has warned the funding loss, previously estimated at about $114 million, could significantly impact city operations, including overtime and staffing at HPD for investigations involving homicides, domestic violence, juvenile cases and human trafficking.

He has also pointed to the financial strain on preparations for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026, which will bring global attention and security demands to Houston.

What changed from the original policy

The amended ordinance rolls back and modifies portions of a policy approved earlier this month.

The previous ordinance removed a provision allowing officers to wait up to 30 minutes for ICE when someone had an administrative warrant unless there was a criminal warrant, citing constitutional concerns.

Whitmire’s revisions clarify that cooperation with federal authorities cannot be limited when required by law and adjust how administrative warrants are defined.

The updated language removes earlier wording stating those warrants do not establish probable cause and instead describes them as orders related to deportation or removal proceedings.

It also broadens detention language, allowing officers to hold individuals not just for the initial stop but for “other legitimate purposes” identified during the encounter.

Debate and concerns

The vote follows days of intense debate at City Hall, with some council members raising concerns about the speed of the process and potential constitutional implications.

Salinas previously questioned whether the changes could undermine key protections in the original ordinance.

“The amendment poses a lot of open questions,” she said during Tuesday’s meeting, including whether it complies with the Fourth Amendment.

Kamin also criticized the timeline, saying council members had limited time to review the proposal before the vote.

Public opinion remained divided. Some residents and leaders argued the city must comply with state law to avoid losing critical funding, while others stressed the importance of protecting constitutional rights.

Rev. James Dixon of the NAACP Houston branch said the issue requires balance.

“We support law enforcement… but we want law enforcement to operate within constitutional law,” Dixon said.

Whitmire has said he believes the amended ordinance creates a path to resolve the dispute with the state without engaging in a costly legal battle.

City officials now hope the changes will lead to the restoration of millions in frozen public safety funds as Houston prepares for upcoming budget decisions and major international events.

Caro Rivera Nelson, attorney at the ACLU of Texas, released the following statement:

“The effective repeal of Proposition A is a stain on our state. Houston City Council caved to the governor’s threats and intimidation. This ordinance would have allowed local police to focus on public safety in accordance with state and federal law. Instead, officers are again left without clear guidance and remain under the same conditions in which local officers were doing ICE’s job — a job they’re not trained for, paid for, or legally authorized to do. Our city councils must defend their authority to enact lawful ordinances that represent what is best for their constituents.”

Chelsea confirmed his departure on Wednesday, less than four months into the job and just four days before it plays in an FA Cup semifinal at Wembley.

Assistant Calum McFarlane will take charge on an interim basis until the end of the season.

“This has not been a decision the club has taken lightly, however recent results and performances have fallen below the necessary standards with still so much more to play for this season,” Chelsea said in a statement.

The team that won the Club World Cup last year now looks likely to miss out on next season’s Champions League. That would mean a huge financial hit for a club that has spent billions of dollars under U.S. owners Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly.

The five-game losing streak is its worst since 1912 — the same year the Titanic sank.

Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton proved the last straw for Rosenior, an inexperienced coach at the highest level who was hired from Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg in January. It was a seventh loss in eight games in all competitions.

Chelsea has won one of its last nine in the league, is seventh in the standings and seven points adrift of the top five, who all qualify for the Champions League.

Rosenior, 41, turned on his players following the Brighton match, saying the performance was “indefensible” and that “something needs to change drastically.”

The club’s hierarchy clearly agreed, despite saying Rosenior had “always conducted himself with the highest integrity and professionalism”.

Rosenior replaced Club World Cup-winning coach Enzo Maresca in January and only took charge of 23 games.

He started impressively with a run of six wins in seven games, but things unravelled quickly in recent weeks, including elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.

His tenure was brought to an end despite Chelsea preparing for its FA Cup semifinal against Leeds on Sunday.

Rosenior becomes the fifth permanent manager to lose his job since Clearlake and Boehly bought one of English soccer’s most storied clubs in 2022. Now the search is on for a sixth to try to bring sustained success.

“As the club works to bring stability to the head coach position, we will undertake a process of self-reflection to make the right long-term appointment,” Chelsea said.

Rosenior’s departure comes after fans of the two-time Champions League winner and six-time English champion began to protest against the U.S. owners.

While there have been trophies, the Club World Cup and Europa Conference League last season, this could be the third campaign out of four in which it has failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Under former owner Roman Abramovich, Chelsea was one of the most dominant teams in Europe, winning a full set of trophies, including two Champions Leagues and five Premier League titles.

It last won the Champions League in 2021, the year before Abramovich was forced to sell the club after being sanctioned by the British government in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

___

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

___

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

Photos and video posted to social media Wednesday showed ice sitting inside living rooms after it busted through windows and doors. Homes, garages and sheds could also be seen surrounded by several feet of muddy, brown river and lake water.

Spring rains and winter snowmelt have swelled rivers and lakes, forcing torrents of water through Cheboygan County communities on its way to Lake Huron.

“Black Lake, Black River, Cheboygan River, Burt Lake, Mullett Lake, the Sturgeon River — and nearly every waterway in the county — have overflowed beyond their banks, swallowing docks, roads, yards, and in far too many cases, homes,” the Cheboygan County sheriff’s office told residents last week on its Facebook page. “What should be familiar shorelines are now unrecognizable expanses of water.”

Homes along Black Lake's west side were evacuated over the weekend, according to the sheriff's office.

“These are ice sheets. They’re massive,” said Christopher Narsesian, who took photos and video of the damage. “They’re mini glaciers, if you will. They just run down everything in their path. Nothing can stop that kind of weight.”

State and county officials are working to keep debris and ice from clogging the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex to allow water to flow on to Lake Huron.

If water levels were normal, lake ice would just break up in place as it melts, according to Patrick Bak, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord, Michigan.

The ice on Black Lake, more than likely, was pushed ashore by the wind, he added.

“The fact that the water was so high, the ice ... had more room to travel,” Bak said.

Ice chunks were also moving through nearby Mullett Lake. Both lakes feed into the Cheboygan River, with water flowing through the Cheboygan Dam.

“We've managed a little bit of ice issues on Mullett Lake,” said Patrick Ertel, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Incident Management Team.

Last week, crews added pumps, and power was restored to an old hydroelectric station to increase water flow through the dam. Cranes also were used to remove gates that hold back water.

A large chunk of ice snapped the safety cable at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex on April 9, forcing the natural resources department to close access points upstream and downstream of the dam.

“We can't have large chunks of ice flowing down blocking up the gates,” Ertel said. “Two marine vessels are kind of breaking up the chunks … on the Cheboygan River. The more water we can safely pass at the Cheboygan Dam, the faster we can bring relief to Mullet Lake. It's going as fast as it can. It is purely driven by gravity.”

The smaller Alverno Dam is between Black Lake and the Cheboygan River.

“Ice from Black Lake is not going to make it down to the Cheboygan River. It will be held up,” Ertel said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has declared a state of emergency in Cheboygan and more than 30 other Michigan counties due to flooding and other severe weather this month.

Narsesian lives near Cheboygan and grew up along Black Lake.

Slabs of ice, which he described as a “several-mile-wide sheet,” continue to float in the lake. He said the ice is “smashing into homes and taking them out, just leveling them.” He said some ice was pushed as high as rooftops.

“We’ve never seen it that high,” Narsesian said. “Typically, the ice would just come over the break walls in front of houses, like a couple of feet. People’s homes don’t typically flood. The ice just melts.”

Water is receding, but Narsesian said levels are still high and the ice still is out there.

“As long as the wind doesn’t pick up and move that around again, we should be OK,” he said. “If that ice does come back, it’s going to do more damage.”

It’s the aftermath that concerns him most for the community where it’s “all friends and family” and “everybody knows everyone,” Narsesian said.

“Most people don’t have any help — coverage,” he added. “ Flood insurance was never necessary. No one’s ever seen this here. It’s a lot.”

Krueger, 86, and her daughter were on a specialized zoo tour last month for people who live with dementia that was organized by Malteser Deutschland, part of the international Catholic aid organization Malteser Order of Malta.

On the tour with Krueger, Ingrid Barkow watched from her wheelchair as the elephants roamed their habitat, while Monika Jansen balanced on her tiptoes to get a better view of a rhinoceros.

“When I get home, I’ll still be thinking about it,” said Jansen, 85. “Maybe even at night, while I’m sleeping and dreaming about it.”

The three women are among roughly 1.6 million people living with dementia in Germany, according to the Office of the National Dementia Strategy. The figure is expected to rise to 2.8 million by 2050.

Specialized tours grow worldwide

Museums and other cultural institutions across the globe have added specialized, barrier-free tours and guides to their repertoire in recent years, some made possible by advances in technology.

These include sign-language tours for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, touch-based events for those with blindness or low vision and programs for people on the autism spectrum.

The Berlin chapter of Malteser Deutschland last year designed a cultural program in the capital catering to people with dementia.

“People with dementia aren’t very visible in our society. It’s still a major taboo subject, yet it actually affects a great many people and it’s important that they continue to be at the heart of society," project coordinator Christine Gruschka said. "They have a right to participate, just like everyone else.”

Millions of people around the globe have some form of dementia, a progressive loss of memory, reasoning, language skills and other cognitive functions. People can experience changes in personality, emotional control and even visual perception. Alzheimer’s is the most widely recognized type, but there are many others, with their own symptoms and underlying biology.

Malteser Berlin's tours for people with dementia occur at the zoo, the Museum of Natural History, Britzer Garden and Charlottenburg Palace, with hopes of expanding to other locations.

“‘Normal’ tours — so-called normal tours — are often too fast, too loud, with too many people and too many distractions," Gruschka said. "That’s why we’ve made it our goal to create programs specifically for people with dementia: Where they still feel seen, where they feel comfortable, and where they can still show that they’re still here and can still be part of it.”

Dementia-specific tours are key for caregivers and families

Krueger, Jansen and Barkow followed Malteser Berlin tour coordinator Carola Tembrink around the Berlin Zoo, accompanied by their daughters and a caregiver.

Tembrink skipped the majority of the zoo's vast offerings to focus on the hippo, rhino and elephant habitats so the participants would not get too tired or overwhelmed.

“The zoo is a wonderful place for tours like this because almost everyone who grew up in Berlin has been here as a child," Tembrink said. "And especially for people with dementia, childhood memories are often still present — they just need to be jogged a bit — and that happens naturally when they see the animals, smell the air as they enter the zoo, or when they go into the rhino house and catch a different scent.”

For the caregivers and families, the tours are a lifeline. During long and sometimes frustrating days of caring for someone with dementia, a specialized tour lets them connect with others who understand the journey.

Krueger was formally diagnosed last year with dementia, but her daughter, Kerstin Hoehne, said the symptoms appeared more than two years ago.

“What’s nice is that it’s also with, let’s say, like-minded people, that you’re not alone, but that you have a sense of belonging because everyone else might have the same problem,” Hoehne said.

Barkow's daughter, Manuela Grudda, said the tour brought them closer together. Grudda pushed Barkow's wheelchair through the zoo, her hands caressing her mother's shoulders or pointing out the animals.

“I can’t really communicate with her in a normal way, of course, but I see that when I show her something, she looks at it, she’s paying attention, and that’s important,” Grudda said. “And it just makes me happy that she’s not just in her own world, but also in this one.”

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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.

Devin Nunes, a former California congressmen in Donald Trump's first term, is being replaced temporarily by digital media executive Kevin McGurn as chief executive officer. The company, Trump Media & Technology, didn't give a reason for Nunes leaving or provide a timeline for his permanent replacement.

After soaring shortly before Trump's re-election in November 2024, stock in the company plunged 67%, wiping out more than $6 billion in investor wealth.

Trump Media was formed by the Trump family as an alternative to social media giants that had barred him from posting on their platforms after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. It said it would not only take on Facebook and Twitter as a “free speech” alternative, but eventually could become a media giant competing with streaming services such as Netflix.

The stock soared, but it never gained traction with a wide audience despite the president's frequent use of it for major political announcements, slammed by government ethics experts as a conflict of interest with the presidency.

Since it went public two years ago, Trump Media has lost more than $1.1 billion. Nunes got total compensation of $47 million in 2024, the last year for which figures are available.

The new CEO McGurn said in statement that the company was “poised to take off."

“In carrying President Trump’s unique, singular vision and message, Truth Social stands for the most powerful brand and voice in history of social media and beyond,” he said.

The Trump Organization didn’t immediately responded to a request for comment.

The company has recently branched into cryptocurrency and another hot business, prediction markets. The latter are online betting venues where people can wager on sports, entertainment and political events.

Both cryptocurrencies and prediction markets have gotten boosts from the Trump administration, in terms of lighter regulation and outright promotion. Last year, for instance, the Trump established a national bitcoin reserve, pushing up the value of that currency.

McGurn, has worked at NBC Universal, Hulu and DoubleClick, among other companies, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is also the CEO of a new shell company that Trump’s two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, joined last year to buy U.S. manufacturers. That company originally stated in regulatory filings that it would be targeting businesses hoping to tap federal contracts, which would be awarded by the same government run by their father.

The Trump Organization and the White House have repeatedly denied that there are conflicts of interest between Trump's role as president and the family business.

The UT Dell Medical Center, announced Tuesday, is projected to open in 2030 as the crown jewel of a new 300-plus-acre advanced research campus. The university expects to break ground this fall on what school leaders are calling the country's first “AI-native” hospital.

The donation makes the couple the first University of Texas donors to give more than $1 billion, according to system officials, building on two decades of support for computer science education, the medical school and scholarships for students with the most significant financial need.

For Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at about $170 billion, the next step was to further expand his and his wife's investments in Central Texas. The computer magnate founded the company in 1984 as a UT-Austin pre-med student selling customized personal computers from his freshman dorm room. Health infrastructure needs became clear, he said, as the area's population about doubled in size.

“I was born in Texas. My wife was born in Texas. This is our home,” Dell told The Associated Press, adding that “building a stronger health system here, more innovation and helping to support the growth and stability of the region” is important.

The donation is among the largest ever in higher education philanthropy, following recent contributions such as Phil Knight's $2 billion pledge to Oregon Health & Science University's cancer center and Michael Bloomberg's $1.8 billion gift for financial aid to low- and middle-income Johns Hopkins University students.

A ‘rare' opportunity to integrate technology into a new medical center

From monitoring vital signs to triggering step-by-step care plans, AI is making inroads into health care at hundreds of hospitals.

With the launch of UT Dell Medical Center, however, Dr. Claudia Lucchinetti sees a rare opportunity: instead of retroactively applying new technologies to old hospital infrastructure, she said they can integrate them from the start. They will also collaborate with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to offer top specialists for those with complex conditions.

Lucchinetti, the dean of Dell Medical School and senior vice president for medical affairs, said their model will use technology to support the patient-doctor relationship and make care “feel simpler and more human.” “Ambient" AI will make the hospital itself an “intelligent member of the care team,” she said, taking notes so that clinicians can treat patients more directly. She touted AI's ability to identify biometric patterns and early signs of cancer before they're obvious to the naked eye.

The goal, she said, is to move from a reactive and fragmented health system to one that is predictive and more seamless.

“We have the technology, the science and the understanding to do better. And what we’ve been missing is the ability to design a system around those capabilities from the start,” she said. "That’s the opportunity that Susan and Michael Dell have catalyzed.”

The gift will also support undergraduate scholarships, student housing and UT's Texas Advanced Computing Center, where officials are building the nation's largest academic supercomputer with Dell's AI infrastructure.

In a convocation address two years ago, Michael Dell encouraged medical school graduates to ensure AI models understand human ethics and make health care more equitable. He believes the technology will augment caregiving, create more precise treatments, accelerate scientific discoveries and apply those findings to real-world practices sooner.

“We have to figure out how to do this in a way that is responsible, reflects our values and beliefs, and ultimately enables humans to reach their full potential,” he told AP. “That's what we're all working on.”

Landscape for higher education giving

The major contribution comes at a time when private support for higher education is falling to a dwindling pool of supporters.

Colleges raised a record $78 billion last year, according to the 2025 Voluntary Support of Education, but nearly 90% of that money came from just 2% of donors.

Rutgers University Associate Dean for Research Marybeth Gasman said she's excited to see such strong support for a public institution at a time when public funding is declining amid politicized attacks on higher education. She hopes the megagift inspires other donations, as she said decades-long patterns suggest that more giving occurs after high-profile individual contributions.

“Higher education, quite frankly, could really use it right now," she said.

UT-Austin officials are certainly hoping so. The Dells' gift kicks off a broader 10-year campaign to raise $10 billion for the university.

The donation comes on the heels of the Dells' $6.25 billion pledge to provide an incentive to claim new investment accounts under President Donald Trump's tax law for 25 million American children ages 10 and under. The “Trump Accounts” give $1,000 to every newborn, so long as their parents open one, and invests those funds in the stock market. The couple believes it is the largest single private commitment made to U.S. children.

Michael Dell said even a small sum makes a child more likely to enter college — “perhaps at the University of Texas or some other great school” — and eventually start a family or business. He welcomed the creativity he's seeing from other “Trump Accounts" funders. He's seen cities offer additional investments for community service and good grades. He noted that hedge fund managers Brad Gerstner and Ray Dalio have seeded accounts in Indiana and Connecticut, respectively.

“I think you'll see many more gifts at the local community level and some other big ones at the national level,” he said.

But he dismissed the suggestion that, between the “Trump Accounts” and this University of Texas gift, there's been a shift in his and his wife's philanthropy toward more selective, bigger bets.

“Certainly, we’ve been very blessed and we have a lot of resources,” he said. "So, we're looking for things that have significant impact.”

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This story has been updated to correct the impact of Mike Bloomberg's $1.8 billion gift to Johns Hopkins University.

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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.

In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, President Nikos Christodoulides said EU leaders will discuss “giving substance” to Article 42.7 of the bloc’s treaties, which oblige all 27 member states to assist each other in times of crisis.

The article states that if a nation is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, its partners should provide “aid and assistance by all the means in their power.” It has never been used before so there’s no hard and fast rules on how EU members should respond to any call for assistance.

“We have Article 42.7 and we don’t know what is going to happen if a member state triggers this article,” Christodoulides told The Associated Press ahead of an EU-Mideast summit he is hosting later this week, expected to focus on the Iran war and its fallout. “So we’re going to have a discussion and prepare, let’s say, an operational plan of what is going to happen in case a member state triggers this article, and there are a number of issues.”

The issue resonates particularly with Christodoulides, who appealed for help from fellow EU countries last month when a Shahed drone struck a British air base on the island’s southern coastline. Cypriot officials said the drone was launched from Lebanon whose capital is just 207 kilometers (129 miles) away from Cyprus’ southern coast. Greece, France, Spain, The Netherlands and Portugal dispatched ships with anti-drone capabilities to help defend the island.

Clarification needed on countries that are also NATO members

Christodoulides said since many EU countries are also members of NATO, the playbook should clarify how those countries would respond to a call for help from an EU partner without conflicting with their obligations under the military alliance.

NATO’s own security guarantee, Article 5, states an attack on one ally is deemed an attack on them all, requiring a collective response.

“So what is going to happen in this situation if a member state is both NATO member state and an EU member state? What is going happen?” Christodoulides said.

Another issue that needs to be addressed under the Article 47.2 is whether a response would be a collective one in the NATO mold or just one for states neighboring the country in distress. There’s also the issue of what means would need to be used to deal with varying types of crises.

Christodoulides said he’s pleased to see that fellow EU leaders now “understand the importance” of bringing the bloc closer to the Middle East with such initiatives as the Mediterranean Pact that implements specific projects on a range of issues including health, education and energy in Middle Eastern countries.

Closer EU ties to the Middle East has been a key priority for Cyprus’ EU presidency, which Christodoulides said offers a “very good opportunity...to give substance” to that objective. Attending the informal EU leaders’ summit later this week will be the leaders of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, affording the opportunity “not just to exchange ideas but to see in action how we elevate our cooperation in a strategic level.”

“We can represent the interest of the countries of the Greater Middle East to Brussels, but at the same time, and this is very, very important, the countries in the region, they trust Cyprus to represent them in the European Union,” he said.

'A win-win situation'

Christodoulides is a strong proponent of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a trade, energy and digital connectivity corridor that would link the continent with the world's largest democracy and is hoped to usher peace and stability in the Middle East.

Christodoulides said under the Cypriot EU presidency, a “Friends of IMEC” group has been set up to promote the initiative, which still lacks what he said are more specific projects. One such project is the Great Seas Interconnector, an electricity cable connecting the power grids of Greece and Cyprus and eventually Israel that has been plagued by delays.

“We can work together with the Americans, with the U.S. Government, with President Trump in order to give substance because it will be a win-win situation for both the European Union and the United States” with additional concrete projects, Christodoulides said.

New energy sources

The Iran war again brought the need for the EU to diversify its energy source into sharp relief. Christodoulides said he’s in talks with the EU’s executive arm on how Cyprus’ own offshore natural gas deposits can help the bloc find alternative energy sources and routes.

He said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will unveil on Friday “very specific proposals” regarding energy costs and how the bloc can become more energy independent.

Christodoulides said the EU has made significant strides in hastening its decision on making mechanisms but has failed to deliver on its pledge to add new members in the last two years, diminishing the trust that prospective member nations have in the union.

“So we have a strong geopolitical tool that we are losing mainly because of our mistakes. The situation today is much better. We are deciding in a much faster, let’s say, pace,” said Christodoulides. “And enlargement is one of the geopolitical tools that, as a European Union, we need pretty soon to have specific decisions.”

According to ICE, the arrests took place between April 6 and April 17 and involved individuals with a combined 751 criminal convictions. The agency also reported that those arrested had previously entered the United States illegally a total of 654 times.

ICE said the group included individuals with convictions for a range of offenses, including child sex crimes, homicide-related offenses, robbery, drug trafficking and assault. Among those arrested, the agency reported 17 people with child sex offense convictions, six with homicide-related convictions and 16 with drug trafficking convictions. The agency also identified 15 people as gang members or associates and said two of those arrested were foreign fugitives wanted for murder in other countries.

Additional convictions listed by ICE included 156 for driving while intoxicated, 108 for drug possession, 74 for assault-related offenses and 67 for robbery-related crimes such as burglary and theft. The agency also reported convictions for offenses including resisting arrest, fraud, weapons violations and hit-and-run.

ICE released the names and details of several individuals arrested during the operation. Those include:

• Haydee Mercado-Rodriguez, 34, of El Salvador, identified by ICE as an MS-13 gang member and foreign fugitive convicted in her home country of homicide-related and other offenses. ICE said she was arrested April 9 and remains in custody pending removal.
• Minh Duy Tong Nguyen, 54, of Vietnam, who ICE said was convicted of murder in Houston in 1991 and had a longstanding removal order. He was arrested April 16 and remains in custody pending removal.
• Carlos Carmona-Palomo, 29, of Mexico, identified as a foreign fugitive wanted for homicide. ICE said he was arrested April 6 and deported April 21.
• Luis Hernandez Martinez, 48, of Mexico, who ICE said was convicted of murder in Upshur County, Texas. He was arrested April 9 and deported April 11.
• Leobardo Nieves-Vasquez, 35, of Mexico, who ICE said was convicted of intoxication manslaughter in Angelina County, Texas. He was arrested April 7 and deported April 9.

ICE also listed multiple individuals with convictions for sexual offenses involving minors, including Pedro Joel Martinez, 52, of El Salvador; Antonio Martinez Campos, 53, of Mexico; Eric Eusevio Cortez, 44, of Mexico; and Manuel Navarrete-Arellano, 43, of Mexico. The agency said several of those individuals have been deported, while others remain in custody pending removal proceedings.

Additional individuals identified by ICE include Jose Ricardo Ortiz, 36, of Mexico; Yeslin Orellana Manchame, 30, of Honduras; Jose Lovo, 44, of El Salvador; Filiberto Aleman Sanchez, 55, of Mexico; and Luis Hernan Montesdeoca-Yunga, 28, of Ecuador, all of whom ICE said had prior convictions for sexual offenses involving minors.

ICE also named several individuals with prior convictions related to drug offenses, immigration violations or other crimes, including Jose De Luna Perez, 44, of Mexico; Brian Rivera Santoyo, 22, of Mexico; Heros Cantu, 33, of Mexico; Jose Artemio Sanchez-Garcia, 61, of Mexico; Juan Gilberto Morales Mora, 24, of Mexico; Brandon Hernandez Torres, 23, of Mexico; Antonio Garcia-Perez, 32, of Mexico; and Cristian Muratalla Rodriguez, 29, of Mexico.

ICE officials said the operation was conducted with assistance from federal, state and local law enforcement partners across Southeast Texas.

The Houston field office oversees immigration enforcement across 58 counties, including areas along the Gulf Coast and inland regions stretching from Beaumont to Corpus Christi and west toward Waco.

It has long been quoted and promoted by those who believe America was founded as a Christian nation and should be one. It's from the seventh chapter of 2 Chronicles, a book in the Hebrew (Old Testament) portion of the Bible.

The 14th verse — the one most often quoted — says:

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Trump is among hundreds who are taking turns reading the entire Bible aloud over the course of a week. Most of the readings are taking place at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, though Trump's on Tuesday came by video from the Oval Office.

A passage often quoted at National Day of Prayer events

The Chronicles passage has for decades been a major theme at annual National Day of Prayer events. Organizers of the America Reads the Bible marathon invited Trump to read from it. “It’s a powerful statement that he decided to read that passage,” said Bunni Pounds, founder of Christians Engaged, which organized the project.

The passage has been recited over the decades at countless rallies, services and events, often organized around the disputed belief that America was created as a Christian nation and needs to repent of its sins and return to God. The passage has particularly been associated with annual events commemorating the National Day of Prayer, which has taken various forms since the mid-20th century and became fixed by law on the first Thursday in May since the 1980s.

During the Capitol riot by a mob of Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, Couy Griffin — the founder of Cowboys for Trump, a fan club that rode on horseback to Trump’s political events — evoked the 2 Chronicles passage while praying to the crowd through a megaphone.

The verse is set in a context far from modern America — during the reign of King Solomon in ancient Israel some 3,000 years ago. Solomon is presiding over the dedication of the first temple in Jerusalem, and in a lengthy prayer he asks for divine mercy if a future generation sins, is punished with military or natural disaster and then repents. In the key passage, God replies with a promise of restoration.

Critics say the passage is used out of context

But the use of the passage in modern settings has its critics.

The Chronicles passage is “a popular verse among Christian nationalists and has been for quite some time,” said Brian Kaylor, a Baptist pastor and president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a progressive site covering faith and politics.

He said its use has taken on a partisan and polarizing tone, often used in tandem with a promotion of a belief in a Christian America in an increasingly diverse country.

“This verse is not about the United States,” said Kaylor, author of “The Bible According to Christian Nationalists: Exploiting Scripture for Political Power.” It is “a promise made to one particular person in one particular moment. It doesn’t really work to pull it out of context and apply it to whatever you want to.”

But many have done so recently and in decades past, either saying America has a divinely ordained destiny similar to ancient Israel's or simply that they believe every nation has a duty to follow God and repent when needed.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office in 1953 with his hand on a Bible opened to the 2 Chronicles passage. President Ronald Reagan quoted the passage in a proclamation declaring 1984's National Day of Prayer. A speaker at the 2024 Republican National Convention also quoted it.

The National Day of Prayer, while officially nonsectarian, has long been drawn particular promotion and participation from evangelical Christians. Readings of the “If my people” passage has been a staple of such events.

Politicians, others joining in the Bible-reading marathon

Evangelicals — a loyal Republican voting bloc for decades — have formed a crucial part of Trump's electoral base. His rallies have featured a fusion of Christian and national symbols and rhetoric, featuring songs like “God Bless the USA” and T-shirts with slogans like “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president.”

Many other Republican politicians are taking part in the Bible reading, along with celebrities, pastors and others. And Trump isn't the only one reading a passage significant to his office or mission.

Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor and U.S. ambassador to Israel, was reading from a Genesis passage in which God says he will bless those who bless Abraham — a passage popular with many evangelicals who believe they have a biblical mandate to support Israel.

David Barton, whose Wallbuilders promotes belief in America as a Christian nation, will read from a passage that gave his organization its name, in which Nehemiah rebuilds the broken walls of Jerusalem.

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

Japanese electronics giant Sony built the robotic arm it calls Ace and pitted it against professional athletes. Ace proved a worthy adversary, though one with some non-human attributes: nine camera eyes positioned around the court and an uncanny ability to follow the ball's logo to measure its spin.

The robot learned how to play the sport using the AI method known as reinforcement learning.

“There’s no way to program a robot by hand to play table tennis. You have to learn how to play from experience,” said Sony AI researcher Peter Dürr, co-author of the study published Wednesday in the science journal Nature.

To conduct the experiments, Sony built an Olympic-sized table tennis court at its headquarters in Tokyo to give professional and other highly skilled athletes a “level playing field” with the robot, Dürr said in an interview with The Associated Press. Some of the athletes said they were surprised by Ace's prowess.

Sony calls it a first for a common competitive sport

Sony says it is the “first time a robot has achieved human, expert-level play in a commonly played competitive sport in the physical world — a longstanding milestone for AI and robotics research.”

The custom-built robot has eight joints that direct its movements, or degrees of freedom, enabling it to position the racket, execute shots and swiftly respond to its opponent's rallies.

“Speed is really one of the fundamental issues in robotics today, especially in scenarios or environments that are not fixed," said Michael Spranger, president of Sony AI, in an interview.

“We see a lot of robots that are in factories that are very, very fast,” Spranger said. “But they’re doing the same trajectory over and over again. With this technology, we show that it’s actually possible to train robots to be very adaptive and competitive and fast in uncertain environments that constantly change.”

Spranger said such technology could play a role in manufacturing and other industries. It's also not hard to imagine how such high-speed and highly perceptive hardware could be used in war.

Building parity with humans is a challenge

A humanoid robot ran faster than the human world record in a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday, but getting a machine to interact and compete at split-second speeds with skilled human athletes is in some ways a more difficult challenge.

Spranger said it was important for researchers to not give the robot too unfair of an advantage and make its speed, arm’s reach and performance comparable to a skilled athlete who trains at least 20 hours a week. It plays by official table tennis rules on a typically sized court.

“It’s very easy to build a superhuman table tennis robot,” Spranger said. “You build a machine that sucks in the ball and shoots it out much faster than a human can return it. But that’s not the goal here. The goal is to have some level of comparability, some level of fairness to the human, and win really at the level of AI and the level of decision-making and tactics and, to some extent, skill.”

That means, he said, that “the robot cannot just win by hitting the ball faster than any human ever could, but it has to win by actually playing the game.″

AI researchers have long used board games like chess as benchmarks for a computer’s capabilities. They later moved into more open-ended video game worlds. But moving AI from simulated environments to the physical world has long been the gold standard for robot makers.

The past year has marked a ″kind of ChatGPT moment for robotics,” Spranger said, with new, AI-driven approaches to teach robots about their real-world environments and task them with physically demanding activities, like backflips.

‘Ace’ pulled off shots pros thought were impossible

Sony is hardly the first to tackle robots in table tennis. John Billingsley helped pioneer such contests in 1983 in a paper titled “Robot Ping-Pong.” More recently, Google's AI research division DeepMind has also tackled the sport.

And while impressive, Billingsley said Sony’s all-seeing computer vision and motion detection capabilities make it hard for a two-eyed human to stand a chance.

“I would not want to belittle the achievement, but they have gone at the task mob-handed, and used sledgehammer techniques,” Billingsley, a retired mechatronics professor at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, said in an email to the AP.

He added, however, that it adds to the lesson that “true progress comes out of contests, whether they involve hitting a ball or setting foot on Mars.”

Japanese professional players Minami Ando and Kakeru Sone were among those who competed against Sony's robot. Two umpires from the Japanese Table Tennis Association judged the games.

After submitting the paper to peer review ahead of its publication in Nature, Sony researchers kept experimenting and said Ace accelerated its shot speeds and rallies and played even more aggressively and closer to the table edge. Competing against four high-skill players, Sony said Ace defeated all but one of them in December.

Another expert player, Kinjiro Nakamura, who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, told researchers after observing Ace play a shot that “no one else would have been able to do that. I didn’t think it was possible.”

But the robot now having done it “means that there is a possibility that a human could do it too,” he said, in remarks published in the Nature paper.

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AP journalists Yuri Kageyama and Javier Arciga contributed to this report.

His death was confirmed by Mason's publicist Melissa Dragich. A cause was not immediately revealed. He had canceled his remaining tour dates last summer and announced his retirement months later, citing health issues stemming from an infection for “closing the curtain on 60 remarkable years of rock n’ roll.”

Mason was born May 10, 1946, in Worcester, England, and founded Traffic in 1967 with singer/multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, drummer Jim Capaldi and keyboardist/saxophonist Chris Wood. The psychedelic band became celebrated for its pioneering and inventive spirit, along with Mason's songwriting and intricate guitar solos.

Mason wrote and performed many of Traffic's biggest singles. And even though “Feelin' Alright?” was not an immediate hit, it became one thereafter, covered by the likes of Joe Cocker, the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight, Paul Weller and Grand Funk Railroad.

Mason's relationship with the band was tenuous; he left and returned multiple times. In 1969, he launched a solo career that resulted in three albums certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (1970’s “Alone Together,” which produced his hit "Only You Know and I Know," 1974’s “Dave Mason” and 1978’s “Mariposa de Oro”) as well as one platinum title: 1977’s “Let It Flow.”

In addition, Mason played on a number of all-star sessions, The Rolling Stones’ “Beggars Banquet,” George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Venus and Mars" and Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland” among them.

Mason was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for his work with Traffic. His old bandmate shared a tribute to him Wednesday.

“Dave was part of Traffic during its earliest chapter, and played an important role in shaping the band’s sound and identity during that time," Winwood wrote on Instagram. "His songwriting, musicianship and distinctive spirit helped create music that has lasted far beyond its era, and continues to mean so much to listeners around the world.”

"Those years remain a special part of the band’s story, and Dave’s contribution to them is not forgotten. His place in that history will always be remembered, and through the music, his presence endures. At this sad time, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and all those who loved him and his music,” Winwood wrote.

Survivors include his wife Winifred Wilson, daughter Danielle, nephew John Leonard, niece Michelle Leonard and his brothers in law, Sloan Wilson and Walton Wilson.

“The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain — it’s inevitable,” Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said after a decades-long campaign in favor of legislation approved Tuesday.

Children born after Dec. 31, 2008 will be banned from ever buying cigarettes under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

The legislation that needs approval by King Charles III — a formality — before taking effect will also allow the government to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including flavors and packaging.

It is currently illegal to sell cigarettes, tobacco products or vapes to people under 18. But most youths today will continue to face a ban their entire life as the minimum age to buy cigarettes rises each year.

The passage gives the U.K. one of the toughest antismoking measures in the world. The law is similar to one New Zealand lawmakers passed in 2022 but that was then repealed by a subsequent government.

The number of people who smoke in Britain has declined by two-thirds since the 1970s, but some 6.4 million people — or about 13% of the population — still smoke, according to official figures.

Authorities say smoking causes some 80,000 deaths a year in the U.K, and remains the number one preventable cause of death, disability and poor health.

“Children in the U.K. will be part of the first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,” Health Secretary Wes Streeting said.

The operator of the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine, Ukrtransnaft, told the two countries that Russian oil was on its way and should arrive early on Thursday. Unlike most of the rest of the EU, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia for their energy needs.

EU envoys, meanwhile, launched a political procedure to endorse the loan. National governments have 24 hours to raise objections in writing, and if none of the 27 member nations do, the loan could be approved by Thursday afternoon, just as EU leaders are gathering for a summit in Cyprus.

A new raft of sanctions against Russia could also be approved on Thursday.

Money runs short in Ukraine

Ukraine desperately needs the 90 billion euro ($106 billion) loan package, originally agreed in December, to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay for the next two years.

Hungary has insisted that it must start receiving the oil again before it will unblock the funds, while Slovakia refused to endorse new sanctions.

For months, the two countries have accused Ukraine of failing to repair the pipeline. Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian oil which have helped to fund President Vladimir Putin’s war, now in its fifth year.

In a post on social media on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations” and that “we expect that the European side will also deliver.”

He welcomed movement on the loan, saying that “the unblocking is the right signal under the current circumstances. Russia must end its war. And the incentives for that can arise only when both support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia are sufficient.”

Cautious optimism after months of delay

The 27-nation EU had originally intended to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen assets are held.

In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.

But Hungary’s outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has repeatedly blocked EU aid to Ukraine, angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of an April 12 election that he lost in a landslide.

New sanctions on Russia

The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of sanctions against Russia, which Hungary and Slovakia have blocked. The EU envoys also set in train a procedure to have them approved on Thursday.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico repeated on Wednesday that his government would not approve the new EU measures “unless the Druzhba oil pipeline is really reopened.” Fico said that “trust between Slovakia and Ukraine has been badly damaged” by the dispute.

But Economy Minister Denisa Saková confirmed that Slovakia expects oil supplies to resume early on Thursday. Saková said Ukrtransnaft had informed the government that oil began entering the Druzhba pipeline again on Wednesday.

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Associated Press journalists Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

The writer, who lives in France, announced on X that the verdict was delivered on Tuesday. He said that he was also fined 5 million Algerian dinars ($38,000).

“Houris” (Virgins, in English) focuses of the victims of what Algerians call the “black decade,” when tens of thousands of people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency. The conflict erupted in 1991 after Islamists won a first round of legislative elections, prompting the military-backed government to cancel the second round of voting.

It was awarded the Goncourt Prize, France's top literary award, in 2024.

Daoud said that he was convicted under what is known as the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a text adopted by referendum in 2005 that offered widespread pardons to both armed Islamists and security forces.

“The text punishes any public mention of the civil war,” Daoud said. “Ten years of war, nearly 200,000 dead according to estimates, thousands of terrorists granted amnesty … and only one guilty party: a writer.”

In addition to the legal action brought by the court in the Algerian city of Oran, Daoud is the target of two international arrest warrants issued by Algeria in May 2025 and is also under threat of being stripped of his Algerian nationality.

Another French-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, has faced similar problems.

The author — whose works have been critical of Islam, colonialism and contemporary Algerian leaders — was convicted of undermining national unity and insulting public institutions and was sentenced to five years in prison under Algeria’s anti-terrorism laws.

He was granted a humanitarian pardon in Algeria after an appeal by Germany's president, and returned to France last year after serving a year in prison.

Daoud's book “Houris” tells the story of Aube, a young girl who miraculously survives a nighttime terrorist attack in her village of Had Chekala in western Algeria, despite having her throat slit. Following the novel’s publication, an Algerian woman, Saâda Arbane, accused Daoud of “stealing” her story and using it as the basis for his book.

Arbane previously had been treated by Aicha Dahdouh, Daoud’s wife, a psychiatrist at Oran University Hospital and a specialist in trauma linked to violence during the civil war.

“Kamel Daoud and his wife asked for my permission to use my story, and I refused every time,” she said during several appearances on Algerian television, adding that it constituted “an invasion of her privacy.”

A collective of lawyers was subsequently formed in solidarity to defend Arbane, invoking provisions of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, which prohibits even the mere mention of this painful period in Algeria’s history.

American authors take four of the six places on the shortlist for the 30,000 pounds ($40,000) prize, announced Wednesday by a judging panel led by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Among them are bestselling writer Lily King’s campus-set romance “Heart the Lover” and Susan Choi’s twisty family saga “Flashlight,” a finalist for last year’s Booker Prize.

First novels making the list include U.S. writer Virginia Evans’ “The Correspondent,” a novel told in letters with an older woman as protagonist that became a slow-burn hit after its release in 2025; and Addie E. Citchens’ “Dominion,” a story of power and patriarchy centered on a Black church in Mississippi.

Rounding out the list are two debut novels by British writers: Marcia Hutchinson’s “The Mercy Step,” a girl’s coming-of-age story set in northern England, and Rozie Kelly’s tale of love and grief, “Kingfisher.”

Gillard, who was Australia’s leader between 2010 and 2013, said the books are all page-turners with intriguing characters that explore “power — where it lies, where it doesn’t lie. How you find the ability to chart your own life course, what it means to potentially have others that are pushing you in different directions as you try and chart that life course.”

The number of debut novelists doesn’t mean the authors lack experience. Hutchinson is a former lawyer in her 60s, while Evans wrote seven unpublished novels before finding international success with “The Correspondent.”

“I think the way the publishing industry is working now, there are quite a number of authors coming to the fore for whom being a fiction author is well and truly a second act in a life that has brought other careers,” said Gillard.

“I’m delighted to see that,” Gillard told The Associated Press — though she is not in a rush to join them. While former leaders including Bill Clinton in the U.S. and Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland have written or co-written political thrillers, Gillard says she is not working on a novel.

“Never say never, but I’m not sure about that,” said Gillard, who has written a memoir and nonfiction books about women and leadership. “But I’m a fiction lover, a fiction reader, and it’s been just fantastic to have this experience” as a Women’s Prize judge.

Next, the five judges will meet to choose a winner. Previous winners of the fiction prize, founded in 1996, include Zadie Smith, Tayari Jones and Barbara Kingsolver. A sister prize for nonfiction was founded in 2024.

Winners of both prizes will be announced June 11 at a ceremony in London.

Celebrated every year on April 22, Earth Day brings together governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to highlight environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss.

First established in 1970, Earth Day has grown into a global movement spanning more than 190 countries. The annual event now includes clean-up efforts, educational programs, tree planting, conservation projects, and policy discussions aimed at protecting natural resources.

This year’s focus continues to emphasize the urgency of addressing climate-related risks while encouraging practical action at the local level. Across the United States and around the world, communities are hosting events aimed at reducing waste, improving air and water quality, and promoting sustainability.

Environmental groups say individual actions, such as reducing energy use, recycling, conserving water, and supporting green initiatives, can collectively make a meaningful difference. At the same time, experts stress that large-scale policy and industry changes remain critical to long-term environmental progress.

As climate concerns continue to grow, Earth Day serves as both a reminder and a call to action: protecting the planet requires ongoing effort well beyond a single day.

Whether through small daily choices or broader community involvement, Earth Day encourages everyone to take part in preserving the environment for future generations.

“The president never once asked me to commit to any particular interest rate decision, period,” Kevin Warsh, a former top Fed official, said under questioning by the Senate Banking Committee. “Nor would I ever agree to do so if he had. ... I will be an independent actor if confirmed as chair of the Federal Reserve.”

Warsh’s comments came just hours after Trump, in an interview on CNBC, was asked if he would be disappointed if Warsh didn’t immediately cut rates and responded, “I would.”

The comments underscore the challenge faced by Warsh, 56, a financier and former member of the Fed's board of governors whom Trump named in January to replace the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell. Democrats on the committee accused Warsh of flip-flopping on interest rates over the years, supporting higher interest rates under Democratic presidents and advocating rate cuts during Trump's time in office. Investors are watching the hearing closely to see how Warsh balances Trump’s demands with worsening inflation, as the war in Iran pushes up the price of gasoline.

Higher inflation typically leads the Fed to raise rates, or at least keep them unchanged, rather than cut them. When the Fed changes its key rate, it can affect mortgages, auto loans, and business borrowing.

Yet Warsh's account was challenged by Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, who said that Wall Street Journal reporting last year found that Trump had urged Warsh to reduce borrowing costs.

“Who's lying here? Is it you or the president?” Gallego asked.

“I think those reporters need better sources,” Warsh responded.

For all the back and forth, the hearing didn't appear to advance Warsh's nomination, which has been delayed by a Justice Department investigation into the Fed and Powell, over brief testimony Powell gave last June before the same panel about a building renovation.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican on the committee, reiterated Tuesday he wouldn't vote for Warsh until the investigation is dropped. With the committee closely divided and all Democrats opposed to his nomination, Tillis' opposition is enough to bottle it up in committee.

“We have got to get rid of this investigation,” Tillis said, “so I can support your nomination.”

Tillis has previously said that all seven Republicans on the committee have signed a letter stating that Powell did not commit a crime when he testified before the panel last June. Federal prosecutors, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro, are investigating his testimony for potential perjury, though a judge said last month they offered no evidence to support the charge when he threw out subpoenas Pirro had issued.

Prosecutors from her office as recently as last week sought access to the Fed’s building project but were turned away, revealing that the Trump administration has not reversed course despite opposition from members of his own party that are essential to Warsh’s confirmation.

In his opening remarks, Warsh told the Senate Banking Committee that one of his top goals would be to fight inflation, which remains elevated at 3.3% annually.

“Congress tasked the Fed with the mission to ensure price stability, without excuse or equivocation, argument or anguish,” Warsh said. “Inflation is a choice, and the Fed must take responsibility for it.”

Warsh would be in a tough spot if confirmed. Inflation is worsening, making it much harder for the Fed to implement the interest rate cuts Trump so desperately seeks. The conflict could also slow the economy, as well as hiring. And if Warsh ultimately becomes chair, he may very well find his predecessor, Powell, still sitting on the Fed’s governing board, an uncomfortable arrangement that hasn’t occurred since the late 1940s.

Warsh said the Fed's political independence is “essential,” and that the central bank wasn't threatened when “elected officials — presidents, senators, or members of the House — state their views on interest rates." Trump has repeatedly urged Powell to cut the Fed's key rate from its current level of about 3.6% to as low as 1%, a view almost no economist shares.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said that Trump has not just stated his opinions on rates, but has sought to fire a Fed governor and is investigating Powell.

“The Senate should not be aiding and abetting Donald Trump’s illegal takeover of the Fed by installing his chosen sock puppet as chair,” she said Tuesday.

Warren also noted that Warsh has not disclosed all of his financial holdings, which include investments in start-ups and private companies, or the size of those financial stakes. For example, Warsh has said he has holdings in SpaceX and Polymarket, but has not said how large those investments are.

Warren charged that Warsh is not in compliance with ethics requirements. Warsh argued that the Office of Government Ethics has signed off on his plan to sell all his assets within 90 days of his confirmation.

The turmoil could make a potential transition from Powell to Warsh an unusually turbulent one for the world’s most pivotal central bank, which has historically experienced smooth transfers of power. Should the change in leadership prove particularly bumpy, it could unnerve markets and lift longer-term interest rates.

Powell's term as chair ends May 15. He said last month that he would remain as chair until a successor is named. Powell also is serving a separate term as a member of the Fed's governing board that lasts until January 2028. Fed chairs typically leave the board when their terms as chair end, but Powell said last month he would remain on the board, even if a new chair is approved, until the investigation is dropped.

Trump said he would fire Powell if he attempted to remain at the Fed. Yet Trump's previous attempt to remove a Fed governor, Lisa Cook, has been tied up in court. During oral arguments in January, a majority of justices on the Supreme Court appeared to lean toward leaving Cook at the Fed.

Soccer's governing body announced Tuesday it will make more tickets available at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday for all 104 games in Categories 1, 2 and 3 plus the new “front category” pricing it added this month.

The new category sparked online complaints from fans who said they thought the better seats in the categories they had bought tickets for were withheld and they were assigned less favorable locations.

FIFA in December put tickets on sale at prices ranging from $140 for Category 3 in the first round to $8,680 for the final, then raised prices to as much as $10,990 when sales reopened on April 1.

FIFA did not respond to an April 9 request for comment about the new ticket categories it added.

Also Tuesday, The Athletic reported that tickets sales are lagging for the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12 at Inglewood, California. It said a document distributed to local organizers dated April 10 said 40,934 tickets had been purchased for the U.S.-Paraguay game and 50,661 for the Iran-New Zealand contest on April 15. FIFA projects SoFi's World Cup capacity at about 69,650, noting it may change.

FIFA's December sale priced U.S.-Paraguay tickets at $1,120, $1,940 and $2,735, and Iran-New Zealand seats at $140, $380 and $450.

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

"Those (conversations) have been positive and productive. In order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me. That starts with me,” Vrabel said, making an unscheduled statement from the podium at the team's facility on the second day of its offseason workout program.

The photos were of Vrabel and Russini at a Sedona resort and were taken before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post, which published the photos earlier this month.

A Patriots spokesman said there are no plans for other team officials to address the issue further.

The NFL, meanwhile, said last weekend that it is not investigating Vrabel’s behavior. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday that the league is not looking into the matter.

Vrabel and Russini, who are both married, released written statements to the Post after the publication of the story downplaying what the photos depict. But Russini resigned from The Athletic less than a week later, after the Post's report prompted an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.

Vrabel said he addressed players about the matter on Monday after they arrived for the start of the voluntary workout program. Two Patriots players were scheduled to be made available to reporters on Tuesday, but Vrabel said he wanted to speak before they did. He also said he didn't want the interest in the Post photos to take attention away from the NFL draft, which begins Thursday.

Vrabel said any conversations he's had with team officials would stay private.

“We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction,” he said. “There are comments and questions that I’ve answered with the team and will keep those private to ourselves."

Russini joined The Athletic in 2023 after nearly a decade at ESPN, where she held various roles, including “SportsCenter” anchor, NFL analyst and insider. She hosted a podcast for The Athletic and made appearances on their video platform.

Until his appearance Tuesday, Vrabel hadn't spoken in a news conference setting with reporters since the owners' meetings.

Last year, before his first season as Patriots coach, he addressed reporters as part of the lead-up to the NFL draft. He opted not to do that last week, with only Patriots vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf speaking at that news conference on April 13.

“Very involved. Business as usual,” Wolf said when asked how much Vrabel had been involved with the team’s draft process. “I’d say he’s been in there with us this round probably a little more than he was in there last year. ... He’s been in there. He’s been contributing. He’s watched a ton of the players.”

Vrabel, 50, won three Super Bowls as a player with New England. He is preparing for his second season as coach of the Patriots. He led the team to a 14-3 finish last season, which ended with a Super Bowl loss to Seattle.

Vrabel said his focus going forward is football.

“I care deeply about this football team and excited to coach them. I also know that I’m going to attack each day with humility and focus,” he said. "What I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, coaches and our fans, most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That’s what I know and I’m excited to do that.”

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

Trump's remarks came at a White House event honoring some 100 athletes from seven teams that won NCAA championships in 2025.

Trump this month signed an executive order that would limit eligibility to five years, allow one transfer without penalty for undergraduates, stop pay-for-play schemes and build in protections for women's and Olympic sports.

Aspects of the executive order might not withstand legal scrutiny, which is why Trump and some college sports stakeholders are asking for federal legislation that would codify restrictions and grant the NCAA an antitrust exemption to enforce rules.

Dozens of athletes have challenged NCAA eligibility rules with the hope of extending their college careers and, in turn, their ability to earn money through name, image and likeness deals. He said it's unfair for athletes right out of high school to compete against 28- or 29-year-olds.

“It’s a very precarious position the courts have left us in," Trump said, adding that the 2025 settlement of House v. the NCAA created a professional model that has led to financial instability for colleges. “And now it’s a total and complete mess. But we’re going to get it fixed up and we’ve got fantastic people doing it. So we need now Congress to act to clear up the confusion created by the courts and institute permanent reforms to protect college sports at every level, especially some sports.”

The national championship teams honored were Oklahoma State in men's golf, Texas A&M in women's volleyball, Wake Forest in men's tennis, Georgia in women's tennis, Youngstown State in women's bowling, Florida State in women's soccer and West Virginia in mixed rifle.

“Seventy-five percent of Olympians competing for Team USA played as college athletes," Trump said. “If we don’t straighten out this, we’re not going to have much of an Olympic team because you have so many of these sports, especially certain sports where it’s like the minor leagues, call it the major leagues, whatever you want. But we've trained unbelievable athletes to go in and win the gold medal. Without college sports and without your ability to go into college sports and compete and learn how to play and get better, we’re not going to have much of an Olympic team anymore.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Richard Horne, the head of the NCSC — part of the U.K's signals intelligence agency GCHQ — warned that the U.K. is living through “the most seismic geopolitical shift in modern history.” British businesses, he said, need to prepare themselves to defend against cyberattacks because the U.K. could be targeted “at scale,” if it became involved in an international conflict.

In recent months, authorities in Sweden, Poland, Denmark and Norway have all warned that hackers linked to Russia have targeted their critical infrastructure including power plants and dams.

Horne said the NCSC currently handles around four “nationally significant” cyber incidents a week and while criminal activity, such as ransomware, remains the most common problem, the most serious threat comes from cyberattacks carried out directly or indirectly by other states.

Dan Jarvis, the U.K. security minister, said the NCSC handled more than 200 nationally significant incidents last year — more than double the year before. Jarvis and Horne spoke at the CyberUK conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow.

Cyber operations become more sophisticated

In December, Blaise Metreweli, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, said the world is more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades and that the U.K. is operating in a space between peace and war.

“Let’s be clear, cyberspace is part of that contest,” Horne said.

China's intelligence and military agencies display an “eye-watering level of sophistication in their cyber operations,” while Iran is “almost certainly using cyber activity to support the repression of British individuals on our streets who are seen as a threat to the regime,” he said.

Moscow, meanwhile, is using tactics and techniques honed during its war in Ukraine and is “moving them beyond the battlefield,” Horne said, pointing to “sustained Russian hybrid activity” targeting the U.K. and Europe. Companies, he said, must learn how cyber operations have been used in conflict situations in order to boost their own resilience.

Hostile states, Jarvis said, know the most effective way to act is “not to confront us directly, but to quietly hollow us out,” by hacking logistics systems which move goods, for example, or compromising businesses.

He compared a cyberattack at Britain's biggest automaker Jaguar Land Rover — that dented Britain's economic growth late last year — to masked criminals turning up at car dealerships, breaking glass, smashing computers and stealing vehicles from the parking lot.

AI, Jarvis said, is also making it easier for adversaries to attack by finding vulnerabilities in systems “faster than any human team can patch them.” He called for AI companies to work with the U.K. government to develop bespoke programs to boost Britain's cyber defenses.

European countries report cyber attacks on infrastructure

In a conflict situation, Horne said, the U.K. would likely face cyberattacks at scale but — unlike with ransomware — companies will not be able to pay their way out in order to recover data and access to systems. For that reason, he said, every organization needs to understand the “full extent” of the risk they face and improve their cyber defenses before it is too late.

On Friday, Swedish authorities said that a pro-Russian group with links to Russia’s security and intelligence services was behind a cyberattack on a heating plant last year.

Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden's minister for civil defense, compared it to incidents in Poland in December, when coordinated cyberattacks hit combined heat and power plants supplying heat to almost 500,000 customers, as well as wind and solar farms. Poland later said evidence indicated hackers were “directly linked to the Russian services.” Norwegian authorities also warned that a hack in April 2025 which affected water flows from a dam was linked to Russia while in December, Danish authorities said another attack on a water utility company in 2024 left some houses without water.

The four cyberattacks are among more than 155 incidents of disruption — including arson, sabotage and espionage — linked to Russia or its proxies by Western officials and tracked by The Associated Press since Moscow's full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Other incidents linked to Russia by European officials include an attack on German air traffic control, attempts to gain access to Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to officials and journalists and attempts by hackers linked to Russian military intelligence to steal users' sensitive data by exploiting a weakness in some internet routers.

Crime Stoppers of Houston CEO Rania Mankarios says parents should stop thinking of Roblox as “just a game.”

“It’s a social media platform and just think of it that way,” Mankarios said.

Mankarios says her organization has seen an increase in cases involving “extreme predatory behavior” on platforms like Roblox, where kids can chat with other users, share personal information, and be pressured to move conversations off the platform.

Roblox is now implementing age verification and placing users into age brackets that change how communication works.

Here’s what Mankarios says parents should know:

- Ages 5–8: grouped; users can’t chat unless a parent turns the feature on

- Ages 9–15: can chat, but it’s more limited

Mankarios says Roblox is also using AI to review games and experiences created by adult content creators, aimed at preventing inappropriate content from being available to younger players.

Mankarios says Roblox has added parent tools that allow a parent to create an account and link it to their child’s account. Once linked, parents can access a dashboard that may allow them to:

- See who their child is connected to and playing with

- Set time limits

- Block and report users

But she warns parents can’t see deleted messages.

“Once they’re just deleted, you have no idea it was sent, received, what was said,” she said.

Mankarios recommends parents regularly check:

- What apps their child uses to message people, especially Discord and other chat platforms connected to gaming

- Who their child is talking to and what information they’re being asked to share

- Whether anyone is trying to move the conversation to another app or platform

She also urges parents to have ongoing, age-appropriate conversations about digital safety, starting as young as 5-years-old.

Even families that don’t allow smartphones or think their child is “too young” can be affected, Mankarios says.

She says kids can find workarounds, like accessing apps through a smart TV, and may be more tech savvy than adults realize.

For parents who want the benefits of age verification but don’t want to repeatedly provide a child’s birthdate to multiple platforms, Mankarios recommends a free resource called Privo Protect.

She describes it as an age-verification “digital wallet” that can verify a child’s age across platforms without repeatedly entering personal information.

The bunker emerged in the Trump administration's court fight against the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is challenging the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom project in Washington. A federal appeals court last week permitted the president to continue with construction of the project at the site of the former East Wing, which was demolished last fall.

That ruling put on hold a lower-court judge's order blocking aboveground construction but exempted work to ensure the safety and security of the White House. The Republican administration’s appeal cited materials that would be installed to make a “heavily fortified” facility, including adding bomb shelters, military installations and a medical facility underneath the ballroom.

The bunker’s role in presidential history

The history of a bunker beneath the East Wing dates to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, when an underground bomb shelter was installed in 1942 after the United States had entered World War II. Beyond that, detail is obscured by secrecy resulting from concerns about presidential safety.

Garrett Graff, a historian and national security author, said the Presidential Emergency Operations Center beneath the East Wing was always intended to be for short-term use.

“The whole point of the sort of presidential evacuation and continuity of the presidency is you want to get the president out of the place where everyone knows that he is and get him into a place where people don’t know where he is,” Graff said.

High-profile flights to an underground bunker at the White House include Vice President Dick Cheney being taken there because of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

A Secret Service agent burst into the West Wing room, grabbed Cheney by the belt and shoulder and led him to a bunker underneath the White House. “He didn’t say, ‘Shall we go?’” Cheney told NBC News years later. “He wasn’t polite about it.”

More recently, Trump was rushed to a White House bunker in 2020 amid protests stemming from the death of George Floyd. At the time, there were chants from protesters at Lafayette Park that could be heard in the building, and Secret Service and law enforcement officers struggled to control the crowds.

Why a ballroom matters to a bunker

Matthew Quinn, deputy director of the Secret Service, wrote in court filings that it's important for the ballroom project to go forward for security at the White House.

“An above-ground slab and topping structure is needed to ensure that key underground structures with a security purpose are properly protected and strengthened,” Quinn wrote.

He added: “Leaving the project site unfinished imperils the ability of the Secret Service to meet its statutory mission to protect the President.”

Trump last month offered a list of what’s being done to enhance security while the ballroom is built.

“The roof is droneproof. We have secure air-handling systems. You know, bad things happen in the air if you have bad people,” the president said. “We have biodefense all over. We have secure telecommunications and communications all over. We have bomb shelters that we’re building. We have a hospital and very major medical facilities that we’re building.”

The president took to social media to criticize the lower-court ruling and said the underground portion wouldn’t work without the aboveground facility as well.

What's next in the legal battle over the ballroom

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has argued that Trump overstepped his authority by moving forward with the project without getting approval from key federal agencies and Congress.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled in favor of the nonprofit group at the end of March but put his decision on hold briefly while allowing underground work to continue. The administration appealed.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has a hearing for June 5 to review the case.

Taxpayer dollars will pay for the security aspects of the project, though Trump has said the ballroom costs will be covered by donations from wealthy people and corporations. He's said it's a long-overdue addition to the White House complex.

“The underground portion is wedded to, and serves, the upper portion,” the president said in a social media post.

What that means in practice is unclear and hinges in part on the outcome of litigation.

But officials say the numbers are likely higher than the demand that will actually materialize in the years ahead.

ERCOT reported that peak energy demand could potentially quadruple by 2032.

However, the grid operator said that the forecast is preliminary and subject to change.

“This forecast is likely higher than expected future load growth,” ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said in a statement.

Why are the numbers so high

The projection is based on ERCOT economic forecasts and data from utilities working with so-called “large load” customers, projects expected to require more than 75 megawatts of electricity. These include energy-intensive developments such as data centers and cryptocurrency mines.

Texas is expected to become the nation’s No. 1 market for data centers within the next two years, as demand grows alongside large-scale, power-intensive projects.

At the same time, officials say agencies are still working to determine how best to track and account for this rapid growth.

The forecast was filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas as required by Senate Bill 6 and was presented during a recent PUCT meeting.

Officials agreed the forecast is likely higher than what demand will actually look like, and said they need more accurate projections before using it for long-term planning.

“Every decision that we make really depends on the accuracy of the forecast,” said PUCT Commissioner Courtney K. Hjaltman.

PUCT Chair Thomas Gleeson said regulators need to refine the numbers into something more usable.

ERCOT plans to submit a revised forecast in the near future.

What it could mean for your power bill

Even as the long-term forecast is refined, a University of Houston professor told KPRC 2 that electricity prices are likely to rise in the short term as infrastructure is built to meet growing demand, especially in fast-growing areas like Houston.

“But over the next few years, at least to get the infrastructure up, it is likely that prices will go up,” the professor said.

Researchers have spent decades developing potatoes for chip makers that can grow in all kinds of climates, avoid diseases and pests, sit in storage for months and still deliver a satisfying crunch. They've also kept an eye on consumer trends; a shift to snack-size portions has increased the demand for smaller chipping potatoes, for example.

“The potato industry is dynamic," said David Douches, a Michigan State University professor who leads the school’s Potato Breeding and Genetics Program. “The needs change, the costs, the pressures that they have, and the markets change. So we have to adapt to that with our varieties.”

Douches has developed five new potato varieties for chips in the the last 15 years. His latest breakthrough is a bioengineered potato that can maintain a proper sugar balance when stored at colder temperatures, which can help keep potatoes from rotting. He is currently growing seeds for commercial testing of the potato, which is not yet on the market.

Douches' work helps fight world hunger; he has developed disease-resistant varieties for farmers in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Bangladesh. But he's also helping U.S. chip makers, grateful snackers and Michigan's $2.5 billion potato industry. While Idaho leads the U.S. in potato production, Michigan is the top producer of potatoes for chips.

There are around 50 unique potato varieties grown for chips in the U.S. right now, according to the National Chip Program, a cooperative that brings together Michigan State and 11 other university breeding programs with growers, companies that make chips, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Efforts to improve those varieties are constant. The National Chip Program evaluates around 225 new potato varieties each year and selects 100 for further trials, said Tim Rendall, the director of production research at Potatoes USA, a trade group that oversees the chip program.

The close partnership between researchers, farmers and potato chip companies is unusual in the food industry, said Phil Gusmano, the vice president of purchasing at Better Made Snack Foods, which has produced potato chips in Detroit since 1930. Better Made worked closely with Douches when he was developing two of the varieties the company uses now, Gusmano said.

“We were able talk about size profile and different needs that make a really good chip,” Gusmano said. “And the great thing is, they’re willing to listen to what we have to say, because if they put together a potato that doesn’t really meet the needs for the end processor, it doesn’t do them any good.”

Breeding a new type of potato can take up to 15 years, Douches said. The simple potato has a surprisingly complicated genetic structure, with four chromosomes in each cell compared to two in most species, including humans. That makes it harder to predict which traits that cross-bred plants will inherit, he said.

“We’re never able to fix a trait and carry that over to the next generation, so it’s very difficult to find a potato that has all the traits that we want,” Douches said.

Douches became fascinated with potato breeding and genetics while in graduate school. At Michigan State, he focuses on chipping potatoes, since Michigan is a leading producer. Around 70% of the state’s potato crop is destined for chip processing, according to the Michigan Ag Council. The trade group estimates that one of every four bags of potato chips produced in the U.S. contains Michigan potatoes.

Breeding potatoes that can sit in storage for nearly a year has been one of the biggest challenges in Douches' 40-year career. Historically, farmers harvested potatoes and then stored them in huge piles at around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Temperatures any colder cause sugar levels to rise in the root vegetables, and higher sugar content leads to darker potato chips. But warmer storage conditions can lead to rot.

“You think they’re just these inanimate objects, but they actually are respiring and breathing,” Douches said. “When you do that to them, you’ve got, like, a two- to three-day window where they’re happy.”

His Manistee variety, which was released in 2013, can be safely stored until July at 45 F (7.2 C) degrees. His new bioengineered potato can be stored at 40 F (4.4 C).

Gusmano said Better Made used to source potatoes from outside of Michigan for half the year because the Michigan potatoes it harvested in the fall only could be stored until February. The company now uses newer varieties, like Douches' Mackinaw potato, which can be stored until July and is resistant to several common diseases.

“We’re not shipping potatoes from all over the country to be fried here in Michigan,” Gusmano said. “Instead, they’re being shipped from an hour and a half away all year long.”

The annual consumer price inflation rate increased to a three-month high of 3.3%, from 3% the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics. The rise was in line with market expectations.

The main reason behind the inflation spike was higher motor fuel, which increased by a monthly 8.7% — the largest increase since June 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Airfares and food prices, both related to the spike in energy prices, were also higher.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, whose hopes over the cost-of-living have been blown off course by the crisis in the Middle East, said this is “not our war, but it is pushing up bills for families and businesses” as a result.

The economic fallout has put paid to any expectations that the Bank of England would cut borrowing costs. Prior to the start of the war on Feb. 28, there had been an expectation in financial markets that the bank would cut its main interest rate from 3.75% given that inflation was predicted to fall back toward its 2% target during the spring.

Inflation is set to rise further in coming months, possibly to 4%, as higher energy prices impact household bills. No economist at present thinks inflation will get anywhere near the four-decade highs above 11% in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, partly because oil and gas prices have not spiked as much and partly because interest rates are higher.

But Bank of England policymakers will be keeping a beady eye on whether the evident inflation spike starts to spread through the economy, via higher wages for example. For now, economists think the bank will keep interest rates on hold at the next policy meeting on April 30.

Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at asset management firm Aberdeen, said that it will be “hard” to see workers and firms being able to push through higher wages and prices, given the relative weakness of both the labor market and the British economy.

“That should ultimately limit the size and extent of the coming inflation shock,” he said. “For now though, the Bank of England is likely to remain in wait-and-see mode, keeping policy on hold next week and maintaining maximum optionality about whether interest rates ultimately end up increasing or decreasing later this year.”

How inflation develops will depend on what happens in the war and the crucial waterway of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed to oil tanker traffic since the onset of hostilities, stoking fears over oil and gas supplies in many parts of the world.

A resolution sooner rather than later will limit the long-term impact. With the current ceasefire seemingly uncertain, financial markets remain on edge and energy prices will stay volatile. Over the past couple of weeks, oil prices have oscillated between the $90-$100 a barrel range, having gone even higher during the conflict.

Before the war, oil prices were pretty stable around $60 a barrel.

I would love to tell you that the days-long rain stint is over, but the truth of the matter is, it’s not.

Although things may be calm now, rain is back on the radar for this afternoon. The rain is expected to start around 2 p.m. and bring isolated storms and possible street flooding.

So, if you’re headed out today, make sure to grab those umbrellas.

To read more, click here.

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YOUR MORNING FORECAST ☀️

TODAY:77° TONIGHT: 65°

KPRC 2 Meteorologist says:

“Wednesday morning looks calmer before things ramp up again later in the day. There could be an isolated shower or storm, but most will not have any issues for the morning commute. As we head through the day, we will see showers and storms become more widespread, especially after lunchtime. This means you could be dodging rainfall for any after-school pick-ups.”

Get your forecast details here.

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TIMELINE: Flood threat Wednesday in Houston

Tuesday brought widespread rain but not enough intensity to cause flooding. Wednesday’s storms could be stronger, though less widespread. The morning commute looks relatively smooth, with most isolated rain staying well west of the Houston area. Stronger storms are expected along the Texas–Louisiana state line.

LIVE RADAR: Heavy rain expected to hit Houston area this afternoon

See where rain is falling hardest across the Houston area so you can better plan your afternoon commute. It’s also helpful to check when storms are expected to reach your neighborhood, giving you time to prepare before heading out.

🚧 Houston Road Closures & Traffic Watch

If you’re heading out today, it’s worth checking live conditions from Houston TranStar, which tracks real-time incidents, closures, and construction across the region.

You’ll also find updates on:

• Crashes and stalled vehicles affecting lanes in real time
• Planned construction closures and detours
• High-water alerts during heavy rain events (none reported at last check)

💡 Why it matters: Even minor incidents or single-lane closures can quickly snarl traffic—especially during bad weather or peak commute hours.

👉 Check the latest conditions before you go: View Houston road closures

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

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“It was so ridiculous I couldn't say no,” Jenks said.

The proposal by his Canadian buddy Seth Scott, a fellow lover of cars and crazy adventures, was for them to drive a decades-old British-made Reliant Robin car from London to the southern tip of Africa — a 14,000-mile (22,500-kilometer) journey through 22 countries — to set a record for the longest trip in a three-wheeled vehicle.

Reliant Robins have cultlike status in the U.K. as humble three-wheelers that, in Jenks' words, were designed to go to the shops and back in 1970s Britain. They went out of production in the early 2000s but remain loved in British culture, especially after a Reliant appeared as the Trotter brothers' trusty but battered yellow van in the hugely popular sitcom “Only Fools and Horses.”

Yet you couldn't find a less suitable vehicle to take thousands of miles through tropical jungles, mountain ranges and deserts down the west side of Africa. And that's precisely why Jenks went for the absurd plan.

Sheila the three-wheeler

Sheila, the silver three-wheeler — one of the last Reliant Robins to be built — was acquired specifically for the adventure. Jenks and Scott set off in October with a can of fuel and a few essential supplies strapped to Sheila's small roof, and a large amount of blind hope that they would somehow make it to Cape Town, South Africa, near the bottom of the world.

“No power steering, no air con, and it doesn’t do well up hills or down them. It is the most unsuitable car for probably any journey,” Jenks said in an unkind assessment of Sheila's abilities. “We made friends with the designer of this car, and he’s scared to take it any more than 20 miles.”

Jenks and Scott ignored all the advice and took Sheila on the epic journey over four-and-a-half months that cost in the region of $40,000 to $50,000, Jenks said. They had help from sponsors and crowd funding, and documented the journey on an Instagram page that pulled in nearly 100,000 followers under the title: “14,000 miles, 3 wheels, 0 common sense.”

Attempted coups and airstrikes

They arrived in Benin during an attempted coup. They skirted through northern Nigeria as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Islamic State targets. They were given a military escort for about 300 miles (480 kilometers) through a region of separatist violence in Cameroon.

“Imagine this car in a military convoy,” Jenks said.

And there were many brushes with traffic-related danger, including when an overtaking bus almost flattened Sheila against a cliff face in Congo.

True to form that Reliants are sometimes not so reliable, there were also countless breakdowns on the punishing roads.

Sheila needed her wheel springs replaced in the first two weeks. The gearbox broke in Ghana, leaving them with only fourth gear. In Cameroon, there were clutch and distributor problems and then the big one: the engine blew up.

Through all the technical problems, the kindness of strangers and the intrepidness of Jenks and Scott kept them going. One man got a new gearbox shipped to Ghana. Reliant enthusiasts in the U.K. helped find a new engine to send to Cameroon.

After one breakdown, people helped load Sheila onto a cattle truck so she could be taken to a garage. Mechanics across the continent screwed, hammered and welded Sheila to keep her together, sometimes shaking their heads at the madness of it all.

Where no Reliant Robin has gone before

But there were also majestic moments, the kind that Jenks and Scott had envisioned to make it all worth it.

Sheila cruised through stunning mountain ranges and vast deserts — where surely no Reliant Robin has gone before. She went on safari, driving alongside galloping giraffes, spotting endangered rhinos, and posing for a picture next to a giant elephant.

More than 120 days after setting off, she rattled into Cape Town last month on an engine that began badly overheating in the Namibian desert and had been touch and go for about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers).

“This is a great underdog story,” said Graeme Hurst, a South African car lover who followed them on Instagram and came to see Sheila. “I see the farcical kind of comical nature of it ... but also the sheer admiration. I mean, they have utter tenacity.”

In South Africa, Sheila was put on temporary display in a showroom for high-end cars and was the center of attention ahead of the glittering Porsches and Mercedes, showing off her broken side window, her gas-stained windshield, her bent tire rims, and her countless dents and scratches.

She will rest now and be given the thorough service she deserves, Jenks said. Eventually, she'll be driven to Kenya, put on a ship to Turkey, then make one last trip back to the U.K. to find a home at the London Transport Museum.

Jenks said he felt triumphant after reaching Cape Town, but relieved to have survived and finally be out of the tiny two-seater.

“It was like driving a motorized coffin,” he said.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are made with polyester and acrylic, synthetic fibers derived from petroleum. Three weeks after the war started, suppliers in China notified Aleni Brands that getting the materials already was costing them 10% to 15% more, CEO Ricardo Venegas said.

“I think this situation demonstrates how much oil permeates throughout our system, and we can’t get away from it,” said Venegas, who founded Aleni Brands last year and is in the process of adding product lines. “Who would have thought that the price of a toy would have a direct relationship with oil?”

It's not just toys. Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas go into making more than 6,000 consumer products, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Computer keyboards, lipstick, tennis rackets, pajamas, soft contact lenses, detergent, chewing gum, shoes, crayons, shaving cream, pillows, aspirin, dentures, tape, umbrellas and nylon guitar strings are just a few of them.

So far, the war's most tangible and immediate effect for many people outside the conflict zone has been spiking gasoline prices. Travelers also are seeing higher airfares and flight fees as airlines respond to the rising cost of jet fuel. Consumers may find themselves paying more for food, furniture or any of the myriad of goods transported by trucks that run on diesel.

But crude oil isn't just refined as fuel. It gets turned into chemicals, waxes, oils and other mixtures that appear in a vast array of everyday items, including most made with plastic and rubber. Petroleum derivatives also are used in a lot of packaging. With disruptions to global oil supplies now in their eighth week, higher production costs also could make things more expensive for shoppers, according to trade groups and some companies.

Venegas, a 30-year toy industry veteran, said he would absorb higher material costs for now but expects to increase prices for customers by early 2027, if the war goes on another three to six months.

From crude oil to T-shirts and rugs

While 85% of global oil consumption is in the form of fuel, the rest goes into a wide range of consumer products, according to Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at Columbia University's School of Business.

Crude oil is mostly a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, which are compounds made of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Refineries and chemical plants separate and break them down to convert them into smaller chemical building blocks known as petrochemicals.

Six petrochemicals — ethylene, propylene, butylene, benzene, toluene and xylenes — are the major foundations of plastics and synthetic materials like nylon and polyesters, which manufacturers in turn use to design and deliver products. More from the Department of Energy: Automobile parts, ballpoint pens, curtains, dice, eyeglasses, fertilizer, golf balls, hearing aids, insect repellant, kayaks, luggage, mops and nail polish.

Materials account for a big share of production costs for many manufacturers, including those that supply carpets, clothing and tires, according to Andrew Walberer, partner and global lead in the chemicals practice of global strategy and management consultancy Kearney.

Take a button-down shirt, for example. Walberer estimated that materials account for 27%-30% of how much it costs a manufacturer to make one. Labor costs contribute 10% to 30%. Business expenses tied to marketing, distribution and administration comprises the rest, he said.

The ripple effect

Experts say if oil holds above $90 per barrel for the next several months, cost pressures will accelerate throughout the supply network.

Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America CEO Matt Priest said most of the trade organization's members keep a two- to three-month inventory of finished products, providing a temporary cushion against higher materials costs.

Roughly 70% of the materials in synthetic shoes are petrochemical-based, and 30% of the costs for those materials are directly tied to oil price rate swings, according to a report the organization published last month on the U.S. footwear industry's “exposure to oil prices & the impact on shoe costs.”

The FDRA analysis estimated that between materials, factory energy and transportation, companies paying more for petroleum could translate into a 1.5% to 3% increase in the price shoppers pay for a pair of shoes by late summer and the fall.

By the end of April, U.S. shoe and clothing manufacturers need to start signing contracts with suppliers, mostly outside the U.S., for orders of polyester staple fiber and polyester filament yarn to get their designs on retail shelves and online for the holiday shopping season, according to Nate Herman, executive vice president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

One kilogram, or a little over two pounds, of the materials used in polyester textiles, has increased in price from an average of 90 cents before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran to $1.33 per kilogram, Herman said. He estimated that each garment will cost 10 cents to 15 cents more to produce as a result.

Another cost for importers

Some businesses are looking for ways to offset rising costs.

Lisa Lane is the founder of Rinseroo, which sells portable shower head, bathtub and sink attachments for cleaning, pet grooming, and bathing. She recently tripled the number of the slip-on hoses she procures from China each month after her manufacturer said the cost would be 30% higher in another 30 days. She had a few days to decide whether to place a three-month advance order.

The components of Rinseroo's products include petroleum derivatives like polyvinyl chloride, Lane said. After purchasing 240,000 units instead of her usual 80,000, she is also evaluating cost-cutting options.

Lane said she wants to hold off on increasing prices for retailers that sell the attachments since Rinseroo did that last year to offset higher U.S. tariffs on imports from China. For example, a hose for washing pets in a bathtub went up to $33.95 from $29.95 on retail websites, she said.

“We want to stay at that sweet spot where people want to continue to buy from us and feel like they’re getting a good value," Lane said.

Another company, which sells wound care products like bandages, dressings, pads and sponges to nursing homes and other medical facilities, plans to raise its prices by 15% in a matter of weeks. Gentell CEO David Navazio noted that adhesives in the products rely on several petrochemicals.

Including energy for production and materials, Navazio estimated the company's costs are going up by 20%.

Gentell, which is based in Yardley, Pennsylvania but has its main manufacturing location in Toronto, also makes private label products for other companies, including a medical technology firm that supplies retail stores like CVS.

Because bandages and dressings are necessities, Navazio said he doesn't think his business will suffer if it raises customer prices. Less certain is whether prices will come down once the war ends and oil shipments stabilize.

“In the past, I’ve seen transportation costs come down, but I’ve never seen prices of raw material come down,” he said.

Calling his father and uncle gusanos — or worms, a Spanish-language term coined by Castro to denigrate those fleeing the island — the agent seized the bank and in an instant dispossessed a family that arrived from Spain in the 16th century.

“They told them this was now the people's bank,” said Valdes-Fauli, an attorney and former mayor of the Miami suburb of Coral Gables. “They couldn’t even take family pictures off the walls of their office.”

Seven decades later such traumatic episodes are resurfacing with urgency, as President Donald Trump's threats of military intervention, backed by a naval blockade of fuel shipments that has brought the island's already-anemic economy to its knees, have spawned negotiations between Washington and Havana. Many Cuban Americans are convinced that 2026 could — finally — be the year of regime change on the communist-run island.

But that cautious optimism among exiles is tempered by concern they could be cut out. Their nightmare scenario: a repeat of what happened recently in Venezuela, where Trump ousted Nicolás Maduro only to join forces with his former allies in a partnership where demands for democracy are taking a back seat to oil industry dealmaking.

“I hope that he doesn’t do what he did in Venezuela, which is keep the thieves in power,” said Valdes-Fauli, who married a Venezuelan.

An emotional element of the talks, and one of the toughest to resolve, is the potential for hundreds of thousands of legal claims by Cuban Americans whose homes, businesses and land were seized after Castro took power in 1959.

New hope for getting compensation

Nick Gutiérrez's home is full of fading land titles, black-and-white photographs and obscure books including one torn-apart tome — “The Owners of Cuba, 1958” — that describes the 550 biggest fortunes taken over by the revolution.

As president of the National Association of Cuban Landowners in Exile, Gutiérrez advises Cuban exile families on how to seek compensation for the forced collectivism. For decades that was a lonely mission relegated to the legal fringes, because there was never any hope of getting Cuba to pay.

“A lot of it just fell on deaf ears,” Gutiérrez said.

But with rising speculation about possible regime change, real interest in the issue has exploded among those who previously saw costly litigation as a fool's errand, as well as younger Cuban American entrepreneurs eager to help rebuild a country they barely know but whose heritage they proudly carry.

“Now we're talking about the existential issue of whether the Cuban dictatorship will survive until next month,” said Gutiérrez, whose parents fled the island two years before he was born.

Resolving the claims

Untangling property claims in Cuba is akin to battling a multiheaded hydra, said Robert Muse, a Washington attorney who specializes in U.S. laws relating to Cuba.

In the hierarchy of property losses, those with the strongest standing under U.S. law are the 5,913 claims certified by the Justice Department in 1972 for $1.9 billion. They include corporations like ExxonMobil and Marriott International whose assets were seized as part of Castro's nationalization drive of everything from oil refineries and the telephone system to hair salons and shoeshine stands.

Under U.S. law those claims — worth $10 billion today — must be resolved for a full restoration of economic and diplomatic relations. In practice, however, the executive branch is authorized to assume control of private losses for a lump-sum payment and fold the dispute into any settlement with Havana.

In a break from the past, Cuba has signaled a willingness to discuss the claims — as part of a broader conversation over its demand for compensation for damages wrought by the U.S. trade embargo, enacted in 1962.

A thornier issue is Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. The law allows exiles to sue any company deemed to be “trafficking” in property confiscated by Cuba.

All past U.S. presidents suspended Title III because of objections from U.S. allies doing business in Cuba. Similarly, many exiles viewed the legislation as an empty threat because of the remote prospect of ever collecting from a bankrupt government.

But Trump lifted the suspension in 2019, and about 50 lawsuits have since been filed. The floodgates to more claims could open soon depending on two cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this year.

One of the cases, brought by Exxon, seeks $1 billion from Cuban state-owned entities. The other was filed by the Delaware-based company, Havana Docks, against four cruise liners that paid Cuba's government to disembark nearly 1 million tourists at a port it once operated after President Barack Obama reestablished diplomatic relations.

Will Trump strike a deal?

Muse likened the legal risks of doing business in Cuba to a “stalactite” formed over several decades, deterring investment and political compromise.

“You can't have a restitution remedy for hundreds of thousands of claimants,” Muse said. “It’s unworkable.”

However if Havana's stated aim to attract foreign capital is sincere, it has incentives to cut deals with Cuban Americans willing to invest in the country, Gutiérrez said. A model for that would be the former Communist states in Eastern Europe that compensated for property seizures at the conclusion of the Cold War, helping their economies surge ahead.

Trump, Muse said, may have the right mix of business sense, impatience with convention and political freedom as a second-term president to work through the complex mess. A signal that he is unlikely to be bogged down by legal haggling, Muse added, was when he hosted oil executives at the White House following Maduro's ouster and told them they would have to write off any unpaid claims from asset seizures in Venezuela.

Gutiérrez worries that Trump’s eagerness for a trophy that has evaded 12 Democratic and Republican presidents could get the better of him. But he is reassured by the president's longstanding friendship with Cuban Americans who are among his most ardent supporters.

“Trump doesn't have moral qualms of doing business with bad guys,” Gutiérrez said. “But he knows how important this is to us, and that gives us some comfort he won't sell us out.”

By Tuesday, water levels at the underpass had reached about six feet, forcing drivers to turn around and find alternate routes.

The flooding has become a recurring disruption in the area after even modest rainfall.

“It’s very aggravating,” one nearby worker said.

The high water also complicates travel beyond the underpass. Drivers attempting detours often encounter additional delays due to nearby train crossings.

“It’s 2026. The sewer and drainage systems should be up to date, especially with the growth we’ve had in this area,” said Lisa Purdum, who works nearby.

Local businesses say the flooding creates scheduling challenges. Dr. Natalie Carrizales, a dentist in the area, said patient appointments have had to be adjusted.

“We’ve had to extend grace periods. Usually, our grace period is 15 minutes. We’ve had to increase that to 20 or 25 minutes because patients get caught either behind the train or at the underpass,” Carrizales said.

City officials say the problem is not solely tied to rainfall. A drainage pipe was damaged during construction, and portions of the system are currently blocked. Officials also say the pipe that drains into Buffalo Bayou can become submerged during heavy rain, causing water to back up into the underpass.

The city recommends residents report flooding issues through 311 and keep their service request numbers for follow-up. Officials also encourage residents to document problems with photos or video and submit them to City Council offices or speak during council meetings.

A contractor is expected to be on-site Thursday to begin inspections and plan repairs.

Officials also remind drivers to avoid flooded roadways and follow safety guidance: turn around, don’t drown.

The proposal comes just weeks after the Houston City Council voted to change how police interact with federal immigration authorities during traffic stops, with the mayor’s support.

• RELATED: Houston mayor unveils proposed amended immigration ordinance in hopes to restore state funding

Under the previous policy, Houston police officers could contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and wait up to 30 minutes if someone had an administrative immigration warrant.

Earlier this month, the council voted to eliminate that waiting period, unless the person had a criminal warrant, citing concerns about constitutional rights.

What Whitmire wants to change

Now, Whitmire is proposing revisions that appear to roll back parts of that ordinance while still keeping it in place.

One key section of the proposed amendment states, “nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or materially limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities as required by state law or by agreement.”

That language was included in the original ordinance, which makes clear that Houston police would still be allowed to work with ICE. However, the ‘by agreement’ was added by the mayor.

The proposed changes also adjust how administrative warrants are defined.

• The original ordinance stated that those warrants are not reviewed by a neutral magistrate or judge and do not establish probable cause for arrest.
• The revised version removes that language and instead describes administrative warrants as orders “commanding the arrest of an individual either to conduct removal proceedings or for removal.”

Another change broadens when someone can be held during a stop:

• The original policy said detention should last “only as long as reasonably necessary” for the initial stop.
• The revision removes “only” and allows detention for “other legitimate purposes discovered during the detention.”

The changes come as the state threatens to pull millions in funding, arguing the original ordinance violates Texas law.

Whitmire has pointed to upcoming global events, including the FIFA World Cup, as a reason Houston cannot afford to lose those public safety dollars.

• RELATED: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Houston over immigration ordinance

A spokesperson for the mayor says the revised ordinance “reaffirms the Fourth Amendment” and creates a path to restore the funding.

But some council members say they’ve had little time to review the proposal, which was introduced during Tuesday’s public meeting.

At-Large Council Member Alejandra Salinas questioned whether the changes could undo key parts of the original ordinance.

“The amendment poses a lot of open questions, the most significant being whether or not it complies with the Fourth Amendment,” Salinas said. “I asked the mayor whether he intended to reinstate the 30-minute rule that we intended to pull back by passing the ordinance. He did not have an answer to that question.”

Council Member Abbie Kamin echoed concerns about the timeline.

“We have not had time to review this,” Kamin said. “We only got it in the middle of a public session with an expected vote within 24 hours.”

Inside council chambers, dozens of residents signed up to speak.

• RELATED: ‘He has frozen it’: Houston mayor looking to revise immigration ordinance as funding freeze hurts HPD, FIFA preps

Some oppose the ordinance entirely, arguing police should strictly follow state law.

“Law enforcement is law enforcement, and we don’t get to pick and choose which laws we enforce,” said Council Member Twila Carter, who voted against the original measure.

Others support the policy, saying it protects constitutional rights while maintaining public safety.

Rev. James Dixon with the NAACP Houston branch said the goal is balance.

“We support law enforcement. We’ve stood with law enforcement for years. But we want law enforcement to operate within constitutional law,” Dixon said. “It’s a complex issue,” Dixon said when asked about potentially losing millions. “We need resources, but we don’t want that at too high a cost.”

City Council is expected to take up the proposed amendment during a special session scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday.

What immigration attorneys are telling clients

As confusion over the policy continues, immigration attorneys say they’re urging clients, especially undocumented immigrants, to be prepared if they are stopped by police.

Attorneys Kim Bruno and Raed Gonzalez say one key rule is to carry proper documentation at all times.

“If you have immigration status in the United States, the law requires that you carry those proofs with you,” Gonzalez said.

Buno recommends clients carry documents like a letter of representation from an attorney, proof of tax payments, and records that demonstrate good moral character, such as a clean criminal record.

She adds that families should also plan for worst-case scenarios, including making legal arrangements for their children in case of detention.

“Having family members putting in powers of attorney for assets, powers of attorneys for their kids…to assign somebody who they trust to put their children and care for their children and put them into school and medical and all those things if in the case that somebody ends up getting detained,” Bruno said.

His agent, Nicole Lynn, informed him that an amicable negotiation with Texans general manager Nick Caserio was an extremely successful round of talks. Their collaboration made Anderson the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history and the highest paid defensive player in the game.

Anderson was overcome with raw emotion, dropping to the ground in gratitude and breaking into tears after agreeing to a three-year, $150 million contract extension. The deal includes a $50 million annual average compensation per year, surpassing Green Bay Packers edge Micah Parsons’ $46.5 million average. The contract, which runs through 2030, includes $134 million total guaranteed, $100 million fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap, a $32 million signing bonus and a rare no-trade clause.

“I was training, and we took a little break, and she called me: ‘Whenever you get done, I need you to call me ASAP,’” Anderson recalled Tuesday during a celebratory press conference at Reliant Stadium. “My heart kind of dropped, and I’m like, ‘I’m in here training, what’s going on?’ I get home, and she calls me, and she tells me everything, and I literally just dropped to my knees. Literally just dropped to my knees in like total thanks, tears.

“I had to get on the flight the same day and I felt bad for the lady sitting beside me, because she was probably so concerned about me, because I was crying the whole flight. I was crying the whole flight. My whole family just went crazy. It was just a big moment for us. It’s bigger than me. I think about my family, I think about everything that we’ve been through, and to be able to bless them just as much as they’ve blessed me.”

For Anderson, this watershed moment represents the culmination of all of his hard work. From moving from running back as a young football player to defensive end. To his time as an All-American at Alabama and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Bronko Nagurski Award winner. To becoming the third overall pick of the draft four years ago after a dramatic trade with the Arizona Cardinals and becoming the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

To becoming the scourge of quarterbacks with a career-high dozen sacks and 20 tackles for losses and 23 quarterback hits last season, 30 career sacks in three seasons, 46 tackles for losses, 64 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles. Plus, eight sacks, eight tackles for losses and 11 quarterback hits in six career playoff games.

“I’ve been so overwhelmed with joy these last couple days, nonstop tears, and it’s been a blessing,” said Anderson after a lengthy, emotional statement as he thanked his parents, Will Sr. and Tereon, his five older sisters, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, Caserio, the McNair family, his coaches, Lynn and everyone at Klutch Sports and, of course, his late grandmother, who was instrumental in molding the 24-year-old All-Pro defensive end. “I love what I do. I tell people all the time. It’s really never, ever been about the money for me. It’s always just been about walking in my purpose and doing what God has called me to do.

“To be able to be here right now and be in this moment and enjoy this moment, it means everything to me. I just think about my family, everything that we endured growing up, all the hard times, everything, to get to retire my parents early, to get to see my sisters thrive, my nieces and nephews, the rest of my family. I think that’s the biggest blessing for me.”

#Texans Will Anderson Jr., celebrates blockbuster deal with his parents and agent Nicole Lynn @AgentNicoleLynn @KlutchSports @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/ZAx2PwnG5G

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 21, 2026

The decision to reward Anderson and make him the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history was rooted in his standing as a foundational piece of the Texans.

And hammering out this contract couldn’t have made Ryans any happier. Earned, not given embodies the situation.

“Will is an outstanding young man, outstanding player,” Ryans said. “He shows up every single day, working how we expect guys to work and doing all the things a leader does. He’s a guy that you want guys following.

“He embodies everything that it means to be a Texan and he’s definitely deserving of the contract situation that he’s gotten. He’s earned it and he’s done an outstanding job of leading.”

What’s next? Well, Anderson is beyond tired of losing in the AFC divisional round after three consecutive losses in that stage of the postseason, including defeats against the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.

The Texans have never reached an AFC championship game and are 0-7 in the divisional round.

Anderson is extremely motivated to help his team reach that milestone.

“Ask me about contract, yeah, the contract is cool, but ask me about winning, that’s more important,” Anderson said. “How we get over this hump, how we can get past the second round is what’s been on my mind.”

Growing up in Georgia, Anderson was initially a running back. He wanted to be the next Adrian Peterson.

When he was shifted to defensive end, Anderson didn’t like the change at first.

“I cried,” Anderson said.

Several years later, Anderson is coming off a stellar third NFL season. He was named All-Pro for the first time and was a finalist for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

“It worked out,” Anderson said while smiling.

When the Texans drafted Anderson in 2023, they maneuvered to acquire him one pick after drafting quarterback C.J. Stroud third overall. The trade between Caserio and Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort involved a 2024 first-round selection and landed Anderson.

Now, Anderson is the ultimate chess piece in the Texans’ top-ranked defense.

“The name got him where he is, so we’ll keep him as the Terminator,” Texans defensive line coach and run game coordinator Rod Wright said. “He’s definitely lived up to that name. He’s a guy that has been disruptive and made a lot of plays for us, won us a lot of games, and that’ll continue. At the end of the day, he’s gonna reach whatever he wants to do, because he takes it very seriously. It’s really, really cool to watch him continue to grow.”

#Texans defensive line coach-run game coordinator Rod Wright on how 'deserving' Will Anderson Jr., is of mega contract @KPRC2 https://t.co/UOyb76hHx8 pic.twitter.com/AeuzJdhELI

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 21, 2026

For Lynn, this deal after negotiating other huge contracts for her clients, including Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, was a thrilling moment.

“It’s surreal,” Lynn said. “I never take any of it for granted. I’m very honored to do the job that I do, and I represent a lot of different players across the league, and every one of these moments feels like the first.

“He is the absolute most deserving person. That is who he is every single day. So, it’s really a blessing to represent someone that’s incredible on the field, but off the field. So, deserving and puts everyone else first. I was so excited to give him that news.”

The contract didn’t come as a surprise. KPRC 2 reported for months that the deal was an eventuality and would average as much $50 million annually.

The talks between Lynn and Caserio ran smoothly.

“Nick and I have a really good relationship,” Lynn said. “I don’t know exactly where it started. I think Nick called me, but I think we kind of all knew that it was time for him to get paid. Nick is incredible to work with. And the reason is that Nick, he obviously, is doing his job as a general manager, but he cares about the players.

“You can feel that, and that actually starts at ownership. You can feel that with the McNairs that they want to do right by the players. With Nick starting the deal early, I think, for him, was showing Will the belief that this organization has in him long-term, right? They didn’t want to play any games. They knew how important he was to the organization. They wanted him to know that through the deal.”

Anderson ranked second in the NFL with 85 total pressures last season, according to Next Gen Stats. Recording 48 pressures on third down marked the most since that statistic has been tracked.

“I haven’t even reached to the period of where I want to be at in my game,” Anderson said. “And I think this offseason I’ve continued to build my body up to be able to bend or to be able to finish on the quarterback. That’s the next step is just be able to finish on the quarterback.”

Anderson doesn’t plan to go on a major spending spree.

He does plan to purchase a speed boat for his fishing trips with his father.

Growing up as the baby of the family with five older sisters, Anderson learned the value of having a strong work ethic and traditional values and a deep religious faith from his parents.

“I think that’s why I got so emotional because these two right here, being in a three-bedroom house with six kids wasn’t easy,” Anderson said. “Working long nights. My mom got to work overtime. My dad working overtime. It meant the world for me to do what I do.”

Anderson is pivotal to the Texans’ present and future as a game-wrecking defensive end capable of harassing quarterbacks and shutting down runs, doubling as a team captain and leader.

And his success all started at home with his parents’ loving example.

“He’s always been humble, always been disciplined, didn’t give us no problems, just a really sweet kid,” Tereon Anderson said. “Now, the sisters might say something differently, but the parents, that’s he week, pretty much was just a typical young man.”

The pride of the family was obvious, just as it has been throughout his time in Houston.

“The growth and maturity,he’s just a natural,” Will Anderson Sr. said. “Everything that he did, he grew up pretty fast. We don’t have any baby pictures of Will because he grew up so fast. We missed a lot of that time so, but he just matured really fast.”

Extremely proud parents of #Texans Will Anderson Jr.: Tereon and Will Sr. @KPRC2 https://t.co/UOyb76hHx8 pic.twitter.com/22vtXC1WxE

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 21, 2026

Anderson spent a lot of time with his grandmother, his father’s mother.

‘She was very instrumental," Tereon Anderson said. “He learned very early on how to give back to others. We hope we were great parents, but God already had all those things instilled in him. His character was built from the womb.”

Anderson used to accompany his father to the food market, learning how to work hard from his example that included cutting fish and other blue-collar tasks.

“It was very intentional, because I took not just only Will, I took my daughters also so, and I told all of them, this is not what I want for you guys,“ Will Anderson Sr. said. ”Free education, go to college.”

“We always told them if you are not better than us, that we failed,” Tereon Anderson said. “Because the work that we did was to raise them so we wanted to give them an opportunity to be better.

“His junior year, he got his first college offer, and I think that’s when he started to say, ‘Well, maybe I’ll go to school if I’m gonna get a scholarship.’ And we kind of took off from there, but he really wanted to do the same things that his dad did.”

Anderson is deeply spiritual and open in discussing his Christian faith.

During the Pro Bowl Games, Anderson partnered with the ministry group, God Behind Bars, in February to share his faith with inmates at San Quentin State Prison. He spoke to over 150 inmates about his faith and personal journey. Several inmates chose to get baptized after listening to Anderson’s inspirational message.

“It was a life-changing experience, very life-changing,” Anderson said. “Anybody that’s deep in their word; the journey is something. Once you get close with God and you start on your journey, it’s like that’s when you start to see so much impurity in yourself and start to see the ways the world will pull you in. When I walked in there, these guys are facing life. They don’t get to see their kids, don’t get to see their families, but their faith was so strong in Jesus Christ.

“It literally changed my life because I’m out here. I’m free. I have so much free will. I can do what I want, but these guys are incarcerated and can’t do much. But they’re like, ‘The one thing that I can cling on to is my faith, and I know that my situation will get better.’ To be able to speak to those guys and to speak life into them is just as much as they speak life into me. It was just a very wholesome moment.”

Although the Texans ultimately lost in the AFC divisional round playoffs to the Patriots, it wasn’t because of Anderson. He recorded three sacks, two forced fumbles and two tackles for losses.

The extremely high value of Anderson as a pass rusher and run-stopper was underscored again, just as it was all season.

And the big trade with the Cardinals changed the course of the Texans. Anderson has arguably emerged as the face of the franchise.

“The 2023 draft is probably one of the most exciting drafts that I’ve been a part of, and I would say one of the most exciting drafts in Texans history,” said Ryans, a former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year selected in 2006 out of Alabama. “It was exciting just to know what we were doing. We pick C.J. at the second pick and to know we’re back on the phones trying to trade up to get Will, it was just an exciting moment, a tense moment.

“The adrenaline is pumping in the room. It was awesome. Nick executed the trade. It was about the guy we were getting. As we all see, fast forward to where we are now, it was well worth the move. We knew the type of man that Will was, and it was worth moving up to get him and it has paid off big time for us.”

When Anderson got the call from Ryans while he was in the green room, he didn’t know what to think at first.

He had visited the Texans and had struck up a good relationship with Ryans. He was hoping they would come get him.

“In the green room, Arizona was still on the clock, and that’s a whole other conversation for another time, but Arizona’s still on the clock,” Anderson recounted. “I tell this story all the time. I promise you I’m not lying. DeMeco had called me, because at the time me and DeMeco, we had a pretty good relationship.

“I’m thinking he’s calling me like, ‘Yeah, man, I’m sorry we couldn’t get you.’ Then, he told me he was drafting me, and I just went crazy, like went crazy. I really wanted to be here. I really wanted to be a part of something very special. As you can see, we’ve been on the up and up and I think we’re trending in the right way to get it done.”

PHOENIX -- #Texans Cal McNair and Hannah McNair on potential long-term deals for Will Anderson Jr., C.J. Stroud: 'Exciting, really good players, we'll hope to have them around a long, long time. .. It's a good problem to have when you have so many guys you want to keep under… pic.twitter.com/WunQinzX0g

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 1, 2026

The rest is history.

Anderson plans to stay grounded and not alter his hard-nosed, relentless approach to football and his fun-loving life enjoying the outdoors

“I think it’s staying to the process, not changing,” Anderson said. “I think it’s about growth and obviously maturity. You just keep going in your same process. I’m young at this, but guys will want to change or do more. I think the biggest thing that I’m going to keep with me is what DeMeco told me when I first got here:

“‘You don’t got to be Superman, just go be the same person you’ve been when we drafted you, when you were at Alabama, the leader, the player that you were.’ That’s what’s been helping me succeed so far. So, just continue to be myself, continue to grow my game, grow up my teammates, have fun with them and just go play for them.”

What would his late grandmother have to say now about what has transpired, of this groundbreaking achievement?

“’Look at little Willy go,’” Anderson said. " hat’s what she would have said. ‘Look at little Will go.’ She would be so proud, She was a big influence in my life as well. Walking me out the door every morning before going to school. I still hold her closely to my heart and what I do, a lot of tears that they see before the games, a lot of that is for her, too.”

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

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack deep inside Russia struck a residential building, killing a woman and a child, Russian officials said Wednesday.

Kyiv has asked Turkey to help facilitate top-level talks and has reached out to other capitals as potential hosts, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, adding that Ukraine would consider any venue outside Russia and Belarus.

“We are … advocating for a (summit) meeting now to bring new momentum to diplomacy,” Sybiha told reporters on Tuesday. His remarks were embargoed until Wednesday.

U.S.-mediated talks over the past year between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv have made little or no headway on key issues, such as the future of four Ukrainian regions Moscow is trying to capture but doesn’t fully control. With Washington’s attention now gripped by the Iran war, the talks are on ice.

Zelenskyy has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump but Putin has refused. Putin thinks that time is on his side, that Western military and financial support will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse, analysts say.

Meanwhile, a grim war of attrition continues along the about 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line that snakes along eastern and southern areas of Ukraine. Western officials and analysts claim Russia is suffering several tens of thousands of battlefield casualties each month, drawing comparisons to the carnage of World War I.

Independent verification of battlefield casualties and which side has the upper hand is not possible.

Ukraine has developed a domestic arms industry which is increasingly producing long-range drones and missiles capable of striking deep inside Russia. It has taken aim at Russia’s oil production and manufacturing plants that supply the Russian military.

In Syzran, a city in Russia’s Samara region that is about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the border with Ukraine, a drone attack caused the collapse of a section of a residential building, local authorities said.

The bodies of a woman and a child were pulled out from under the rubble and 12 others were injured, local officials said.

Images from the scene showed a part of a four-story building reduced to a massive pile of rubble, with emergency workers on top of it.

Russian media reports said a Rosneft oil refinery — a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks — is located on the same street as the damaged building.

Ukraine’s aerial attacks on Russia increased by nearly four times last year, from 6,200 in 2024 to more than 23,000 in 2025, Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said last month.

___

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

As Chavez, 35, drove from his home in Weslaco, black and white SUVs flashing police lights surrounded his car. He pulled to the curb, thinking they were after someone else. Then four U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents got out and one of them opened Chavez’s door.

After confirming his name, the agent said, “Yeah, that’s our target.”

For the past 14 years, Chavez, whose family immigrated from Colombia to the U.S. in 1999, has been a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, referred to as DACA. The Obama-era immigration program allows qualifying young immigrants to receive renewable work permits and protection from deportation as long as they don’t commit any crimes.

He said he told agents he had DACA, and that he was a father of three young children, including a baby in the hospital who he still had not held since she was born.

“That doesn’t matter,” Chavez said an agent told him.

Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has begun to target DACA recipients for deportation as part of its mass deportation efforts. From January 2025 to November 2025, at least 261 DACA recipients have been arrested — 75 of them in Texas. And between 86 and 174 DACA recipients have been deported, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (The agency gave different figures to two different Democratic members of Congress who requested the information).

In President Donald Trump’s first term, the administration attempted to scrap DACA completely, before the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the administration’s move. Now that Trump is back in office, his administration has repeatedly claimed that DACA does not give protection from deportation.

“DACA does NOT confer any form of legal status in this country,” DHS has said in public statements. “Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”

Homeland Security didn’t respond to questions about Chavez’s case.

For over a decade, DACA recipients felt safe from deportation. The program was created as a temporary solution for young immigrants without a criminal record until Congress approved a long-term plan for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. Advocates say the Trump administration now seems to be ignoring the federal government’s promise to DACA recipients.

“Federal courts have determined that DACA’s protections are lawful and that active DACA status should convey protections from being targeted by immigration enforcement agencies — yet that is not happening,” Gaby Pacheco, president and CEO of TheDream.US, a national immigrant rights group, said in a statement. “These unlawful arrests must stop immediately.”

A DACA recipient can lose their status if they’ve been arrested or convicted of a serious or violent crime. There are currently more than 505,000 DACA recipients in the country, and more than 84,000 are in Texas, according to federal government data.

Democratic leaders say the Trump administration’s efforts to arrest and deport DACA recipients is concerning because many of them entered the country as children and have no criminal record.

DACA recipients “trusted the federal government when they came forward under DACA, passed background checks, and followed every rule DHS asked of them,” said Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston. “Now, under the Trump administration, ICE is targeting the very young people who did everything right. That is appalling.”

Family fled Colombia to Miami

Chavez said his parents fled Colombia with him and his older sister in 1999 after his grandfather was kidnapped by guerillas. At the time, violence between guerrilla and paramilitary groups led to thousands of civilian deaths and displacements. The family traveled to Miami on tourist visas then requested asylum.

“At first, I didn’t know we were moving,” said Chavez, who was eight years old at the time.

In 2001, they moved to McAllen, where Chavez’s mother was able to get a job as a physical therapist as their asylum case was pending. His father found work cleaning pools before getting a job as a custodian at a doctor’s office. Three years later, an immigration judge denied the family’s asylum case and the family was ordered deported.

But they stayed. Chavez said his parents were worried about the political violence in Colombia and decided it was better to stay in the U.S. where their kids were safe.

“It was just very violent in Colombia at the time,” he said.

As the years went by, Chavez’s older sister married a U.S. citizen who sponsored her for legal permanent residence. After she became a U.S. citizen, she sponsored her parents for green cards.

But Chavez had no pathway to legalize his status. His sister could have sponsored him too, but it can take up to 15 years for a sibling-to-sibling sponsorship.

Then in 2012, the Obama administration announced DACA, which allowed Chavez to pursue his career goals after college. He graduated with two degrees in biology and clinical laboratory science from the University of Texas–Pan American in Edinburg in 2013.

“It was perfect because I knew I was going to be able to work after college,” he said.

After graduating, he found work in hospital labs in the Valley. In November 2023, he was ordering a meal and met Villarreal, who worked at her family’s food truck. He asked her out on a date that day, and they married in February 2025, a month after Trump returned to the White House.

She had a son from a previous relationship. Their first daughter was born three months later. They bought a house in Weslaco, a city between McAllen and Harlingen, the following month.

After getting married, the couple went to a lawyer to ask about Chavez getting sponsored by his wife for legal permanent residency. Villarreal said the lawyer advised against it because of Chavez’s deportation order from 2004. The lawyer worried that despite having DACA, if Chavez opened a new immigration case, ICE would arrest him when he showed up for any appointments, Villarreal said.

President Trump had campaigned on deporting the “worst of the worst” — undocumented immigrants who have violent criminal backgrounds. But since taking office, the majority of immigrants being arrested for deportation have no criminal convictions.

ICE has also arrested immigrants at immigration courts and during routine appointments at ICE offices.

So the lawyer advised the couple to apply for his green card until after Trump left office, Villarreal said.

“There’s been a lot of limitations” living with DACA, Villarreal said. “Of course he can pay taxes but he doesn’t get the benefits that U.S. citizens sometimes take for granted, like he can’t vote or travel outside of the country.”

“There’s a part of me that’s missing”

Their second daughter was born prematurely on Feb. 6 and was sent directly to a neonatal intensive care unit. Chavez was arrested less than two weeks later and taken to an immigration detention center in Laredo.

“I’m scared to even think that I could get deported and not be able to see her,” Chavez said. “It feels like there’s a part of me that’s missing because it was taken away.”

He was let go from his most recent job after his work permit expired on March 10. He had filed for a renewal in November, but his application is still pending.

Villarreal has struggled to care for their children without her husband. Her 4-year-old son, who sees Chavez as his father, has struggled with his sudden absence.

Villarreal said she initially told her son that Chavez was away at work. But as days turned to weeks, she had to explain to him that he was detained by ICE.

“Can you pretend to be dad?” the boy asked her recently.

“Why, son?” she asked.

“Because dad would always play with me,” the boy said.

Villarreal has been on leave from work and has tried to visit Chavez with the children at least once a week. What is usually a three-hour drive from the Rio Grande Valley to Laredo can take more because she has to continuously pull over to feed and change her two youngest girls — their newborn was released from this hospital in March.

“Sometimes I wish there were three of me, one for each child, to help me with the kids,” she said.

When they do get to the detention center, the family sits across Chavez, separated by a partition, and talk to him through a phone. During a recent visit, their 10-month-old reached out, placing her hand on the glass partition and smiled at her father.

“I can tell she misses me,” Chavez said.

Chavez’s lawyer is challenging his detention. In March, U.S. District Judge Diana Saldaña ordered ICE officials not to deport Chavez until his case is resolved.

In the meantime Chavez has said he has been struggling with kidney stones. He said he developed them in the detention center because he had stopped drinking the facility’s water, which tasted metallic.

His family has been depositing money into his account so he can buy bottled water in the facility. He can buy up to 20 bottles a week at $1.11 each, he said.

He said the food is bland and it’s uncomfortable to sleep on the thin pad over a metal bed frame. He is in a cell with 10 other people who share a shower and a toilet. He said he passes the time reading the Bible and joins a group who get together to sing worship songs.

“The conditions here are meant to put so much stress on someone so they agree to get deported,” Chavez said. “But I’m going to keep fighting because I deserve to be here, I see myself as an American.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s decision to run for U.S. Senate set off an expensive, competitive race for Texas attorney general,  one of the state’s most powerful posts.

With no Republican candidate earning more than 50% of votes during the March primaries, state Sen. Mayes Middleton from Galveston and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy from Austin will face off again during the May 26 primary runoffs. The winner will take on the Democratic nominee in November and look to continue the GOP’s three-decade winning streak in Texas statewide elections. 

Whoever wins this seat as Texas’ top lawyer will be responsible for defending challenges to state agencies and statutes in court, issuing opinions interpreting state law, undertaking investigations and bringing lawsuits to protect residents of the state. They will be responsible for legal affairs that impact everyday Texans’ lives, like enforcing child support judgments, stopping waste and fraud in government programs and investigating deceptive charities, unscrupulous businesses and fraudulent billing. 

Middleton and Roy beat out state Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston and Aaron Reitz, a former aide to Paxton and top U.S. Department of Justice official, in the crowded March primary. Now, both Middleton and Roy have promised to use the attorney general’s agency to try to overturn decades-old Supreme Court precedent on issues such as public school access for undocumented students.

Roy, who is known for calling out leaders of his own party, is pitching himself as a conservative candidate committed to Texas, first and foremost, and with experience in the attorney general’s office. Middleton has pitched himself as a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump compared to Roy, who voted to certify the 2020 election results affirming Joe Biden’s win, an affront to MAGA faithful. 

The next attorney general will get to decide the agency’s priorities. To help primary voters distinguish between the Republican hopefuls, we asked each of them ahead of the March primary to share their views on the office’s major issues. See where they stand, and how they differ.

Notably, Middleton refused to participate. In his absence, Tribune reporters sought out his past public statements and used his legislative record to give voters a view into his thinking.

Question topics

• Defending state agencies
• Outside counsel
• Open records law
• Legitimacy of 2020 election
• Enforcing wrongly decided rulings
• Enforcing Texas laws in other states
• Suing big business
• Prosecuting election crimes
• Prosecutorial authority

Campaign site

Mayes Middleton

State Senator, Galveston

💰 Campaign finance from July 1, 2025-Feb. 21, 2026:

• Total raised:  $14,780,863
• Total spent: $15,195,247
• Cash on hand: $28,328

💰 Major donors this cycle:

• Himself — Middleton has self-funded his campaign with more than $13 million
• William Oberndorf, California billionaire who supports school vouchers
• Will Hardeman, Austin car dealership owner
• Monty Bennett, a Dallas area businessman

🏢 Experience:

• State senator since 2023, representing Galveston and surrounding areas
• State representative from 2019 to 2023
• President, Middleton Oil Company, a family company
• Graduate of the University of Texas School of Law
• Authored anti-trans “bathroom bill” passed by Texas Legislature in 2025

📣 Endorsements:

• Aaron Reitz, a top Trump DOJ official and a former attorney general primary candidate
• Texas Eagle Forum
• The True Texas Project
• Conservative Republicans of Texas
• Republican state legislators including Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R-Denton, Sen. Adam Hinojosa, R-Corpus Christi, Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deerfield, Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian and dozens more 

🗞️ In the news:

• In Texas attorney general race, Mayes Middleton runs on conservative, not courtroom, record 
• Who’s the MAGA candidate for Texas AG? Mayes Middleton makes his case to CPAC audience in Grapevine, KERA
• State Sen. Mayes Middleton discusses why he should be the GOP candidate for Texas Attorney General, CBS
• Mayes Middleton nabs former opponent Aaron Reitz’s endorsement in GOP attorney general runoff, Texas Tribune
• Texas’ GOP attorney general candidates want to challenge decades-old Supreme Court rulings, Texas Tribune
• Chip Roy faces Mayes Middleton’s millions in Texas attorney general GOP runoff, Texas Tribune

Campaign site

Chip Roy

U.S. Representative, Central Texas

💰 Campaign finance from Aug. 21, 2025-Feb. 21, 2026:

• Total raised: $5,127,045
• Total spent: $4,900,986
• Cash on hand: $1,207,789

💰 Major donors this cycle:

• Chip Roy for Congress (transferred $2.1 million from his federal campaign account)
• Douglas Scharbauer, Midland oil investor
• Alex Fairly, Amarillo businessman
• Mickey Dunn, Fredericksburg businessman

🏢 Experience:

• Four-term congressman representing Central Texas in the U.S. House 
• Former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz
• First assistant attorney general under Paxton
• Senior advisor to Gov. Rick Perry from 2011 to 2012, and ghostwriter of his book, “Fed Up!”
• Authored the SAVE Act requiring proof of citizenship passed by the U.S. House in 2025

📣 Endorsements:

• Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. representatives including Keith Self, R-Mckinney, Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, Beth Van Duyne, R-Dallas, Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, and Pete Sessions, R-Waco 
• Former U.S. reps. Matt Gaetz and Mark Meadows

🗞️ In the news:

• Chip Roy is known for calling out GOP leaders. He says that’s what Texas needs in an attorney general. 
• Renewable energy donors square off for round two against Chip Roy, E&E News
• Congressman Chip Roy discusses why he should be the Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General, CBS 
• Texas’ GOP attorney general candidates want to challenge decades-old Supreme Court rulings, Texas Tribune
• Chip Roy faces Mayes Middleton’s millions in Texas attorney general GOP runoff, Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune

Q&A

Attorney General Ken Paxton has refused to represent state agencies in certain lawsuits — at least 75 times in a recent two-year period — forcing agencies to hire outside counsel. Does the OAG have a responsibility to defend all state agencies in-house?

Roy

No. The OAG has a responsibility to have the best in-house lawyers possible and to find the most cost-effective way to win litigation. Sometimes that means employing outside counsel, but in partnership with a stellar in-house team to minimize costs and maximize state expertise.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. The Texas Tribune was unable to find public comments from Middleton on this issue.

Paxton has also relied on outside counsel for lawsuits against Big Tech and pharmaceutical companies, among other cases. Would you continue that practice?

Roy

It is perfectly appropriate to use outside counsel. I will continue to use outside counsel but would review all outside contracts in a way consistent with my answer above.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. The Texas Tribune was unable to find public comments from Middleton on this issue.

The attorney general is responsible for interpreting and enforcing open records law. How would your approach to open records be similar or different than Paxton’s?

Roy

Texans deserve transparency from their government. I would ensure the Open Records Division operates with clear timelines, responsiveness, and respect for the public’s right to know. I also believe we should investigate best practices with modern technology, AI, and other tools to ensure we have the most transparent government possible with the fastest turnaround of cases at OAG possible.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. Middleton has filed legislation to expand access to open records and has said making records widely accessible is a top campaign priority, citing them as a key tool to fight waste, fraud and abuse. While he hasn’t addressed Paxton’s handling of open records law specifically, Middleton said that “open records have largely become closed records,” and he would push for more transparency and accessibility as attorney general.

Paxton filed a lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 election as illegitimate; that lawsuit was promptly dismissed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Would you have filed a similar lawsuit if you’d been running the office then? Do you believe the 2020 election was legitimate?

Roy

The 2020 election was plagued with rampant fraud, as has been increasingly documented over time, and raised very legitimate questions about the electors. I was publicly and privately concerned about alleged fraud at the time, was targeted by the New York Times and other media over private text messages to my friend Mark Meadows (then chief of staff to the president) about those issues, and have even been the target of the DOJ for daring to question the outcome of the election.  As I very publicly said at the time, I disagreed with the litigation strategy because I knew it would be tossed out for lack of standing (it was), was therefore a distraction from focusing on what we could review, and that one state should not be trying to tell another state how it selects its electors. (As AG, I would defend Texas against any challenge to our process.)

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. Middleton has said the 2020 election was “stolen” from President Donald Trump.

Do you believe the state has to cooperate with court rulings, from state or federal courts, that you believe were wrongly decided?

Roy

The state of Texas does not have to surrender to judicial activism. I will respect and promote the rule of law, but that includes standing up to courts that overstep their constitutional authority. If a court issues a ruling I believe is unconstitutional, I will aggressively pursue appeals and work to overcome it through all means appropriate under the Constitution.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. The Texas Tribune was unable to find public comments from Middleton on this issue.

Paxton has pushed to enforce Texas’ restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care on health care providers in other states. Do you believe Texas’ laws should be enforceable in other states?

Roy

Texas law will be enforced. No corporation or organization hiding behind blue-state politics while operating in Texas will get a free pass to violate our laws or endanger Texans.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. The Texas Tribune was unable to find public comments from Middleton on this issue.

Paxton has sued numerous private companies, ranging from Big Tech firms to airplane manufacturers and clothing brands. Do you agree Texas’ attorney general should make suing big business a top priority?

Roy

This is a major priority of my campaign. When large corporations act as crony extensions of government or foreign interests, the attorney general must step in.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. Middleton has authored or voted for numerous bills that take aim at major companies, including removing soda, sweetened drinks, and candy from the food stamps program and removing cell phones from classrooms to stop “ woke tech companies from trying to harm kids .”

Last legislative session, lawmakers affirmed the attorney general’s ability to independently prosecute election crimes. Do you believe investigating and bringing criminal election charges should be a top priority for the office?

Roy

Yes. This should be a core function of the OAG. I supported the Legislature’s efforts this past session. My office will aggressively investigate and prosecute election crimes. Texans deserve to know their elections are secure and legitimate and under my leadership they will.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. Middleton has said election integrity is a top priority, and points to his role in passing legislation that allows the attorney general’s office to pursue election fraud cases without waiting for invitation by a local prosecutor. He has promised to create an election integrity division within the attorney general’s office with broad law enforcement power to investigate allegations of voter fraud.

Do you believe the attorney general’s office should be given more independent criminal prosecutorial authority?

Roy

Yes. I will pursue greater prosecutorial authority to enforce state law when failed district attorneys refuse to do their jobs. Texas law must and will be enforced in every county.

Middleton

Did not respond to questions. Middleton has said he wants to see district attorneys removed from office if they do not fully prosecute certain crimes. He has also said he would investigate Democratic megadonor George Soros, who has donated to left-leaning district attorneys and judges.

Disclosure: New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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The Los Angeles interim coach had shattered glass fall on him after a pane broke behind the Kings bench Tuesday night in Game 2 against Colorado.

It happened right after Quinton Byfield was stopped on a penalty shot by Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood with 16:48 remaining in the second period. The glass began to sway as fans pounded on it in excitement and then gave way, with pieces raining on Smith. He covered his head and then brushed the glass off his suit before heading down the tunnel to the locker room. He returned a few minutes later.

“Whoever the guy (was) just kept pushing and pushing and pushing,” Smith recounted. “I looked back because it hit me a bunch of times, then it broke.”

The Avalanche cleanup crew brought out shovels and buckets to clean up the fragments from the LA bench. The Kings players mingled on the ice as they waited for a new pane to be brought in and installed.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog told ESPN hockey analyst Erik Johnson he's never seen something like that happen before. Landeskog added: "It was loud there when ‘Wedgy' made that save and fans got a little too excited."

The delay took more than 15 minutes. The score was 0-0 when play was halted. Colorado won 2-1 in overtime on Nicolas Roy's winner to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series heading into Game 3 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

“There's nothing you can do to control it. There's nothing you can do about it, so you just deal with it," Landeskog said of the delay. “I think maybe the only thing was that there were so many bodies on the ice that it (wore) the ice out a little bit for the rest (of the period).

“I thought the ice crew did a good job and they did their best to fix it as fast as possible. Doesn't happen every day.”

It was a first for Avalanche coach Jared Bednar.

“That’s a different one," Bednar said. "But, I mean, stuff happens. Fans get excited. Our guys were excited, competing hard. There was a bunch of melees on the ice today. It felt like playoff hockey.”

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Roy put the winner through the legs of defenseman Brandt Clarke and into the net to set off a wild celebration.

“Just trying to chip in as much as I can, to help these guys out,” said Roy, who was acquired in a deal with Toronto on March 5. “Getting that goal was big.”

The game was halted for roughly 17 minutes in the second period when a pane of glass shattered behind the Kings bench, sending pieces raining on interim coach D.J. Smith. The incident occurred right after Quinton Byfield was stopped on a penalty shot by Wedgewood and fans began to celebrate by pounding on the glass. It gave way as Smith covered his head and then brushed the glass off his suit.

The Kings had the game plan to steal a road win — clog up the middle of the ice and disrupt the flow of the fast-flying Avalanche. They lost both games by a 2-1 score, but kept the highest-scoring team this season largely in check.

“Played two good games,” Smith said. “We had every opportunity, got a lead with whatever to go. You have to be able to close it out.”

Colorado is 17-2 in playoff series when taking a 2-0 lead since relocating to Denver before the 1995-96 season. Los Angeles is 3-12 in postseason series when facing an 0-2 hole, according to NHL Stats.

The Kings took the lead on Artemi Panarin’s power-play goal with 6:56 remaining. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog tied it up with 3:35 left when he got loose in front of the net.

It set the stage for Roy, who scored his second career OT winner in the playoffs. He also had one while with Vegas in 2021.

“He’s been awesome,” Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. “He’s a great player, a really smart player.”

Game 3 is Thursday night in Los Angeles.

This was a showdown between Wedgewood and Anton Forsberg, who both turned in sensational saves. Forsberg stopped 34 shots.

It was a physical game, too, that featured 52 hits, 52 blocks, 11 penalties, plenty of skirmishes and lots of hard feelings.

“Playoffs are going to be hard. It’s a really good team over there,” MacKinnon said. “They’re playing hard. We’re playing hard. It’s low scoring, but it’s fun hockey."

Colorado thought it had a goal after a shot from Sam Malinski seconds into the third. The horn went off and the fans erupted, but it was quickly ruled that the puck stuck into the side of the net and never went in.

Forsberg and his defensive teammates did their part. Mikey Anderson broke up a 3-on-1 with a slide across the ice in the second when Martin Necas elected to pass, and Drew Doughty made a similar sliding play later in the period.

“We believe in our way of playing and we’re right there with one of the best teams in the league,” Forsberg said. “You just have to stick with it and find a way.”

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

A foundational football player.

A record-breaking deal for Texans All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr., a $150 million contract that’s the largest in NFL history for a non-quarterback and a defensive player with a $50 million annual average.

The deal signed by the former Alabama consensus All-American and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year: $134 million guaranteed, $100 million fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap, a $32 million signing bonus and a no-trade clause negotiated between Texans general manager Nick Caserio and agent Nicole Lynn of Klutch Sports.

Discussing why the Texans made this mega investment: a conversation with KPRC 2 Sports Director Randy McIlvoy and KPRC 2 Texans Insider and NFL reporter Aaron Wilson:

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

Marcus Smart had 25 points with five 3-pointers and seven assists for the Lakers, who have twice overcome the absences of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves with a comprehensive team effort led by the 41-year-old James. Los Angeles did it in Game 2 despite the return of Kevin Durant, who scored just three of his 23 points in the second half against the Lakers' tenacious defense.

“We executed the game plan offensively and defensively, shored up some of our mistakes from Game 1, and just got into a dogfight,” James said. “When we have two big guns out like we have, we've all got to pick up our play, and that's all it's about. We're all just trying to make contributions on offense and seize the opportunity.”

Luke Kennard scored 23 points for Los Angeles, which nursed a small lead throughout the fourth quarter of Game 2. Smart found James streaking down the lane for a theatrical two-handed dunk with 55 seconds left, and Kennard added two late free throws to ice it.

Game 3 is Friday in Houston.

Alperen Sengun had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who again struggled offensively even with Durant making his Houston playoff debut. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 18 points and Amen Thompson had 16, but the Rockets made only 40.4% of their shots and managed just seven 3-pointers.

Three days after he missed the series opener with a right knee bruise, Durant took only 12 shots and had nine turnovers to begin his fourth career playoff matchup against James. The superstars previously met in the NBA Finals in 2012, 2017 and 2018.

“They started doubling me from possession one,” Durant said. “I’ve got to do better and not put my teammates in bad positions when I’m swinging the ball. ... We're just not making shots, to be honest. We're not shooting the ball well. We're missing a lot of layups. I just think that's the difference in the game. They're making shots. Smart was the guy that knocked down shots for them today. Kennard, too.”

Durant blocked Kennard’s shot on the first possession of Game 2, but then got in early foul trouble while the Lakers again streaked to a large first-half lead.

The Lakers are getting exceptional postseason play from Smart, the longtime Celtics guard who joined Los Angeles this season. Although he missed much of the regular-season stretch run due to injury, Smart has immediately added toughness and playmaking acumen to the Lakers' supporting cast.

“He just had a killer game tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Smart. “He did a great job defensively. He made shots. He's an unbelievable player.”

Both Smart and Kennard went 8 for 13 from the field, combining for eight 3-pointers..

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

And since then, chaos. Road teams figured out how to avoid being pushovers.

Of the six first-round series that have completed two games, only two higher-seeded teams — Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers — have managed to hold serve at home and take 2-0 series leads. Oklahoma City could join the Cavaliers and Lakers in that club if it beats Phoenix in Game 2 of that series on Wednesday.

Otherwise, that home-court advantage teams spent 82 games of regular-season basketball trying to obtain? It's already gone, meaning a whole bunch of Game 3s are coming up later this week with lower-seeded teams feeling pretty good about their chances at springing an upset.

— East No. 8 Orlando beat No. 1 Detroit in Game 1 of their series on Sunday. The Pistons will try to salvage a split when the series resumes Wednesday.

— East No. 6 Atlanta beat No. 3 New York on Monday, while West No. 6 Minnesota beat No. 3 Denver later that night.

— And on Tuesday, East No. 7 Philadelphia beat No. 2 Boston, and West No. 7 Portland beat No. 2 San Antonio in a game in which the Spurs saw Victor Wembanyama depart with a concussion in the first half.

Cleveland is up 2-0 on Toronto, while the Lakers are up 2-0 on Houston.

“It's the playoffs,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said after his team — which beat the 76ers by 32 points in Game 1 — lost by 14 points in Game 2. “They've got ballplayers over there and they came to play. On any given night, you can lose a game if you don't come out with the right mindset.”

Road teams getting wins isn't uncommon. It's been a trend in recent years.

Over the last six postseasons, not counting the 2020 playoffs held inside the bubble at Walt Disney World because of the pandemic, home teams have won only 58% of playoff games — a steep dip from what used to be the norm. In the 15 seasons before that, home teams won playoff games at a 69% rate.

“Whatever story you told yourself during the regular season, that story is done,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “And now it’s the playoffs, so it's an entirely new season.”

It's not like the Pistons, Celtics, Spurs — with or without Wembanyama — or Nuggets will be intimidated by the notion of now having to win at least one road game if they're going to eventually prevail in these opening-round series. They all made road wins look routine this season.

Oklahoma City had the best road record in the NBA. The next four winningest road teams, in order, were San Antonio, Detroit, Denver and Boston.

“You have to just keep your temperament where it's at, understand these games ebb and flow," Denver coach David Adelman said after the Game 2 loss to Minnesota. “And we can play better. We know that.”

And Houston's 30 home wins tied for the fourth-most in the league, so the Lakers — even after they were one of the clubs defend home floor and take a 2-0 lead — know their matchup with the Rockets is far from over.

“It's the postseason. So, it's the first to four," Lakers forward LeBron James said. “It's never the first to one. It's never the first to two. Our whole mindset now is focused on Game 3. We know we're going into a hostile environment. Guys tend to play better at home than they do on the road, so we have to be ready for that.”

In the current playoff format, higher-seeded teams win conference quarterfinals series 77.4% of the time, and that goes up to 92.5% of the time when those higher-seeded clubs start with 2-0 series leads. The road warriors so far — Orlando, Atlanta, Minnesota, Portland and Philadelphia — have at least put a good-sized dent in those odds.

That said, they all know there's a ton of basketball left to be played.

“It's 1-1. Who cares?” 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey said. “Now we've got to go home and try to protect home court.”

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

Two Mexican investigators also were killed in the crash, which Mexican authorities said occurred while the convoy was returning from an operation to destroy drug labs of criminal groups. There have been discrepancies in the public accounts of what happened from U.S. and Mexican officials, which experts say underscores heightened American involvement in security operations in Mexico and across the region.

The CIA's involvement was confirmed Tuesday by the three with knowledge of the crash, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. That the U.S. officials worked for the CIA was reported earlier by The Washington Post.

It comes after days of contradictions from Mexican and U.S. authorities about the role that American officials played in an operation to bust a narco-laboratory in northern Chihuahua state.

The lack of clarity from authorities reignited a debate over the extent of U.S. involvement in Mexico's security operations as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum faces extreme pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to crack down on cartels. Trump has taken a more aggressive stance toward Latin America than any leader in recent U.S. history, capturing Venezuela's president, blockading oil shipments to Cuba and launching joint military operations in Ecuador, a country also marked by criminal violence.

Trump has repeatedly offered to take action on Mexican cartels, an intervention that Sheinbaum has said was “unnecessary.”

The CIA officers were initially identified as U.S. embassy personnel by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson, who is himself a former CIA employee.

The U.S. Embassy declined Monday to identify the individuals or which entity of the U.S. government they worked for, but said the officials were “supporting Chihuahua state authorities’ efforts to combat cartel operations.” The embassy, State Department and CIA declined to comment on the identities of reports of CIA involvement in the operation.

Local Mexican officials originally claimed they were working with the U.S. on an operation, but later walked those comments back after the effort came under scrutiny from Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum said she knew nothing of a joint operation between Chihuahua’s government and the U.S. despite reports that the Mexican army was also involved in the raid on the lab.

She maintained in a Tuesday press briefing that she didn’t know if the officials were part of the CIA but acknowledged that state officials and the U.S. “were working together.”

It’s a sensitive issue for the Mexican leader as she walks a careful line with the Trump administration, working to maintain a strong relationship to offset threats of U.S. intervention on cartels and tariffs while also underscoring Mexico’s sovereignty.

The CIA has recently expanded its collaboration with Mexican authorities, part of the Trump administration’s effort to stop the flow of illicit drugs.

The presence of U.S. intelligence officials in Mexican territory has been the subject of ongoing debate, which has only intensified after Trump’s military actions in Venezuela and Iran.

Last year, Sheinbaum said the U.S. had conducted surveillance drone flights at Mexico’s request after a series of conflicting public statements.

The most recent controversy surfaced in January over the detention in Mexico of former Canadian athlete Ryan Wedding, one of the United States’ most wanted fugitives. While Mexican officials claim he surrendered at the U.S. Embassy, U.S. authorities have described his capture as the result of a binational operation.

“There is a rise of hidden operations by the United States in Mexico under Trump,” said David Saucedo, a Mexican security analyst. “They're hidden because … the Mexican government has a discourse that they can't permit the presence of armed U.S. agents — it's a kind of violation of sovereignty. The Mexican government has always tried to hide this collaboration.”

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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

The tone changed once it became clear the skid was going to last at least another night.

Embattled closer Devin Williams allowed a tiebreaking RBI single to Luke Keaschall in the ninth inning and New York lost its 12th straight, falling 5-3 to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

With an opening-day payroll of $352.2 million that tops the majors, the Mets have baseball's worst record at 7-16. The skid is their longest since they dropped 12 straight from Aug. 10-23, 2002. No team has made the playoffs after a season in which it lost 12 in a row.

New York is hitting .194 during the losing streak while being outscored 67-22. The Mets didn’t have slugger Juan Soto for any of that stretch, but he is expected to come off the injured list Wednesday after missing the last 16 games with a strained right calf.

“I’ve never been a part of something like this,” Williams said. “I think we just need to get the one win out of the way and I think everything else will take care of itself. But it’s obviously proving pretty difficult right now.”

Williams, who failed to record an out, was booed off the mound by what was left of the announced crowd of 32,798. The actual crowd appeared far smaller on a night when the temperature at first pitch was 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 Celsius).

At least a few spectators showed their displeasure with the time-honored tradition of wearing paper bags over their heads.

Fans began chanting “Fire Mendy!” as Williams loaded the bases. Austin Warren relieved Williams and received an ovation when he struck out Royce Lewis. The crowd then chanted his name after he struck out the next two batters, Brooks Lee and Byron Buxton.

The mood was far lighter a few hours earlier.

Patrick Heaney, the only person in section 524 at Citi Field shortly before the start of the game, grinned as he gazed at a sea of empty seats.

“You wouldn’t be here tonight if you weren’t a Met fan,” Heaney said.

Shortstop Francisco Lindor said following Sunday’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs that he expected it to “get very loud” Tuesday night. But the fans didn’t make much noise until the third inning, when Lindor hit a three-run homer to open the scoring and give the Mets their biggest lead since a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on April 5.

“I think if they can get it going today, I think the fans will rally around them,” said Josh Hudson, a Tennessee resident in town for business who was sitting in section 509 with a $15 ticket he bought on the secondary market.

Heaney, a resident of Malverne on Long Island who wore a Mets hat and 2022 playoff sweatshirt, grinned as he recalled how he ended up buying a $12 ticket and heading to the game alone.

“I couldn’t get my wife to come,” Heaney said. “I couldn’t get my kids to come. I couldn’t get my friends to come. I bought one ticket, the cheapest one I could find, and I’m going to see if I can help them turn it around.”

Mendoza, in his third season as manager after six seasons on the Yankees’ coaching staff, said before the game he wouldn’t mind a frosty reception because he knows how fans will react if the team fares better.

“They’re also going to be right behind you when we flip it around,” Mendoza said. “We’ve seen that before, too, so it’s nothing new for us that have been here. We expect those guys to continue to support us, but we’ve got to do better for them, too.

“It’s all part of it. It comes with the territory. Wouldn’t want it any other way.”

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This story has been corrected. A previous version reported erroneously that Soto had a strained left quad.

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

The series shifts to Montreal for two games, with Game 3 set for Friday night. Game 4 is Sunday.

Brandon Hagel had a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, assist and a fight, and teammate Nikita Kucherov also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots.

The Lightning had lost four consecutive home playoff games and 10 of the past 11, dating to Game 4 against Colorado in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and 11 of the previous 12 playoff games that went to overtime.

Lane Hutson and Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens. Jakub Dobes finished with 31 saves.

Moser scored his first career playoff goal following an icing call, taking the puck off a faceoff win by Anthony Cirelli, skating around a stick check attempt by Kirby Dach and beating Dobes with a wrist shot from inside the left faceoff circle.

“We worked on faceoff plays and the puck kind of squirts out,’’ Moser said. “I tried to keep it in, skate with it and all of a sudden it opens up. I took it down and take a shot.’’

Kucherov forced overtime at 12:33 of the third period, collecting a deflected puck off the stick of Hagel and scoring on a wrap-around. The goal was the first playoff goal for Kucherov since April 19, 2023, a span of 17 postseason games.

“(Hagel) had a puck, shot the puck on the net,’’ Kucherov said. “I picked it up behind the net and put it in.’’

Hagel sparked the Lightning, scoring the opening goal 8:40 into the first period, assisting on the tying goal and fighting Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky — who had a hat trick in first game of the series — in the second period.

“Whatever it takes to win,’’ Hagel said. “Sometimes it’s going to take fighting, and sometimes it’s going to take scoring goals. I was lucky enough to squeak one by and then (Kucherov) made a good play. Obviously a good feeling just that we won tonight.’’

After taking the first game in overtime, Montreal took a lead into the third period, getting a power-play goal from Hutson – the fourth power-play goal of the series for the Canadiens – at 16:11 of the first period and a go-ahead goal from Anderson with 1:24 left in the second.

But the Canadiens were unable to capitalize on a power play chance with 2:15 left in regulation and Tampa Bay carried that momentum into overtime where the Lightning outshot Montreal 9-0.

“It would have been nice to get two (wins),’’ Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis said. “I felt like, after two periods, I felt we were so close of getting two (wins), especially the way we were playing. It just kind of got away from us a little bit. We didn’t play with the puck a lot. And I feel we carried that into overtime, too. When you keep giving them the puck, you’re just rolling the dice a little bit.’’

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

The 9-8 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a boost to backers of similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana. Opponents have argued that hanging the Ten Commandments in classrooms proselytizes to students and amounts to religious indoctrination by the government.

In a lengthy majority opinion, the conservative-leaning appeals court in New Orleans rejected those arguments in Texas, saying the requirement does not step on the rights of parents or students.

“No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin,” the ruling says.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups that challenged the Texas law on behalf of parents said in a statement that they anticipate appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights,” they said in the statement.

The mandate is one of several fronts in Texas that opponents have fought over religion in classrooms. In 2024, the state approved optional Bible-infused curriculum for elementary schools, and a proposal set for a vote in June would add Bible stories to required reading lists in Texas classrooms.

The decision over the Ten Commandments law reverses a lower federal court ruling that had blocked about a dozen Texas school districts — including some of the state's largest — from putting up the posters. The Texas law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott took effect in September, marking the largest attempt in the nation to hang the Ten Commandments in public schools.

From the start, the law was met almost immediately by a mix of embrace and hesitation in Texas classrooms that educate the state's 5.5 million public school students.

The mandate animated school board meetings, spun up guidance about what to say when students ask questions, and led to boxes of donated posters being dropped on the doorsteps of campuses statewide. Although the law only requires schools to hang the posters if donated, one suburban Dallas school district spent nearly $1,800 to print roughly 5,000 posters.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, called the ruling “a major victory for Texas and our moral values.”

“The Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day,” he said.

Tuesday's ruling comes after the appeals court heard arguments in January in the Texas case and a similar case in Louisiana. In February, the court cleared the way for Louisiana to enforce its law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the Texas ruling “adopted our entire legal defense” of the law in her state. In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey also signed a similar law earlier this month.

“Our law clearly was always constitutional, and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us," Murrill said in a statement posted to social media.

Judge Stephen A. Higginson, in a dissenting opinion joined by four others on the court, wrote that the framers of the Constitution “intended disestablishment of religion, above all to prevent large religious sects from using political power to impose their religion on others.”

“Yet Texas, like Louisiana, seeks to do just that, legislating that specific, politically chosen scripture be installed in every public-school classroom,” Higginson wrote.

The law says schools must put donated posters “in a conspicuous place” and requires the writing to be a size and typeface that is visible from anywhere in a classroom to a person with “average vision.” The displays must also be 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall (40 centimeters wide and 50 centimeters tall).

Texas’ law easily passed the GOP-controlled Legislature and Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have backed posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

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Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report from Honolulu, Hawaii.

Wembanyama was diagnosed with a concussion after he tumbled face-first when he was fouled by Jrue Holiday and his jaw slammed into the floor. He did not return after the injury in the second quarter and entered the NBA’s concussion protocol, which raises the possibility the versatile 7-foot-4 center could miss multiple games.

The second-seeded Spurs looked like they could win without Wemby, building a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter before their offense stagnated.

Portland held San Antonio without a field goal for the final 3:37 as the Blazers closed the game on an 11-2 run. Robert Williams III converted an alley-oop dunk with 12 seconds left for a 104-101 lead after Deni Avdija muscled through the paint and fed him the ball.

“As a team, as a unit, I think that was our goal — to be aggressive,” Henderson said. “Hit everybody that comes through the paint, box out and play fast. I think that was all of our success and that kind of opened the floor for all of us.”

Holiday had 16 points and nine assists, Avdija scored 14 and Williams finished with 11.

Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 18 points and De’Aaron Fox added 17. Devin Vassell, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, missed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining.

Game 3 is Friday at Portland.

After scoring 35 points in the Spurs' Game 1 win, Wembanyama had five points, four rebounds, one blocked shot and one assist in 12 minutes.

Under league guidelines, a player in the concussion protocol must have at least 48 hours of inactivity and recovery and then hit several benchmarks without symptoms before being cleared to play. A player must undergo neurological testing and receive a final clearance from a team doctor in consultation with the league’s concussion protocol director.

The Spurs had won 76 straight playoff games when leading by 14 points or more in the fourth quarter. The last time they lost under those circumstances was on May 19, 2003 against Dallas.

San Antonio built that big lead with a 13-0 run to start the fourth. Backup center Luke Kornet, who replaced Wembanyama, punctuated that burst with a reverse slam for a three-point play.

Kornet finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Henderson shot 11 of 17 from the field and 5 of 9 on 3-pointers.

“(Henderson) has been shooting the ball really well,” Vassell said. “Got to be more physical with him. No catch-and-shoots, no easy off-the-dribble pullups. I think he made ... I don’t know how many he made today. We’re going to make it a lot harder for him because he’s feeling way too comfortable.”

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

The Mets' skid is their longest since they dropped 12 straight from Aug. 10-23, 2002. No team has made the playoffs after a season in which it lost 12 in a row.

Matt Wallner followed Keaschall by drawing a bases-loaded walk off Williams (0-1), who didn’t retire any of the five batters he faced before being booed off the mound. Williams has allowed seven runs while recording four outs in his last three appearances.

The Mets were in position to end their streak when Nolan McLean retired the first 15 Twins batters and Francisco Lindor hit a three-run homer in the third to give the Mets their biggest lead since April 5, when they beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2.

The homer was Lindor’s first with a man on base since last Aug. 15 — one day before McLean’s debut.

Wallner led off the sixth with a single off McLean and Byron Buxton homered with two outs. Keaschall tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh.

A quartet of Twins pitchers retired the final 14 Mets in order. Cole Sands (1-1) tossed the last two innings.

McLean allowed three runs and struck out 10 in 6 2/3 innings. Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson gave up three runs and struck out two in five innings.

Up next

LHP Connor Prielipp will make his major league debut on Wednesday for the Twins in place of Richardson, who was moved up in place of the injured Mick Abel. RHP Clay Holmes (2-2, 1.96 ERA) is set to pitch for the Mets.

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

For A.J. Haulcy, this represents a pivotal life moment.

At every stage of his football career, Haulcy has bet on himself. The LSU All-American and All-Southeastern Conference selection had certainty, clarity and conviction about his skills.

Now, the Missouri City native and Thurgood Marshall graduate is poised for the next level: the NFL.

For Haulcy, this has been an extremely busy and productive time.

He completed a whirlwind of travel as he experienced the NFL draft process. He is regarded as a late first-round to second-round draft target, representing a potential enforcer and ballhawk in the secondary at the NFL level. He hits like a linebacker and covers like a true center fielder.

Haulcy visited the hometown Texans and the Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers.

At Reliant Stadium, Haulcy met extensively with coach DeMeco Ryans and his staff on his visit.

“We always watched the Texans every Sunday,” Haulcy told KPRC 2 after completing his visits. “Me and my mom, we were sitting there watching the game. Watching Arian Foster and Andre Johnson and J.J. Watt. The interactions with the coaches were great. I learned some things from the coaches I met.

“Just sitting around the stadium, they want to see where your brain is at. They just want to see how you are as a person, as a player, for their culture, how you are with the coaches, just football. It was amazing.”

A University of Houston transfer, Haucly recorded 89 tackles, a team-high three interceptions and one forced fumble last season for the Tigers.

Haulcy is a big, hard-hitting safety at 6-foot, 222 pounds with 4.52 speed in the 40-yard dash recorded at the NFL scouting combine. He intercepted 10 career passes.

“I feel like I could pick up and learn any defense fairly easily, plug in and play,” said Haulcy, who is represented by Ed Berry of Creative Artists Agency. “I’m a very versatile player. I just trust my instincts and my film study and that leads to me playing very fast. I’m not second-guessing myself. I can diagnose things. I see myself as a playmaker. If they can’t score points, they can’t win the game.

“I’ve been playing since I was like four years old. Tackling is not something that I even think about. I’m trying to hit you hard enough where you don’t want to come my way with my mentality to be as physical as possible. Once I feel like they tried me, I just go out there and give it all my got.”

Haulcy recorded five interceptions in his final season for the Coogs before entering the NCAA transfer portal and choosing LSU over Miami.

Now, Haulcy awaits word and the call for where he’ll ply his trade in the NFL.

“I’m a patient guy,” Haulcy said. “I just try not think about it, for real. When I’m back at home and I’m not on visits, I try to work out my whole day, so I’ll probably get done with all my workouts and the way I prepare probably about six o’clock.

“So ‚I really don’t got much time to think about it. I got a lot of Zooms, so I got to be focused on which team I’m talking to. For the most part, I’m patient. I’m taking this day by day, because, right after this, after the draft, it’s time to work. So, I’m enjoying my last few days off, but I’m working."

Haulcy has trained extensively with elite private defensive backs coach Jacory Nichols for several years.

He considers it invaluable work as he’s out there on the field regularly with Texans standout defensive backs Kamari Lassiter, Calen Bullock and several other NFL players.

“We had a great day,” Haulcy said. “It’s very cool.”

At Thurgood Marshall, Haulcy was a three-star recruit who chose New Mexico over Incarnate Word, Kansas, Houston Christian, Texas Southern Southeastern Louisiana and several other scholarship offers.

He was a freshman All-American.

Four years later, Haulcy is an NFL draft prospect who was named All-Southeastern Conference at LSU, All-Big 12 for the Coogs after intercepting five passes in his final season in Houston and All-Mountain West Conference at New Mexico.

It all started back in high school.

“My experience at Thurgood Marshall was great,” Haulcy said. “It was a time to remember. It was so much fun. I still talk to my friends and teammates and coaches. It was amazing.”

When Haulcy was making his decision to transfer to LSU, he heeded the advice of his mother. She has been instrumental in raising him to be respectful, disciplined and to believe in himself always.

“She gave me her input,” Haulcy said. “Throughout my life, my mom has always been very supportive. She was the one that put me in football when I was four years old. She’s been great. She told me not to be satisfied, to challenge myself.

“You never want to get comfortable. I prayed to God every day. I wanted to put my athletic ability and what I bring to the table on the highest level of college football and prove to myself that I could do it. I just want to be fully confident in my ability. You’re only going up, never down.”

Haulcy is having a draft party. There’s a chance someone famous will attend, a special guest.

There will be chicken wings, his favorite food, pizza, sandwiches and desserts on the menu.

“Man, I’m excited,” Haulcy said. “It’s going to be so much fun. You’re invited, come through.”

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

Trump made the announcement as ceasefire talks looked increasingly uncertain with a two-week truce set to expire on Wednesday. Both countries had said they were prepared to resume fighting if no deal is reached.

Trump said he would "extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

Iran has yet to decide whether to join the negotiations in Pakistan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said earlier Tuesday, and will only take part if Tehran believes the discussions would yield results.

Since the war started, fighting has killed at least 3,375 people in Iran and more than 2,290 in Lebanon. Additionally, 23 people have died in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and 13 U.S. service members throughout the region have been killed.

Here is the latest:

US treasury secretary doubles down on economic pressures on Iran

In a post on X Tuesday evening, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the blockade of Iranian ports “directly targets the regime’s primary revenue lifelines” by constraining maritime trade.

“Kharg Island storage will be full and the fragile Iranian oil wells will be shut in,” Bessent said.

Kharg Island is considered the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass.

In line with previous statements about economic pressure efforts, Bessent also said Iranian funds would remain frozen and any person or vessel facilitating the flow of funds to Iran would risk U.S. sanctions.

Iran holds rallies including a ballistic missile launcher

Iranian hard-liners rallied late Tuesday night as possible talks in Islamabad with the United States broke down, with members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard apparently bringing a ballistic missile on a mobile launcher to one event.

Footage aired by Iranian state TV showed men carrying Kalashnikov-style assault rifles riding atop a missile that resembled a Qadr ballistic missile in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Such Qadr missiles can release individual bomblets known as cluster munitions, which Iran used widely when attacking Israel during the war.

Trump offers combative social media post as ceasefire indefinitely extended

Trump offered a combative social media post Tuesday night after indefinitely extending a ceasefire in the Iran war after talks in Islamabad failed to materialize.

Writing on his Truth Social website, Trump contended that “Iran doesn’t want the Strait of Hormuz closed, they want it open” so they can sell their crude oil.

Trump said if he allowed that to happen, there “can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!”

It’s unclear what the next step forward is to resume talks in Pakistan’s capital.

UAE thanks Trump for currency swap mention

The United Arab Emirates thanked Trump early Wednesday over his mention of a possible currency swap with their country as uncertainty remains over the Iran war.

A statement issued by the UAE’s Embassy in Washington appeared aimed at signaling the country remained financially secure after Trump’s comment.

“Any suggestion that the UAE requires external financial backing misreads the facts,” it said. “The UAE is one of the world’s most financially resilient economies, underpinned by more than $2 trillion in sovereign investment assets; more than $300 billion in foreign currency reserves held by the UAE’s central bank; and a banking sector with approximately $1.5 trillion in deposits.”

The UAE is an autocratically ruled federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

While able to export some oil through a pipeline to the Gulf of Oman, the continued chaos around the Strait of Hormuz has cut off a lot of its oil from reaching the market.

The war also has affected businesses in Dubai and the country’s long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad.

UN chief calls US announcement ‘an important step toward de-escalation’

Secretary-General António Guterres said the U.S. announcement that it is extending the ceasefire will create “critical space for diplomacy and confidence-building between Iran and the United States,” according to his spokesperson.

“We encourage all parties to build on this momentum, refrain from actions that could undermine the cease-fire, and engage constructively in negotiations to reach a sustainable and lasting resolution,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said late Tuesday.

The secretary-general “fully supports” Pakistan’s efforts to facilitate U.S.-Iran talks and hopes its efforts “will contribute to creating conditions conducive to a comprehensive and durable resolution to the conflict,” Dujarric said.

UN nuclear watchdog chief welcomes ceasefire extension between Iran and US

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters late Tuesday that the effort to end the war between Tehran and Washington is a “complex process” and that it’s important to allow “continuity” for that process to play out.

“I think it’s very important that an opportunity for peace is given,” he said.

Grossi, who is currently running to become the next U.N. secretary-general, also warned both sides that any peace deal must include the IAEA from the start to enforce oversight over Iran’s nuclear program.

Otherwise, he added, “you will have an illusion of an agreement.”

Talks to end the war present a new test for Iran’s leadership

U.S.-Israeli bombardment eliminated Iran’s supreme leader and much of the nation’s top echelons, but the Islamic Republic’s leadership didn’t fall apart. Negotiations to end the war offer it a new test.

For decades, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei managed several powerful factions, bringing to heel those who challenged his authority.

It’s now unclear who wields that kind of authority over the civilian figures and powerful generals from the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who appear to be in charge.

They have found unity — for now — by taking a tough line. But disagreements over how much to concede in negotiations with the U.S. could reveal fault lines as Pakistani mediators try to host a new round of talks.

After Israeli strikes killed Khamenei the first day of the war, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei succeeded him. But doubts persist over the younger Khamenei’s role after reports he was wounded in the strikes. He has not appeared in public since.

At the center of power now is a politburo-like body known as the Supreme National Security Council, which includes Iran’s top civilian and military officials.

▶ Read more

Vance will not be traveling to Pakistan on Tuesday

The White House said in a statement that in light of the president’s announcement that he was extending the ceasefire and awaiting a proposal from Iran, Vance and the U.S. negotiating delegation would not be traveling to Pakistan on Tuesday.

The White House did not offer any additional updates on the possibility of in-person meetings.

Pakistan’s prime minister thanks Trump

Shehbaz Sharif thanked the U.S. president for extending the ceasefire with Iran, saying it would allow ongoing diplomatic efforts to proceed.

In a post on X, Sharif said he was expressing gratitude “on my personal behalf and on behalf of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir” for Trump’s “gracious acceptance” of Pakistan’s request to extend the ceasefire.

Sharif said he hoped both sides would continue observing the ceasefire and reach a comprehensive peace deal during a second round of talks scheduled in Islamabad.

Stocks slip and oil prices rise on uncertainty about US-Iran ceasefire talks

The S&P 500 erased an early rise to fall 0.6% after the U.S. vice president called off his trip to Pakistan for negotiations with Iran.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 293 points, or 0.6%, after erasing an earlier gain of 400 points, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.6%. Less than 10 minutes after the U.S. stock market finished trading for the day, Trump said he would extend the ceasefire to give Iran time to submit a proposal to end the war.

Oil prices also wavered before Trump announced the extension, and the price for a barrel of Brent crude went from less than $95 to roughly $100 during the day. It settled at $98.48, up 3.1%.

The moves were mostly more modest than the vicious swings that rocked Wall Street earlier in the war.

Trump says a ceasefire extension was needed because Iranian leadership is ‘seriously fractured’

The president, in his social media post, also alluded to reported divisions within the Islamic Republic, saying they have come “not unexpectedly.”

Trump has repeatedly said over the course of the ceasefire that began on April 8 that his team is dealing with Iranian officials who want to make a deal, while acknowledging his decision to kill several top leaders has come with some complications.

“We’ve taken out their leaders, frankly, which does complicate things in one way, but these leaders are much more rational,” Trump said earlier Tuesday during an interview on CNBC.

Iran calls for the United Nations to condemn US seizures of its ships

The Iranian mission to the U.N. sent a letter Tuesday asking for the world body and the Security Council to issue a “firm and unequivocal” condemnation of the U.S. decision Sunday to attack and seize an Iranian-flagged cargo ship.

“This constitutes a grave breach of international law, a clear violation of the ceasefire, and an act of aggression marked by the hallmarks of piracy,” the mission posted on X. “Such reckless conduct directly endangers international navigation and undermines maritime safety and security.”

Washington had said the ship tried to evade the U.S. naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump says US will extend ceasefire but continue its blockade of Iranian ports

The president said he’s extending the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan’s request as he waits for a “unified proposal” from the Islamic Republic, but that the U.S. military will continue its blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump added that “he’s directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.”

The president made the move even as the White House has put on hold Vice President JD Vance’s expected trip to Islamabad for a second round of talks as Tehran, at least for time being, is balking at further talks.

Israel and Hezbollah trade fire with talks expected this week

Israel and the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah traded some fire on Tuesday, even as more talks are expected in Washington this week after a 10-day ceasefire went into effect last Friday.

Hezbollah said it had fired rockets and drones at Israeli forces maintaining a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, accusing Israel of breaching the truce with “attacks on civilians and the destruction of their homes and villages.”

In response, Israel said it had struck the launcher, calling Hezbollah’s strikes a blatant violation of the ceasefire.

Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel, particularly its northern border communities, shortly after the Iran war started. Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with the militants in southern Lebanon as they pushed to create what officials have called a “security zone.”

A senior Iranian commander threatens to destroy the region’s oil industry if war resumes

Gen. Majid Mousavi, the aerospace chief for the Revolutionary Guard, said in comments on Iranian media that it would be a mistake to carry out “aggression” against Iran. He also said the region’s oil facilities would be harmed if neighboring countries allow the U.S. to carry out attacks.

“If southern neighbors allow the enemy to use their facilities to attack Iran, they should say goodbye to oil production in the Middle East region,” he said.

The U.S. has bases and troops in several countries across the region.

Iranian foreign minister says US blockade of its ports is violation of ceasefire

As news came that the U.S. delegation was pausing its travel to Islamabad, Iran’s top diplomat posted on X saying that American forces boarding an Iranian oil tanker earlier Tuesday was an act of war.

“Striking a commercial vessel and taking its crew hostage is an even greater violation,” Abbas Araghchi said in a post. “Iran knows how to neutralize restrictions, how to defend its interests, and how to resist bullying.”

Iran’s UN envoy says his government has ‘received some sign’ the US is ready to stop the blockade

Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Tuesday that as soon as Washington ends the blockade, “I think the next round of the negotiations will take place in Islamabad.”

He called the U.S. naval blockade a violation of the ceasefire, and reiterated that lifting it is a condition for new negotiations to take place. The United States has not publicly indicated that it will lift the blockade.

The U.S. started the war against Iran, Iravani said, and if they want to return to the negotiating table “and find a political solution, they will find us ready.”

“If they want to go to the war, in this case also Iran is ready for that,” he told a small group of reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

Iran’s state TV denies 8 women are at risk of execution

State TV quoted the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency denying Trump’s claims that the women are facing execution. It said some have already been released, while others face charges that — if upheld by the courts — would ultimately result in prison sentences rather than execution.

It didn’t name which women were allegedly released.

Human rights centers have reported that at least two of the women were facing charges that carry a death sentence.

Pakistani officials race to salvage ceasefire talks

Two officials say Pakistani leaders were engaged in intensive mediation efforts late Tuesday to ensure the second round of ceasefire talks takes place.

The officials said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and the prime minister’s national security adviser were involved in the push.

Despite a delay by Iran in sending its delegation to Islamabad, “overall optimism endures among decision makers in Pakistan,” the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

— By Munir Ahmed in Islamabad.

6 Iranian women and 2 teenagers, mostly detained during January protests, are on Trump’s appeal for release

Bita Hemmati was sentenced to death in Tehran after taking part in the protests, according to the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Mahboubeh Shabani was arrested in the city of Mashhad during the protests. She’s charged with “enmity of God,” which carries the death sentence, according to human rights monitor Hengaw.

Diana Taher Abadi and Ghazal Ghalandari are both 16, and were arrested separately in Karaj, west of Tehran, and Yasuj in southwestern Iran during the protests, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Venus Hossein Nejad, from the Bahai faith, was arrested in January from her workplace in southeast Iran. She was forced to confess on state TV and was accused with others of organizing protests and being members of a “satanic network and under the influence of Israel,” the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights said.

Golnar Naraqi, a 37-year-old emergency physician, was arrested in Tehran during the protests, according to a state-affiliated newspaper.

Two women were identified by Iranian social media as Ensieh Nejati and Panah Movahhedi Salamat. There was no immediate confirmed reports about their whereabouts.

Trump calls on Iran to release 8 women ahead of potential truce talks

The president reposted a photo of six women and two teen girls on social media Tuesday morning that a conservative activist noted are facing prosecution by the Iranian government.

“I am sure that they will respect the fact that you did so. Please do them no harm!” Trump posted. “Would be a great start to our negotiations!!!”

Five of those in the photo flagged by Trump were arrested during widespread anti-government protests earlier this year, according to human rights groups.

One of the women, from Iran’s minority Bahai faith, is accused of being part of a network described as “satanic and under the influence of Israel.”

Iranian media sites identified two others in Trump’s posting but did not offer details on why they were detained.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson says his government has not yet decided whether to join ceasefire negotiations

Esmail Baghaei told state TV late Tuesday that Iran was upset about what he called mixed messages from the Americans.

“It is not out of indecisiveness, it is because we are facing contradictory messages and behaviors, and unacceptable actions from the American counterpart,” he said.

US military seeks to boost spending on drones, air defenses and fighter jets

As part of Trump’s push to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion in the 2027 budget, the Pentagon wants to triple spending on drones and related technology to more than $74 billion and invest over $30 billion into more critical munitions.

That includes missile interceptors, whose stockpiles have become critically low during the Iran war.

Military officials said the spending blueprint was developed ahead of the conflict in the Middle East. They also did not discuss how much they will request in additional funds for the war.

Drones and other unmanned vehicles have emerged as a key weapon in the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and top Pentagon officials say the U.S. must significantly increase its funding of both drones and counter-drone systems.

▶ Read more

Israel’s military says it has replaced a crucifix in southern Lebanon after a soldier smashed it down

The Israeli military posted a photo on social media of the replacement crucifix, which appeared smaller but more ornate than the original statue that a soldier was photographed destroying in southern Lebanon. Israel says two soldiers involved in the episode will be held for a month in military detention.

Tuesday’s post on X said troops worked with the community in the Lebanese village of Debel to coordinate the replacement, which includes a metallic-sheened Jesus figure and four paintings of saints, one on each arm of the cross.

Christians are estimated to make up around a third of Lebanon’s population of roughly 5.5 million people. Thousands of Christians were displaced from their homes in the country’s south during the war.

EU diplomats agree to new sanctions targeting Iranians obstructing freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz

“Today we also reach the political agreement to widen our sanctions regime, to also target those responsible for breaches to freedom of navigation,” said the 27-nation European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, after a Tuesday gathering in Luxembourg.

“Freedom of navigation is non-negotiable. Daily U-turns where the Strait of Hormuz is open or closed, are reckless. Transit through the strait must remain free of charge,” she said, referring to Iran’s charging for safe passage on the Strait of Hormuz.

Kallas said the EU’s maritime security mission would be “the quickest way” to ensure safe transit in the Persian Gulf after peace is settled.

Iran-allied Yemeni rebels warn against escalation in the region

Even if the U.S.-Iran ceasefire holds and the current war ends, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebel group said “there is no doubt that further rounds of fighting are coming, as it is merely a truce within a continuous conflict with the enemy.”

In a televised speech Tuesday, Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned that escalation in the region is “possibly high” as the “fragile” ceasefire is nearing an end.

A Houthi missile attack on Israel last month raised concern that Iran’s ally in Yemen may again try to block Red Sea shipping routes, as it did during the war in Gaza.

Gulf shipping crews are stranded amid maritime attacks, UN agency warns

At least 10 seafarers have been killed and several more severely injured in a series of attacks on commercial vessels around the Persian Gulf since the start of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, according to the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for regulating global shipping.

IMO spokesperson Natasha Brown said the agency has confirmed 25 attacks on commercial shipping since Feb. 28. Hundreds of ships have been stranded in the Persian Gulf since.

“Around 20,000 civilian seafarers remain aboard vessels in the Persian Gulf, facing dwindling supplies, fatigue and severe psychological stress,” Brown added.

Following an extraordinary council session in March, the IMO said it is working with “relevant states on the development of a safe passage framework” to evacuate stranded crews, while coordinating access to supplies.

A new budget request from the Pentagon would triple spending on drone technology

The $1.5 trillion budget proposal detailed Tuesday by defense officials would allocate nearly $54 billion for military drones and related technology, as well as $21 billion for weapons systems designed to take down enemy drones.

“Drone warfare is rapidly reshaping the modern battlefield,” Jules Hurst III, the acting undersecretary of defense, comptroller, told reporters during a budget briefing at the Pentagon.

Israel disciplines 2 soldiers for destruction of Jesus statue

One of the soldiers photographed the other using what appears to be a sledgehammer to hack down the crucifix during military operations in the Lebanese village. The two will be held in military detention for 30 days.

“The soldiers’ conduct completely deviated from IDF orders and values,” said a military statement, using the acronym for the Israeli military.

The disciplinary measures come after the photo of the incident attracted worldwide attention and condemnations from Christian religious leaders. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar have also denounced the incident.

The military said that six other soldiers who stood by without intervening would be summoned for conversations with higher-ups and that military protocol for dealing with religious buildings and artifacts were reemphasized to troops in the area.

“He has a concussion. He’s in the protocol,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after San Antonio fell 106-103 to even the Western Conference first-round series at one game apiece. “We’ll take the proper and appropriate steps.”

Any extended absence by Wembanyama would be a massive blow to San Antonio, which finished with the league’s second-best record behind the versatile 7-foot-4 center from France.

Under league guidelines, a player in the concussion protocol must have at least 48 hours of inactivity and recovery and then hit several benchmarks without symptoms before being cleared to play. A player must undergo neurological testing and receive a final clearance from a team doctor in consultation with the league's concussion protocol director.

Game 3 is Friday in Portland. It seems improbable that Wembanyama would be cleared by then, but Johnson wouldn't speculate about his status.

“The protocol is the protocol,” Johnson said. “We’ll just follow it as everyone else does and plan accordingly.”

The Spurs went 12-6 during the regular season without Wembanyama.

“We’ve all got to step up,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “We know what Vic brings to the table. We’ve played without him for a couple games this year. It’s going to be next man up. Everybody’s going to have to step up. That’s a huge void to fill. We can’t get bogged down by it.”

Wembanyama was fouled by Jrue Holiday after he spun around the Trail Blazers point guard in the paint. He was not able to brace himself on the fall, and his jaw hit the court with 8:57 remaining in the second quarter.

Wembanyama remained on the court for about 30 seconds before rising to a seated position for about a minute and speaking to teammate Stephon Castle. Johnson called timeout to check on Wembanyama, who immediately ran through the tunnel after getting to his feet.

Wembanyama had five points, four rebounds, one blocked shot and one assist in 12 minutes. Veteran Luke Kornet replaced Wembanyama and started the second half at center, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes.

“It was scary. I saw the images. It was not good,” Trail Blazers coach Tiago Splitter said of the play where Wembanyama got hurt. “With him out, Kornet, I think he did a tremendous job. We still have to figure out how to play better when Kornet is on the court.”

San Antonio is in the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and beat Portland in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round series behind 35 points from Wembanyama. Without him, the Spurs blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in the playoffs for the first time since 2003, a span of 76 games.

On Monday, Wembanyama became the unanimous winner of the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award. He averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and a league-best 3.1 blocks this season.

Vassell said he didn’t have a chance to talk with Wembanyama immediately after the game.

“We’ll definitely check in on him. Our prayers are with him,” Vassell said. “We just want him to be good.”

___

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

“We thank the Lord for the great gift of the life of Francis, to the church and the world,” Leo said.

The American pope delivered the tribute in Italian while speaking with reporters aboard the papal plane heading from Angola to Equatorial Guinea, the final leg of his four-nation African trip.

Francis died on Easter Monday last year after suffering a stroke. He had been at the Vatican recovering from a five-week hospital stay for double pneumonia, and had managed to deliver a final Easter salute to the crowd with a popemobile romp through St. Peter’s Square.

His death, at 88, set the stage for the conclave that elected Leo a few weeks later. It was an outcome for which Francis had laid the groundwork by promoting the former missionary priest, Robert Prevost, whom he considered “a saint.”

In his tribute, Leo recalled with precision some of Francis’ most memorable homilies and messages, saying he “gave so much to the church with his life, with his witness, with his word and with his gestures.”

“So many times what he did was live truly being close to the poorest, the smallest, the sick, children, the elderly,” he said.

He cited Francis’ preaching promoting human fraternity and “authentic respect” among all people, as well as a special Holy Year he called in 2015 to emphasize God’s mercy and forgiveness. Francis famously opened the year in the Central African Republic, and Leo delivered his tribute just as his plane was flying over that part of Africa.

Leo recalled Francis’ first Sunday noon prayer as pope, and a Mass he celebrated two days before his pontificate was officially inaugurated, when he preached about an adulterous woman “and how he spoke from the heart of the mercy of God.”

“Let us pray that he is still enjoying the mercy of the Lord,” Leo said.

Books recall Francis’ life and what he thought of Prevost

The anniversary was being marked with commemorations in Rome, including the release of commemorative books about and recollections of Francis, and a Mass on Tuesday evening at St. Mary Major basilica, where Francis’ tomb is located.

Among the flurry of recollections, one by Salvatore Cernuzio stands out because it offers a view of the current pope from his predecessor.

Cernuzio, an Italian reporter with Vatican Media, the Holy See’s in-house news operation, developed a close personal relationship with Francis and often traveled in his entourage when the pope left the Vatican. However, the book, entitled “Padre,” or “Father,” details the private side of their relationship, of Cernuzio’s visits with Francis at the Santa Marta hotel where he lived, and their conversations.

“Him? He’s a saint,” Francis told Cernuzio of the then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, whom Francis had brought to Rome in 2023 to take up the important job heading the Vatican’s bishop-vetting office.

Francis’ assessment, delivered in 2023 after he had announced Prevost would be included in his new batch of cardinals that year, adds even more weight to the hypothesis that Francis saw in Prevost a possible successor.

Cernuzio recalls that when Francis called someone a saint, it was usually “to describe people who are able to handle conflicts, tensions, and complex situations with composure, and who are able to foster a sense of community.”

Prevost was spotted and promoted by Francis

The hypothesis that Francis laid the groundwork for Prevost’s election is well-founded, given it’s clear Francis had his eye on Prevost from the start and greatly appreciated his experience as a missionary who spent two decades working in Peru.

After Prevost finished a second consecutive stint as head of the Order of St. Augustine, Francis sent him in 2014 to be bishop of the complicated diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, and he rose up within the Peruvian bishops conference from there to take on leadership roles.

Francis then moved Prevost to head one of the most important Vatican jobs — prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops — that gave Prevost crucial experience in the Vatican bureaucracy and contacts with the cardinals who would eventually choose Francis’ successor.

The combination made Prevost a viable contender in a future papal election, overcoming the otherwise impossible conclave hurdle of his American citizenship. There had long been a taboo in the church against a U.S. pope, given the geopolitical power the country already wields.

The two men, who later became good friends, had known each other from when Prevost was the Augustinian prior general and the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Prevost has recounted that at one point Bergoglio had expressed interest in assigning an Augustinian priest to a specific job in his archdiocese.

“And I, as prior general, said ‘I understand, Your Eminence, but he’s got to do something else’ and so I transferred him somewhere else,” Prevost told parishioners in his home state of Illinois in 2024.

Prevost said he “naively” thought the Francis wouldn’t remember him after his 2013 election as pope, and that regardless “he’ll never appoint me bishop” due to the disagreement years earlier.

Bergoglio not only made him bishop, he laid the groundwork for Prevost to succeed him.

Adoring crowds in the largely Catholic country lined the road from the airport into the administrative capital, Malabo, cheering the first pope to visit since St. John Paul II in 1982. Wearing his formal red mozzetta cape, Leo thrilled the flag-waving masses by arriving at the presidential palace in his open-sided popemobile.

“There is a lot of joy today because we waited 44 years for the pope to come,” said Diosdado Marques, a senior Catholic official in the country. “It’s a blessing for the country. We hope many things will change and we will deepen our faith.”

The former Spanish colony on Africa’s western coast is run by the continent's longest-serving president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

The pope notes a year since Francis' death

The discovery of offshore oil in the mid-1990s transformed Equatorial Guinea’s economy virtually overnight, with oil now accounting for almost half of its GDP and more than 90% of exports, according to the African Development Bank.

Yet more than half of the country’s nearly 2 million people live in poverty. And rights groups including Human Rights Watch — as well as court cases in France and Spain — have documented how revenues have enriched the ruling Obiang family rather than the broader population.

Leo, who arrived from Angola, met with Obiang at the presidential palace and then addressed government authorities, diplomats and civil service representatives. Noting that the encounter occurred on the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death, Leo quoted the late pope in denouncing income inequalities that he said had been exacerbated by a global economy focused on the pursuit of profit at all cost.

“Such an economy kills,” Leo said. “In fact, it is even more evident today than in years past that the proliferation of armed conflicts is often driven by the colonization of oil and mineral deposits, occurring with no regard for international law or the self-determination of peoples.”

The Trump administration, which has announced plans to create a minerals trading bloc with its allies, has been racing to get access to Africa’s regions rich in critical minerals and to beat competition from China in a region where Beijing has long dominated.

Last year, as the administration emerged as a key broker for a peace deal to end the fighting in Congo’s mineral-rich but conflict-battered eastern region, it was also signing a partnership with Congo that would allow American companies access to those conflict minerals.

The U.S. is also investing funds in the Lobito Corridor, a major rail project that would facilitate export of minerals from regions in Zambia and Congo through Lobito in Angola. At the same time, the U.S. has backed a South Africa project aimed at extracting rare earth minerals from industrial waste.

Leo suggests Equatorial Guinea look to the ‘City of God’

The pope's meetings took place in the old presidential palace. The government has built a new capital on the mainland named Ciudad de la Paz, or City of Peace, but the transfer of government buildings is not complete.

Authorities have said the decision to build the new capital was strategic, given the potential for expansion of the city carved out of a tropical forest. But critics said the relocation would exacerbate inequalities and give further opportunities for the presidential circle to enrich themselves.

Leo referred to the new capital by citing the famous work of St. Augustine, “City of God,” in which the 5th-century philosopher interpreted humanity through two models: The “earthly city” where people live temporarily and the eternal “city of God,” characterized by God’s unconditional love and love of one another, especially the poor.

Leo didn't call out the corruption associated with the Obiang family or the criticism of the new capital. But he suggested Equatorial Guinea should look to the “City of God” as a model.

“The earthly city is centered upon the proud love of self, on the lust for power and worldly glory that leads to destruction,” he said. “It is essential to discern the difference between that which lasts and that which passes, remaining free from the pursuit of unjust wealth and the illusion of dominion.”

The pope plans to visit a prison

Equatorial Guinea is officially a secular country but about 75% of its population is Catholic, making it one of Africa's most Catholic countries.

Church leaders “are very much interconnected intrinsically with the government,” said Tutu Alicante, a U.S.-based activist who runs the EG Justice rights group. “Part of it is the fear the government has instilled in everyone, including the church, and part of it is the monetary gains that the church derives from this government.”

The Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, No. 2 in the Vatican’s missionary evangelization office, said the Catholic Church is present in difficult civil spaces and knows how to operate in them to carry out its mission.

“Should the church go to war against the government? Surely no,” Nwachukwu said. “Should the church swallow everything as if it were normal? No. The church has to continue preaching justice, always in defense of life, human dignity and the common good.”

In addition to official corruption, the country’s government also faces accusations of harassment, arrest and intimidation of political opponents, critics and journalists.

Equatorial Guinea is also one of several African nations that have been paid millions of dollars in deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.

AP reporting shows that at least 29 such migrants with no ties to the country have been deported there. Some remain in detention in Malabo with restrictions on legal and medical support, while others have been forcibly returned to their countries where they face persecution.

Leo, who will visit a prison in the port city of Bata on Wednesday, has criticized the Trump administration’s overall migration deportation policy as “extremely disrespectful.”

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Associated Press writers Monika Pronczuk in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and Ope Adetayo in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed.

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

Cell phone video on social media shows multiple fights involving groups of students breaking out in different areas of campus.

Students say the violence began around lunchtime and continued into the afternoon — with some describing it as unlike anything they’ve seen before.

“This is by far the biggest fight I’ve ever seen,” said junior Gregory Cruz. “I was not expecting us to reach double digits.”

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Students estimated at least two dozen people may have been involved.

“It escalated to a point where police had to come in,” said junior Logan Segall. “There was various fights on campus.”

Students say some people appeared to join in as the situation grew.

“Some people are just joining in the fight just to fight,” Segall said.

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A Houston police source tells KPRC 2 the situation involved two groups of students fighting. At some point, one group ran off, and a student was detained.

What sparked the fights is unclear but a spokesperson for Houston Independent School District said dismissal was impacted by police activity off campus.

Students said they were dismissed at around 4:40 p.m.