The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged and heading toward its first losing month following two fabulous ones. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 125 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.

The main reason for this month’s rockiness has been weakness for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry. After roaring to tremendous heights in the frenzy around AI, such stocks have come under pressure because of worries that they shot too high. That’s a big deal for all investors because AI stocks have grown into some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential, pulling indexes behind them.

AI stocks were a bit calmer on Tuesday, with Nvidia rising 1.8%.

The relatively quiet trading came as companies close their books for the quarter running from April through June. Investors will want to see strong growth in profits to justify the big gains stocks made early in the quarter. Even with June’s drop, the S&P 500 is still on track for its best quarter since six years ago, when stocks rocketed out of the crash caused by the COVID pandemic.

Concentrix tumbled 17.3% after the technology company reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that were just shy of analysts’ expectations.

In the oil market, prices edged higher as two U.S. envoys arrived in Qatar for talks with mediators about the implementation of an initial deal to end the war in Iran. The Americans will not be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Doha.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 0.4% to $74.24, though it’s below its peak well above $100 earlier in the war. The hope is that an end to the war will restore full access to the Strait of Hormuz, allowing oil tankers to move more crude and lower its price.

Expensive oil has already sent inflation jumping around the world, which in turn has raised worries that the Federal Reserve and other central banks may have to raise interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they would also slow economic growth and hurt prices for investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.39% from 4.38% late Monday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Germany’s DAX returned 1.1%, and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1% for two of the bigger gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% as the value of the Japanese yen dropped near its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in 40 years.

U.S. government bonds are paying much higher yields than their Japanese counterparts, and the possibility of rate hikes by the Fed is putting more pressure on the yen. Speculation is rising that Japan’s government may try to prop up the yen’s value, but Japan’s finance minister said only that the government was ready to “respond appropriately whenever necessary.”

___

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

The decision comes on the final day of a Supreme Court term that has centered on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power — and largely ruled in his favor.

The court on Monday handed Trump a major win by upholding his firings of independent federal agency heads at will, with the exception of Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who will retain her job while she fights the president’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud.

Here's the latest:

Dueling views on birthright citizenship

In oral arguments, Sauer, the lawyer for Trump’s administration, said that birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and “rewards illegal aliens who not only violate the immigration laws but also jump in front of those who follow the rules.”

The practice “demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship,” he told the court.

But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging Trump’s order, sees it very differently.

“It’s one of the clearest statements of who we are as a country,” the ACLU said in a statement. “No matter who your parents are, if you’re born here, you belong here.”

America’s views on birthright citizenship

Most Americans say they believe in birthright citizenship, though many are conflicted about exactly who it should apply to.

An April survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research of more than 2,500 U.S. adults found that about two-thirds say children born in the U.S. should get automatic citizenship. That number drops to 44% for Republicans.

But the poll also showed ambivalence when it came to specifics.

For example, 75% of U.S. adults support automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents in the country on work visas. Only about half, though, believe in it for children born to parents who are illegally in the country.

The court ruled Monday that states can count late-arriving mailed ballots

The 5-4 decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day.

The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

In just over half of those states, the more forgiving deadlines apply only to ballots cast by military and overseas voters.

The government has faced judicial skepticism

During oral arguments, even many conservative justices appeared unconvinced by the government’s case.

“I can imagine it being messy in some applications,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said, asking Solicitor General D. John Sauer about the issue of abandoned infants.

“What if you don’t know who the parents are?” she asked.

Sauer started to say that question was addressed in the U.S. code, but Barrett quickly interrupted him.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about the Constitution?” she asked.

How do most countries decide a child’s citizenship?

Outside of the Americas, most countries follow the legal principle of jus sanguinis, or “right of blood,” with a child’s citizenship inherited from its parents, no matter the place of birth.

In the European Union, for example, no member states grant automatic, unconditional citizenship to children born to foreigners.

But American legal practice is descended in many ways from English common law, which had long provided for citizenship based on a child’s place of birth, the legal concept of jus soli, or “right of soil.”

The UK, though, abandoned jus soli with the British Nationality Act of 1981.

Under the new rules, people born in the UK get citizenship only if at least one parent is a British citizen or has “settled status” under the law.

The justices will read summaries of their opinions

The court will dive right into the remaining decisions when the justices take the bench at 10 a.m. ET.

The opinions are typically read in ascending order of seniority so that the most junior justice with an opinion goes first. Chief Justice John Roberts, who may well have the decision in the birthright citizenship case, would go last.

Monday’s ruling on federal agencies dramatically expanded presidential power

Other than at the Federal Reserve, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority.

The justices allowed Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job while she fights Trump’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

With the six conservative justices in the majority, the nine-member court jettisoned its unanimous decision in Humphrey’s Executor that had limited when presidents can fire agencies’ board members — in part to try to ensure decision-making free of political influence.

“We hold that such protection from removal is contrary to the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

The court will also rule on trans athletes and campaign finances

In separate cases, the court will also decide:

Whether states can prohibit transgender athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s public school and college teams.

Whether to uphold a federal law more than 50 years old limiting how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and the president.

The court seemed poised to reject Trump’s birthright citizenship limits during arguments in April

Oral arguments for the case lasted more than two hours in a crowded courtroom that included Trump, the first sitting president to attend arguments at the nation’s highest court, and, in seats reserved for the justices’ guests, actor Robert De Niro.

Trump heard his administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, face one skeptical question after another. Justices asked about the legal basis for the order and voiced more practical concerns.

“Is this happening in the delivery room?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked, drilling down into the logistics of how the government would actually figure out who is entitled to citizenship and who is not.

Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Sauer was relying on quirky exceptions to citizenship to make a broad argument about people who are in the country illegally. “I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples,” Roberts said.

Justice Clarence Thomas sounded the most likely among the nine justices to side with Trump.

The decision announced over the weekend came as the outbreak of a type of Ebola with no approved treatment or vaccine continues to grow, with 1,307 people infected and 377 dead across three provinces in eastern Congo. It could be the worst Ebola outbreak yet.

Congo’s ministry of interior on Saturday said gatherings and demonstrations were forbidden in the provinces of Kinshasa, Tshopo, Haut-Uele and Bas-Uele as fears grow about the outbreak spilling into new areas. None of the provinces have any confirmed cases.

Separately, the mayor of ​Goma, eastern Congo’s largest city and now under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, also banned public gatherings and demonstrations, including celebrations linked to sport events, on Monday. Congo is in its first World Cup in over half a century.

Congo’s political opposition has denounced the ban as unconstitutional. Prince Epenge, the spokesperson for the Lamuka coalition, has said the ban aims to prevent a planned demonstration in the capital, Kinshasa, early next month. The protest is against proposed constitutional changes that would allow Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi to run for a third term.

Civil society organizations also condemned the ban in a statement on Monday, citing freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

In a televised address on Monday evening, Tshisekedi announced a $319 million response plan to the Ebola outbreak, and called on people to respect health guidelines, report suspected cases and not give in to misinformation. He did not directly address the bans.

“Ebola is neither a rumor nor a source of shame,” Tshisekedi said. “It is a health emergency that demands responsibility, solidarity, and truth.”

Health workers have reported some skepticism and attacks over Ebola from residents in the affected areas of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

Cases also have been confirmed in neighboring Uganda, as well as one in France in a doctor who returned from Congo.

The United Nations ​warned in a report on Tuesday that if the virus spreads into other neighboring countries including Rwanda and Angola, it could cost Africa up to $3.6 billion and result in 328,000 job losses.

More than a month into the outbreak, officials believe it continues to outpace response efforts and no one knows its true scale. They are yet to identify patient zero and struggle to trace contact cases.

The World Health Organization has warned that violence from rebels in eastern Congo is complicating the response to the outbreak. In Ituri, attacks by the Islamic State group-backed Allied Democratic Force have cut off access to many villages and forced people to flee their homes, adding to already overcrowded camps of people displaced by years of conflict.

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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Janvier Barhahiga in Bukavu, Congo, contributed to this report.

A new AP-NORC poll shows Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don’t fly it, reflecting deeply divided views on what patriotism means.

And on this final day of a Supreme Court term centering on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power, the justices are poised to rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s order on birthright citizenship, declaring that children born to parents who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. Follow live updates.

Here's the Latest:

Who flies the American flag for holidays — and who never flies one, according to an AP-NORC poll

American views of “Old Glory” are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebration.

Whether people see it as a unifying or divisive symbol tracks with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country’s history and accomplishments very differently. About 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays. About 6 in 10 Democrats and independents, on the other hand, say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority, 75%, of Democrats under 45.

Only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.

The survey of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20.

▶ Read more

What the Supreme Court’s Cook ruling means for Federal Reserve independence

The Supreme Court on Monday said the Federal Reserve, unlike any other agency in Washington, has a measure of independence from the presidency and day-to-day politics. But the court didn’t define to what extent.

The case is the latest round in an unprecedented fight between the Fed and Trump. More political interference at the Fed could upend financial markets around the world, which closely follow its interest rate moves.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that the central bank cut its key interest rate to lower borrowing costs for homeowners, businesses, and even the government itself. Trump sought to fire a Fed governor, Lisa Cook, last August after accusing her of mortgage fraud — a charge she denies.

In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the president cannot fire the seven members of the Fed’s board of governors without a clear cause. The decision endorses the Fed’s independent structure even as the court eliminated such protections for leaders of other agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, whom the president can fire at-will.

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Trump nominates acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling as permanent chief

Trump said Monday he will nominate Keith Sonderling to be the secretary of labor, elevating him from the agency’s acting director two months after Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid abuse-of-power allegations.

Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump’s government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Sonderling’s nomination.

Sonderling’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

During Trump’s second term, in addition to his Labor Department post, Sonderling has been the acting director of U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of several agencies Trump targeted for closure in an executive order last year.

▶ Read more

The Supreme Court it issue momentous rulings on Trump’s power

The Supreme Court is wrapping up a term that has focused on Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power.

Trump’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, fire the heads of most independent agencies at will and remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor are among the remaining eight cases the justices are expected to decide this week, beginning Monday.

The court also is weighing, in cases from West Virginia and Idaho, whether to uphold laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports.

Two election-related cases remain, over state laws that allow a grace period for the receipt of mailed ballots, provided they are sent by Election Day, and limits on political party spending in support of candidates for Congress and president.

Also outstanding is a dispute over geofence warrants that collect the location history of cellphone users to find people near crime scenes. Critics say the practice is a fishing expedition that violates civil liberties.

▶ Read more

Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States. But its Defense Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost, and critics said the its pledge of a 15 billion pound ($20 billion) boost to defense spending won't be enough.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan will keep Britain safe in “a more dangerous and volatile world than at any time for decades."

“When the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it," he said.

But the blueprint does not commit to spending 3% of U.K. GDP on defense by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defense secretary on June 11. Healey accused the government of underspending on the military at a time of “rising threats," citing a British intelligence assessment that Russia could attack a NATO member country by 2030.

Starmer said Healey’s successor, Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis, had worked to “sharpen and strengthen" the plan. Its 15 billion pounds in new spending is more than the 13.5 billion pounds ($18 billion) Healey was offered by the Treasury, but far less than the 28 billion pounds ($37 billion) that defense officials had called for.

UK faces pressure to hit NATO target

Under the plan, defense spending will hit 2.7% of GDP by 2029. Starmer said the 3% target will be reached “in the next Parliament,” a period that could extend to 2034. The U.K. remains committed to hitting NATO’s target of 3.5% of GDP by 2035, though it's unclear how it will get there.

The government said the new funding will boost defense spending to almost 300 billion pounds ($400 billion) over the next four years. Big-ticket items include 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) for drone technology, 8 billion pounds ($10.6 billion) to build new stealth fighter jets alongside Japan and Italy, and 11 billion pounds ($14.5 billion) to increase weapons stockpiles. The U.K. will also spend 64 billion pounds ($85 billion) modernizing its nuclear weapons.

Starmer said some road and energy projects would be scrapped to help pay for the military.

He said the plan will ensure “our servicemen and women have the cutting-edge capabilities they need to deter evolving threats and keep the British people safe.” The full document is due to be published later Tuesday.

The U.K. military is seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.

The U.K. has watched how drones have transformed war in Ukraine, which uses 200,000 of them a month to defend against Russian forces. Britain plans to invest billions in drone systems across all branches of the military. Instead of a planned fleet of new destroyers, the Royal Navy will get hybrid vessels that will act as command hubs for drones.

“The very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes,” Starmer said during a speech at a drone manufacturer near London. He said that, armed with cutting-edge technology, Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russia’s Black Sea fleet, “struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.”

Critics say more money is needed

Britain and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to increase military spending. Trump has long questioned the value of the military alliance and complained that the United States provides security to European countries that don’t pull their weight.

The resignations of Healey and junior Defense Minister Al Carns were among a series of blows that prompted Starmer to announce last week that he will resign. He is likely to attend a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8 in one of his last acts as prime minister.

His successor, likely the former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, will be under pressure to stick to the commitments in the defense plan.

Opposition Conservative Party defense spokesperson James Cartlidge said the plan was “too little, too late.”

And retired Gen. Richard Barrons, who helped lead a defense review in preparation for the investment plan, said “we have to find more money for defense sooner.”

“We’re not keeping up with our allies, we’re certainly not keeping up with our enemies, and we know that the U.S. is no longer going to come and save European security in the face of a Russian threat,” he told the BBC.

The largest U.S. oil company and its consortium partner, QatarEnergy, consider the most likely option for getting the gas to market would be conveying it through a pipeline to existing processing facilities in Egypt where it can be liquefied for export, ExxonMobil's Vice President of Global Exploration John Ardill said.

Other options including building onshore facilities in Cyprus or a floating one in waters over the deposits are considered too costly at this point.

“Everything you’ve seen between the government of Cyprus and the government of Egypt gives us a lot of confidence that there’s good government to government coordination, the agreements in place to leverage that eastern Mediterranean energy hub concept,” Ardill said.

He was speaking after ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy signed a deal with Cyprus declaring the two deposits commercially viable.

The deposits — dubbed Glaucus and Pegasus — are located in Block 10 of Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and are estimated to hold together roughly 7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Ardill said the consortium is looking to expand its presence off Cyprus, expressing interest in exploring an area, or block, on the southwestern corner of the EEZ that is adjacent to an area where it already holds drilling licenses.

The consortium will carry out additional drilling at the Pegasus deposit around the end of this year to collect more key data for its development, he added.

“So what we should tell ordinary people is we have been working very diligently together between government and investor to make these discoveries and we’re working very diligently to get the gas flowing for the people of Cyprus,” Ardill said.

Cyprus is trying to position itself as a new energy source for Europe and beyond following the initial discovery of natural gas off its southern shore in 2011.

Apart from ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, two other consortiums hold exploration licenses in the Cypriot EEZ.

A consortium composed of Italy’s Eni and French TOTAL holds licenses for four blocks where two deposits hold an estimated 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas combined, while a partnership between Chevron, Dutch Shell and Israeli NewMed is licensed for one bloc where the oldest discovery — Aphrodite — holds approximately 5.6 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Earlier this year, Eni’s Chief Operating Officer Guido Brusco said the company was close to making a final decision on developing the Cronos gas field that could deliver the hydrocarbon to European markets by late 2027 or early 2028.

The visit by Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, comes after a weekend of crossfire in the Persian Gulf over efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.

The envoys won’t be having direct negotiations with Iranian diplomats while in Qatar’s capital, Doha, said Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry. Instead, mediators are working for the time being as go-betweens for the talks, which won’t include any high-level officials, he added.

Such indirect negotiations have happened in the past between Iran and the U.S. However, the two previous rounds of talks collapsed into the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in 2025 and the recent Iran war.

“We’re not expecting any high-level Iranian officials at the moment, but as I said, the technical meetings are ongoing ... and they haven’t stopped since then,” al-Ansari told journalists at a weekly news conference.

Iran was also sending a delegation to Qatar this week. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tuesday that Iran has had no plans for a meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days.

“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” Baghaei told journalists at his own briefing.

However, that left open the possibility of messages being passed to the Qataris between the two sides.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed oil sanctions on the country, calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

A fifth of the world's oil was shipped through the Strait of Hormuz before the war began Feb. 28. Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, creating a global energy crisis.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite being in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

Both sides traded strikes amid efforts last week to open Oman’s territorial waters in the strait to both inbound and outbound ship traffic from the Persian Gulf. That raised concerns that negotiations to formally end the war could be disrupted.

Iran twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — and drew retaliatory American airstrikes. Iran also launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

Foundation President Dame Louise Richardson said the awards, launched in 2005, have never been meant to be political. Earlier this month, the foundation changed its name from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to emphasize its nonprofit status and connection to famed industrialist Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant.

“We’re not articulating it in response to this moment,” Richardson told The Associated Press. “But it seems especially important at this moment that we celebrate immigrants and their contributions and also that we present a view of immigrants different from the ones so often portrayed in the media.”

The immigration debate continues at the highest levels of power, as President Donald Trump’s administration executes his agenda to increase immigration enforcement and reduce the numbers of legal immigrants and asylum seekers in the country. On the other side, Pope Leo XIV said, “Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” as he visited a once-notorious epicenter of the European migration debate in Spain earlier this month.

Richardson — a naturalized American citizen, born in Ireland — said the entire issue has “become so fraught, especially with the movement against legal immigration and, in particular, the visas for highly skilled people.”

“That just strikes me as an act of self-harm on a national level,” she added, “because so many of these people are the engines of the economy.”

CEO Iman Abuzeid wants to inspire other immigrants

Honoree Dr. Iman Abuzeid, co-founder and CEO of the artificial intelligence-driven healthcare career platform Incredible Health, sees the award as recognition not just for her accomplishments, but for everyone who helped her along the way.

“And if my story makes it feel like it’s more possible for someone else, then that’s probably the part that I care about the most,” added the native of Sudan, who now lives in San Francisco.

Abuzeid said she specifically chose to emigrate to the United States after living in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and completing medical school in England.

“It is the best country for what I’m trying to do,” she said. “I think if you’re ambitious and you’re willing to work hard and you’ve got some skills, it is probably the best country in the world for you.”

Being an immigrant, Abuzeid said, has given her the drive to take on risk and bet on her own abilities. It has also influenced her to build Incredible Health in a way that balances the needs of employers looking to hire health care workers with the career needs of the workers, about 20% of whom are immigrants.

“I think being from Sudan does make me a little bit more attuned to topics like bias and diversity,” she said. “Because we’re operating a marketplace at scale, we can see these patterns in our data where workers of certain last names were seeing bias against them. … So when we removed that, we were able to improve that part of the marketplace.”

Conductor Cristian Măcelaru sees immigration as ‘opportunity’

Honoree Cristian Măcelaru, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, said immigration offers both the immigrant and their new home country a chance to improve their lives.

“This is an opportunity we should hold dear,” the native of Romania said. “It really makes for a unique kind of country.”

It also creates a unique artistic point of view, said Măcelaru, who moved to Michigan to study music at Interlochen Arts Academy when he was 16.

“I’ve met so many incredible people that were supportive of my arrival to the United States and embracing of who I was,” he said. “But, at the same time, there is that nostalgia for what you’ve left behind that accompanies you on a daily basis. … The immigrant experience never leaves you.”

Măcelaru, who conducted the Orchestre National de France during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony viewed by more than a billion people in 2024, said culture becomes stronger when it appreciates the strengths of others.

“I think all of us actually love the cultures of different places,” said Măcelaru, who makes a point of diversifying the music presented by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “It doesn’t matter where we are on the planet, you end up loving music that is from a different place. You end up loving food that is from a different country.”

Harvard's Gregory Nagy ‘awestruck’ by influx of new cultures

Honoree Gregory Nagy, Harvard University’s Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and a professor of Comparative Literature, takes it a step further.

“To have an influx of new cultures and new ways of looking at things — that variety is the human fabric,” said the native of Hungary who emigrated with his family as a boy following World War II. They first went to Canada, and then to the United States when his father was invited to become a professor of classical piano at Indiana University. “I’m just awestruck by how important the melting pot is.”

Nagy, who prides himself on being “a friendly Midwesterner” after spending his formative years in Bloomington, Indiana, uses the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s thoughts on repetition — how a person changes an idea even if they only repeat it — to back up that belief.

But he also supports it with his ongoing teaching. Nagy’s class on “The Ancient Greek Hero,” which he has taught for more than 50 years and is currently the longest-running class at Harvard, continues to change with the times, while remaining true to its subject matter.

He has studied how “The Oath of the Ephebes,” from more than 2,400 years ago, connects the importance of environmentalism to being a good citizen. He says the ancient Greek idea of heroism is closer to modern comic book heroes than to the idealized, perfect versions many Americans hold dear.

That evolution is driven by young people, as reflected in the election of Péter Magyar as prime minister of Nagy’s beloved Hungary in April, the social changes that followed, and the new perspectives brought by immigration, Nagy said.

“I was very fortunate to become an immigrant,” he said. “And I was lucky enough to achieve puberty in Indiana, so that Americanizes you very well.”

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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.

Both are Black.

For Esters, the flag represents the opportunities that allowed the great-great-grandson of slaves to find success and flourish. Pistochini, 79, simply says the America identified by the flag is not the same country she saw growing up.

Americans' views of “Old Glory” are divided by politics, age and race, according to a new survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research ahead of the nation's 250th birthday celebration.

Republicans and older, white adults are especially likely to say they fly the American flag, while younger Democrats and Black adults are more likely to say they don't fly it. Views of the flag — and whether it's a unifying or divisive symbol — track with other deep divisions among Americans, who see their country's history and accomplishments very differently.

“A lot of Black Americans see the flag as a symbol of both inclusion and exclusion,” said Matthew Delmont, professor of American history at Dartmouth College. “Black Americans, more so than white Americans, also understand the flag can be used to justify a version of patriotism that is rooted in exclusion, with the flag being used to say ‘you don’t belong here.’”

The survey of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20. It suggests that older white Americans, especially Republicans, are more likely to see the flag as unifying.

About half of U.S. adults said they display the flag at home throughout most of the year, or during holidays. About 7 in 10 Republicans and about 6 in 10 Americans ages 60 and older fly the flag at least during holidays.

About 6 in 10 Democrats and independents, on the other hand, say they “never” fly the U.S. flag. That includes the vast majority, 75%, of Democrats under 45.

Opportunities worth fighting for

Esters, a 64-year-old retired clay sculptor for a Detroit automaker, flies three American flags at his Sherwood Forest home on the city’s west side.

“When these homes were built, Black men like me, my mother and my family ... we couldn’t even buy these homes,” he said. “To me, that’s one reason I fly the flag. We went through a lot to be able to own nice homes, and this is what we fought for.”

The other reason is Moriah Martin, Esters’ great-great-grandmother, who was born into slavery.

“I’m kind of living out her dreams — what I did for a living, having a business, having a nice home,” he said. “I think that’s the American way, but we got to fight for it and we, as Blacks, fought for it.”

He's in the minority among Black adults, according to the survey, which found that only about 3 in 10 Black adults say they ever display the American flag, compared with about half of white and Hispanic adults.

Pistochini says current divisions over political leanings and perspectives, and inequality of opportunities for the poor and people of color are not what she believes the flag should stand for. People confuse flying it with being patriotic, she added.

“Just because you fly a flag doesn't make you a patriot,” Pistochini said. “If there was patriotism, we would not have all this. We can't look at (what's going on) and say this is America.”

For country and freedom

Ben Gaskins, chair of political science at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, says the flag is an important symbol of patriotism for many Americans.

“It is those who are older people, who are white and people who are more conservative,” Gaskins said. “They take it as more central to their identity.”

Nancy Hansen, a 73-year-old retired Customs and Border Protection clerk in Culvertson, Montana, believes “you have to be for the country, no matter what” and that the flag means “freedom.”

“Freedom to live where we want to live, travel where we want to travel, raise our kids where we want to raise our kids,” said Hansen, who is white and identifies as Republican.

Each year around July 4, the American Legion posts flags outside businesses and homes in Culvertson, including Hansen’s home.

Linda and Greg Cunningham also equate the flag with freedom.

The white, conservative Pontiac, Michigan, couple are going all out this summer. The exterior of their home northwest of Detroit is awash in red, white and blue. The flag sits atop a flagpole just feet from their door.

“It's no political thing, at all," said Linda Cunningham, 63. “It's our freedom. I love the American flag. I love the whole concept of it. I love America. I know there’s so much going on in the world, right now, and I know everyone has their own views, and I'm just sad that politics have to be brought into the flag.”

Flag as a ‘painful reminder’

Of those who took the survey, 47% see the flag as a “more unifying” symbol. About 16% call it a “more divisive” icon, while 36% say it's neither divisive nor unifying.

Only 22% of Black adults see the flag as a unifying symbol, compared with 55% of white adults and 42% of Hispanic adults.

“It’s a painful symbol. It’s a reminder of what we could be and how it’s failed to live up to that for Black people, for Indigenous people and people of color,” said Allison Wiltz, a Black author and founder of Writers and Editors of Color.

Paul Walthour, 71, occasionally flies the flag outside his Minneapolis-area home on special occasions and some holidays. Walthour says that when he’s away from home and at his cabin, the flag goes up each morning and is taken down at the end of the day.

“This is antiquated, perhaps,” said Walthour, who is white and a retired advertising agency creative director. “I feel it’s a symbol that you’re proud to be an American.”

“Unfortunately, I kind of think it’s kind of a symbol of dividing more than uniting,” added Walthour, who identifies as a Democrat. “The people who fly it on the far right have one kind of feeling about it, and the people who fly it on the left have a different kind of feeling about it.”

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Williams is a member of AP's Race & Ethnicity team. Sanders and Parwani reported from Washington.

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The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Tuesday kicks off our heat wave, but when we take a look at heat stress over the next couple of days, today is just the start of a long term pattern.

The heat dome that is building over the east is more focused into the Southeast.

Here in Southwest Virginia we have much higher heat stress Wednesday.

You’ll want to pack the extra water bottle and plan breaks if you are outdoors for a long period of time as the heat stress increases the next several days.

Wednesday, it will easily feel like we are reaching the triple digits, even though our air temperatures only reach the upper 90s. This is because of the combined heat and humidity bringing the heat index values into the triple digits. We will keep the dangerous heat index values around for the latter half of the week and into the Fourth of July weekend as well.

Futurecast shows the high pressure building in the heat dome will stick around for the next couple of days. While we have a chance of a stray shower or thunderstorm in the mountains this afternoon, most of us will stay hot and dry as this high pressure dominates the area.

Please stay weather aware the next couple of days and be safe out in the heat!

Monday Afternoon Update

A Weather Authority Alert day has been issued for the beginning of July due to an expected heat wave that could result in record-breaking temperatures.

A high-pressure system has already formed to our southwest and is already providing above-average temperatures for much of the eastern United States.

That high pressure will hold its position over the next few days, continuing to pull in warm, moist air from the Gulf.

The forecast is currently toeing the line with high temperature records and has the capability to surpass those numbers.

As of now, it seems like the skies will be relatively cloudy over the next few days, meaning it will be hard to break those records; that being said, it is still possible.

Dew points are going to be high, in the upper 60s to low 70s all around. This will mean that it will be exceptionally muggy, raising the heat index into the triple digits for some.

This heat wave has the potential to result in heat-related illnesses, ranging from heat cramps to even a life-threatening heat stroke. It is imperative that you stay hydrated, dress properly, and avoid strenuous activity.

As always, we will keep you updated on this week’s forecast, so stay tuned with your Local Weather Authority!

The suspect acted alone and remains at large, Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said, adding that the motive remains unclear.

Monaco police have opened an attempted murder investigation into Monday night's incident but aren’t qualifying it as a terrorism investigation, Thibault told reporters. The motive remains unclear.

One of the three injured is a woman in life-threatening condition, according to Thibault, who said a man is no longer in life-threatening condition while a child's life isn’t in danger. He did not provide their identities.

The suspect left immediately after the incident on foot, using stairs to get away via a small street to the neighboring French town of Beausoleil, according to surveillance footage.

In a picture captured from CCTV cameras and published by French media, the suspect can be seen in a street wearing a black jacket, light-colored pants, white shoes and a black hat that partly conceals his face.

Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the injured. Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda said he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.

The injured woman is being treated at a hospital in Nice, Christophe Mirmand, the minister of state for Monaco, told French news broadcaster LCI on Tuesday. Her partner and a 13-year-old child suffered less severe injuries but remain in the hospital, he added.

The explosion occurred around 9 p.m. on Monday at the entrance of a residence near the French border.

The three victims were “apparently returning home peacefully” in the early evening, according to surveillance footage, Mirmand said. “They were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building,” he said.

The victims are “regular” residents of Monaco, but authorities do not yet know whether the family had been threatened in the past, Mirmand said.

“It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” he emphasized, noting that the alleged perpetrator “had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims,” according to surveillance footage.

The attack has shocked the elite principality on the Mediterranean Coast. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all the country's services were mobilized to ensure security.

Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman originally from the city of Dnipro, built his fortune through the Alef Group, a diversified holding with interests including commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture. He became one of the country’s best-known property developers, leading projects that reshaped parts of Dnipro’s city center, and has regularly appeared in rankings of Ukraine’s wealthiest businesspeople.

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Yermolaiev said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen in 2017.

The Cyprus Registrar of Companies lists a man called Vadym Iermolaiev as the director of Vespano Ltd., a company in the Cypriot city of Limassol first registered in January 2019 that is still active.

Cyprus’ Interior Ministry told The Associated Press it could not provide information about the man’s citizenship status due to confidentiality rules.

In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals and companies Kyiv said had business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.

A coastal playground for the rich and famous, Monaco is renowned as much for its tax-friendly incentives and Formula 1 Grand Prix as its glamorous royal family. The small principality is widely regarded as one of the safest places in the world, including through its extensive surveillance network composed of thousands of CCTV cameras covering most public spaces.

Monaco’s population of 38,000 is multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality.

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Associated Press journalists Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.

Nadiem Anwar Makarim was convicted of pushing his ministry to buy Google Chromebook laptops for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic as the American tech giant was considering an investment in Gojek's parent company. Makarim denied wrongdoing.

A panel of five judges at Jakarta’s Corruption Court ordered Makarim to repay 809 billion rupiah (about $45.2 million) — a figure prosecutors said represented the value to him of Google's investment in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa — and imposed a fine of 1 billion rupiah (about $55,870). Prosectors said the purchasing decision also caused $125 million in state losses.

“The defendant, as a minister who should serve as a role model, abused his authority. His actions were deliberate, structured and systematic,” said presiding Judge Purwanto S. Abdullah, “As a high-ranking official, the defendant exacerbated the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the education sector was already in crisis.”

The court didn't find that Makarim's push to buy Chromebooks actually influenced Google. Three former Google executives testified during the trial that Google’s investment in GoTo was unrelated to the Indonesian government’s decision.

Following the verdict Makarim, 41, criticized what he called an excessive punishment and said he would appeal because “there is not a single part of the accusation by the prosecution that has not been refuted, that has not been proven otherwise, no form of bribery, no conflict of interest, there is no state lost.”

Speaking to The Associated Press in a brief interview after the hearing, he said the policy to select the cheapest laptop based on an operating system that is free has saved at least 3.6 trillion rupiah (about $201 million).

“It’s very disappointing decision today and was shocking because the judges in their decision didn’t mention anything about enriching myself,” he said.

“So, I believe that this trial is about the picture of justice in Indonesia and about how every honest person who wants to serve their country are not save in this country,” Makarim added.

The 10-year sentence was far below the 18 years sought by the prosecution, which had told the court that Makarim had abused his position to influence policy decisions and corporate dealings.

The three-judge panel said they reduced the penalty because Makarim is still in his productive age and the sentence imposed should not deny the defendant the opportunity for rehabilitation and a return to contributing to society. They also ordered the time he has served since he was arrested in September to be deducted from the sentence.

Makarim was detained with two former education ministry officials and a former tech consultant who were sentenced up to four-and-half years in the case, while another staff member is wanted by authorities but remains at large.

The trial, which started in January, has drawn significant public attention, often attended by hundreds of motorcycle taxi drivers showing support for the man who helped create their industry.

The judges said Makarim’s decision to use ChromeOS and Chrome Education Upgrades — products licensed exclusively by Google — was driven by a conflict of interest, disregarding advice from the ministry’s legal bureau and policies that required to prioritizing domestic products.

“The defendant maintained the Chromebook policy by systematically removing officials who opposed it during his tenure as education and culture minister,” Abdullah said.

In a dissenting opinion, a member of the panel, Andi Saputra, argued that there was not enough evidence and Marakim should be acquitted.

Established in 2012, the brewery started in Salem and is now opening a new location on Campbell Avenue in Downtown Roanoke.

Construction is wrapping up at the new location as staff prepares for the grand opening. Parkway aims to increase access by becoming the latest bar venue in downtown Roanoke.

Manager and brewmaster Mike Pesinger says the goal is to bring the feel of their Salem location to a new place.

“The reality is we have a really great community in Salem. We think it would be smart to export the same community down here. But maybe with more of that downtown feel to it,” Pesinger said.

The location is expected to open soon.

Those brightly colored engagement tactics long ago jumped from smartphone games to everything from online shopping to sports betting and classrooms. So it should come as no surprise that many nutrition-tracking apps like MyFitnessPal and Noom also use gaming features to keep users coming back.

But as nutrition apps proliferate, some researchers are raising alarms that gamification features may do more harm than good for some people.

Isabella Anderberg, a psychologist researching digital dieting behavior at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, said calorie tracking can reinforce behaviors associated with body dysmorphia and disordered eating.

“We do know that not everyone’s going to experience harm from using the apps, but there are certainly factors that might increase risk,” Anderberg said. “Approach with caution.”

The case for nutrition tracking apps

Anderberg said there is certainly a place for the apps. Health professionals she interviewed during her research reported that apps can be especially helpful as meal-planning tools for people managing chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. And physical activity apps remind people to move their bodies.

Many users report enjoying them, finding tactics like streak notifications to be motivating.

Angela Drury, an English professor in Woodstock, Georgia, began using MyFitnessPal more than 10 years ago to track protein, fat, carbohydrate and calorie intake when she started CrossFit. She has since cycled through several other apps, including Weight Watchers, Lose It and now Nourish, which is paid for by her insurance and includes blood work and weekly meetings with a dietitian.

Drury said the apps have helped her stay on track with fitness goals and have sometimes steered her away from high-calorie foods when she uploaded photos of meals she was considering eating. She feels a little boost when she gets a badge for continuing a streak for logging meals, but a notification that says she hasn’t entered lunch has the opposite effect.

“Then it felt like it was scolding me,” she said.

Be wary of what the app tells you

The way most apps work, users enter height, weight, age and other information and then set a goal. The app says how many calories or macronutrients are needed to reach that goal, using gamelike elements such as badges, streaks, rewards, points and notifications to encourage user engagement.

Many nutrition tracking apps are free but offer premium versions that users must pay for.

The Centers for Disease Control and others say that how many calories you need depends on factors including your age, sex and level of physical activity. The CDC provides a tool to calculate how many calories an individual needs.

Critics warn that food databases are often inaccurate, with estimated portion sizes and calorie counts that vary widely.

Courtney Simpson, a behavioral psychologist and director of eating disorders at the Evidence-Based Treatment Centers of Seattle, said some apps encourage people to set calorie goals that are far too low for any adult. That's not only unhealthy but can set people up for failure.

The gaming features keep people coming back to unrealistic goals, creating shame that may contribute to binge eating or other behaviors people are trying to change, Simpson said.

“It’s not that gamification itself is bad. It’s about what it is promoting,” she said. “Is that actually going to be beneficial?”

MyFitnessPal and Noom did not respond to several requests for comment.

Listen to your body

Anderberg said people who already believe that thinner is better are more likely to misuse the apps. Calorie and macronutrient tracking can then become obsessional, which creates more negative feelings when daily goals aren’t met.

She urged users to be skeptical of what the apps tell them to do and instead rely on their own intuition. If you feel the need to rest, nurse an injury or treat yourself to something delicious, do so.

“We are sort of losing that ability to read our body cues,” she said.

Simpson noted that focusing on weight as a measure of overall health, besides being inaccurate, makes it more likely to lose and regain weight. Such cycling is linked to worse health outcomes over time.

“If you really want lasting change, then you need to be doing behaviors that are feasible and sustainable for you over time,” she said.

Drury could see how the apps could be harmful for people predisposed to disordered eating, but she said the most important consideration for her is to set realistic goals and listen to your body.

“I’ve ultimately learned that you cannot starve yourself into being in the shape you want to be in,” she said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about wellness, food and travel. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

“I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!” Leo wrote in a letter to the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the superior of the Society of St. Pius X.

Leo issued the last-ditch appeal a day before the society plans to consecrate four new bishops at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Under church law, the consecrations constitute a schismatic act, or an intentional rupture of the unity of the Catholic Church, and incur automatic excommunication for the four bishops and the bishop administering the consecration.

In response to the pope’s letter, Marc-André Mabillard, media manager for the society, expressed “great sadness to not be understood by our leader,” and added: “We are changing absolutely nothing in our plans.”

Asked by phone about the prospect of excommunication, Mabillard said: “We don’t fear it. It pains us immensely, but we believe that the good we seek is greater than the pain that will be inflicted upon us.”

The ceremony poses the first major crisis for the American pope, who has stressed the need for church unity since the start of his pontificate. He has worked especially hard to heal tensions with traditionalist Catholics who prefer the old Latin Mass, that worsened in some ways during the Pope Francis pontificate.

The society was founded in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council. Among other things, the council revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with other religions and the laity, and allowed Mass to be celebrated in vernacular languages rather than Latin.

Its members celebrate the ancient Latin Mass and have accused the modern church of being rife with heresies and errors. The society insists that only the SSPX is upholding the true faith of Christ and has justified the consecrations, citing a “state of necessity” to minister to its faithful.

In 1988, SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal consent. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four other bishops, and the group today still has no legal status in the church.

The Vatican in 2009 lifted those original excommunications as part of its outreach to try to bring the group back under its wing. But the Vatican has warned that a similar fate awaits the new bishops if Wednesday's consecrations go ahead.

In his letter, Leo repeated the Vatican's offer of dialogue and said that going through with the consecrations would be counterproductive for the SSPX faithful.

“I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit, and in some cases, even valid reception of the sacraments,” he wrote.

Despite the original 1988 schismatic act, the group has continued to grow and today poses a threat to the Holy See as a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church. The SSPX counts two bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, according to SSPX statistics.

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Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

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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.

Stress could be taking a bigger toll on your sleep than you realize.

“From increased heart rates to higher cortisol levels, stress impacts us physically. In turn, being in a stressed state doesn’t allow our natural sleep drive to work – potentially keeping us up at night or causing more sleep disruptions,” said Michelle Drerup, PsyD, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic.

Whether you have a big presentation or exam the next morning, Dr. Drerup said it’s important to boost your sleep drive the day before.

That starts with getting sunlight early to help your body feel more awake during the day and sleepier at night.

Getting a good exercise session in at some point can also build that sleep drive for later.

As the day progresses, you want to avoid caffeine and alcohol – since both can interfere with sleep.

Dr. Drerup said taking time to get your worries out on paper can lead to better sleep as well.

“Having time set aside earlier in the evening for what we call a brain dump or constructive worry time can be helpful. It’s a chance to write down the things that might come up at night and think of what you can do to take away some of that stress. Then, if those thoughts come up later, you’ve already done your worrying and made a plan for it,” Dr. Drerup said.

If stress still keeps you up night after night, Dr. Drerup recommends seeing a sleep specialist to explore additional strategies or treatment options.

The company agreed to a $50 million settlement for people who subscribed in the past 7 years.

You’ve got until September 8th to file a claim.

To do that, you’ll need a notice that will be sent by mail.

If you think you should have received one but didn’t, you can email info at online-tv-settlement.com for help.

As of Tuesday, June 30, the average price of regular gas per gallon in Virginia is $3.69, according to AAA. Premium averages $4.588 per gallon, while diesel averages $4.81 per gallon.

Drivers in the Star City are seeing some relief at the pump as well. According to GasBuddy’s survey of 155 stations in Roanoke, average gas prices in the city have dropped 9.3 cents per gallon over the past week, now averaging about $3.61 per gallon. Compared to a month ago, prices are down 47.3 cents per gallon. However, they remain 56.3 cents per gallon higher than this time last year.

The cheapest gas station in Roanoke was priced at $3.36 per gallon, while the most expensive was $4.59 per gallon.

Across Virginia, the lowest reported price was $2.85 per gallon, and the highest was $5.13 per gallon. Nationally, the average price of gas has fallen 6.9 cents per gallon in the past week and 55.6 cents per gallon from a month ago. Still, prices are about 64.2 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data.

Average gasoline prices fell in 46 states over the last week, with diesel declining in 49, pushing the national average to its lowest level since mid-March. The declines came despite a turbulent week, as fresh attacks were traded between the U.S. and Iran before both sides agreed to halt hostilities just in time Sunday, preventing what could have been a significant spike in oil prices. For now, GasBuddy anticipates the national average will continue drifting lower this week, though the situation remains anything but predictable. A handful of price-cycling states could see prices jump ahead of the July 4 holiday, while many states that already cycled higher last week should see prices fall back down. Motorists in non-cycling states are likely to see continued relief, but the fragile nature of the U.S.-Iran situation means the outlook could shift quickly.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy

Taking a closer look at our region, here’s a look at the average price of gas for localities in our area:

• Lynchburg:
• • Regular: $3.56
  • Mid: $4.05
  • Premium: $4.497
  • Diesel: $4.80
• Roanoke:
• • Regular: $3.58
  • Mid: $4.02
  • Premium: $4.46
  • Diesel: $4.83
• Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford (New River Valley area)
• • Regular: $3.63
  • Mid: $4.05
  • Premium: $4.48
  • Diesel: $4.697

Count on 10 News to bring you the latest price at the pump every morning.

To find out where the lowest fuel prices are near you, visit GasBuddy’s website.

No parent thinks they would forget their child in a hot car. But the unfortunate truth is that it can happen to anyone. Research shows that stress, sleep deprivation, and a change in routine can make people more forgetful. Conditions many parents and caregivers know all too well.

And while the risk of heatstroke increases in warmer weather, it doesn’t take a heat wave to create dangerous conditions, according to research by Consumer Reports. Even when it was 61 degrees outside, the temperature inside a closed car reached more than 105 degrees in just one hour in our tests—an extremely dangerous and potentially fatal level for a child. Children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults. It’s never safe to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, even with the windows cracked or the vehicle parked in the shade.

NoHeatStroke.org reports that deaths in cars have included children from 5-day-old babies to 14-year-old kids. And while some of these tragic deaths have occurred when children gained access to a car on their own, in the majority of cases, the child was unknowingly left in the car.

Because of this, make a routine habit to check the back seat every time you drive! You can create a visual reminder by placing your child’s bag, jacket, or hat next to you in the front. You can also get in the habit of putting your purse or bag in the back seat, so you’re forced to check it when you exit the car. One more safety tip to remember: Always keep your car locked, so children can’t gain access on their own.

Simple changes for your daily routine – that could save a life.

Here’s a look at changes Virginia residents may want to know about.

New restrictions on semi-automatic firearms, high-capacity magazines

A new Virginia law limiting the future sale, manufacture and transfer of certain semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines was supposed to take effect July 1. However, the law is currently on hold until the end of 2026 after a judge temporarily blocked it.

Current owners may keep firearms they already legally own, but the new restrictions are already sparking debate over gun rights and public safety.

Clean Slate Act seals criminal records

The Clean Slate Act allows eligible misdemeanors and some low-level felonies to be automatically sealed, making it easier for Virginians to find jobs and housing.

Supporters estimate more than 100,000 criminal records to be sealed belonging to people who were convicted but have not reoffended in the past seven years.

While the Clean Slate Act expands access to record sealing, eligible Virginians will still need to apply through the courts in many cases to have their records sealed.

Wage transparency, salary history ban

Many Virginia employers will now be required to disclose salary ranges in job postings, giving applicants more information and bargaining power before they apply.

A companion salary history ban also takes effect July 1, prohibiting employers from requesting a candidate’s past salary or wage history.

Speed-limiting devices for reckless drivers

Judges will have the authority to require certain speeding offenders to install speed-governing technology in their vehicles. The measure targets repeat reckless drivers and high-speed offenders.

Supporters say it’s aimed at preventing dangerous repeat behaviors and reducing deadly crashes on Virginia roads.

Styrofoam ban expands statewide

More food vendors across Virginia will be required to stop using foam takeout containers starting July 1 as part of the state’s ongoing, phased environmental initiative.

The ban enters phase two on July 1, expanding from large chain restaurants to all remaining food vendors statewide.

Renters Protection

Renters now have extra time if money is tight.

Landlords must give tenants 14 days’ notice before filing for eviction for unpaid rent, nearly triple the previous 5-day requirement.

While these laws officially take effect July 1, some elements of enforcement may roll out gradually over time.

Corum and her wife have made it a priority to teach financial lessons to their three children, using engaging activities to encourage their interest in topics like saving and budgeting.

“My goal is for them to have a healthy relationship with money and not have insecurities,” said Corum, an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity professional.

Not everyone feels as confident. Money can be a difficult conversation, especially if parents don’t feel totally comfortable with the topic themselves. But Jennifer Seitz, director of education at Greenlight, a family personal finance app, said that's starting to change.

“This generation is really committed to doing better for their kids even though a majority of parents don’t feel equipped,” Seitz said.

There are more banking products available to help parents think about their children's financial futures, including debit cards for kids that can be used under parental supervision and apps that gamify money to make it approachable for kids.

Some people actually start learning while they are parenting, like Naseema McElroy, a nurse who became a money content creator. When McElroy's oldest daughter was a year old, she felt inspired to learn more about personal finance to pay off debt. As she learned more, she started to share her knowledge with friends and then a wider audience online.

“I started just from wanting to share the lessons that I was learning about money with my friends because I felt like we learn so late in life and then we all had daughters,” McElroy said.

Many parents want to start talking about finances with their children because they didn't have financial education growing up, Seitz said.

Here are some expert recommendations if you want to start talking about money with your kids:

Talk about money openly and often

Money conversations can feel uncomfortable, especially if your family didn’t encourage them. But if you want your children to engage with money in a healthy way, it’s best to talk about it, said Carrie Joy Grimes, a personal finance expert and founder of WorkMoney, a personal finance nonprofit.

“Have conversations about money in front of your kid to normalize it,” Grimes said.

In Corum’s family, the topic of money has become part of their daily lives.

“We talk about how we have a budget for the house, that everything that their mom and I bring into the house has an assignment, a job,” Corum said.

A great way to start is by talking about the cost of things, said Courtney Pettway, CEO and founder of KidVestors, a financial literacy platform for children. Pettway recommends asking questions like: What does this item cost? Why do you want this item? Is it a need or a want? And if they're getting an allowance, you could ask: How long would it take for you to save up for this item?

At the dinner table, while you’re at the grocery store, when you travel or shop for clothes, take day-to-day situations and turn them into money lessons.

Teach children how to make money decisions

A key aspect of personal finance is knowing how to make choices with money. This can be taught by giving kids small amounts of money and allowing them to choose how to spend it, Grimes said.

“I gave (my daughter) enough money that she could make choices with it. So she learned early on that she had enough she could save up for something, so she could say no to things and say yes to other things,” said Grimes. “Learning to say no, learning to hold money to yourself for long enough to get the thing you want, it’s a really hard skill.”

When giving children the opportunity to choose, it's crucial parents don't impart judgment on their decisions, said Bobbi Rebell, consumer finance expert at BadCredit.org, a personal finance website. Framing choices as personal preferences rather than right or wrong answers will build children's confidence in their decision-making process, she said.

Parents can find free financial literacy worksheets for children from Hands on Banking, a free financial education service by Wells Fargo.

Teach how to set financial goals

For many children, their first access to money is through an allowance. Whether it’s saving for a new video game or a bicycle, setting a goal for their money can be a good way to teach children the value of saving.

“Recognizing the progress, seeing how close they’re getting to the goal, visualizing the end goal, and then really celebrating when they achieve that goal can help them learn that when they can make small financial goals a reality,” Seitz said.

Tip jars can be an analog way to track progress, Pettway said. Encourage your child to add a portion of the money they receive to a “savings” jar, an “investing” jar and a “giving” jar. As children see their jars getting full, they begin to be motivated to continue adding money.

It can also be beneficial to make children active participants in future plans, recommended Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, financial therapist and founder of Mind Money Balance, a financial wellness service. If, for example, your child wants to go to an expensive sports summer camp, encourage them to save a portion of the cost from their allowance or summer job.

Allow them to make mistakes

It's inevitable that kids will make mistakes while learning about money. These can be approached as opportunities to learn important money lessons that will be useful for their future, Rebell says. However, it’s important that you let your children make the mistakes rather than solve issues for them.

“If you constantly bail them out, they’re not gonna learn to manage it,” Rebell said.

Bryan-Podvin also recommends that you avoid responding to mistakes in a negative way. Showing intense frustration or anger can hurt children's trust and make them feel like they cannot turn to their parents when they make normal mistakes.

“Help them learn how to manage their emotions, help them think about how they might do things differently,” she added.

Get creative

Money can often seem boring, so making it fun, engaging, and entertaining can be the key to keeping your children’s interest alive.

For example, when shopping for things like school supplies, Corum chooses an appropriate amount from her own budget for her daughter to decide which items she wants. However, when shopping for toys or other non-essential items, Corum gives her daughter a portion of her allowance or other extra money she might have from special chores.

Corum gave her children debit cards and uses a family personal finance app connected to the cards to distribute their allowances and monitor their spending. Her children have access to their debit cards through their own app portal where they can see their spending, save, invest and learn more about personal finance topics.

Apps like Acorns Early, Greenlight and BusyKid are among the most popular family personal finance apps.

——

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the 6-3 court that people don’t forfeit expectations of privacy even when they opt into Google’s location history.

“A cellphone user is not to be viewed as sharing private information with third parties—which then can be freely passed on to the government—just by doing the ordinary things cellphone users do,” Kagan wrote.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote in dissent that Okello Chatrie had no expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turned over to Google.

The decision is the court’s latest effort to apply a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 to technology the nation’s founders could not have envisioned.

Police obtained a geofence warrant after a bank robbery in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, and used it to locate cellphones that were near the bank around the time it was robbed in May 2019.

One of those phones belonged to Chatrie, who had eluded the police until they turned to the powerful technological tool.

The warrant kick-started the investigation. After determining that Chatrie was among those near the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian at the time, police obtained a search warrant for his home. They found nearly $100,000 in cash, including bills wrapped in bands signed by the bank teller.

Chatrie pleaded guilty to robbing the bank and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. His lawyers argued on appeal that none of the evidence should have been used against him.

They challenged the warrant as a violation of his privacy because it allowed authorities to gather the location history of people near the bank without having any evidence they had anything to do with the robbery. Prosecutors argued that Chatrie had no expectation of privacy because he voluntarily opted into Google’s location history.

The Supreme Court did not decide Monday whether the search complied with the Fourth Amendment, which bans unreasonable searches and seizures. It sent the case back to a lower court for more work.

A federal judge had ruled that the search violated Chatrie’s rights, but allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who applied for the warrant reasonably believed he was acting properly.

The federal appeals court in Richmond upheld the conviction in a fractured ruling. In a separate case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofence warrants “are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.”

By viewing retirement savings as a five-stage life cycle, investors can minimize the IRS’ take and maximize what stays in their pocket.

1. The seedling stage: The working advantage

The most powerful tool in the tax code is time. If a child has earned income—perhaps from a family business or a summer job—they are eligible to jump-start their future immediately.

The Strategy: Parents should encourage their teens to find a job or even employ them on their own for legitimate work. In 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100. Most teens likely will earn less than that, so they’ll pay 0% in income tax. Furthermore, if they are working for a parent’s unincorporated business, they are typically exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes until age 18.

The Benefit: The child can contribute up to the amount of their earned income or $7,500, whichever is less, into a Roth IRA. Because they are in a 0% bracket, the “cost” of the Roth is zero, but the reward is massive: decades of compounding where both the principal and the interest are tax-free forever.

2. The early career: Roth renaissance

When a young adult first enters the professional workforce, their tax bracket is usually at its lifetime low. This is the optimal time to prioritize Roth contributions over current tax deductions.

The Strategy: Early-career workers should contribute to a Roth IRA or a Roth 401(k). At a minimum, they should contribute enough to their company’s plan to capture the full employer match—that’s free money!

The Benefit: Paying a 10% or 12% tax rate now (which, for a married couple in 2026, covers taxable income up to $100,800) to secure tax-free withdrawals 40 years from now is a bargain. Investors are effectively “buying” a tax-free future while their “tax price” is at a discount.

3. The peak earnings years: pivot to deduction

As workers hit their 40s and 50s, they typically enter their highest-earning years. Now, the math flips. Their goal shifts from paying taxes now to deferring taxes while they are in a top-tier bracket.

The Strategy: Highly paid workers should shift their focus to traditional IRAs and deductible 401(k)s. In 2026, investors can defer up to $24,500 ($32,500 if over 50) into a 401(k). Every dollar contributed reduces their taxable income today at what is likely their highest marginal rate.

The Benefit: Earners are betting that their tax bracket in retirement—when they no longer have a salary—will be lower than it is today. They save 37 cents on the dollar now and aim to pay it back at a much lower rate down the road.

4. The ‘gap years’: The Roth conversion window

The period between retirement and the start of required minimum distributions, which now begin at age 73 for most, is the golden age of tax planning. Often, investors’ income drops significantly, putting them in an artificially low tax bracket.

The Strategy: Retirees should use this low-income window to enact Roth conversions and move money from their traditional IRA to their Roth IRA, paying the tax at today’s low rates.

The Benefit: This strategy “shrinks” the size of future forced RMDs and builds two distinct pools of capital: one taxable and one tax-free. This flexibility is retirees’ greatest defense against future tax law changes.

5. Late retirement: The legacy and distribution phase

In the final stage, the goal is to maintain the lowest possible average tax bracket while fulfilling charitable and familial goals.

The Strategy: Retirees should draw strategically between their two pools, using the traditional IRA for their taxable floor and the Roth for a spike in expenses (such as a new car or a big trip) to avoid being pushed into a higher bracket.

There’s also a charitable/legacy play retirees can use: Qualified charitable distributions satisfy RMDs tax-free once retirees hit age 70½.

The Benefit: For their heirs, retirees can leave their Roth IRA to their kids (giving them 10 years of tax-free growth) and leave the traditional IRA to charity, which pays zero tax on the distribution.

The bottom line

Retirement planning is a living life cycle. By matching your account type to your current tax reality, you aren’t just saving for the future, you’re outmaneuvering the IRS at every stage of the game.

______

This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Sheryl Rowling, CPA, is an editorial director, financial adviser for Morningstar.

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Budweiser wants to buy you a beer.

Register at us.budweiser.com/americatab, and Bud will send you a digital gift card worth up to $6.

But don’t wait. Once the company has given away $150,000 worth of beer, the offer ends.

Bud says it could take up to 5 days for your card to arrive.

Lawmakers approved a budget on Monday with the 14 budget amendments that were sent by Governor Spanberger on Friday, according to Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott, D-Portsmouth.

Speaker Scott issued the following statement on Monday:

At a time when too many people believe government cannot work, the Commonwealth of Virginia has shown what responsible leadership looks like. We balanced the budget, protected our fiscal strength, invested in our people, and delivered real results without losing sight of our responsibility to future generations.

This budget keeps Virginia the best place in the nation to do business while making sure working families share in that success. It delivers meaningful tax relief, the largest investment in public education in Virginia history, raises teacher pay, increases the minimum wage, lowers healthcare costs, and provides funding for affordable housing.

From the very beginning, I had confidence that Chairman Torian would work through the process and deliver a budget that reflects our shared commitment to the people of Virginia.

I want to thank Chairman Torian for his steady leadership, his fortitude, and unwavering belief in the legislative process. I also want to thank Chairwoman L. Louise Lucas for her partnership and determination to reach a final agreement that delivers for the people of Virginia.

I look forward to getting it to Governor Spanberger’s desk so we can continue building a more affordable, stronger, and more prosperous Commonwealth.

Speaker Don Scott

The budget now goes to Gov. Spanberger’s desk to sign or veto. If signed, it would go into effect July 1.

Original:

Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly are set to reconvene in Richmond on Monday to consider 14 budget amendments sent by Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday.

One amendment would require data centers in the Eastern Virginia groundwater management area, from Fairfax County to Virginia Beach, to demonstrate they are using the minimum amount of public water possible. The proposal also introduces additional regulations on their water use.

Another amendment would allow the state to take over former President James Monroe’s home in Loudoun County, turning Oak Hill into Virginia’s newest state park. Oak Hill is the only privately owned residence of any presidential founding father.

Additional amendments include a request for cancer screenings for Virginia firefighters and a call for increased funding for the Department of Elections.

If you want to read the full list of amendments, click/tap here.

Guo Wengui, who fled China a decade ago and reinvented himself as a U.S.-based Communist Party critic, was sentenced in a Manhattan courtroom packed with his supporters by Judge Analisa Torres. She said he “preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China,” taking their money so he could live lavishly.

Before he was sentenced, Guo protested his treatment in jail, saying he was taken to the hospital early Monday. He disputed a prosecutor's portrayal of him as a malingerer faking illness, saying he repeatedly vomited as he was returned to jail before being brought to court.

“When I came here, I said: ‘I have a tummy ache, I need to go to the bathroom, I don’t feel well,’” Guo said through an interpreter of his courthouse arrival. Later, Guo wiped his mouth repeatedly with a tissue.

He only briefly addressed the criminal case, defending his intentions by saying in reference to the Chinese Communist Party: “The reason I came to the U.S. was to destroy the CCP."

The judge, in sentencing him, read snippets of letters she received from victims who described losing their life savings and feeling severely anxious and shamed and having family members turn on them for their poor investment choice.

Torres said Guo “takes no responsibility for his actions and instead insists incredibly his conduct caused no loss and harmed no one.” She said he “has called upon supporters to harass and intimidate those who dare to speak out against him.”

The judge ordered Guo to forfeit $889 million in restitution.

Wei Chen, a victim who testified at trial, told Torres that Guo's fraud "destroyed my life" and that of her family.

As Guo left the courtroom after the sentencing, supporters applauded and shouted toward him.

Before his arrest and detention without bail three years ago, Guo grew so close to conservative political strategist Steve Bannon that they announced a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government in 2020. He lived in a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park and had joined President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Florida golf club.

Prosecutors had requested he serve at least 30 years in prison, saying his "astonishing" fraud from 2018 to 2023 “destroyed hundreds of lives” and left “a wreckage of victims and families who have been devastated financially, emotionally, and psychologically.”

Prosecutors said in court papers that his ill-gotten riches fueled “a lifestyle of extraordinary excess and indulgence, a gilded life of mansions, yachts, race cars, designer clothes and luxury furnishings.”

Guo was convicted of nine of 12 criminal charges during a seven-week trial that prosecutors said showcased his deception of thousands of investors in bogus deals that enabled Guo's lavish lifestyle.

In a court filing, Guo's lawyers wrote that he was the victim of the Chinese Communist Party's “grand, pervasive, and life threatening” pursuit of him. They alleged that the party recruited elites in U.S. business, entertainment and politics to conspire against him.

They said in presentence court papers that a lengthy prison term would only validate China's smear campaign and “embolden further efforts to eliminate Chinese dissidents from public life” while defendants in similar cases received prison terms of two-to-four years.

The lawyers noted that a court probation officer wrote to the sentencing judge that Guo, also known as Miles Guo and Ho Wan Kwok, had scars and disfigurements from physical torture he endured in China and subsequent surgeries he underwent from 1993 to 2022 to repair the injuries.

Defense lawyers said Guo's wealth grew as his family became the largest shareholder of China's largest publicly traded securities company, but he became a target of Chinese government officials as he exposed them as corrupt. Eventually, the lawyers wrote, Guo moved to Hong Kong, London and then New York in 2017.

Chinese authorities accused him of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other crimes, but Guo said those allegations were false.

On Monday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had noted the sentencing, and that Guo is wanted by the Chinese government and has an Interpol “Red Notice” on him. The notice is a request to police forces around the world to arrest a suspect, pending extradition.

Prosecutors say Guo convinced hundreds of thousands of people to invest more than $1 billion total in entities he controlled, including his media company, GTV Media Group Inc., and his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance and the Himalaya Exchange.

Guo, the government alleged in presentence court papers, was “entirely unrepentant” for his crimes after he took advantage of lax U.S. asylum laws to flourish in America.

State budget legislation enacted Monday will allow up to 350 cannabis shops to open across Virginia beginning July 1, 2027. The move marks the latest expansion of access to the drug — which remains illegal at the federal level — through state-level policymaking.

“Virginia legalized adult possession years ago, but without a regulated retail market, we left the illicit market to fill the gap,” state Sen. Lashrecse Aird, a Democrat and legislative leader on the issue, said in a statement earlier this month. “This compromise gives us a smarter and safer path forward — one that protects consumers, keeps products tested and accurately labeled, and creates a legal marketplace that is affordable and accessible enough to actually compete.”

Here’s what to know about Virginia’s new law, the long process of enabling retail sales and how the state’s changes fit into the national picture:

Virginia’s law allows new stores, higher possession limit

Virginia already had a medical marijuana program that allowed patients to purchase the drug through dispensaries. Now, state regulators will begin accepting applications for retail licenses on Feb. 1, ahead of the July 1, 2027, start date for recreational sales to adults 21 and older.

The law increases the state’s possession limit from 1 ounce to 2 ounces (28 grams to 57 grams) and it will continue to allow people to cultivate a small number of plants at home.

The state will levy an excise tax on top of its sales tax, and that mix is expected to generate about $51 million in revenue for the state in the program’s first year, according to legislative budget documents.

Advocates of legalization are heralding the changes

Democrats have driven the state’s push toward legalization and recreational retail sales. They have cast the issue as a matter of equity after state data found Black Virginians were disproportionately policed and convicted of using marijuana. Only a sliver of the state’s Republican lawmakers have backed legalization, and many have raised public safety and health concerns.

Legalization advocates have generally cheered Virginia’s legislation, though many objected to a provision increasing the civil fine for public consumption, arguing it could again lead to disproportionate enforcement based on race.

Chelsea Higgs Wise, a grassroots organizer whose group Marijuana Justice was among those that called on Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to rethink the increased fine, said the legislation was still an exciting development after years of uncertainty.

For the past five years, “Adults that want to reasonably consume have been confused, rightfully so,” she said.

Virginia is an outlier in the South

Marijuana is legal in most U.S. states for either medicinal or recreational use, with about half allowing it for recreational use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for legalization and tracks policy developments around the country.

Virginia remains an outlier in the South for its permissive approach.

Federal laws are at odds with state changes

Despite the fact that nearly all states permit some form of cannabis use, the U.S. government maintains its longstanding prohibition on the drug.

But in a major policy shift, the Trump administration in April announced it was reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug and accelerating the process for a broader reclassification.

How Virginia got here

During the 2010s, Virginia gradually expanded access to marijuana for medical treatment. Then, in 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana with the passage of a law that allowed adults 21 and over to possess and cultivate the drug.

But lawmakers didn’t fully enact a framework for retail sales outside of the state’s medical marijuana program. Partisan control of Virginia government flipped in November 2021, and the issue stalled out for years. In 2024, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have established recreational retail sales.

Spanberger, who assumed office in January 2026, pledged support during her winning campaign for legislation setting up a retail market. While the governor did veto Democratic legislation that emerged from this year’s legislative session, she eventually worked out a compromise with lawmakers. Those provisions were rolled into a state budget bill that reached final passage Monday and now becomes law, according to the governor’s office, after lawmakers accepted all of Spanberger’s amendments.

Bruised around his left eye and across much of his body, 46-year-old Serrano is recovering from the ordeal he endured with his son and mother Wednesday.

The three were buried beneath rubble and twisted steel when their eight-story apartment building collapsed in the city of Caraballeda in La Guaira, the state hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

“It is a miracle from God,” Serrano said as he recalled how, in total darkness, he clawed through debris with his bare hands before rescuing his 8-year-old son and 69-year-old mother with the help of two passersby.

The two earthquakes have killed more than 1,700 people and injured more than 5,000, according to the government. Hundreds of buildings collapsed or were damaged, primarily in La Guaira. Significant damage was also reported in the capital, Caracas, and in the states of Carabobo, Miranda, Aragua and Yaracuy.

La Guaira — known as Vargas until 2019 — is Venezuela’s second-smallest state but one of its most strategically important. About 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Caracas, it is home to the country’s main international airport and second-largest seaport.

Its roughly 440,000 residents are largely low-income and depend on tourism, commerce and jobs tied to the airport and seaport.

Speaking from his brother's home in Caracas, Serrano recalled the terror he felt last week, his thoughts inevitably returning to Dec. 15, 1999, when he was jolted awake by the screams of their household employee, who had seen a nearby river overflow after days of heavy rain.

From his window, he watched the swollen river sweep away trees, massive boulders and vehicles with people trapped inside, banging on the windows and pleading for help.

Driven by instinct, Serrano fled his fourth-floor apartment with his mother, sister and nanny, climbing to the roof. From there, they watched floodwaters engulf the building’s lower floors as massive trees slammed into its columns, fearing it would collapse like others nearby.

Their fears eased at dawn as the rain stopped and the floodwaters began to recede. After waiting in vain for rescue, the family made their way through mud, rocks, debris and fallen trees to his grandparents’ home in a nearby neighborhood.

The 1999 floods and landslides known as the “Vargas Tragedy” killed 782 people, another 2,000 were reported missing and about 250,000 residents were affected, according to Ángel Rangel, who led rescue operations as director of Venezuela’s Civil Protection agency.

Still shaken by the devastation left by the earthquakes, Serrano believes La Guaira — bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the Ávila mountain range — is under a curse.

“It isn’t normal for such horrible things to happen in the same place,” he said.

Rangel, a disaster specialist, sees it differently. The engineer said the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira were built on terrain formed over centuries by sediment carried down from the surrounding mountains.

“That type of terrain is particularly risky for construction,” Rangel said, adding that building in such areas requires “strict adherence to seismic-resistant engineering standards” adopted after the powerful 1967 earthquake that struck Caracas.

Many of the buildings that collapsed in La Guaira were built in the 1970s, and it remains unclear whether they met those standards.

After losing his home and all his belongings, Serrano said he does not know what comes next. But one thing is certain: He will never live in La Guaira again.

“That’s twice now,” he said. “Sometimes I think if there’s a third time, it’s going to win the battle.”

___

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

Born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugees, Kabouli had never seen her parents’ homeland. But more than just making pretty designs, the threads in her needle were stitching a connection to her heritage.

It's known as “tatreez,” and Kabouli, 48, started doing the traditional form of Palestinian embroidery in her teens to make money. Besides an economic lifeline, tatreez has provided her with a bridge to the land her parents fled during the 1948 mass displacement that Palestinians call their Nakba, or catastrophe.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or fled their homes in present day Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel refused their return.

Kabouli's work allows her to send a message of resilience, of survival.

“We’re still here,” she said. “All what has been happening in Gaza … and we’re still standing and we’ll not forget the cause.”

From refugee camps to stitching circles and from museum halls to online classes, many in the Palestinian diaspora communities worldwide engage with tatreez as far more than a decorative aesthetic.

They're finding in it a celebration of cultural heritage, a bridge to their homeland and dispersed communities and — with its myriad embroidered symbols — a visual language of storytelling. To many, refugees or not, it's become a symbol of Palestinian identity and pride, a vehicle for documenting history and a form of resistance.

With the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, some have also used it to raise funds for people there or stitched designs to focus attention on Palestinian suffering in the enclave.

“We had a lot of people who came and they’re like, ‘OK, we want to do a T-shirt with a Gaza chest or we want to do a scarf with the Gaza motif,’” said Ali Jaafar, general manager of Inaash Association, where Kabouli works. The Lebanese organization provides Palestinian women in refugee camps in Lebanon with much-needed income through tatreez, while also aiming to help preserve and promote the heritage. It sells embroidered fashion, home decor and art pieces, and showcases the art form in exhibitions and museums.

Protecting heritage and ‘struggling through culture’

Efforts to preserve and raise awareness about tatreez in Palestinian communities at home and abroad are part of a larger push to safeguard a heritage and connections to a history and a place that many fear are at risk of being erased.

“Palestinian tatreez is an identity and a document of our presence in every Palestinian village and town," said Maha Saca, founder and director of the Palestinian Heritage Center in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, adding that old embroidered thobes, or dresses, show the presence of Palestinians in particular locations before the dispersal of many.

“The Palestinian woman has written the story of her village through motifs from her surrounding environment and her beliefs,” Saca said. “We’re struggling through culture and saying we have roots.”

The Palestinian embroidery art form was added in 2021 to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In New York, Lina Barkawi, whose small business teaches tatreez, said the “constant fight for liberation and having a Palestinian identity that’s recognized globally is really what has been driving a lot of this documentation.”

A generational practice and window into history

In Arabic, tatreez refers to embroidery in general as well as the specific Palestinian form, which is often a social practice taught through generations by grandmothers and mothers. Some seek formal training.

With motifs that Palestinian women had historically adopted from their surroundings, the old embroidered thobes can offer clues through stitched patterns, design and color about facets of a woman's personal story, her environment and regional identity, Saca said.

In the Palestinian context, such connections to time and place, including areas now in Israel, gain added importance as testament to what was, she said. “How do we have a Jaffa thobe if we hadn’t been in Jaffa?" she said. "We write history on our thobes.”

There's also an element of continuity. Saca said her grandmother’s embroidered wedding thobe bears the hallmarks of Bethlehem dresses, and that her own granddaughter’s baptism dress included embroideries copied from that dress.

Tatreez also can be political, both through preservation and creation.

“Just being able to have some of the dresses from pre-1948 is a political act,” Barkawi said.

There's also the making of the so-called “intifada thobe” that included embroidered political and Palestinian symbols, such as the flag. It's linked to the “first intifada,” or uprising, which erupted in 1987 against Israel’s occupation and was met with a fierce Israeli response.

Stitching, mourning and documenting

After the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, fashion designer Hama Hinnawi expressed grief through tatreez work. Tatreez is usually colorful, she said. But that was no moment for color.

The result? Black embroidery on black fabric, a statement of mourning for the killings, destruction and displacement in Gaza. She's also experimented with turning some iconic scenes from the war into new embroidery motifs.

“We have a big responsibility on our shoulders to tell this story, not to be buried for the next generations … through tatreez, through art, through speaking.”

Born in Jordan to Palestinian parents, Hinnawi wanted to bring awareness to heritage through her fashion brand by marrying tatreez with contemporary fashion.

To her, tatreez simply means home. It’s “identity, pride, storytelling,” said Hinnawi, who shuttles between Chicago and Jordan.

She's provided embroidery work opportunities to Palestinian women in refugee camps in Jordan and talked in the U.S. about tatreez. Before the war, she also worked with women in Gaza.

Barkawi runs an online community of Palestinian and non-Palestinian embroiderers, some of whom have created designs sold to raise funds for Gaza families. One incorporates a “water and seeds” motif with an embroidered message to “Feed Gaza Now.”

Members in different countries recreated a tapestry that once hung in a bombed Gaza home, each stitching a part and mailing it to another.

Born in the U.S. to a Palestinian father and Panamanian mother, Barkawi said learning about tatreez deepened her Palestinian identity.

New dresses with woven stories

Embroidering her first thobe took two years. Barkawi incorporated motifs with personal meanings, such as palm trees that represent her name in Arabic. She added orchids, the national flower of Panama, for her mom.

Technically imperfect, it was the perfect dress for her Islamic marriage ceremony.

“I embedded my story as a Palestinian in the diaspora into this dress.”

In Lebanon, Kabouli, too, once dreamed of owning a tatreez piece for her wedding trousseau. She couldn’t afford one.

After their parents died, an older sister had turned to tatreez with Inaash to help support the large family. Kabouli learned from her.

Now a production supervisor at Inaash in Beirut, Kabouli sees her younger self in the women working in refugee camps in Lebanon, many in the south, which was hard hit by the latest Israel-Hezbollah war. The vibrancy of tatreez often contrasts with harsh living conditions in camps amid employment and other restrictions the refugees face. Contending with power cuts, women, eager to finish a piece and get paid, may work on rooftops to grasp the last ray of sunlight, Jaafar said.

Besides the income, Kabouli said doing tatreez can be grounding, almost meditative.

She has another yearning: to see her parents’ homeland. They came from an area in what’s now Israel.

For now, tatreez provides her with hope.

“I don’t feel like I am far away. I keep working on Palestinian heritage, following the cause,” she said. “It connects me to my homeland, especially since we’re deprived of it.”

___

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.

With the shootout tied at 2-all after four rounds, Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made a strong save of Crysencio Summerville's attempt, batting it away with his left hand. Saibari then sent the winner into the low left corner as goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen went the other direction. The midfielder tore off his shirt and screamed with joy as he was mobbed by teammates.

Earlier in the shootout with Morocco trailing 1-0, Verbruggen appeared to have stopped an attempt by Soufiane Rahimi, but the goalkeeper couldn’t secure the ball and deflected it over the line with the back of his leg.

“We know when we do everything on the pitch, it’s God that gives something back to us as well,” Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We give all the energy that we have on the field. Rahimi’s goal could have not been a goal, but it went in thankfully.”

The Netherlands had reached at least the Round of 16 in 11 previous World Cups, including a quarterfinal appearance four years ago in Qatar, when Morocco made a breakthrough run to become the first team from Africa to reach the semifinals. In this year's expanded tournament, 32 teams reached the knockout stage for the first time.

Morocco moves on to face co-host Canada in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Houston. The Atlas Lions previously beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup.

Morocco was on the front-foot for major stretches of the game Monday. The Netherlands instead focused on counterattacking.

“I think Morocco has gained everybody’s respect now,” said Ouahbi, who took over as head coach in March. “I saw (the Netherlands’ style of play) as a form of respect.”

Cody Gakpo scored in the 72nd minute for Netherlands. After the goal, which was assisted by Summerville, the Dutch bench ran onto the field to embrace the 27-year-old Gakpo, who broke down in tears. Gakpo and his partner, Noa van der Bij, recently announced that they lost their unborn child.

Morocco’s Issa Diop tied it in the 91st. Chemsdine Talbi sent a looping cross into the box from about 28 yards out on the left side and connected with Diop for a clean header that Verbruggen had no chance to stop.

Neither team had a strong scoring opportunity in 30 minutes of extra time at Estadio BBVA.

In the second half of extra time, Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman used one of his substitutions to bring on Justin Kluivert. Kluivert was one of three Dutch players to miss his penalty.

“The last substitution I made was to bring in Justin (Kluivert) because he’s one of the best at penalty shootouts,” Koeman said. “But he missed his penalty and that’s even more bitter for him and for us.”

It was the third consecutive time the Netherlands has been eliminated from the World Cup in a penalty shootout.

It was the second game of this tournament to conclude with a shootout. Paraguay beat Germany on penalties earlier Monday.

The teams entered with the highest combined ranking of any Round of 32 match. Morocco was sixth in the world and the Netherlands was seventh.

“We need to be telling ourselves that no one can stop us,” Ouahbi said. “Nobody is unbeatable. If we get things wrong, we’ll go home.”

___

Ethan Wilcox is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

At one fountain, a folk band dipped their toes in the water on Saturday, as festivalgoers clapped along or cooled their hands under the flowing stream.

From Friday to Sunday, singers and alphorn players filled the streets and spontaneous bursts of yodeling echoed through restaurants, where diners initially reacted with surprise before joining in.

In Petersplatz, in central Basel, seamstresses remained on call throughout the festival to repair the traditional Alpine folk costumes worn by participants in case of emergency.

This year, however, it was the fountain rehearsals that became the festival’s defining image, as the city battled record temperatures of around 39 Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).

Around 12,000 performers and nearly 200,000 visitors traveled to Basel for the Eidgenössisches Jodlerfest, Switzerland’s national yodeling festival. It was the first time the northwestern Swiss city hosted the event since 1924.

Swiss yodeling was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2025, making this the first national festival since the tradition received international recognition. It is a distinction many Swiss take great pride in.

Unlike the brighter, more melodic style often associated with Austria and the Tyrol region, Swiss yodeling is slower and more melancholic — an emotionally nuanced tradition rooted in distinct regional dialects.

"I’ve always loved music, and I left here as a child. When I moved back to New Zealand, I wanted to stay connected to Swiss culture, so I joined a New Zealand-Swiss-Kiwi yodeling club,” said Freddie Conquer, a member of Jodlerclub Echo Basel, one of the clubs hosting the festival.

The participants competed in three disciplines: yodeling, alphorn playing and flag-throwing.

The alphorn is a long wooden instrument traditionally used by herdsmen in the Alps. It can stretch to more than 3 meters (10 feet) in length, with its sound carrying across valleys — or, during the festival, through Basel’s streets. It produces all of its pitches using natural harmonics alone, with no valves or keys.

“Everything is down to the mouthpiece, hearing the note in your head, and then using your lips to shape the pitch. The higher the note, the harder you have to blow,” said Pierre-André Karlen, who was rehearsing on a school lawn.

On Sunday morning, participants gathered outside the town hall, eagerly awaiting the competition results. Members of Jodlerklub Balfrin, from the town of Visp in the canton of Valais, were nervously examining the lists and later celebrated loudly after receiving a perfect score of one, one of several such teams.

As flags were carried through the old town during the festival’s closing parade, members of Jodlerklub Muttenz rode past on a tractor to cheers from the crowd. Alphorn players followed — their instruments and costumes almost certainly a burden in the heavy heat, but the smiles remained.

Kean, 57, a second-term lawmaker and scion of a New Jersey political family, represents a battleground district that includes President Donald Trump's Bedminster golf club. He's missed more than 100 votes in Congress this year and hasn't been seen publicly in Washington or his district despite winning the Republican nomination to serve another term.

Kean’s spokesman promised the congressman would return to work Tuesday and be transparent about what has kept him away. Last week, Kean answered the door of his home when a New York Times reporter visited, but declined to be interviewed, saying only that he would speak to them later.

The mystery over Kean's absence carries potential political implications, given the competitive district he represents and the Republican Party's narrow control of the House. His office has said he is still running for reelection and is set to face Democratic nominee Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in New Jersey's most high-profile contest in November.

Democrats have targeted the district as a prime pick-up opportunity, given that the seat has changed hands in the last two midterm elections. Kean won in 2022 by defeating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had defeated Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Kean's last vote was months ago

Kean last voted in the House on March 5, but his absence wasn’t explained.

In April, his social media account said he had been dealing with a personal medical issue and his doctors expected him to recover.

Kean’s absence has also complicated matters for House Republican leaders, who are struggling every day to pass bills with their razor-thin majority, 218-212. Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders repeatedly told reporters they were in touch with Kean, but said he would have to address the circumstances himself.

Trump has endorsed Kean’s reelection, without mentioning his absence.

Kean comes from a long line of public servants, stretching 250 years to the country’s founding when one of his ancestors became New Jersey’s first leader since independence.

His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather was a congressman and his father is the former two-term governor, Tom Kean Sr.

It followed back-to-back rulings last week that barred his two sweeping executive orders seeking to change national election rules, more court rulings preventing his Department of Justice from obtaining detailed state voter data and his stalled attempts to get the Senate to pass the SAVE Act. That measure would eliminate nearly all absentee voting, require citizenship documents to register to vote and impose photo identification requirements nationwide right before the midterm elections.

“It’s been a mixed bag for Republicans,” said University of Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller. But the president, he added, “has come up mostly empty-handed.”

Trump's efforts have not been entirely fruitless. Republican-run states have satisfied his demands to redraw congressional district lines, efforts buoyed by the Supreme Court striking down a key section of the Voting Rights Act, and he has been directing his Department of Justice to investigate voting and election operations, which Democrats see as a possible prelude to their involvement in November.

All the activity around how the nation votes and runs its elections is a reflection of the Republican president's long fixation on his false claim that his 2020 election defeat was rigged. He has been so frustrated by the inability of the Senate to pass the SAVE Act that he has refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill.

He weighed in again Monday after the Supreme Court's decision in the mail ballot deadline case, saying on his social media account that he is trying to “save America from crooked elections.” Voting rights groups and Democrats see him abusing power and attempting to suppress legal voters to gain an advantage in the midterms, when control of Congress is at stake.

Regardless, Muller said Trump faces legal and political realities: The Constitution gives the states and Congress authority over elections while providing no such role for the president.

“That’s how federalism works,” Muller said.

Here’s a look at Trump’s efforts to reshape election rules and what options he might have left for the November midterms.

Focus on noncitizens and voter data has met roadblocks

The president has repeatedly said U.S. elections are riddled with fraud in part because of noncitizen voting. Research shows the problem to be rare, accounting for a minuscule percentage of fraud cases. Convictions are measured in the hundreds over periods in which tens of millions of ballots are cast.

Trump’s view resulted in a multiagency push to nationalize voter data and use federal resources to help states remove voters from the rolls. The Department of Justice has sought detailed voter files from multiple states, data that would include dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers. Democratic and some Republican secretaries of state balked, and federal lawsuits followed. The administration has lost every case so far.

Homeland Security citizenship check rejected in court

Trump's Department of Homeland Security, with help from the DOGE effort led by Elon Musk, revamped a government tool called SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements). The program has been a key pillar of his efforts to cull potentially ineligible voters from state rolls.

Last week, a federal judge blocked its use as a mass citizenship check.

The administration, according to its own news releases, had allowed local election administrators to search users by the thousands, using a wider range of metrics rather than DHS-issued identification numbers. At least 67 million registrations, primarily in Republican-controlled states, were analyzed. Tens of thousands were flagged as potential noncitizens or people who have died, but some voters were wrongly identified as ineligible.

U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ruled that Trump’s changes aggregated Americans’ sensitive personal data in a way that could result in voters being wrongly purged from the rolls.

“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan said in her order.

Executive orders used in place of legislation

As presidents before him, Trump signed executive orders when Congress would not enact his policy preferences.

Trump’s first order reflected his emphasis on noncitizens. Like the SAVE Act pending on Capitol Hill, it sought to require would-be voters to document their citizenship to be able to register to vote.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper put a temporary block on the order last year as she considered the case and last week made her decision permanent. The Constitution, Casper wrote, “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.”

Trump issued a second order in March, as the SAVE Act’s rough path in Congress became obvious. He called for a national voter list using data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration. Further, the order would have empowered the U.S. Postal Service to determine who gets an absentee ballot and threatened local elections officials with prosecution.

Absentee voting is a staple of U.S. elections, but Trump describes the practice, incorrectly, as allowing fraud — even as he has used it himself. A 2025 report by the Brookings Institution found that mail voting fraud occurred in only 0.000043% of total mail ballots cast.

Democratic secretaries of state sued, and U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani made the same legal assessment as Casper. The provisions, she wrote last week, “unconstitutionally violate the separation of powers.”

The White House has indicated it will appeal.

Even Trump says the SAVE Act has long odds

Trump on Monday called the Senate logjam “crazy” and one of the holdouts, Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, “Trump-deranged.”

It’s the latest legislative tussle that prompted Trump to demand Republicans scrap the filibuster, which requires most major legislation to get support from 60 of the 100 senators. But that likely wouldn’t matter in this case, with four of the Senate’s 53 Republicans declaring their opposition to the bill itself: Murkowski, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

The president acknowledged Monday that the SAVE Act is “probably not going to happen.”

Trump still has options for the November elections

Both major parties have national operations to monitor elections, including legal teams ready to file challenges.

Despite the Republican National Committee losing the mail ballot case, Chairman Joe Gruters on Monday alluded to those efforts: “We are not going to be deterred by this decision, and the RNC will keep fighting to have elections end on Election Day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Trump has been developing a possible roadmap for more aggressive actions.

His U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said in June that he had opened multiple election fraud investigations, and he sent a prosecutor to the county's vote-tabulation center after California's June primary. Six months earlier, FBI agents executed a warrant and seized ballots and other records from the 2020 election in Georgia's Fulton County, which includes Atlanta.

Muller, the law professor, said local elections officials “already are having conversations about chain of custody disputes” for ballots as they are cast, collected, counted and stored.

He and UCLA law professor Rick Hasen noted that judicial warrants are required for the kinds of actions that happened in Fulton County. Muller predicted “the bar would be even higher” for any warrant the administration requests during a live election.

Hasen added that he's working to educate judges around the country on the importance of chain of custody for ballots.

“Republicans believe him when he says the election is rigged. And then when Republicans try to change voting rules to tighten things up, that causes Democrats to also think that the election system is being rigged,” Hasen said. “So, if what he’s trying to achieve is undermine voters’ confidence in the election process, he seems to have succeeded spectacularly.”

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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

"Well for a long time, before the civil rights movement, it meant to be more inclined toward states' rights and limited government," says Meacham, the National Constitution Center's Semiquincentennial Scholar. He then pauses, and asks to start over, recalling how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt evoked Jefferson as an “apostle of liberty” who would have supported the U.S. fighting the Nazis in World War II.

You could define it in so many ways. Historians may argue over the “greatness” of individual founders, but as the country's 250th anniversary approaches many agree that no one's life and work resonates like Jefferson's. He embodied the “very best and the very worst” of the United States, Meacham says.

And a great deal in between.

America’s birth is rooted in his most profound contradiction — the man who proclaimed that “all men are created equal” while being a slaveholder to the end of his life. But Jefferson advanced and explored both sides of so many issues and world views that have defined the country's path: agrarian self-sufficiency and worldly innovation, pluralism and separatism, limited government and dreams of an “empire of liberty.”

“There is no more malleable figure in early America than Jefferson,” says Andrew Burstein, a professor of history at Louisiana State University who has summed up Jefferson's legacy in a book he published a decade ago: “Democracy’s Muse: How Thomas Jefferson became an FDR Liberal, a Reagan Republican, and a Tea Party Fanatic, All the While Being Dead.”

“There have been times in American history when just about everyone would have considered themselves ‘Jeffersonian,’" says historian Peter S. Onuf, author of numerous works on Jefferson. “Yet even at those moments, he was a controversial figure.”

It's an argument without end

Jefferson's legacy is debated even in settings that owe their existence to him.

On the campus of the University of Virginia, the college he founded and regarded as a signature achievement, stands a memorial to thousands of enslaved people who lived and worked there.

At Monticello, the mountaintop estate and plantation outside of Charlottesville where Jefferson lived when not in public office, a banner near the entrance features the Declaration and the caption, “After all, our guy wrote it.” But once on the grounds, reminders of his enslavement of hundreds are found throughout, from its “Burial Ground for Enslaved People” that includes dozens of graves to an exhibit dedicated to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman with whom Jefferson is widely believed to have had six children.

Monticello's director of historic interpretation and audience engagement, Brandon Dillard, cites the staff's mission “to tell unflinching stories of America’s complex origins and fitful progress toward the ideals Jefferson articulated in the Declaration of Independence."

Jefferson regarded Monticello as a refuge from the times, but the times inevitably find their way here. A guide on the gardens and grounds tour points out that a foldable plant Jefferson tried and failed to grow — the “Mimosa Pudica,” or “sensitive plant” — now thrives because of climate change. The visitors' center is LEED Gold-certified for green energy, Dillard says, and geothermal systems have been installed in other buildings for temperature control.

Monticello raises questions old and new about race. Virtually all of the guides are white, an issue Dillard notes is prevalent nationwide. A recent survey released by the American Association for State and Local History found that around just 10% of workers at museums, historic sites and historical societies were nonwhite and that many “Latino/a/x, and multiracial respondents reported higher rates of discrimination and harassment.” (Dillard declined to answer in detail the experience of guides of color at Monticello.)

There is a Jefferson for every occasion

Jefferson’s contradictions date back through much of American history; he was claimed by both sides of the Civil War and both sides of the civil rights movement.

Nineteenth-century Confederates and 20th-century segregationists cited his defense of states' rights, while Abraham Lincoln and civil rights leaders emphasized Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence. In the space of a few months in 1963, he would be invoked in the inaugural speech of Alabama Gov. George Wallace as he vowed defiance of federal efforts to integrate the state’s schools and by the Rev. Martin Luther King as he delivered his “I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington.

Roosevelt enlisted Jefferson as an ideological ally for the New Deal (the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., began as a New Deal project) and a former New Dealer-turned conservative, President Ronald Reagan, held up Jefferson decades later as a foe of wasteful spending. Jefferson has been cited often by free-speech advocates for his crucial support for the Bill of Rights, while President Donald Trump has quoted Jefferson's 1807 lament that “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper” as an implicit endorsement of his modern war against “fake news.”

Jefferson has also been placed on either side of today's divide over immigration. Ibram X. Kendi, author of “How to Be an Anti-Racist,” cites his well-documented belief in colonization for Black people as inspiration for contemporary scapegoating and xenophobia. Meanwhile, at a time when the Trump administration is aggressively trying to restrict immigration and even denaturalize some citizens, Monticello continues its decades-old July 4 naturalization ceremonies, with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger scheduled as this year's keynote speaker.

“As new citizens share their personal stories every Fourth of July," Dillard says, “we are reminded that the values uplifted in that Declaration are values toward which people from all backgrounds aspire.”

Many Monticello visitors, many reasons to visit

Monticello attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. They come for many reasons.

Erin Porter is a Virginia native in her 40s who until recently had never been to Monticello and wanted to cross it off her bucket list, while Nathan Jaycox of Connecticut is a former nuclear engineer now seeking to absorb history for a class he hopes to teach. Duane Cromwell, a longtime resident of Vancouver, was here on a very personal mission.

Cromwell, 70, grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, where she was taught that slavery was “an economic necessity” and learned nothing about Jefferson's history of enslavement. In town last month for a family reunion, she arrived at Monticello anxious to get past the “whitewashed Southern version” and the myths of evil “yankees” and the victimized rebels who defied them.

“Did you (ever) notice kudzu growing up over trees and buildings while in the South? It is an invasive plant brought to the region to control erosion. Well, it is like racism. It is pervasive, part of the horizon, always there but soon you don’t notice it,” she says.

“Having said that, I do think that people do go along better, there is more interactions, relationships than when I was growing up. Everyone needs each other and in the South, there is a great sense of humor and friendliness that help people navigate the awkward moments.”

For Cromwell, Monticello was a chance to educate herself, to become a better person — and, like countless others before her, using Thomas Jefferson as a prism.

“Isn’t that what it’s all about?”

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AP National Writer Hillel Italie frequently writes about American history.

The pull to return home to help is real. That isn't an option for Contreras at the moment, so on Monday night against Washington, he did what he could to show that what's happening back home isn't far from his mind.

Contreras unleashed a massive bat flip after ripping a 421-foot homer in what became a 6-3 Boston victory. He then broke down in tears in the dugout, the anguish that's been a constant since portions of his homeland were turned into rubble last week pouring out of him.

“Everything that’s going on in Venezuela, it’s not easy to hide,” Contreras told reporters after the game. "It’s not easy just to show up and play with everything that is going on in my country.”

The urge to do something, anything, to help is real. Contreras looked toward the Boston dugout and shouted “Venezuela” before making the trip around the bases following a three-run shot that marked his 18th homer of the season.

“I feel like I could be there helping people and I can’t do that,” Contreras said. “And the homer just represents something that I pray to God for it to happen, because that’s the only thing I can do for Venezuela right now physically. And that’s why I was emotional.”

The 34-year-old Contreras was born in Puerto Cabello, about three hours west of the capital of Caracas. He described frustration over reports of volunteers and aid packages having trouble getting through to those who need it.

“It sucks seeing so many bad things going on in Venezuela,” he said. “I don’t think we deserve all of this. We’re a good people. Good country. We are good people.”

Contreras' night on the field ended a bit early. First base umpire Nic Lentz ejected him in the second inning after Lentz ruled Contreras failed to check his swing on a Miles Mikolas pitch that ended up being a strikeout.

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

The special public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 30, 2026, at 7:15 p.m. in the Board Room at the Montgomery County Government Center, 755 Roanoke St. #1A, Christiansburg, Va.

How the overspending came to light

County staff learned of the budget breach on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 24, 2026, when MCPS notified them that the school system had exceeded its legal spending authority for FY 2026. The following day, June 25, both the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and the Montgomery County School Board were formally notified.

MCPS is estimated to have overspent its budget by approximately $4 million. The Board of Supervisors had appropriated $158 million to MCPS operations for FY 2026 — roughly two-thirds, or 67 percent, of Montgomery County’s total budget for the fiscal year. The remaining one-third funded public safety, general government administration, judicial administration, general services, health and welfare, parks and recreation, community development, and other agencies.

County officials say the overspending is not connected to state or federal budget issues.

What happens at Tuesday’s meeting

At the June 30 session, the Board of Supervisors will consider an appropriation resolution to provide immediate funding to MCPS, ensuring teacher and staff salaries and other outstanding expenses from the final quarter of FY 2026 can be paid.

Board of Supervisors Chair April DeMotts addressed the urgency directly.

“We do hope that Montgomery County Public Schools will be able to provide that level of detail in the coming days,” DeMotts said. “At this time, the emergency is making sure that we have the funds available to pay Montgomery County Public Schools staff and teachers.”

The board will also detail how MCPS will repay the county for the emergency appropriation. Because the spending exceeded MCPS’s legal authority, the funds must come from the county’s general fund — and supervisors want that money back.

“One other item that the board of supervisors will be detailing via resolution tomorrow night is how the funds that we appropriate from the county’s general fund will be repaid to Montgomery County because this is in excess of their legal spending authority for fiscal year 26,” DeMotts said. “This is money that has to come from the county’s general fund, and so we are interested in making sure that the county’s general fund is reimbursed for this expenditure.”

That reimbursement is expected to come from MCPS in fiscal year 2027. It will not include the separate FY 2027 funding the board already appropriated to MCPS on June 8, 2026.

The cause of the overspending has not yet been determined.

State law and potential consequences

Virginia law limits how much a school board can spend in any fiscal year. Under Code of Virginia § 22.1-91, no school board may expend or contract to expend any amount above the funds available for school purposes without the consent of the governing body that appropriated the funds. Any school board member, division superintendent, or school officer who violates — or votes to violate — that provision can be found guilty of malfeasance in office.

How residents can weigh in

Tuesday’s special meeting is a business meeting with one action item — consideration of an appropriation and budget amendment. It will not include a public comment period.

“The public meeting tomorrow night is a business meeting with one action item on the agenda, which is a consideration of an appropriation in the budget amendment,” DeMotts said. “There will not be the opportunity for public comment tomorrow night, but we do encourage citizens to reach out to the board of supervisors either via email, by phone, or by coming to our next regularly scheduled meeting on July 13th at 7:15 p.m.”

Portland sent forwards Jerami Grant and Kris Murray to the Grizzlies as part of the deal.

It’s a big swing by the Trail Blazers and could suggest Portland — with new owner Tom Dundon, whose Carolina Hurricanes just won the Stanley Cup — might not be done making moves. Morant adds to a logjam at point guard right now for Portland, with Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard and Scoot Henderson also on the current roster.

Morant has averaged 22.4 points for his career but has played only 79 games over the last three seasons because of injuries and suspensions — including a 25-game banishment after he was seen on a livestream holding a gun while he was in the passenger seat of a vehicle. That came not long after an eight-game suspension for flashing a gun in a Denver-area nightclub, also captured on social media.

The suspensions, combined, cost Morant — who was Rookie of the Year after being the No. 2 selection in the 2019 draft, as well as the league's Most Improved Player in 2021-22 when he appeared to be on a path toward superstardom — about $9 million in lost salary. He said in April 2025 that he's made his peace with being a lightning rod for constant criticism.

“I’m kind of used to it,” Morant said at that time. “I was pretty much a villain for two years now. Every little thing, if somebody can say something negative about me, it’s going to be out there. So, yeah. I don’t care no more.”

Grant averaged 18.6 points last season for Portland and will be joining his sixth team by going to Memphis. Murray averaged 5.8 points this past season for the Trail Blazers.

Morant's MIP-award year in 2021-22 saw Memphis win 56 games, tying a franchise record. That team was built around a young core four of Morant, Dillon Brooks, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane.

And now, they're all gone. Brooks played only one more season with the Grizzlies after that and has changed teams twice since, Bane went to Orlando last summer and Jackson was traded to Utah in February.

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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

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

He made his first start a memorable one.

Canale scored on the first sudden-death penalty kick, Orlando Gill made two key saves in the shootout, and Paraguay beat Germany 4-3 on penalties Monday to earn the biggest upset of the 2026 World Cup.

It was a major triumph for the landlocked South American country of 7 million people that's surrounded by soccer giants like Argentina and Brazil. And it was the latest surprising exit by Germany, a four-time champion that has struggled at the World Cup since it last lifted the trophy in 2014.

“I think we deserved one more game and to be honest, considering everything that was said, everything we went through,” Canale said. “What I want to highlight from our team is how united we are. ... Today was a game we really needed to show our true colors.”

Paraguayans celebrated in the streets of the capital, Asunción, screaming, jumping and hugging when the match ended. Some cried and dropped to their knees in disbelief, with the familiar beat of the team’s song “Soy Albirrojo” reverberating through the crowd.

Paraguay became the first team to defeat Germany in a penalty shootout at the World Cup. The Germans missed three of six penalty tries, the last by Jonathan Tah, who blasted his attempt high over the crossbar in the first sudden-death round, setting up Canale for the winner. Tah's miss followed a save by German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer of Fabian Balbuena's attempt that would have won it for Paraguay.

Tah also thought he had the go-ahead goal in extra time. He headed in a corner kick by Nathaniel Brown in the 102nd minute, but officials concluded after a video review that Waldemar Anton has pushed Gill to the ground before the shot and the goal was disallowed.

The Round of 32 match ended 1-1 after extra time. Paraguay took the lead when Julio Enciso scored on a header late in the first half, but Kai Havertz equalized in the 52nd minute for Germany.

“We had to analyze every player, every detail. Thanks to that I was able to only miss two penalties,” Gill said. “This is for all the people of Paraguay.”

Paraguay, which entered the match ranked 41st by FIFA, became the deepest betting long shot to win a match in this World Cup. Germany came in as the 10th-ranked team in the world.

The Paraguayans will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between France and Sweden in the Round of 16 on Saturday in Philadelphia. A win on the 250th anniversary of the United States' founding would send Paraguay back to Foxborough for the quarterfinals on July 9.

Germany had won six of seven penalty shootouts in major tournaments, including six straight since losing to Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final.

“It’s not enough for German football,” coach Julian Nagelsmann said.

In the only previous World Cup match between the teams, Germany beat Paraguay 1-0 in the round of 16 at the 2002 tournament. Nearly a quarter-century later, Paraguay got its revenge.

Paraguay had appeared in five previous knockout games but failed to score in each. It had advanced only once, winning on penalty kicks against Japan in the round of 16 at the 2010 tournament in South Africa. It fell that year to eventual champion Spain in the quarterfinals.

Monday was Germany’s first knockout game since the 2014 final in Brazil, when the Germans beat Argentina 1-0. The Germans were eliminated in the group stage at the last two tournaments.

“We had very big plans for this World Cup. It’s very difficult to disappoint again,” Havertz said. “It was difficult to create chances and keep the pace.”

Paraguay broke the early stalemate in the 42nd minute Monday with some perfect ball movement to set up Enciso.

Miguel Almiron split Germany’s Aleksandar Pavlovic and Nathaniel Brown with a left-footed pass to Matias Galarza. Galarza sent a cross to Enciso, who was unmarked by Germany’s defenders and easily headed it past Neuer.

In the second half, Havertz took a cross from Florian Wirtz, which he got just enough head on to redirect it past Gill.

Germany, whose 10 goals in the group stage was tied for the most of any team, struggled to find a way through Paraguay’s 4-5-1 setup. The Germans had 78% of the possession in the first half.

Paraguay was without defender Omar Alderete, who left with an injury in the second half of its 0-0 draw against Australia. Canale started in his place.

Paraguay opened the World Cup with a 4-1 loss to the United States, then beat Turkey 1-0 while playing the entire second half with 10 men. A scoreless draw against Australia was good enough for Paraguay to reach the knockout stage as the third-place finisher from Group D.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The firefighters were part of a specialized crew that goes into remote areas by helicopter to quickly put out new and rapidly escalating wildfires, federal officials said Monday.

Their deaths Saturday came almost 13 years to the day since an elite crew of 19 wildland firefighters died when they were trapped in a steep canyon in Yarnell, Arizona.

Like this weekend's victims, the men in Arizona tried to deploy emergency shelters that are a “last resort” for firefighters when there's no other way out. Investigators didn't blame anyone for the deaths in 2013, but cited radio communication problems that contributed to the Granite Mountain Hotshots becoming trapped. Arizona's workplace safety commission also fined the state's forestry division for not pulling them out.

Wildfires have erupted over the past week all across the West, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow in some places this past winter. Wildfire experts have warned for months that extreme fire dangers are likely this summer.

U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said he would not speculate about whether the crew overrun by the weekend fire in Colorado should have been where they were.

“I will say the fact that they were there was, I’m 100% sure, based on good decision-making,” Fennessy said during a news conference Monday. “The fires in this region over the decades, you know, killed many firefighters. They weren’t being foolish. They weren’t being careless. They were there because they thought they could do what needed to be done to suppress that fire. And many times the weather changes.”

With more than two dozen large fires burning, almost 8,000 wildland firefighters and dozens of firefighting helicopters have been deployed. About half the largest blazes are in Alaska while the rest are mostly in Western states.

Even as firefighting resources were increasingly strained, evacuations were ordered near seven fires, including in Arizona, Washington state, New Mexico and Utah. About 800 people living in and around the small town of Beulah in eastern Colorado were told to evacuate as a wildfire threatened the area on Monday afternoon, Gov. Jared Polis said.

“We're really at the mercy of the winds,” Polis said.

Firefighters were part of a specialized crew

The U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department identified the firefighters killed as Emily Barker, 38, of Clinton Township, Michigan; Nick Hutcherson, 27, of Glendale, Arizona; and Sydney Watson, 26, of Warrior, Alabama.

Two others who were with them sustained burn injuries. They were in stable condition but remained hospitalized in the Denver area, officials said at Monday's news conference.

“The loss we experience here is not felt by just one agency. It is felt by an entire wildland fire community,” Fennessy said. “We grieve together, we support one another and we continue the mission together.”

A long line of fire trucks and vehicles from a wide array of emergency response agencies made their way slowly through Grand Junction, Colorado, Monday with their lights flashing. A scattering of people, some with their hands on their hearts, watched silently from the sidewalk as they passed.

The procession ended at a cemetery, and the bodies of two of the firefighters draped in American flags were taken into a funeral home as officials from fire agencies saluted.

The three killed were assigned to a Helitack crew that can be dropped into remote areas by helicopters and whose mission is to prevent new fires from growing into out-of-control blazes. But it can be extremely dangerous, often taking place in areas where fires are rapidly expanding.

Watson worked for the Wildland Fire Service and the other two firefighters who died were assigned to the Forest Service. All were part of an interagency response to fires just west of Grand Junction.

The Snyder Fire in the area has burned about 44 square miles (114 square kilometers), authorities said.

Watson's death was the first within the the new Wildland Fire Service, which was created within the Department of Interior earlier this year to coordinate firefighting on public lands.

The deaths are being investigated by the Forest and Wildland Fire services, a process that typically results in recommendations for how to prevent or reduce the risk of a similar accident. Agencies can also convene an accident review board to suggest any further actions.

High wildfire threat for much of this week

More hot, dry and windy weather across the Southwest will elevate the fire threat at least until the weekend, according to the national Storm Prediction Center.

Among the concerns were high winds in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, in the Black Hills of South Dakota and across portions of the High Plains.

Utah already has restricted firework usage going into the July Fourth holiday.

The national “preparedness level” for wildfires was increased to a 4, on a scale of 1 to 5, the National Interagency Fire Center said Monday. That’s a sign resources are beginning to be strained, and officials warned of a high potential for new, large fires in multiple parts of the country in coming days.

There are enough firefighting resources for now across the Rocky Mountains to deal with the blazes, said Mike Morgan, director of Colorado’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control. But that could change quickly if conditions worsen in other parts of the country, Morgan said, adding that crews that battle fires on the ground already are in short supply.

“We know hand crews are always a hot commodity. We're getting a little short on those, so that would be one I would say we're a little concerned with,” Morgan said. “At the moment, I would say I feel pretty good about where we're at, but I'm very concerned about where we go.”

So far this year, wildfires have burned more than 4,800 square miles (12,400 square kilometers) — the most by this point in the year since 2022 and significantly above the 10-year average.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts and that they planned to convene Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

But one of Iran's senior negotiators denied talks had been scheduled. And the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said Tehran was sending its delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, to discuss terms of the interim deal without involving the U.S.

Hostilities mounted in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil had been shipped before war began. After four days of trading strikes, both sides appeared to pause their attacks Monday.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed oil sanctions on the country, calls for free traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

Confusion mounts over next round of Iran-US talks

After Trump said Monday morning on social media that the U.S. and Iran planned to meet, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, were flying to Qatar.

Pakistan, also a key mediator, had said talks between Iran and the U.S. would resume Tuesday.

But Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator for Iran, said in comments published by Iranian state media that no talks had been confirmed. And Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, said that its delegation was traveling to Qatar this week to discuss the planned release of frozen Iranian assets and other issues related to the deal.

“There are no negotiation meetings with the U.S. side at any level scheduled in the coming days,” Baghaei said.

However, that left open the possibility messages being passed to the Qataris between the two sides.

Increased tension in waterway vital to world energy supplies

During the war that began Feb. 28, Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the Strait of Hormuz, creating a global energy crisis.

In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — following efforts to open Oman’s territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf.

The attacks drew retaliatory American airstrikes and raised concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite being in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

The Trump administration was operating Monday on the understanding that the U.S. and Iran are standing down after the recent back-and-forth strikes and that vessels can move freely through the Strait of Hormuz, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

Iran's president, U.S. official say $6 billion coming to Iran

The U.S. official also said that Qatar planned to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets that would be used to purchase U.S. food products for the Iranian people.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had announced the expected release of funds earlier Monday in comments published by the state-run IRNA news agency.

Pezeshkian, a reformist within Iran's theocracy, is the highest-ranking official within Iran to reference the release of the funds held by Qatar.

Oman, Iran discuss possible fees for ships transiting the strait

Oman's foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi, said Monday that Oman and Iran are considering charging service-related fees for commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Al-Busaidi said services could include water safety measures, pollution prevention, navigational assistance and preparedness for incidents such as fires. He told Radio Monte Carlo that Oman does not support imposing transit fees on ships.

“This is internationally forbidden," he said, "and we are abiding by these rules."

But there had never been any fees charged in the strait — and other Gulf Arab states and the U.S. firmly oppose the imposition of any costs for transit.

Iran and France clash over clearing mines from strait

An Iranian official warned France against “provocations” Monday after French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that France and others were coordinating efforts to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz.

Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister, said on X that under the interim deal “demining is carried out solely by Iran and by no other country.”

Macron's post came after he greeted Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman ahead of high-level diplomatic talks in Paris.

Lebanon's president says it will deploy troops as part of deal with Israel

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun separately said Monday that Lebanon is determined to deploy troops along its entire southern border as part of a framework agreement with Israel signed Friday. He made the remark while meeting with Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East.

The deal was rejected by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which triggered the latest war with Israel on March 2 when it fired rockets across Lebanon's southern border and into northern Israel.

The Israel-Lebanon deal calls for Hezbollah to be disarmed before Israel will withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. Israel agreed to withdraw initially from a couple of “pilot zones” where the Lebanese army would then deploy, but no details have been shared about how that will work in practice.

Hezbollah officials have warned that attempts to implement the plan could lead to civil war.

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Boak reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Bassem Mroue and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut; Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Dong had been locked up in China several times, including for his activities commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and past efforts to flee.

“It’s like living in a cage. Very suffocating,” he said in an online video interview with The Associated Press from Toronto, referring to the lack of freedom of expression in China.

After his release from prison, the 68-year-old dissident said he was unable to receive retirement benefits or renew his passport and was under constant police monitoring.

China's Foreign Ministry said the government handles the entry and exit of its citizens in accordance with the law and that Chinese citizens must abide by the Constitution and the law.

Dong attempted to flee at least three previous times: in 2015 to Thailand, where authorities deported him back to China; in 2019 when he tried to swim to a Taiwanese island off China's east coast; and in 2020, when he reached Vietnam, only to be deported back again.

Last month, he tried again.

Dong says he shook off the fear of death

In the early hours of May 24, he set off in a gray rubber dinghy fitted with an engine from Weihai, a coastal city in eastern China’s Shandong province, under fine weather. He was eyeing Japan, confident that the government there would not send him back to China.

But the next day brought fog. When he noticed his phone, which he relied on for GPS navigation, was on its last bar, he became terrified. His power bank also died. He quickly switched to his contingency plan — South Korea.

Dong recalled that dread ran deep because his tiny boat might capsize if the winds and waves picked up. But he had no way to return and shook off the fear of death.

“Living conditions back in the country are so terrible that being alive is little different than being dead. So there is no point fearing death,” he said. “If you move forward, there’s a chance at life.”

In the evening, he saw lights in the distance and moved toward them. The first vessel could not hear his cries for help and left. Later, he encountered a fishing boat that agreed to pull him on board. He asked the fishers to call the police to help him.

The South Korean coast guard detained him for allegedly violating the country’s immigration law. They sought a warrant to formally arrest him, but a court refused, saying it’s “difficult to recognize sufficient grounds and necessity” for his arrest.

From refugee center to Canada

Dong was later sent to a refugee center in Incheon, a port city near Seoul. Earlier this month, the U.N. refugee agency contacted him via video call, he said.

A refugee center manager later asked about his height, weight and his eye color. He was worried at first but it turned out to be a good sign. His lawyer told him it was at the request of the Canadian diplomatic mission, he said.

About a week later, Dong boarded a flight and he arrived in Toronto Friday. He was still unclear what legal procedures were involved in his move, but guessed it was based on cooperation between the South Korean and Canadian governments and the U.N. agency.

“I feel very surprised, extremely surprised. It's like still in a dream. It's very fast,” he said.

He believed the resettlement status in Canada that his family secured in 2015, before Thai authorities deported him back to China, was still valid.

The Canadian Embassy in South Korea declined to comment on Dong's case. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the country handled the case “in accordance with law and principle,” but did not specify Seoul’s role in arranging Dong’s transfer to Canada. The U.N. refugee agency declined to comment on individual cases for reasons of confidentiality and protection.

Dong vows to press on with his activism

Dong said he feels at home after arriving in Toronto, saying he finally tasted freedom for the first time in over a decade.

“There’s not even a hint of fear,” he said.

He hopes to make a living, possibly by being a truck driver or an Uber driver.

But the joy doesn't help Dong let go of the deportations by the Thai and Vietnamese authorities.

In 2015, Dong and his family went to Thailand to seek refugee status from the U.N. refugee agency, but Thai authorities later arrested him and returned him to China, according to Amnesty International. His ex-wife and daughter managed to settle in Canada.

The activist fled to Vietnam in 2020, but was sent back in 2022. He was jailed each time he was returned to China. He said he plans to consult a lawyer to see if he can sue both Thailand and Vietnam.

For Dong, the fight is far from over. He also plans to press on in his call for China's democratization.

In the late 1990s, the former police officer distributed leaflets with his articles on topics such as the Tiananmen crackdown. He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 for inciting subversion of state power.

He also spent more than eight months behind bars over his participation in a memorial for victims of the crackdown after being arrested in 2014, he said.

“My ultimate goal is for China to achieve constitutional democracy,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

But all is not perfect in one of South Asia’s best-known lakes. Pollution from local buildings, invasive plant species that threaten biodiversity and declining water levels, in part due to climate-driven heat, are threatening the long-term existence of Dal Lake and hundreds of other lakes in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

It takes constant effort by workers employed by the local government to keep Dal Lake's weeds at bay, and they must take precautions to avoid skin irritation from the polluted water. Yet it could be worse for the lake, which is located in Kashmir's most populous city, Srinagar. It's one of the few lakes in the region to receive sustained restoration work.

“We are afraid to touch the water with bare hands. Whenever we need to clean something by hand, we wear gloves, because without them our hands quickly develop allergies,” Ghulam Rasool, a weed cleaner employed by the local government, said on a recent afternoon.

Rasool said that sometimes it feels impossible to keep the lake clean.

“Sewage drains flow directly into the lake, and water streams coming from the mountains are bringing waste such as diapers and other garbage,” he said.

A combination of climate-driven changes, pollution and unplanned development is accelerating a decline in Indian lakes, with consequences rippling from fragile ecosystems to fishing communities and the tourism economy.

An Indian government report last year found that of the region’s 697 natural lakes, 315 have disappeared and 203 have shrunk since 1967. Hundreds recorded in earlier decades have been reduced to shallow marshes, seasonal wetlands or, in some cases, replaced by farmland and other development.

Homes and farms encroach upon lakes

Lakes in Kashmir have always been centers of activity, including Dal Lake’s famous floating markets where locals sell everything from vegetables to souvenirs. However, recent decades have seen the lakes’ boundaries shrink due to unpredictable rainfall, increased sediment from rivers and encroachment by farmland and houses. Small islands of farmland or long wooden bridges leading to illegal homes are becoming an increasingly common sight.

Farmland and homes creeping into what was once lake land is apparent in an aerial view of Dal Lake. Cattle graze freely on newly formed farmland even as the traditional fishers try to make their daily quota nearby.

Untreated sewage flowing into the lakes results in the growth of weeds, which feed off nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients in the waste. Plastics and other garbage dirty the lake. Dozens of weed cleaners try to clear Dal Lake every day, and small mounds of cleared weeds can be seen at various spots across the lake. Excavators and other heavy machinery are also used to pull weeds and garbage from the lake.

While acknowledging that more funds and work are needed, local government officials said they are trying their best. A government-run lake authority started in 1997 includes civil engineers, scientists, forest officials and local police officials.

While more than 75% of Srinagar’s population is connected to sewage treatment systems, sewage from the unconnected houses is a major contributor to lake pollution, said Muzamil Ahmad Rafiqui, superintending engineer for Kashmir’s Lake Conservation and Management Authority.

Climate change worsens lake depletion

Some of the world’s warmest years have meant that the Himalayan region is warming faster than the global average. Earlier snowmelt, reduced snowfall and more intense rainfall events are disrupting the timing and volume of water that feeds rivers and lakes.

Sher Muhammad, a glaciologist with the Kathmandu-headquartered International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, said the shifting, unpredictable patterns mean lakes now face periods of sudden inflow followed by prolonged stress during drier months.

The melting of the region's glaciers has also increased the amount of sediment carried downstream into the lakes. While the melting of glaciers can spur an initial boost in water flow, over time it will reduce the natural water storage that sustains rivers and lakes during dry periods, experts said.

Climate change has been devastating for Kashmir, said Irfan Rashid, an environmental scientist at the Srinagar-based University of Kashmir. “It has impacted every sector of our economy,” he said. Rashid said hydropower-generating capacity, tourism and highly valued apple and saffron farms have all been hit by erratic, extreme weather in recent years.

Fishing communities feel the brunt

Fishers at Wular Lake, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Srinagar, said the lake has become shallower, its surface fragmented by new patches of vegetation. Parts of its catchment area have been taken over by tree plantations. Navigation has become harder, and fewer fish remain.

Abdul Rasheed, a 45-year-old fisherman, said he used to earn around 1,000 rupees ($11) a day. Now it's only 100 to 200 rupees ($1 to $2) for an entire night of fishing.

“There are a lot of changes since my childhood,” said Rasheed.

As is the case with many other lakes in Kashmir, agricultural and residential development has encroached on the lake, while untreated sewage and farm runoff have hurt its water quality. Indeed, the surface in several areas is a green gunk. The most recent detailed study of Wular Lake, conducted by the conservation group Wetlands International in 2007, found that the lake had shrunk by 45% over the preceding century. The report also emphasized that the degradation of the lake increases flood risks in the Kashmir valley because it was traditionally the biggest buffer for overflows from the Jhelum River.

Many fishers at Wular Lake said they don't believe future generations will be able to live off fishing.

Bashir Ahmed, a 55-year-old who has fished in the lake for decades, said in the past a young person with no fishing experience could return home with 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of fish.

“Now even a skilled fisherman comes home with no more than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds),” he said.

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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India, and can be followed on X at @sibi123. Follow Dar Yasin on Instagram at @daryasinap

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed to take her outrage “right to the White House and Congress” to seek assurances the DEA is no longer using the risky law enforcement strategy in New Mexico — and that it is not being replicated elsewhere. Overdoses have surged in New Mexico, even as fentanyl deaths declined in other states.

“This is a stunning failure by the federal government,” the governor told reporters at a news conference in the state medical examiner's office in Albuquerque, joining a host of state and local law enforcers and officials demanding answers. “It’s disgusting and despicable.”

The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson noted that President Donald Trump has classified fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction” and signed into law legislation cracking down on the synthetic opioid.

“Sadly, the United States is still recovering from Biden’s border crisis and the damage it caused,” Jackson wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “President Trump has totally secured the border and has taken bold actions to combat the scourge of fentanyl in American society.”

Lujan Grisham's remarks came a week after AP reported that DEA agents repeatedly monitored — but did not seize — shipments of fentanyl as part of an effort to build bigger criminal cases between 2023 and 2025.

Current and former DEA agents, including whistleblower David Howell, told AP the strategy amounted to a gamble with public safety and may have violated U.S. Justice Department rules intended to safeguard the public.

The DEA initially denied Howell’s allegations in a statement to AP. But the agency later called upon the Justice Department’s independent watchdog to conduct its own investigation.

The fentanyl went unseized amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history and as the DEA led a public awareness campaign — “One Pill Can Kill” — emphasizing that even a few milligrams of the substance can be lethal.

New Mexico has responded swiftly to the revelations. Last week, the state's attorney general announced a criminal investigation to determine whether any federal officials broke state law by knowingly exposing New Mexico residents to the synthetic opioid.

“We’re going to protect the rest of the United States from this kind of foul, ‘I need a big case' effort no matter what the consequences,” Lujan Grisham said. “We’re angry because it’s immoral.”

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said fentanyl represents his city's “No. 1 challenge,” driving crime and homelessness and straining health care resources.

“Using us in some sort of uninformed, undisciplined experiment that’s literally killing our people — that’s what this is,” he said. “This should outrage every single New Mexican.”

Trump last week shared a link on his Truth Social page to an article attributing the scandal to the “Biden-run Justice Department.” In a statement to AP last week, the Justice Department similarly said “the alleged conduct occurred under the Biden Administration’s disastrous open border policies.”

Howell first came forward during the Biden administration in 2023 — and was sidelined for doing so — but he continued to flag unseized fentanyl shipments as recently as last year, and the largest he documented happened two months into Trump's second term, a 1.8-million pill haul DEA learned about but did not intercept in March 2025.

Howell also revealed that the Justice Department in 2024 changed internal guidelines that had urged agents to seize fentanyl whenever “practicable,” affording them more discretion to preserve longer-term investigations. Empower Oversight, the whistleblower advocacy group representing Howell, called on the Justice Department Monday to reinstate those earlier protocols so authorities “try to seize fentanyl whenever there is probable cause.”

Lujan Grisham has criticized both administrations as not doing enough to stem the tide of fentanyl in New Mexico, and pointed to the death last year of a 15-month-old girl who reportedly swallowed some of her mother's drugs in Española, a town ravaged by grinding poverty and addiction.

It is not clear whether any fatal overdoses in the state can be directly attributed to the DEA strategy. While overdose deaths nationwide fell 14% last year, government data show New Mexico tallied a 21% spike.

“Somebody must pay for the damage to the state, the public safety risks that will be shared by everyone here for a decade or more, and pay to try to right the wrongs and put people’s lives back together,” she said.

Lujan Grisham, who will leave office at year's end after two terms as governor, said the worst part of being an elected leader is having to face the victims of what she called “senseless” devastation and loss.

“There are no words that can take away that pain,” she said, adding their experiences cannot be dismissed by politics as usual. “Whatever we can do to prevent the next loss for the next family, is the work that we’re all collectively doing.”

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Mustian and Goodman reported from Miami.

Sonderling, a lawyer who has held a variety of acting positions and leadership roles across Trump's government, was previously the deputy labor secretary and a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Throughout his career, Keith has proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country, and I know he will do an incredible job in his new role,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Sonderling's nomination.

Sonderling's nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.

During Trump's second term, in addition to his Labor Department post, Sonderling has been the acting director of U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one of several agencies Trump targeted for closure in an executive order last year.

At the library agency, Sonderling placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board. Those actions were later blocked by a judge, and the case remains on appeal.

Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April following reports that she was under a series of investigations.

A New York Times report revealed that the Labor Department’s inspector general was reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members.

She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job and that she tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.

Chavez De-Remer has denied wrongdoing.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will have to write an apology letter to each survivor as part of the settlement.

The settlement also requires the archdiocese to implement a series of child protection and transparency reforms, including creating a list of clergy accused of abuse, said Jeff Anderson, an attorney representing dozens of child sexual abuse victims.

The settlement comes three years after the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy and will cover approximately 530 survivors of child sexual abuse, Anderson said. It is the latest agreement over clergy sexual abuse claims. In 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to a record $880 million settlement.

Several archdioceses in California filed for bankruptcy after facing hundreds of lawsuits brought under a California law approved in 2019 that allowed decades-old claims to be filed by Dec. 31, 2022.

Cordileone, the archbishop, said in a statement that he believes the settlement provides “a path toward fair compensation for survivors who have borne the weight of this abuse for a lifetime.”

“The hope is that this proposal will allow us collectively to move forward,” he said.

“We accept full responsibility for what happened, and I sincerely apologize to all those who have been harmed,” Cordileone added.

Margie O’Driscoll sued the archdiocese alleging she was sexually abused almost 50 years ago by a priest while she was a student at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, a community north of the Golden Gate Bridge. She said the settlement was hard-fought and puts the responsibility on church officials, not survivors.

“I, like every survivor, have carried this pain and shame along like a ball and chain for a very, very long time,” O'Driscoll said during a news conference. “Ashamed and confused about what happened, scorned by the archdiocese, and sometimes not even believed by family and friends, and I think today shame is gonna change sides.”

The San Francisco Archdiocese serves about 440,000 Catholics in the counties of San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo.

Anderson said a committee of survivors who spent thousands of hours over the last three years negotiating with Cordileone is empowered with establishing protocols on how to distribute the funds. He said every survivor will be given an opportunity to submit their story of abuse to an allocator hired by the committee to receive what Anderson said would be “an equitable distribution based on the unique circumstances of that survival.”

Besides the funds, the archdiocese will be required to follow 14 child protection and transparency demands that include maintaining and making public a comprehensive, up-to-date list of all accused clergy that details allegations and the outcomes of investigations. The archdiocese will also be banned from imposing confidentiality agreements that silence survivors.

“I’ve been working with survivors for decades and I’ve never heard of anything quite as significant, as rigorous, as robust as what is being required of the Archdiocese of San Francisco," Anderson said.

Forty-seven million people across big chunks of the Midwest and parts of the Ohio Valley are under an extreme heat warning through at least Tuesday. Temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s, with heat index values, or “feels-like” temperatures, expected to top 100 degrees (37.8 degrees Celsius) in the region, according to the National Weather Service.

Visiting Des Moines with family, Rachel Washburn searched for things to do with kids during a heat wave. They landed at a water sprayground before lunch Monday, where her children played tag in the cool water.

“My kids were quite shocked at the heat and humidity,” said Washburn of her seven children ages 18 months to 17 who had been used to more temperate weather farther north in Bemidji, Minnesota. “We were hoping for some good weather, but we'll make do.”

About 56 million Americans are under an extreme heat watch as hot and humid weather is expected to move farther east later in the week, with some of the worst conditions expected by Thursday and Friday in the Ohio Valley, the Mid-Atlantic and into the Northeast. Some areas could experience record-high temperatures, said Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

On Monday, cities and event planners were already announcing adjustments for or calling off events later in the week, including a farmer's market scheduled for Tuesday in DeWitt, Michigan; a movie screening Wednesday in Fairfield, Ohio; and Thursday’s food truck festival in Warwick, New York.

The heat wave will also likely coincide with the Fourth of July holiday weekend, providing additional risk as more people have cookouts or watch fireworks outside for the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Kleebauer said the center recommends people stay hydrated and ensure access to shady areas and air conditioning.

Emergency workers were out in Nashville on Monday to offer water and check on people during the hottest time of the day.

Mike Russell, a captain at the Nashville Office of Emergency Management, said he saw many empty areas where people typically sleep outside, which he said was a good sign that they found someplace cool to escape the heat for a while.

Logan King, 29, brought a cart to fill up on cold water and snacks when the emergency workers came out to a patch of woods behind a Walmart where he and others sleep outside. The trees where people have pitched tents offer some cover from the direct sun, but not much relief.

“It’s just miserable honestly, but this helps so much,” King said. “Even with the shade and a tent ... it gets hot."

Extreme heat has also taken its toll in Europe, where temperature records were set and many heat-related deaths were reported in France.

People can be caught off guard by the first heat wave of the year, said Dr. Roy Elrod, chief of staff at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital.

“You’re happy winter’s gone, you’re ready to enjoy the summer, you’ve just been aching for it,” Elrod said. “And so, I think we slip into kind of a position where we think it’s got to be OK.”

Heat-related injuries can happen in a matter of minutes, he said, especially to those who don’t prepare for the weather by hydrating, wearing light clothing, avoiding the hottest times of the day and minimizing exposure to the sun.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison said it was closing 23 buildings to the public starting Tuesday, allowing only limited access to 11 others. It was relocating some summer classes after a broken water line at its cooling plant earlier this month severely reduced the ability to provide air conditioning across campus.

Temperatures approaching 90 degrees and high humidity didn’t stop Toni Kreutzer, 28, from taking a walk Monday along the shores of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, with her 13-year-old dog Chester.

“I like it hot,” Kreutzer said. "I just don’t like the humidity."

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McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Kristin M. Hall in Nashville and Haya Panjwani in Washington, D.C., contributed.

The world's most popular sporting event is being played in North America, so U.S. audiences can see the games live while the sun is out or in the early evening. The U.S. also has a team that may be its most talented in history.

And then the U.S. went out and won its first two matches to capture its group.

“I think it has exceeded our expectations,” said Mark Bickerdike, Caesars Sportsbook's head of soccer trading, said of the money being bet.

DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello said the wagering on the 48-team World Cup, which opened the knockout stage on Sunday, is putting itself in the same company as the always popular NCAA Tournament in college basketball.

“It could be the biggest event of the year when it's all said and done,” Avello said. “March Madness takes place over the course of three weeks, and it rakes quite a bit of money. This is getting there.

“It blows the Super Bowl away. One game, one day. This thing here is way bigger than that.”

Christian Cipollini, BetMGM Sportsbook's trading manager, said the enormous interest in the U.S. team has only grown. The Americans open the single-elimination phase of the tournament on Wednesday night against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California.

“I expect that to be BetMGM's most bet-on soccer game of all time,” Cipollini said. “In this World Cup, all three of our most bet-on games have been the three USA games. This game is leading up to be a perfect storm where the USA looks very good. There's a lot of hype around the team.”

France and Argentina on a collision course?

The three sportsbooks list Kylian Mbappé-led France as the favorite to win it all, with Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina not far behind. They are on opposite sides of the bracket, so if they face each other, it would be in the final, a rematch of four years ago.

At BetMGM, 15.3% of tickets have been on France, the most of any country, and it has received 20.4% of the money. That is slightly below Spain, which has taken in 20.5% of the handle, much if not most of it before the tournament.

Longtime handicapper Bruce Marshall cautioned against assuming France and Argentina would meet in the final.

“I could see seven or eight teams winning this thing,” Marshall said. “So any favorite at this stage, I don't know that there's great value there.”

Bettors look for long shots

Americans like a good underdog story, and wagers are coming in on some teams with exceptionally long odds.

“Bettors like to take a shot for a small amount of money and put it on those teams,” Avello said. “Of course, that risk is high for us because it doesn't take much. A $5 bet on Congo, it's $5,000 (in a payout). You take quite a few of those and the liability gets up pretty high on them.”

Marshall said it would make sense to take a look at Colombia (33-1 at BetMGM) or Switzerland (66-1) as teams with great value.

“Colombia looks really dangerous, and they're getting a lot of support,” Marshall said. “They played their first couple of games in Mexico, which were like home games for them.

“The one nobody's talking about is Switzerland, and they're one of these teams that remind me a of a club side. I say that in positive terms because they're very familiar with one another. A lot of these World Cup teams are sort of thrown together and haven't played much with each other. Switzerland's got guys who've played, 80, 100 games together.”

Sportsbooks aren't necessarily hoping for a US win

Should the Americans pull off the nearly unthinkable and win the World Cup, the sportsbooks would be feeling financial pain.

The U.S. has gone from a 50-1 long shot to 25-1 at BetMGM, and the Americans are 30-1 at Caesars and 33-1 at DraftKings.

“If the U.S. would’ve limped into the knockout round, our liability probably wouldn’t be as high as it is,” Cipollini said. “But the fact that they’ve looked good, there’s a lot of people that are, ‘They do have a chance.’ It’s on home soil. It’s easy to talk yourself into something we all kind of want to happen.”

‘The Simpsons’ drives some betting

A 1997 episode of “The Simpsons” featuring a match between Mexico and Portugal is causing some fans to believe the long-running TV show forecast that meeting in this year’s World Cup.

That’s not the case. Neither the World Cup nor the year 2026 were mentioned.

But those details apparently doesn’t matter to some bettors, causing a notable uptick in wagering on that matchup taking place.

“We have got a liability on that,” Bickerdike said.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Relief organizations say the first 72 hours after a natural disaster is the most crucial time period for rescues, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water. Five days after the twin quakes, questions loomed about whether the cash-strapped government will be able to coordinate the effort needed to care for thousands of people who have been left homeless.

In other developments, a 4.6 magnitude aftershock rumbled through the disaster zone in the northern state of La Guaira.

The death toll stood at more than 1,700 people, according to the government, which has long retained tight control over news media.

Venezuelan government promotes its efforts

Facing criticism that authorities have done too little, too slowly, government officials aggressively promoted their recovery and rescue efforts. Police and military officers on Monday handed out cans of tuna and crackers to hungry displaced people in La Guaira.

In a speech, Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly and brother of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, said electricity had been restored to 90% of the hardest-hit state of La Guaira. He said authorities were racing to evaluate damaged buildings that still posed a danger and had set up 15 temporary displacement camps.

Many Venezuelan news reports have avoided politically delicate questions related to the earthquake, such as the widespread collapse of buildings, sticking instead to safer stories about heroic rescues. Delcy Rodríguez, who came to power in January after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration seized former President Nicolás Maduro, shared footage Monday of emergency workers lifting a man out of the ruins to applause after a 43-hour search effort.

“Each life saved is a victory for hope,” she wrote on X.

Such bright spots are rare at the quake's epicenter, where families keep vigil at search sites.

“We have to stay strong, even without food, without sleep,” said Ana Rada, watching as civil defense workers looked for her brother. “Until I see the body, I still have hope.”

Aftershock rattles rescuers

After what the government said were more than 600 aftershocks since Wednesday's quakes, a moderate temblor on Monday struck 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of Caraballeda on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and measured 4.6 magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Jorge Rodríguez said there were no reports of damage, but the shock sent residents in the capital of Caracas screaming into the streets.

“Here we are again, back in the street. I don’t know when we’ll have a moment of true peace,” said Concepción Hernández, 51, evacuating her apartment in the Chacao municipality of Caracas.

Questions over extent of US help

Dozens of countries have offered assistance. But the disaster has raised expectations for the Trump administration after its takeover of Venezuela’s oil industry earlier this year.

In a briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official said 300 first responders sent from the U.S. are working on the ground and two dozen C-17 military transport planes arrive every day with supplies. Financial support from the U.S. now exceeds $300 million.

The U.S. military is also assisting with repairs at the port in La Guaira to allow an influx of relief supplies by sea and manage air traffic after the quakes destroyed part of the control tower at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Caracas, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

It seemed unlikely, however, that the Trump administration would grant temporary humanitarian protections to Venezuelans as previous administrations have done for people from disaster-stricken countries already in the U.S. Such action was taken after earthquakes in 2010 in Haiti and 2001 in El Salvador.

Venezuelans have been a major focus of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. More than 100 Venezuelans recently deported from the U.S. were being held at a hotel in the country when the quake hit, and many are now missing, survivors say.

Rescuers included a miner deported from the US

Among the rescuers digging through the rubble Monday was 31-year-old miner Jean Sosa, who said he was deported from the U.S. in January over a missed immigration court hearing and returned to Caracas last month, dazed by an odyssey that began in shackles at an Arizona immigration detention center.

He had built a new life in New York City over the past four years, he said, working at a taco stand near Penn Station, before Department of Homeland Security officials detained him. They ultimately shuttled him between immigration detention centers across the U.S. before leaving him and a busload of other deportees in southern Mexico without his passport, phone or wallet. He then paid his way back to Venezuela.

Since arriving Wednesday in La Guaira, Sosa has scrambled to pull people from the rubble with his old mining pickaxe in the absence of national rescue teams.

“Many people could have been saved if there had been equipment and support from top authorities from the very beginning,” he told The Associated Press, wearing a helmet and a black T-shirt splotched with dust in the port city where he said he had already rescued 20 people alive.

Those rescues heartened him, he said, despite the lack of supplies. “We’re working without gloves, without equipment, borrowing supplies, improvising bandages and whatever else we can.”

The full scale of damage remains unclear

Experts are struggling to assess the scope of damage, but they generally agree that the government's figures are a vast undercount.

Many Venezuelans are skeptical of official pronouncements, particularly since Maduro's government claimed victory in the 2024 presidential election despite a vote count showing he had lost to the opposition movement led by María Corina Machado.

The now-exiled opposition leader has criticized the government response to the earthquake and on Monday accused it of temporarily closing the airspace to prevent her from returning to the country. She did not offer evidence.

Jorge Rodríguez said that as of Monday, the earthquake had affected a total of 15,866 people. The United Nations, meanwhile, says that up to 6.8 million of Venezuela’s nearly 30 million residents may be affected — which could mean being displaced or losing access to electricity and water. The Venezuelan Red Cross said it expected to address the needs of at least 300,000 people for the next two years.

While Rodríguez said the number of damaged or collapsed buildings had reached 855, a preliminary assessment by NASA put that number at 58,870 buildings. The assessment relied on radar imagery from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites, which can detect changes to infrastructure.

The updates to government figures are given in brief televised announcements where journalists have no opportunity to ask questions or request more details. In another obstacle to coverage, the Venezuelan press union said Monday that the Ministry of Communication was blocking access to La Guaira for at least some foreign reporters for 48 hours.

It said the ministry cited the need “to reduce noise during rescue operations." The union urged the government to drop the restriction: “As hours pass, the health situation may worsen, and the country needs verified and timely information.”

Because of the chaos and poor phone service, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is unclear how many have been found.

Firefighter Kleider Carrillo said nothing prepared him for the destruction in La Guaira.

“When you study for this profession, you’re trained for situations like this," he said. “But what's in textbooks is one thing. Reality is another.”

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in Tijuana, Mexico, contributed to this report.

The 2026 class includes:

• Jerry Cheynet, whose 51 years of service to Virginia Tech included coaching men’s soccer, wrestling, women’s soccer and men’s golf before serving more than two decades in athletics facilities. He remains the winningest coach in school history in both wrestling and men’s soccer and was named Atlantic 10 men’s soccer Coach of the Year in 1997 and Colonial Athletic Association wrestling Coach of the Year in 1993.
• Chris Martin, one of the most accomplished wrestlers in program history. A 2000 NCAA All-American at 165 pounds, he finished his career with a 126-25 record, graduating as the Hokies’ career leader in victories, dual-meet wins and winning percentage.
• Kylie McGoldrick, a four-year starting second baseman who helped Virginia Tech reach the NCAA Tournament in each of her four seasons. A three-time All-ACC selection, she finished with a .318 career batting average, 30 home runs and 213 hits while ranking among the program’s career leaders in several offensive categories.
• Yavgeniy Olhovsky, a seven-time All-American pole vaulter and two-time NCAA runner-up. He won three ACC championships and set Virginia Tech’s indoor pole vault record, which stood for seven years.
• Martina Schultze, a six-time All-American pole vaulter who captured five ACC championships during her three seasons with the Hokies. She finished third at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
• Logan Thomas, Virginia Tech’s career leader in total offense, passing yards and passing touchdowns. The quarterback led the Hokies to the 2011 ACC Championship Game and Sugar Bowl before being selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He later transitioned to tight end and played eight NFL seasons.
• Murielle Tiernan, the program’s all-time leader in goals (49), points (112) and game-winning goals (23). A three-time first-team All-ACC selection, she helped lead the Hokies to the NCAA College Cup as a freshman in 2013.

The inductees will be honored at The Inn at Virginia Tech before being recognized at halftime of the Hokies’ football game against Pittsburgh at Lane Stadium.

The Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame, established in 1982, will grow to 247 members with the addition of the 2026 class.

The U.S. Education Department issued a revised rule on Monday designed to follow the judge's order from last week, officials told The Associated Press. Agency officials called it a temporary change while they fight in court to keep the original rule, which defined medicine, law and other fields as “professional programs” but excluded fields such as nursing.

The department disagrees with the judge's order but will comply, even as officials plan to prevail in the case over which degrees are defined as “professional,” Undersecretary Nicholas Kent said in a statement. “We will continue to make the case that the definition is both lawful and appropriate,” he said.

The change represents a short-term win for groups that sued to stop the rule. Eight groups challenged the department's definition in court, representing nurse practitioners, therapists, speech language pathologists and more.

But in strictly applying the judge's order, the department is now striking some degrees from the list of professional programs, meaning those students will face lower loan limits. Theology studies programs are among the biggest to shift from professional to non-professional degrees in the shuffle, subjecting theology students to a lower student loan limit. The master of divinity degree — a common degree for pastors and ministers — remains on the professional list, with a more generous student loan limit.

The new rule, which takes effect Wednesday, comes from a student loan overhaul passed in President Donald Trump's tax bill last year. Programs designated as professional degrees face federal loan caps of $200,000, while other graduate programs are capped at $100,000.

Previously, graduate students had been able to take out federal loans up to the full cost of their degree. Trump officials pushed for new loan caps to rein in student debt and lower tuition prices that they said had grown out of control.

The groups that brought the lawsuit said the rule would require students to forgo their studies or take out riskier private loans. Although many graduate nursing degrees fall within the lower loan limits, some can cost more than $100,000, including in high-demand fields like nurse anesthesia.

In a notification to universities on Monday, the Education Department said it's confident the Trump administration's initial rule will ultimately be upheld in court. The amended rule is expected to remain in effect during the judge's preliminary stay, but the department warned that it “may change as litigation in the case proceeds.”

The original rule included about a dozen programs that were deemed professional, which Trump officials had said was not a judgment on their importance but part of a technical definition dating to the 1960s. Along with law and medicine, that list also included theology, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, clinical psychology and more.

The temporary rule expands that list to 29 specific degree programs, including master of science in nursing, doctor of nursing practice, and doctor of nurse anesthesia practice. Others newly added to the professional list include degrees for physical therapy, athletic training, speech-language pathology, physician associates and anesthesiologist assistants.

The department's communication listed about 25 programs that are now considered non-professional degrees. Along with theology, that list now includes applied psychology, pharmaceutical sciences and others. (The doctor of pharmacy degree remains professional.)

Last week's court ruling blocked parts of the Education Department's definition that were added in a federal rulemaking process. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington called it a “misguided” interpretation that strayed from a longstanding definition created by Congress.

The department's definition laid out several criteria used to weigh if degrees count as professional programs. It said those degrees generally take six years to complete and require licenses to begin practicing, among other requirements.

It also said professional degrees cannot lead to employment that must be "be supervised by another professional" with “more education, training, and qualifications.”

A separate lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic-led states challenging the loan caps is still pending.

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Associated Press Writer Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report from Kansas City.

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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.

Five people – four women and one man – died at the scene of the shooting in Stade, police said. A sixth, also an adult, died later at a hospital. All six were employees of the youth center or its affiliates, they said.

"The police are investigating the motive and the exact course of events under high pressure," Daniela Behrens, interior minister for the Lower Saxony region, told a news conference, adding that it was an extremely violent crime in cold blood, “apparently in a custody dispute.”

Police said several people were wounded, some of them seriously, German news agency dpa reported, but they did not give a specific figure or information on the victims’ identity.

Police said the shooting took place in the facility on Dankersstrasse, a street south of the town center. The facility includes temporary accommodation for pregnant women or young mothers with children.

A main suspect was arrested, while another two people were subject to “police measures” on suspicion of involvement, police said in a statement. They didn't elaborate.

Video footage after the shooting showed a large police presence, along with other emergency service personnel and several ambulances on a residential street.

Germany’s gun laws are more restrictive than those in the United States, and mass shootings are rare but not unheard of.

Vitali Mertens, who lives across the street from the scene, said he heard gunshots and “the whole area was cordoned off right away.”

Stade has about 50,000 inhabitants and is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Hamburg.

Rinsch, best known for the 2013 samurai fantasy film “47 Ronin,” was convicted in December of federal wire fraud and other charges. According to prosecutors and trial testimony, he told Netflix he needed $11 million to finish a show called “White Horse” but diverted the money into a personal account and ultimately spent whopping sums on luxury cars, watches, clothes and household goods, including $638,000 on two mattresses.

Rinsch, 48, and his lawyers told the court Monday that his behavior was fueled by mental health struggles and medication problems, which they said he is now addressing with a new care provider.

“This process has forced me to confront things about my health, my judgment and my life,” Rinsch said. He apologized for his behavior, acknowledged that “real harm was caused,” and explained: “I failed to recognize the danger of the state I was in.”

His psychological troubles weren't described in court, and he and his lawyers declined to detail them afterward.

Prosecutors argued that Rinsch —- who also owes about $11 million in restitution — should serve five years in prison.

“Mr. Rinsch had every possible advantage,” including family money, an elite education, famous friends and a high-flying career, prosecutor David Markewitz told the court. Rinsch's motive, the prosecutor said, “was naked greed.”

Rinsch, who also has used the name Carl Erik Rinsch professionally, hails from the Los Angeles area and began making short films as a teenager. He later directed commercials, then got attention for “47 Ronin,” which stars Reeves. His character leads outcast samurai seeking to avenge their master's killing.

Rinsch “bring exceptional joy and warmth to the people around him” and “creative inspiration to others through his creativity and vision,” Reeves told the court in a letter ahead of Rinsch's sentencing.

The “Matrix” star said he didn't know the details of the case, but he acknowledged that Rinsch “can self-sabotage by amplifying the scale, scope and landscape of what had been negotiated.” He said he hoped the director’s sentence “might be tempered with measures of leniency and mercy as well as justice.”

Prosecutors said Netflix initially paid Rinsch about $44 million for “White Horse” in 2018 and 2019, then provided another $11 million in 2020 after he said he needed more money to wrap up production.

But instead of putting that money toward the show, Rinsch steered the cash to a personal account and made a series of failed investments, losing around half the $11 million in a couple of months, according to prosecutors and witnesses' testimony.

They said he put the remaining funds into the cryptocurrency market, netting some profit, which Rinsch deposited into his own bank account.

Then came the lavish purchases, prosecutors said, with Rinsch buying five Rolls-Royces, a red Ferrari, $652,000 worth of watches and clothes, and the pricey mattresses, plus another $295,000 on luxury bedding and linens. In addition, he used some of the money to pay off about $1.8 million in credit card bills, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said Rinsch's mental health difficulties “may explain some of the excesses” but don't “detract from the court's conclusion that he was determined to lie to get substantial monies from Netflix, lie to cover it up.”

As Rakoff announced the prison term, Rinsch wrote on a piece of paper on a table in front of him. One of his lawyers, Benjamin Zeman, patted the director's back.

After court, Rinsch — who's due to report to prison in September — hugged several people who had come to support him. He and his lawyers declined to comment as they left, except that attorney Daniel McGuinness said they looked forward to appealing the case.

Netflix declined to comment on his sentence.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed.

The Yarnell Hill Fire that killed 19 firefighters on June 30, 2013, remains the deadliest event on record for U.S. firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the deadliest for U.S. wildland firefighters in over a century.

The firefighters died 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of Prescott, Arizona, after trying to escape flames fanned by shifting winds. They were deploying fire shelters — small, heat-resistant tents that can offer a chance at survival — when flames reached them in a brushy box canyon.

Temperatures reached 2,000 degrees (1,100 Celsius).

On Saturday, a wildfire west of Grand Junction, Colorado, killed three firefighters and injured two others. That fire has burned 44 square miles (114 square kilometers). The five firefighters were members of a Helitack crew who are dropped by helicopter into remote areas to saw and dig away vegetation and create fire-resistant barriers ahead of advancing flames.

As at the Yarnell Hill Fire, the firefighters decided to stop fleeing and use fire shelters to try to survive.

A complete investigation could take several months. Full knowledge of what happened could be elusive.

Investigators of the Yarnell Hill Fire could not verify radio communications from the firefighters for a half-hour period that may have shed light on their decision-making process.

The final investigation report ultimately did not fault the firefighters, saying they were fully qualified, staffed and trained and “followed all standards and guidelines.” Their commanders likewise made reasonable judgments and decisions in rapidly worsening conditions, according to the report.

“Complexity can outpace organizational attempts to respond,” the report concluded.

Fire shelters are a last resort, offering roll-of-the-dice odds under otherwise impossible circumstances. In a 2015 wildfire in Washington state, two firefighters who used such tents survived, while three who were in a truck died.

How much the protection the tents provide depends on the conditions in which they are deployed. They are not designed to withstand direct flame, Riva Duncan, president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a firefighter advocacy group, said Monday.

“It’s your last-ditch effort to try to survive,” Duncan said.

Announcing the plan on Monday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited an urgent need to combat a “chronic disease epidemic” in America, including high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

On one floor of the state’s Department of Human Services, “our state has been approving food stamp purchases for soft drinks and candy, while on another floor, our state’s Medicaid program is paying to treat the chronic diseases those products can help create,” she said.

Food stamps is an older name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The federally funded and state-run program provides a monthly stipend for low-income families to buy groceries. It is used by nearly 42 million Americans, or about one in eight.

In a news release, the Arkansas governor's office cited Stanford University research that found restricting the purchase of sugary drinks with food stamps could reduce rates of obesity and type-2 diabetes. However, overall research remains mixed about whether restricting SNAP purchases improves diet quality and health.

Debates over SNAP benefits are common

Lawmakers at the state and federal level have long debated which foods should be eligible for purchase with SNAP. Currently, benefits cannot be used to buy hot prepared foods, but a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced a bill that would allow SNAP to be used to buy rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Arkansas is one of 23 states to receive a waiver allowing it to restrict the purchase of some sugary foods and drinks. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have pushed for the ban as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

While the goals of the state restrictions are similar, the exact rules vary. Some states want to ban the purchase of both sugary drinks and candy using SNAP and others want to prohibit only the purchase of sugary beverages.

The USDA acted illegally in approving waivers, judge finds

Last week, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington vacated USDA approval of the pilot projects that allowed new SNAP restrictions in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia.

The judge said the ruling was not a reflection on the merits of the program, but said the projects were not permitted under the statute the USDA was citing. The agency also failed to follow its own regulations for implementing a pilot project, she ruled.

The Arkansas program is being implemented under the same regulations as the programs that were vacated. David Super, a law professor at Georgetown University, said that after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year, federal district courts generally no longer issue nationwide injunctions. Still, Arkansas’ decision to go forward with the program is “putting that to the extreme test.”

Sanders noted the ruling in her announcement on Monday but said, "Arkansas is moving full speed ahead, because we won’t wait around while our people get less and less healthy and we spend more and more taxpayer dollars trying to fix the problem.”

Grocery stores are responsible for enforcing the SNAP restrictions

Steve Goode, executive director of the Arkansas Grocers and Retail Merchants Association, said that he “wouldn’t want to guess” at how prepared the state’s businesses are to implement the benefits changes this week.

“SNAP benefits in retail have been the same for years,” he said, noting that this is going to be a “big change.”

“Some of our members that have stores in other states have done this already and the results have been OK,” he said. Arkansas has helped by hiring a third-party vendor to create a list of banned items for the stores to reference, which hasn’t been the case in some other states.

Meanwhile, the state has also created an app for SNAP beneficiaries to use that will help them determine which items are eligible for purchase and which aren’t.

NBA free agency in 2026: Everyone is waiting again for James to make a decision.

James was the biggest domino to fall in the NBA's offseason player movement period 16 years ago when he decided to join Miami, and he may be the biggest domino to fall — at least in free agency — this summer as well. Free agency opens in the NBA on Tuesday evening, with James' future atop the list of most intriguing storylines that will be solved over the coming days and weeks.

The one thing that seems clear when it comes to James: It seems like retirement isn't happening yet, which would mean the NBA's career leader in points scored, minutes played and games played coming back for a record-extending 24th season and potentially — when including playoff contests — appearing in his 2,000th game.

The question is where.

His options would figure to include staying with the Los Angeles Lakers, returning to Miami or Cleveland (both would have interest for obvious reasons) or even thinking about moving elsewhere like Golden State and teaming up with longtime friends — and rivals, considering they've gone head to head in the NBA Finals on four occasions — Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to chase one more title.

Green — who is not expected to leave Golden State — on Monday declined his $27.6 million option for next season, doing so to give the Warriors more maneuverability to add players in the coming days, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because that detail was not revealed publicly by the team, and it raises the possibility that the Warriors might now have more of a selling point to pitch to James.

“When the time comes, you guys will know what I decide to do,” James said when the Lakers were eliminated this spring by Oklahoma City in a 4-0 sweep.

The time is coming.

The window opens Tuesday at 6 p.m. Eastern

The window when teams can begin officially talking with free agents — other than the ones on their own team, those talks could begin when the NBA Finals ended — opens at 6 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, and deals could be flying not long afterward.

In most cases, any new deals cannot be executed until at least the end of the NBA's offseason moratorium on July 6.

“This period we’re in right now, kind of from mid-May to mid-July, it’s a two-month sprint through the draft, combine, free agency, Summer League, all that,” Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said earlier this month. “We’re super busy right now. But it’s a fun time of year. This is where we get to make decisions, shape the roster, do all that stuff.”

The NBA finalists — champion New York and runner-up San Antonio — both will have moves to make in the coming days, though they are expected to keep their cores largely intact. The Knicks were keeping Landry Shamet on a four-year deal, a person with knowledge of the details said Monday. And the Spurs announced Monday that sharpshooter Julian Champagnie, who came up big time and time again for San Antonio in the playoffs, signed a new deal with the club; a person with knowledge of the terms told AP it was a three-year deal for up to $45 million.

Plenty of other decisions and roster-shaping already has happened around the league, either by trades (such as the Giannis Antetokounmpo blockbuster by Miami last week or the Ja Morant deal between Memphis and Portland that went down Monday) or teams re-signing or extending their own players (such as Trae Young's $212 million deal with Washington and Austin Reaves' $185 million deal with the Lakers).

Detroit has agreed with guard Kevin Huerter on a three-year, $27 million deal that keeps him with the Pistons, a person familiar with those terms told AP; the third year is an option. Sacramento traded former lottery pick Devin Carter and a future second-round pick to Atlanta in a salary dump, and Kings guard Zach LaVine picked up his $49 million player option, a person familiar with those moves said on condition of anonymity because they haven’t been finalized.

Many moves still awaiting completion

Miami will land Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis in a trade that sends Tyler Herro, other players and draft capital to Milwaukee, but that won't be finalized until that moratorium date passes. But in the interim, the Heat will be looking to add shooters — Tim Hardaway Jr., whose father's number is retired in Miami, and longtime Antetokounmpo favorite Khris Middleton make a lot of sense.

The Heat will be keeping Andrew Wiggins, who on Monday exercised his $30 million option for this coming season and, according to a person familiar with the talks between the sides, has agreed in principle on a $34 million deal for the following two seasons — with 2028-29 at his option.

More trades could be coming, with a person familiar with the negotiations confirming to the AP that Toronto has spoken with the Los Angeles Clippers on the possibility of Kawhi Leonard — who led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title — returning to Ontario next season. And Boston is still believed to be holding talks about the possibility of trading 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, who was the centerpiece of the Celtics' ultimately futile offer to land Antetokounmpo in trade discussions with Milwaukee.

“Nobody has won more combined regular-season and playoff games since I entered the league 10 years ago,” Brown posted on social media over the weekend. He's right: The Celtics have won 523 games with Brown in the lineup, including playoff contests, which is six more than Denver has won with Nikola Jokic over that span.

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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York and AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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

The justices allowed Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job while she fights the Republican president’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

But other than at the nation’s central bank, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority.

With the six conservative justices in the majority, the nine-member court jettisoned its unanimous decision in Humphrey’s Executor that had limited when presidents can fire agencies’ board members — in part to try to ensure decision-making free of political influence.

“We hold that such protection from removal is contrary to the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

Support for Trump’s position

The justices ruled in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter, whom Trump fired without cause despite a provision of federal law that requires a reason. The logic of the decision extends to other agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, where Trump also has fired board members.

Trump voiced his approval in a Truth Social post. “It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” he wrote.

The court already had signaled its support for the Trump administration’s position, over the liberals’ objection, by allowing Slaughter and the board members of other agencies to be removed from their jobs even as their legal challenges continued.

No president before Trump had sought to wrest control of the agencies that regulate wide swaths of American life, including nuclear energy, product safety and labor relations. But at arguments in Slaughter's case in December, the six conservatives, including three appointed by Trump, seemed more concerned about issuing a ruling that would endure than handing too much power to Trump.

Their rhetoric was reminiscent of the presidential immunity case in 2024 that allowed Trump to avoid prosecution for his efforts to undo his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The court is writing a decision “for the ages,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said then.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent she summarized aloud in the courtroom, said the ruling could lead to “submission, instability, and even oppression.”

“The president, to be sure, emerges with more power than ever before. That power was given to him by six justices on this court, not the people or the Constitution,” Sotomayor said.

Fed governor Cook's case

In Cook’s case, the court voted 5-4 to reject the Trump administration’s effort to get Cook out of her job now. Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices were in the majority.

Allowing Cook to be ousted now, Roberts wrote, “would allow the President to remove a member of the Federal Reserve at any time, for any reason, without any notice before, and without any judicial check after. That would turn for-cause protection into little more than at-will employment.”

Roberts did include a footnote in his opinion noting that nothing forbids Trump from “trying again” to fire her, provided she is given proper notice and a chance to contest it.

Trump suggested he would take Roberts up on the offer, saying on Truth Social that “we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”

Cook, who was nominated to the Fed’s Board of Governors by Biden, can continue in her post at least as long as her lawsuit challenging her firing goes on, the court said. The Trump administration is appealing a lower-court ruling in her favor.

Besides trying to fire Cook, Trump had threatened to fire former Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell if he didn’t leave the board when his term as chairman ended in mid-May. Powell has remained as a governor, even as Kevin Warsh has replaced him as chairman.

Judges on lower courts have allowed Cook to remain in her post as one of seven central bank governors.

The true motivation for trying to fire Cook, Trump’s critics say, is the Republican president’s desire to exert control over U.S. interest rate policy. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook, the first Black woman to be a Federal Reserve governor, he could replace her with his own appointee and gain a majority on the Fed’s board. The case is being closely watched by Wall Street investors and could have broad impacts on the financial markets and the U.S. economy.

Cook said her case was “never about mortgage documents signed years before I became a Federal Reserve governor.”

"It was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based only on what would best serve the American people. That is the most fundamental obligation of a Federal Reserve governor,” Cook said in a statement.

Trump's confrontation with the Fed

Trump has been dismissive of worries that cutting rates too quickly could trigger higher inflation. He wants dramatic reductions so the government can borrow more cheaply and Americans can pay lower borrowing costs for new homes, cars or other large purchases, as worries about high costs have soured some voters on his economic management.

The Fed has left its key rate unchanged this year, but a growing chorus of policymakers is expressing concern about persistently high inflation and suggesting the central bank could raise its benchmark rate by the end of this year or leave it unchanged.

While Cook’s case was under review at the high court, Trump dramatically escalated his confrontation with the Fed. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation of Powell and served the central bank with subpoenas.

The investigation ended in late April, the department said. The announcement cleared a major roadblock to the confirmation of Warsh as Powell’s successor.

The case against Cook stems from allegations she claimed two properties, in Michigan and Georgia, as “primary residences” in June and July 2021, before she joined the Fed board. Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home.

Those applications, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in January, are evidence of “gross negligence at best” and give Trump reason to fire her. In any event, he argued, courts shouldn’t be reviewing his decision and Cook has no right to a hearing.

Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

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

The state Supreme Court on Monday struck down a series of proposed ballot initiatives that would have sidestepped the state's independent redistricting commission and authorized new U.S. House districts for the 2028 and 2030 elections. The court said the measures addressed multiple subjects in violation of the state constitution.

The rulings marked another setback for Democrats in a nationwide redistricting battle that could affect control of Congress. Earlier this year, courts also invalidated Democratic redistricting efforts in Virginia and New York that were aimed at the midterm elections, though Democrats could try again in those states before the 2028 elections. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for people of color, opening a pathway for Republicans in several Southern states to redraw majority-Black districts that had elected Democrats.

Redistricting is typically done immediately after a census at the start of each decade.

President Donald Trump kick-started an unusual mid-decade redistricting fight last year when he called on Republicans in Texas to redraw congressional districts in a bid to win several additional seats in the midterms and hold on to control of the closely divided chamber. Other Republican-led states followed, and several Democratic-led states tried to counter. Republicans prevailed in more states with new districts that they hope could net as many as 10 additional seats in November.

Colorado’s U.S. House delegation is evenly split between four Democrats and four Republicans under a map drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission after the 2020 census. A constitutional amendment would be needed to draw different districts before the next census.

A Democratic-backed amendment would have authorized mid-decade redistricting and created new districts that could have helped Democrats gain up to three seats. Supporters offered two options: a single amendment combining both proposals, and a pair of initiatives separating redistricting authorization from the new map that would take effect only if both passed. The Colorado Supreme Court said both versions violated the multi-subject prohibition.

The court cited the same grounds while also invalidating identical Republican-backed ballot initiatives submitted to counter the Democratic ones.

Coloradans for a Level Playing Field, which backed the Democratic redistricting initiatives, said it was disappointed the court thwarted its efforts.

“While Trump and his MAGA allies regularly sidestep the law and ignore voters, efforts to respond have once again been dealt a legal setback over a technicality,” said Curtis Hubbard, a spokesperson for the group.

Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment creating an independent redistricting commission in 2018. A group that backed that ballot measure praised the Supreme Court on Monday for not gutting the commission.

“While other states stumble into the partisan abyss via gerrymandering warfare, Colorado is defending its reputation as a beacon for fairness and good government," said Frank McNulty, chair of Fair Maps Colorado.

A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday's earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she escaped the rubble from the hotel with about 20 other deportees who walked the streets looking for help. They saw people running, some naked and others barefoot as they emerged from the rubble of the building in La Guaira, one of the areas that was hardest hit in Wednesday’s 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

“We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication,” Portillo said in a phone interview from her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

They reached a National Guard building, where they had a chance to call relatives.

“I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” said Portillo. “I am traumatized,” she said after a pause, weeping.

The Venezuelan government says more than 1,700 people were killed.

They survived the earthquake the same day that were deported from the U.S.

Portillo was caught up in the Trump administration's drive for mass deportations. In May, ICE Flight Monitor tracked 288 deportation flights to 38 countries, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile and the Ivory Coast.

The U.S. ran 12 deportation flights to Venezuela in May, operating three days a week, according to ICE Flight Monitor. Deportation flights to Venezuela resumed in February 2025 after a 13-month pause.

Portillo said the government took them to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, where they underwent medical exams and got identification documents. They were told they would go home the next day.

Portillo was staying in a second floor room with 16 other women. She stepped onto a balcony to look at the sea and saw that the sky was black; it was very hot. She returned to the room, laid on a bed, and began to feel herself being shaken.

“I started hearing ‘papa, papa papapa,’, and I saw the women next to me start to fall,” she said, describing the sounds from the earthquake. “They were all screaming for help.”

And almost immediately, the second earthquake.

"I fall and end up buried and covered by a beam, but the shaking shifted everything where I was buried and I was able to get out,” said Portillo, who has bruises all over her body.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for information from the AP.

A video from the Venezuelan government posted on social media showed images of the deportees being received by Venezuelan authorities upon their arrival at the Caracas airport on Wednesday.

Jenny Rodriguez, 24, told the Telemundo network that she was on the flight and taken to the hotel.

“I was trapped under the rubble. A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help”, she said. “Thanks to God — and to him — I was able to get out of there.”

Liliana Rojas told Telemundo that she has been trying to locate her 33-year-old partner. The detention center where he was held in El Paso, Texas, says only told that he was deported.

“No one is giving an answer about anything,” Rojas said.

Woman says she feels ‘born again’ after surviving

Portillo, who crossed the U.S. border with Mexico in November 2021 and said had an pending asylum claim, couldn't remember her children's phone number. She called her husband in the United States.

“I said to him, ‘Cesar, I’m alive. Help me.’ And my husband kept saying, ‘It can’t be,’” she said. “‘I’m alive, I made it out of the rubble, I’m alive,’ I told him.”

Her husband called their children, who picked her up and were able to reunite with their mother the following night.

“I was born that day; on the 24th, I was born again,” said Portillo, who lived in South Florida for more than four years.

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This version corrects the headline to say the hotel was in La Guaira.

“Clearly the parents were feeding the child improperly, to say the least,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said Monday. “He wasn’t getting the nutrition he needed.”

Casper O'Brien died last November after first responders were called to the family's home in Flint because he'd stopped breathing, prosecutors said. His parents — Damien O’Brien, 40, and Jessica O’Brien, 41 — have each been charged with second-degree murder, torture and three counts of second-degree child abuse.

The couple were arraigned last week and are being held on no bond in jail in Genesee County, about an hour's drive northwest of Detroit. A probable cause hearing is set for Thursday.

The child, who was 4 feet, 2.5 inches (128 centimeters) tall, was medically classified as obese, according to the Genesee County Medical Examiner’s report. His cause of death was listed as dilated cardiomyopathy, with his weight being a contributing condition. Dilated cardiomyopathy happens when the heart becomes enlarged and weakened and can’t efficiently pump blood, which can affect other body systems including the lungs.

According to the criminal complaints, the parents failed to take Casper for treatment even though the family had health care.

Elias Fanous, an attorney representing Damien O’Brien, said in a statement that he wouldn’t speculate on the case’s circumstances and had no comment beyond saying that his client was “innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” An attorney for Jessica O’Brien did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.

Leyton said authorities believe Casper just consumed “a steady diet of snack foods.” He said Casper, who was nonverbal and bedridden, had severe bed sores and various rashes.

The autopsy report said law enforcement and Child Protective Services reported there were piles of trash in the home, and Casper was not enrolled in school. Leyton said the hoarding in the home was “terrible.”

One of the child abuse charges relates to the couple's 5-year-old daughter, who was placed in foster care.

Casper last saw his primary care provider in February 2024, according to the autopsy report, when he was diagnosed with a cough, congestion and metabolic disease. At that visit, he weighed 104 pounds (47 kilograms), and his mother was given information on a healthy diet and exercise, according to the report, which said he was referred to a pediatric endocrinologist but never saw one. The report said the metabolic disease wasn't specified in available medical records.

“It’s a very, very sad and tragic situation,” Leyton said. “I’ve been the prosecuting attorney for 22 years and I thought I’d seen it all but I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”

A bridge in Giles County will be dedicated Tuesday in honor of six brothers who served their country during World War II and the Korean War.

The Atkins Brothers “Maybrook Boys” Memorial Bridge dedication is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 30, at the intersection of Apache Road and Route 46. The public is welcome to attend.

Named after the small Maybrook neighborhood where they grew up, the brothers have long been known throughout the New River Valley as the Maybrook Men.

Six brothers, two wars

It is rare for multiple family members to serve in the military simultaneously — rarer still for all of them to be deployed to active combat. For the Atkins family of Giles County, that was their reality.

Five brothers answered the call during World War II: Warren “June” L. Atkins Jr., Harry B. Atkins, John Edward Atkins, Curtis L. Atkins and David Atkins, who served as a tank commander under Gen. George S. Patton.

The war sent these small-town Giles County boys across the globe. In 1951, the youngest brother, Billy R. Atkins, carried on that tradition of service — enlisting during the Korean War.

In their own words

Before their deaths, two of the brothers sat down to share war stories with 10 News anchor Rachel Lucas in 2020 that remained vivid decades later. June Atkins, who passed away May 11, 2022, at the age of 101, was the first drafted, called into service in 1942.

“I was 19 years old when I was in the army. Stayed 3 years. 22 months overseas,” June said.

His travels took him across some of the most significant theaters of the war.

“I did Italy, France, Algiers, North Africa, Casablanca. I was all over Europe,” June said.

Brother John Atkins, of Christiansburg, was drafted shortly after. Following stateside training and duty with the military police, he crossed the Atlantic by boat headed for France. John Atkins passed away in May 2023 at the age of 97.

“We were going to put up a hospital, and we didn’t finish it, because Germany surrendered,” John said.

His service then took him through the Mediterranean Sea, the Panama Canal, the Philippines and ultimately to Japan.

“That’s my journey,” John said.

A mother’s worry

Despite the passage of decades, both brothers could still recall vivid details from their time at war — including the toll it took on those left behind.

“I guess she worried over us. Bound to with all them boys over there. You don’t know what time you’ll get a telegram if one got killed,” June said.

Three of the brothers were wounded in action. Yet, by what many would call a miracle, all six came home.

Billy Atkins returned to Giles County in February 1953 after his service in Korea.

A legacy remembered

The Maybrook Men’s story has never faded from the community’s memory. In recent years, neighbors and supporters organized a memorial ride in their honor, passing by the family homeplace in Maybrook. One of those rides fell on June Atkins’ 100th birthday — a milestone as remarkable as the man himself.

Tuesday’s dedication is one more way the community is making sure the Maybrook Men are never forgotten. During World War II, more than 16 million U.S. troops were sent into conflict. For the Atkins family, the war was not an abstract event — it was a lived experience shared by an entire household.

The Atkins Brothers “Maybrook Boys” Memorial Bridge will stand as a permanent reminder of that sacrifice for generations to come.

You can watch June’s story below:

A decision favoring the state of Mississippi over the Republican National Committee delivered an immediate reprieve to the 14 states with grace periods for regular mail ballots, as well as heading off what was expected to be a scramble to alter the practice and inform voters just months ahead of the midterm elections.

At least one state, Ohio, had preemptively changed its law in anticipation of a different result from the high court, and 15 other states have such grace periods specifically for military and overseas voters.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the ruling means "the thousands of voters whose ballots are postmarked on time but received after Election Day still have their voices heard.”

Mail ballots, also called absentee ballots, have been the source of conspiracy theories from President Donald Trump, who groundlessly blames them for his loss in the 2020 election. The RNC and Libertarian Party had sued to overturn a Mississippi law that permits the counting of mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and arrive up to five days later, on grounds that it violated federal law.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, wrote for the majority that the practice is legal.

"Nothing in the federal election-day statutes requires ballots to be received by Election Day,” she wrote, adding that the court considered that very narrow question without wading into more sweeping declarations about absentee voting in general or the authority of Congress versus states over election law.

In Illinois, where mail-in ballots accounted for up to a quarter of this year's primary vote, the state elections board had budgeted $300,000 for a television and radio ad campaign to educate voters about potential changes to the mail ballot deadline. Spokesman Matt Dietrich said that campaign will be called off after the court's ruling. Illinois allows mail ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received within 14 days.

“Anytime you have a change in the administration of elections that affects voters, it is a big challenge to us to make sure that voters understand what that change is,” he said.

California, which has a seven-day grace period, has been a regular target of Trump and other Republicans who criticize the state's slow-counting of late-arriving ballots and have used the gap to spread conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber called Monday's ruling "a win for voters, for the rule of law, and for the future of our democracy.”

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson called the decision a victory for states' rights, including the ability to set election rules as long as they don't conflict with federal law.

In addition to California, Illinois and Mississippi, the other states that count regular mail ballots received after Election Day are Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

Data shows that mail ballots are popular options across all 50 states for both Republican and Democratic voters.

Although the RNC was party to the case and not the Trump administration itself, national party committees of a sitting president’s party typically operate in concert with the president’s political strategies. Trump also has effectively taken over operations of the RNC, the GOP's main fundraising and political operation.

Calling Monday's ruling “a tremendous loss,” Trump used it as a way to push his sweeping election law bill that has stalled on Capitol Hill despite Republican control in both chambers of Congress.

In a Truth Social post, the president declared it “more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” his name for legislation that would require voters nationally to document their U.S. citizenship to register to vote, show certain photo identification to cast ballots and limit who can vote with a mail ballot. RNC Chairman Joe Gruters issued a statement aligning with Trump, saying Monday's ruling was justification to pass the congressional proposal.

Lower federal courts have issued rulings blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to impose new restrictions on mail ballots and to create a national voter list, among other proposed changes. Judges in those cases have consistently said the Constitution vests authority for setting election rules with Congress and the states, not the president.

While Barrett framed Monday’s opinion on the narrower question of the mail ballot deadline, the decision could bolster hopes among Democrats that the high court will look skeptically on the president’s assertion of power over elections if other cases land before it.

Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin said he was relieved because the ruling was a potential sign that other cases could go Democrats' way. But he accused the president and RNC of trying to disenfranchise voters and said he was alarmed by the narrow 5-4 decision in the case.

“What’s troubling was that so many of the other justices were willing to sacrifice the rights of voters,” said Galvin, a Democrat.

Perhaps nowhere was the case being watched more closely than Alaska, where Native and rural communities dotted across a vast landscape rely on the state's grace period to ensure their ballots get counted. Planes are often the only way ballots can get from polling locations to counting locations.

Jacqueline De León, a senior staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, was among the attorneys who filed a brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of Alaska Native and Native American groups. The brief highlighted the challenges they face, in particular where many communities are accessible only by air or water and rely on air service for mail.

“For many Native communities, voting by mail is shaped by long distances to election offices, no home mail delivery, unreliable postal service, lack of access to transportation, and the realities of living in rural and remote areas,” she said. “Ballots cast by election deadlines should not be discarded simply because substandard service or weather delays cause them to arrive after Election Day.”

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Associated Press writers Bill Barrow and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, Josh Kelety in Phoenix, Ali Swenson in New York and graphic artist Kevin Vineys in Washington contributed to this report.

Johnson, 40, spent 10 seasons in the league and last played in 2017 for the Arizona Cardinals. He said on ABC's “ Good Morning America ” that he was diagnosed with the fatal nervous system disease last year.

“Honestly, I don’t know if you really fully process it,” he said, using his eyes to communicate through a computerized speech-generating device during the interview with Michael Strahan. “At first you’re in shock. Then you realize you have two choices: You can give up or you can fight. I chose to fight.”

Johnson, a first-round draft pick out of East Carolina in 2008, rushed for 7,965 yards over six seasons with the Titans. The native of Orlando, Florida, had 2,006 yards in 2009 to earn the nickname “CJ2K” and ingratiate himself with the Tennessee fan base.

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, in a statement released Monday, said the organization is holding Johnson, his wife and four children close.

“Some people leave a mark on an organization that you just can’t put into words. Chris Johnson is one of those people for us. His leadership on the field, in addition to his impact in the locker room and Nashville community have written him permanently into the story of this franchise," Adams Strunk said. “Learning this news is extremely difficult, and we will support Chris every step of the way throughout his journey."

ALS, which is an acronym for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative condition that affects nerve cell communication with muscles throughout the body. The disease leads to muscle weakness and can cause deterioration of the ability to move, speak and breathe.

Tim Shaw, who had a six-year career as a linebacker in the NFL and was a teammate of Johnson's with the Titans from 2010-12, was diagnosed in 2014 at age 30 with ALS and is still alive.

Johnson, who also played one season for the New York Jets, first noticed weakness in his right hand and trouble with his grip. He was still working out daily a year ago. Now he can't hold a cup or speak on his own.

“Your mind stays sharp. People sometimes look at a person with a physical disability and assume you’re not still the same person inside,” Johnson said. “I still think the same. I still dream. I still love my family. My body just doesn’t cooperate.”

Johnson was joined for the interview by his wife, Brittany, who has become his primary caregiver.

“She hasn’t left my side through any of this. My kids are also a huge part of why I keep going,” Johnson said. “Every day I wake up wanting more time with them to make more memories and just be their dad. They give me a reason to keep fighting.”

Johnson has been participating in experimental treatments with the goal of extending his life and helping the medical field move closer to a cure for the disease.

“If it helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research or gives another family hope,” he said, “then it's worth it.”

Johnson didn’t discuss his playing career in the interview. In a later post on his Instagram account he acknowledged the unknown about how he developed the disease but referenced research that has linked repetitive head trauma to ALS. That includes a 2021 study that found NFL players were nearly four times more likely to develop the disease than the general male population.

“I hope the NFL steps up, invests in research, and continues working to protect players — both now and for generations to come,” Johnson said. “Together, we can push toward better treatments and, one day, a cure.”

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

The 44-year-old Williams is scheduled to play an opponent less than half her age, 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia, in the third match Tuesday on Centre Court — the patch of grass where the American standout won seven of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

“I think everyone’s feeling the same way: Cannot wait to be watching Serena back on Centre Court again,” Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Club, said Monday.

Wimbledon organizers took the unusual step of holding up an eighth and final wild card spot for Williams until she accepted the invitation at almost the last possible moment the weekend before qualifying began.

“We were all sitting there sort of quietly keeping our fingers crossed that that’s what would happen,” Bolton said when asked by The Associated Press how anxious the club was while Williams pondered her decision.

“She is such an icon of the sport and particularly here at the championship she’s one of our most special champions,” Bolton added. “So it really will be the ticket to have tomorrow when she walks back on Centre Court.”

Whether it was related to Williams or not, the queue (line) of would-be-spectators camping out overnight for the daily batches of Wimbledon tickets on offer had reached 10,000 people by Monday morning.

“We are advising people if they haven’t already set off to travel, not to travel because the queue is effectively full,” Bolton said. “By comparison to last year, it is really busy.”

Williams will also play doubles with older sister Venus Williams later in the week.

Since Serena last won Wimbledon a decade ago, eight different women have won the title.

“It was needed a wee bit to kind of reinvent the women’s game,” said Lauren Byrne, a 26-year-old spectator at Wimbledon from near Dublin. “She’s definitely going to bring a bit more excitement back.”

Added Byrne’s father, Anthony: “It’s just great to see her. She still has the appetite, hasn’t she, to play at this level? … Age isn’t a barrier.”

Gibran Chenia, a London resident who described himself as “50-plus,” called Williams “a legend.

“And if she’s half as good as she was, she is going to be great for tennis,” Chenia said. “It’s great to have legends back.”

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

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger joined company leaders and local officials for the groundbreaking, calling the project an important step in strengthening domestic energy infrastructure.

“By producing this equipment here in Virginia, we are helping secure domestic supply chains and ensure families across Virginia benefit from the soaring global demand for better energy infrastructure,” Spanberger said.

The expansion builds on Hitachi’s nearly 60-year presence in South Boston, where the company manufactures transformers that help move electricity from power plants to homes and businesses.

Transformers take high-voltage electricity and lower the voltage so it can safely be used by customers.

Hitachi Energy Senior Vice President for Transformers in North America Greg Callahan said the project will help the company meet growing demand for electricity infrastructure.

“This expansion will broaden our portfolio and help the ever-growing needs for electrification,” Callahan said.

The new facility will allow Hitachi to produce larger transformers, including some units that can reach the size of a two-story building. The company currently manufactures smaller transformers at the South Boston campus.

“What is coming out of this factory really, really helps power the lives of people in the United States and power the local economies,” said Anthony Allard, Hitachi Energy’s Region Head of Americas. “And that’s really essential what the team is doing here.”

The project is also expected to bring additional growth beyond the factory. As part of the expansion, 136 housing units are being built to support new employees on land donated by Halifax County.

Congressman John McGuire said the investment could create even more economic activity in the region.

“You’re going to need more cars and repair shops and more housing,” McGuire said. “You’re going to need people that do all the different things that go with people that work and raise their family.”

There was previous speculation the expansion could go to Canada, but Hitachi leaders said South Boston was the clear choice because of the workforce and the company’s history in the region.

“We love the quality of the industrial sectors here in the southern part of Virginia,” Allard said. “We have 60 years of high-quality work and success in South Boston. So, it was an obvious choice.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner also pointed to tax incentives as a factor in keeping the project in Virginia, saying maintaining a predictable business environment is important for attracting manufacturing investments.

“What a business like these needs is predictability,” Warner said. “Manufacturing tax breaks we’re going to maintain, and I think there’s some around cleaner energy and more alternative power.”

The project is expected to take around three years to build.

Sotomayor’s disclosure form says she and unidentified guests attended the concert last August while she was on a private trip to Puerto Rico. The paperwork does not identify the performer, but Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny is known to have performed a series of shows on the island that month and the $4,333 gift she disclosed was provided by Rimas Entertainment, Bad Bunny's record label.

The justices' ethical practices away from the court have received additional scrutiny in recent years because of media coverage, including by The Associated Press, that has highlighted their lucrative book deals, gifts they have received and travel they have taken. Among the revelations was a series of stories by ProPublica that revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas had failed to report luxury travel paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.

The forms underscore the extent to which book-writing remains a lucrative source of income for members of the court.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who in 2024 released a memoir titled “Lovely One,” disclosed $1.81 million in book advances, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett reported more than $849,000 in royalties. They both reported more than a dozen events or discussions, including for their books, at which a combination of food, travel or lodging was provided. Justice Neil Gorsuch also disclosed receiving $300,000 in royalty income.

Several justices also reported paid teaching assignments. Chief Justice John Roberts, for instance, reported $25,000 in teaching income for a brief course at New England Law School, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh received $33,285 for teaching at Notre Dame. Gorsuch taught for roughly two weeks last July at a George Mason University campus in Prague, records show.

Kavanaugh also delivered a speech last September — his meals, transportation and lodging were provided — at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas, which the AP earlier reported had invited Thomas to headline a 2017 event.

The court released disclosure forms for eight of the nine sitting justices. Justice Samuel Alito, as he has previously done, requested a 90-day extension, the court said.

A month after his French Open meltdown, the top-ranked Sinner produced a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 win that lasted 3 hours and 30 minutes in the opening match on Centre Court, which by custom is reserved for the past year’s men’s singles champion.

Sinner said he was “a little tight in the beginning,” noting that it was his first grass-court match of the season.

“I’m happy that I turned it around,” Sinner said.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, remains the only Wimbledon men’s singles winner in the professional era (since 1968) to lose in the first round the following year. The Australian was defeated by Ivo Karlovic in his 2003 opener.

In another Centre Court match, seven-time champion Novak Djokovic had Bad Bunny cheering him on during a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 102nd-ranked Wu Yibing that ended with the retractable roof closed and the lights turned on due to darkness. Djokovic improved to a perfect 21-0 in the opening round at Wimbledon.

Serena Williams will play her opening match on Tuesday against 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia — marking the first time she competes in singles in nearly four years.

Ideal conditions

Sinner hadn’t played an official match since he struggled with dizziness during a heat wave at Roland Garros, where after being within one game of concluding his second-round match in straight sets, he was beaten by Juan Manuel Cerundolo in five.

The match with Kecmanovic was played in ideal conditions, with sunny skies and the temperature 24 degrees Celsius (75 Fahrenheit).

Sinner is a big favorite to repeat as Wimbledon champion since his main rival Carlos Alcaraz, who he beat in last year’s final, is missing the championships due to a right wrist injury.

Sinner felt the pressure from the honors reserved for the defending champion.

“It was a very, very different feeling," he said. "There’s a lot of nerves when you go down the stairs behind the court. Also mentally knowing it’s such a prestige court and such a historical court.”

Bloody shoe

Early in the third set, Sinner drew a loud applause when he executed a sliced stop-volley drop shot that was so good Kecmanovic didn’t even run for it. But in the same game, Sinner then fell hard to the grass when he lost his footing trying to change directions. He went down on his knees and fell backwards grimacing in pain as he grasped what appeared to be his left hip area. But he quickly got up and resumed playing.

As the match wore on, Sinner appeared to be bleeding through his right shoe.

“I’m good,” Sinner said. “It just seems much worse than it is. … It’s just a nail.”

Kecmanovic saved a set point in the third-set tiebreaker with a wild point that ended with Sinner down on the ground again after he first retrieved a short ball and then retreated to run down a ball over his shoulder into the corner. It evened the tiebreaker at 6-6 and Sinner and Kecmanovic slapped hands on the ensuing change of ends as the players appeared to appreciate each other’s effort.

Two points later, a backhand from Sinner sailed long and Kecmanovic had a two-sets-to-one lead.

“The third set," Sinner said, "was a very tough one to swallow.”

But Sinner cleaned up his game in the final two sets to earn his first five-set victory since he came back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev for his first Grand Slam trophy in the 2024 Australian Open final.

Beckham does the wave

When Sinner held for a 5-2 lead in the fifth, David Beckham in the Royal Box was among the spectators taking part in a Centre Court wave.

Sinner has now won all five of his career meetings with Kecmanovic but this one was nothing like a straight-sets victory in the third round at Wimbledon in 2024 and the players shared a friendly embrace at the net when it was over.

Sinner produced 72 winners to Kecmanovic's 20 but also had many more unforced errors: 52 to 33. The serve was a weapon for Sinner, cranking out 31 aces to Kecmanovic's one.

“We will try to aim for a couple of improvements for the next match,” Sinner said.

Kecmanovic had to regroup recently after Viktor Troicki left him to coach another Serbian — someone by the name of Novak Djokovic.

Osaka's kimono

In other matches, Medvedev defeated Marin Cilic 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in a matchup of Grand Slam champions; 12th-seeded Andrey Rublev was beaten by Roman Safiullin 6-4, 6-7 (6), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (12); and rising Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar, in his Wimbledon debut, beat Felix Gill 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

In women's action, Naomi Osaka made another fashion statement by wearing a flowing kimono for her walk-on before a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Elsa Jacquemot; top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka beat Teodora Kostovic 6-2, 6-3; Coco Gauff beat Tamara Korpatsch 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes; and French Open champion Mirra Andreeva beat Magda Linette 7-5, 6-4.

French Open finalist Maja Chwalinska, who needed a wild-card entry, was beaten 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 by Mananchaya Sawangkaew.

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

The county’s Vacancy to Vitality program repurposes former public school facilities into residences, senior living communities and businesses, preserving decades of local history in the process. The program recently received a VACO Achievement Award, a recognition from the Virginia Association of Counties.

“The VACO Achievement Award really is a confirmation that we’re doing a best practice in the Commonwealth,” Pulaski County Administrator Jonathan Sweet said. “We feel that we’re doing it better than any locality in the Commonwealth.”

Schools given new life across the county

Across Pulaski County, several former school buildings have already been converted. The former Pulaski High School became the Pulaski Lofts, a residential community. Claremont Elementary was transformed into a senior living facility. Draper Elementary is now home to the Conery, an award-winning business.

The former Dublin High School is next. It will become the 11th public school repurposed through the program and is expected to transition into a residential space. Plans call for preserving original features, including the auditorium and gymnasium.

Sweet said the Board of Supervisors made repurposing these buildings a top priority.

“These former discontinued public school facilities host nostalgia and community pride — in a lot of cases, a lot of history, both community and personal history,” he said.

Memories preserved alongside the buildings

For many residents, the transformed buildings carry deeply personal meaning. Pulaski County Community Development Director John Crockett said visits to the repurposed schools often bring out powerful memories from community members.

“One gentleman was able to point to a specific spot in the classroom and tell us, ‘This is where he learned about the Kennedy assassination,’” Crockett said. “Others said, ‘This is where I was sitting when the first man walked on the moon.’ There are so many great stories.”

Crockett said seeing residents use and enjoy the spaces again makes the work worthwhile.

“It’s a really great thing to come in and see the folks enjoying these facilities again and see them put back to use,” he said.

A program built on partnerships

Sweet said the success of Vacancy to Vitality goes beyond county government. Community partners and business partners have been essential in moving projects forward.

“We’re not doing it alone,” Sweet said. “We have great community partners and business partners that also share the vision and see the value in these old facilities.”

He said the alternative — demolition — made the case for repurposing even clearer.

“Nothing feels better than to contemplate how much you might have to spend to tear something down — and then instead, to see what value you’ve turned the project into and to see empty parking lots now full,” Sweet said.

The justices said Monday that Trump can fire leaders of independent agencies with one exception, ruling that central banker Lisa Cook can keep her job at the Federal Reserve for now. Trump said he would still seek to remove her.

The court said states can count late-arriving mailed ballots, rejecting a Trump-led challenge. It declined to consider Trump’s push to toss a $5 million jury verdict that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll. And it turned away Trump defender Alan Dershowitz ’s effort to rewrite the U.S. libel law standards.

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More than 100 Venezuelans deported from the US hours before earthquakes are missing after their hotel collapses

The people were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors.

A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Caracas hours before Wednesday’s earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she escaped the rubble from the hotel with about 20 other deportees who walked the streets looking for help. They saw people running, some naked and others barefoot as they emerged from the rubble of the building in La Guaira, one of the areas that was hardest hit in Wednesday’s 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

Portillo was caught up in the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations. In May, ICE Flight Monitor tracked 288 deportation flights to 38 countries, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile and the Ivory Coast.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for information from the AP.

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Alaska senators support Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots

Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski applauded the Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to continue counting late arriving mail ballots, saying it “recognizes that states face unique circumstances in administering their elections.”

“In Alaska, voting is not as simple as driving down the road to a neighborhood polling place. Many Alaskans live in remote communities that are not connected to the road system, requiring ballots to travel by bush plane or boat, which means volatile weather conditions and limited infrastructure can determine whether those ballots arrive on time,” she said in a statement.

In Alaska, ballots are counted if postmarked by Election Day and received within 10 days — or 15 days for overseas voters in general elections.

The office of Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces reelection this year, says he has a record of defending voting rights and believes “every eligible vote cast before or on Election Day should be counted.”

Feds to buy back North Carolina offshore wind lease from Duke Energy

Duke Energy is the latest utility to bow to pressure from the Trump administration to cancel offshore wind leases in return for money.

The $129 million deal by the Interior Department brings the total amount spent on these agreements to about $2.7 billion. The Trump administration has been buying back the leases as it seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of more traditional energy sources such as natural gas, coal and nuclear power.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke said the deal will allow it “refocus” the money in range of ways, including new nuclear or natural gas generation, or grid enhancements to strengthen reliability.

French energy giant TotalEnergies, which had partnered with Duke on the North Carolina project, took a similar deal in March.

Mississippi official sued over mail ballots says Supreme Court ruling was win for states’ rights

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said the Supreme Court Monday confirmed the right of states to administer elections.

Watson, a Republican running for lieutenant governor in Mississippi, was sued by the Republican National Committee in 2024 over Mississippi’s policy of counting absentee ballots received after Election Day. The justices in a 5-4 ruling sided with Watson.

Watson said in a statement after the decision that he opposed the practice of counting ballots received after Election Day, but deeply valued the rights of states to “govern themselves, including the administration of elections.”

He said the Supreme Court ruling confirms election policy is a “decision to be made by Congress or, in its absence, state legislatures.”

Trump equivocates on importance of Qatar talks

He said U.S. delegates had either just left or were getting ready to leave for negotiations to end the war with Iran. But he offered a lukewarm view of the talks.

“The meeting in Doha is going to be perhaps important, perhaps not — we’re going to find out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

Trump calls bill aimed at addressing housing affordability ‘a yawn’ and says he doesn’t know if he’ll sign it

Trump last week abruptly canceled a ceremony to sign the bill, saying he would not approve the bipartisan legislation aimed at lowering the cost of housing until Congress acts on legislation to require proof of citizenship to vote.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said over the weekend he would send Trump the bill on Monday anyway. When asked by reporters about whether he’d sign it, Trump gave an exasperated response and drew out his words, saying, “I don’t knooow.”

He proclaimed to have more knowledge about housing than anyone in the history of the presidency, but said the bill was “so unimportant” compared to the voting legislation.

“When I look at that bill, it’s a bill,” Trump said. “But when I look at the Save America Act, it’s about saving America.”

Rubio meets with son of Libyan military strongman as signs of a potential unification deal emerge

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with the son of a powerful Libyan warlord as signs grow that the U.S. is intensifying efforts to broker a unity agreement between the Libya’s fractured eastern and western factions.

Rubio met on Monday with Saddam Hifter, the deputy general commander of the self-styled Libyan national army, based in the east of the country. Hifter is the son of Khalifa Hifter, widely seen as the most powerful figure in eastern and southern Libya.

The two men “discussed ongoing Libyan-led efforts to unify the country’s military, economic, and political institutions” and “possible avenues for cooperation to advance unity and peace in Libya,” the State Department said.

The U.S. is reportedly pushing an initiative under which Saddam Hifter would head a presidential council in a new unified administration that would also include Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who runs the government in western Libya.

Monday’s meeting came after a senior official from Dbeibah’s defense ministry met with U.S. officials in Washington last week.

Trump signs memo telling EPA that people can fix their autos as they see fit

The U.S. president said he signed a memo to allow Americans to fix their own vehicles, saying that people had been arrested for trying to do so.

“It came to my attention because they noticed they were arresting people for fixing their car,” Trump said.

The president appeared to be referencing a diesel mechanic, Troy Lake, who violated the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions monitoring systems on trucks. Trump pardoned Lake last November.

The memo also addresses the use of aftermarket auto parts. It would supersede the ability of the California Air Resources Board to evaluate parts that affect vehicle emissions.

Schumer blasts Supreme Court decision on independent federal agencies

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says the Supreme Court’s decision giving presidents free rein to fire agency heads at will gives Trump a “permission slip to turn independent federal agencies into members-only clubs for his golf buddies and cronies.”

The justices ruled in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter, whom Trump fired without cause despite a provision of federal law that requires a reason. The logic of the court’s decision extends to other agencies where Trump has fired board members.

Slaughter once served as Schumer’s chief counsel. Schumer says she was fired for no other reason than doing a good of a job protecting consumers.

“Instead of preserving independence intended to keep markets fair and protect consumers, Trump’s instead catering to fraudsters and monopolists. And the Supreme Court is giving him a green light to do it,” Schumer said.

Top California election official says mail-in ballot ruling is a win for democracy

California’s Secretary of State hailed Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court as a win for voters, the rule of law and democracy.

Shirley Weber, California’s first Black secretary of state, said in a statement the court “protected an important safeguard” that helps make sure voters are not disenfranchised by mail delays.

“This ruling makes one thing clear,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Our elections belong to the people, not to partisan agendas.”

Under California law, ballots received within seven days of an election are counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

FCC’s sole Democrat warns of Supreme Court ruling’s impact

Anna Gomez is one of the few Democrats who have held onto their seats at federal agencies after Trump fired most of them, partly because her presence allows for a quorum that allows Chairman Brendan Carr to enact his agenda.

She warned the Supreme Court’s ruling “puts at risk how Congress intended independent agencies to function in American democracy.”

“Those who argue these agencies are unaccountable misunderstand how they were designed, as the FCC answers to Congress, the democratically elected body that created it, through oversight, appropriations, and legislation,” she said in a statement following the Court’s ruling. “When commissioners can be removed for their policy views rather than for cause, the inevitable result is an agency that pulls its punches and defers to political winds rather than the record before it.”

She said consumers “will pay the price” in higher costs, fewer choices and slower progress toward connectivity.

Republican chairman follows Trump’s lead on mail-in ballot ruling

RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said the court’s decision upholding state practices of accepting all ballots postmarked by Election Day is a reason to pass the president’s proposed elections bill that is stalled on Capitol Hill.

“If we want fair and secure elections, Election Day should mean exactly what it says, which is why this decision makes it even more imperative that Congress pass the SAVE America Act,” Gruters said.

RNC aides distributed the statement after Trump made the same argument Monday morning. Trump’s proposal would virtually eliminate absentee voting nationally, require voters to provide citizenship documentation to register and then present certain photo identification at polling places.

Gruters said Democrats “are inviting chaos at the ballot box by allowing elections to drag on.” He did not offer any examples of such chaos, and it was the original plaintiffs who wanted the court to overturn long-established rules months before November’s elections.

America 250 celebrations bring extraordinary security challenge to Washington

Federal law enforcement is preparing for one of the capital’s largest and most complex security operations as hundreds of thousands of people visit Washington for the 250th anniversary of the nation’s freedom.

The security challenge comes amid rising political violence, including recent incidents near the White House, and a president who enjoys being at the center of public pomp yet has repeatedly faced attempts on his life.

The nation’s capital “is a target-rich environment” on a normal day, said Darren B. Cox, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “We are prepared for any threats.”

The throngs will be joined by thousands of law enforcement officers and agents and 5,000 National Guard troops, along with military-style vehicles and other hardware not often seen on American streets.

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Trump says he will keep fighting Carroll case after court declines to take it up

The president said in a social media post that it was “a Fake Case” brought against him by a woman he claims he never met.

“I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength,” Trump wrote.

He also said the case, in which a jury found that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in New York City in the 1990s and later defamed her, is “really against the United States of America, and all it stands for.”

In a statement Monday, Carroll said the decision affirms the jury’s verdict will stand. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” she said.

Trump says he'll seek to remove Cook despite court rejection of his initial attempt

Trump said he lost his effort to remove the Federal Reserve’s Lisa Cook “on a strictly procedural basis” and would still seek to remove the central bank governor.

The court ruled 5-4 that the Federal Reserve’s Lisa Cook can remain on the Fed board as she challenges the administration’s attempts to fire her over claims of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

Trump said in a social media post that “we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”

In light of Supreme Court rejection, Trump renews push for his voter ID bill

Trump called a Supreme Court ruling that ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted days after an election a “tremendous loss.”

Trump posted on social media that the decision makes it more important for his SAVE America Act to pass. The measure would require proof of citizenship and include a ban on mail-in ballots unless that person is sick, disabled, traveling or deployed by the military, Trump noted.

“There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump said.

The president then called out Republican senators who have objected to the measure: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Cook says her attempted firing was about ‘political pressure’ on the Fed

The firing attempt “was never about mortgage documents signed years ago” but rather “was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure” from Trump, who has long sought lower interest rates from the central bank, Cook said in a written statement reacting to the court’s ruling.

Trump fired Cook last August, citing allegations that she had committed fraud in mortgage documents she signed in June and July of 2021. The Biden appointee sued to keep her job, and lower courts ruled she could remain while the case is litigated. The Supreme Court Monday upheld those rulings.

“Today’s ruling affirms a principle that has underpinned sound economic stewardship for generations: that the Federal Reserve must make all its policy decisions guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference,” Cook’s statement said.

Trump applauds ruling empowering him to fire independent agency leaders

A majority of the justices ruled presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a previous court ruling from 91 years ago.

“It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” Trump posted on social media.

The justices ruled in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter. The decision’s logic extends to National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Trump did not acknowledge that the court recognized some limits on his authorities by also ruling 5-4 that Lisa Cook can remain a central bank governor while challenging unproven mortgage fraud allegations, which she has denied.

Supreme Court says Fed’s Cook can keep her job for now

The Supreme Court on Monday dramatically expanded presidential power, upholding Trump’s firings of the heads of independent federal agencies with one important exception, the Federal Reserve.

The justices allowed Fed governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job while she fights the Republican president’s effort to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

But other than at the nation’s central bank, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority. That decision, Humphrey’s Executor, was overturned.

Witkoff and Kushner going to Qatar for talks with Iran

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Steve Witkoff, who is the special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, are flying to Qatar to meet with the Iranians.

Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that those talks would be “high level” and that technical negotiations would occur on the sidelines. Iran has denied that the talks are happening.

Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by attacking a ship last week in Strait of Hormuz, but so far the interim deal for negotiations to take place appears to have held.

Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots

The Court said states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day, a persistent target of Trump.

The decision Monday rejects a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

In just over half those states, the more forgiving deadlines apply only to ballots cast by military and overseas voters.

Trump has claimed most mail balloting breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience. He keeps repeating that fraud caused his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 even though more than 60 court decisions and his own attorney general said that argument had no merit.

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This story has been corrected to show Trump saying hosing bill was “unimportant.”

Beasley has been out of the NBA since playing with the Detroit Pistons in 2024-25. Another former NBA player, Ed Davis, was also charged in the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court against six people.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said they “turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation.”

The schemes, he added, “erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.”

Nocella said hundreds of thousands of dollars were wagered through popular gambling sites. The indictment says Beasley had financial woes, including millions of dollars in gambling losses, and had relied on Davis, a former teammate, for help.

“Malik maintains his presumption of innocence throughout this two-year investigation,” Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, said. “We ask that people reserve judgment until all the facts are known.”

Feds say Beasley tipped others about his play

In return for fixing his performance, Beasley got paid by his money-winning co-conspirators and his debts to Davis were reduced or eliminated, the indictment alleges.

In one example, according to the court filing, Beasley informed Davis that he would try to outperform the 3.5 prop line bet for rebounds in Milwaukee's game against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, 2024.

With a second left, and the Bucks ahead by seven points, any shot by the Clippers would not have affected the outcome. But Beasley challenged the shot and then dashed past four players to grab the rebound as the horn sounded.

Beasley finished with four rebounds that night — an overperformance and a winning prop bet, the indictment states.

“What's funny is after he got it he had a big sigh of relief,” a co-conspirator said in a text message, according to the indictment.

In other games, Beasley told Davis that he would underperform certain statistics, the government alleges.

The NBA said it would continue to cooperate with authorities.

“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” spokesperson Mike Bass said.

Investigation has kept Beasley on sidelines

Beasley last played in the NBA for the Pistons in 2025, averaging 16 points per game. He is one of five players in NBA history with more than 300 3-pointers in a season, but he did not play in the league last season because of the investigation.

Beasley's financial problems have been widely reported, including disputes with a Detroit landlord, a Milwaukee barber and a Minnesota dentist. In 2025, when the Pistons were in New York for a playoff game, he was served with a lawsuit from a local sports marketing agency, which subsequently got a $1 million default judgment against Beasley.

Davis' attorney did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. He was an NBA journeyman who was primarily a backup in a 12-year career that got him roughly $48 million in gross salary. Davis and Beasley were teammates in Minnesota in 2020-21.

Paolo Zamorano, a sports agent who formerly represented Davis, was also charged with placing bets based on Beasley's information. Defense attorney Ken Breen said Zamorano denies wrongdoing and “looks forward to his day in court.”

Other NBA figures arrested in 2025

Authorities last fall announced a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and well-known basketball figures such as Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and coach of the Portland Trail Blazers at the time.

Billups is accused of conspiring to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. He has pleaded not guilty.

In April, former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, became the first person to plead guilty. He was accused of defrauding major sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel, and filching millions of dollars from unwitting poker players.

Jones was charged with selling or attempting to sell insider information to bettors based on his relationships in the NBA.

Terry Rozier is accused of conspiring with friends to help them win bets on his performance during a 2023 game when he played for the Charlotte Hornets. He, too, has pleaded not guilty. He was on the Miami Heat when he was charged in 2025.

In 2024, former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in a separate gambling case. Porter, who had gambling debts, said he took himself out of games early so co-conspirators could win bets on his performance.

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Associated Press writers Tim Reynolds in Miami and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

Admission is free, but you will want to remember to bring money for rides, games and all your favorite fair foods.

WSLS will be at the fair for Sock Night, where you can get a discounted ride wristband by donating two pairs of new socks to benefit the Rescue Mission and Mrs. Dorsey’s Closet.

If you are heading out, be sure to stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and take breaks from the heat.

Ride wristbands are available online or at Northwest Ace Hardware Locations. You can find more information here.

Helmintoller brings six years of coaching experience spanning competitive travel basketball and the high school level. School officials said his background in player development and program building made him the choice to lead the Wildcats.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Coach Helmintoller into this new leadership role,” the athletic department said in a statement. “The energy, passion and cultural foundation he brings to our school and our young men is exactly what we need to take this program to the next level.”

Helmintoller said his coaching philosophy emphasizes accountability, hard work and support for student-athletes. School officials said players can expect a high-energy environment focused on development both on and off the court.

The Wildcats will begin preparations for the 2026-27 season under Helmintoller’s leadership.

Martinelli entered the game as a second-half substitute and put an end to Japan’s near-upset on Monday, scoring the winning goal late in injury time to give five-time champion Brazil a 2-1 victory and a spot in the round of 16.

The result was a showcase of Brazil’s Italian connections. Martinelli holds dual citizenship in Italy and Brazil, and the man who made the decision to change the team’s makeup was Carlo Ancelotti, an Italian who is the first European to coach the South American country’s national team.

“Above all else we wanted to freshen up the field because Martinelli has a lot of intensity as a player,” Ancelotti said through a translator. “When he goes in the match he’s always on his top game.”

Brazil will next face either the Ivory Coast or Norway on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the round of 16.

“We can never be content with what we’re doing,” Ancelotti said. “We’re doing a good job. We are performing. But you can never be content because we want to play better. We want to play at the highest level.”

Casemiro had earlier equalized for Brazil on a header in the 56th minute off an assist from Gabriel Magalhães after just missing another chance two minutes earlier. The shot sailed just out of the reach of the outstretched hand of Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki and into the net.

Kaishu Sano stole a misplaced pass at midfield and took it down the field before a right-footed shot from above the half circle put Japan ahead in the 29th minute.

“There is not not making mistakes because nobody is perfect,” Ancelotti said. “But you have to overcome it and you have to push it forward. The team did a good job of that in the second half.”

Vinícius Júnior, who has scored four goals so far in this year's tournament, had a chance to put Brazil on top in the 58th minute but his shot from the left box was deflected by Suzuki and went off the far post.

Casemiro left in the first minute of second-half stoppage time with what appeared to be a leg injury.

Brazil had two chances to even the score early in the second half before breaking through. On the first one, Suzuki blocked a header from Bruno Guimarães in the 52nd minute. Soon after, Casemiro’s header bounced off a defender’s head and Suzuki’s face. Suzuki finished with four saves.

Brazil great Neymar didn’t play Monday after making his first appearance for the team since 2023 in the last game against Scotland. He played only 14 minutes in that 3-0 win after missing the first two group matches at the World Cup with a right calf injury.

“I was seriously considering putting him on the pitch,” Ancelotti said. “In the end, we did not need him.”

Japan has never won a knockout match at the World Cup, going 0-4 in the round of 16 — including also taking the lead the last two times in 2018 and 2022 before losing.

The win was Brazil’s 12th in 15 games against Japan. The teams have also played to two draws while Japan got its first win in the series in a friendly in Tokyo in October.

“The gap between us is closing now,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said through a translator. “Brazil is a top-tier team and we’re definitely approaching that level.”

Then he mentioned the loss in Qatar four years ago before adding: “We have to up our game.”

This was a matchup between two countries with deep ties, with Brazil being home to about 2.7 million Japanese descendants, which is the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

Those ties extend to soccer where Brazil superstar Zico moved to Japan in 1991 to play for Kashima Antlers and help build Japan’s professional soccer network. He coached the Japan national team from 2002-06, leading the team to the World Cup in 2006.

That team lost to Brazil 4-1 in the only previous meeting between the teams at the World Cup.

Brazil won Group C after a draw with Morocco and victories over Haiti and Scotland. Monday’s victory came on the anniversary of their first World Cup championship in Sweden in 1958, when a 17-year-old Pele scored two goals in the final against the host country.

Japan reached the round of 32 as runner-up in Group F after a draws with the Netherlands and Sweden and a win over Tunisia. The loss snaps a 10-game unbeaten streak dating back to a 2-0 loss to the United States in September.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Golding replaces Joe Fielder, who recently left the program. School officials said naming an internal candidate provides stability for players and coaches while allowing the division to conduct a comprehensive search for a permanent head coach for the 2027 season.

Golding has spent 34 years in public education, including 27 with Martinsville City Public Schools, and has coached football for 30 years.

Golding joined Martinsville as a special education teacher and football coach and has held numerous leadership roles during his career. Before becoming athletic director in 2006, he served as head varsity baseball coach, varsity football defensive coordinator and assistant athletic director. He also has served as the school’s assistant principal and interim principal.

Superintendent Dr. Zebedee Talley Jr. said Golding’s experience and familiarity with the football program made him the right choice to lead the Bulldogs this season.

“This decision gives our student-athletes stability, allows our experienced coaching staff to continue its work, and ensures we can take the time necessary to do a thorough search for the next long-term leader of our program,” Talley said. “Coach Golding has the experience, the ability to lead, and the respect of our staff and players.”

Golding said the program’s priority will be maintaining continuity while returning to the physical style of football that has historically brought success to Martinsville.

“I’ve been here for the successful years and for the not-so-successful ones,” Golding said. “I know what success in Bulldog football looks like, and I know how to get our players there.”

Golding said the Bulldogs will emphasize a run-first offense.

“We’re going to run the football,” he said. “When Martinsville has been successful, that’s what we’ve done. We’re going to put our players in the best position to succeed.”

John Yoo confirmed in an email to The Associated Press on Monday that he would be assisting Joe diGenova in an ongoing investigation into whether officials who over the last decade scrutinized Trump participated in a criminal conspiracy against the Republican president.

“He’s a lawyer. He's going to be helping us,” diGenova said in a brief telephone interview about Yoo. diGenova served as the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia between 1983 and 1988 and was enlisted in April to return to government as a counselor to the attorney general.

A law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Yoo was a senior Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration who served as an author of the so-called “torture memos” that government officials used to justify using “enhanced interrogation” techniques on potential terror suspects. The Justice Department later rescinded the memos.

In the years since, he's remained a prominent proponent of broad executive authority, telling the AP in 2020 that he had told Trump administration officials that a Supreme Court ruling that rejected Trump’s effort to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, opened the door to enormous new presidential power.

The conspiracy investigation is being conducted in Florida, but the scope is unclear, as is whether any criminal charges will be brought.

Prosecutors have centered at least part of the probe on the long-concluded investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Investigators have issued a broad swath of subpoenas to former officials for records and conducted interviews related to the creation of an intelligence community assessment, released in January 2017, that found that Russia engaged in wide-ranging election interference to boost Trump over his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

A 2019 report by special counsel Robert Mueller affirmed that Russia interfered on Trump's behalf and that the Trump campaign repeatedly welcomed the assistance, but it did not find sufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the campaign.

Several subsequent investigations into the Russia probe have identified multiple errors into how it was conducted, and a former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty in 2020 to doctoring an email during the course of the inquiry. But none of the reviews have identified criminal misconduct by any senior law enforcement or intelligence official involved in the investigation.

Trump has nonetheless continued to demand retribution and has sought to punish top officials from that time at the FBI and CIA.

Asked in a Fox News Channel interview in May what the Justice Department had done to address claims of a long-running conspiracy to bring down Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “That's exactly what we're investigating right now.”

Yoo's involvement in the investigation was earlier reported by Politico and CNN.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday released its list of participants for an upcoming meeting to reconsider the safety and effectiveness of several popular peptide injections, including some that have been praised by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Previous FDA panels on the topic have been composed of academics and researchers. The agency’s new group mainly includes health professionals who prescribe, produce or promote peptides, which have become a wellness trend among athletes, influencers and celebrities.

The two-day meeting is the latest example of how Kennedy and his deputies are trying to reshape U.S. health policy in the mold of the Make America Healthy Again movement. Some of the biggest supporters of the movement sell peptide formulas, though many pharmaceutical industry experts consider them illegal, unapproved drugs.

The substances are sold online and promoted by wellness clinics as a means to build muscle, heal injuries and look younger, though there’s little evidence behind those claims. Peptide sellers often skirt U.S. regulations by labeling their products as "for research use only,” since the FDA doesn’t regulate research chemicals.

FDA has raised safety concerns about peptides

Many of the injectable peptides sold in the U.S. are produced by compounding pharmacies, which mix custom medications that aren’t available from traditional drug manufacturers.

For several years, the FDA has warned Americans about the risks of injecting chemicals with names like BPC-157 and TB-500, which have not been extensively studied in humans. Both drugs are considered doping substances by international sports authorities. They are among seven peptides set for review in July.

Previous versions of the FDA’s panel on drug compounding — the group that will meet next month — have voted against a string of peptide ingredients brought forward by compounding pharmacies, declaring all of them too risky to be offered to patients. Those panels were mostly composed of experts from universities including Duke, Harvard and Johns Hopkins.

New FDA panel includes peptide proponents

The FDA's new group includes more than a half-dozen panelists who run clinics, online businesses or pharmacies specializing in peptides, which are often given alongside other unapproved therapies, including vitamin infusions.

For example, panel member Dr. Haleem Mohammed runs clinics in Florida that sell injections of peptides, vitamins, testosterone and weight loss medications. The business is part of a national chain of clinics dubbed Gameday Men's Health. The company's website states, "compounded medications offered through our services are not FDA-approved, and the FDA does not verify their safety."

Another panelist, Dr. Gabriel Alizaidy, charges $500 for “peptide and hormone” consultations, including advice on “where to safely get each peptide or compound.” Alizaidy promotes BPC-157, GHK-Cu and other peptides to thousands of followers through his accounts on Instagram and TikTok.

His website contains the disclaimer that each consultation “is educational in nature and does not constitute medical care, diagnosis, or treatment.”

Another member is Bobby Harshbarger, a Tennessee state senator who has multiple connections to the industry. Harshbarger is a pharmacist at his family's business, Premiere Pharmacy, which sells compounded medications for weight loss, longevity, pain and other conditions.

His mother, Rep. Diana Harshbarger, is also a pharmacist and a Republican member of U.S. Congress from Tennessee. Last year she sent a letter to Kennedy calling on him to relax FDA restrictions on a half-dozen peptides.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly praised Harshbarger's support of his “Make America Great Again” agenda. Last year, the president pardoned her husband, Robert Harshbarger Jr., who pleaded guilty more than a decade ago to substituting an unapproved drug from China for one used by patients on kidney dialysis. He was stripped of his pharmacy license and sentenced to four years in prison, which he served.

Mohammed and Alizaidy did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press Monday afternoon. A spokesperson for Harshbarger could not immediately provide comment when reached by phone.

Kennedy and his allies previously criticized government panels

The FDA has more than 30 panels of experts who advise the agency on various drugs, vaccines, food ingredients and other products.

Advisory meetings are subject to strict government transparency rules in terms of panel composition and financial disclosures. Experts who have a financial stake in a company or industry are permitted to serve on the panels, but the relationship must be disclosed and regulators are supposed to explain why the person's expertise outweighs their potential conflict of interest.

Kennedy and his allies have been highly critical of federal expert panels, often alleging that they are riven with conflicts of interest, despite federal data showing otherwise.

Last year, Kennedy fired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's entire 17-member vaccine panel and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices. A federal judge later said that action likely violated federal rules.

Kennedy told podcast host Joe Rogan earlier this year that he is “a big fan of peptides,” and described using them to recover from injuries.

Former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary — who resigned in May — was also highly critical of FDA advisory panels, complaining that they were expensive, time-consuming and subject to too many financial conflicts.

The number of such meetings plummeted during Makary's tenure. Instead, the FDA held a number of ad hoc meetings with handpicked experts on topics favored by Kennedy, including the risks of talc powder and antidepressants.

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

The attorneys general and governors who filed the lawsuit allege that an interim final rule released earlier this month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services oversteps the text of the law last summer that set in motion the changes to Medicaid.

They claim the Republican administration’s narrow interpretation of parts of the statute, including new limits to a medical frailty exemption, will create harmful coverage barriers and chaos in states that have been rushing to implement new systems by the January deadline.

“Added administrative burdens will cause individuals who are eligible for Medicaid to lose or be denied coverage,” the plaintiffs write. “People with disabilities, patients in the middle of cancer treatment, or those struggling with another serious or complex health condition, shouldn’t be at risk of losing the care that helps maintain their health.”

Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and CMS, the agencies named in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has promoted the new rules as commonsense measures to eliminate government freeloading and preserve benefits for those who need them most.

The new Medicaid restrictions, which Democrats have criticized, were part of Trump’s big tax and policy law in 2025. The change affects those covered through an expansion in most states that gave more lower-income people access to the government’s safety net healthcare program.

Starting Jan. 1, expansion enrollees age 19 to 64 will have to show that they work or do community service at least 80 hours a month or are in school at least half the time. There are exceptions for those considered medically frail or in addiction treatment programs, among others.

This month’s announcement from CMS caught states off guard with a new definition of medical frailty. The law had said medically frail people include those who have substance use disorders, disabilities or serious medical conditions. But the CMS rule went further, saying someone’s condition must “significantly impair” their ability to work, volunteer or attend school at the rates required in the law for them to be granted an exemption.

In 2027 and once in 2028, the patient can attest that they meet this definition. But when they try to renew coverage in 2028, they’ll need to prove it. Health analysts and state Medicaid directors have said they aren’t clear on what existing documentation could prove that point.

In the lawsuit, states allege that this change came “contrary to months of regular communications with CMS and preliminary guidance materials upon which Plaintiff States based their implementation plans.” They say CMS has still not provided states with enough clarity on how they can update their systems appropriately.

Kinda Serafi, a partner at the legal and consulting firm Manatt Health who is working with states to make the changes, said the administration “moved the goalposts” with its rule on medical frailty.

“By going beyond the clear language of the statute, CMS opened the door to this court challenge,” she said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the Democrats suing the administration, said the new rule puts thousands of her state's residents at risk.

“New Yorkers who are battling cancer, living with a disability, managing a serious mental health condition, or recovering from addiction should be able to get the health care they need without being buried in paperwork,” she said in a statement.

LPD said they responded to the 2300 block of Bedford Avenue around 11:45 p.m. on Friday after receiving reports of an armed robbery. Upon arrival, officers spoke to a store clerk who claimed a man entered the business and pointed a gun while demanding an undisclosed amount of money. The man then fled on foot, and no injuries were reported.

Authorities said the suspect is believed to be connected with other robberies in the area. He was last seen wearing black clothing and a face covering.

If you have any additional information regarding this incident, please contact Detective Gauthier (434) 455-6230 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900.

Three guards and 88 inmates were inside the Bertie-Martin Regional Detention Center in Windsor when the takeover began at about 5 a.m., prompting an immediate response from local, state and federal authorities, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement posted on social media.

By early afternoon, the Bureau of Investigation and the FBI had “cleared the facility,” the state bureau said in a statement. ”All inmates and staff are safe and accounted for, and those who sustained injuries have received treatment.”

Inmates have been transferred to other facilities and the jail will remain secured while the damage is assessed, the Bureau of Investigation said. The 90-bed jail located about 120 miles (190 kilometers) east of Raleigh houses pretrial detainees and short-term inmates for Bertie and Martin counties.

Inmates took two guards captive and the third guard escaped. Negotiations led to the release of the two guards along with 80 inmates, leaving only eight inmates inside, Bertie County Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin said at a news conference.

Ruffin said the two guards who were released were undergoing medical treatment but he had no details about their injuries.

Most of the remaining inmates “complied and exited the facility as soon as entry was made,” said Chad Flowers, a spokesperson for the State Bureau of Investigation.

It wasn’t immediately known whether officers fired any lethal or non-lethal rounds upon entering the jail. In a telephone interview, Flowers said law enforcement officials were in a meeting about the incident and unavailable late Monday afternoon.

Flowers also referred questions about the facility's security to a jail administrator, who did not immediately return a telephone message. Authorities have not addressed why there were three guards overseeing the jail at the time of the takeover.

“The perpetrators must be held accountable for this horrifying action," Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said on the social platform X. "We also must do everything in our power to ensure this doesn’t happen again — and that includes doing more to recruit, retain, and compensate the county and state officials who are charged with keeping our jails and prisons safe.”

Ruffin did not indicate what caused the takeover.

“Right now we have a lot going on that we're trying to get under control," he said. "I will release that information to the public as soon as I can.”

The Refuge on Memorial officially cut the ribbon on its doors, launching as a 24-hour shelter and day center as the city and its nonprofit partners work to expand emergency shelter space. The facility, the result of a community renovation effort stretching from 2024 to 2026, is designed to welcome anyone in need — day or night — with fewer barriers to getting inside.

Shelter opens with capacity for 50

The newly renovated space can house up to 50 people in its overnight emergency shelter, according to Claude Gardner, executive director of the Refuge on Memorial.

“Our facility can hold up to 50 folks in our overnight emergency shelter. We are servicing men, women, as well as entire family units. We also have space for those who have been sexually exploited or maybe fleeing domestic violence as well,” Gardner said.

Gardner added that early numbers are encouraging and expected to grow.

“Overnight we are averaging about 10 or 11. By the first, we will have at least 15,” he said.

‘No one would be left out’

The low-barrier model is central to the shelter’s philosophy. While low-barrier doesn’t mean no barrier, guests are encouraged to work with an on-site case management team — meeting people where they are to help get them where they need to be.

S.Y. Younger, senior pastor of the Ramp Church International, said the vision behind the shelter was rooted in radical inclusion.

“Our desire was to have a shelter that no matter what someone’s issues were, no matter what their background was, even if they didn’t have all their documentation, that no one would be left out in the cold of the winter and no one would be left out in the heat of the summer,” Younger said.

What’s next for the Refuge

The Refuge on Memorial will operate as both a shelter and a day center, remaining open around the clock and connecting guests to partner agencies and next steps. Staff and organizers also outlined future phases of service they plan to add as more resources come online.

Yet instead of feeling amplified pressure under the raised expectations created by their strong group round and a groundswell of national support, these Americans appeared to be energized by the opportunity to make history as they broke camp Monday at their training base in Orange County.

“Would it be weird if I told you I don't really feel too much pressure at this minute?” Ream said with a grin.

“I think we felt more pressure for that first game against Paraguay than anything, and that's coming from ourselves, not from anything on the outside," Ream added, referring to the Americans' impressive 4-1 win in their World Cup opener on June 12. "We just have to put in a performance the way we have in the group stage, and then we see where that takes us.”

The U.S. faces Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32 in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday night. The Americans are significantly favored — which is sort of an achievement in itself, given that this team has won exactly one knockout-round match in its entire World Cup history.

But these Americans are on the international stage with more optimism and likely more talent than nearly all previous editions of this team. Whether that translates into a deep run is still to be decided, but the Americans' confidence and excitement is undeniable.

“The game is going to be about us and what we're prepared to do, and what we have to do to advance,” U.S. striker Folarin Balogun said. “It’s crunch time. This is the business end, and this is the stage where, in my opinion, the big players step forward and the big players carry the pressure and make things happen.”

Although the Americans reached the semifinals at the inaugural World Cup in 1930 by winning their group, their only knockout victory came at the 2002 tournament when they beat Mexico in the round of 16.

Tim Ream says the US team felt more pressure at the last World Cup in Qatar

The 38-year-old Ream believes the Americans felt more pressure four years ago in Qatar, when they muddled through group play before getting blasted 3-1 by the Netherlands in the first knockout round.

Those Americans weren't led by accomplished Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino, who has made strong tactical advancements and clearly instilled many of his players with a new kind of confidence after previous U.S. cycles were spent under more parochial coaching.

They also didn't have Balogun, the elite goal-scorer who made a major impact on the Americans' victories over Paraguay and Australia by a combined 6-1, clinching their group in style and rendering their third match meaningless.

Folarin Balogun taking in American culture during the World Cup

Balogun's impact is undeniable on the field, but the Brooklyn-born, London-raised forward is also a focal point away from the field. This World Cup cycle has been his first significant exposure to U.S. culture, and that's an endless source of amusement and insight for his teammates.

“He says America is a simulation quite often,” defender Mark McKenzie said with a laugh. “We’ll be driving down the road and he’ll see something and be like, ‘What is that? Why is an individual dressed like that, or why are they throwing a sign up in the air on the corner? What is Bojangles?’ It’s stuff like that, where he’s like, ‘Bro! America! What is going on?’”

Many of the top Americans now play their club soccer internationally — another obvious factor in this team's improved competitiveness in this World Cup. Defender Chris Richards, an Alabama native who plays in London for Crystal Palace, says his team is more mature and more tested than most previous editions of the U.S. roster because of its experience at all levels of the sport.

And count Richards among those who find Balogun's culture shock to be a hilarious distraction during the down time on international breaks and this World Cup cycle.

“I think (Balogun) still has this notion that he says Americans aren’t real,” Richards said. “There’s some stuff that we do that doesn’t fly back in London. It's a lot to learn and especially when you’re only here for a few weeks at a time. It’s been cool (for Balogun) being able to see different pockets of America.”

Cristian Roldan and Auston Trusty do modified training ahead of round of 32

NOTES: Injured players Cristian Roldan (quadriceps strain) and Auston Trusty (ankle) did modified training while their teammates went through a full workout Monday, but McKenzie (foot irritation) remained sidelined for a second straight day. Roldan hasn't played at this World Cup, while Trusty scored in the Americans' 3-2 loss to Turkey before he rolled his ankle late in the match. Roldan was on the field doing drills for the second straight day. McKenzie is getting treatment away from practice. None of the three injured Americans was expected to play a major role in the knockout rounds.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The S&P 500 climbed 1.2% and broke a five-day losing streak. It was coming off just its second losing week in the last 13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 306 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.1%.

Several stocks boosted by the artificial-intelligence boom rose after Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix said they will invest roughly $518 billion in a new chipmaking hub in South Korea, as its president hopes to capitalize on surging AI demand.

Applied Materials, whose equipment helps make semiconductors, rallied 10.8% to vault its gain for the year so far above 170%.

AI stocks have been on a roller-coaster ride recently after soaring to tremendous heights. They’re under pressure because of worries that their profits can’t possibly keep pace with the huge gains for their stock prices. And the moves have an outsized effect on investors because AI stocks have become some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential, giving them more weight on indexes than others.

Nvidia was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500, for example, after its stock rose 1.3%. That’s because it’s Wall Street’s biggest stock with a total value of more than $4.7 trillion.

SpaceX, which owns the xAI business along with rockets, has already become worth more than $2 trillion after its stock's ballyhooed debut on the Nasdaq earlier this month, with sharp rises and falls along the way. It’s become big enough that Nasdaq said Elon Musk’s company will join the Nasdaq 100 index before trading begins on July 7, which will force funds tracking the index to buy the stock.

SpaceX climbed 7.2%.

Outside of AI, Comcast rose 4.5% after saying it will split off its NBCUniversal media business and Sky from its broadband and wireless business. Its stock came into the day with a loss of 17.3% for the year so far.

That helped offset a 5.2% drop for Verizon Communications, which said it’s paying $625 million as part of a deal to combine its international wireline connectivity and managed network services business with some of London-based BT Group’s subsidiaries in a joint venture.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 86.41 points to 7,440.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 306.63 to 52,182.74, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 522.53 to 25,820.14.

The gains for the stock market came even though oil prices rose. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.8% to $73.91, pulling back above where it was before the war with Iran began. Benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery rose 2.2% to settle at $70.75 per barrel.

Following attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend, the United States and Iran on Monday separately announced they will send delegations to Qatar this week, though Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the United States “at any level.”

The hope is that an end to the war with Iran will give oil tankers full access again to the Strait of Hormuz, allowing them to exit the Persian Gulf and deliver crude to customers worldwide. That would help lower the price of oil, whose jumps because of the war have sent a punishing wave of inflation around the world.

If oil prices do recede and stay low enough, it could keep enough pressure off inflation to allow the Federal Reserve and other central banks to keep interest rates steady or even cut them instead of hiking them.

Higher interest rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments. High yields worldwide have been rattling investors after oil prices burst above $100 per barrel because of the war.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.37% from 4.38% late Friday and from 4.56% early this month.

In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped modestly in Europe following mixed performances in Asia.

Stocks jumped 1.6% in Hong Kong and 1.2% in Shanghai for two of the world’s biggest gains, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2%.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Here’s a look at where you can find cooling centers in our region. If we missed any in our list, please contact us through our Help Center.

Alleghany County

• The Clifton Forge Fire Department
• • 701 Church Street
  • Tuesday through Saturday
• Clifton Forge Volunteer Rescue Squad
• • 1610 Hickory Avenue
  • Tuesday through Saturday

Danville

• The Redemption Center Church
• • Location: 625 Shelton Street in Danville
  • The Temporary Relief and Counseling Center will open its cooling station when temperatures reach 90 degrees or higher.

Lynchburg

• Department of Human Services Lobby
• • Location: 99 Ninth Street
  • When: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday
• Miller Center
• • Location: 301 Grove Street, 2nd Floor Customer Service Desk
  • When: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday]
• Miller Center
• • Location: 301 Grove Street, 1st/Ground Floor Entrance to Library Hub (back parking lot)
  • When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday
• Lynchburg Public Library, Downtown Branch
• • Location: 216 12th Street
  • When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday
• Salvation Army
• • Location: 2215 Park Avenue
  • When: 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday-Friday
• The Refuge on Memorial
• • Location: 2220 Memorial Avenue
  • When: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Wednesday-Friday

Roanoke

• Belmont Presbyterian Church
• • Where: 1005 Ninth St. SE
• Belmont Library
• • Where: 1101 Morningside St. SE
  • When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Gainsboro Library
• • Where: 15 Patton Ave. NW
  • When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• The Hope Center
• • Where: 510 11th St. NW
  • When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Main Branch Library
• • Where: 706 S. Jefferson St.
  • When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Melrose Library
• • Where: 2502 Melrose Ave. NW
  • When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Raleigh Court Library
• • Where: 2112 Grandin Rd. SW
  • When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Williamson Road Library
• • Where: 3837 Williamson Rd.
  • When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A map of cooling centers throughout Virginia is available on the Virginia Department of Health’s website.

Murdaugh’s murder convictions and sentence of life in prison were overturned last month by the South Carolina Supreme Court. On Monday, a new judge laid out a timeline for hearings and set the retrial to start April 5. She also nailed down deadlines for making sure the defense and prosecution have exchanged evidence, a process called discovery.

Dozens of media outlets, from international agencies and local TV stations to podcasters, were inside the 200-person Lexington County courthouse to again chronicle every forehead rub and quizzical look from the once-rich and imposing Southern lawyer.

“I see we have a full house,” Judge Debra McCaslin said as the hearing began.

For many, it was a rare glimpse of how life in state prison has changed the 58-year-old Murdaugh. After pleading guilty to stealing about $12 million from clients and his family’s law firm, he is serving a 40-year federal sentence at the same time as a 27-year state sentence.

Unlike just about everyone else in the courtroom, the judge said she was new to the story, which combines a grisly double murder with the fall of a powerful legal dynasty.

“I don’t know anything about the first trial, so when you tell me something, please be complete,” McCaslin told the lawyers.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh shot his wife Maggie and younger son Paul, age 22, because he believed sympathy over their deaths would buy him time to fix his financial crimes. At that point in 2021, he was close to being exposed by both his law firm and the family of a teen who filed a wrongful death suit after Paul crashed a boat while drinking.

A jury convicted Murdaugh of two counts of murder in 2023. While admitting he is a thief, insurance cheat, bad lawyer and longtime opioid addict, he has adamantly denied the killings.

Murdaugh wore an orange prison jumpsuit Monday, listening with his mouth set in a tight line.

At one point, as defense attorney Dick Harpootlian was asking the judge to let Murdaugh wear civilian clothes in court, he told his client to stand.

“Chains around the hands, chain around the waist, chains on his feet,” Harpootlian noted, saying a jury would see Murdaugh shackled like a dangerous criminal when he’s only been convicted of financial crimes.

Prosecutor Creighton Waters said it's important for incarcerated defendants to wear restraints and jumpsuits. “Every time someone is transferred out of court, it is a security risk,” he said.

Defense lawyers want Murdaugh, who was disbarred during his legal troubles, to have access in prison to a laptop without internet, so his team wouldn't have to print and deliver evidence to him. Harpootlian said Monday there are more than 20,000 pages of documents.

“Well surely, Mr. Harpootlian, he reviewed those before his first trial, did he not?” the judge asked.

“Five years ago,” the lawyer replied.

Another pretrial motion asks prosecutors to turn over DNA found under Murdaugh’s wife’s fingernails for testing at a private lab. Investigators said it was from an unknown and unrelated man. The defense said they would cover the cost of testing.

“I’m gonna let you pay for it,” the judge quipped, drawing a chuckle from the courtroom.

Murdaugh was grimacing and biting his lower lip during the exchange.

The defense also wants to hold the next trial outside Colleton County, where the killings happened and the first trial took place. That matter was not decided Monday.

Investigators and armchair detectives alike have spent hours poring over alibis, timelines and digital breadcrumbs, including a cellphone video that prosecutors say cracked the case. They allege Murdaugh’s voice can be heard on the video, which was taken by his son shortly before the shootings at dog kennels on the family’s sprawling property. Murdaugh had initially claimed he was asleep at the time.

During the first trial, a few jurors said the Colleton County clerk of court, who is assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh’s body language when he testified in his own defense and to not be fooled, confused or thrown off by what he might say.

The state Supreme Court ruled this was a suggestion Murdaugh was guilty, and overturned his convictions.

The justices were also concerned there had been too much testimony around how Murdaugh stole from clients, many of them in dire straits.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said she was postponing the federal trial so Mangione’s lawyers can focus on his state murder trial, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8.

Jury selection in the federal case will begin on Jan. 5, instead of Oct. 13, followed by opening statements and testimony on Jan. 25, instead of Nov. 4, Garnett said at a hearing in Manhattan.

Garnett said she will not release the questionnaire that prospective jurors will be required to fill out until after the panel is chosen. Having it circulating online for months before jury selection “would only make what promises to be a difficult task more difficult,” she said.

Wearing a beige jail suit, Mangione looked bemused as a pair of deputy U.S. Marshals led him into the courtroom about 20 minutes after the hearing was supposed to start. He briefly gazed at the courtroom gallery, where about two dozen of his supporters were sitting.

“Mangione was late due to elevator problems,” the court said in a statement.

It was the second mishap involving Mangione’s arrival to a court hearing in recent weeks.

A June 16 hearing in the state case was delayed a day after prosecutors failed to inform his jail that he was needed in court.

Garnett said she had hoped “with perhaps undue optimism” to hold the federal trial in the fall but that “we can no longer wait to see what happens” in the state case.

“In my view it’s simply impossible to be moving through the jury selection process in this case while the defendant and his counsel are fully occupied by conducting the state trial,” Garnett said.

Mangione’s lawyers declined to comment to reporters afterward.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing. He could spend his life in prison if convicted in either case.

The 28-year-old Ivy League graduate appeared energetic and engaged during Monday's brief hearing. He watched intently at times, knitting his fingers and resting his chin on them.

He spoke animatedly with his lawyers, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, before the proceeding began, gesturing with his hands as he sat between them at the defense table.

Mangione’s federal charges allege that he traveled across state lines by bus to stalk and kill Thompson. He's accused of using a cellphone, the internet and interstate highways, among other means, while planning and carrying out the attack, as well as staying at a hostel that serves out-of-state customers.

At a hearing in the state case in February, Mangione spoke out against the prospect of two trials, telling the judge: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

Mangione’s lawyers had argued that back-to-back trials on a compressed timeline would violate his constitutional rights.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.

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

Mangione was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

In January, Garnett took the death penalty off the table but ruled that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest as evidence against him.

They included a 3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to “wack” an insurance executive.

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

Mangione has become a cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry.

An online fundraiser for his legal defense fund has raised more than $1.5 million and his court appearances have attracted a cadre of supporters, some of whom have worn “FREE LUIGI” T-shirts and green clothing — the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi.

The plaintiff, Sam O’Hara, sued the district, four Metropolitan Police Department officers and a guard member from Ohio over what he says was his act of protest against President Donald Trump's federal law enforcement surge in Washington, D.C.

A court filing on Thursday disclosed the settlement but didn't specify any monetary terms. The amount is included in a copy of the settlement agreement that D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb's office provided to The Associated Press.

The $50,000 settlement includes attorney's fees and costs. O'Hara is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia. In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement’s financial terms as “a significant amount” that O’Hara “is pleased with” but said they weren't disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy.

O’Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, agreed to drop his claims against the district and the MPD officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The settlement isn't an admission of wrongdoing by the district, the agreement says.

O'Hara's settlement with the district doesn’t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, who has asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.

O’Hara said in a statement that he is satisfied with the settlement but conflicted that taxpayers are footing the bill.

“Those who actually violated my constitutional rights should be the ones paying the price, like taking the money from their pensions. That’s what real accountability looks like,” he said. “This settlement is a reminder that our freedoms are worth fighting for, especially when the powerful would rather we suffer in silence.”

O’Hara sued the district in October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.

O’Hara played “The Imperial March” theme from “Star Wars” on his phone as he followed several National Guard troops down a public street on Sept. 11, 2025. One of the troops summoned police officers, who stopped O’Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.

Trump’s ongoing deployment of guard members in Washington began last August after the Republican president issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in the nation's capital. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district. Hundreds of guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later, with no clear end in sight.

The once-prominent lawyer was known for his family lineage and million-dollar judgments in rural South Carolina. He worked for his family's century-old law firm and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were elected county prosecutors. Murdaugh, the subject of numerous documentaries and true crime podcasts, will remain imprisoned on federal convictions for stealing millions from clients.

Here is a look at the events leading up to Murdaugh's retrial:

June 7, 2021: Murdaugh calls police to report his wife Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22, have been fatally shot near dog kennels on their property.

Sept. 4, 2021: Alex Murdaugh attempts to arrange his own death in a plan to secure his surviving son a $10 million life insurance payment, officials say. The plot fails when the gunshot by a Murdaugh associate only grazes Murdaugh’s head.

Oct. 14, 2021: Police arrest Murdaugh at a drug rehab facility in Florida on charges he stole insurance settlements totaling more than $4 million intended for the sons of his late housekeeper.

Nov. 17, 2021: Prosecutors reveal 27 new charges against Murdaugh, saying he stole nearly $5 million in settlement money. Prosecutors allege Murdaugh was hiding money from lawyers who sued him over the death of a teenager killed when authorities say an intoxicated Paul Murdaugh wrecked the boat he was driving.

Jan. 18, 2022: Additional indictments mean Murdaugh now faces 71 charges that he stole nearly $8.5 million in wrongful death and wreck settlements from more than a dozen people.

May 4, 2022: Russell Laffitte, the former CEO of Palmetto State Bank before his firing earlier that year, is indicted on charges that he conspired with Murdaugh to defraud victims of $1.8 million.

June 28, 2022: Prosecutors outline an eight-year money laundering and painkiller ring in new indictments.

July 14, 2022: Murdaugh is charged with murder in the deaths of his wife and son. The indictments issued by the grand jury contend Murdaugh killed his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun.

Jan. 23, 2023: Murdaugh goes on trial for double murder in the killings of his wife and son.

Feb. 23, 2023: Murdaugh denies killing them after taking the witness stand at his murder trial. But he admits lying to investigators about when he last saw them alive.

March 2, 2023: A jury convicts Murdaugh on two counts of murder after a six-week trial. The jury deliberated for less than three hours.

March 3, 2023: A judge sentences Murdaugh to life in prison.

Jan. 29, 2024: A South Carolina judge denies Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial after his defense team accused a clerk of court of tampering with a jury.

April 2, 2024: Murdaugh is sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for stealing from clients and his law firm.

Feb. 11, 2026: Murdaugh asks the South Carolina Supreme Court to throw out his murder convictions.

May 13, 2026: The South Carolina Supreme Court overturns Murdaugh's murder convictions and life sentence. In a unanimous ruling, the justices said the conduct by the court clerk “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility” by suggesting to jurors his testimony could not be trusted.

June 29, 2026: Newly appointed Judge Debra McCaslin sets an April 5 date for the start of jury selection in Murdaugh's retrial on the two murder charges as well as an August 14 date to hear pretrial motions. The defense has requested Murdaugh be allowed to wear regular clothes in court, not an orange prison jumpsuit and shackles. They also want to move the trial out of Colleton County, where the killings and the first trial took place.

If their injuries aren't too severe, victims can survive for a week or more, assuming the weather isn't too hot or cold, experts say.

In Venezuela, rescue teams have been racing against the clock to pull survivors from the rubble after two powerful earthquakes shook the northern state of La Guaira last Wednesday. More than 770 buildings were totally or partially collapsed from the earthquakes, and aftershocks continued to shake the region.

Most rescues happen in the 24 hours after a disaster. The chances of survival drop with each day after that, experts say. Most victims are badly injured or buried by falling stones or other debris.

What factors affect earthquake survival?

Trapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury while they await rescue, like under a sturdy desk, said geophysicist Victor Tsai from Brown University. Experts call this a survivable void space.

If fire, smoke or hazardous chemicals were released as a result of the building collapse, they may decrease a person's survival odds, said emergency response expert Dr. Joseph Barbera, an associate professor at George Washington University.

Beyond that, having air to breathe and water to drink are crucial as the days go on.

“You could survive a while without food,” Barbera said. “You could survive less without water.”

Temperatures where someone is trapped may affect survival, and temperatures outside the rubble can affect rescue missions.

More than 2,600 rescue workers from around the world arrived in Venezuela with trained search dogs and machinery, the government said. And rescue efforts in La Guaira, the hardest-hit area, appeared significantly more organized on Sunday, after residents expressed frustration and anger about the level of response in the days before.

It can be important for survivors to receive vital medical care before they are removed from the rubble, Barbera said. If not, the buildup of toxins from crushed muscles could make them go into shock after they are rescued.

After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a teenager and his 80-year-old grandmother were found alive after nine days trapped in their flattened home. And the year before, a 16-year-old Haitian girl was rescued from earthquake rubble in Port-au-Prince after 15 days.

What to do during an earthquake

The best practices for survival during an earthquake depend on where you are in the world. Building codes in regions with active fault lines are often designed to withstand earthquakes, but that doesn't hold true everywhere.

In many countries, including the United States, the best practices are to drop, seek cover and hang on unless you are close to a building exit. Seek shelter under a heavy table or near sturdy furniture that may yield a survivable pocket if the roof collapses. Cover your face with cloth or a mask to protect from dust and debris.

If you are trapped in the rubble after an earthquake, save your energy and don't overexert. Ration food and water, listen for rescue calls and search for something near you to make noise. If you have a phone with you, conserve its battery and try for help in short spurts each day.

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

“I consider myself cancer-free," thanks to robotic surgery that also reconstructed his bladder using part of his intestine, Sanders told The Associated Press after getting a tutorial in the surgical system that was used in his operation.

This being Men's Health Awareness Month, the University of Colorado football coach wanted to get a first-hand look at the Intuitive Da Vinci System, which is less invasive than open surgeries and cuts down on hospital stays and speeds recoveries.

“I was fighting” last year at this time, Sanders recalled. "I was walking out on the property with a bag of blood and also urine and trying to get back. But this expedited the process. Last year at this time I was in a whole different place, and I'm just thankful.”

Sanders missed football camps last summer in Boulder as he went through cancer treatments. The Buffaloes finished with a 3-9 mark a year after making a bowl game behind Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.

This summer he appears much fitter and energetic as he oversees offseason training.

"If I pull my shirt up, I'm not scarred, it's not flawed. I'm not embarrassed by anything that transpired. I'm elated by everything that transpired,” Sanders said.

At a routine checkup last spring, a CT scan showed a mass on Sanders' bladder. He was referred to the University of Colorado Anschutz, where he met Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urologic oncology at the CU Cancer Center and UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.

Sanders, who turns 59 later this summer, was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his bladder. Although the tumor hadn't reached the muscle layer in his bladder, it was considered “very high risk,” with a 50-50 chance of recurring or progressing after treatments.

Kukreja is among the small group of surgeons in the U.S. who perform robotic removal of the entire cancerous bladder — called a radical cystectomy — and robotic reconstruction of the organ, which involves having a section of intestine function as a bladder.

“It got me back in the game, got me back on my feet and got me out of the darn hospital and back into the normalcy of my life," Sanders said. “I'm here to let people know there's another option if you need surgery."

He called the robotic system his time machine.

”I'd be a fool to be blessed the way I was blessed and not sound alarms," Sanders said. “When I opened up a club years ago I went to the mountaintop and told all the stations come on to the nightclub. So, why wouldn't I do this? Saved me time so I could get back on the field, get back on my game instead of sitting up there in the hospital having a pity party. It saves you time. That’s what we’re all fighting for is time. We never know how much we get.”

Football past and present

Sanders has spent time recently with his son Shedeur, who's entering his second year with the Cleveland Browns and who will compete for the starting job with Deshaun Watson in training camp.

“He's on vacation, but he's going to the hills in St. Croix right now doing gassers," Sanders said.

Asked what he thought about Hunter, entering his second season in Jacksonville, possibly focusing on playing defensive back after pulling double duty as a DB and wide receiver in college, Sanders said: “I just want him to be happy. I can't tell those coaches how to coach and Travis what he's gifted to do. I just want him happy; that's all I want.”

As for Julian “JuJu” Lewis, the Buffs' starting quarterback and former five-star recruit out of Carrollton, Georgia, who took over the starting role as a freshman late last season, Sanders said those cameos will pay dividends in 2026.

“I think the entire team is benefiting" from lessons learned last year and new faces arriving this spring, Sanders said. “I have the best coaching staff I've ever featured. Everybody's unified. I just walked out of the weight room. They're lifting their butts off and they can't wait to go to camp. It's going to be phenomenal.”

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

After Djokovic won the first set against Wu Yibing of China, one man in the crowd took the opportunity to pop the question to his girlfriend.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion clearly took notice, coming back out on court and making a heart gesture and then two thumbs up toward the couple before shouting out: “I want an invitation to the wedding.”

If he gets one, he could bring a pretty decent wedding singer along.

Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny was in the player's box on Centre Court, two days after Djokovic appeared on stage during the artist's concert in London.

Bad Bunny has experience with weddings — there was a real one performed during his Super Bowl halftime show this year.

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

The bone comes from the tail of a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur called a titanosaur. Scientists haven't yet identified the species it belongs to.

It was discovered in 1985 during an expedition to Antarctica's James Ross Island and collected by geologist Mike Thomson. Working with the British Antarctic Survey, Thomson was mapping the area's rock layers and collected marine reptile fossils to help with future dating efforts. He recorded the find as a large reptile.

Decades later, paleontologist Mark Evans spotted the bone in the British Antarctic Survey's collections and wondered whether it might be a dinosaur. He and other researchers analyzed the shape of the bone and compared it to other more complete dinosaur remains, confirming their discovery. The findings were published on Monday in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Dinosaur fossils are rare to find in Antarctica because of the unforgiving ice caps. But millions of years ago, when this dinosaur lived, the region was populated by lush forests — a “rather different and much more hospitable place than we think of today,” said study co-author Paul Barrett with the Natural History Museum in London.

At about 23 feet (7 meters) long, the dinosaur was small for its group and may have been young when it died. Scientists don't know how the creature met its end, but they think its body floated away from the coast and sank to the sea floor, becoming fossilized in marine rock.

Technology has come a long way since the dinosaur tail bone was first found, allowing researchers to peer inside bones and gain even more detailed information about ancient creatures. Thomson died in 2020 before the fossil was identified as belonging to a dinosaur.

“If he were still with us, he would be delighted to know what this was,” Evans, a study co-author, said.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified paleontologist Mark Evans as Mike Evans in one reference.

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AP video producer Havovi Todd in London contributed to this report.

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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.

In Khan Younis, a strike hit a tent in the Al-Mawasi neighborhood after a warning call, killing a 23-year-old mother and her one-year-old daughter west of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital.

Another strike on the town of Qarara, northwest of the city earlier in the day killed a 31-year-old man, according to Nasser Hospital. The hospital said he had married only a few months ago and left behind a pregnant wife.

In a separate incident in the same area, a strike hit a tent sheltering displaced people along the coastal area of Khan Younis, killing two people and wounding 13 others, according to Nasser hospital and the Palestinian Red Crescent. The wounded were transferred to a field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent in Al-Mawasi.

In central Gaza, a drone strike hit a tent in Deir al-Balah, killing at least three Palestinians, including an 8-year-old boy and his grandfather, medical officials said.

Health authorities in the coastal enclave said the drone strike hit a neighborhood in Deir al-Balah, one of the least damaged towns in central Gaza. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the fatalities were Hassan al-Hanagra and his 8-year-old grandchild, Malik Abu Shawish, along with another man.

Abu Shawish, whose parents are divorced, was visiting his mother’s tent at the time of the strike, and his mother was among seven people wounded in the strike, hospital officials said. Israel’s military said the strike was targeting a militant, but did not immediately name him or say if he was killed.

A strike in southern Gaza on Sunday killed Zaher Abu Salem, the Israeli military said, describing him as a member of Islamic Jihad who was involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war. A total of four people were killed Sunday in a flurry of strikes around Gaza, including a 13-year-old girl, Eileen al-Farra, who was hit by shrapnel from Israeli tank shelling and was buried Monday.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire took hold in October, Israeli forces have carried out near-daily strikes, killing 1,045 Palestinians, including more than 360 women and children, according to health officials in Gaza. Israel says it is targeting militants, often saying they were planning attacks on Israeli troops who hold more than 60% of the Gaza Strip. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks since the ceasefire.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,058 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Palestinian teen killed near Ramallah

Meanwhile, Israeli forces raided locations throughout the occupied West Bank, including near Ramallah, where the Palestinian Health Ministry reported a 15-year-old from Jerusalem was killed by a gunshot to the head.

Emergency crews transported Amir Jaber to the hospital from the al-Bireh area after attempting to resuscitate him at the scene, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. It also reported two injured by Israeli fire in a raid near Hebron, the West Bank's most populous city.

The Israeli military did not comment immediately.

The raid near Ramallah — the Palestinians' administrative capital in the West Bank — was among half a dozen reported across the territory Monday by WAFA, the Palestinian news agency.

At least 59 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank this year, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

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

It's not even clear when the two sides will meet again. “The situation is sensitive and complex,” a senior Iranian negotiator, Kazem Gharibabadi, posted Monday on X.

Talks are just one of the pressing questions. Others include the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. says is open while Iran insists on a measure of control. The issue led both sides to carry out days of military strikes that appeared on Monday to have ended.

Here’s a look at what both sides have said about key sticking points, including the ongoing fighting in Lebanon, and why the conflict is still far from resolved.

More talks are expected, at some point

WHAT THE U.S. SAYS:

“IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media Monday.

WHAT IRAN SAYS:

“There are no negotiation meetings with the U.S. side at any level scheduled in the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday.

WHAT’S GOING ON:

The U.S. and Iran have a roughly mid-August deadline to reach a permanent peace deal including an agreement on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

What’s ahead are technical talks involving lower-level diplomats before any return to the table by top negotiators. Mediators are eager to get going. Pakistan, a key mediator along with Qatar, has said talks would resume Tuesday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, were flying to Qatar to meet with the Iranians and that technical negotiations would occur on the sidelines.

Later, Iranian state media cited Baghaei as saying an expert delegation will travel to Qatar this week but with no planned U.S. meetings.

There’s plenty to discuss, including arrangements around the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions waivers on Iran and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

But the deal says fighting must stop before further negotiations. After the exchange of fire over the weekend, Iran on Sunday threatened a “complete halt” in talks. On Monday, both sides appeared to pause their attacks. Tehran may be waiting to see if that holds.

The Strait of Hormuz is open for shipping, in theory

WHAT THE U.S. SAYS:

The Strait of Hormuz is open, according to the interim deal.

WHAT IRAN SAYS:

Iran insists it must govern the strait. “Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday.

WHAT’S GOING ON:

This AP explainer is a good start. But in short, Iran during the war discovered a powerful new source of leverage in the waterway that carried a fifth of the world's oil and gas before the conflict.

The interim deal says Iran should immediately facilitate commercial shipping through the strait that lies between it and Oman. It says Iran can work with Oman and other Persian Gulf countries to administer the waterway in line with international laws ensuring freedom of navigation.

Iran says shippers must use its designated routes and coordinate with its authorities. It has objected to a new route overseen by the U.S. that runs along Oman. That sparked the fighting over the weekend.

The Trump administration is operating on the understanding that the U.S. and Iran are standing down and vessels can move freely through the strait, a U.S. official said Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

Ships have begun transiting again, but traffic is still below prewar levels.

Fighting has stopped on all fronts, in a way

WHAT IRAN SAYS:

Fighting must stop everywhere and Israel must withdraw from Lebanon before moving ahead on other issues.

WHAT HEZBOLLAH SAYS:

The Iranian-backed militant group will resist Israel's occupation of large parts of southern Lebanon, and linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament is a “very dangerous suggestion,” Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said Saturday.

WHAT ISRAEL SAYS:

Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon “until Hezbollah and the rest of the terrorist organizations are disarmed, and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

WHAT’S GOING ON:

A separate set of U.S.-brokered talks have been held between Israel and Lebanon's government.

Iran says its interim deal with the U.S., which calls for a complete ceasefire in Lebanon, requires Israel to withdraw. But a separate U.S.-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel allows Israeli forces to stay in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed. Hezbollah was not part of those talks and has rejected that deal.

Hezbollah attacked Israel two days after it and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Israel responded with aerial bombardment and a ground invasion.

Israel has vowed to keep forces in southern Lebanon until Hezbollah's threat is eliminated. Lebanon's government does not have the capacity to disarm Hezbollah by force.

Sporadic clashes continued in Lebanon over the weekend. That could delay Iran's return to the negotiating table.

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Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed.

Osaka, who has made a habit of creating a buzz with her creative outfits at recent Grand Slam tournaments, wore a flowing kimono with swinging sleeves and elaborate embroidery as she walked onto No. 3 Court for her first-round match against Elsa Jacquemot.

After winning 6-1, 7-5, Osaka said she got the inspiration for the outfit from a Quentin Tarantino movie.

“For me, my Japanese heritage means a lot. They say all white at Wimbledon and I thought it would be really cool to come out in a kimono," Osaka said in an on-court interview. "I just get inspired by a lot of different things, and for me, one of my favorite movies is ‘Kill Bill.' So I really love Lucy Liu's character, O-Ren Ishii, and she comes out in this really iconic white kimono. I always tell people I like to be like a video game character sometimes, I don't want to be myself when I'm playing on the court. And I kind of try to embody her a little.”

The Japanese player's latest creation drew a rave reaction from the crowd, many of whom were eagerly waiting with their phones aloft to record her entrance. One female fan shouted “C'mon queen!” as Osaka walked out.

“It’s something that we’ve been waiting for all day, right, what Naomi Osaka is going to appear in at Wimbledon," said Alicia Molik, the former top-10 ranked player who is doing commentary for the BBC.

Osaka kept her robe on as she bounced on her toes at the net while listening to instructions from the chair umpire. She then removed it and placed it on her chair to begin warmups before the match started.

Osaka is far from the first player to make a fashion statement at Wimbledon, and wasn’t the only one to do so on Monday. Seven-time men’s champion Novak Djokovic, for instance, walked out for his match on Centre Court in a white blazer with green details.

But the four-time Grand Slam champion’s fashion creations and walk-ons are becoming an eagerly anticipated ritual at both Grand Slam tournaments and other events.

At the Australian Open this year, Osaka walked onto court wearing a wide-brim hat, a veil and holding a white parasol. At the French Open, she came out for her opening match in a ceremonial black skirt and sleeveless beaded bodice, which she removed to reveal a sequined gold playing dress.

And at the Met Gala in New York, Osaka stunned in a edgy Robert Wun white sculptural fitted dress featuring exaggerated shoulders and adorned with red feathers and a matching headpiece. To complete her look, she wore two-toned red gloves.

The latest ensemble turned plenty of heads even before she stepped onto the grass.

Playing on No. 3 Court meant Osaka had to walk through part of the Wimbledon grounds to get to the stadium, giving some fans a sneak peak of her outfit.

“I could feel, when I walked by someone, they would physically turn their whole body,” Osaka said. “I thought that was really fun.”

Fellow players, meanwhile, have been full of questions about the kimono.

“I got asked if I only have one, because it’s all white, and what happens if I stain it,” Osaka said.

At her post-match news conference, Osaka sported a lot more color to show off the Haitian side of her heritage. She wore a red-and-blue Haiti soccer jersey after the country played at a World Cup for the first time since 1974.

“I felt really proud of them,” she said.

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AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

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

According to officials, units responded to the 8400 block of Peaks Road at 7:48 a.m. to a motor-vehicle crash with entrapment. BCoFR County 10 arrived to find one vehicle down an embankment with people screaming from the car.

Crews made their way to the vehicle and found one subject standing at the rear, unknown whether he crawled out or was ejected, and the driver entrapped.

The vehicle was on its side, on a rock against a tree. Rescue 1 arrived and immediately went to work. Crews had to utilize saws to make room and a path to the vehicle, then set up stabilization and then extricate.

The man was brought up and transported with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries. Extrication of the second patient out of the vehicle took 38 minutes, and the patient was also transported with non-life-threatening injuries.

Officials say VSP is investigating the crash.

Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, its forces have conducted bombing in an effort to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and sap morale. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the U.N.

A Russian missile targeting infrastructure struck the central city of Dnipro, killing six people and wounding 29, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said. Russian drones also hit a passenger minibus in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three and wounding six, including a child, Zelenskyy said on social media.

Russian drones also killed a 69-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man in the northeastern Sumy region, National Police said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a daytime Russian strike killed one person and wounded five others in the northeastern city.

Other deadly attacks occurred in at least six other regions of Ukraine, authorities said. No further details were immediately available.

Strikes leave some Ukrainians without power

Some customers in eight Ukrainian regions were left without power Monday after Russian strikes, while hot weather drove up electricity use as people turned on air conditioners, grid operator Ukrenergo said.

Zelenskyy renewed his plea for Europe to step up its development of air defenses to block Russia’s ballistic missiles.

“People need greater protection from such horrific attacks,” Zelenskyy said. “Above all, we need anti-ballistic capabilities. It is essential that Europe is as active as possible in developing its own anti-ballistic defense — its own systems and missiles.”

Putin says expanding Ukrainian drone attacks won't stop the war

A marked shift has taken place in the war in recent months, Western officials say, as Ukraine’s expanding drone strikes have brought fuel shortages in Russia and Russia-occupied territory. The attacks have weakened the Russian military’s supply lines to the front in eastern and southern Ukraine, slowing their advance, according to analysts.

Ukraine’s innovative drone engineering has given it an edge and made it a world leader in the technology’s military use. It is now helping partner countries after previously pleading for foreign military support.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday acknowledged that Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russia’s oil facilities have caused fuel shortages. The scarcity has triggered public anger and frustration as people wait in line for hours at gas stations.

But Putin ruled out making concessions to end the invasion and insisted that Russia will ultimately prevail in the war despite what he called “temporary” setbacks.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s position on Ukraine remains unchanged, insisting that Russian troops are continuing their front-line offensive.

Their effort “makes us confident that our goals will be achieved,” Peskov told reporters.

Russia's battlefield progress is waning, analysts say

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said the Kremlin's stance is an attempt to push the West and Ukraine to give in to Russia’s demands.

But, it added, “Russia’s battlefield performance continues to decline in 2026 and Russia’s ability to seize its objectives militarily is in question.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 209 Ukrainian drones from late Sunday through early Monday.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 82 of the 108 drones that Russia launched overnight.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon.

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The high court has allowed some similar rules to take effect as lawsuits play out, including Arizona's proof-of-citizenship requirement for state and local elections and a Virginia purge of voter rolls that the state said was aimed at keeping noncitizens from voting.

The appeal was filed by the Republican National Committee after lower courts found the measures violated federal voting laws, and it was joined by GOP President Donald Trump’s administration.

“The RNC is proud to lead this effort, and we will keep fighting nationwide to defend election integrity and ensure only eligible citizens cast a ballot,” said Chairman Joe Gruters.

The high court is expected to hear arguments in the fall and likely hand down an opinion after the midterm elections.

The Republican-controlled legislature passed the laws in 2022, part of a wave of similar proposals around the country after Trump falsely claimed widespread voter fraud was responsible for his narrow defeat there to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump reclaimed the state in 2024, helping secure his return to the White House.

One measure requires people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote using a state form. Another calls for regular purges of the voter rolls to remove people if their citizenship could not be confirmed, including within 90 days of an election.

The case reached the Supreme Court's emergency docket in 2024. The justices gave the GOP a partial victory, allowing Arizona to require proof of citizenship for registration in state and local elections but not federal races.

Also that year, the high court allowed Virginia to continue a purge of voter rolls shortly before the election.

Citizenship is required to vote across the country, and people must attest they are citizens under penalty of perjury to register. Arizona is among only a handful of states that require additional proof, like a driver's license or passport. Data indicates that voting by noncitizens is rare.

Arizona tried to impose proof requirements for national elections in 2013, but the law was struck down by the Supreme Court. Now, people can register as “federal only” voters without providing proof of citizenship, but Arizona requires additional proof for state and local election participation.

Just over 19,000 people were registered as active federal-only voters in 2023.

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Sister Leticia Ugboaja was walking to Our Lady of Sorrows Church in McAllen, Texas, just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday when she was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have not responded to a request for comment since Sunday.

Parish officials posted a message on social media shortly after the arrest that gained traction in the news and led to Congress members including U.S. Rep. Monica de la Cruz intervening on Ugboaja's behalf.

The nun is part of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy and volunteered as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, according to Brenda Riojas, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Brownsville.

Ugboaja is also a registered nurse at South Texas Health System and worked previously for 10 years as a certified nursing assistant at DHR Health in Edinburg, Riojas confirmed.

Members of congress representing south Texas intervened with federal officials. As of Monday, Ugboaja was back in her home.

“We are grateful for the quick response of local representatives who reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to get her released from custody,” Riojas added in her statement.

President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown — including at sensitive sites such as houses of worship — has prompted faith leaders to adjust their response to church members who have become too afraid to attend. Some have encouraged online attendance, while others have offered help doing errands such as grocery shopping for people too fearful to leave their homes.

In a Monday announcement, Comcast said the breakup will put both of these operations in a better position to pursue their own priorities and growth. The move arrives as communications companies continue to wrestle with years of cord-cutting, and shifting habits in how consumers now buy subscriptions for anything from their phone plans to streaming budgets more broadly.

“The world is changing faster than ever,” Comcast Chairman and co-CEO Brian Roberts said on a Monday call — adding that it “has become clear” the company’s technology and media businesses each “have compelling opportunities in front of them that are distinct in nature and best pursued with dedicated focus.”

Upon the spinoff’s completion, both businesses would become their own publicly-traded companies. Comcast said it expects to complete the process in about a year, pending regulatory approvals and a final greenlight from its board.

That means consumers shouldn’t feel immediate impacts. But a host of major brands currently sit under Comcast’s umbrella — from internet and wireless provider Xfinity to streaming platform Peacock, NBC News and Universal Studios. And analysts are eyeing what those businesses could look like farther down the road.

What could be in store for NBCUniversal and Comcast

“In the short term, bundles, pricing, and distribution will likely hold,” said Mike Proulx, a vice president and research director at market research firm Forrester. For NBCUniversal — set to head the media-centered company Comcast is spinning off — the split in itself carries little effect on its current business, he noted, and is “more to do with what it becomes longer term.”

Proulx is bracing for future acquisitions in this space, adding that “Comcast is following a playbook we have already seen.” He pointed to Warner Bros. Discovery, which announced its own intention to split just last June — before becoming a takeover target that erupted into a messy tug-of-war between Netflix and Skydance-owned Paramount. Paramount eventually became victorious, and is now edging closer to closing its $81 billion buyout of Warner’s entire company.

Comcast executives have appeared to so far dismiss the possibility of heading toward a similar fate. When asked on Monday’s call whether investors should view the separation as a step toward “potential strategic transactions” for either business, Roberts said: “Absolutely not.”

His co-CEO Mike Cavanagh — who is set to become the chief executive of the NBCUniversal spinoff — echoed that sentiment. Cavanagh reiterated plans to “build and invest for growth” with more freedom as a standalone business.

Still, analysts like Proulx speculate that even if NBCUniversal doesn’t become a takeover target, “it’ll likely be the company doing the acquiring.”

“As it stands, traditional TV is dying, and Peacock alone isn’t enough to compete at scale against the biggest streaming services,” Proulx said via email. “One way or the other, NBCU’s entertainment business will look different within the next couple of years.”

This isn’t the first spinoff for Comcast

Like other companies, Comcast in recent years has shifted its business emphasis away from traditional cable toward streaming and other sources of revenue, such as its movie studio, theme parks and home wireless and internet services.

NBCUniversal includes that theme parks division, Universal film and television studios, NBC and Telemundo networks, Peacock, and Bravo — and with the spinoff, European media business Sky will also be part of that portfolio led by Cavanagh.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia-based Comcast will continue providing internet services to residential and business customers. Comcast’s former Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis will become the CEO of that company following its separation.

Comcast has split off assets before. Monday’s move arrives just months after the company officially completed its separation of Versant Media Group — which, as first announced in November 2024, is the new home of networks like USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, as well as CNBC and MSNBC (now MS NOW). Movie ticketing platform Fandango and the Rotten Tomatoes movie rating site were also included.

Once the latest split is complete, Comcast shareholders will own shares in both Comcast and NBCUniversal. Comcast expects to keep a stake of up to 19.9% ownership position in NBCUniversal for up to one year after the spinoff is complete.

Comcast jumped more than 6% as of midday trading following Monday’s announcement. Shares still are down over 10% since the start of 2026.

The 5-4 decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

In just over half those states, the more forgiving deadlines apply only to ballots cast by military and overseas voters.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the court's majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices.

Federal laws setting a single Election Day “leave open when those votes must be received,” Barrett wrote.

Congress could change the law, she said. “If varied deadlines for ballot receipt similarly call for a national solution, the American people must choose it through their elected representatives,” Barrett wrote.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent for four justices. “Not only is today’s decision inconsistent with statutory text, legal context, historical practice, and precedent; it also threatens to produce lamentable consequences," Alito wrote. “The majority’s holding spawns a slurry of troubling election-law questions and risks further undermining Americans’ confidence in election integrity.”

The legal challenge was part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 resulted from fraud even though more than 60 court decisions and his own attorney general said that argument had no merit.

Trump called the court ruling a “tremendous loss” and renewed his call for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which has made it through the House of Representatives but not the Senate.

“There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Among other changes, the legislation would limit who is able to receive a mail ballot and impose a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for registering to vote.

“If we want fair and secure elections, Election Day should mean exactly what it says, which is why this decision makes it even more imperative that Congress pass the SAVE America Act,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement.

The court heard arguments in March in a case from Mississippi pitting the state against Trump’s Republican administration and the Republican and Libertarian parties. At issue was whether federal law sets a single Election Day that requires ballots to be both cast by voters and received by state officials.

The federal appeals court in New Orleans struck down a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day.

The outcome is a “sigh of relief” for a lot of election administrators, said Stephen Richer, a Republican and the former top election administrator in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.

A ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee "would have created a whole host of administrative challenges for the affected states,” said Richer, who is now a legal fellow at the Cato Institute.

RNC officials did not immediately respond Monday to email and telephone requests for comment.

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General. By registering for the Blue Ridge Games sweepstakes and contest (“Promotion”), brought to you by Graham Media Group, Virginia, LLC d/b/a WSLS (“Sponsor”), entrant acknowledges and agrees that entrant has read, understands, and agrees to be bound by these official Promotion rules (“Official Rules”). The Promotion consists of a Contest. By entering the Promotion, entrants agree to waive any right to claim any ambiguity or error in these Official Rules, or the Promotion itself, and agree to be bound by all decisions of the Sponsor, whose decisions are binding and final in all matters related to the Promotion. Failure to comply with these Official Rules or any Sponsor instructions relating to the Promotion may result in disqualification from the Promotion.

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How To Enter. The Promotion begins at 12:01 am EST on 08/01/2026 and runs through 11:59 pm EST on 08/31/2026 (the “Promotion Period”). Registration opens 07/01/2026. Sponsor’s time clock will be the official time clock of the Promotion. To enter with Promotion t-shirt purchase ($20.00), you must first register by completely and accurately filling out the Promotion digital registration form provided on the Promotion registration page www.wsls.com/account/blue-ridge-games/ , including first name, last name, street address, county, zip, phone number, email and provide valid payment for the Promotion t-shirt. Alternatively, to register without purchase, visit https://wsls.com/account/blue-ridge-games/free-entry and completely and accurately fill out the alternate method of entry Promotion digital registration from including first name, last name, street address, county, zip, phone number, email and (collectively, “Registration”).

After completing Registration, eligible participants may enter the Promotion by completing eligible activities identified by Sponsor in connection with the Promotion from the following categories: Hiking; Biking; Water Sports, and Scavenger Hunt (the “Activities”). For a current list of specific eligible Activities, visit: www.wsls.com/news/local/2026/06/17/blue-ridge-games-scavenger-hunt-list-2026/ (“Activity List”). LOCATIONS AND ADDITIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE UP UNTIL AUGUST 1. Before completing an Activity, participants must take a digital photograph depicting their Activity engagement in accordance with the Activity List (“Photo”). Limit one (1) Photo per Activity. Entrants must also successfully pin each Photo to Sponsor’s digital pin board at www.wsls.com/pinit (“WSLS Pinit”) while logged into participant’s Insider account (“Pin”). Entrants must visit the Blue Ridge Games category on WSLS Pinit and then post the Pin to the accurate channel corresponding to the Category and Contest identified below (Hiking, Biking, Water Sports or Scavenger Hunt). Each eligible Pin depicting the participant’s Activity shall earn the posting participant the following number of points: Hiking, Biking or Water Sports (100 points each); Scavenger Hunt (50 points each location ). Dunkin’ scavenger hunt activities are eligible for an additional 50 points if picture is taken in the store as guided by the promotion (no purchase necessary). Each Entrant’s eligible Pins shall be submitted as entries in all applicable Contests (“Contest Entries”). The Contest includes activities of Hiking, Biking, Water Sports, Scavenger Hunt.

Three cash prizes: 1st place: $3,000 / 2nd place: $1,500 / 3rd place: $500. All points garnered by an individual player feed into one overall point total. Most overall points earned through any and all activities correctly submitted and verified from all categories wins first, etc. Hiking, Biking or Water Sports (100 points each); Scavenger Hunt (50 points each) with additional 50 point opportunity at participating Dunkin’ locations. Sponsor reserves the right to add additional scavenger hunt locations with enhanced point values up until 8/1/26.

Entrants must be the natural person assigned to any submitted email account by the provider responsible for the assigning email addresses for the domain associated with such email account. Entrant must also be an authorized account holder for any submitted telephone number. Limit one (1) entry per person and per email address and per telephone number and per household during the Promotion Period. Any attempt by any entrant to obtain more than the stated number of entries using multiple/different email addresses, identities, registrations and logins, or any other methods will void such entries, and that entrant may be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. Entries generated by a script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. The use of automated or third-party software or web site to enter and/or play is prohibited. Entries that are inaccurate, incomplete, illegible, or corrupted are void and will be disqualified if discovered by Sponsor. If Entry permits or requires submission of user-generated content (“UGC”), by entering into the Promotion, entrant represents and warrants as follows: (1) that they created and fully own or have properly licensed all UGC materials or information, can submit such UGC without violating any applicable law, agreement with any third-party, and/or third-party right of any kind (including without limitation any intellectual property, data protection, privacy, or publicity right); and (2) that all UGC entrant hereunder will be true and correct in all respects. UGC may not contain personally identifiable information or other similar sensitive/confidential information of any third-party or content that is offensive, inappropriate, or inconsistent with the Sponsor/’s image or the spirit or purpose of the Promotion. By submitting UGC, entrant represents and warrants that all UGC content complies with the User Conduct section of the Sponsor websites Terms of Use available at https://www.grahammedia.com/terms. UGC may not have been previously published or otherwise made public elsewhere. Furthermore, without limitation on anything set forth herein to the contrary, Sponsor will have the irrevocable, transferable, and fully sublicensable right and license (but not the obligation) to exploit all such UGC in any manner it so elects to promote the Promotion, its business, brand, products, and/or services, throughout the world in perpetuity, and in all media, now or hereafter known. All received entries become the property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned except as disclosed in these Official Rules.

Selection of Contest Winners. Three (3) Potential winner(s) will be selected on or around the week of September 14, 2026 by Sponsor judges based on the application of the following criteria to the entrant’s Contest Entry(ies): (1) Number of eligible Pins posted to for corresponding WSLS Pinit Contest Activity channel (“Contest Pins”) (2) Contest Pins must include the accurate Activity location (3) best display of the spirit of the Blue Ridge Games(the “Criteria”). The Contest Entry receiving the highest score after application of the Criteria shall be selected as the winner for the corresponding Contest, subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. If there is a tie among two or more potential Contest winners that results in more than one potential winning Contest Entry, then the Criteria will be reapplied to the tied entries until the tie is broken.

Winner Notification and Verification. Potential winner(s) will be announced on Sponsor social media and likeness may be republished on outdoor media, such as billboards. The initial winner announcements shall be made on or about around the week of September 14, 2026, subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. In addition, Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner(s) via the telephone number or email address provided on the Entry Form (“Notification”). Potential Promotion winner(s) must completely and accurately execute and return any required affidavit of eligibility, release of liability, publicity release and/or prize acceptance form (“Forms”) within 48 hours of Notification. In addition, winners agree to participate in reasonable Sponsor publicity requests, including, but not limited to, winner photo shoot at Sponsor’s expense, at a time and place designated by Sponsor and in accordance with Sponsor’s instructions. Potential winners may be required to display a copy of a valid government photo ID in addition to the submission of any Forms. A potential winner may be disqualified and, time permitting, an alternate Sweepstakes winner may be selected by random drawing from among all remaining entries if: (1) a potential winner cannot be contacted/does not respond to Sponsors’ first Notification attempt as directed; (2) a winner does not fulfill the eligibility requirements; (3) a winner does not adhere to the Official Rules; (4) a winner does not sign and return the Forms or provide required ID by the deadline set forth above; and/or (5) if the Notification is returned as undeliverable, refused, or declined. A POTENTIAL PRIZE WINNER IS NOT A WINNER UNTIL HIS OR HER ELIGIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE WITH THESE OFFICIAL RULES HAS BEEN VERIFIED BY THE SPONSOR. Sponsor reserves the right to contact all Promotion entrants using the contact information provided in the Entry Form in connection with the Promotion entry. The official record(s) of entries will remain the property of Sponsor. If a printing, programming, or other error leads to more Sweepstakes prize claims than there are prizes provided for in the Official Rules, Sweepstakes Grand Prize will be awarded in a random drawing from among all eligible prize claims received at each prize tier.

Contest Prizes (3): Each Contest Prize shall be awarded in the form of a check to the corresponding verified winner:

(1) 1st Place Total Points Prize: $3000.00

(1) 2nd Place Total Points Prize: $1500.00

(1) 3rd Place Total Points Prize: $500.00

Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”) of all Contest prizes: $5,000

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

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

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

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

Sponsor defines “personal information” as any information that identifies you as an individual or is directly linkable to you as an identifiable individual. Entry constitutes permission to share all personal information collected in connection with your participation in the Promotion with business partners and Co-Sponsors, including to be used for informational and/or commercial purposes and (b) permission to Sponsor and to contact you using this personal information for commercial purposes including advertising and telemarketing. Sponsor is not responsible for the privacy practices of these entities.

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

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

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

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

Winner List. For the name(s) of the winner(s), send request and a self-addressed stamped envelope to Sponsor at WSLS 10, 821 5th Street NE Roanoke, VA 24016. Attn: Blue Ridge Games or request it online at brg@wsls.com . Be sure to specify the name of the Promotion for which you are requesting the list of winner(s). Request must be postmarked after Promotion Period and received by Sponsor no later than 60 days after the close of the Promotion Period.

Sponsor/Administrator: Graham Media Company, Virginia, LLC d/b/a WSLS 10, 821 5th Street NE, Roanoke, VA 24016