The new jet, which President Donald Trump received as a gift from Qatar, just entered service last week.

The subpoenas seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, the paper said, adding that federal agents delivered some subpoenas to the reporters at their homes.

The NYT report could not be independently confirmed and there was no immediate response from the White House or the Department of Justice.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” said the paper's lawyer David McCraw in a Friday statement.

The developments come after Trump flew the new Air Force One to a NATO summit in Turkey. But he departed Wednesday on one of the older-model Air Force One jets for a trip to Mildenhall, a Royal Air Force base in Suffolk, England. The two jets both flew to Mildenhall. Trump then switched to the newer plane for the flight home to Joint Base Andrews.

The abrupt plane swap came as a shaky cease-fire with Iran had collapsed, with the U.S. launching airstrikes on Iran and Tehran attacking three Gulf Arab states. Iran and Turkey share a border, sparking speculation that the Qatari-gifted jet — which underwent a $400 million retrofit — lacked certain sophisticated security and countermeasure systems.

The paper reported Wednesday the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service. On Thursday, the paper said the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. Both articles cited anonymous sources.

Trump, at the time, denied any security concerns, posting on social media that the stop in Mildenhall was so that service members there could view the new jet. During the flight, Trump denied to the reporters accompanying him that security concerns involving Iran were a factor in flying two planes home. Asked if he was aware of any credible threats against Air Force One by Iran, Trump brushed off the question.

“I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list,” he said

The White House later denied any security shortcomings on the new plane.

“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement. “As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection — to address those threats.”

The Times journalists who received subpoenas included Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt, the paper reported.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued subpoenas seeking to compel testimony from reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. In both cases, the DOJ later withdrew the subpoenas.

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Associated Press reporters Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

Explosions and fires were reported across the capital’s Solomianskyi, Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts, the emergency service said in a statement on Telegram. In Solomianskyi district, a strike ignited a fire in a three-story office and warehouse building, while another warehouse caught fire in the Dniprovskyi district after it was hit.

Russia launched 10 missiles of various types, including six ballistic missiles, along with 121 drones against Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said. Ukrainian air defenses said they shot down or electronically suppressed two missiles and 111 drones.

The Air Force said direct hits were recorded at 11 locations from ballistic missiles, two guided air-to-surface missiles and seven attack drones. Falling debris from intercepted weapons was reported at three additional locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had targeted drone production facilities in Kyiv, as well as the ports of Izmail and Chornomorsk in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region.

The ministry also said Russian air defenses destroyed 178 Ukrainian drones overnight over eight Russian regions, as well as over the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Black and Azov seas.

Trump made the comments on his Truth Social after senior U.S. officials demanded that Iran make a public statement saying the Strait of Hormuz is open and that ships crossing the vital corridor won’t be attacked any longer.

So far, Tehran has not done so, instead insisting that the route remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, upending decades of precedent that consider the strait an international waterway.

There had been multiple days of U.S. airstrikes targeting Iran, as well as Iranian retaliatory fire targeting nations across the Middle East. Those strikes had been sparked by Iran attacking three ships in the strait earlier this week.

Trump makes an online threat toward Iran

A thousand “missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat,” Trump wrote on his website.

The U.S. president said his threat was in response to threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. During Khamenei's funeral, mourners repeatedly held posters or banners calling for him to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Iran war's opening moments on Feb. 28 saw an airstrike that killed Khamenei, 86. Iran only buried Khamenei this week following a dayslong funeral ceremony that saw his body taken to cities in both Iran and Iraq.

Trump added in his post that the U.S. military would “completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran — PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!”

Trump, repeatedly during the war and its uneasy ceasefire, has invoked the name of God in Arabic, as well as threatened to destroy Iran’s very civilization. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nationwide advocacy group, has in the past criticized Trump’s “deranged mocking of Islam.”

Trump's comments come as the Strait of Hormuz is a major point of contention

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

However, Iran has insisted its theocracy is unified after the war under the country's new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

The U.S. officials said Friday that Trump is giving U.S. negotiators limited time to reach a deal with Iran, but, in a sign of the challenges ahead, they underscored that the president had a wide range of options if talks fall apart.

Moments before the U.S. officials spoke, however, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including its opening or demining operations, “rests exclusively with Iran.”

Qatari mediators separately traveled to Iran to meet with officials on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said.

Iran has said the strait must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin paying fees to Tehran — even though the world has for decades considered it an international waterway. About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began.

Iran’s grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Middle East remains tense after attacks

After the U.S. wrapped up its latest strikes on Thursday, more attacks reportedly hit Iran, leaving questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic. Israel didn't claim them, meaning the Gulf Arab states may have launched them, likely as a means to deter Iran from attacking them again. Iran on Thursday retaliated for U.S. strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

The strikes in Iran over two days killed at least 17 people and wounded 115 others, Iran's Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi traveled to Oman on Saturday to meet with his counterpart. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state broadcaster TRT that he believed “a solution can be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the narrow waterway.

However, Araghchi on Saturday accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington did that in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.

“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araghchi wrote on X.

The U.S. continues to urge mariners to travel on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters to avoid Iranian waters and the commands of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. That has angered Tehran and sparked the attacks in the strait.

US insists a nuclear deal will require Iran to turn over enriched uranium

The U.S. officials also told journalists that any deal on Iran’s nuclear program would require Tehran to turn over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. That's something Iran has repeatedly refused.

If the U.S. does not reach a deal with Iran to turn over its nuclear material, it has military options to ensure that it remains buried underground forever, the officials said. They did not detail those options.

The uranium, enriched to near weapons-grade levels, is believed to be at nuclear sites the U.S. bombed in 2025. Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency saying the Islamic Republic is the only country in the world to enrich uranium so highly without a weapons program.

The officials also insisted that they would never reach a nuclear deal with Iran if it did not first stop its attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

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Price and Weissert reported from Washington.

Ohtani will have fluid removed from his left knee following a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he will continue to start at designated hitter. Ohtani had been scheduled to pitch on Friday night, but instead led off with a 381-foot homer to left center after the Dodgers decided to make it a bullpen game to avoid further aggravating the ongoing discomfort in his left knee.

“The goal is to be able to throw according to regular schedule,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the 9-3 loss. “Although I could have started today, it would have still been pushing the envelope a little bit. But the intention, my every intention, is to use the off days to make sure that I’m in a good place to be able to be in the rotation.”

Ohtani has been dealing with the ailment for at least a month. The right-hander had an outing cut short against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 11 because of inflammation in the knee.

“He’s been managing this quite well,” manager Dave Roberts said before Friday’s game. “If there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to kind of try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were going to do that.”

The four-time MVP has once again been one of the best players in the big leagues this season, and he stands alone as a two-way player.

Ohtani is batting .290 with 21 homers and 57 RBIs and is 8-2 on the mound with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. However, his effectiveness as a pitcher has diminished somewhat in Ohtani’s past four starts. He allowed 12 earned runs in 24 2/3 innings in a span corresponding with the left knee irritation. Ohtani had given up five runs in his first 10 starts.

“I think that our hope is if we can (have Ohtani) not make this start ... (and) kind of get the inflammation out, you know, get strong, recover body-wise, then I think he should be in a much better spot,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers don’t expect the procedure will affect Ohtani’s availability as a pitcher in the second half of the season, but Roberts said it was too early to know where he would be slotted in the Dodgers’ six-man rotation following the All-Star break. Los Angeles starts an East Coast road trip next Friday with a three-game set against the New York Yankees.

Ohtani’s absence will be a blow for baseball’s midsummer showcase at Citizens Bank Park. The Japanese star — who turned 32 earlier this week — is among the game’s most popular players and led MLB in jersey sales last year.

He hit his 300th career homer on Tuesday night, a leadoff shot against Colorado’s Michael Lorenzen that made him the first Japanese-born player in the majors to reach the milestone.

The Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions since adding Ohtani in free agency on a record-breaking 10-year contract in December 2023.

Los Angeles has baseball’s best record at 61-34. Being in contention to pull off the major leagues’ first three-peat since the 1998-2000 Yankees factored into Ohtani’s willingness to miss the All-Star Game, especially having to adjust to the demands of both hitting and pitching regularly for the first time since 2023. He has never played in the MLB postseason after being a full-time two-way player.

“Nothing is going to fall in front of being healthy for October,” Roberts said. “For him to concede and miss a start for the best interests of him and the team, that’s not a surprise.”

St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Iván Herrera was named as a replacement to the National League All-Star team on Friday after Ohtani was ruled out of the game.

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AP Baseball Writer David Brandt contributed to this report.

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

Haaland has become a social media phenomenon, with his own posts and memes from others turning even soccer novices into diehard fans.

His domineering physical appearance coupled with his goofy online persona have contributed to the craze. Fans remark on his flowing blond mane, color-coordinated hair ties and playful posts like a Snapchat-filtered selfie in which he proclaimed Shrek his “twin.” The contrast between his strength and skill on the field and his softer, looser online presence has also subjected him to the “babygirl” treatment online. That term is used frequently by fans of endearing male celebrities or characters who come across as sensitive, caring or vulnerable.

Haaland is emblematic of a broader embrace of soccer players as pop culture figures, driven in large part by how they present themselves off the pitch.

Haaland as a ‘pretty Norwegian princess’

Sarah Wilson, a baseball content creator in New York, is new to following soccer, but has become a big enough fan in the past month that she embarked on a lengthy hunt to buy the jersey of her new favorite player.

“I love Erling Haaland more than life itself,” Wilson, 31, said in a now viral video. “I cannot fathom being such a pretty Norwegian princess and also being one of the best strikers in all of football.”

Haaland is being catapulted into a fame even more intense than he had already known as the Premier League's top scorer. This moment boils down to the pairing of elite skills with quirky personality, Wilson said.

“Him being really, really talented — that’s the first pillar of it all. And then you find out that he’s 25 years old and he’s probably the most Gen Z athlete in the World Cup,” Wilson told The Associated Press, noting his use of Snapchat and goofy filters in photos online. Many are thinking, “‘Wow, I love that guy, he’s hilarious. Now he’s my new favorite player,’ which is exactly what happened with me,” she added.

Haaland’s expressive reactions on the pitch and his unique appearance have spawned hundreds of memes. He’s leaned into this virality, posting cheeky selfies on Instagram, uploading long-form vlogs on YouTube and interacting with fans on his public Snapchat stories, often poking fun at himself.

After scoring two goals to knock out Brazil, he posted a smug selfie from the locker room with the caption, “Well well well.” When an Instagram video with nearly 100 million views likened his appearance to a green onion — its wiry roots standing in as his hair — Haaland responded in the comments with a side-eyeing dog GIF. When Google added a Viking row animation to his search results, Haaland wrote on X, “One thing to do today… search my name on Google,” with a winking emoji.

Haaland said in a team news conference on Thursday that he's enjoyed being embraced in the U.S.

“I think it’s a good thing because I like the Americans. I think they are kind of hilarious as well. They are funny. I like the way they are,” he said. “I think it's just good and honestly, on every single thing, the World Cup so far here has been amazing.”

Sports are a “cultural force,” one on par with politics or religion, said Jeffrey Kassing, an Arizona State University professor who has studied fans' and athletes' social media use. It’s natural that Haaland has “crossed over” into non-soccer audiences, he said. A song from his youth has gone viral. A lookalike contest is in the offing. Even dogs are sporting blond wigs.

“There used to be a whole lot of gatekeeping that would happen with athletes; you would only ever hear from athletes maybe in an interview or in a press conference,” Kassing said. Haaland is evidence of how players have much more control in shaping their image now, he added.

Fans also try to ‘shape the perception’ of their favorite players

Fans' access to athletes contributes to what is called a parasocial relationship, defined by one-way knowing, said Gayle Stever, a professor at Empire State University who has studied the dynamics between celebrities and fans for decades. Haaland’s fans feel like they know him on a personal level, but he doesn’t know the nearly 60 million people who follow him on Instagram alone.

The majority of parasocial relationships are “positive, healthy and normal,” Stever said. Only a small percentage of people take it to the extreme, she said.

Skyla Clarke, a 19-year-old sports management student in Brisbane, Australia — and lifelong soccer fan — says she's seen that uglier side rear its head; attacks on players after poor performances, and even unprovoked hate toward athletes’ wives and partners are not uncommon. Haaland himself called AI-generated content of players a “bit scary.” But he noted in Norwegian that the attention on the team and its traditions — the rowing cheer, for example — is a sign of praise.

“Usually if it’s like that, it means that you’re doing something right, and that your country is doing something right,” Haaland said.

Even healthy parasocial dynamics can seem unusual to those uninitiated in internet culture. Haaland is not the only player whose persona has blown up on social media, nor is he the only one fans have anointed a babygirl.

Fans have described feeling “maternal” toward Luka Modrić — especially after Croatia’s elimination in the 40-year-old's final international game. Modrić is a “special case” whose difficult upbringing amid Yugoslavia's dissolution plays into how fans characterize him online, Clarke said. Some will incorporate childhood photos of him into their content, creating “a deeper appreciation for him as a player,” she added. Clarke's TikTok video about Modrić’s potential retirement reached hundreds of thousands of viewers in a matter of days.

Modrić himself has a rather tame social media presence, especially compared with Haaland, but Kassing noted fans “take it upon themselves to try to shape the perception” of those with whom they develop a parasocial attachment. In Modrić and Haaland’s cases, some do this by overlaying bows and hearts on their images.

Ahead of Norway’s match against England in the quarterfinals on Saturday, fans have also focused intensely on Haaland’s friendship with English player Jude Bellingham, his former teammate. Some have “shipped” the two footballers, making edits of them hugging or celebrating together and drawing comparisons to the television sensation “Heated Rivalry,” in which two pro hockey opponents develop a romance off the ice.

“People have been saying ‘heated Haalandry,’” said Nulara Ratwatté, a 19-year-old art student at the University of Melbourne. She's one of many fans whose videos about their newfound love of Haaland have gone viral.

Ratwatté said she’s “not supposed to talk about football” because of her lack of knowledge, but she's not looking back after catching Haaland fever. She describes him as a “big, friendly giant,” and despite her lack of soccer savvy, she's now tuning in to cheer Norway on.

“Truly, from the bottom of my heart,” she said, “I love him.”

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

“They told her she wasn't supposed to live past 20 years old,” Lillard's younger sister, Cindy McVey, told The Associated Press on Friday. “She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life.”

McVey attributes her sister's death to the effects of long-haul COVID-19. A death certificate lists causes as chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome, McVey said.

Lillard slept in the iron lung cylinder that encased her body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of her lungs. As a child, she went to grade school for two hours a day and was tutored the rest of the time. She attended Shawnee High School by using a phone system that allowed her to interact with her teachers and classmates through an intercom in her classrooms.

Her family went on road trips to Missouri thanks to a custom trailer and her father calling hotels to find out if they had doors wide enough to accommodate the machine Lillard slept in. Lillard was even able to drive for a time.

“To me, it was just normal,” recalled McVey, 75.

Polio was once one of the nation’s most feared diseases, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis. The disease primarily affects children.

Vaccines became available starting in 1955. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national vaccination campaign cut the annual number of U.S. cases to fewer than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s. In 1979, polio was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning it was no longer routinely spread.

Later the internet would help Lillard stay informed and learn about all sorts of topics, including her disease, which paralyzed her from the neck down.

With therapy she was able to regain partial use of her left arm and use of her legs. But she could only move her left arm side to side at her waist. Even though she couldn't reach up, she spent many years living alone and preparing her own meals.

The internet also allowed Lillard to meet her future husband. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Lillard wanted to understand more about what happened. In a chat room, she met a man in Egypt and communicated with him online for more than 20 years, McVey said.

Lillard married Baha Salh in February after he was finally able to obtain a visa to travel to Oklahoma.

“They were really soul mates,” McVey said. “He's extremely brokenhearted.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, Lillard got COVID-19 twice. Before getting COVID-19, she had less than 25% lung capacity. The last five years of her life, she wasn't able to leave home as it became harder to breathe. For the past two years, she was in the iron lung nearly 24 hours a day, McVey said.

McVey described her sister as artistic and creative. She wrote poems and composed songs. She wrote her own obituary, which is now posted online by a funeral home. She described being a Humane Society volunteer. “She was an avid Beagle lover and assisted in animal rescue as a cross poster on Facebook,” Lillard wrote.

She later updated her obituary to say she “died of long-haul Covid 19,” but McVey added the date of her death.

In recent years, McVey and Lillard were desperate to find someone who could fix the iron lung, one of several she had over her lifetime.

“But since she's the last one, we don't need that anymore,” McVey said through tears.

He was hoping to find beads from broken friendship bracelets — something symbolic among fans of Taylor Swift. No such luck.

Instead, he picked up a single AirPod, a ring pop, an ovulation test kit strip and a rainbow fan, among others. Then he packaged them all into 1-inch boxes and sold them online — 50 pieces of trash purchased by Swift fans as far away as Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“People were like, ‘Is there any more? Is there any more?’” he said.

Over the past week, fans have scoured Manhattan’s streets and the internet for crumbs — sometimes literal — from what's been called “the United States’ royal wedding.” But Swift managed to keep the thousand-person mega event almost entirely private.

The story she hasn't told

For nearly two decades, Taylor Swift has remembered everything. The rooms. The weather. The clothes left behind. The exact words people said before they walked away.

Her career was built on transforming private moments into public memory — songs that made millions feel as though they were reading pages from a diary (sometimes they were). But one of the most anticipated chapters of her life has been defined by something different: the story she has chosen not to tell.

A week after her star-studded wedding to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, not one verified photo had been released of the interior, the ceremony or Swift’s gown. Guests and crew members signed strict NDAs and surrendered cell phones. The couple used street closures and walls of tents around the arena to keep the celebration out of view.

Some New Yorkers chafed at the security restrictions around a key transit hub on a holiday weekend, all during a heat wave. The secrecy also showed how, when you’re as famous as Taylor Swift, staying truly private requires a level of wealth and influence few people have.

Still, fans in Swift T-shirts crowded the barricades, watching lines of black SUVs disappear inside the arena.

In the early morning hours, a bakery van stopped outside. A catering employee offered a box of apple honey pastries, which a police officer handed out to waiting fans. One fan could be heard yelling: “Oh my God, you guys, we’re having Taylor Swift’s dessert!”

Sifting through the pieces

Gignac, who has been turning New York City trash into art for 25 years, creates limited-edition collections from major New York moments, including the Knicks parade, where the discarded objects themselves told the story — the colors, the celebration, the evidence of thousands of people gathered in one place.

Swift’s wedding was different.

“I was like, OK, let me see how close I can get,” Gignac said. “Everything going on on the block outside of Madison Square Garden was a part of the festivities as well — it’s just a very different part.”

The area outside the Garden was “fairly clean,” he said, but he collected enough. He tied discarded straws into knots to “reinforce the wedding theme.”

Fans who saw the boxes later told him the project reminded them of Swift’s “New Year’s Day,” a song about staying after a party is over and holding on to what remains.

“You’ve never had a song change your life, and the artist be the soundtrack of your life?” Gignac said. “That’s such a massive role in your day to day — it’s nice to have something from that.”

When the photos never came

The lack of images created a void that was quickly filled with artificial intelligence: fake photos of Swift and Kelce in wedding attire, Swift in a gown and fabricated glimpses of the “secret garden” celebration that guests had described inside Madison Square Garden, where the arena was transformed with greenery, trees and flowers.

Some were obvious jokes: users inserting themselves into the wedding or pretending they had been hired to photograph it. Others were designed to be convincing — blurry, pixelated images that looked as though they had been secretly captured inside.

Swift fans are known for decoding “Easter eggs” and clues in Swift’s lyrics and public posts. Longtime Swift fan Alexa Volland said those same habits helped many quickly debunk AI-generated images by spotting warped facial features, impossible dress straps and hidden watermarks from detection tools like Google DeepMind’s SynthID.

“They built a habit of close observation,” Volland said.

Volland, a video producer for the News Literacy Project, said she was surprised no images had emerged, but happy Swift kept control.

“As a Swiftie, I would prefer to have those first looks come directly from her,” she said. “I know that we will eventually get a song that is probably the most revealing, way more revealing than any AI-generated image ever made."

‘The rose garden over Madison Square’

Margaret Willison, a Swiftie in Boston, was still waiting for one wedding detail.

“I need to know what her first song was,” she said. “It’s been haunting me.”

Willison has taught workshops on Swift's music and fandom, and says this kind of tension has defined her career. Swift has the ability to turn moments that may seem insignificant "into a cathedral we all get to be part of,” Willison said, filling them with meaning.

Willison said many fans trust Swift will eventually share the pieces she wants them to know.

“We don’t want something that’s been stolen from her,” she said.

More than a decade ago, Swift sang about leaving the spotlight and choosing “the rose garden over Madison Square.” In the end, Willison said, they weren't mutually exclusive.

“In all of her previous relationships, there was this tension between how much she was able to shine and still be understood by a partner,” she said. “Isn’t it incredible that she found that she didn’t have to choose?”

Two days later, he was found dead. What happened, Wells' parents say, is a mystery riddled with conflicting stories, implausible explanations and missing details. It is a case shadowed by the state's fraught racial history and lingering distrust in law enforcement.

At a news conference Friday in New York City, Christine and Elmore Wonsley called for a thorough and transparent investigation into their son’s death, skeptical of claims that Wells told his friends to leave the island without him and suggestions that he, an elite athlete who knew how to swim, had accidentally drowned.

Wells’ body was found early Monday along the shore of Horn Island, about 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) off the Mississippi coast, more than a day after he was last seen alive. The roughly 11-mile long (17.7 kilometer) spit of land is near the Alabama state line. The island is uninhabited and accessible only by boat. About 200 people were there on July 4, the family’s lawyers said.

“We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home,” Christine Wonsley said, looking upward several times as she stood alongside her lawyer, Ben Crump, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will officiate Wells’ funeral.

Crump said Wells' family has commissioned an independent autopsy, performed by a forensic pathologist in Washington, D.C. with no ties to Mississippi law enforcement, while they await the results of an official autopsy, which could take weeks. They also plan to employ experts to recover messages that appeared to have been deleted from his cellphone, Crump said. They will eventually turn the device over to authorities, he said.

Wells' family also encouraged witnesses to come forward and asked people to submit any video they recorded that may show him on Horn Island, echoing a call by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to help shed light on the moments before Wells’ disappearance and death.

A photo posted on social media, purportedly from the boat ride to the island, shows Wells with his arms around three white male friends. Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating and that investigators don’t suspect foul play. Crump said those friends now have lawyers and that his investigators haven't attempted to speak with them yet.

Wells' death has led to rampant speculation and suspicion as people grapple with Mississippi's history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority white space.

Actor and producer Tyler Perry is helping pay for Wells' funeral, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is helping pay for his independent autopsy, and filmmaker Spike Lee showed up to the news conference to show support for Wells' family.

Family doesn't trust Mississippi authorities, Crump says

Crump said Wells' parents hired him to conduct an independent investigation into their son’s death because they don't trust that law enforcement officials will perform a fair inquiry in a state still reckoning with its Jim Crow past, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the murders of three civil rights workers in the 1960s.

“The history of Mississippi is something that they don’t just read about in books,” Crump told reporters at Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. “It's a lived experience for many Black Americans that oftentimes when our children are killed in highly questionable situations that there is this notion that ‘Oh, there was nothing wrong, no foul play, let’s just sweep it under the rug.’ Well, we refuse to sweep it under the rug.”

It is the second case that Crump has taken on in the state in recent months. He also was recently retained by the family of a Mississippi 1-year-old who was killed when police fired into a moving car.

Ledbetter told The Associated Press this week that investigators suspect that Wells “chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else.”

But Wells didn't have his cellphone or his keys — his friends did.

“What teenager would leave their phone behind if they’re going to stay on this island? What teenager wouldn’t take their phone?” Crump said. “It’s not adding up at all.”

Crump said bystander video from the island showed a person he said was Wells arguing with someone to give him his phone back. In another discrepancy, Crump said that a witness reported Wells had planned to leave on the boat with his friends, contradicting the sheriff's theory.

“The friends come back and he's left there with some story about how he said leave him behind,” Sharpton said. “But then by some magic one of the friends has his keys and his phone.”

The sheriff did not return The Associated Press' messages seeking his response to the family's concerns.

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said she started to worry when a friend of his called her just after 11 p.m. on July 4.

After trying to track him down on her own, she reported him missing to police and went with her husband to meet an officer in a McDonald’s parking lot, she said, a process exacerbated by a dispute over which law enforcement agency had jurisdiction over the island. One of Wells’ friends had also reported him missing to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, said he went out on a boat on the morning of July 5 looking for his son near Horn Island. Crews from multiple local and state agencies began an extensive search, and his body was recovered early Monday, family members confirmed.

“If he’s drowning, nobody sees him drown? Nobody offers assistance? Nobody tries to help? I mean, obviously he stands out," Crump said. "I think he’s the only Black person I saw when I’m looking at the videos.”

Christine Wonsley said she used an app to track his phone and, after a friend went to where it was on land to pick it up, noticed that some of his messages appeared to be deleted. Wells, a shutterbug at social and family events, had two Snapchat accounts — but both were devoid of pictures or saved messages, she said.

As they searched for their son, Elmore Wonsley went to retrieve Wells' keys from the home where he stayed with his friends from the boat the night before their island trip. He said his son's car was still parked in the yard.

A peacemaker with football aspirations

Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, played wide receiver on the football team at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Mississippi, and had aspirations of playing at a high-level Division I program.

His coach, Les George, told WAPT-TV that Wells “was a guy that never had a bad day. Never.”

“He was very sociable with everyone, didn’t meet a stranger,” George said. “He would pop up at my office and come sit on the couch just to hang out and talk.”

Christine Wonsley said she and her husband schooled Wells in history and talked to him about navigating the racial tensions that still permeate the South.

Wells was a peacemaker who didn’t like division, once breaking into a dance while still in diapers to ease tensions while his parents were arguing, they said. He wanted everyone to be included and shied away from confrontation.

“Nolan is a person with a big heart,” Elmore Wonsley said.

Wells' parents said they last saw him the night before the boat trip. He came to their house, baked them salmon for dinner and hugged his mother goodbye.

As people mourn and protest Wells' death, Christine Wonsley urged them to follow his example.

“Please be peaceful," she said. "Nolan was not someone who liked fights, physical fights. He didn’t even really like arguments. Don’t go out there trying to be tough. Think about what Nolan would want, and he wouldn’t want that type of behavior.”

Needing a triple for the cycle after homering earlier in the seventh, Peters hit a hard grounder past Athletics first baseman Joey Meneses and down the right-field line. He never hesitated as he rounded second — ignoring a stop sign from third base coach Justin Jirschele — and beat the relay throw with a headfirst slide into third, drawing a huge ovation.

“When I hit the ball, I was thinking three,” he said.

Peters became the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle since Jose Abreu on Sept. 9, 2017, and the fifth in major league history to do it from the No. 9 spot in the batting order. The way he did it was even more rare.

According to MLB, Peters became just the third player since 1961 to get two hits in the same inning to complete the cycle. The others were Felix Pie in 2009 and Jim Ray Hart in 1950.

“It’s No. 1, for sure,” Peters said when asked where it ranked among his career achievements. “That was incredible. It’s awesome, amazing.”

The 26-year-old from Canada made his big league debut last Aug. 8. This was his 93rd career game. He raised his batting average to .303 with his 4-for-4 night, driving in four runs and scoring two as the White Sox beat the Athletics 14-1.

“It’s impressive, there haven’t been too many of those,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “Those are pretty rare, and Tristan has done such a good job of playing the right way — putting swings on good pitches to hit.”

Surprising Chicago remained atop the AL Central, percentage points ahead of Cleveland.

Peters was stranded at second after his two-out double to center in the third. In the fifth, his run-scoring single to right made it 2-0.

In the seventh, Peters followed Kyle Teel's leadoff walk with a two-run homer. His triple drove in the last run of an eight-run inning in which the White Sox sent 12 men to the plate.

He's the third major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season, joining the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Phillies' Bryce Harper.

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

Donna Westrich, Terence Myers, and Donovan Bradley are all vying for the District 2 seat, which opens after current board member and Vice Chair April Carney announced in April that she would not seek a second term. Districts 2, 4, and 6 will appear on the August primary ballot.

News4JAX spoke with all three candidates about why they are running and where they stand on key issues.

Why they’re running

Each candidate pointed to a different priority that brought them to the race.

Westrich, a career educator, said two decades in the classroom are what pushed her toward the board.

“I’ve spent 20 years trying to fix education from inside the classroom and I’m ready to take my experience and passion for education to the next level and affect change at the district level,” she said.

Myers has 18 years of experience in education working in every level of education from elementary education to adult education. He said teachers and students are not getting the resources they need.

“There are different areas in the district that students need more support than others, and teachers need more support in the classroom and outside the classroom,” he said.

Bradley says education is very important to him as a Jacksonville native who went to Duval County Schools. He pointed to workforce preparation and testing practices as top concerns.

“One of the things that I’d like to see an increase on is better, stronger classroom-to-career pipelines for students,” Bradley said. He also called for expanding career and technical education, moving away from computer-based testing in favor of paper-and-pencil assessments, and increasing support for teachers and school resource officers.

Goals if elected

The candidates also outlined what they hope to accomplish on the board.

Westrich said community representation is her top priority.

“I want my community to feel like they have a voice at the table, and I want my community to feel represented,” she said.

Myers said he wants to direct more resources toward students with disabilities.

“I would want to put more emphasis on our disabled students, our ESE students. Those students are not getting the support that they need,” he said. Myers added that he also wants to highlight schools that are performing well across the district.

Bradley said his background in educational policy positions him to work with the state legislature.

“Working with our fellow board members and our state lawmakers to move things like smaller class sizes and anything else that’s a priority for our parents,” he said.

School consolidations and closures

The district has faced budget challenges for several years, and the candidates were asked how they would handle potential school consolidations and closures.

Bradley said transparency and community involvement are essential.

“Having parents know what opportunities are at each school and what they offer is going to help driving that enrollment up. But when it pertains to school closures, we do need to make sure that the community is involved with that,” he said.

Myers said consolidation should be a last resort.

“We want to make sure that we’ve done everything that we can to make sure that consolidation is not the first or best thing to do,” he said.

Westrich echoed the call for transparency.

“I want our community to know what we’re trying to do when something is happening and what possible solutions are. I don’t want anybody to be surprised,” she said.

Keeping politics out of the classroom

Florida school board races are officially non-partisan, but the candidates acknowledged that political influence has grown in recent years.

Bradley said the focus needs to return to fundamentals.

“I don’t believe that politics have any place in schools,” he said. “We need to stick back to the basics — ensuring that achievement is up, ensuring that our parents have the support that they need, that our teachers have the resources and the support that they need, that our facilities are secure.”

Myers agreed that schools should remain neutral ground.

“School should be a neutral ground. I do know that politics is playing a part in what’s happening in Tallahassee when it’s trickling down to all the cities in the state of Florida,” he said.

Westrich said she has deliberately run a non-partisan campaign.

“People over politics. Students need to come first,” she said.

The August primary for Duval County Schools also includes contested races for Districts 4 and 6. Voters will also decide on a 1-mill renewal in November.

Watch each candidate’s full interview below:

Donna Westrich

Terence Myers

Donovan Bradley

Next Level Boys Academy will set up at Clanzel T. Brown Park in the Moncrief area Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. as part of the “Save Our Sons Tour.” The free, family-friendly event runs alongside Duval Day, the annual block party hosted by Jacksonville-born comedian Lil Duval, which follows from 3 to 8 p.m.

From a Little League Sideline to a National Movement

Gary Davis, CEO and Executive Director of Next Level Boys Academy, says it all started on a baseball field. While coaching little league in 2009, he decided mentoring had to go deeper than sports.

“I built this organization from that group of young men that I coached back in 2009,” Davis said.

What began with 11 young men has grown to serve between 200 and 300 youth each year. The program has drawn national media attention and support from high-profile names, including rappers T.I. and Killer Mike.

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A post shared by Gary Davis (@nextlevelboysacademy)

What the Program Does

Next Level Boys Academy mentors teens on Saturdays, working with youth ages 5 to 10. It also runs an alternative-to-incarceration program for first-time offenders ages 12 to 25.

Davis says the impact goes beyond mentorship.

“On average we’ve probably diverted about 100 years of prison time a week,” he said.

Former NFL player Will Sweet is also part of the Jacksonville visit. Sweet leads the entrepreneurship and professional development component of the academy’s Atlanta program.

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A post shared by Gary Davis (@nextlevelboysacademy)

A Vision for Duval County

Davis, a former educator and social worker, says this weekend is about more than one event. He wants Jacksonville’s leaders to take notice.

“The ultimate reason why we are coming to Jacksonville this weekend is because we want the city officials and local government to see there is an innovative mentoring organization that is working in Atlanta — and we have people that are in place there that could start this and move it,” Davis said. “There is no need in re-inventing the wheel.”

What You Need to Know

The Next Level Boys Academy and Empowerment Center program is free and open to families. Here are the details:

• What: Next Level Boys Academy — Save Our Sons Tour
• Where: Clanzel T. Brown Park
• When: Saturday, noon to 1 p.m.
• Duval Day: 3 to 8 p.m. at the same location

The blaze, one of Spain's deadliest wildfires, broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains in Almeria province, as the country has been dealing with soaring temperatures.

Most of the victims died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, said Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia’s emergency services. Some tried to escape via a dry riverbed that “turned into a death trap,” he said.

Four victims were believed to be British nationals because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said. Other unspecified nationals also were believed to be among the dead, and the death toll was expected to rise, authorities said.

Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars, Sanz said, adding that most of the deceased were believed to be foreign nationals.

Dean Taylor, a resident who divides his time between Spain and the U.K., said he managed to just barely escape the neighborhood by using back roads to get out.

“It was quite terrifying,” Taylor said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It's a very sad day, isn’t it? It’s devastating, really."

The blaze is a challenge for firefighters

The fire was still burning as of Friday afternoon. Some 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain’s military emergency unit were battling the blaze, which had consumed more than 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) of forest and farmland.

Moreno, the Andalusian regional leader, said containing the fire was difficult because of the steep, dry terrain.

“It consists mainly of scrubland and esparto grass,” Moreno said. “Everything is extremely dry due to the heat waves, making it the perfect fuel; combined with the wind, it’s a ticking time bomb.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences. “Immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almeria,” he wrote on X.

Europe battles intense heat again

Spain has battled frequent and severe heat waves in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 40 C (104 F). Wind, high temperatures and little rainfall help small wildfires grow into unchecked blazes.

In June, Spain experienced several days of record-setting heat, with over 1,000 excess deaths attributed to heat.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Parts of Western Europe are facing their third heat wave in six weeks. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.

France also at risk of wildfires

France is experiencing the peak of its third heat wave of the summer, with temperatures reaching 40 C (104 F) across western and central areas and around 37 C (98 F) in Paris.

French authorities have also warned of a very high wildfire risk, as large fires in the south have already scorched thousands of hectares this week, disrupting the Tour de France cycling race and stretching firefighting resources.

The largest wildfire, in the eastern Pyrenees near the Spanish border, had decreased in intensity by Friday, authorities said. But it has burned about 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) and forced the temporary evacuation of more than 10,000 people from nearly villages.

Last month was France’s hottest June on record, with deaths surging by nearly a third during the hottest week.

Scientists warn that climate change caused in part by the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making certain regions more vulnerable to wildfires.

Spain and Portugal have faced deadly fires before

Spain is no stranger to wildfires, with last year's fire season burning more than 393,000 hectares (almost 1,520 square miles), according to the European Forest Fire Information System, an area twice as large as London. Four people died.

Spain's deadliest wildfire was in 1979 when 21 people perished in Lloret de Mar, a coastal town about an hour north of Barcelona.

In 2017, a wildfire in neighboring Portugal left 66 people dead in Pedrogao Grande, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Lisbon. In that blaze, 47 people died on one road while similarly attempting to flee in their cars.

———

Associated Press journalist Sylvie Corbet, in Paris, contributed.

The Maine Democratic Party announced later Friday that it will hold a nominating convention on July 25 to choose Platner's replacement for the November ballot.

Platner’s paperwork was received by the Maine secretary of state's office Friday afternoon.

In a letter to the secretary of state's office, which Platner also posted on social media, he wrote that the Mainers who had nominated him “voted for a new kind of politics” that is “representative of people down here in the real world — not billionaires, oligarchs, or the political establishment.” It was the same outsider chord that had been a trademark of his tumultuous campaign, in which Platner drew backing from progressive leaders including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California.

“I seek to further the movement we have built together and the future we believe in,” he went on, without detailing what that meant.

Maine is considered a key state for control of the narrowly divided Senate, and Democrats were desperate for a candidate capable of defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The formal withdrawal comes two days after Platner said he would quit the race, facing an allegation of sexual assault that he has denied. Maine Democrats are seeking a new nominee, and several hopefuls have already begun jockeying for position.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Charlie Dingman said delegates representing all of Maine’s 16 counties will choose someone “who has the energy, ideas and popular support” to defeat Collins. The party said 601 delegates will participate.

“Our message to Mainers is this: While these circumstances are unprecedented and the challenge is enormous, your state party is ready and capable of rising to this challenge,” Dingman said.

State law includes a provision for Democrats to replace Platner before the general election but the replacement must by named by July 27.

Several Democrats have announced runs for the Senate nomination this week. They include three candidates who lost the June primary for the governor nomination — former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Nirav Shah, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson.

Others who have announced runs include Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban; former 2nd Congressional District candidates Jordan Wood and Paige Loud; and former Maine Senate candidates David Costello and Andrea LaFlamme. State Rep. Valli Geiger has also expressed interest in the post but has not formally announced.

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This story has been corrected to show that state Rep. Valli Geiger has expressed interest in running but has not formally announced.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.

The Damage Reports include downed trees and power lines in Alachua County where 66 mph wind gusts were recorded around 4:20 p.m. Tree damage was also reported in Putnam County and in Clay County where a tree damaged a porch.

The summer heat continues along with increasing rain chances this weekend.

The Heat Advisory will continue through 7 p.m. The heat wave continues this weekend as rain chances increase Saturday and Sunday. Isolated showers and thunderstorms will be possible Saturday afternoon and evening with increasing coverage on Sunday. The unsettled pattern will continue through Tuesday. Scattered showers with thunderstorms could lead to locally heavy rain with temporary flooding possible.

Near-seasonal temperatures are expected through next week.

The extended forecast starts drying things out next Wednesday through Friday.

Tonight: Heat Advisory through 7 p.m. Isolated showers and storms, 10 percent.

Saturday: Hot and humid with a slight chance of isolated showers and thunderstorms, 20 - 30 percent. Morning lows in the 70s to 80s. Afternoon highs in the mid to upper 90s inland, low 90s along the beaches. Wind: SW 5-15 mph. Feels Like temperatures 101-107 degrees.

Sunday: Becoming cloudy with afternoon showers and thunderstorms, 50-60 percent. Morning lows in the 70s to low 80s. Afternoon highs in the 90s to near 100 degrees. Wind: W/SW 5 - 10 mph.

Looking ahead: Widespread rain chances remain likely through Tuesday.

Tropics: Tropical activity is not expected over the next 7 days in the Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean.

Sunrise: 6:32 p.m.

Sunset: 8:32 p.m.

Adebayo struck Herro at least once during the encounter, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because neither player, nor their teams, revealed any details publicly.

Herro was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this month in the deal that brought Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat, where he'll play alongside Adebayo, the Heat captain.

The Heat said they were aware that an incident took place and declined further comment. Herro spoke briefly to The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after a summer game between the Bucks and Heat, saying “my only comment is no comment.” Herro attended that game; Adebayo was not present for the contest.

ESPN first reported details of the altercation.

The person who spoke with AP said one of the factors related to the altercation was that Herro had evidently made some critical comments about Adebayo — and the three-year, $166 million extension that Miami gave him in 2024. Herro is believed to have made those comments in direct messages to someone on social media, and screenshots of those conversations eventually went public.

In other events in Las Vegas at summer league on Friday:

Young discusses new deal with Wizards

The Washington Wizards essentially have been holding team meetings in Las Vegas, with veterans at Summer League to watch No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa — and players such as Anthony Davis showing up to support Trae Young at the news conference discussing his $212 million, four-year deal.

Young seemed to enjoy the team bonding.

“I’m a people’s person,” Young said. “I think to be the best version of yourself, you've got to be in the most comfortable spot for yourself. I mean, surround yourself with the right people and the right things. And for me, just being around here (for) the few months that I was after I got traded, it just felt like this could be my next home. And I mean, that’s why I’m here.”

Young is a four-time All-Star who was sidelined by injuries for most of this past season, averaging just 17.9 points — more than seven points per game below his career average — in only 15 games with Atlanta and Washington. He made five appearances with the Wizards after getting traded to them by the Hawks, who had Young for his first 7 1/2 NBA seasons.

Young said he's heard the criticism of how much money the Wizards committed to him, insisting he's not bothered.

“I don’t really care about what other people think,” Young said. “I just care about what the people in this organization think, my teammates think and how we’re going to get better and how we’re going to find ways to win games. So, what everybody else has to say, I mean, it’s all irrelevant to me.”

Union displeased with second apron

Newly installed National Basketball Players Association executive director David Kelly lashed out at the second apron Friday, saying the union will fight it in the next collective bargaining agreement.

“We are not fans of the second apron,” Kelly said. “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron, and in the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better of fighting it back against a second apron.”

Kelly was responding to a question surrounding something NBA veteran Kyle Kuzma wrote on social media earlier this month. Kuzma said “the first and second apron are starting to function like a hard cap on player value, team continuity, and player movement.”

Kuzma called on the union to raise its game and not, as he put it, have the league “continue to run circles around us time and time again with elite lawyers, economists, cap experts, media strategists, and long term business operators.”

Kelly took some issue with that, saying he did so respectfully.

“You don’t ever go into any sort of a competition trying to score as many points as your opponent,” Kelly said. “We do not need anyone who is equal to the NBA. The NBA is not the standard. We need people who will fight for us and force the NBA to raise their game to our standard.”

The current CBA is scheduled to remain in place through at least the 2028-29 season.

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

The 33-year-old Schwarber, who leads the majors with 32 homers, had been expected to participate on his home field.

Murakami was a surprise because he had missed more than a month with a strained right hamstring. The White Sox made the announcement when he returned to action Friday night.

Murakami, who was also named Friday as an All-Star injury replacement, has 20 homers this season and will join Shohei Ohtani (2021) as the only Japanese-born players to participate in the derby.

Schwarber will be joined by teammate Bryce Harper, with both trying to put on a show for the crowd at Citizens Bank Park.

Boston’s Willson Contreras, Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, St. Louis' Jordan Walker and the New York Yankees’ Ben Rice are the other participants.

Schwarber, a four-time All-Star, has 219 homers since 2022, trailing only Aaron Judge (227) over that span.

This will be Schwarber's third appearance in the derby. He made the finals in 2018 at Nationals Park before losing to Harper and was also part of the 2022 derby at Dodger Stadium, losing in the first round to Albert Pujols.

Last year, Schwarber won the All-Star Game for the NL in a “swing-off” tiebreaker, homering three times on three swings at Truist Park in Atlanta.

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

The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics allege it's from shoddy repair work.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency oversees the National Park Service, told conservative podcaster Katie Miller in an interview released earlier this week that the new round of draining was planned. He also said that the water might still contain debris from an extensive Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall.

“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum told Miller, who is the wife of deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.”

The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation's capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

He initially announced his intentions to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring, saying he wanted it completed before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations.

Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted what he called “American flag blue.” In May, the president posted on his social media site of the pool: “The goal is to have it done, at this higher level, prior to July 4th — We are ahead of schedule!”

But problems began quickly after the initial work was finished. Trump blamed vandals, and court documents later showed that the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

On Thursday, former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn pleaded not guilty in D.C. Superior Court to deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker.

His attorneys and other Trump administration critics have derided the case as an abuse of prosecutorial power and maintain he is being scapegoated for the poor job done fixing up the Reflecting Pool.

At least three other people have been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the Reflecting Pool, according to online court records. All three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday.

The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, which featured what Trump said was the largest fireworks display in the world. The president had said that the pool would have to be drained anew as part of the new round of repairs.

Burgum has also said that the Trump administration won't seek bids for the new rounds of repairs. He told CNN's “State of the Union” last weekend: “We’ll use the same company because they did a fantastic job."

Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

Democratic senators and House members are investigating the pool project, including seeking answers about how much taxpayer funding is involved.

"Effective immediately, the suspension of all involved South Carolina pilots has been lifted," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote Friday morning on social media. “Carry on Patriots.”

The suspension followed "Salute from the Shore," a July 4 tradition honoring servicemembers in South Carolina since 2010 that features vintage and modern military aircraft flying along the 187-mile length of the state’s shoreline, with the intent of sparking patriotism among thousands of beachgoers gathered for the holiday.

This year’s salute included F-16s with the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing out of McEntire Joint Base, as well as a C-17 from the 437th Airlift Wing based at Joint Base Charleston. For the first time, Apache helicopters joined the air parade, which also featured civilian-owned vintage planes like T-34s and T-6s.

Numerous attendees often post video on social media of the display, but this year, online images of the Apaches flying at what appeared to be a low height over crowded beaches sparked concern with the South Carolina National Guard, which launched a review of the event and temporarily suspended the eight pilots from flying duties while that was ongoing, later clarifying the suspension was “a routine, non-punitive safety measure, not a disciplinary action.”

Late Thursday night, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth noted on social media that the Pentagon was getting involved, writing, “We’ll fix this. Carry on, Patriots.”

The message was similar to one issued by Hegseth in March, after the lifting of a suspension for a pair of Army pilots who hovered two AH-64 Apache helicopters near Kid Rock’s Tennessee home during a training run while he clapped and saluted.

“No punishment. No Investigation. Carry on, patriots,” Hegseth said then in a social media post, less than three hours after the Army announced its review. Kid Rock, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, said he thought it was “really cool” that the pilots stopped to hover at his house.

South Carolina Republicans rebuked the suspension of its Guard pilots. Rep. Russell Fry, who represents the Myrtle Beach area, said Thursday that the pilots "should be celebrated, not sanctioned.”

Ahead of Parnell's post noting the suspension had been lifted, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster — who serves as commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard — said he trusted the pilots' acumen, writing in a social media post that Guardsmen fly in wartime.

“Surely, they know how to safely navigate the coast of South Carolina — and her scores of cheering residents and tourists on our 250th anniversary," McMaster wrote.

McMaster's office said Friday the governor was pleased the suspension had been lifted. Asked whether the governor — a longtime Trump ally — had directly intervened, a spokesperson said the office “remains in regular communication with state and federal partners as part of its routine operations.”

The Pentagon declined to comment beyond Parnell's statement. Maj. Lisa Allen of the South Carolina National Guard confirmed in an email Friday that the suspension had been lifted but did not respond to a question over whether the Guard were still conducting an internal review.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

The incident happened on a morning flight from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki to Memmingen, near Munich, operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget carrier.

Ryanair said in a statement the flight “returned to Thessaloniki shortly after takeoff when a passenger window dislodged in-flight.”

The 61-year-old passenger, who was not identified by name, suffered neck and shoulder injuries and friction burns, according to a Greek hospital official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly to the media.

It was not immediately clear if the injured passenger remained in hospital later Friday.

Passengers told Greek media that they heard a loud bang, oxygen masks dropped and the plane began to lose altitude.

One passenger, identified only as Christina, told Radio Thessaloniki that some passengers panicked and screamed and that one passenger was partially sucked out of the window.

“His whole head, neck, shoulders” were pulled out of the window, she said, adding that those seated near him pulled him back in.

“Most people had fallen asleep, we had closed our eyes. We heard a sound, I’d describe it like a tire bursting … but very loud,” she said. “We knew straight away we lost pressure because we lost altitude."

She said there were "screams, shrieks, shouting.”

The airline has not said what caused the window to dislodge, but the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was notified that the flight turned back because of “a right engine issue and cabin decompression.”

Ryanair did not immediately respond to an email request seeking comment on the engine issue.

The NTSB, the U.S. federal agency that investigates aviation and other major transportation incidents, said it was standing by to assist the investigation. It said the probe will be led by the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Committee of the Republic of North Macedonia, which under international aviation rules takes the lead because the incident occurred in that country's airspace.

The agency in North Macedonia, which borders Greece to the north, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

A series of short videos recorded from inside the plane and shared by Radio Thessaloniki showed passengers wearing oxygen masks after the cabin lost pressure. Another appeared to show the blown-out window, with a man seated nearby wearing an oxygen mask. A third video, apparently filmed after the aircraft landed, showed first responders working in the aisle.

Shye Gilad, a former airline pilot who teaches at Georgetown University’s business school in the United States, said the incident underscored the importance of keeping seatbelts fastened while seated. A rapid decompression can create a brief but powerful suction effect near a breach in the cabin before the cabin's pressure stabilizes, he said.

“The seatbelt can help in those first few seconds. It’s a difference maker and people should keep their seatbelts fastened at all times,” Gilad said, adding that events such as Friday's incident are “a very rare” because “it takes a lot to breach a cabin.”

The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800, which can seat up to 189 passengers. The narrow-body plane was delivered new to Ryanair in 2008, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

Flight records show that the aircraft climbed past 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) about six minutes after departure and then immediately descended to about 6,000 feet (1,830 meters) “to burn fuel for 30 minutes” before returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after taking off, Flightradar24 said.

The plane landed normally and passengers returned to the terminal, and one passenger requested and received medical assistance on the ground in Thessaloniki, the airline said in a statement. A replacement aircraft was later provided to fly the passengers to Germany.

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Yamat, AP's airlines and travel writer, reported from Las Vegas.

Scheffler missed two key putts in the final three holes Friday in the Scottish Open, the last one from 6 feet for par that gave him a 2-over 72 to miss the 36-hole cut by two shots.

“Got off to a poor start and after that, I didn’t really it close enough to give myself a bunch of looks,” Scheffler said. “That’s how you shoot over par.”

Instead of trying to make up ground on the weekend at The Renaissance Club, Scheffler was making plans to head to Royal Birkdale earlier than he expected to prepare for the British Open.

Scheffler had made 78 consecutive cuts dating to the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. It was the longest streak on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods set the record of 142 cuts in a row from February 1998 to May 2025.

The cut fell at 2-under 138 when the potential for stronger afternoon wind didn't materialize. Scheffler finished at even-par 140 after his early start, and already was looking ahead to his title defense at the British Open at Royal Birkdale, a links course he has not played.

“A little different than I was planning,” Scheffler said. “Figure out how I get down to Birkdale and go from there.”

Scheffler's cut streak included 25 tournaments that had no 36-hole cut. Woods played in 31 such tournaments during his streak. Byron Nelson held the previous record at 113 in a row during an era where players had to finish in the money — typically the top 20 except the majors and a few other events — for it to be considered making the cut.

“It’s a little different now with some of the signature events not having cuts,” Scheffler said. “But I don't think I finished outside of the top 20 or something like that many times this year. I’m definitely proud of the consistency, and wish I had a couple days over the weekend to make up some ground.”

Scheffler was three shots out of the lead when he started Friday morning. He missed a 3 1/2-foot par putt on No. 11, his second hole. On the par-5 12th, his chip out of high grass to a back pin caught a ridge and rolled into a bunker, leading to a second straight bogey.

He holed a 30-foot birdie putt after making the turn at the par-5 first — his only birdie on a par 5 this week — and had one birdie chance inside 20 feet over the next five holes.

His last big hope was the par-5 seventh, when Scheffler said he caught a gust that caused his second shot to come up just short and roll back off the front. He pitched nicely to 7 feet and missed the birdie chance.

Then, his tee shot on the eighth found a divot in the middle of the fairway and he hit a clunker low and to the right into a pot bunker. He splashed that out to 20 feet and holed it for par to keep alive his chances.

“I felt like I needed at least a birdie coming in on my last few holes. I felt like the cut was going to be 2 or 3 under,” Scheffler said. “I know I had to make the putt on 8 and I had to make birdie, I felt, on 9. Just hit a good iron shot just a little short.”

His 7-iron hit the slope in front of the green with a front pin, his chip was weak and came up 6 feet short and he missed the putt.

Scheffler also missed the cut in the Scottish Open in 2022 a week before the Open at St. Andrews. He then missed the cut at the FedEx St. Jude Championship — the last year it had a full field with a 36-hole cut — and had not missed one since.

“For whatever reason, I just haven’t played my best golf on this course," said Scheffler, who has only two top 10s in his five appearances at The Renaissance Club.

“It could be one of those things where you just get over jet lag, get used to new style of golf, new types of grasses, and maybe I just haven’t adjusted as quick, or maybe this golf course just doesn’t suit my eye much,” he said. “I’ll reflect on that at the end of the year and assess what my plans are going into next season.”

Xander Schauffele had his streak of 72 straight cuts end at Torrey Pines in January. The longest active streak now belongs to Matt Fitzpatrick at 29 in a row.

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

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead on Thursday in her Haytor Vale home on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England after sustaining what police said were “serious injuries.”

The killing was not believed to be an act of terror and there was no information to suggest it was politically motivated, Devon and Cornwall Police Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said.

Longman did not discuss a possible motive but said the suspect was in custody as the investigation continues.

“This is really shocking news, and my thoughts, I think all of our thoughts, will be with the family and friends of Ann Widdecombe at this awful time,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. “Ann was a distinguished politician over many, many years with many achievements, and it’s a huge, huge loss.”

Widdecombe found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother reality television shows. She later joined the Brexit Party and became a spokeswoman for the anti-immigration Reform UK party.

She served in the House of Commons as an MP from 1987 to 2010 and was known for socially conservative views opposing abortion rights and expansion of LGBTQ rights.

Starmer said the security of lawmakers was “of the utmost importance” as he urged people to rise above political differences.

Security has been tightened for politicians after the murders of two serving members of Parliament in the past decade. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform, said he was deeply upset over Widdecombe's death and noted that “things have become even more dangerous” for people in public life.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Widdecombe a “heroic Brexiteer and a great speaker who could move Tory audiences to such ecstasy that she was a very hard act to follow."

The management company that represented her after she left politics said her life and career were driven by strong Christian values and a commitment to public service.

“She loved the cut and thrust of political debate and, 16 years after leaving Parliament, was still actively campaigning for Reform UK and offering forthright views on the hot topics of the day,” Cloud9 Management said.

“As Ann once said...‘we get one go this side of eternity, one go. Life is not a dress rehearsal, you take opportunities that you like and you go for it, that’s my philosophy’.”

The administration narrowed the definition of “harm” under the landmark law — a change with broad implications.

For decades, the government defined harm broadly to include encroachments on places with threatened and endangered animals. The change announced Friday would allow oil and gas drilling, mining, logging and and other development on critical wildlife habitats so long as the animals themselves aren’t killed or injured.

Environmentalists warned the move could cause some species to go extinct by opening the door to habitat destruction. Industry representatives and their Republican allies have long argued the landmark 1973 environmental law is wielded too broadly, to the detriment of economic growth.

Administration officials said they were returning the law to its original intent, following a 2024 Supreme Court decision that limited the authority of federal agencies to interpret environmental statutes passed by Congress. They described the government's prior definition of harm as an intrusion on private property rights.

It’s among a suite of changes to wildlife protections that officials have pursued under President Donald Trump.

“For years, federal agencies abused the ESA to obstruct lawful land use and burden American families and businesses,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.

The change was first proposed in April 2025 and environmentalists fought unsuccessfully to block it. Habitat destruction is the biggest cause of extinction, according to wildlife advocates.

“This is one of the most horrific attempts to harm wildlife in American history and a gift to the oil barons and foreign mining companies,” said Aaron Weiss, the executive director of the Center for Western Priorities.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back iconic animals — including the bald eagle, American alligator and California condor — from the brink of extinction.

Republicans rolled back several provisions of the law in Trump’s first term, only to have those moves reversed under Democratic President Joe Biden.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Apple said in the lawsuit filed in a California federal court that OpenAI encouraged Apple employees it was recruiting to share confidential information, even guiding how to avoid scrutiny when taking jobs at the other company.

“This case is about Apple’s former employees stealing Apple’s trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI,” the filing says. “Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it.”

Two former Apple employees who now work for OpenAI are also named as defendants. One is Tang Tan, who helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod and is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. The other is Chang Liu, a former electrical engineer Apple says it entrusted with some of its most sensitive product development efforts before Liu left Apple to join OpenAI earlier this year.

OpenAI said it is still reviewing the filing, but spokesperson Drew Pusateri said in a statement Friday that OpenAI has “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”

The suit accuses OpenAI of seeking shortcuts on hardware

OpenAI has never said exactly what type of device it is building, but has described it as an effort to find a new way to interact with AI that goes beyond “traditional products and interfaces.” It’s part of a broader push to create a physical embodiment of the latest AI advances, a decade after Amazon and Google introduced screen-free talking speakers into homes.

The lawsuit claims the effort was built partly on knowledge stolen from Apple.

“OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” the lawsuit says.

Apple said it began investigating whether some of its confidential information was compromised and “uncovered a pattern of theft” of Apple’s trade secrets by former employees who moved on to positions at OpenAI.

The lawsuit alleges both Liu and Tan accessed Apple’s confidential company information and files while working at OpenAI. Among the allegations, Apple claims Liu accessed and downloaded several confidential hardware-related files on an Apple-issued device he kept after departing. It also alleges Tan directed job candidates who were still working for Apple to bring “Actual parts” from Apple to their interviews at OpenAI.

Apple said in the lawsuit that it reached out to OpenAI in February to raise its concerns early in its investigation, but said that OpenAI did not respond.

An Apple spokesperson said in a statement Friday that the company will “always defend our teams’ hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so.”

A partnership with Apple has edged toward rivalry

Apple sought help from OpenAI several years ago as it was behind in the AI race sparked by ChatGPT’s arrival. The two companies partnered in 2024 to use ChatGPT as an AI-powered “answer engine” on the iPhone when the built-in Siri technology couldn’t satisfy user needs. More recently, the partnership has veered toward rivalry.

As part of its expansion efforts, OpenAI recruited former Apple designer Jony Ive to oversee a project to build an AI-powered device that many analysts believe could eventually challenge Apple’s products.

Last year, OpenAI announced it was working on a secret hardware collaboration with Ive to pioneer a new way of communicating with artificial intelligence. As part of the collaboration, OpenAI acquired io Products, a product and engineering company co-founded by Ive, Tan and two others, in a deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion.

That led a little-known tech startup iyO Inc. to sue Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for trademark infringement due to the similar-sounding name and the firms’ past interactions. The startup also sued one of its own former employees for allegedly leaking a confidential drawing of iyO’s unreleased product, and it later added trade secret theft claims against Tan to the lawsuit.

Apple’s lawsuit also names io Products as a defendant. Lawyers who previously represented the firm and Tan referred The Associated Press to OpenAI for comment.

Apple’s lawsuit comes as OpenAI has been exploring whether to go public on Wall Street and faces heightened competition from rivals including Anthropic and Google.

OpenAI winnowed down some of its business ventures earlier this year to focus on its core product, ChatGPT, but has continued to pursue a device, the company’s chief financial officer told The Associated Press this spring.

“We have consumer hardware that will come towards the end of this year,” CFO Sarah Friar told the AP in April.

The site TickPick listed the lowest price for the Spain-Belgium game on Friday at Inglewood, California, at $1,381, down from $3,261 before the U.S. lost to Belgium in the round of 16.

The lowest price for the England-Norway match at Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday was $2,049, down from $3,866 before England defeated Mexico to reach the quarterfinals. It listed the lowest price for the Argentina-Switzerland game at Kansas City, Missouri, at $1,142, down from $2,381 before the round of 16.

Standing outside SoFi Stadium on Friday, Jake van Baarsel said he bought tickets two days earlier. The 65-year-old from Riverside, California, said he hadn’t previously planned on attending because he knew ticket prices were so high. But when his son called to tell him he obtained seats at a lower price, he decided to pay for two at $1,000 each to share the moment with his 13-year-old grandson.

“It’s one of those things — it’s a memory maker for my grandson and me,” he said. “So how much money do you put on a memory?

“So yeah, it’s steep for a game, but we enjoy.”

Others who bought tickets well ahead of Friday’s quarterfinal match paid far more.

Lisandro Pineda, 70, of East Los Angeles, said he paid about $2,200 a month ago.

“The price was too high, I think, but it’s a resale, remember,” he said. “I didn’t want to be left out. I’ve never been to a World Cup. I didn’t go to the one we had before. So I figured, I have the money, I have the time, what the heck, buy the ticket, so here we are.”

Kourosh Modarress, 68, of Los Angeles, said his family bought hospitality tickets at $7,000 each after they failed to obtain other tickets in one of FIFA's sales rounds.

“I think it’s highway robbery,” he said.

FIFA had nearly 1,200 category two tickets priced at $7,380 on sale Friday for the World Cup final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The governing body's last-minute tickets sales site, which at times had listed the game as sold out, had 1,178 seats available across five sections of the top deck along the sidelines: 282 in section 344, 299 in section 343, 139 in section 335, 443 in section 334 and 15 in section 333.

FIFA also was selling 68 front category one tickets in the lower deck at prices ranging from $19,995 to $32,970 and had remaining hospitality tickets in its Trophy Lounge and Trophy Lounge+ sections priced at $34,500 and $32,500, including food and drinks.

Soccer's governing body did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the additional tickets had become available.

Resale tickets for the final were available on FIFA's marketplace at prices from $7,440.50 to $11,499,998.85.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The drop, which the agency expects to amount to about 1 million barrels per day in 2026, is due to higher oil prices and disruptions to physical supply that weighed heavily, but unevenly, on various parts of the world, the report said.

The supply disruptions were caused by the war between the U.S. and Iran, which left ships loaded with crude oil stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months, unable to safely travel through the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for oil and gas shipments.

“The future of Hormuz is probably more uncertain today than it was at the beginning of the war," said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of crude oil research at S&P Global Energy.

Burkhard said Iran is still trying to control the strait, while the U.S. has not been able to fully restore normal operations, making a return to prewar conditions unlikely.

Global oil demand averaged just 97.9 million barrels per day in May, down 5.3 million barrels per day from a year earlier. Much of the decline was in Asia, which relies heavily on oil from the Middle East.

China’s decrease of 1.5 million barrels per day, representing a 9% decline, was by far the largest globally, the report said.

But the main exception to the global slump in oil usage was in the U.S., where gasoline use increased in the second quarter of 2026, despite the fact that pump prices were about 50% above their prewar levels in May, the report said.

How China's actions are keeping oil prices from spiking higher

China decided to massively cut down on purchasing oil from the global market as the price rose during the spring, reducing its consumption by almost 6 million barrels per day, Burkhard said.

“What China said is, ‘You know what, prices are high, there’s a crisis. We have this huge inventory stock, we can sustain demand. We’re just going to cut by 50% the amount of crude oil we buy,’” Burkhard said.

One way China cut back its consumption was to temporarily stop filling up its strategic petroleum reserve, which it had been adding to at a rate of nearly 1 million barrels per day, said Daniel Sternoff, senior fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

The crisis also accelerated China's saving of road transportation fuels as its use of electric vehicles grew, he said. “What we’re tracking so far, at least since the crisis began, is China is probably on track to see somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 barrels per day worth of demand losses for gasoline and diesel. So that’s pretty significant,” Sternoff said.

Why oil prices aren’t higher after renewed tension between the U.S. and Iran

A fragile ceasefire enabled some ships to exit through the Strait of Hormuz in June, which allowed more oil on the market. That led to lower oil prices.

But even after tensions escalated between the U.S. and Iran earlier this month, prices didn't spike.

“This gray zone conflict that the U.S. and Iran are in, it’s not really a shock to the oil market,” Burkhard said. “It can push prices up and down a few dollars like it did the other day, but it’s not the same shock that it was in early March when Iran did what many thought was unthinkable.”

Another reason oil prices didn't spike very high after recent military strikes is that there were fewer buyers available to scoop up the supply that had become available, experts said.

On top of China dramatically reducing consumption, several refineries in Russia were unable to process crude after being damaged in drone hits from Ukraine, and refineries in the Middle East remained damaged from the war, Burkhard said. As a result, prices for gasoline, diesel and other refined products have stayed inflated longer than oil prices, he said.

“There’s this gush of supply of crude oil being made available to the market, and there’s simply less demand for that crude oil,” Burkhard said.

In the US, high gas prices didn't keep drivers home

Gasoline prices surpassed $4.50 on average for a gallon of regular in the U.S. in May, rising more than 50% since the start of the war, according to AAA data. But that didn't stop drivers from hitting the road; in fact, gasoline consumption rose in the U.S. during the second quarter of the year.

One reason may be because the percentage of household income spent on gasoline in the U.S. has been declining for years, Sternoff said. Plus, many people have been transitioning from remote work to in-office jobs, he added.

“Even though it’s a really political price that people pay a lot of attention to, if you are in the higher quintiles of income in the U.S., you might grumble about it, but you’re not really driving less just because of that increase in prices,” Sternoff said.

Harry, Meghan and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, met with the king and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House, a country estate west of London, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

The Duke of Sussex had arrived Monday in his homeland for a number of charity events that were overshadowed by speculation of whether he would meet with his father.

British tabloids and news broadcasts were filled with speculation about whether Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, would accompany him and, more importantly, whether they would bring their two children so they can finally get to know Grandpa Charles.

However, the monarch’s schedule is often years in the making, with events penciled in long before they take place. An opportunity to hold such a meeting would have been fleeting, particularly because the children would need to return to school in the fall and because they live in California.

The wish to seize the moment fueled tensions between Harry and royal officials earlier this week. That was highlighted by embarrassing scenes when royal officials first invited Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace, then rescinded the offer after the prince didn’t accept it in a timely manner.

Harry’s visit also coincided with him losing his final lawsuit in his quest to tame the British tabloids. A judge ruled that he failed to prove his privacy invasion claims against the publisher of the Daily Mail.

His legal battles have been a source of friction with his family, however. Harry has said he wants to reconcile with his 77-year-old father, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.

Harry and Charles met briefly for a cup of tea in September during a short visit in London, the first time they’d seen each other in well over a year.

But the prince has also wanted his children to see the monarch, whom they first met during celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

The royal children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, are now old enough to remember meeting their grandfather, and will certainly hope for pictures with the king, though the event was deemed private and no images will be publicly released.

Tensions within the House of Windsor have heightened ever since Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California to pursue lucrative media deals, free from the pressures of royal life in London.

They reached a new low after Harry published an explosive memoir that included unflattering depictions of the royal family and damning allegations of a toxic relationship between the monarchy and the press.

Harry’s description of royals leaking information about other family members in exchange for positive coverage of themselves is just one of the tawdry allegations in his book, “Spare.” The prince was especially scathing about Camilla, accusing her of feeding private conversations to the media as she sought to rehabilitate her image after her longtime affair with Charles when he was heir to the throne.

After losing a court battle over his security issue last year, Harry said he hoped to rebuild relations with his family, even as he suggested that the royals had sought to prevent him from receiving police protection to punish him for walking away from royal duties.

“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

The visit Friday is a step toward mending those fences.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the financial figures were not disclosed by either side. The Spurs, who went to the NBA Finals this past season behind the All-NBA center and unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, announced that Wembanyama had signed, simply saying the sides agreed on “a multi-year contract extension.”

"Spurs family, I’m here to stay," Wembanyama wrote on social media Friday. “Whatever it takes."

The agreement comes at a discount; Wembanyama could have agreed to a deal that would have topped $300 million over five years — but chose a lesser amount to help give the Spurs flexibility going forward with their young core and in anticipation of the contracts some of those budding stars will be eligible for in coming years, the person said.

And that was the only detail really for the sides to hammer out. The 22-year-old Wembanyama is already considered one of the game's most dominant players, and it was a no-brainer that the Spurs would offer an extension. The only question was whether Wembanyama would accept a deal that starts with him making 25% of the salary cap figure, or if he'd hold out to see if he could initially make 30% of the cap.

ESPN first reported the agreement.

Wembanyama will make about $16.8 million this coming season, the last under the terms of his rookie contract. The newly signed deal kicks in for 2027-28 and will start with a salary of around $43.5 million, then keep rising from there. The 7-foot-4 center from France would have a $57.5 million option for 2031-32.

Wembanyama was the Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals this past season, finished third behind Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver's Nikola Jokic in the overall MVP voting for the season, and has led the league in blocks per game in all three of his NBA seasons so far.

He averaged 25 points and 11.5 rebounds this past season, leading San Antonio to a 62-20 record, the No. 2 seed in the West and a berth in the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. The Spurs lost that series in five games.

“It’s painful. It’s painful,” Wembanyama said a few minutes after the finals ended. “But I’m not running away from that. I’m using it to fuel me. ... I’m not satisfied with not winning. But as I said, this is the biggest lesson of my life. As a team, there’s no better experience than what we just lived.”

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

Lawyers representing Meta filed a notice of appeal Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawyers will provide their arguments related to the appeal in subsequent court filings.

The case centered on a 20-year-old woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child and that it worsened her mental health struggles. The jury found that negligence by both Meta and Google-owned YouTube, which was also a defendant in the case, was a substantial factor in causing harm to the young woman, identified in court only by her initials, KGM, and her first name, Kaley.

The jury awarded her $3 million in damages and recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages. Her lead attorney, Mark Lanier, said in a statement Friday that the legal team is expecting the appellate court to “continue the careful application of the law to this case, affirming the verdict of the trial court.”

A notice of appeal starts what can be a lengthy process. A Meta spokesperson provided a statement Friday that they also gave when the jury returned the verdict in March, saying that teen mental health is “profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.”

José Castañeda, a spokesperson for Google, said in a statement Friday that YouTube plans to appeal and that “these are standard motions for this case to move forward.”

Meta and Google had each filed post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict — a routinely filed motion by defense lawyers asking a judge to toss out the jury’s verdict — and for a new trial. The trial judge, Carolyn B. Kuhl, denied those motions in early June.

Tech companies like Meta and YouTube are shielded from legal responsibility for content posted by third parties, based on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. To get around those protections, the plaintiffs focused on the design features of the platforms like “infinite scroll,” or the endless nature of feeds on the platforms, and autoplay functions.

Questions about encroaching into content-related territory were the subject of many objections from the defendants throughout the five-week trial.

The verdict in this case came during a time of legal woes for Meta. A jury in New Mexico returned a verdict finding that Meta's platforms harm children’s mental health and safety just one day before the California jury reached its decision. The New Mexico jury, siding with state prosecutors who brought the case, landed on a penalty of $375 million. Meta has said the company disagrees with the verdict and will also appeal in that case.

“We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement at the time of the verdicts and again on Friday.

Kaley's case was a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, and the verdict could influence the outcome of thousands of similar lawsuits accusing social media companies of deliberately causing harm. TikTok and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. were also initially named as defendants in the case, but each settled for undisclosed sums before the trial began.

Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who was retained by the family of Nolan Xavier Wells earlier this week, has said the family has concerns about the investigation and planned to conduct an independent autopsy. Wells travelled by boat to Horn Island, Mississippi, on July 4 with a group of friends, but did not make the return trip with them that afternoon. His body was found early Monday morning, more than a day later.

While Jackson County Sheriff’s Office officials said investigators don't suspect foul play in the Black college student's death, the sheriff has asked for any witnesses or people with video from the popular beach island about 7 miles (11.27 kilometers) off the coast of Mississippi to come forward to help shed light on the moments before Wells' disappearance and death.

Wells' death has galvanized the Black community. Actor and producer Tyler Perry is helping pay for Wells’ funeral, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is helping pay for his independent autopsy and filmmaker Spike Lee showed up to the news conference to show support for Wells’ family.

Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, attended Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he played wide receiver on the football team. His family members have raised concerns, saying they’ve seen video of a fight allegedly involving their son, and saying that as an elite athlete he was able to swim.

Wells was left without his phone or keys, lawyers say

Attorneys said Friday that the friends who left Wells on the island took his phone and keys when they departed. Crump said Wells' family used an app to track his phone, and a friend went to where it was on land to pick it up.

“What teenager would leave their phone behind if they’re going to stay on this island? What teenager wouldn’t take their phone? It’s not adding up at all," Crump said.

He added that the family believes text messages from social media apps had been deleted from his phone when they got it back, and they plan to employ experts to try to retrieve all the data they can.

A photo posted to social media, allegedly from the boat ride to the island, shows Wells with his arms around three white, male friends. Speculation and suspicion about the teen’s death have been rampant online, as people grapple with the state’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority white space.

Wells' mother, Christine Wonsley, looked to the sky several times as lawyers spoke Friday, to hold back tears. When she spoke, she said this was not how she wanted the world to know her son.

Wonsley said they had taught him about history, but he was a peacemaker who didn't like division, and wanted everyone to be included.

“We just wanna know what happened,” she said, through tears. “And why our baby didn't come home.”

Family demands thorough investigation into Wells' death

Crump called for a thorough investigation, saying to law enforcement, "They want to know that you have not taken the path of least resistance.”

“If the roles were reversed and you had three young Black men on a boat with a young white man and that young white man ended up dead, what kind of investigation would be conducted by the Mississippi law enforcement officials? How many times would those three young Black men be interrogated?” he added.

It's the second case that Crump has taken on in the state in recent months. He also was recently retained by the family of a Mississippi 1-year-old who was killed when police fired into a moving car.

Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said earlier this week that Wells' mother had called to report him missing around midnight into the morning of July 5. Crews from multiple local and state agencies began an extensive search Sunday of the island and surrounding waters. His body was recovered early Monday, family members confirmed.

An official autopsy was conducted Tuesday, though officials have said it could be weeks before results are released. Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating with the investigation.

“From the people we’ve talked to, it sounds like he chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else,” Ledbetter told The Associated Press earlier this week.

Crump and Wells' family said some of those details didn't seem to add up either, saying from the videos they had seen Wells was one of, if not the only, Black person on the island where there were around 200 people celebrating the holiday. They said the girl the friends said Wells was speaking to gave a different story about him leaving with those friends. They raised questions about why no one would have given him a ride home if he chose to stay.

“If he’s drowning, nobody sees him drown? Nobody offers assistance? Nobody tries to help? I mean, obviously he stands out. I think he’s the only Black person I saw when I’m looking at the videos,” Crump said.

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AP reporter Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.

The Spain goalkeeper had kept a clean sheet for a record 650 minutes — the tournament's longest scoreless streak — before Belgium ended it in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Charles De Ketelaere got in front of Pau Cubarsi to head in Timothy Castagne's cross in the 41st minute, making the score 1-1. Spain won 2-1 to advance to the semifinals next Tuesday against France.

Belgium became the first team to score against La Roja at this year's World Cup, snapping their tournament record of six consecutive clean sheets.

Spain’s streak began with a 0-0 draw in the round of 16 at the last tournament in 2022, when Morocco advanced after a penalty shootout. There was also a surprising scoreless draw against Cape Verde to open group play this year, followed by four consecutive shutout victories to advance to the quarterfinals.

Simón broke the previous record of 517 consecutive scoreless minutes during a 3-0 win over Austria to open the knockout round. Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga set the previous mark in 1990 with five consecutive clean sheets at his home World Cup.

The 29-year-old Simón’s shutout streak started in 2022 in Qatar when he entered a 2-1 loss to Japan in group play.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

A mere four days after Merino scored a clutch goal as a substitute in injury time to beat Portugal, he found himself in the right spot again in the quarterfinals when Belgium's backup goalkeeper spilled the ball into his path.

Merino booted it home in the 88th minute, sending Spain to a 2-1 victory Friday and into a titanic semifinal showdown with tournament favorite France.

“I’ve done this again, and it’s happened to me again, so it would seem that coincidence exists,” a smiling Merino said. “If you’re ready and you try, I guess it can happen for you.”

Already a versatile contributor in any role he can get as a depth player for his country or English club Arsenal, the multi-positional Merino has transformed into the ultimate super-sub while providing exactly what Spain needed to survive two knockout matches against top opponents.

Merino has scored two goals in his first World Cup — and they're both historic.

“Honestly, it’s crazy to be able to help the team once again,” he said. “This time in a different way, but at the same time to believe and trust that the opposing goalkeeper could make a mistake and to stay alert. ... I prepare for when the moment comes, and hopefully they keep coming.”

Merino is the first to admit he also needed luck, and Belgium keeper Senne Lammens provided it after he was forced into his first World Cup match in the 71st minute by an injury to starter Thibaut Courtois.

Merino came on in the 86th minute and scored on his second touch of the match, charging into the box and pouncing after Lammens lost control of Pau Cubarsí’s long shot.

Fabián Ruiz scored a rebound goal in the 30th minute for Spain, but Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere evened it with the first goal allowed by the Spanish team in the entire World Cup in the 41st minute.

Merino's clutch goal against an upset-minded Belgium sent La Roja to the semifinals for the first time since they won the World Cup in 2010. A powerhouse matchup with France has been anticipated since the draw was announced late last year, and Spain was grateful to secure its spot.

“We came here for this, to play against the best teams in the world,” Merino said. “We are confident in our possibilities, at the same time respecting the opposition. This is one of those games that you dream of when you’re a kid, and now we have the chance to compete against a massive rival. Hopefully we’ll get the win.”

Spain and France will meet Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, in a matchup anticipated for years. Neither team has lost at this year's World Cup.

“It will be a clash of giants,” Spain coach Luis De La Fuente said through a translator. “We are capable of winning this game — and not just now, but I would have said this a few weeks ago as well. They are a great giant of football, but I trust our team.”

Courtois made four saves, but the Real Madrid keeper went down to the grass in the second half after a long kick. He received treatment during the hydration break, but broke down in tears when coach Rudi Garcia removed him moments later.

Only Germany's Manuel Neuer has played more World Cup matches than Courtois' 21. Lammens, the capable Manchester United keeper, was forced to become the first goalkeeper other than Courtois to play for Belgium in the last four World Cup tournaments — and he wasn't able to make the play that would have kept it level.

“We were on equal footing with Spain, and we have nothing to feel bad about,” Garcia said. “In the first half, they only had one chance, but they were very efficient. Unfortunately, to beat a team of this caliber, you need luck on your side as well, and it was too much for us to get into the semifinals.”

Belgium desperately pressed for an equalizer in the final minutes with substitute forward Romelu Lukaku leading the effort, but Aymeric Laporte acrobatically volleyed the best chance out of the box in the second minute of injury time.

“We knew how we could hurt them, and I think we did this today," Belgium defender Brandon Mechele said. "It’s a pity that it ended like this, but I think we can be proud of the tournament we played.”

Spain remained unbeaten in 37 straight competitive matches since March 2023, while Belgium's streak of 18 consecutive unbeaten matches across all competitions ended.

Spain didn’t allow a goal in its first five matches at this year's tournament, and goalkeeper Unai Simón hadn’t conceded in a World Cup-record 650 minutes dating to Qatar.

The streaks abruptly ended when De Ketelaere muscled past Cubarsí and headed home a cross from Timothy Castagne for Belgium’s tying goal.

Belgium hadn’t generated anything close to a strong scoring chance before the latest big moment for De Ketelaere, the Atalanta forward who scored two goals in Belgium’s 4-1 rout of the co-host U.S. on Monday.

Belgium captain Youri Tielemans was removed from the starting lineup after getting injured during warmups. He joined injured defender Amadou Onana on the sidelines.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

FIFA, accused of charging high prices for this year's tournament in the United States, is selling the grass that will be used for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at $450 per piece.

FIFA's store says each segment of turf is 17.5 by 17.5 by 17.5, although it doesn't specify whether that figure is inches, centimeters or millimeters. Soccer's governing body did not immediately respond to an email requesting detail of the dimensions.

“Own a genuine piece of football history with an authentic 2026 FIFA World Cup Piece of the pitch, permanently preserved in a premium acrylic with a USB keepsake,” the website says. “Each piece contains an original fragment of the iconic Final playing surface, making it a unique collectible that celebrates one of the world’s greatest sporting events.”

FIFA said “the acrylic USB features an authenticity film, while offering a sleek, contemporary display piece. Presented in a premium hinged shoulder box with striking spot UV detailing, this exclusive item is designed for collectors, fans, and football enthusiasts alike.”

FIFA is making the turf available to send only to addresses in the United States and Europe.

“Orders will not be shipped until after the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final,” the governing body said.

Players and coaches have criticized the quality of the field at MetLife, which usually uses an artificial surface for NFL games of the New York Giants and Jets.

FIFA is selling regular tickets for the final at up to $32,970 for the final and is asking $34,500 and $32,500 for hospitality tickets that include food and drinks.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Judge Tony Graf said he will decide if the case against Tyler Robinson should advance to trial after hearing again from the two sides on Sept. 1.

Kirk, a 31-year-old confidant of President Donald Trump, was killed as he spoke to a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10. Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and could face the death penalty.

Friday's proceedings capped a week of preliminary testimony and brought an emotional moment for Kirk's family: The court played surveillance video that prosecutors said showed Robinson on the rooftop where he allegedly fired a single bullet that hit Kirk in the neck.

Kirk's widow, Erika, clutched a tissue and watched intently as a person said to be Robinson ran across the roof. When the figure dropped to a crawl near the roof's edge, she turned and embraced Kirk's mother, Kathryn, who was crying. They held each other and kept their heads down until the video was almost over.

Defense questions reliability of evidence

Prosecutors this week presented a recorded interview with Robinson's former roommate, who said the 23-year-old defendant expressed remorse for the shooting before turning himself in. Lawyers from the Utah County Attorney's Office also offered DNA analysis that investigators said linked Robinson to both the suspected murder weapon and a tool he allegedly used to etch messages onto bullet cartridges.

Robinson's team did not offer alternative theories for Kirk's death. But one of his attorneys, Michael Burt, repeatedly questioned the reliability of DNA tests and other evidence from prosecutors.

“If you had a lot of DNA on your hand, we shook hands and I went to pick up an exhibit, a gun, and I touched the trigger of it, your DNA could be on that trigger, right?” Burt asked Caitlin Oliver, a forensic biologist with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal law enforcement agency.

“It is possible. Yes,” Oliver replied.

The defense attorney noted that government policies don’t allow analysts to say that DNA evidence is “infallible” or that it has a “zero error rate.”

Experts say the science behind DNA testing is sound.

Chief Deputy Utah County Attorney Chad Grunander questioned the relevance of bringing in Oliver as a witness. He suggested prosecutors met the burden of proof needed to advance the case to trial.

“Your honor's heard four days of testimony now. The evidence is overwhelming. It’s devastating," Grunander said.

Robinson did not testify at the hearing. One of his attorneys told the judge they had advised him not to. He has not entered a plea.

Kirk family thanks supporters

Kirk’s family released a statement Friday expressing gratitude for the support and prayers they've received.

"We pray that truth will continue to be heard through a process that is fair, transparent, and grounded in the facts,” the statement said.

The video that prosecutors said showed Robinson running across a roof at Utah Valley University was played for the court gallery at the request of Kirk's family. Portions of the recording were zoomed in to better show the figure on the roof, and red circles were added to some images to direct the viewer's attention.

An unaltered version of that video was shown earlier.

Prosecutors on Thursday aired portions of an April 20 interview with Robinson's roommate, Lance Twiggs, who also was his reported romantic partner. The day after Kirk was shot in the neck, Robinson allegedly cried and told Twiggs “he wishes he hadn’t done it,” a recording played in court revealed.

Later that same day — and only about an hour before turning himself in — Robinson posted “it was me at UVU yesterday,” in a chat room on the Discord instant messaging platform, according to investigators and messages shown by prosecutors.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully fought the public release of Twiggs' statements and the chat room messages. They argued prosecutors would characterize the material as a confession, undermining Robinson’s right to a fair trial.

Roommate: Robinson never talked about Kirk

Prosecutors contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. Robinson also faces possible sentence enhancements based on claims by prosecutors that he targeted Kirk because of his political views.

Twiggs said in the April interview with prosecutors and investigators that Robinson sometimes talked about politics, including Trump. But Twiggs said he never heard Robinson talk about Kirk before the shooting. The defendant also did not talk much about gender issues or LGBTQ rights, Twiggs said.

The weeklong preliminary hearing attracted intense media coverage and spectators who lined up — sometimes overnight — for one of 14 seats in the courtroom reserved for the public.

Preliminary hearings typically don’t last so long. Legal experts said the slow pace reflects a cautious approach by Graf and the large volume of evidence.

Conjecture over that evidence has fueled unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that there might have been a second shooter or that Kirk's death was staged.

“I think that the prosecution wanted to dispel those theories by putting out into the public record the overwhelming case that it possesses against Robinson,” said Paul Cassell, a law professor at the University of Utah and former federal judge.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on social media Friday that he views the interim ceasefire deal as “OVER!” But he said the U.S. would continue talks aimed at putting a permanent end to the war.

The officials said Friday that Trump is giving U.S. negotiators limited time to reach a deal with Iran, but, in a sign of the challenges ahead, they underscored that the president had a wide range of options if talks fall apart. They also said a power struggle was playing out in real time in Iran after U.S. and Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed its longtime leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran says it wants to control Strait of Hormuz ‘exclusively’

The U.S. is working on pressing Iran to make a public statement that the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for world energy markets, is open and free to ships to transit, the officials said.

On a call with reporters, the officials suggested that leaders in Iran even told their U.S. counterparts that the ship strikes were a mistake and the country hoped to continue negotiations despite that.

Trump didn't care that the firing on ships came from a hard-line faction and responded with more powerful counterattacks, showing Iran that there would be consequences no matter who was behind it, the officials said.

But moments before the U.S. officials spoke, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations told reporters that any activity in the Strait of Hormuz, including its opening or demining operations, “rests exclusively with Iran.”

“Any attempt, by external actors, to interfere with or establish a power arrangement would violate the (interim deal), and undermine its implementation, delay the restoration of normal commercial navigation, jeopardize maritime safety, and increase regional tensions,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said outside the U.N. Security Council.

Iran has said the strait must now be under its sole control and that vessels should begin to pay fees to Tehran — even though the world for decades has considered it an international waterway. About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began.

Iran's grip on the strait during the conflict led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Any nuclear deal will require Iran to turn over enriched material

The U.S. officials said to reporters Friday that any deal on Iran's nuclear program would require Tehran to turn over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. If the U.S. does not reach a deal with Iran to turn over its nuclear material, it has military options to ensure that it remains buried underground forever, the officials said. They did not detail those options.

The highly enriched material that could potentially be used to make a nuclear weapon is believed to be buried after strikes the U.S. launched on Iran last summer. Iran says its nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.

The officials said they would never reach a nuclear deal with Iran if it would not first abide by terms of the ceasefire deal and stop renewed attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

That struggle underscores the long-term challenges the Trump administration faces in the wake of the war it started and expected to wrap up months ago. Trump in late February broke off talks with Iran over its nuclear program and launched the military campaign, saying he was taking the action because Tehran was attempting to rebuild its program and develop long-range missiles.

He faces political pressure in the U.S. to bring the conflict and its economic impact to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged Middle East conflict he had campaigned against.

Unclaimed strikes came after US ended its attacks

No one claimed responsibility Friday for airstrikes that hit Iran after the U.S. said it finished its attacks, leaving questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

On Friday, Iranian state media quoted Esmail Kousari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee and a former commander in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as warning the UAE would “pay the price for its cooperation with the United States.” He accused the Emirates of having a “behind-the-scenes” role in the recent U.S. attacks.

U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said there were “no operational updates” after Trump’s pronouncement about the ceasefire.

Gulf Arab states, which Iran has targeted repeatedly since the war began Feb. 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday about the strikes. Israel, which took part in the Iran war, also has not claimed any recent attacks on Iran.

The strikes Thursday, just as Iran prepared to bury the late Khamenei, hit areas across southern Iran. The country’s theocracy hasn’t directly blamed anyone, though one lawmaker warned the United Arab Emirates about allegedly providing support to the U.S. campaign against Iran.

Iran responded to the strikes Thursday by launching a wider volley of attacks across the Mideast, targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. One person was reportedly hurt in Kuwait as air defense systems targeted the incoming fire across the region.

Mediators and allies regroup after strikes

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi plans to discuss the strait with his Omani counterpart at a meeting Saturday in Oman, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his country’s state broadcaster TRT that he believed “a solution can be reached” this weekend between Iran and Oman, which lie on opposite sides of the narrow waterway.

The U.S. continues to urge mariners to travel on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters to avoid Iran.

The leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, traveled to Kuwait immediately after the Iranian attack for a meeting with the small, oil-rich nation's ruling emir. Gulf Arab countries also held calls with Qatar's foreign minister. He has been deeply involved, along with Pakistan, in mediating Iran-U.S. talks.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he spoke separately Friday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and with Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and stressed to both the need for restraint and diplomacy.

Israel's government said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Trump on Thursday night, with Trump updating Netanyahu “on American moves in the Gulf.”

Israel Katz, Israel's defense minister, also renewed threats that his nation stood ready to confront Iran if needed.

"If we will have to return, we will return with even greater force,” Katz told a military ceremony.

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Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report. Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office arrested Saderria Johnson on multiple warrants tied to what police describe as a long-running rental scam targeting people searching for affordable housing on Facebook Marketplace.

The arrest comes months after the News4JAX I-TEAM investigated similar scams that left local families without a home and out thousands of dollars.

According to police, Johnson advertised legitimate homes for rent online at prices well below market value. The homes were real, but investigators say she did not own or manage the properties. Instead, she allegedly copied photos and listing information from legitimate rental advertisements and presented herself as the landlord.

In several cases, victims paid deposits and rent directly to Johnson. Police say some families were even able to move into the homes before discovering they had been scammed.

JWB Real Estate Leasing Manager AJ Fuller said the unusually low rental prices are often the first warning sign.

“If we’re trying to rent the home for, let’s say, $1,500 a month, you might see it listed for $700 or $800, just ridiculously low,” Fuller said.

Police reports identify four JWB-owned homes that Johnson allegedly rented fraudulently.

Fuller said Johnson gained access to at least some properties by scheduling legitimate self-guided tours through JWB’s digital lockbox system while posing as a prospective tenant.

“If everything checks out, it looks like you are the person that’s doing it, we will give you access to the home,” Fuller explained. “In this particular instance, the young lady that was arrested this week was using her own information up front, acting like the prospect.”

Once inside, investigators say Johnson showed the homes to victims, accepted payments and falsely claimed she could lease the properties.

One victim paid Johnson more than $1,000 before moving into one of the homes with a partner and child. The family later learned they had been defrauded.

“It’s terrible because a lot of these folks usually... it’s a large amount of money,” Fuller said. “It’s very expensive to move into a home anywhere. It just puts everybody in a really hard spot.”

Rental scams have become increasingly common as rising housing costs push more people to search for affordable options online. Scammers frequently target platforms such as Facebook Marketplace by advertising homes at prices significantly below market value to attract renters quickly.

JWB will sometimes advertise properties on Facebook but never through a personal profile.

Fuller encourages prospective renters to verify every step of the rental process before sending money.

“I would just say validate and keep validating,” he said. “Even if you think you’re validating too much, just keep validating to protect your money.”

How to spot a rental scam

Rental experts recommend watching for these common warning signs:

• The rent is significantly lower than comparable homes in the area.
• The person advertising the home pressures you to act quickly or pay immediately.
• The “landlord” requests payment through gift cards, Zelle, wire transfers or other difficult-to-trace payment methods.
• The listing photos appear on multiple websites with different contact information.
• The person collecting payment cannot verify ownership or management of the property.

Anyone who believes they have been targeted by a rental scam should report it to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the platform where the listing appeared.

Multiple residents told News4JAX they have filed police reports and called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They also shared doorbell-camera videos they say show the same man entering screened porches and taking property.

In Ring camera video, a man walks onto a screened porch and takes a bicycle while using a red shirt to cover his face, residents said.

One neighbor on College Street said their first encounter happened when the man was seen peering over a fence and looking toward windows.

“I saw him looking over my fence into my yard and trying to look into my windows,” the neighbor said.

The neighbor said they installed security cameras after that. Two days later, a neighbor across the street reported a bicycle stolen from their yard, the resident said.

Other videos provided by residents appear to show the man stealing lawn lights and lingering around properties late at night, neighbors said.

Because no arrest has been made, News4Jax is not identifying the suspect. Several residents said they believe they know who the person is.

“He’s also been known to try to break into the houses themselves,” another neighbor said.

A resident on Collier Avenue, who did not want to appear on camera, said the man tried to break through glass on their front door on New Year’s Eve.

“We happened to actually catch him at the door, breaking through the threshold through the window of my front door, trying to be able to access himself to the deadbolt,” the resident said.

The resident said they were able to scare the man off and later filed a police report but is still on the lose.

“Just never been able to get a hold of a guy,” the resident said when asked whether a report was filed.

Another neighbor said they worry the situation could become violent.

“He’s kind of a threat to our community. My concern is he’s escalating, it seems like,” the neighbor said. “I’m worried that somebody’s gonna get hurt because JSO’s not responding.”

What JSO says

News4JAX contacted the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for information about the complaints.

Max Morel, a strategic communications representative for JSO, said two incidents had been reported.

Morel also encouraged residents to submit information through JSO’s Unsolved Crimes page on JaxSheriff.org.

“We have the opportunity to put these individuals out there to the public,” Morel said. “Let us try to identify that individual and bring them to justice.”

How to report

If you live in Murray Hill and believe you have been a victim of theft — or if you have video or other evidence — JSO is asking you to report it. Residents can submit information through JaxSheriff.org or call (904) 630-0500.

JSO told News4Jax it is still searching for additional cases that may match the description residents provided.

Nassau County Animal Services received a call July 5 from an emergency veterinary hospital about a dog that needed pickup and protective custody. The caller initially said the dog had been found in Nassau County and later said it was found in Duval County, so the two agencies are sharing resources to determine what happened.

An ACPS forensic veterinary exam found the injuries “are consistent with thermal burn wounds caused by exposure to fire,” the agency said.

The exam concluded the available findings do not allow a determination of whether the burns were intentional or accidental, but noted the dog did not receive timely veterinary treatment after the injury. ACPS said thermal burns cause significant pain and, without proper care, can lead to severe complications or death.

The agency added that failure to seek veterinary care is consistent with neglect and that intentional burns would be consistent with animal abuse.

Staff has named the dog Talia. She is currently receiving care from a veterinarian.

Officials asked anyone with information about the dog’s identity, owner or the events leading to the injuries to come forward. Anonymous tips can be submitted to First Coast Crime Stoppers by phone at 866-845-TIPS, via the mobile app or on the organization’s website.

“I was looking for, like, a personal revolution,” Waterhouse said. Putting the words together for “Loveland,” the album's wistful penultimate track, helped her get there. “It’s always amazing to me how, you kind of write the album and you become it. You become somebody new from it.”

True to that spirit, Waterhouse worked with new collaborators on the project — including songwriter Amy Allen and producer Aaron Dessner, a member of the rock band The National and a frequent collaborator of pop-crossover artists including Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and Noah Kahan. Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac put down a drum track for “Morals” — a fun twist after Waterhouse acted in the limited series “Daisy Jones & the Six,” based on a Taylor Jenkins Reid novel widely considered to be inspired by the band’s origins.

“Maybe that’s what made me think to reach out,” Waterhouse, said. “I thought, you know, maybe he’s seen the show. It might help me get in the door.”

Waterhouse spoke to The Associated Press about making “Loveland” and exploring the evolution she has felt since welcoming her daughter with partner Robert Pattinson. She also teased future projects. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: When announcing the album, you wrote that this project was “born in the space between who I was and who I’m becoming.” How did you attempt to capture the emotions of that experience in the album?

WATERHOUSE: A revelation I've had for myself recently is that there is inherently a friction there, that I think has been really deepened by becoming a parent. I think before I had much more of a kind of wild abandon, where my whole life was my work and my artistic life. And now that I have this beautiful gift that's been given to me — my daughter and this responsibility, and also how present I feel in her life, and want to be — I had a lot of insecurity and fear and doubt about how I was going to still have these two things exist at once. So it's funny, I don't think the record is like a record, really, about me, you wouldn't listen to it and be like, “Oh, this is a 'she's just become a mum' record" but it's the things I know about it that are laced deep within it. There are certain songs where I address that very rawly, I think in the song “Weirdo” especially.

AP: On songs like “Weirdo,” or “Notting Hill,” how do you navigate interrogating your personal experiences and emotions, while also maintaining your privacy?

WATERHOUSE: When I’m writing I don’t really think about that much at all because I also know that not everything that I write has to go on an album and be released into the public. There's things that you can write that can just be for yourself, and kind of like help you externalize a feeling that’s unexplainable.

It’s interesting, it’s like two different parts of my brain: The part that doesn’t care what anybody thinks and is just writing so freely, and then, later on, when you're like choosing the singles, or choosing what's going to be on the record, this other voice comes in and it's not a purist. It’s much more like, I want people to like this and I want to be loved. You’ve got the two different voices warring with each other, and it’s hard to get them to speak to each other, or know which voice should succeed.

I’m always mining from my own past in a way, and “Notting Hill” was really about mourning a place, but also memorializing it. I sold my apartment and never really said goodbye to it because I had a baby in America. And I, you know, fell in love in that apartment, had some of the worst nights of my life, some of my best. And then suddenly you outgrow somewhere so quickly and you’re having a baby in a different country, and it’s a walk-up and you’d never be able to get a stroller in there, and it's like full of everything in your 20s. It's giving its flowers to this place that raised me.

AP: I saw that Mick Fleetwood played drums on “Morals.” I’m curious how that came to be.

WATERHOUSE: That was a fun way to collaborate. When we got a response from Mick Fleetwood, I was kind of amazed. We struck an agreement that he would drum on “Morals” — I got like a billion videos of him in a studio in Hawaii playing all these incredible takes and I was just blown away that the whole thing was happening. And then I recorded a song for his record, that is with Amy Allen. He’s been working on a record for quite some time. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say about it, but it was a very cool thing to have happened.

AP: When we last talked, you were preparing to bring your daughter, then 6 months old, with you on tour. Has she heard the new album?

WATERHOUSE: She knows now what I do, it's funny. I was reading to her the other night and there was a “choose, what would your world be like? and where would you live? the mountains?" and we were kind of like picking things and there were a bunch of jobs and I said, “Which one does mommy do?” and she pointed to the woman with the guitar. So it’s kind of crazy. She's almost 2 1/2 now, so she’s really switched on, like knows what we’re doing, I can explain it to her much better. I’m just like in heaven with her, just enjoying her so much and I feel so deeply grateful that I get to bring her with me.

A St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputy clocked the vehicle at 108 mph in a posted 70 mph zone on I-95 northbound around 6:25 a.m. Thursday.

RELATED | ‘Super speeder’ arrested for driving 130 mph on I-295 on Fourth of July

The driver was spotted weaving past law enforcement and other vehicles in heavy morning traffic before a radar device locked in the speed.

A deputy issued the citation, which carries a charge of dangerous excessive speeding at 100 mph or more — a criminal violation under Florida Statute 316.1922(1)(b) that requires a mandatory court appearance. No crash, injuries or property damage were reported.

The driver is due in court July 29 at 1:30 p.m. for arraignment.

Smoky conditions near the major interchange could cause visibility issues for drivers. Please use caution in the area.

Jacksonville Fire Rescue responded to the fire just before 4 p.m. The cause of the fire remains unknown, but crews told News4JAX that it had spread across 5 acres and was 100% contained.

We’ve reached out to the Florida Forest Service for more information.

This is developing.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, say they are making progress negotiating with top Iranian leaders. But the U.S. officials said they want Tehran to issue a statement saying Iran’s forces will stop attacking ships in the strait to help ensure that negotiations move forward.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has chosen not to sign a sweeping housing affordability bill in protest of Congress not approving a strict voter ID bill that lacks sufficient support to pass.

The housing measure will become law without Trump’s signature because he didn’t veto it. Still, the president’s rejection of the legislation cuts short the GOP’s efforts to address a key voter concern about rising costs, exacerbating tensions with his own party in a midterm election year.

Here's the latest:

US officials send mixed signals on Iran’s enriched uranium

Senior U.S. officials said that any agreement with Iran over its nuclear program will require Tehran to turn over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

But on a call with reporters, the officials suggested they were not confident Iran would honor that part of the agreement until the country first heeds the terms of the ceasefire deal and stops renewed attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

If the U.S. does not reach a deal with Iran to turn over its nuclear material, it has military options to ensure that it remains buried underground forever, the officials said. They did not detail those options.

The highly enriched material that could potentially be used to make a nuclear weapon is believed to be buried after strikes the U.S. launched on Iran last summer.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran.

— By Michelle L. Price

US officials say new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz came from an errant part of Iranian political system

Senior U.S. officials are blaming a power struggle in Iran for that country’s latest attacks on ships in the waterway.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said U.S. negotiators are making progress talking to Iranian leaders.

But they said there are hard-line officials in Iran who are looking to undermine the ceasefire — and have helped spur a new round of attacks in the strait.

The officials said Trump has initiated new strikes on Iran in the meantime.

The president is aware of the power struggle issue, they say, and is giving officials space to get on the same page. But he won’t wait forever.

Part of the reason Iran now faces a power struggle, however, was strikes by the U.S. and Israel that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei early in the war.

— By Michelle L. Price

US wants Iran to publicly guarantee that the Strait of Hormuz is open and safe for ships

Senior U.S. officials are demanding that Iran’s leadership publicly state that ship traffic in the strait has been fully restored.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, say they are making progress negotiating with top Iranian leaders.

But the U.S. officials said they want Tehran to issue a statement saying Iran’s forces will stop attacking ships in the strait to help ensure that negotiations move forward.

Moments before the U.S. officials spoke, however, Tehran’s diplomat at the United Nations struck a more defiant tone, telling reporters that any activity in the strait “rests exclusively with Iran.”

— By Michelle L. Price and Farnoush Amiri

US imposes sanctions on Iranian financier

The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on Iranian financier Ali Ansari, who Treasury says oversees a global network of assets benefiting Iran’s leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

Ansari, who is already under U.K. sanctions, is accused of diverting public funds into real estate holdings outside of Iran to benefit himself and Iranian leadership.

“Treasury will continue using every tool at its disposal to isolate him and other regime elites from the global financial system,“ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. ”We will preserve these assets for the Iranian people.”

Prime minister affirms Pakistan’s readiness to broker peace

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday to discuss regional developments.

The conversation came as Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership has been encouraging the United States and Iran to return to the negotiating table and discuss issues covered under the memorandum of understanding that Islamabad helped broker to help end the regional conflict.

In a post on X, Sharif said they discussed the evolving regional situation and stressed the need for restraint, dialogue and diplomacy to preserve the hard-earned peace gains of recent months.

“I reaffirmed Pakistan’s readiness to continue playing its role as an honest and sincere mediator for lasting regional peace,” Sharif wrote.

US lawmakers cite ‘significant progress’ on a Russia sanctions bill

U.S. lawmakers leading an effort to sanction countries purchasing Russian oil say they have reached an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward with an updated bill.

The original bill was unveiled about a year ago and has languished in the Senate as the sponsors worked to win full backing from the White House.

“We are very pleased with this significant progress and expect to roll out the legislation very soon,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

The original bill called for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. It targeted nations like China and India, which account for roughly 70% of Russia’s energy trade and bankroll much of its war effort.

The four senators announcing the progress on their effort are Republicans Lindsey Graham and Roger Wicker, and Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Jeanne Shaheen.

Reflecting Pool is getting another draining

Crews are again draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as Trump’s problem-plagued efforts to revamp it push well past his goal of having it ready by July Fourth to mark the nation’s 250th birthday.

The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was covered by algae and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics contend it’s from shoddy repair work.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a podcast interview released this week that the new round of draining was planned and that the water might contain debris from the Independence Day fireworks over the National Mall.

“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum said. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.”

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DC calls on Michigan and the US Virgin Islands to bring their troops home

Washington, D.C., council members have added their voices to a chorus of groups asking Michigan and the U.S. Virgin Islands to bring their National Guard units home.

“Temporary, event-specific assistance for a major national celebration is fundamentally different from an open-ended military presence in District neighborhoods,” reads a letter sent Thursday that was signed by all 13 council members.

A coalition of groups previously sent a similar letter to Michigan raising questions about how troops sent to help with the July 4 celebration were diverted to a surge in President Donald Trump’s crime-fighting initiative in the nation’s capital.

“DC residents have been saying for 11 months straight that we need the National Guard and federal surge forces out of our communities immediately,” Keya Chatterjee, executive director of the group Free DC, said in a statement.

No immediate change in US military operations following end of ceasefire

Capt. Tim Hawkins, the spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said there were “no operational updates at this time” when he was asked about the end of the ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump in a social media post earlier Friday.

Trump said in a post on his social media platform that the United States told Iran “in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!”

When asked if the end of the ceasefire would mean a restart to the air bombing that was the mainstay of the conflict, Hawkins said he wouldn’t forecast future operations.

Hawkins did say that U.S. forces in the region “remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to execute operations directed by the Commander in Chief.”

Critics accuse Trump of damaging voters’ trust

On Capitol Hill, the leading Democrats with election oversight responsibility said Trump, rather than bolstering U.S. election integrity, is further politicizing the voting process.

“President Trump is trying to dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy designed to keep elections fair and secure,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-New York. “Purging commissioners just months before the midterm elections and further gutting support for our state and local elections officials is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference.”

Padilla is the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee and Morelle is ranking member of the House Administration Committee.

A US license could let Ukraine produce Patriot missiles, but it won’t be simple or quick

President Trump’s pledge to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv, but experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into real weapons would likely take years.

Speaking Wednesday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to make the U.S.-designed systems Kyiv has long sought to shield its cities and infrastructure from Russian missiles and drones.

“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.”

But the statement left open a crucial question: What exactly would Ukraine be allowed to produce?

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Trump says talks with Iran to continue despite ceasefire ending

The president posted Friday on social media that Iran had “asked us to continue ‘talks’” and his administration has agreed to do so.

But Trump added that “in no uncertain terms” that the ceasefire is no longer in place.

It’s unclear how productive talks can be to end the war with Iran so long as the status of the Strait of Hormuz is uncertain and attacks could supersede any commitments made in negotiations.

Trump’s decision on housing bill comes more than a week after he canceled plans to sign it

He announced then that he was using it as leverage in his push for a strict voter ID bill.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to lower the cost of housing and spur more home construction. It’s the broadest federal effort in decades to address America’s housing affordability problems, as state and local regulations have made it difficult to build in many of the communities that are also sources of job growth and economic opportunity. White House economists estimated earlier this year a national shortage of 10 million homes and the bill could help to close a portion of that gap.

But Trump called the bill “a yawn” and “so unimportant” compared to legislation that would require proof of citizenship for all voters.

He surprised Republican lawmakers June 24, when, shortly before a planned signing ceremony at the Capitol, he announced he wouldn’t approve the bill until lawmakers first passed the voting legislation.

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Stocks and oil prices drift as global markets continue to calm

U.S. stocks and oil prices are drifting toward a quiet finish of the week Friday following earlier fireworks on worries about how the war with Iran will affect the global flow of crude.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and was on track to close out a fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 65 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

Oil prices were holding relatively steady, even after a series of unclaimed airstrikes hit Iran after the U.S. said it finished its attacks. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 0.2% to $76.47.

That’s above the $72 it was at the start of the week, when it was back below its level from before the war with Iran, but it’s still well below its wartime peak of nearly $120.

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Trump won’t sign housing bill but will let it become law

Trump has chosen not to sign a sweeping housing affordability bill Friday, in protest of Congress not approving a strict voter ID bill that doesn’t have enough support to pass.

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted on social media.

The housing measure will become law without Trump’s signature. He had 10 days to issue a veto and stop the measure, which he chose not to do.

Trump’s rejection of the bipartisan housing legislation exacerbates tensions with his own party in a midterm election year and cuts short their efforts to address a key voter concern about rising costs.

Trump ousts election commission members in latest push to reshape US voting process

Trump has ousted members of the bipartisan Federal Election Commission that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration forms.

It’s the latest move in the Republican president’s effort to expand White House influence over how U.S. elections are conducted and comes after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave the president new personnel authority to fire members of independent agency boards.

▶ Read more

Unclaimed airstrikes target Iran after US attacks, raising questions of who launched them

The series of unclaimed airstrikes that hit Iran after the U.S. said it finished its attacks have again raised questions of who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

The strikes Thursday, just as Iran prepared to bury the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hit areas across southern Iran. The country’s theocracy hasn’t directly blamed anyone for the strikes, though one lawmaker issued a warning to the United Arab Emirates over allegedly providing support to the United States in its campaign against Iran.

Gulf Arab states, which repeatedly have been targeted by Iran since the war began Feb. 28, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday over the strikes. The attacks come as they and the U.S. insist the Strait of Hormuz must be open and free to ships to transit.

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The local prosecutor said the cost of medical care required also for one of the defendants alone would have bankrupted Vinton County, which led the court to change the grandfather's bond and release him from jail on his own recognizance for care at a hospital so the county didn't have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the county sought help from other prosecutors on the criminal case and is counting on approval next week of $1 million from the state to assist with care for the children, including some who have medical needs or are unable to speak.

Vinton is Ohio's smallest county and one of its poorest, a rambling 415 square miles (1075 square kilometers) of isolated Appalachian terrain with one traffic light and a single grocery store. That makes the case of the Siders family “an unprecedented child welfare crisis” there, state officials said.

Affording it is requiring the actions of both local and state officials.

One defendant was released to avoid more costs

On Tuesday, 73-year-old Gary Siders Sr. was released from jail after his bond was adjusted to not require up-front payment, and he was moved out of the county for medical care.

Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer Jr. said Siders had fallen at the jail and it became apparent that he “has a serious medical condition that requires specialized care.” In the regional jail, the costs of that care would fall on the county, Archer said.

“Based on the information the county was provided, his medical care could potentially bankrupt Vinton County,” Archer told reporters Wednesday. “We were not going to put that burden also on our local taxpayers.”

Siders is charged with felony child endangerment. Also charged were his 67-year-old wife, Christina Siders; son Gary Siders Jr., 36; and daughter-in-law, 33-year-old Elizabeth Siders, the children's mother. They have pleaded not guilty, and some of their attorneys cautioned against drawing conclusions before more is known about what happened.

Vinton County Common Pleas Judge Laina Fetherolf Rogers made clear in her order that should the elder Siders' health improve enough to leave the hospital, the GPS tracking device he'll be required to wear also will be “paid for at the State's expense.”

“A lot of small counties like us, we’re in the same boat as Vinton,” said Mike Davis, prosecutor for Pike County, another financially-strapped southern Ohio county. “If a person has a medical issue, do we pay the medical bills and keep them in jail and blow our budget, or do we let them out and risk something happening that’s worse?”

Archer emphasized that authorities determined the strategy didn’t put the public at risk in Gary Siders Sr.'s case, given his health condition and the fact the case strictly involved family members.

Other prosecutors are helping with the criminal case

The judge agreed this week to Archer's requests to bring on three special prosecutors — Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, Assistant Attorney General Kara Keating and Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, an expert in child abuse cases — to share the load of the case “without compensation.” That means their offices will cover their own costs.

Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain also has requested assistance from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, according to records released by Wilson's office, which is not unusual.

“Money’s green and it’s absolute. You either have it or you don't,” said Davis, who said he could relate to Archer after Pike County had to grapple with a major criminal case of its own: the 2016 Rhoden family murders.

He said the demands of a significant criminal prosecution are felt across a small county's entire government operation, as workloads are shifted among government office staffs of oftentimes just one or two people and larger spaces and reliable internet service have to be secured for the influx of investigators and out-of-town media outlets.

The county is expecting $1 million for children's services

Removing the 16 siblings from their home also instantly more than doubled the number of children in temporary custody in Vinton County — a daunting prospect for a county with about 12,600 residents and the smallest budget among Ohio’s 88 counties.

On Monday, a state legislative panel is expected to approve a request from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to provide $1 million in additional state cash to Vinton County to help it cope with the “emergent and developing child protection crisis.”

The Siders children ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years, and some were described as “feral” and unable to speak. Authorities said their medical conditions varied and alleged that they had been kept in about a 12-foot-by-12-foot room for several years. Two were flown for hospital care.

Archer did not elaborate but said this week that all the children are “safe and being cared for.”

The eldest was born in May 2008, two months after then-18-year-old Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth, who was 15, crossed the state line to get married at the Mason County Courthouse in West Virginia with the consent of Elizabeth's parents, according to court records. She's had pregnancies most years since then, the records show.

The 16 Siders siblings at the center of the endangerment case were all born in hospitals, according to birth certificates reviewed by The Associated Press on Friday. Among them are three sets of twins. Elizabeth Siders also had a fourth set of twins in 2022, records show, who died hours after birth.

The state Department of Children and Youth estimates that placement costs for the siblings will run between $150 and $250 per child per day. That adds up to roughly $850,000 a year, or more than three times the amount generated by Vinton County's levy that's split between children's and senior services.

South Central Ohio Job & Family Services is consulting with its attorneys about setting up a trust for the children after an influx of financial and other types of donations poured in following news of the case, the agency said on Facebook.

The state cash headed to Vinton County will allow the agency to “ensure vulnerable children receive the safety, treatment, and support they urgently require,” the funding request said. Additional expenses, such as court costs and police overtime associated with the case, can also be covered with the state money.

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Associated Press reporter Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

The shooting Tuesday during an attempted traffic stop by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Houston has revived critical voices deriding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and how ICE operates. Immigration arrests around the country recently surged to 10,000 over a five-day period, fueled in part by massive Congressional funding.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released no evidence to support the officer's story that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo ignored their commands and rammed into an ICE vehicle with his white van, or that the officer fired in self-defense.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia has said the acting director of ICE told her officers thought someone in the van, but not Salgado Araujo, had a final order of removal but did not share a name.

The officers were not wearing body cameras and neither ICE nor DHS have released photos, videos or other evidence from the scene.

The men tell an attorney that the ICE story is untrue

Salgado Araujo was a 52-year-old homebuilder who was shot and killed as he was driving his crew to a construction site. His family said he had lived in the U.S. for more than 35 years, had no criminal record and was close to finishing the long process of obtaining legal status when he was killed.

ICE detained the other three men in the van and they all told a lawyer that no officer was in front of the van or even in danger.

“After speaking with these men, I have no doubt that what they’re saying is the truth. I know that these agents — the agency — is going to try to cover it up,” attorney Hugo Balderas-Ibarra said during a news conference.

Images of the van after the shooting appear to show no damage, he said.

ICE has not released the names of the detained men, but family members said they have been able to briefly talk with them. Salgado Araujo's brother was among those arrested.

Garcia said at the same news conference it was unsurprising that Salgado Araujo drove off when ICE tried to stop his vehicle, given that their vehicles were unmarked and had no lights.

“What would you do if you were being followed by someone and the cars were unmarked?” Garcia said.

Salgado Araujo was at least the eighth person to die during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. No immigration officers have been charged in the killings and video footage in several previous shootings has contradicted the accounts of federal officers.

The detained men say ICE is pressuring them to self-deport

ICE is pressuring the men to self-deport, which would make it harder for them to share their version of events with investigators or others, said Juana Degollado, who said her stepfather Daniel Tirado Pantoja is among the detained men. She said he has no legal permission to live in the U.S. but has no criminal record.

“It is extremely important that we preserve the integrity of this investigation,” Balderas-Ibarra said. “That will all be out the window if they are deported.”

DHS said allegations that the men have been pressured to leave the country are “categorically false.”

DHS said Thursday that officers investigating a tip weeks earlier saw two white vans at the address of a target. While heading to that address Tuesday, officers saw a white van and someone inside who resembled the person they were looking for, the department said in a statement.

“No one in that van had warrants or any legal problem,” Degollado told The Associated Press in a text message.

ICE refuses to release officer's name or other information

DHS said it will not release the officer’s name because they could face threats and violence and their family could be at risk.

DHS also has not responded to requests for other information, including how long the officer has worked for ICE or whether anyone involved in the shooting is on administrative leave.

Unlike some previous deaths involving federal immigration officers, few photos or videos surrounding the shooting have emerged publicly in the days since Salgado Araujo's death.

The League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 reward for video or other evidence, but the positions of the vehicles means surveillance cameras in the area were blocked from recording the shooting, CEO Juan Proaño said.

Local prosecutors are talking to witnesses

Local prosecutors were not invited into the investigation by federal officials but have spent the past three days in the Houston neighborhood looking for surveillance footage and talking to witnesses, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said.

Teare said anyone with video or other information must share it with his office so the truth about the shooting can be determined.

“We will go to the ends of the earth to collect all the evidence, so that we can eventually let the public know what happened,” Teare said.

The FBI is tightly controlling the evidence in the case, but Houston Mayor John Whitmire said he wants a local independent investigation and the police chief will meet with federal investigators next week to see what can be done.

“We recognize that it is a federal police agency that was out of control Tuesday morning,” Whitmire said.

Houston police do not work with ICE and the mayor said he found out about the shooting from the media.

Salgado Araujo's family said they found out he was dead through the ICE statement instead of directly from the agency. Garcia said officers kept his belongings and sent him to the hospital where he died without including his name.

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Brook reported from New Orleans and Foley from Iowa City, Iowa. Associated Press reporters Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas; Rebecca Santana in Washington; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed.

BACKGROUND | Waycross police detective placed on leave after physical altercation that left grandmother of his child with cut on face

The incident involving Waycross Police Department Detective Marc Horne unfolded in May, outside Southeast Georgia Pediatrics on Boulevard Square. Officers arriving on scene found several women in nursing scrubs clustered around a woman later identified as Kisha Music, who sat on the concrete holding a cloth to her face.

The report said Music, who is one of the grandmothers of Horne’s child, briefly removed the cloth to show what she described as a jaw injury and a small cut on the left side of her upper lip with a small amount of blood.

Detective Horne and his mother were standing about 20 yards away when officers arrived. A witness told officers, “He can say what he wanna say, but he punched her in the face,” according to the report.

Police reviewed two cellphone videos: one recorded by Horne’s mother and a second recorded on Detective Horne’s phone. The recordings, the report said, show Music approaching vehicles in the clinic parking lot and attempting to open the rear door of Detective Horne’s pickup, apparently to retrieve an infant. In the footage, Horne can be heard repeatedly telling Music to back away and not to go near his mother’s vehicle. One of the videos was posted online and was circulating following the altercation.

The report said Music slapped a phone out of Horne’s hand, sending it to the pavement with the camera facing down, and then charged at him. Detective Horne told officers he struck Music one time to stop her from attacking him.

In the videos and in officer interviews, Horne can be heard warning Music she might be arrested; Music told officers she wanted him arrested and at one point said she would go to jail “because guess who’s going too for pushing me,” the report said.

Music told News4JAX that Horne punched her in the face. Horne told officers he felt threatened as the grandmother approached him.

“There’s no way he could consider me a threat,” Music told News4JAX. “He’s a trained fighter and a trained police officer. He’s dealt with way bigger and meaner than me, I’m sure. But in no way was I endangering him in any kind of way. I had a bag full of toys in one hand and a little cup for my grandbaby in the other that was full of water.”

Witnesses in nursing attire tended to Music in the parking lot and later provided statements to officers, the report notes. Emergency medical services were called to evaluate Music at the scene.

No arrests were made at the scene, and the Waycross Police Department informed its command staff before turning the case over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) for further review.

News4JAX spoke to Horne’s attorney, but he said he was not willing to offer a comment at this time.

Detective Horne has been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of both the Waycross Police Department’s internal investigation and the concurrent investigation being conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which I called shortly after the incident. We will not be releasing any additional information at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation.

Waycross Police Chief Tommy Cox

Earlier this year, Horne was placed on leave after Tristen Music, Kisha’s daughter, accused Horne of domestic violence, according to media reports. Music told WSAV their relationship lasted over a year, and they have one 7-month-old child together. But Horne returned to duty in April following an internal investigation.

According to a release from WPD, “Information indicates that the detective was not the primary aggressor. The evidence further indicates that his actions were in response to an immediate threat involving an armed individual, during which he attempted to disarm the subject to protect himself.”

Tristen Music claimed the statement from WPD was false, and she was not armed during the altercation.

Florida Highway Patrol says the crash happened at about 10:35 p.m. Thursday on I-295 northbound near mile marker 37.

According to FHP’s report, a black Jeep veered off the roadway, continued off the road and hit a tree. Troopers say the vehicle then became engulfed in flames.

FHP says the 42-year-old woman driving and a 3-year-old boy passenger — both from Jacksonville — died at the scene.

Jami-Leigh Ross, who lives behind the interstate near where the crash happened, reached out to News4JAX Friday morning.

Ross told News4JAX she and her daughter were outside when they heard the crash and walked to the end of their driveway.

She said neighbors tried to help using what they had — including a fire extinguisher and a hose — while waiting for emergency crews to arrive.

“I prayed” Ross said getting emotional as she described what she felt afterward.

“It’s sadness,” she said.

Ross said she wanted to speak out because she doesn’t want the family to think their loved ones were alone.

“I would like to just let them know that they had seven people right there with them. Seven people that tried, seven people that prayed seven people that watch them enter the Gates of Heaven.”

Ross said she returned to the crash site the next morning after the scene was cleared to reflect on what happened.

“I just want the family to know that we’re here,” she said. “This address is here for them.”

The company is already one of the largest in South Korea, along with Samsung Electronics, and is a member of the Kospi index. Even with a recent pullback, the country's Kospi index is up 77% so far this year and SK Hynix shares have more than tripled.

SK Hynix priced its American depositary receipts, or ADRs, at $149 each Thursday. They opened Friday at $170 and closed at $168.01. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs raised proceeds of $26.5 billion, making it the biggest-ever initial share sale in the U.S. by a foreign company. An ADR is issued by a bank or broker and is a simplified way for U.S. investors to own foreign stocks through the U.S. markets.

SK Hynix is going public in the U.S. amid a surge in IPO proceeds. There were 48 IPOs raising a total of $104.8 billion during the second quarter, according to Renaissance Capital. It is the biggest quarter for deal proceeds in five years, in large part because of SpaceX raising $75 billion. Many of the companies going public are capitalizing on the demand for all things AI.

SK Hynix has a dominant position globally for high bandwidth memory, which is essential for the development of advanced AI technology. The company recently entered a partnership with Wall Street’s most valuable company, Nvidia, for advanced memory chips as AI infrastructure expands globally.

Increasing demand for AI has been driving a surge in profits for chipmakers. Memory chips have become more expensive as demand outpaces supply along with the advancement of artificial intelligence technology. Technology giant Apple recently announced an increase in prices for Macs and iPads because of the jump in price for memory chips.

The U.S. is SK Hynix’s largest market, accounting for 68.8% of its revenue last year. It is planning an expansion that includes building its first U.S. production facility, located in Indiana. Overall, the company had revenue of just under $65 billion in 2025. That helped profits double to about $28 billion.

The company recently joined with Samsung and the government in announcing plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won ($518 billion) in building a new computer chipmaking hub in South Korea’s southwest region, part of national efforts to expand investment beyond the greater Seoul metropolitan area, the country’s economic center and heart of its semiconductor sector.

The promise of growing profits has catapulted stock prices within the tech sector, particularly for chipmakers. Micron Technology's stock value more than tripled in 2025 and is on pace to more than triple again in 2026. Nvidia's stock had similar growth several years ago and notched more relatively modest gains in 2025.

Big chipmakers have become the most valuable and influential companies on Wall Street. Their high stock values give them outsized influence over Wall Street and major indexes have been setting records mostly because of the tech sector.

Shares in SK Hynix traded in Seoul slipped 0.3% on Friday.

The sources were not authorized to publicly disclose the deal before a formal announcement.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for early June was postponed after the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority said the two countries needed more time to resolve “outstanding issues.” The delay followed President Donald Trump’s earlier threats to block the bridge’s opening.

Commercial traffic is now expected to begin before Aug. 1, according to two officials, though a date for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony has not yet been set.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers referenced the deal during an interview Friday.

“I had a conversation with the secretary yesterday, Secretary of Commerce Lutnick, and the deal will be announced in the next few days,” Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said Friday on WJR radio. “This is getting wrapped up. That bridge is going to get open.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, congratulated those who have worked to open the bridge.

“This bridge is a testament to the enduring partnership between Michigan and Canada and what we can get done when we think big and bet on our shared future together,” she said in a statement.

The delay in opening the Gordie Howe International Bridge became an issue in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races. Democratic candidate Mallory McMorrow, who has since dropped out, tried to turn the controversy into a political liability for Trump and Republicans.

The 1.5-mile-long (2.4-kilometer-long) bridge, which spans the Detroit River and connects the Motor City with Windsor, Ontario, was slated for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 12. It was abruptly postponed after officials said the U.S. and Canada were still working to resolve “outstanding issues.”

The dispute gave Democrats a rare opportunity to tie Trump directly to a project with visible economic consequences in a battleground state.

In February, Trump demanded in a social media post that Canada hand over at least half ownership of the new bridge to the U.S. government and accept other unspecified demands, part of his broader clashes with Canada over trade.

Canada financed the bridge’s construction. The project was negotiated by Rick Snyder, the former Republican governor of Michigan, and work has been underway since 2018 and cost close to $4.4 billion.

Named after the late Canadian hockey great Gordie Howe, who spent 25 seasons leading the Detroit Red Wings, the bridge is expected to be another vital economic artery between Canada and the United States.

The toll bridge, jointly owned by Canada and Michigan, is expected to help ease congestion at the existing Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Work has been underway since 2018.

Detroit and Windsor have been neighborly for generations, with residents in both countries frequently crossing the shared river border for entertainment and shopping. Windsor’s population in 2021 was about 230,000. Like Detroit, the Canadian city’s economy has a strong focus on manufacturing and the auto industry.

Commercial trade between the two cities primarily has been across the nearly century-old and privately-owned Ambassador Bridge, which is closer to downtown Detroit than the Gordie Howe Bridge.

The Moroun family are owners of the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor. Federal campaign finance records show Matthew Moroun donated $1 million to Trump’s super PAC earlier this year.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close out its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 149 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.3%.

SK Hynix, a giant South Korean maker of memory chips, shone in the debut of its stock trading on the Nasdaq. After raising roughly $26.5 billion by selling American depositary shares at a price of $149 each, it jumped immediately after trading began in the midday hours and finished with a gain of 13.1%.

SK Hynix’s stock in Seoul has already surged 634% over the last year thanks to euphoria around AI. The boom has created real profits due to surging demand for computer memory. But it’s also raised worries that AI stock prices have shot have too high and that all the world’s spending on chips and data centers won’t be able to produce enough productivity and profit growth to make it worth it.

That’s led to sharp recent swings for AI stocks, which have grown into some of Wall Street’s most influential because of their huge sizes.

Nvidia was the strongest single force lifting the S&P 500 Friday after rising 4%.

Beyond the uncertainty about AI, the focus on Wall Street is shifting to the upcoming reporting season for companies’ profits during the spring.

Delta Air Lines said it was able to absorb higher fuel prices from April through June because of strong demand from customers to fly, including a wide range of corporate travelers. That helped it report profit and revenue for the spring that topped analysts’ expectations, and it gave a forecasted range for upcoming profit in the summer whose midpoint was above analysts’ expectations.

Delta’s stock fell 1.8%, though, after coming into the day with a strong 28.2% rise for the year so far.

Companies across industries will need to produce big growth in profits to justify the big moves for their stock prices, which are broadly near records. Next week will feature earnings reports from many of the biggest U.S. banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo on Tuesday alone.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Circle Internet Group rose 5%. The company behind the USDC cryptocurrency, which is supposed to keep the value of $1, said it won U.S. regulatory approval to establish a bank. It will operate under the name Circle National Trust, and CEO Jeremy Allaire said the move “marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system.”

WD-40’s stock jumped 10.6% after reporting much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 31.75 points to 7,575.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 149.60 to 52,367.01, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 74.72 to 26,281.61.

In the oil market, prices continued to pare jumps from earlier in the week on worries about how the war with Iran will affect the global flow of crude.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, dipped 0.4% to $76.01.

That’s above its $72 price from the start of the week, but it’s still well below its wartime peak of nearly $120. The worry is that continued fighting could block oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

President Donald Trump said on his social-media platform that he agreed to continue talks with Iran but also that the United States told Iran “that the Cease Fire is OVER!”

In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.56% from 4.54% late Thursday.

High yields have weighed on financial markets worldwide. Yields have climbed on worries about expensive oil and high inflation, which could push the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates.

Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.2% for two of the world’s bigger moves, but stocks fell 1% in Shanghai.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The regionwide median price for single-family homes rose 2.4 percent from May to $420,000 in June. Homes spent a median of 31 days on the market, down 8.8 percent from the previous month. There were 2,100 closed sales, up 3.3 percent from May, while pending sales fell to 1,301, a 32.5 percent decline. Active inventory totaled 7,216 homes, about a 3.4-month supply. The Home Affordability Index decreased to 79.

“Today’s market isn’t about panic or hype, it’s about opportunity. Buyers have more choices, sellers need strong strategies, and knowledgeable REALTORS® have never been more valuable,” Kim Knapp, president of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, said in the release. “A balanced market rewards preparation, expertise, and professionals who know how to guide clients with confidence.”

County highlights for June:

• Duval: Median single-family price $350,000; median days on market 25; 988 closed sales; active inventory 3,481, a 3.5-month supply.
• Clay: Median $368,140; median days on market 29; 317 closed sales; active inventory 1,063, a 3.4-month supply.
• St. Johns: Median $579,000; median days on market 34; 610 closed sales; active inventory 1,841, a 3-month supply.
• Putnam: Median $301,200; median days on market 44; 47 closed sales; active inventory 262, a 5.6-month supply.
• Nassau: Median $504,500; median days on market 49; 114 closed sales; active inventory 490, a 4.3-month supply.
• Baker: Median $339,975; median days on market 48; 24 closed sales; active inventory 79, a 3.3-month supply.

NEFAR’s Home Affordability Index — which measures whether a typical family earns enough to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced existing home, assuming a 20 percent down payment — fell regionwide to 79 in June (an index of 100 means a median-income family has exactly the income needed to buy a median-priced home).

Compared with May: The May regional median was at $410,000, active inventory at 7,109 homes and a Home Affordability Index of 81. In June, NEFAR’s numbers show the median rose to $420,000, active inventory edged up to 7,216 and affordability slipped further.

Nearly half a year later, after another shooting death under disputed circumstances blamed on the department, the promise still hasn't been fully met — prompting outrage from critics who say the cameras are a chance at accountability for officers enforcing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers involved in the Houston shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican man who lived in the U.S. for more than 35 years, were not wearing body cameras, Homeland Security has said.

No evidence has emerged to support DHS’ version of events — that an officer opened fire at Salgado Araujo after he rammed an ICE vehicle chasing his van. Witnesses deny those claims. Cameras could have helped shed light on what exactly took place.

The shooting has opened ICE up to fresh scrutiny over its tactics at a time when arrests have ticked up and as DHS is flush with billions of dollars from an infusion granted by Congress — some of which was earmarked to outfit officers with body cameras.

“Even after we’ve given ICE specifically $20 million for body cameras and Kristi Noem promised in February of this year that she was going to purchase them and get them in the field, that here we were in Houston that the agents didn’t have them,” said Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Democrat from Houston, during a news conference Friday.

Body cameras, and the lack of them, a key issue in Trump's second term

Days after Alex Pretti was killed while protesting ICE activity in Minneapolis in January, Noem announced that every Homeland Security officer on the ground there would be issued body-worn cameras. Noem said it was the beginning of a nationwide effort to get them to every officer around the country as funding becomes available.

“We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” Noem, who has since been replaced by Markwayne Mullin, said in a social media post.

Homeland Security said Thursday that body cameras have been deployed to more than half of ICE field offices around the country and that the remainder would get them in the next 60 days.

Garcia said she told the acting head of ICE, David Venturella, during a phone call that she was outraged over the lack of body-worn cameras. She said Venturella told her that less than a third of officers nationally have been issued body cameras. He promised her that all officers would get them by the end of July, she said.

“Trust me, I will hold him to it, and I will make sure that all my colleagues in Congress and the Democratic caucus hold him to it,” she said.

Michelle Gross, president of the Minnesota-based advocacy group Communities United Against Police Brutality said ICE shouldn't conduct enforcement operations until all officers are equipped with body cameras.

“If they’re going to be running around with guns and stopping people, you damn well better have some body cameras," she said. “This is an agency that's soaking up an incredible amount of tax dollars and we can’t have any accountability?"

In earlier shootings, some officers wore cameras — but not all

Homeland Security said at the time of the Pretti shooting that four of the Border Patrol agents were wearing cameras. Investigators from Customs and Border Protection were able to use video from those cameras as well as other sources to determine that more than one officer on the scene fired shots during the Pretti death.

The department has not said whether any of the ICE officers on the scene of the killing of 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good earlier in January were wearing the cameras. Bystander video of both shootings was highly scrutinized and fanned public outrage over the incidents.

The former acting head of ICE, Todd Lyons, said while testifying to Congress in the aftermath of the Minneapolis events that the body camera footage would eventually be released to the public but it so far has not. Lyons has since retired.

Lyons and his counterpart at CBP, Rodney Scott, testified at the time that thousands of their officers were already outfitted with body cameras, with more to come.

“That’s one thing that I’m committed to is full transparency. And I fully welcome body cameras all across the spectrum in all of our law enforcement activities,” Lyons said.

In a January court filing, at a time when roughly 2,000 ICE officers were deployed to Minnesota, a senior ICE officer said in a court deposition that body-worn cameras had not been deployed to deportation officers working out of the St. Paul office. Samuel J. Olson, the head of the St. Paul field office, said the agency would need roughly half a year to do all the equipping and training needed to roll out body cameras to all the ICE law enforcement officers in the state.

The body camera issue has come up at other times during Trump's second term as growing numbers of ICE and CBP officers are enforcing the president's mass deportation agenda.

In Chicago, as Homeland Security officers were out in force as part of “Operation Midway Blitz," a judge required federal immigration officers to wear body cameras, saying that they would provide evidence to back up how agents handle confrontations with protesters.

Homeland Security blames Democrats for slow rollout but Dems push back

Homeland Security officials have blamed Democrats for the fact that not every officer has cameras yet.

“The officers involved in the incident in Houston had not been issued body-worn cameras due to back-to-back Democrat shutdowns," the department said.

Those shutdowns were fueled by Democrats' anger over President Trump’s immigration crackdown and demands to force reforms on Homeland Security.

In the wake of the Pretti and Good shootings, the one area where Republicans and Democrats appeared to agree was the need for widespread adoption of body cameras for officers taking part in immigration enforcement tasks. In April, Congress gave Homeland Security $20 million for “the procurement, deployment, and operations of body-worn cameras” for officers carrying out immigration enforcement tasks.

Garcia called the accusation that Democrats were to blame for the officers not having body cameras “ludicrous.”

“That’s just a freaking excuse, because the bottom line is they made a commitment,” said Garcia.

“I can confirm that we have signed a renewal of our lease on West Bay Street,” said Michael Cosgrove, senior vice president of corporate communications, July 9, referring to EverBank Center at 301 W. Bay St.

Asked for the size of the space involved, the length of the lease terms and the status of a rejected incentives request to the city to stay Downtown, Cosgrove replied: “We’re not discussing any of the terms.”

A second-quarter office market report by real estate company CBRE referred to key lease transactions that included EverBank as a renewal of 174,000 square feet of space at the 30-story Downtown tower.

The report gave no indication whether the lease was for the short term, which is considered two to four years in the market for a tenant that size, or for a longer term.

“We are happy that EverBank continues to be in downtown today and we’ll do everything we can to keep them here,” said city Chief Communications Officer Phil Perry in a July 9 email.

“Beyond that, we don’t have any updates and refer you to the company for specifics.”

Click here to read the full story on the Jacksonville Daily Record website.

The 39-year-old Djokovic enjoyed a warm, smile-filled embrace with his 24-year-old opponent at the net after the 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat Friday, quickly packed up his tennis bags and then waved to the boisterous crowd as he held one hand to his chest to show his appreciation as he walked off.

Will the seven-time Wimbledon champion ever be back to play on these hallowed lawns again?

Only time — something that Djokovic is running out of — will tell.

It's been nearly three years since Djokovic won his record-extending 24th Grand Slam singles title at the 2023 U.S. Open. And despite reaching the semifinals at all four Grand Slams last year and reaching a final and another semi in two of three Slams this year — he acknowledges that's not enough.

“For 99% of the players, that would be a very good Grand Slam result,” Djokovic said. “For me, it’s good but not good enough, because I’m blessed and cursed to be used to something of a highest degree in terms of results and achievements.

“I always have the highest expectations for myself," Djokovic added. "So it’s kind of that internal battle really of what I’ve been through for the 20-plus years of my career, what the goals were always, the expectations, and trying to balance it out and really be a little more humble in that sense.”

Still, Djokovic expressed interest in playing Wimbledon when he’s 40: “I would like to, at least one more time,” he said.

“I feel when I’m healthy," Djokovic added, “I’m still able to play as a top-five player, still able to compete at the highest level.”

For Sinner, it was a measure of revenge after Djokovic won their last meeting in five sets in this year’s Australian Open semifinals.

“Playing against Novak,” Sinner said, “what he’s still showing is true inspiration.”

Aiming to defend his title at the grass-court Grand Slam, the top-ranked Sinner will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.

Zverev ended the “Ferytale” run of British wild card Arthur Fery with an overpowering 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 victory earlier as the star-studded crowd on Centre Court witnessed two one-way contests.

Zverev will be playing for another major trophy a month after winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.

If there were any lingering questions over Sinner’s physical status after his meltdown at the French Open, they should be answered now.

Sinner blasted his way past Djokovic and showed off the kind of dominance he displayed before that second-round defeat in Paris.

“I knew mentally,” Sinner said, “that today I had to raise my level, which I’ve done.”

Andre Agassi attributed Sinner's performance in part to Djokovic: “What these guys can do now is all because he has shown them what’s possible,” Agassi said on the BBC.

No heat issues for Sinner

It was another warm day in southwest London, with the temperature rising to about 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius). It was also breezy, though, and a bit cloudier than in recent days.

Still, it felt nothing like the suffocating heat and humidity in Paris when Sinner wasted a big lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who was ranked No. 56, and had his 30-match winning streak ended.

Djokovic was coming off the longest quarterfinal in Wimbledon history, when he outlasted Felix Auger-Aliassime after 5 hours, 15 minutes on Tuesday.

Sinner, by contrast, hadn’t lost a set since he was pushed to five by Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round.

From the start, Sinner pushed Djokovic back with his powerful groundstrokes and came up with big serves in big moments.

When Sinner faced his only break point of the match early in the third set as late-afternoon shadows started creeping across the court, he produced an ace.

Sinner has won 9 straight vs. Zverev

Zverev, whose breakthrough at Roland Garros came in his fourth Grand Slam final, is attempting to become the first man in the professional era (since 1968) to win his second major title at the next event immediately after his first.

Sinner has won his last nine meetings with Zverev and 14 straight sets.

“I have to trust myself and I have to believe that I can win and that’s what I’m going to do,” Zverev said before he knew who his opponent would be.

The 114th-ranked Fery, who grew up five minutes from the All England Club and played at Stanford University, was attempting to become the first wild card to reach the final since Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 2001.

Zverev did well not to let the pro-Fery crowd get behind the local player too much and a double fault from Fery early in the first-set tiebreaker put Zverev in control.

British cheering

The British spectators did their best to encourage Fery early on, chanting his name between points as they sipped their Pimm’s under their wide-brimmed hats.

When it was over, Fery walked off to a standing ovation and applauded the crowd in return.

“I know that 99.99% of the stadium was wanting Arthur to win," Zverev said. “But it was still such an incredible atmosphere. It was such a fair crowd as well.”

The women’s final on Saturday features two Czech players, Karolina Muchova against Linda Noskova.

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AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

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

The exact source of one of the nation's largest outbreaks in years of cyclospora infections is still not known. And it can be hard to figure out what food sick people had in common because sometimes it’s a single ingredient that might be common in multiple recipes — like basil or cilantro.

Luckily cyclospora infections are generally treatable with antibiotics and rarely cause serious complications.

And there are ways to avoid getting it altogether.

Here are tips for reducing the risk:

Cyclospora can be tricky to investigate

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 1,500 people in Michigan have been diagnosed with the parasitic infection and investigations into similar illnesses have been going on in 30 other states, making it the largest such outbreak in state history and one of the nation’s largest in years. No deaths have been reported.

Cyclospora surges can be tricky to investigate, and food poisoning sources can be hard to establish. Investigations can take months and sometimes never find a clear source.

In the past, people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water. Also, it’s possible that food distributors may channel contaminated foods to both grocery stores and restaurants, making it hard to discern where tainted food came from.

Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces.

Food safety tips

While the source of the outbreak is unknown, it's a reminder to always practice basic hygiene, including washing hands with soap and water after using the bathroom and before handling food, said Dr. Erika Noel, an assistant professor at Hawaii's medical school and a pediatrician on the island of Kauai.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers don't kill cyclospora, but soap and water are highly effective at killing or removing the parasite from hands.

Previous outbreaks have been linked to raspberries, basil, cilantro, snow peas and salad mixes.

Noel has some tips for washing produce: When washing items like cilantro and basil, separate the leaves. For green onions, cut off the roots, remove the outer layer and run them under water while rubbing the surface. Cooking produce to an internal temperature of 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) or higher will kill cyclospora.

Research shows that washing fruits and vegetables in vinegar can be helpful. Vinegar won't kill the parasite but can help remove it. Noel recommends submerging produce in a bowl filled with three parts water and one part vinegar and swishing it around for a few minutes. Using a salad spinner to rinse with water can help get rid of the vinegary taste.

Instead of purchasing pre-mixed salad and washing individual leaves, opt for a head of lettuce and removing the outer layer.

For melons, scrub the outside before cutting through as the knife can carry germs from the rind into the fruit inside.

Peel fruits and vegetables as much as possible.

Don't forget to wash cutting boards and countertops.

Some produce can be challenging to clean

Anything with tight crevices or fragile skin can be challenging to clean, like broccoli and cauliflower. Because berries are challenging, Noel recommends cooking them in pies or making jam instead of eating them raw.

Anything grown underground and covered in thick dirt are also tough to clean, such as root vegetables like carrots, potatoes and radishes.

If using pre-mixed salads that have labels that indicated the items have been washed, it's best to wash them again in water and vinegar.

'We don't need to panic'

Noel doesn't want the outbreak to lead to people avoiding eating fruits and vegetables; the health benefits outweigh the risks.

“We don't need to panic,” she said.

Just be aware and ensure basic hygiene habits, which is always a good practice.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the club had not announced the extension.

The Cardinals picked Wetherholt seventh overall out of West Virginia two years ago in the first-year player draft, and he rocketed through their farm system. The 23-year-old made his major league debut on opening day and was hitting .267 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs and nine stolen bases going into Friday night's game against the Atlanta Braves.

The advanced metrics also have graded Wetherholt as one of the best defensive second basemen in baseball this season.

The emergence of Wetherholt in the middle of the St. Louis infield is a big reason the club has been one of the surprises of the first half of the season. The Cardinals were 48-44 and three games out of an NL wild-card spot heading into the weekend.

The deal is one of the first big signings for St. Louis since significant changes were made to the top of the organizational ladder.

Last September, Chaim Bloom took over as the Cardinals' president of baseball operations, replacing longtime general manager John Mozeliak. Then last month, Bill DeWitt III took over as chief executive officer, though Bill DeWitt Jr. has continued as its chairman and principal owner with a hand in baseball and business matters.

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

JAA’s Board of Directors will vote July 16 whether to authorize the filing of a complaint for declaratory judgment. An agenda prepared for the meeting included a copy of the complaint. The lawsuit seeks to define the legal boundary between JAA’s authority as a state agency and the City Council’s power over it.

Background

JAA was created by a special act of the Florida Legislature in 2004 as a separate body politic and political subdivision of the State of Florida — not a department or subsidiary of the City. The authority oversees four public airports in Duval County: Jacksonville International Airport, Cecil Airport and Spaceport, Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport, and Herlong Recreational Airport.

For more than two decades, JAA and the City operated without significant conflict, according to the complaint. JAA is entirely self-funded, generating revenue through landing fees, terminal rents, concessions, and other airport sources. It has never requested a budget appropriation from the City or its taxpayers.

Under its charter, JAA holds exclusive powers to manage its own projects, leases, contracts, revenues, and budget — subject only to limited, specific oversight granted to the Council by the Florida Legislature.

A fiscal dispute takes shape

The lawsuit traces the conflict’s origins to 2023, when Councilmember Nick Howland began pushing for what he described as redirecting JAA’s “excess profits” to “more productive uses.” Howland, who has since become Council President as of July 1, proposed a series of changes to the budget — including a $10 million contribution to the Kids Hope Alliance, a $25 million contribution to a JEA power-line project over the St. Johns River, and a $29 million contribution to fund a Florida State College at Jacksonville training center at Cecil Airport’s Hangar 14.

Each proposal was reviewed by the Federal Aviation Administration, outside aviation law experts, and the City’s own Office of General Counsel (OGC). Each time, JAA was advised the proposals would constitute unlawful revenue diversion in violation of federal law, according to the complaint.

“I don’t want to hear any more ‘no’s,’” Howland reportedly told JAA leaders at a budget hearing in August 2025, according to the complaint. When JAA’s CEO explained the refusals came from the FAA — not JAA — Howland reportedly replied, “Let’s see if we can work together to get your boss to a ‘yes.’”

The budget amendment

On Aug. 15, 2025, the Council Finance Committee voted to amend JAA’s submitted 2026 budget, inserting approximately $13 million in spending that JAA had not requested, budgeted for, or approved. The amendment included $10 million earmarked to “potentially fund” a Northeast Advanced Aviation Maintenance Training Center at Hangar 14 at Cecil Airport.

The move was significant for multiple reasons. Hangar 14 is currently leased to Jacksonville Jetport, LLC, which operates the Million Air fixed-base operation at Cecil Airport through a long-term lease running to 2041. According to the lawsuit, Counsel for Million Air warned the Council President that the amendment would interfere with their lease and place JAA in violation of the Grant Assurances it made to the FAA.

As JAA prepared to enter the bond market to raise approximately $300 million for a new concourse at Jacksonville International Airport, five of the nine investment banks that applied to underwrite the issuance flagged the Council’s interference as a risk to JAA’s autonomy and bondholder security. JAA publicly acknowledged this “could cause a lower credit rating, higher interest rates, or cause investors not to want to invest in the bonds.”

JAA’s Board voted Sept. 29, 2025, to oppose the amendment and decline to implement it.

FAA weighs in

According to the complaint on June 25, the FAA issued a written advisory letter to JAA’s Board, confirming JAA’s position. The letter itemized what the FAA called “extraordinary external pressures” being placed on JAA — including proposals to fund power-line elevation for JEA, distribute airport funds to the Kids Hope Alliance, and finance a vocational-technical school — and concluded such initiatives “would likely constitute unlawful revenue diversion.”

The FAA also expressed “serious concern” about “reports that JAA executive leadership has faced threats of personnel action for adhering to Federal grant assurances, alongside proposals to alter the JAA charter to privatize the airport.” Copies of the FAA letter were transmitted to the Florida Department of Transportation, the Mayor, and Council leadership.

Legal battle over independent counsel

The lawsuit also centers on JAA’s right to hire its own attorneys. After the Council Finance Committee’s budget hearing, JAA retained the law firm Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC, which issued a written memorandum concluding the Council had exceeded its limited fiscal authority.

The City’s General Counsel sharply disagreed — and in October 2025, sent the Lawson firm a termination letter, purportedly firing JAA’s independent counsel.

The complaint argues that OGC cannot represent JAA in a dispute where it simultaneously represents the Council — an adverse party — creating an irreconcilable conflict of interest. It further argues that JAA’s charter expressly allows it to “sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, complain, and defend in all courts.”

The City’s General Counsel has contended that JAA lacks the authority to bring this suit at all, according to the complaint.

What JAA is asking the court to decide

The complaint seeks eight declaratory judgments from the Circuit Court, asking the court to rule on the following questions:

• Count I: Is JAA an agency of the State of Florida — not a component or subsidiary of the City?
• Count II: Does the City Council have any right of ownership or control over JAA’s revenues?
• Count III: Is the Council’s fiscal authority limited strictly to increasing or decreasing budget appropriations JAA itself requests?
• Count IV: Is JAA an independent — not dependent — special district under Florida law?
• Count V: Are the City General Counsel’s legal opinions binding on JAA, or does JAA retain the right to seek judicial review?
• Count VI: Can JAA retain independent legal counsel when OGC has a conflict of interest?
• Count VII: Does the Council’s investigative and subpoena power extend to JAA as a separate state agency?
• Count VIII: Are JAA’s powers over its own projects, leases, and contracts exclusive — beyond the Council’s reach?

JAA’s position

Throughout the dispute, JAA says it has offered to partner with the City and FSCJ in ways that federal law permits — including providing existing hangar and training space to FSCJ at reduced rental rates, an option the FAA itself suggested. The City has declined to engage on those alternatives, according to the complaint.

What happens next?

A special meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. July 16 at the JAA administration building’s Ed Austin board room. the only listed action item is the proposed resolution.

If approved, the resolution would authorize outside counsel to prepare and file an action for declaratory and related relief against the city, asking the court to clarify the powers of the JAA and the city council under state law and the JAA’s governing charter.

The authority’s meeting notice says the meeting will be held in person and includes time for public comment.

Jacksonville council president defends authority over JAA amid lawsuit threat

Jacksonville City Council President Nick Howland is pushing back against the Jacksonville Aviation Authority’s plans to sue the city, saying the council acted within its legal authority — and that state lawmakers unanimously agreed.

“By an 18 to zero vote, city council passed changes to JAA’s budget, as well as a J bill to send to state legislature to change their charter,” Howland told News4JAX Anchor Kent Justice on This Week in Jacksonville. “By a vote of 149 to zero, the state legislator changed their charter to enumerate JAA’s role in economic development at Cecil Field.”

Howland said the legal groundwork has already been laid.

“Absolutely convinced because we already had it reviewed by the Office of General Counsel,” Howland said, responding to concerns that the council’s proposals could violate FAA rules and jeopardize federal funding. “Proposals don’t violate law.”

Cecil Field aerospace hub at heart of dispute

At the center of the debate is Cecil Airport and Spaceport, which Howland envisions becoming a major aerospace and job creation hub for Jacksonville. He said the council’s proposed investments fall within FAA-permissible categories.

“FAA Revenue Diversion Law also has a whole section about permissible investments,” Howland said. “And that is one of the investments that we proposed in last year’s budget meeting — to grow Cecil Airport and Spaceport to be an aerospace hub. It will create thousands of jobs and be a major job growth engine.”

Response from City of Jacksonville

News4JAX reached out to the city of Jacksonville, which said:

“We are aware and decline to comment on the potential lawsuit.

Response from Jacksonville Aviation Authority

The Jacksonville Aviation Authority also declined to comment, saying:

“Prior to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA) Board of Directors meeting on July 16, we’ll let the proposed legal action speak for itself. The Aviation Authority will have no further comment until the JAA Board votes on this matter next week.”

As comfortable as McIlroy looked, Scheffler struggled from the start and wound up with a 72 to miss the 36-hole cut for the first time in nearly four years. He had made 78 cuts in a row, the longest streak since Tiger Woods set the record (142) more than 20 years ago.

“Got off to a poor start and after that, I didn’t really it close enough to give myself a bunch of looks,” Scheffler said. “That’s how you shoot over par.”

Jordan Smith of England had the low score of the tournament with a 63 and was the first to post at 9-under 131, joined by the resurgent Tom Kim (66) and McIlroy, who has not won since going back-to-back in the Masters in April.

“It would have been nice to be a couple better,” McIlroy said. “But it’s obviously another good day and in good position.”

But the most surprising development at The Renaissance Club was Scheffler. Instead of heading to the range after his round, he was making plans to head south earlier than he imagined for his title defense in the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

He had not missed the cut since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Scheffler had company that was equally surprising. Patrick Cantlay and Bernd Wiesberger became the first players since Jordan Spieth at the 2023 Sony Open to share the 18-hole lead and then miss the cut. Cantlay shot a 74, while Wiesberger shot 43 on the back nine for a 78.

Brooks Koepka, who was one shot off the lead going into Friday, also missed the cut.

McIlroy, who won the Scottish Open three years ago, found a new wedge to help him with firm turf at Renaissance and next week at Birkdale. He still faces a busy leaderboard going into the weekend.

Smith ran off four straight birdies early on the back nine, all of them inside 10 feet. Kim, who tied for third in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 seven and finished with two birdies on his last five holes.

Kim fell out of the top 100 in the world before steadily climbing back up. The U.S. Open was a big step, and it eventually got him into the British Open next week.

“I think being under the radar was kind of nice, just be able to work on my game and keep getting better,” Kim said. “Not being in the spotlight all the time, you don’t see everything, you don’t see all the good stuff. I knew I was really, really close. And I’m still working towards trying to be the best I can be. But all those little things kind of kept adding, kept adding, and I think it’s shown the last couple weeks.”

Matt Fitzpatrick had a 65 and was one shot out of the lead along with Min Woo Lee. The group at 133 included defending champion Chris Gotterup and Scotland's own Robert MacIntyre, who thrilled the gallery in the arena around the par-3 15th with a 30-foot birdie putt. The cheer was so loud he raised his putter to salute them.

Gotterup, who played alongside McIlroy and MacIntyre, was one shot out of the lead playing the 18th when he drove right into high, wispy grass. With the wind at his back, his iron bounced hard and rolled close to 100 yards, onto and through the green and against a television tower.

He chipped beautifully from the drop area, but failed to convert the par. Even so, he was only two back going for his fourth win of the year. Gotterup is coming off a victory last week in the John Deere Classic.

The British Open is offering three spots to the leading finishers not already qualified. Among those in position at the halfway point was Nicolai Von Dellingshausen of Germany, at No. 258 in the world who won his first European tour event last year in the Austrian Open.

“Honestly, I was nervous,” he said. “This is the best player field I've played during the year. There are a couple good names out there. Trying not to look too much into it and playing my own game.”

___

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

Government spokesman Bayo Onanuga did not specify the total number of students rescued, but authorities said at the time of the abductions on May 15 that more than 40 people had been abducted. One of the teachers abducted alongside the students was killed shortly afterward.

Eight militants were arrested as part of the operation, while an unspecified number of the militants were killed, Onanuga said.

The abductions in a southern state had represented an escalation of the country’s security crisis because most such abductions previously had taken place in the north.

“This successful military operation has ended the siege and standoff of over 50 days and has brought relief to the entire nation and the affected families in particular," Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said in a statement.

In the same week as the Oyo abduction, dozens of children were kidnapped in Borno, the epicenter of Nigeria's security crisis.

Abductions at schools are common in Nigeria, where militant groups target them to put pressure on the government and extract ransoms.

The 23-year-old Robinson decided not to testify in the hearing. He's charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. State District Judge Tony Graf didn't say when he would rule.

Robinson’s lawyers called a final witness in an attempt to raise doubts about DNA evidence in the prosecution’s case. The defense previously challenged the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body and fought the release of a recorded interview with Robinson’s roommate.

The Latest:

Some emotional final moments in the courtroom for the Kirk family

At the end of the day’s proceedings, the judge allowed Kirk’s family and the rest of those in the courtroom to view an edited, enhanced version of the surveillance video that prosecutors said showed Tyler Robinson at the time of the shooting.

Graf agreed to show the video in court — but out of view of the media camera’s livestream — after Jeffrey Neiman, the Kirk family’s attorney, argued that they had a right to see evidence the judge would consider when deciding whether to send Robinson to trial.

The video then played, showing someone on the rooftop where Robinson allegedly fired a single bullet that hit Kirk in the neck.

Kirk’s widow, Erika, watched intently as the person ran across the roof, but when the figure dropped to a crawl near the roof’s edge, she turned and embraced Kirk’s mother, who was crying. They held each other and looked away until the video was almost over.

Kirk family calls preliminary hearing a ‘step forward in the pursuit of justice’

Kirk’s family released a statement shortly after the court session ended expressing gratitude for the support and prayers offered to them and saying the preliminary hearing “marks an important step forward in the pursuit of justice for Charlie.”

“As difficult as these last few days have been, it brings our family comfort to know that the world has witnessed the overwhelming evidence of what occurred to Charlie that day,” the family wrote.

“Nothing will ever undo the loss of our beloved Charlie. As this case moves into its next phase, we pray that truth will continue to be heard through a process that is fair, transparent, and grounded in the facts.”

Attorney Jeffrey Neiman, who represents the Kirk family, left the courthouse without answering questions.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee says evidence against Robinson is ‘damning’

The Republican senator attended Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing on Thursday, along with far-right influencer Jack Posobiec.

“It’s damning,” Lee said in a video he posted to the social media site X. “It contains multiple confessions by the defendant Tyler Robinson acknowledging not only that he killed Charlie Kirk, but acknowledging that he did so having planned it in advance in great detail and acknowledging at one point that he was motivated by hate.”

Preliminary hearing is done for now, final arguments will be in September

Both sides are done presenting evidence for the preliminary hearing and State District Judge Tony Graf has adjourned.

The hearing won’t resume until Sept. 1, when both sides will make their final arguments to the judge about whether Tyler Robinson should stand trial.

The long break is intended to give the attorneys time to write legal briefs.

Analyst says rifle DNA testing was at least ‘1 trillion times more likely' to support inclusion of Tyler Robinson

The ATFE forensic biologist said under cross-examination that testing on swabs taken from several parts of the rifle and ammunition supports the conclusion that the DNA found was primarily contributed by Tyler Robinson.

DNA from more than person was found on some of the items, Oliver told Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride. The testing also looks for the highest concentration of the DNA found on an item in order to help determine the “major contributor” of that DNA profile.

The DNA samples on some parts of the rifle were at least 1 trillion times more likely to have been contributed by Tyler Robinson and one other unrelated person, than they were to have been contributed by two unknown, unrelated people, Oliver said.

Defense questions forensic biologist about DNA testing techniques

Caitlin Oliver, a forensic biologist at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is testifying about the DNA techniques used in the case.

Items tested for DNA include a towel and rifle found in a wooded area near the Utah Valley University campus after the shooting and a rotary tool that Tyler Robinson’s roommate told investigators the defendant used to engrave messages on bullets.

Prosecutors tried to preemptively strike Oliver’s testimony, saying the evidence is already overwhelming and devastating for the defense, but the judge wanted to hear it.

Defense attorney Richard Novak asked Oliver about industry recommendations for describing DNA results, ways DNA samples are extracted and different testing methods. Oliver said her lab uses “likelihood ratios” and doesn’t definitively conclude that a person’s DNA was on an object.

“So from a scientific standpoint, you couldn’t ... blast a headline in the media, ‘Mr. Robinson’s DNA found on this item,’?” Novak asked.

Correct, Oliver said.

Judge says news media camera can stay, but can’t record video of evidence today

Graf said after reviewing livestream recording that it’s clear the news media camera operator caught the issue first, about 14 seconds before the judge himself spotted it and asked that the exhibit be taken down.

“Compliance with court orders is essential in all proceedings,” Graf says, and protecting the constitutional rights of both defendant Tyler Robinson and Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk is “paramount.”

Transparency for the public is also important, Graf said.

Defense attorney Richard Novak wanted the judge to bar the news media camera from the courtroom for the rest of the preliminary hearing as well as for a Sept. 1 proceeding, when both sides will present final arguments over whether the case should go to trial.

But Graf said the camera can stay, as long as it doesn’t record video of any evidence presented. He later noted that the livestream’s audio can capture discussion about such evidence.

Media attorney says courtroom livestreams are a team effort

Typically, an announcement is made that an exhibit is going to be shown on the courtroom screen. That gives the camera operator a moment to redirect the camera or to wait a beat before focusing in, depending on what the judge has ordered.

But in this case, prosecutors showed the exhibit with no warning, news media attorney Michael Judd said.

Judd said the camera operator quickly realized what had happened and moved the camera away within about two seconds.

Deputy Utah County Attorney Ryan McBride agreed that the image should not have appeared on the livestream, but told the judge the text of the messages — if not the actual image — had already been made public in law enforcement documents.

Graf said he wants to review the livestream recording before deciding how to handle the violation.

Judge is deciding how to handle a violation of an order barring some evidence from public view

Graf is taking a break to review livestream footage from Thursday, because a piece of evidence that was supposed to be kept from public view was briefly shown on camera.

The evidence — an image of written communication between Tyler Robinson and his then-roommate and romantic partner — has been published and is even able to be purchased as photographic prints, defense attorney Richard Novak told the judge. He said the publication violated Robinson’s fair-trial rights, and he wants the judge to issue sanctions, a kind of legal punishment.

The judge allowed prosecutors to display an image of the evidence on Thursday, but said it could only be shown to the courtroom gallery. Later, prosecutors put up a side-by-side comparison of that image with another photo, and the side-by-side view was briefly caught by the news media camera operator, who quickly panned away.

Salt Lake City woman came bearing gifts for the Kirk family

Tiani Shoemaker drove about an hour from her Salt Lake City home bearing gifts for Charlie Kirk’s mother and hoping for a seat in the courtroom. Security turned her away.

Shoemaker said she brought a hat decorated with the words, “love like a mother,” and a note expressing her condolences and admiration for Kathryn Kirk.

The note was to tell Kirk that “the whole world’s hurting because of the loss of your son,” Shoemaker said, adding that she wanted to be “a part of history.”

“This really is like the whole world is focused on little Provo, Utah right now,” she said.

Shoemaker said some of her friends and extended family members witnessed the shooting and were left traumatized. “They couldn’t even be in large crowds for a while. It’s really — it’s upsetting, you know?”

Zoomed-in version of ‘sniper’s perch’ video to be shown in court

The judge said at the close of Thursday’s hearing that at the request of Kirk’s family, he would allow to be shown inside the courtroom an altered version of a campus surveillance video that prosecutors said shows Robinson crawling out to a rooftop “sniper’s perch” before shooting Kirk.

The unaltered video was previously shown. The altered version includes footage that zooms in on a figure that prosecutors said was Robinson and red marks that were added to the video.

Court is in session

Graf is again reminding attendees of his courtroom rules, including restrictions on electronic devices for many attendees.

Court security director says courtroom visitors shouldn’t look at the parents

Chris Palmer, Court Security Director at Utah State Courts, spoke outside the courthouse as people lined up again hoping for a spot in the courtroom. He warned them that people in the gallery should not make the parents of Charlie Kirk or Tyler Robinson feel uncomfortable by looking at them during the hearing.

“These people come here to get justice, and they don’t need to feel like they’re under a microscope from somebody sitting behind them or ahead of them,” Palmer said.

Joshua Carr of Provo, Utah, was among those in the gallery and said “People were pretty respectful.”

“I wasn’t seeing people turning their heads. Again, we have the — the public was there. We had the Robinson family in front of us, we had the Kirk family behind us.”

Would-be court watchers hope persistence will pay off

Billie Webb of Salt Lake City was among the people who slept outside the courthouse all night hoping to get one of the few public seats inside the hearing.

“I’ve tried to go every single day,” Webb said Thursday night. “Today I wasn’t able to get in once again. I did get in yesterday for the first time. I did get in yesterday for the first time and I am absolutely determined to be there tomorrow.”

“Showed up at 3 a.m. Today for this one. Still did not get in. I was 16th and there’s 14 spots. So I will be camping all night here today. Probably 12 hours. 9 p.m. to 9 a.m.,” she said.

Score. Friday morning, Webb got the pink wristband she needed for a spot inside.

There are only 14 seats for the public in the courtroom

People have been lining up early — sometimes sleeping outside the doors overnight — in hopes of getting a wristband for a seat in the courthouse this week. Only 14 wristbands are given out each day, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Chris Palmer, the court’s director of security, warned Thursday morning that tents and other camping supplies won’t be allowed as people seek a seat for the final day of the hearing Friday. He also warned against jumping in line or saving spots for someone else.

Earlier in the week, court security said it discovered some people had bought colored wristbands to try to sneak in.

Defense tries to sow doubt about ballistics evidence

One of Tyler Robinson’s attorneys, Michael Burt, tried to inject doubt into the prosecution’s case by challenging the reliability of ballistics tests on a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body.

Authorities sought to tie the fragment to the suspected murder weapon, but the results were inconclusive.

“Saying anything but inconclusive was inappropriate,” said Samantha Karner with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The defense earlier in the week had questioned the reliability of DNA evidence that investigators said linked Robinson to the scene. Experts say the science behind DNA testing is sound.

Robinson’s attorneys plan to have a second person from ATF testify Friday.

The prosecution ended its presentation Thursday afternoon.

Testimony in five-day preliminary hearing wraps Friday

After testimony in the preliminary hearing ends Friday, State District Judge Tony Graf will rule whether prosecutors have shown enough evidence to proceed to trial. But a decision from Graf won’t come immediately.

Attorneys on both sides say they’d like the benefit of seeing the court transcript of the preliminary hearing and want to submit written briefs before Graf weighs in.

That will take weeks to play out. Graf set oral arguments on the evidence presented in the preliminary hearing for Sept. 1.

Graf tends not to make immediate rulings.

Anthony Hildreth was booked into the Duval County jail on June 30 just before 10:30 p.m. He faces one count of aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony.

Infant taken to hospital with breathing issues

The incident began in the early morning hours of June 30, when police say Hildreth and a witness brought an infant to Baptist South hospital at approximately 3 a.m. due to breathing concerns.

Medical staff at Baptist South conducted an X-ray of the child, which revealed two fractured ribs, according to the report. The infant was then transported to Wolfson Children’s Hospital for further evaluation.

Police say a skeletal survey performed at Wolfson Children’s Hospital revealed the infant had sustained 24 rib fractures and one fracture to the right femur near the knee — a total of 25 fractures.

A Physician’s Assistant told investigators the rib fractures were likely caused by the child being squeezed with great force, as the fractures were bilateral.

Suspect described caregiving techniques to investigators

JSO investigators were initially dispatched to Wolfson Children’s Hospital to assist the Department of Children and Families with the investigation.

According to the arrest report, Hildreth told investigators he had taken over sole care of the infant at approximately 9:30 p.m. on June 29. He said the child was gassy and that he used several techniques to provide relief, including squeezing the child’s ribs with increasing pressure until the child passed gas, as well as “bicycle kicks” — pushing the infant’s legs toward its chest.

According to police, Hildreth told investigators he became frustrated when he was unable to soothe the infant. He also acknowledged that the child’s breathing appeared different after he applied pressure to the ribs.

Regarding the femur fracture, Hildreth told investigators he was unsure how it occurred, but said the child’s leg had gotten stuck in a swaddling device and that he pulled harder on the device without realizing it.

According to court documents included in the report, the judge set bond at $50,003 and placed Hildreth on home detention with electronic monitoring.

Sidney Harrell was arrested July 6 on a warrant during a traffic stop — after JSO says an officer caught him speeding again, more than four months after the deadly crash. He faces three counts each of vehicular homicide, DUI manslaughter and DUI causing injury, as well as a charge of driving while license suspended or revoked.

Deadly chain reaction

On the afternoon of March 1, JSO officers responded to a multi-vehicle crash on Atlantic Boulevard in the Empire Point area.

Witnesses told detectives Harrell was traveling westbound when he crossed the median into oncoming traffic, striking another vehicle head-on before crashing into a second vehicle. The first vehicle was then struck by another car and burst into flames, trapping three people inside.

Despite efforts by the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, a 50-year-old man and his two sons — ages 13 and 14 — died at the scene. Three other individuals were seriously injured.

Speed, recklessness, impairment: What investigators say they found

JSO says its Traffic Homicide Unit launched an investigation, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.

Detectives learned Harrell did not have a valid driver’s license at the time of the crash. He only possessed a learner’s permit, which had been suspended in January 2026.

JSO says surveillance video showed Harrell driving at a high rate of speed. Data from the vehicle’s electronic data recorder showed he had the accelerator at 100% and was traveling 98 mph on Atlantic Boulevard just seconds before impact.

A witness also reported that Harrell had been weaving in and out of traffic and appeared to be smoking a “blunt” at a red light. A toxicology test confirmed a large amount of THC in Harrell’s system at the time of the crash.

Charges

He is charged with:

• Driving while license suspended or revoked
• Three counts of vehicular homicide
• Three counts of DUI manslaughter
• Three counts of DUI causing injury

In the standings? Of course not.

Led by All-Star third baseman Miguel Vargas, the White Sox have emerged as one of the top surprises and are in AL Central contention after enduring three straight 100-loss seasons.

In the MLB draft? The White Sox have the No. 1 pick in the draft for Saturday's event in Philadelphia as part of All-Star Game weekend festivities.

The No. 1 pick belongs to Chicago — after it lost 102 games last season and won the draft lottery — and perhaps a future star that can help the White Sox win their first World Series title since 2005 will get selected in the top spot.

There are no clear-cut No. 1 picks in this year's draft much like current Philadelphia Phillies slugger and 2026 All-Star Bryce Harper was in 2010.

The White Sox will likely pick one from the following three players: UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson or Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey.

MLB said Friday no amateur players are scheduled to attend the draft, which is the same as last year.

Here's a look at the most enticing prospects for the White Sox and the rest of the teams drafting early in the first round.

— Cholowsky. A 6-foot-2 right-handed hitter, he was a Golden Spikes finalist at UCLA and had a 1.088 OPS with 21 homers and 60 RBIs in his junior season.

— Lackey. The 21-year-old catcher didn't receive any Division I offers until his senior year of high school and has since blossomed into one of the top catching prospects in the draft out of Georgia Tech. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder showed some versatility by also playing third base.

— Emerson. Just 18 years old, the 6-3, 185-pound shortstop bats left, throws right and is widely considered the best all-around player in the draft.

The White Sox are in win-now mode after years of rebuilding and could lean toward a college player such as Cholowsky. Cholowsky is a proven prospect with plenty of seasoning at a major college program and could help the White Sox faster, even maybe this season — except for the pitchers they may draft.

“Most of the guys we take, even if they played in college versus a high school pick, they haven’t thrown competitively in a while," White Sox director of player development Paul Janish said. “You have the draft in July, the minor-league season is over in early September. There’s not a huge window. You take all those things in consideration, really the motive is health. We’re going to get you as ready as you can be for next spring training to have a good first full pro season.”

Like father, like son

Jim Thome helped changed the perception of the Phillies from long-time losers to championship contenders when he left Cleveland and signed a six-year, $85 million ahead of the 2003 season. Thome hit 47 homers in his first season, his 400th career homer the next in Citizens Bank Park's first season and now can enjoy another milestone in the city — his 18-year-old son, Landon, is a likely first-round pick.

The Nazareth Academy (Illinois) infielder, who is committed to Florida State, is ranked among the top 50 prospects.

“All the hard work, which at the end of the day, they do it all. As a dad, you sit back, you watch the journey," the elder Thome told MLB Network.

There are more familiar names that could be called during the draft.

Rutgers outfielder Peyton Bonds is MLB's career home run leader Barry Bonds' nephew. Houston first baseman Carsten Sabathia III is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia. Gulliver Prep (Florida) shortstop Jacob Lombard is considered one of the top five available prospects and is the son of Detroit Tigers bench coach and former major leaguer George Lombard.

The draft order

Here's the rest of the top 10 following Chicago for the start of the draft Saturday.

Tampa Bay picks second and Minnesota is third. San Francisco is fourth and Pittsburgh fifth. Kansas City, Baltimore, the Athletics, Atlanta and Colorado round out the top 10.

Potential draft changes

Baseball owners proposed banning high school players from signing with major league teams, raising the age for international amateurs and slashing the money spent on signing bonuses as part of the recent negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The amateur draft for players residing in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico would be cut from 20 rounds to 12 beginning in 2027 under the proposal Major League Baseball made during a bargaining session with the players’ association. An identical 12-round draft would be started for international prospects, a proposal the union has rejected in the past.

Starting in 2028, a prospect for the amateur draft would have to be at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class — a restriction that also would eliminate players who completed their first year of junior college.

Cooperstown calls

Since the draft began in 1965, more than 50 Hall of Famers have been selected by the team that eventually signed them. The Hall of Fame class of 2026 features two former draft picks: Jeff Kent was taken in the 20th round in 1989 by the Toronto Blue Jays; and Carlos Beltrán was a second-round pick by the Royals in 1995. The 1989 draft has now produced five future Hall of Famers, the most of any single draft in history, with Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Trevor Hoffman, Jim Thome and Kent having been selected.

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

The sheriff’s office said a caller reported seeing a dog trying to climb out of the back of a U-Haul as it traveled down the road Thursday. Deputies located the truck at a RaceTrac convenience store at 301 Palm Coast Parkway Northeast and opened the roll-up door.

Inside, they found a 70-pound pit bull mix having difficulty standing and an English bulldog of about 80 pounds that could not stand, the office said. Both dogs were lying in their own urine and drank water deputies gave them. Animal control officers who responded determined the animals were suffering from neglect and transported them to East Coast Animal Hospital for emergency treatment.

Deputies also found two full-grown pigeons inside a closed storage box with no air holes; animal control said the birds were in distress and took them to the same veterinary clinic for care.

The driver, Angel Valdes, 70, of Miami, told deputies the dogs “just needed water,” the sheriff’s office said. He and his son, Roy Valdes Hernandez, 35, of Miami, were arrested on animal-cruelty charges and taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility. Both were later released on $500 bond.

The arrest reports say other adults in the group were aware the animals were being transported in the cargo area; the sheriff’s office forwarded information on two other adults to the state attorney’s office for further review.

Sheriff Rick Staly urged people not to leave animals or people in hot vehicles. “If you wouldn’t ride in a metal box in 102-degree heat with no air, don’t force an animal to do it,” he said. “Remember, if it has a heartbeat don’t leave it unattended in any vehicle, especially in the current heat wave we are having.”

Photos and body-worn camera footage from the incident were uploaded to the sheriff’s office evidence system, the agency said. The sheriff’s office credited the caller’s report with prompting the response.

Ward, 28, who starred in the Netflix crime drama “Top Boy,” sobbed after a jury in Snaresbrook Crown Court found him not guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault.

Ward has appeared in films including “Blue Story,” “The Book of Clarence” and last year's American political satire “Eddington,” alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal.

In 2020, he won the Rising Star award at the British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTAs. He was nominated for an acting BAFTA for Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light” and for a BAFTA television award for the Steve McQueen-directed series “Small Axe.”

Ward had denied the charges and said he had “full faith” he’d be cleared of the charges. He testified at trial that he met the woman at a party and that they had consensual sex.

Defense lawyer Humzah Ilyas said Ward had put his life on hold for more than three years and was “looking forward to getting back to doing the work he loves.”

The free showcases, presented by PNC Bank, will run over three weekends — Sept. 4-6, Sept. 11-13 and Sept. 18-20 — and feature a range of genres including indie rock, jazz, bluegrass and country. Organizers say the series puts Northeast Florida’s music scene at the center of the festival celebration.

“The Local Artist Showcases represent what Sing Out Loud has been about from the beginning: celebrating the artists, venues and music community that make this region special,” Pepper Miller, programming coordinator for Sing Out Loud, said. “As we commemorate the festival’s 10th anniversary, we are proud to provide more opportunities than ever for audiences to discover local music throughout St. Augustine.”

In addition to the local showcases, the festival week will include several special events:

• Sing Out Loud Music Business Panel, free, Wednesday, Sept. 23 at Spinster Abbott’s (RSVP required).
• Sip Out Loud, ticketed, Thursday, Sept. 24 at Bin 39.
• St. Augustine Songwriters Festival, free, Thursday, Sept. 24–Sunday, Sept. 27 at multiple venues.
• St. Augustine Record Fair, presented by ToneVendor Records, free, Sunday, Sept. 27 at The St. Augustine Amphitheatre.

“Over the past decade, Sing Out Loud has evolved into a major asset for the region, creating opportunities for local artists, drawing visitors to the area and supporting businesses throughout the community,” said Chris Kalin, PNC regional president for North and Central Florida.

Participating venues include Bin 39 Wine Bar, Boat Drinks, Casa de Vino 57, Colonial Oak Music Park, Dog Rose Brewing, Hornski’s Brewing Co., Ink & Barley, Jimmy Hula’s, Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center, Prohibition Kitchen, Ragga Surf Café, Sarbez, Shanghai Nobby’s, Spinster Abbott’s, St. Augustine Elks Lodge, The Waterworks and Tonevendor Records.

Sing Out Loud Festival is produced by SJC Cultural Events Inc., the nonprofit that operates the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Ponte Vedra Concert Hall and produces the Fort Mose Jazz & Blues Series. Festival organizers say more performances and special events will be announced in the coming weeks.

For the full schedule and details, visit singoutloudfestival.com.

“This case was always about two courageous young girls who simply wanted the same opportunities as their peers to participate in school life,” their lawyer, Chris Erchull of GLAD Law, said in a statement Thursday. “Their willingness to stand up to extraordinary hostility made clear the human cost of laws that target transgender youth.”

The teenagers, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, took on Trump’s executive order last year, amending their 2024 complaint against New Hampshire's law on banning transgender girls from school sports. A federal judge had granted a court order allowing them to play as the case proceeded.

For Tirrell, it meant being able to keep playing on her high school girls’ soccer team. For Turmelle, it was having a chance to try out for different sports.

Both sides agreed to pause the case and wait for a ruling from the Supreme Court as it considered similar state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school and college athletic teams in Idaho and West Virginia. Last month, the court upheld the laws. It also said that barring transgender girls and women doesn’t run afoul of the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education.

One teen and her family decided to move from New Hampshire

Turmelle and her family moved out of New Hampshire last summer following proposed legislation against transgender people. One measure signed into law by Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte last year prohibits medical professionals from providing puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy to new transgender patients under age 18.

“Though there may be a carve-out for people already receiving gender-affirming care, that is way too close a call for us to risk staying,” Turmelle's mother, Amy Manzetti, wrote in an op-ed piece at the time. “Other New Hampshire laws also seek to erase her.”

Most Republican-controlled states in the past five years have adopted laws or policies limiting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and limiting which school bathrooms transgender people can use, as well as sports restrictions. The Williams Institute at UCLA estimates that about 3% of youth ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender.

“The challenges with relocation are significant and burdensome — this includes having to find new employment, buying and selling homes, packing and moving possessions, integrating kids with a new school system, losing access to longstanding family and friends, and potential loss of income,” Corinne Goodwin, the executive director of Eastern PA Trans Equality Project in Pennsylvania, said in an email.

"But these families do so because they love their kids and know that supporting them with the care and opportunities they need is critical to their long-term success and happiness.”

The other teen gave up playing soccer at high school

Tirrell, 17, began her junior year last fall on the girls' junior varsity soccer team. Things were fine at first, and each time she scored a goal, she got a round of ice cream from her parents. But a few weeks into the season, she decided to stop playing.

“With all of the political stuff going on, soccer wasn't just about the game anymore,” her mother, Sara Tirrell, told The Associated Press in an interview.

It became more about preparing for the possibility of conflict.

“Were there any local Facebook groups where they were sort of agitating about potential protests and how do we prepare, and what are we walking into, and we never kind of knew,” she said. “We were on a lot of pins and needles, especially after the previous season."

She was referring to a controversy at an away game where two dads from an opposing team were banned from school grounds for wearing pink wristbands marked “XX” to represent female chromosomes. They sued the school district and a judge ruled against them. They have appealed their case.

Last fall, there was an increased presence of school administrators at the games and bus drivers pulled in closer to the field so the students weren’t in the parking lot, she said.

“Parker didn’t talk about it a lot, but I think she could see that stress for everybody — for her, for her teammates, for her coaches,” Sara Tirrell said. "She felt kind of bad about pulling them all into that circus again. And so she ultimately said, ‘This isn’t fun anymore and I don’t want to do it.’”

Parker’s father described the atmosphere as “palpable tension.”

Even playing on her own turf, “there would typically be a couple of police officers at the home games where there weren’t previously,” Zach Tirrell said.

In the past, Parker also played soccer in a recreation league and could still do so.

“But I think it all kind of still sort of weighs on her,” her mother said. "It's the same group of kids that she plays with who, honestly, have been very supportive and love to have her on the team and have expressed that to her many times over. But I think she still has that worry in her brain around, ‘What are other people going to say and do if I show up at a game?’”

Parker's parents hope she'll return to playing soccer some day. In the meantime, “she plans to be around and use her voice to continue standing up to discrimination,” her mother said. “In some ways she’s had to grow up a lot faster than some of her peers.”

___

Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, New Jersey, contributed to this article.

In courthouses and public squares, they marked the nation's 250th anniversary with a dire warning: The rule of law in America is in grave danger. They delivered a similar message at a library in Grosse Pointe just outside Detroit — the last stop on an extraordinary tour to defend judicial independence and bolster trust in courts.

Americans' confidence in the court system and democracy has dipped in recent years. The country is more polarized, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the fairness of the judicial system.

Some judges on the tour said in phone interviews this week that the United States was at a precipice.

“Looking back in history, we have teetered," former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly said. "This is a moment where we can decide to reinstill those beliefs that we are a country of laws and not of men.”

Judges step off the bench

The four-day tour through the Rust Belt is a sharp departure for a typically reserved and insular branch of government. Federal judges in particular largely limit their comments to the courtroom and written decisions, focusing on the facts of individual cases.

But that restraint is loosening amid a barrage of attacks by Trump and other White House officials, the administration's rampant defiance of U.S. district court orders and its expansive view of executive power. Trump has called a district judge who ruled against one of his immigration moves “crooked” and suggested with no evidence that Supreme Court justices who struck down his tariffs were motivated by foreign interests.

More federal judges have recently begun talking about receiving death threats and profane messages, though they have not blamed Trump or any other officials. Some have blasted administration policies in sharply worded opinions that strayed beyond the legal dispute before them. Even U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has weighed in.

In an appearance in March, Roberts said personal criticism of federal judges was dangerous and had to stop. The rare rebuke from the head of the nation's top court came two days after Trump's remark about a “crooked” judge, though Roberts didn't mention Trump or anyone else by name.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threats against federal judges in the government fiscal year that ended in September, up from 509 the year before.

“I don’t want to say we have moved into an era of lawlessness, but it sometimes feels that way,” said former U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts, who joined the bus tour in Michigan.

Timothy Lewis, another former federal judge on the tour, said his concerns about the politicization of the judicial branch reached a tipping point a decade ago, when Senate Republicans thwarted President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Today, the rule of law is facing an "existential threat" from an ongoing breakdown of norms, according to Lewis, who spent seven years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“I have fundamental concerns," he said, “about where we are headed as a nation.”

Their route has been varied

The tour started Tuesday in the western Pennsylvania town of Greensburg — once the hub of a thriving coal industry that now lures visitors from nearby Pittsburgh for highland recreation and a historic downtown.

Judges mingled with customers at a coffee shop before speaking at the domed, ornate Westmoreland County Courthouse. Then it was off to Washington, also in western Pennsylvania. The town of 13,000 people, where about 15% of the population is Black, was a key stop on the Underground Railroad and a regional base for the Civil Rights Movement.

From there, the bus headed west for events Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, and the city of Wooster in Amish country. The judges stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant on the way. They spent Thursday in Cleveland before circling Lake Erie north to Michigan.

The two groups that planned the tour — dubbed “Justice in Motion” — say they were inspired by a similar campaign in Poland in 2021 after that country's governing party took control of key judicial institutions.

Independent Polish judges visited scores of towns to promote the rule of law and teach voters about the country's constitution. The U.S. tour also aims to educate people.

An effort to combat misinformation about what they do

Maureen O'Connor, a former chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, said judges risk ceding the narrative about their roles and motives to “voices of misinformation” if they don't speak up.

A letter she received years ago, and still keeps, reminds her of that danger. The writer accused O'Connor, a Republican, of betraying her party when she repeatedly struck down Republican-drawn legislative maps as illegal gerrymanders. “There was just a basic misunderstanding of what my role was as a judge,” O'Connor said.

O'Connor is among roughly 30 judges, including two former federal judges and two current federal judges, who participated in the tour. One of the federal judges was nominated by a Democrat, the other three by Republicans. The state judges, some of whom are also still on the bench, represented both parties.

They were joined by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, former Ohio attorneys general and a few lawyers. The event was put together by the Democracy Rising Collaborative and Keep Our Republic, nonpartisan advocacy groups.

Organizers say they chose stops that would get the judges in front of as many people as possible to build connections and trust. The judges embraced that mission.

“The lifeblood of the judiciary is public confidence,” Donnelly, the former Ohio Supreme Court justice, said. “If you lose that, it’s very difficult to get it back.”

The crash occurred about 10:08 a.m. on County Road 464 just west of SE 51st Avenue in Marion County, FHP said.

The pickup’s driver, a 67-year-old Ocala man, was injured and next of kin were notified, according to the patrol. A 52-year-old Ocala woman riding as a passenger in the pickup suffered serious injuries. The driver of the sport utility vehicle, a 59-year-old Ocala man, sustained minor injuries.

FHP’s preliminary investigation shows the pickup was traveling west in the outside lane when it failed to keep in its lane, ran off the right shoulder and struck a traffic sign. The vehicle continued off the road, struck two ditches, re-entered the roadway, then veered left into the eastbound lanes and struck the SUV on the front right and front left sides. The pickup later struck a fence and a tree before coming to rest, the patrol said.

The intersection has since reopened.

The break was at the intersection of Ash Street and Plainfield Avenue.

It’s unclear what caused the pipe to break, but officials for the Town of Orange Park said the main is about 20 feet underground and the city needed help from a contractor to complete the repairs.

Traffic was being detoured around the construction areas as crews worked to fix the issue.

British actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugh Laurie and Damian Lewis watched from the Royal Box, as did fashion designer Tom Ford and Anna Wintour.

Tendulkar, considered one of the greatest cricketers ever, retired in 2013 after playing in his 200th test match. Wimbledon called him “ cricket royalty.” Another former cricket star, Brian Lara of the West Indies, was also in the Royal Box, an area reserved for special guests invited by the All England Club.

Netherlands defender and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk was also a guest. The Dutch were eliminated at the World Cup in the round of 32.

The 88-year-old Hoffman wasn't in the Royal Box, though he was a guest there in 2024.

Earlier on Centre Court, Alexander Zverev advanced to Sunday's final by beating British wild card Arthur Fery.

___

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

Merlier was moved into position to attack by his Soudal Quick-Step team and timed his move well to clinch his fourth Tour stage win.

“I'm delighted. When I launched my sprint I didn't know how far it was," Merlier said. “But I made it, thanks to the team, it was great work from them. After all the hard work two days ago and today it feels good to know I could repay the guys.”

Four-time Tour champion Pogacar finished safely in the main pack along with two-time winner Jonas Vinegaard, his closest rival. He maintained his lead of 2 minutes, 42 seconds over second-placed Vinegaard in the overall standings.

Pogacar reclaimed the yellow jersey from Norwegian rider Torstein Traeen with a typical attacking masterclass in the mountains of the Pyrenees on Thursday.

Traeen crashed in that stage and, although he completed it, he pulled out of the Tour after medical tests revealed multiple rib fractures and concussion.

Stage 7 took riders on a mostly flat 175-kilometer (109-mile) route from Hagetmau to the wine-loving city of Bordeaux.

In sweltering conditions hitting 36 degrees (97 F) during an ongoing heatwave in the country, Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer formed a two-man breakaway with Czech Jakub Otruba. They were caught with 18 kilometers left by the chasing pack as teams looked to place their leading sprinter in position to contest the victory.

Veteran Mathieu van der Poel rode hard and put Jasper Philipsen at the front with 250 meters to go, but Philipsen could not sustain his attack and was overtaken by Merlier.

“With 600 meters to go I got boxed in," Merlier said. “But I told myself I would fight until the finish.”

Norwegian Soren Waerenskjold finished second and Eritrean Biniam Girmay placed third.

All three crossed the line in 3 hours, 44 minutes, 20 seconds.

Stage 8 on Saturday is also made for sprinters and ends in the southeastern city of Bergerac.

The race concludes with its traditional finish in Paris on July 26. ___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

The agency warned that visibility could deteriorate quickly because of smoke- or fog-like conditions, especially at night and in the early morning hours.

Drivers were advised to reduce speed as necessary and use low-beam headlights to adapt to changing conditions.

FHP encouraged motorists traveling in the area to remain alert and follow any directions from emergency personnel.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Shalika Katugaha with Baptist Health joined us on The Morning Show to share some important insights.

Keep it clean

She said the Cyclospora protozoan parasite can get caught in the bumps and ridges of some produce, like raspberries and leafy greens like basil, cilantro, lettuce, snap peas and mixed salads.

Katugaha explained that the Cyclospora gets on the produce through water contaminated with fecal matter that is carrying the parasite. And because people are infected with the Cyclospora from ingesting it, the illness is not passed from person to person.

But Katugaha said we don’t have to cut potentially contaminated foods from our diets to avoid getting sick.

“We have to have our fruits and vegetables, so let me tell you how to stay healthy,” she said.

1. Cook whatever vegetables can be cooked
2. Thoroughly wash fruits in running water to clean the bumps and ridges, preferably with the fruit and vegetable brush
3. Wash fruit even if you plan to peel it, so the parasite doesn’t transfer to the inside from your knife or peeler
4. Pat with a paper towel to remove even more bacteria
5. If you see bruised areas, get rid of it

She said chemical disinfectants don’t work on Cyclospora, so your best bet is washing and brushing to clean the grooves and bumps or with lettuce, taking off the head and eating the interior.

Signs and symptoms

Katugaha warned that, unlike other forms of food poisoning that can happen quickly, Cyclospora has an incubation period of seven days, making it difficult to trace the source.

Symptoms can include severe cramping, bloating, nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue and protracted watery diarrhea that can last several days (more than 48 hours). Katugaha said the diarrhea can wax and wane and stay for days, but anything longer than 48 hours and you should contact your doctor right away.

Most people can recover at home with plenty of rest and water, but Katugaha warned against using anti-diarrheal products, such as Imodium, because the toxin that’s making you sick will stay in your body.

“You want to see how the diarrhea plays out,” she said.

She encouraged those who fall ill to follow the traditional BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) and stick with breads, rice and lots of clear fluids to avoid dehydration.

Young children, older adults and those who are immunocompromised are especially vulnerable and suffer more severe symptoms, including gall bladder disease.

Local counties with confirmed cases (as of 7/9)

Duval County

Duval County has one recorded case in a patient between the ages of 25-29. That case was acquired outside of the United States.

St. Johns County

St. Johns County now has two cases. One confirmed case involved a patient between the ages of 70 and 74, with the infection believed to have been acquired in Florida. Another involved a patient between the ages of 35 and 39, also believed to have been acquired in Florida.

Alachua County

Alachua County recorded one confirmed case in a patient between the ages of 40 and 44. The source of acquisition for that case is unknown.

Columbia County

Columbia County recorded one confirmed case in a patient between the ages of 40 and 44. That case was acquired outside of the United States.

Flagler County

Flagler County recorded one confirmed case in a patient between the ages of 60 and 69. That case was also acquired outside of the United States.

Detectives traced a series of threatening messages that began in July 2025 to Tyler William Stinnett, 30, of Daytona Beach, officials said. One text identified the sender as “Nathan” and said, “I have this beautiful ar 15 ready for you I would recommend you to give my brother child back or you will not be seeing your family,” according to the arrest report. Investigators found similar messages sent from spoofed phone numbers to other DCF employees and a judge.

Detectives worked with DCF staff, Volusia County probation and the Oregon Fusion Center to pinpoint the sender, the sheriff’s office said. Volusia County detectives arrested Stinnett in February in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; he was later extradited to Volusia County, where he faces multiple charges for making threats against government employees.

After the Flagler County investigation was completed, the State Attorney’s Office issued a capias charging Stinnett with written threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism. He was served with the Flagler County charge July 8 while already being held in the Volusia County Jail on related counts.

Stinnett remains held at the Volusia County Jail without bond. His bond on the Flagler County charge is set at $10,000, the sheriff’s office said.

“This coward hid behind fake phone numbers to threaten a woman whose entire job is protecting children,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “We will relentlessly pursue anyone who threatens public servants, especially those who protect our community’s children.”

The case remains under investigation.

But eight months after its first mention and after repeated promises it was being drafted, the so-called MAHA agenda is nowhere to be found. When asked for a status update this week, an EPA spokesperson said MAHA is an ongoing effort, not a single report.

The apparent reversal on the release of a formal environmental health agenda is the latest in a cascade of disappointments for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s MAHA movement, who say they've lost faith that the Trump administration will take any significant action on pesticides, chemicals or other issues they view as key to address America's chronic disease epidemic. It also reflects the EPA's relentless rollback of environmental regulations even in the face of pressure from an important voting bloc that has supported President Donald Trump.

“I had really hoped that there would be specific steps that were taken through a MAHA agenda,” said activist Kelly Ryerson, whose social media account “Glyphosate Girl” focuses on nontoxic food systems. “We haven’t had any of the wins that we were requesting.”

Many in the diverse coalition of MAHA activists that Trump credits for helping him win back the White House say they plan to vote on issues over party in November's congressional elections, raising the political stakes of their increasingly public tensions with the Republican administration.

“People are done with the profits of corporations being prioritized over public health,” said Alexandra Muñoz, a molecular toxicologist who collaborates with activists on certain issues. “And I think that will have an important role in the midterms.”

MAHA is frustrated with EPA's actions

“Trump’s EPA,” as Zeldin frequently calls the agency, has vigorously pursued a deregulatory agenda. Earlier this year, Zeldin proposed overturning the landmark finding that climate change is a threat to human health. He moved to roll back dozens of environmental regulations in what he called “the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen,” froze billions of dollars for clean energy and upended agency research.

At the same time, Zeldin has touted multiple “MAHA wins," some of which activists say are anything but. For example, he said the agency intends to regulate some chemicals called phthalates for environmental and workplace risks, but didn’t address the thousands of consumer products that contain the ingredients.

This week, the EPA diverted from past assurances that the MAHA report was in its “final stages,” telling The Associated Press in an email that the EPA’s actions should speak for themselves.

“The notion that MAHA is a single document waiting to be unveiled fundamentally misrepresents how we operate,” an agency spokesperson said, adding that work on MAHA priorities is “active and expanding every day.”

Ryerson and other MAHA activists said they've engaged with agency officials about changes they'd like to see, and occasionally succeeded. Her network of farmers worked with the administration on a recent executive order to advance regenerative agriculture. But she said EPA then used the order to justify new proposed uses for various herbicides, a move she called a “slap in the face.”

The same week, the Supreme Court dealt another blow to the MAHA cause in siding with pesticide maker Bayer in a ruling related to its legal liability for alleged harm caused by its Roundup weedkiller. The Trump administration had backed the company in the case.

Environmental activists say the rise of Kennedy and his MAHA mission has rippled across the administration, raising the public's awareness of pesticides — and expectations that Trump's administration would act.

“If RFK and the MAHA movement hadn’t put that issue in the center of the public spotlight, no one would be scrutinizing this nearly as closely," said Sarah Starman, a senior food and agriculture campaigner at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth.

EPA says getting microplastics out of drinking water is complicated

In a well-publicized gesture aimed in part at the MAHA movement, Zeldin in April included microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants that could be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Activists had pressured Zeldin for months to crack down on microplastics and other environmental contaminants.

But in a reversal in late June, the EPA did not include microplastics or pharmaceuticals on a list of chemicals it plans to test for under a mandatory program used to collect information about concerning chemicals in drinking water that could be harming human health.

The move rendered the EPA's earlier public health promises "functionally toothless,'' said Betsy Southerland, a former senior official in EPA’s water office.

Zeldin said on social media that “the technology to test and treat for microplastics in drinking water is still in development.” The EPA said in a Federal Register notice that it was “not feasible to develop a drinking water analytical method within the statutory timeframe.”

After making “a big splash in the press” on microplastics, "EPA has quietly stalled that momentum," said Southerland.

A White House Make America Healthy Again Report, released a few months into Trump’s second term, identified long-term exposure to environmental chemicals — including those widely found in plastics — as a leading cause of chronic disease in children.

Former industry lobbyists now have leading roles at EPA

Jeremy Symons, a senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA employees and political appointees who are critical of the Trump administration, said Zeldin “pays lip service to MAHA, but sadly he is actually making Americans less safe from toxic chemicals.''

Alongside MAHA's influence on the Trump administration, industry lobbyists have made inroads at the EPA.

Kyle Kunkler, a former lobbyist for the soybean industry, leads pesticide policy at the EPA. The agency recently allowed continued use of dicamba, a weedkiller that has been linked to increased risk for some cancers.

Zen Honeycutt, a MAHA activist and founding executive director of Moms Across America, said the move is “what happens when the EPA allows itself to be pressured by corporations and by business.”

EPA also employs other former industry insiders. Nancy Beck, a former executive at the chemical lobbying group the American Chemistry Council, is a top official in EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Lynn Dekleva, another former chemistry council executive, serves as a Beck deputy.

The EPA said Kunkler and other political appointees have consulted with agency ethics officials to resolve any potential conflicts of interest. The MAHA movement has “driven this agency's work since President Trump's first day in office," a spokesperson said in an email, citing various initiatives including $945 million in grants to help states and communities cut “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in drinking water and identifying 30 drinking water contaminants proposed for nationwide monitoring.

On Thursday, the agency announced it was teaming up with Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect consumers from heavy metals and other contaminants in food.

But for Ryerson and others, the lack of a promised MAHA agenda reads as a tactic to escape accountability.

“It absolves them of any failures, especially when it comes to midterms,” Ryerson said. “They won’t have to point to some list that they haven’t been able to achieve really anything on.”

The lawsuit was filed by Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman on behalf of seven plaintiffs from Washington, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. It claims Costco sold Orgain Organic Protein Powder — in Vanilla Bean and Creamy Chocolate Fudge flavors — without disclosing the presence of toxic heavy metals.

What the lawsuit alleges

Plaintiffs allege that Costco controlled the product listings, packaging messaging and point-of-sale for Orgain protein powder, prominently touting phrases such as “the power of clean,” “quality ingredients, higher standards” and “relentless about quality” — while never warning customers about heavy metal contamination.

“No reasonable consumer purchasing protein powder products would expect the Contaminated Products to contain heavy metals,” the complaint states, “especially since the Contaminated Products are marketed as high quality, clean, and nutritious, and intended to be ingested.”

The suit further alleges that Costco neither required Orgain’s manufacturer to test for heavy metals nor disclosed the presence of such metals to consumers at any point of sale.

What testing revealed, according to complaint

According to the lawsuit, independent laboratory testing conducted by plaintiff Randall Hartwright of Texas and the plaintiffs’ legal team found detectable levels of lead, cadmium and arsenic across multiple product lots and flavors. According to the complaint, test results included:

• Orgain Organic Protein Powder, Vanilla Bean: Lead levels as high as 67 parts per billion (ppb), cadmium up to 24 ppb, arsenic up to 15 ppb
• Orgain Organic Protein Powder, Creamy Chocolate Fudge: Lead levels as high as 46 ppb, cadmium up to 70.3 ppb, arsenic up to 18 ppb

Those results were reportedly corroborated by Microbac Laboratories, an independent ISO/IEC 17025-accredited testing facility.

For context, the lead level of 3.37 micrograms per serving found in one Vanilla Bean sample exceeds California’s Proposition 65 maximum allowable dose level (MADL) of 0.5 micrograms per day by 674%, according to the complaint.

Prior reports

The lawsuit points to earlier public reporting as evidence Costco should have known about the problem. In January 2025, the Clean Label Project published a report testing 160 top-selling protein powders and found that 79% of organic protein powders exceeded California’s Proposition 65 limits for lead — with 41% testing more than two times over that limit.

In October 2025, Consumer Reports published a separate investigation finding that more than two-thirds of 23 protein products it tested exceeded its level of concern for lead. The report found that plant-based protein powders had lead levels nine times higher on average than dairy-based alternatives.

Consumer Reports specifically identified Orgain Organic Plant-Based Protein Powder in Vanilla Bean as a product it rated “Okay to eat occasionally,” with lead levels at 143% of its level of concern and a suggested limit of 4¾ servings per week.

Why heavy metals are dangerous

According to the complaint, health experts and government agencies are aligned: there is no known safe level of human exposure to lead, cadmium or arsenic. These metals are neurotoxins that accumulate in the body over time and can cause long-lasting, irreversible damage.

Conrad Choiniere, director of the Office of Analytics and Outreach at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, was quoted in the suit: “On the contrary, for the contaminants we are discussing today, we have not identified safe levels of exposure for developmental outcomes.”

Exposure to lead has been linked to brain and kidney damage, anemia, high blood pressure, reproductive harm and cognitive deficits. Cadmium accumulates in the kidneys and liver for up to 38 years after exposure and has been linked to multiple cancers, Alzheimer’s disease and ADHD in children. Arsenic is classified by the World Health Organization as one of “10 chemicals of major public concern.”

Cleaner options exist, plaintiffs say

The complaint argues that protein powder free of heavy metals is achievable, pointing to independent testing that found 16 top-selling protein powders with non-detectable levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. Those products include Premier Protein 100% Whey Vanilla Milkshake, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Vanilla Ice Cream and others identified through Clean Label Project testing.

The suit also notes that many competitor products retail at lower price points. Orgain Organic Protein Powder in Vanilla Bean was priced at approximately $0.79 per ounce, while some competitor products with no detectable heavy metals were priced as low as $0.42 per ounce, according to the complaint.

Growing legislative attention

Regulators and lawmakers are beginning to act. In February 2026, California introduced Senate Bill 1033, which would require mandatory testing and public disclosure of heavy metals in protein products sold in the state. On June 8, 2026, the Texas Attorney General launched an industry-wide investigation into protein powder manufacturers for potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act related to undisclosed heavy metal contamination.

Who is suing

The seven named plaintiffs span multiple states and purchased the products at various Costco locations between 2019 and 2026. Among them, Sandi Morgan of California purchased approximately 120 containers of the Creamy Chocolate Fudge flavor over several years, while Randall Hartwright of Texas purchased between 30 and 40 containers across multiple Dallas-area Costco locations. Each plaintiff says they relied on Costco’s “clean nutrition” marketing and would not have purchased the product — or would have paid significantly less — had the heavy metal content been disclosed.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages and injunctive relief under the Washington Consumer Protection Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act, as well as consumer protection statutes in Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. A jury trial has been demanded.

Costco Wholesale Corporation is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, and operates approximately 600 warehouse locations across the United States. The company has not publicly commented on the suit.

We’re in for another classic midsummer day across Northeast Florida, with warm, humid conditions greeting you early this morning and temperatures climbing quickly through the late morning hours.

A Heat Advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

High temperatures are expected to reach around 100 degrees in some locations, with heat index values feeling even higher thanks to the abundant humidity.

If you have outdoor plans, be sure to stay hydrated, wear light-colored clothing, and take frequent breaks in the shade or air conditioning.

The combination of extreme heat and humidity can become dangerous after prolonged exposure, especially during the hottest part of the day, between noon and 6 p.m.

As we head into the afternoon and early evening, scattered thunderstorms will begin to develop across select parts of the viewing area, fueled by the daytime heating and plentiful Gulf and Atlantic moisture.

Not everyone will see rain, but those that do could experience brief heavy downpours, frequent lightning, gusty winds, and rapidly changing conditions.

While widespread severe weather is not expected, a few stronger storms could produce wind gusts capable of downing small tree limbs and reducing visibility on area roadways.

If thunder roars, head indoors and wait until storms have moved through your area.

By sunset, most of the storms will gradually weaken and dissipate, leaving behind warm and muggy conditions for the evening hours.

Overnight temperatures will only fall into the mid-70s, so it will remain quite humid heading into Saturday morning.

Overall, today’s weather story is all about the heat and the chance for scattered afternoon thunderstorms.

Plan ahead if you’ll be spending time outside, keep an eye on the sky later today, and remember that weather conditions can change quickly during the peak of thunderstorm season.

Stay cool, stay weather aware, and have a safe day, Jacksonville.

The heat wave will start this weekend and last at least a week, with some areas feeling its effects until the end of the month, meteorologists said. Temperatures will be 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (8 to 14 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal in many areas, including at night, they said. Hotter nighttime temperatures are especially bad for both human health and efforts to tamp down an already active wildfire season.

“This upcoming heat wave does look pretty remarkable,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. “This is going to be a long duration, widespread and high-intensity heat event that’s going to affect millions of people for over a week.”

Trapping hot air, threatening records

A dome of high pressure — which traps hot air like a pot lid while blocking cooling winds and rain — will initially park over the Northern Plains, but it will be so big that it will trap sweltering temperatures across as much as two-thirds of the continental United States, three meteorologists told The Associated Press. While it will initially miss the East Coast, the heat dome will shift and wobble, maybe even spreading from coast-to-coast over the next 10 days or more, they said.

Forecasters are expecting record triple-digit highs this weekend in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The weather service is predicting more than 90 U.S. local temperature records will be tied or broken through Wednesday, with two-thirds being overnight heat records that can hinder how the human body recovers from broiling days.

“Nights can be just as dangerous as days. If you don’t get heat relief at night, that’s going to spill out into your daytime experience and become extremely dangerous,” said meteorologist Bob Henson with Yale Climate Connections. “Heat is not to be played with. It’s just as dangerous as a tornado or hurricane that can kill you just as easily, just in a quiet and different way.”

Heat wave will be bigger, longer-lasting and stronger than most

Swain said what makes this heat wave so different is how big a warm shadow it will cast and how long it will persist.

In the past couple of weeks, major heat waves have caused extensive suffering in Europe, the U.S. East Coast and most recently the U.S. Southeast. Now any place in the United States that escaped the earlier July heat waves will get this one, Swain said.

Rain is likely to sneak below the southern edge of the heat dome and douse the U.S. Southeast during the daytime, setting up something strange, Climate Central meteorologist Shel Winkley said. Because of the added moisture and humidity, the Southeast could get record-shattering nighttime heat but below-normal daytime warmth, he said.

The weather service is predicting record nighttime heat in a number of locations from Texas to Florida to North Carolina on Saturday. Temperatures won't drop below 80 degrees (27 degrees Celsius) at night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Miami; Tampa, Florida; Galveston, Texas; and Charleston, South Carolina, according to the forecast.

While heat domes are not unusual in the summer, Winkley said this one stands out because of how strong it is, likely to set records for the amount of high pressure that it will contain. It's especially unusual for being so far north, he said.

It’s likely to persist so long because drought-stricken areas have less soil and air moisture that would normally slow the warming of the air, Swain said. The drier, hotter air then worsens the drought conditions and stokes more heat in a vicious cycle, he said.

This will add to wildfire risk, already bad because of the drought, he said.

Climate change is worsening the heat

The El Nino that recently formed is too young to have a pronounced impact on this heat wave, but climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas clearly does, the three meteorologists said.

“We know that heat waves are becoming more intense, they’re lasting longer, they’re covering larger areas than they used to because of human-caused climate change,” Swain said. “And so when we see an event like this, we know there is at least a partial contribution by the long-term warming trend.”

Climate Central uses 20 different computer models to compare what's forecast to what would be expected in a world without greenhouse gas-caused warming as part of its Climate Shift Index. A 20,000-square-mile (52,000-square-kilometer) swath of the country from Southern California to northern Minnesota where 24 million people live this weekend will have warmth reaching the highest level on that index, meaning the heat is at least five times more likely because of climate change. Their analysis produced similar readings for the East Coast heat wave over the July 4 weekend and the recent Southeast heat wave.

“Using attribution science we know that those temperatures would be virtually impossible without the influence of climate change,” Winkley said.

___

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.

The Secretary of State’s Office received numerous reports of voter registration mailers being sent to deceased Georgians — including at least one instance in which a deceased family dog received a solicitation. The office is reviewing whether the mailings violate Georgia law or undermine confidence in the state’s election system.

Third-party voter registration groups routinely conduct mass mailings before major elections. Unlike Georgia’s official voter registration process, these campaigns often rely on outdated commercial databases that contain inaccurate or obsolete information.

“Groups like this highlight the unreliability of commercial data,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Georgia maintains one of the cleanest voter rolls in the nation through continuous list maintenance and citizenship verification. These outside organizations don’t use those standards. Instead, they flood mailboxes with inaccurate solicitations that confuse voters and waste election officials’ time.”

“I want to thank the voters who have flagged the inaccurate mailings and sent them to our office,” Raffensperger added. “Whether checking their ballots for accuracy or keeping their own registration information up to date, voters are a crucial line of defense in election security.”

Similar problems reported in North Carolina

The issues identified in Georgia mirror those recently flagged in North Carolina, where the State Board of Elections publicly warned voters about mailings from Ready to Register. North Carolina election officials reported that the organization mailed registration forms to deceased individuals, used outdated voter registration forms, included incorrect election office addresses and created privacy concerns through faulty QR codes. State officials warned the campaign confused voters and imposed unnecessary burdens on county election offices.

“Whether intentional or simply reckless, these mail campaigns operate like a grift — raising money and generating activity while shifting the costs onto taxpayers, election officials, and voters,” Raffensperger said. “Georgia taxpayers should not have to clean up the mess created by organizations that prioritize volume over accuracy.”

How Georgia voters can check their registration

Georgia voters can verify their registration status at the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page and should disregard unsolicited voter registration mail if they are already registered at their current address.

The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration form.

Though the move likely won't have major effects on the November midterms, it's the latest instance of the Republican president trying to exert White House influence over how U.S. elections are conducted, and it's the first test of his newly expanded presidential power after the Supreme Court ruled recently that the president can fire members of independent agency boards without cause.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so,” said a White House statement to AP.

The president removed the four-seat commission's two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. The panel's Republican member, Christy McCormick resigned. Former Republican commissioner Donald Palmer already had left his post voluntarily earlier this year. The changes were first reported by VoteBeat, a news outlet that covers elections and voting across the U.S,

Trump has repeatedly tried to reshape voting regulations, even though the U.S. Constitution grants control of elections to the states and not the president. Citing that separation of powers, courtshaveblocked most of Trump's two executive orders that sought to reshape voting. Trump has also launched an investigation of his 2020 loss, which he continues to falsely insist was due to fraud, and this week his administration threatened states if they did not try to purge what federal officials believe are noncitizens from their voter rolls.

Still, Trump has largely been powerless to change election processes through executive fiat and David Becker, a former Department of Justice attorney who runs the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said his purge of the EAC wouldn't alter that.

“This doesn't really change anything about how our elections will be run, and how states are successfully ensuring secure, convenient, safe elections,” Becker wrote on the social media site BlueSky Friday morning.

Critics accuse Trump of damaging voters' trust

On Capitol Hill, the leading Democrats with election oversight responsibility said Trump, rather than bolstering U.S. election integrity, is further politicizing the voting process.

“President Trump is trying to dismantle yet another independent guardrail of our democracy designed to keep elections fair and secure,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-New York. “Purging commissioners just months before the midterm elections and further gutting support for our state and local elections officials is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections and enable more unlawful and dangerous election interference.”

Padilla is the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Morelle is ranking member of the House Administration Committee.

The lawmakers noted that the Supreme Court's conservative majority enabled Trump's move with its decision to “upend decades of executive power to appease the President.”

Staff at the Election Assistance Commission did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment on the agency's operations moving forward.

While the White House statement did not offer a specific reason for Trump's action, the commission has previously declined to change the national voter registration form to require documentation of an applicant's U.S. citizenship, as Trump's urged in a sweeping March 2025 executive order on U.S. elections. Though the form itself does not require citizenship documents, voter registration materials from the agency do state clearly that it already is illegal to falsely claim U.S. citizenship to vote.

A federal judge blocked the order, ruling it exceeded the president's authority since the U.S. Constitution grants authority over elections management and oversight to Congress and the states. The administration has indicated it will appeal.

Trump hasn't said whether he'll pick new members

It was not clear whether Trump planned to nominate new members immediately or leave the positions vacant — a move that, months ahead of midterm elections, could prevent the agency from distributing new grants to state or local elections offices and perhaps complicate its role in overseeing testing and certification of voting systems around the country.

“The Administration from the start has been working across all agencies and local partners to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse, and investing in a strong infrastructure to sustain that mission especially in the midterm elections,” the White House said.

Congress created the commission as part of the Help America Vote Act, a bipartisan law signed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002. The act requires the commission to include two Democrats and two Republicans, nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Hicks and McCormick were appointed by President Barack Obama. Trump appointed Hovland during his first presidency.

According to VoteBeat, Hicks and Hovland were notified of their removal by an email signed by Morgan DeWitt Snow, the deputy director of presidential personnel in the Executive Office of the President.

More court fights are always possible

Hicks and Hovland could challenge their dismissals, but that ultimately could require the Supreme Court to revisit two decisions it just issued on the president's power over independent agencies.

The court ruled 6-3 last month in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter that Trump had wide executive authority to fire political appointees of independent executive agencies. Trump had fired Slaughter without cause despite a provision of federal law that required a reason and a nearly century-old Supreme Court precedent insulating independent agency heads from presidential whims.

The court's six conservatives said that the previous restrictions on presidential prerogatives violated the Constitution's separation of powers. The logic 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.

In the separate case of Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook, whom Trump had tried to fire, a 5-4 majority deviated from the Slaughter decision and ruled that the president could not fire central bank governors without cause. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the court's three liberals in the Cook case. They justified their exception to their Slaughter reasoning by citing the central bank's unique structure as congressionally chartered but independent, quasi-private institution whose “appearance of independence is key to the Federal Reserve’s design” and its role in setting monetary policy that shapes the U.S. and world economy.

Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

A SmartAsset analysis of home values and household incomes found that median-income households in both states now need significantly more time to save for a 20% down payment than they did a decade ago — and for minimum-wage earners, homeownership may feel nearly out of reach.

How the study works

SmartAsset analyzed typical home values in each state in 2016 and 2026 and compared them with median household income to estimate how many years of savings would be required to afford a 20% down payment. The study assumes households set aside 10% of their annual income each year. The analysis also estimates how long a minimum-wage earner would need to save, based on each state’s current minimum wage.

It’s worth noting the estimate is a point-in-time affordability measure and does not account for income growth or investment returns during the saving period.

Florida: Nearly a decade of saving

Florida’s rapid rise in home values has made the path to ownership noticeably steeper. The typical Florida home was worth $196,979 in April 2016. By April 2026, that figure had nearly doubled to $376,504.

Median household income in Florida grew during that same period, climbing from $50,860 in 2016 to $82,004 in 2026. But that income growth wasn’t enough to keep pace with rising home prices.

As a result, a median-income household in Florida now needs 9.2 years to save for a down payment — 17 months longer than in 2016.

For minimum-wage earners, the picture is far more difficult. Based on Florida’s 2026 annualized minimum wage of $29,120, a minimum-wage worker would need 25.9 years to save enough for a 20% down payment on a typical Florida home.

Georgia: Faster-rising prices, longer savings timeline

Georgia tells a similar story, with home values climbing sharply over the past decade. The typical Georgia home jumped from $166,473 in April 2016 to $333,559 in April 2026 — essentially doubling in value.

Median household income in Georgia rose from $53,559 in 2016 to $84,344 in 2026. Despite that growth, the income gains weren’t enough to offset surging home prices.

A median-income household in Georgia now needs 7.9 years to save for a down payment — 20 months longer than in 2016.

Georgia’s minimum wage, however, tells a starkly different story than Florida’s. Based on Georgia’s 2026 annualized minimum wage of $15,080 — roughly half of Florida’s — a minimum-wage worker in the state would need 44.2 years to save enough for a 20% down payment.

The bigger picture

Florida and Georgia are not alone in facing this challenge. Nationally, the SmartAsset study found that rising home prices are outpacing wage growth in most states, stretching savings timelines across the country.

Coastal states face the steepest climb. Median-income households in Hawaii need 15.6 years to save for a down payment, followed by California at 14.7 years and Massachusetts at 12 years. Idaho saw the largest increase in time needed, with median-income buyers now facing an 11.2-year savings timeline — up three years and four months from 2016.

On the other end of the spectrum, West Virginia has the nation’s lowest down payment burden, with a median-income household needing just 5.5 years to save. Three states — Mississippi, North Dakota and Louisiana — actually saw their savings timelines shrink, as income growth outpaced home-price growth.

Nationally, saving for a down payment on a minimum wage is essentially out of reach. Even in Missouri, the most favorable state, a minimum-wage earner would need 17 years to save. In Utah, that timeline exceeds 70 years.

According to evidence presented at trial, on Oct. 31, 2024, Clay County Sheriff’s Office narcotics detectives conducted a traffic stop on James Malcolm Davis, 47, and found a baggie containing methamphetamine in his pants pocket and about 40 grams of methamphetamine in his backpack.

After his arrest, detectives obtained and executed a search warrant for Davis’ camper in Middleburg. Inside, they found four firearms, more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition, pipes used to smoke methamphetamine and a bulletproof vest.

The firearms included a .22-caliber rifle, two semi-automatic assault-style rifles and a revolver. Davis provided a detective with the combination to a safe that contained two of the firearms.

Davis has prior felony convictions — including aggravated assault, felony battery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon — and is therefore prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition.

He faces a maximum of 16 years in federal prison. No sentencing date has been scheduled.

The incident happened about 2:50 p.m. near the intersection of North Florida Avenue and West Country Club Drive, officials said.

The bodycam footage released by the sheriff’s office shows the vehicle rolling backward into a patrol vehicle after the driver moved to the passenger seat but left the car in reverse.

Farnardo Alexander Jr., 30, walked away from the crash, deputies said. He was quickly located and arrested.

Alexander faces several felony charges, including leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, the sheriff’s office said.

“Trying to avoid responsibility only makes matters worse,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “If you choose to flee or deceive deputies, expect to face the consequences. In Hillsborough County, we will hold you accountable for your actions.”

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted on social media.

Trump had 10 days until the Friday deadline to sign the bill, issue a veto, or allow the measure to take effect without his signature. He has chosen to let the measure become law without his express approval, undercutting his administration's claims that he considers it a priority to combat inflation.

Trump’s rejection of the bipartisan housing legislation exacerbates tensions with his own party in a midterm election year and cuts short their efforts to address a key voter concern about rising costs. His post comes more than a week after he canceled plans to sign the bipartisan legislation, announcing he was using it as leverage in his push for a strict voter ID bill.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to lower the cost of housing and spur more home construction. It’s the broadest federal effort in decades to address America’s housing affordability problems, as state and local regulations have made it difficult to build in many of the communities that are also sources of job growth and economic opportunity. White House economists estimated earlier this year a national shortage of 10 million homes and the bill could help to close a portion of that gap.

But Trump called the bill “a yawn” and “so unimportant” compared to legislation that would require proof of citizenship for all voters.

He surprised Republican lawmakers on June 24, when, shortly before a planned signing ceremony at the Capitol, he announced he would not approve the bill until lawmakers first passed the voting legislation.

That bill, the SAVE America Act, doesn’t have enough Republican support to pass.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said after submitting the housing bill to the White House that he told Trump he should get the “fattest black marker you have, and sign your name really big on that.”

“I hope he does sign it,” Johnson told reporters at the time. “If he doesn’t, it’s still law. We’ll still celebrate it.”

He said he also understood Trump was trying to make a point that the elections bill is the top priority. “And I think he’s making it very effectively,” Johnson said.

Still, Trump’s decision not to sign the bill gave Democrats an opening to criticize him on the issue of affordability.

“His priorities couldn’t be clearer: higher cost for families and more power for himself,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on X.

The housing bill passed the Senate on an 85-5 vote and the House approved it with an 358-32 vote.

That legislation seeks to cut federal housing rules, slim-down environmental reviews, make it faster to build homes and limit the ability of corporations to buy single-family homes.

The bill does not address all of the causes of the country’s housing woes, including a shortage of construction workers, climbing insurance costs and wages that have not risen fast enough for renters and buyers.

But the bill has drawn support from the real estate industry and housing advocates.

The U.S. housing market has been a driver of recent affordability challenges as skyrocketing prices have kept aspiring buyers out of the market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the median sales price increased 1.8% in June from a year earlier to $440,600, an all-time high on data going back to 1999.

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Associated Press reporter Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

The National Weather Service is forecasting near-record heat for the Duval County area, with peak heat index values expected to reach up to 113 degrees.

The city said that when activated on Monday-Saturday, Cooling Centers will be available at various city facilities under normal hours of operation.

These facilities will be open regardless of whether activation thresholds are met, and they include:

• All COJ Public Libraries (21 libraries): Accessible and air-conditioned spaces.
• All COJ Community Centers (20 centers): Available in multiple neighborhoods.
• All COJ Pools (31 pools) and Splash Pads (18 pads): Provide immediate cooling relief.

On Sunday, July 12, two main Cooling Centers will be activated from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.:

• Main Library (303 N. Laura St.)
• Legends Center (5130 Soutel Dr.)

The city also reminded residents that free transportation to and from the Cooling Centers will be provided by JTA when the Cooling Centers are activated.

Riders must tell bus drivers that they are traveling to a Cooling Center to receive free fares.

The city said the free rides hopefully allow more community members to access the Cooling Centers, and in turn, stay cool and safe.

The city also shared these tips on how to stay cool during the extreme heat:

Stay Cool:

• Avoid Peak Heat: Avoid Peak Heat: Minimize outdoor activities during the hottest part of the day, typically between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If you must be outside, find shade and take frequent breaks in cooler areas.
• Dress for the Weather: Wear lightweight, loose-fitting, and light-colored clothing to allow your skin to breathe. Opt for breathable fabrics such as cotton to help evaporate sweat and keep your body cool.
• Seek Air-Conditioned Environments: Spend time in air-conditioned places like malls, libraries, or community centers to escape the heat.
• Protect Children and Pets: Never leave children or pets unattended in vehicles, as temperatures can quickly become dangerously high and potentially fatal.

Stay Hydrated:

• Drink Plenty of Water: Hydrate throughout the day, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Dehydration can occur rapidly in hot weather.
• Limit Alcohol and Caffeine: Avoid excessive consumption of alcohol and caffeinated beverages, as they can increase dehydration.
• Encourage Hydration: Remind family and friends to drink water regularly.

Stay Informed:

• Monitor Weather Updates: Keep track of weather forecasts and heat advisories. This will help you plan your activities, avoid extreme heat, and take necessary precautions.
• Recognize Heat-Related Illnesses: Be aware of the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heatstroke, which include dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, and confusion. If you or someone else experiences these symptoms, seek medical help immediately and move to a cooler environment.

For additional information on Stay Cool Jax, visit Jacksonville.gov/StayCoolJax or JaxReady.com/StayCoolJax, which features details on the locations, hours of operation, and amenities for all Cooling Centers throughout Jacksonville.

Chase Robinson told News4JAX on The Morning Show that the idea behind the “innovative” digital news conference series that highlighted Melissa Ellison’s case in January is to give families like Ellison’s a platform to share the human faces and feelings behind cold cases.

“It was because of this press conference that we reached the right target audience, and it allowed for information to come forward to allow JSO to make an arrest in the case,” Robinson said. “We really felt that this had an impact in our community.”

Ellison, also known as Missy Taylor to many, was an Ed White High graduate who was home with her 13-month-old daughter, Casie, three days after Christmas in 1987, when a man broke in and beat her to death with a charred log that came from inside her fireplace.

Police say that man has now been identified as 70-year-old Gary Edward Glowacz.

After Thursday’s long-awaited arrest announcement, Casie Ellison said she can now “see the world differently.”

“I know that it’s never going to bring my mom back, but it does have a ridiculous release of closure,” said Casie, who was found unharmed in the home by her mother’s roommate after the killing.

According to his arrest report, Glowacz actually made a call himself to Clay County Sheriff’s Office dispatch on July 8 of this year, about six months after First Coast Crime Stoppers held the digital news conference on Ellison’s case. Glowacz was later arrested.

Casie Ellison shared emotional words during that January digital news conference.

“Silence does not change facts. And living a normal life does not undo taking someone else’s. If you know something, say it. If you heard something, report it,” Casie said. “If someone told you something years ago, submit it. Crime Stoppers exists for this exact reason.”

Robinson agreed, saying that bringing closure to families and safety to communities is why First Coast Crime Stoppers was created.

But the real key to the success of Crime Stoppers, Robinson said, is the ability to provide complete anonymity to anyone who submits a tip, no matter how they provide it, because the nonprofit organization does not fall under the same public records laws as law enforcement agencies.

“When someone contacts Crime Stoppers, they are anonymous, not (just) confidential. We don’t have a database of names, addresses, IP addresses that could ever be leaked out to the public or made known,” Robinson said, explaining that they simply do not collect that information. “So if Crime Stoppers doesn’t know who you are, law enforcement won’t know who you are, and therefore the community won’t know who you are.”

In fact, those who submit tips are so anonymous that Crime Stoppers has no way to contact them to let them know if a tip led to an arrest.

“When you submit a tip, you’re assigned a randomized tip number. That’s the only thing that links you to the information that you provided,” Robinson explained. “That’s how you must reach out to Crime Stoppers to check the status of your tip, because we don’t collect any identifiable information.”

To submit a tip to First Coast Crime Stoppers, you can call 1-866-845-TIPS or dial **TIPS on a mobile device.

You can also share tips at FCCrimeStoppers.com or by using the P3Tips mobile app.

The ceremony took place at 4785 Walgreen Road, west of Interstate 95 and east of Brentwood Golf Course. Phase 2A will include a 30,000-square-foot, three-story Federally Qualified Health Center and a 14,000-square-foot job training facility open to the broader community.

“Enterprise Village is living proof that we can solve Jacksonville’s biggest challenges,” Mayor Donna Deegan said, praising the project’s partnerships and funders and calling the services “desperately needed” in the community.

Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman, whose District 10 includes the site, said, “It’s been eight years, and we are here. New beginnings,” and thanked donors for investing in Northwest Jacksonville.

Phase One, a four-story building with 100 studio and one-bedroom apartments for formerly unhoused men, is about 70% complete. The city of Jacksonville made a $15 million investment in Phase One, officials said. Project leaders expect construction on Phase 2A to be completed by year-end 2027.

Phase 2A will relocate wraparound services from Sulzbacher’s downtown campus and will operate the job-training center in partnership with Goodwill and Florida State College at Jacksonville. Mayo Clinic is a lead sponsor of the health center; other backers include Truist Bank, the Terry Family Foundation, the Jim Moran Foundation and private donors. Construction for Phase 2A is being led by Auld & White; Summit Contractors and The Vestcor Companies are co-developers on Phase One.

Sulzbacher said Phase 2B will later move remaining emergency housing, tiny homes, case management and corporate headquarters to the campus, and Phase 3 will include an on-site manufacturing facility to provide jobs for residents and others facing employment barriers.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research points to how Jewish adults’ attitudes toward their own personal safety have changed over a relatively short period as more Americans became critical of the United States' close alliance with Israel. The war in Gaza sparked U.S. protests over Israel’s military actions against the Palestinians in Gaza, and coincided with an increase in violent attacks against U.S. Jewish communities.

The findings highlight the vulnerability that many Jewish adults in the U.S. feel as bipartisan support for Israel erodes and significant divides emerge within the Jewish community about what constitutes antisemitism — particularly when it comes to protesting Israel.

A significant share of Jewish adults, about 3 in 10, say they or someone in their household has experienced physical assault, verbal abuse, online harassment or damaged property because of their Jewish background over the last year, according to the survey.

Hal Guberman, a 30-year-old in New Jersey, wears a kippah with some trepidation ever since a stranger in a passing car yelled a slur at him when he was walking down the street last year.

“That person, they don’t know anything about me. They don’t know my politics. They don’t know my beliefs. They don’t know my viewpoints,” Guberman said. “But they saw me being visibly Jewish, and they made an opinion about me.”

Jewish adults see prejudice against Jews as a serious problem, and many feel unsafe

About 6 in 10 Jewish adults say that prejudice against Jewish people is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the United States today, a view that is heightened among Jewish adults who say they are “extremely” or “very” emotionally attached to Israel.

About one-third of Jewish adults say they feel “very” or “somewhat” safe as a Jewish person in the U.S. today, while about one-third feel “very” or “somewhat” unsafe. The remaining roughly 3 in 10 say they feel neither safe nor unsafe. Those with a close connection to Israel or who identify as Jewish by religion — instead of saying they are religiously unaffiliated with a cultural, ethnic or family connection to Judaism — are more likely to feel threatened in the current environment.

About 6 in 10 Jewish adults say they feel “less safe” as a Jewish person in the U.S. than they did before Hamas' 2023 attack, including about 7 in 10 of those who are religiously Jewish. About one-third of Jewish adults say they feel “about as safe” and very few feel safer.

Erin Baskin, a 36-year-old in Pennsylvania, said the Oct. 7 attacks didn't change how safe she feels because she had her own experiences with prejudice before then.

“I’ve always grown up with antisemitism,” she said. “Among the rural community I’m in, they conflate Judaism with Zionism all the time. Unfortunately, that’s kind of been my experience. It’s nothing new.”

Some Jewish adults have grown wary of outwardly identifying themselves as Jewish following the Oct. 7 attacks, the survey found.

About 4 in 10 Jewish adults say they are “less likely” to wear, carry or display things that might identify them as a Jewish person than they were before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. About half say they are “about as likely” and about 1 in 10 say they are “more likely.”

Caitlin Rosendorn, a 24-year-old in Illinois, said they used to wear a Star of David necklace, but now worries that wearing it could give people the incorrect impression that they support Israel's attacks against the Palestinian people.

“I don't want to wear a Star of David to work if that's going to alienate somebody who sees the Star of David as a symbol of Israel as opposed to a symbol of Judaism,” Rosendorn said. “I don't want people to get the wrong idea about my views.”

Many Jews report physical assault, property damage or harassment

About 1 in 10 Jewish adults say that in the past year, they or someone in their household has been physically assaulted. A similar share had property damaged or destroyed specifically because of their Jewish background.

About 2 in 10 Jewish adults say they or someone in their household has been called a slur, threatened, verbally harassed or verbally abused. Similarly, about 2 in 10 say they experienced online harassment or cyberbullying. Overall, about 3 in 10 of Jewish adults say that they or someone in their household has experienced at least one of these incidents because of their Jewish background.

Jewish adults who attend religious services at least once a month are much likelier than Jewish adults overall to say they or someone in their household has experienced attacks or harassment over their Jewish background — a finding that comes as there have been several targeted attacks on Jewish religious spaces in recent years.

Slightly less than half of Jewish adults who frequently attend religious services say they or someone in their household has faced verbal harassment. A similar share experienced online harassment, and about one-quarter have dealt with physical attacks or property damage.

Jon Kessler, 38, of California, who grew up in the Conservative tradition of Judaism, believes non-Jews might be surprised at the extent to which Jewish adults have to consider security at community events.

“Most people when they go to church don’t have armed security, but every synagogue has an armed security guard," Kessler said. "My son’s Jewish daycare has an armed security guard.”

Jews are divided over whether protesting Israel is a form of antisemitism

Protests surrounding speakers tied to Israel — whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanahyu’s address to Congress or college speakers seen as either too supportive or too critical of the country — became more common following the backlash over Israel’s war in Gaza.

Jewish adults, in particular, are divided over whether protesting an event related to Israel is an act of prejudice against Jewish people generally. About half of Jewish adults say anti-Israel protests are not a form of antisemitism, but roughly 4 in 10 say they are.

Many anti-Israel protests have been tied to criticism of Israel’s military action in Gaza. More than 73,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since Israel retaliated against Hamas’ attack in 2023, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilian and militant deaths.

About two-thirds of Jewish adults say criticizing Israel for its military actions is not a form of antisemitism, but Jewish adults with a close emotional connection to Israel are more likely to say that criticism of Israel’s military actions is antisemitic. That said, relatively few Jewish adults say it’s antisemitic just to criticize Israel for “any reason.”

Americans overall are less likely to say it’s antisemitic to protest an event that is supportive of Israel, or to criticize Israel’s military actions — but they are also much less likely to have an opinion.

Jewish adults are more unified in deeming some actions as definitively antisemitic. The overwhelming majority say vandalizing synagogues or Jewish-owned businesses because of Israel’s actions is antisemitism. The same goes for denying the reality or scope of the Holocaust, putting responsibility for Israel’s actions on Jewish people in the United States, saying Israel shouldn’t exist as a Jewish state or claiming American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the U.S.

There is less consensus among non-Jewish U.S. adults on whether some of these actions constitute antisemitism, with many saying they’re not sure.

Amanda Goldsmith, 53, who lives in Chicago, believes people have become too comfortable expressing antisemitic views online — something that she previously thought only existed in extremist spaces.

“Now, it seems like there was an undercurrent, and it’s a free-for-all, and everyone is free to say what they want,” she said. “The freedom with which people say horrible things about Jewish people is appalling.”

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This story has been corrected to show that Caitlin Rosendorn uses they/them pronouns.

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Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis and Peter Smith in Pittsburgh 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.

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The AP-NORC poll of 3,040 adults was conducted June 11-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The poll included interviews with 1,022 Jewish adults. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points and the margin of sampling error for Jewish adults is plus or minus 5.0 percentage points.

The unconventional gift from the host of this week's NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was meant to showcase his country's growing defense industry.

But it left officials across the alliance scratching their heads. Some were forced to leave their gifts behind due to gun laws in their countries, while others donated theirs to museums.

“It struck me that ⁠my gift of maple syrup kind of undermatched,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters, adding that the firearm was now in police possession. “I would like to reassure Canadians, they keep guns away from me.”

The revolvers were engraved with leaders' names

“An unusual gift from President @RTErdogan at the NATO Summit: a Magnum revolver with ammunition, engraved with my name,” Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on X, posting a photograph of a display box containing the revolver and six cartridges.

It was not immediately clear what he did with the gift.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union commission president, thanked Erdogan for the gift, which will be decommissioned and donated to a military museum, her spokesperson said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters that the gift bag included a note waiving export controls. Still, he left his behind to be decommissioned, because it would be illegal to import it into Britain.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever handed his revolver to airport police upon arrival. The revolvers gifted to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten were left at their countries’ embassies in Ankara and would also be taken out of service, officials said.

“My first reaction was, this is something a bit different to the box of syrup waffles that we gave out at the NATO summit in The Hague,” Jetten said Friday. “I think the Turkish president wanted to underscore what we saw during the NATO summit, namely that the Turkish defense industry is among the best in the world.”

Croatian President Zoran Milanović said he only found out after his return from the summit that Erdogan had given him a gun. His office said it would probably be handed over to a police museum.

“I didn’t take it. I shoot from different weapons,” Milanovic said, referring to his political style.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Erdogan's gifts.

On a visit to New Zealand last year, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed.

The gift was aimed at highlighting Turkey's growing defense prowess

Erdogan's office has not commented on the gift. Turkish media reports identified the revolvers as the Gumusay .357 Magnum, a vintage six‑shot revolver produced by the Turkish state arms manufacturer, MKE.

Reports said the gun aimed to highlight Turkey's defense industry, which in recent decades has transformed from a major importer into an increasingly self‑reliant producer of advanced military systems, including drones and warships. It is in the process of developing its own next‑generation fighter jet.

Gun culture is deeply rooted in Turkey, and the gift hardly triggered any reaction in the country. Umut Vakfi, a foundation campaigning for gun control, says incidents of armed violence have reached alarming levels, reporting more than 2,700 last year in the country of 86 million people.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said participants at the summit were also given a more conventional gift: a copy of Erdogan's biography, titled: “The politics of courage: Erdogan and the rise of Türkiye.”

___

Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London, Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Stefania Dazio in Berlin, Mike Corder in The Hague, Sylvain Plazy in Brussels and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed.

The 71-year-old Jesus has coached several Portuguese clubs, including Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. His last job was with Al-Nassr in the Saudi Arabian league, where he coached Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The experienced Portuguese coach will replace Spaniard Roberto Martinez after Portugal lost 1-0 to Spain in the round-of-16 of the World Cup.

The Portuguese national team wrote on X on Friday that “A new journey begins today. Welcome to the National Team, Mister Jorge Jesus.”

The hiring of Jesus as coach came two days after the Portuguese federation said it was parting ways with Martínez.

Portugal's underwhelming run at the World Cup sparked a debate among fans and media regarding the role of the 41-year-old Ronaldo. Many questioned Martínez still playing him major minutes at striker and focusing the team's attack on trying to find the aging scorer.

Ronaldo, the leading scorer for men’s international soccer with 146 goals, said that this was his final World Cup. But the global star has yet to say when he plans to retire from international play. He will be 43 by the time the 2028 European Championship, the next major tournament, rolls around.

Jesus, who called Ronaldo a “symbol” of Portuguese sports on Friday, said that he still needs to talk with him about his future.

“That’s a conversation we’re both going to have. What does he want to do for the future of his career?” Jesus told reporters at his presentation that was held shortly after the announcement of his hiring.

Ronaldo is under contract with his Saudi club through 2027.

Whether Ronaldo continues to play for his nation, Jesus inherits a talent-packed team, especially at midfield with Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and João Neves.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Waters said investigators believe Gary Edward Glowacz was the man responsible for taking the life of 20-year-old Melissa Ellison, who was found beaten to death in her home just three days after Christmas in 1987.

Ellison’s daughter, Casie, who was just 13 months old at the time, thankfully wasn’t hurt. She was found on the couch by a roommate around 4 a.m., when she discovered Ellison had been beaten to death with a charred log that came from inside her fireplace.

Casie says the long-awaited announcement is now making her “see the world differently.”

“I know that it’s never going to bring my mom back, but it does have a ridiculous release of closure,” Casie said.

Waters said Ellison, who many people called Missy Taylor, was killed during a home burglary, and that the burglar who committed the “heinous act of violence” has been identified by the Cold Case Unit as Glowacz, who is now 70 years old.

“This case was investigated continuously, re-investigated, and ultimately solved by dedicated detectives,” Waters said. “They will always keep digging. They will always keep investigating, and they will consider new and innovative technologies and investigative practices so that loved ones of those taken from our community can get the answers and accountability that they justly deserve.”

First Coast Crime Stoppers held an online news conference in mid-January, asking for anyone with information in Ellison’s case to come forward.

Without providing details, leaders from Crime Stoppers did confirm Thursday that information that came to light after that news conference “played a pivotal role” in this arrest.

According to his arrest report, Glowacz actually made a call himself to Clay County Sheriff’s Office dispatch on July 8. He was later arrested.

Waters called the arrest of Glowacz “a shining symbol of our agency’s commitment” to seeking justice no matter how long it takes.

“These investigations can take months. They can take years. They require both an unwavering heart and acute attention to detail,” Waters said, adding that he spent 10 years in the JSO homicide unit himself.

He said detectives always remember their homicide investigations.

“We drive around the city, and we can tell you exactly where particular homicides have taken place and the facts and circumstances surrounding those cases,” Waters said. “These cases shattered the loved ones left behind, and they also weigh heavily on those of us charged with bringing these murderers to justice.”

Waters acknowledged that Glowacz’s arrest does not fill the void left in the lives of Ellison’s family, but he hopes that it’s another step in their healing process.

She dropped by the studio to chat about her comedy, surviving the Jacksonville heat and much more.

Instagram: @dominiquecomedi

Senior Day at JEA is a free monthly resource fair that connects older adults with community organizations, programs and services that support independent living and overall well-being. Attendees can speak directly with JEA representatives about ways to conserve energy and water, lower utility costs and access available customer resources. Community partners and local nonprofit organizations also provide information on services that help seniors save money, achieve their goals and remain active in the community.

This month, JEA is pleased to welcome the Jacksonville Public Library as a new community partner. Attendees can also receive free socks and JEA Water Efficiency Kits, while supplies last.

Customers seeking utility bill assistance must schedule an appointment through United Way 2-1-1. Appointments are subject to availability, and supporting documentation may be required.

www.jea.com

By working on emotions, mind and energy together, her work is not about erasing pain—it’s about learning how to carry it differently. It’s about growth, empowerment, and forward movement. It’s about strength and courage rooted in self-trust. Most importantly, it’s about carry the past with strength, wisdom, and self-compassion while creating a future that aligns with who you truly are and what you want.

www.beyond-the-breakthrough.com

We are a nonprofit who is based in Jacksonville. We help women launch their food businesses in areas of Jacksonville to help reduce food desserts and get fresh food into all of our neighborhoods. We have a job skills training program working with incarcerated women to give a helping hand to women in our community.

www.TheEmpoweredKitchen.org

Facebook.com/TheEmpoweredkitchen

Instagram/theempoweredkitchen

904-655-6603

Women in Wine Fundraiser

July 26,2026 3:00-6:00pm

hosted by Kairos Jax

4815 Sweetgrass Pl, Jacksonville Fl 32224

The free event will run from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Pace Jacksonville Field, 2933 University Blvd. N., Jacksonville, Fla. 32211, and is open to the public.

Organizers say the fair is designed to make essential services easier to access by bringing local experts and service providers together in one location. The event will focus on improving the health, safety, education and well‑being of children, youth and families across Northeast Florida.

Resources and activities will include:

• Health and wellness resources
• Mental and behavioral health services
• Free vision screenings
• Family support services
• Early childhood education resources
• Parenting programs
• Youth enrichment opportunities
• Career and workforce information
• Public safety resources
• Child advocacy services
• Giveaways and family‑friendly activities

Participating organizations include Angel Kids Pediatrics & Behavioral Health, Arlington Lions Club, Bluebird Kids Health, Center for Children’s Rights, Charlie Health, Destiny Changers Foundation, ECS4Kids, Fatherhood P.R.I.D.E., Graceful Sanity, HavenRise Academy, Hubbard House, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition, Quigley House, The Performance Academy, Traveling Sign Language Camp and many more.

“When organizations work together, we create stronger communities,” Dr. Erica Wortherly, reach director for Pace Jacksonville said. “Families shouldn’t have to navigate dozens of agencies to find help. By bringing more than 25 trusted organizations together in one place, we’re making it easier for people to access the resources they need while strengthening the relationships that make our community thrive.”

The event underscores Pace Jacksonville’s commitment to serving girls and strengthening the families and communities that support them. Families are encouraged to attend, ask questions, gather information and take part in activities.

It also highlighted the complex engineering behind adaptive reuse projects, which have become increasingly popular as officials try to tackle a nationwide housing shortage by transforming offices that have sat underused since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The plans call for turning two office buildings — one built in 1909, the other in the 1960s — into about 1,600 apartments by adding more than a dozen stories atop the older structure and redesigning and expanding the other. The buckling occurred on the 21st floor of the newer structure, and crews have installed temporary supports as officials investigate.

Engineering experts said the conversion project is complex and poses many challenges, which include making sure older buildings can safely support new loads and carving up office floors to accommodate residential living.

But none said the high-profile setback should make people doubt the ability of engineers to complete such projects.

“I don’t think it really brings into question our understanding of how to do something like this,” said Ben Schafer, a structural engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University.

How do you build a new tower on top of an old one?

On its website highlighting the midtown project, adaptive reuse firm Collaborative Construction Management says the nine-story building from 1909 will be “threaded through” with a new addition of about 30 stories of poured concrete.

Schafer, who is not involved with the undertaking, said the likely approach is to have the century-old building continue to carry its own weight while building a new structural system to support additions.

“My interpretation would be that they’re going to leave that building carrying its own load, and they’re just going to poke holes in it so that they can take the load from the building that they’ve put above it and bring it all the way down to the foundation,” Schafer said.

Schafer said construction on the other tower presents a different challenge: punching holes in the existing floor plate to bring light into apartments, while also ensuring that the steel frame can support the newly added loads.

City officials have not determined what caused the columns to buckle. But both Schafer and Emily Guglielmo, a San Francisco-based structural engineer, believe the failure likely resulted from the added load.

Spokespersons for MetroLoft, the project developer, didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday. But Nathan Berman, the firm’s founder, acknowledged in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage.

Guglielmo thinks that either the original design assumptions were misunderstood, something went wrong during the design or construction process, or construction crews overloaded or weakened the structure.

Adding stories to existing buildings is common in dense urban areas where land is scarce, she said, but it requires reviewing original construction documents and inspecting the building before determining how additional floors will affect the structure.

“In cities and towns that don’t have that available geography, you’re going to see a lot more of this type of a design where there’s an adaptive reuse to an existing building,” Guglielmo said.

Why not just create a new building from scratch?

To many structural engineers, demolition should occur only as a last resort.

“Tearing buildings down is a terrible waste,” Schafer said, pointing out that buildings and the construction sector are responsible for about 40% of the world’s energy-related carbon emissions. “From a sustainability standpoint, that’s a disaster.”

Beyond the environmental costs, demolishing and hauling away the remnants of huge buildings is especially expensive in dense cities such as New York.

If an existing structure can safely be reused, engineers generally prefer that.

James LaFave, a structural engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said a steel-framed building from the 1960s, like the former Pfizer structure, would typically be a “very good” starting point for a conversion.

Does the scare in New York call into question other adaptive reuse projects?

In recent years, officials across the country have embraced office-to-housing conversions as a potential lifeline for downtown business districts that have struggled since the pandemic.

New York, especially, has embraced this push, as officials have made zoning changes and enacted tax incentives to spur housing production. A report from the New York City comptroller's office last year noted there are 44 adaptive reuse projects in the city that, as of early 2025, had either been completed, were underway or could move forward.

Pfizer moved out of the building in 2023 after opening a new office near Penn Station, leaving the property vacant. Construction on the property began in 2024.

Joshua Harris, director of Fordham University’s Real Estate Institute, said office-to-residential conversions are a key part of solving the housing shortages in New York and other cities, even if they come with risk.

“In a certain sense, it’s not terribly surprising that this happened, and we should have a little bit of grace,” he said. “These are very, very complicated surgical procedures being done to very old buildings.”

“This is part of the reality of fixing the housing crisis,” Harris continued. “Things like this can happen. It doesn’t look as complex as putting a rocket into space, but, in a real estate sense, construction in an environment like Manhattan on 42nd Street and Second Avenue is very complex.”

Guglielmo, the California engineer, said a combination of building codes, inspections and experienced construction crews makes failures like this rare.

“We’re very fortunate here in the United States that we are not seeing these types of failures on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “We’re privileged to have really robust building codes that explain to us as engineers how to do our designs in a way that’s safe.”

Still, Harris said it is likely a gut check for the industry, as office conversions transform once sleepy business districts across the city into 24/7 neighborhoods, like parts of Wall Street in recent years.

“If this building has a problem, all the other projects that have been sort of greenlit, they’re going to want to review to make sure that it’s not something similar,” Harris said.

___

Rico reported from Atlanta and Hill reported from Las Vegas.

Faggart was taken from the jail to the hospital on April 7, 2025, following an incident inside the facility. He died three days later.

Eight corrections officers and one sergeant involved in the incident were reassigned to positions in the courthouse, Records Unit, and Property and Evidence Unit as the investigation continues.

What the lawsuit seeks

The lawsuit, filed against Sheriff T.K. Waters and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, seeks to compel the agency to comply with Florida’s Public Records Act.

According to the family’s attorney, JSO has failed to turn over records related to Faggart’s death — including surveillance video, incident reports, investigative records and other evidence — despite requests made more than a year ago.

The evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, at 9 a.m. at the Duval County Courthouse.

The family’s attorney told News4JAX that the court will consider testimony and evidence regarding whether the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office improperly withheld public records — meaning records the law requires be made public — and whether those materials must now be released.

Mother vows to keep fighting

Faggart’s mother, Tracey Karpas, has been vocal about the toll the unanswered questions have taken on her.

“I’m still waiting to hear anything about my son, so we’re just praying that we get the rest of the stuff,” Karpas said in April. “I will go to my grave fighting. I will. I don’t think there’s any harder fight.”

The Faggart family said it remains committed to pursuing every legal avenue available to uncover the truth about what happened to Charles and will continue seeking answers, transparency and accountability until justice is achieved.

“Do your job. Do your job. Tell the truth,” Karpas said. “That would be my only message: Tell the truth and do your job.”

This Positively JAX initiative has helped collect tens of thousands of pairs of shoes for local children in need since 2014.

We are now collecting new shoes for this year’s giveaway.

Our drop-off locations this year are WJXT-Channel 4, Closets By Design, 1st Place Sports locations, Annie Lee’s Bakery & Diner, Fragrant Body Oilz, Meow and Barks Boutique, Bold City Wings, Allusion’s Restaurant & Lounge, The Icy Spot, and Bank of America branches.

Addresses for our drop-off locations are below.

Drop-off locations for new shoes:

WJXT Channel 4

• 4 Broadcast Place, 32207

Closets By Design of the First Coast

• 3728 Philips Highway, Suite 360, 32207

1st Place Sports

• Search for your local location

Annie Lee’s Bakery & Diner

• 203 West 48th St., Suite 4, 32208

Fragrant Body Oilz

• 231 Edgewood Ave. South 32254

Meow and Barks Boutique

• 1537 San Marco Blvd., 32207

Bold City Wings

• 2016 Hendricks Ave.

Allusion’s Restaurant & Lounge

• 5045 Soutel Dr. 

The Icy Spot

10584 Old St. Augustine Rd

Sears Dental Works

• 10365 Hood Rd STE 103 32257

Bank of America branches

• Normandy: 7770 Normandy Blvd. Jacksonville, Florida 32221
• North Jacksonville: 1055 Dunn Avenue Jacksonville, Florida 32218
• Regency: 9550 Regency Square Blvd. Jacksonville, Florida 32225 
• Baymeadows: 9225 Baymeadows Road, Jacksonville, Florida 32256
• Beaches- Hodges: 13756 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, Florida 32224

Speaking Wednesday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to make the U.S.-designed systems that Kyiv has long sought to shield its cities and infrastructure from Russian missiles and drones.

“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.”

But the statement left open a crucial question: What exactly would Ukraine be allowed to produce?

“America has recognized Ukraine as a country that is ready to do this,” Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday, adding that Ukrainian and U.S. diplomats and defense officials must now work “without pauses” to finalize the licensing arrangements.

A license might not cover the complete Patriot system

Patriot interceptor missiles, which are fired to shoot down incoming missiles, drones and aircraft, are produced by U.S. defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, part of RTX.

A production license would not automatically allow Ukraine to manufacture complete Patriot batteries — including launchers, radar systems, command posts and missiles — from scratch. It could instead cover narrower parts of the system, such as interceptor missiles, final assembly from imported component kits or production of selected components.

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, said a U.S. license would typically come with technical documentation, training for specialists, supplier contacts and foreign consultants to help launch manufacturing.

Other experts say the first step would likely be more limited than full domestic production.

Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, development director of the Fly Group Ukraine defense company, said Trump’s wording was ambiguous because he referred broadly to producing “Patriots,” without specifying whether he meant missiles, launchers, radar systems, command centers or components.

Missile production alone involves a vast supply chain, Khrapchynskyi said, with hundreds of companies making parts such as control surfaces, engines, guidance systems and communications equipment.

The Trump administration has not offered details about the Ukraine license, but an administration official said the U.S. is significantly accelerating and expanding Patriot production to meet growing demand and is forming industrial partnerships with allies and partners globally to deliver Patriots. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Any additional Patriot systems would enter a war that has shown how quickly weapons production can expand when a country receives designs, technical support and access to components. Ukraine has become a leader in the manufacture of cheap, expendable drone systems. Russia has scaled up domestic production of Iranian-designed Shahed-type attack drones, known in Russia as Gerans, at a factory in Tatarstan.

But experts say Patriot interceptors are far more complex, requiring precision guidance, advanced radar technology, solid-fuel rocket motors, military-grade electronics and strict certification standards.

Full production could take years

Yehor Chernev, deputy chairman of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, said the legal and bureaucratic process could be launched within months, but implementing production would take years.

Even if Ukraine received complete component kits from abroad, Chernev said, it would likely need at least 18 to 24 months to launch its first pilot production line, followed by more time to complete the first weapons.

The PAC-3 missile, designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles, is among the most sophisticated parts of the Patriot family. Producing a PAC-3 MSE missile in the United States takes about 24 months, and producing its solid-fuel rocket motor requires around 30 months, he said.

Chernev said some technology, especially the missile’s active radar seeker, is so sensitive that Washington would be unlikely to transfer full documentation for Ukraine to manufacture them from scratch. That means Ukraine might have to import some of the most complex components and focus first on assembly, integration or less sensitive parts of the supply chain.

Dr. Thomas Withington, an analyst specializing in electronic warfare, radar and military communications at the Royal United Services Institute, said expectations should be managed.

Ukraine’s existing defense industry could help, Withington said, but the country would still need time to set up facilities, train workers and secure the necessary supply chains.

“This is not going to be a fix for the air-defense threats Ukraine is going to face tomorrow.”

Other countries have produced Patriot systems

The United States has allowed Patriot-related production abroad before, and experts say those examples show that licensed production is possible but slow.

Japan has produced Patriot missiles under license for decades. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has assembled PAC-3 missiles under a licensed agreement with Lockheed Martin, and Japan later loosened its postwar arms export restrictions to allow the sale of U.S.-designed Patriot missiles back to the United States — a move that could indirectly help replenish stocks used to support Ukraine.

Germany offers a more recent example. Raytheon and MBDA Deutschland announced in 2022 a plan to produce Patriot GEM-T missiles in Germany. A major NATO procurement contract followed in 2024 for up to 1,000 missiles, and a new production facility in Schrobenhausen is expected to play a role in supplying Ukraine and replenishing European inventories.

But Ukraine would face an additional challenge that Japan and Germany did not: Russian strikes.

Khrapchynskyi said any facility helping Ukraine defend its airspace would become a priority target for Moscow. Production would have to be placed in protected locations, potentially underground or inside shelters, he said.

That makes the license more of a long-term strategic step than an immediate battlefield solution. If implemented, it could help Ukraine become a future producer of air-defense weapons and reduce dependence on allies whose own stockpiles are under strain.

“It would not solve the current missile shortage in 2026,” he said, “but it would lay the foundation for Ukraine to become one of Europe’s leading producers of air-defense systems in the future.”

___

Associated Press journalists Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine; Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo; Stefanie Dazio in Berlin; and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

But wanting to eat healthy food and doing so are two different things.

A new Pew Research survey found that about half of Americans say how healthy a food is plays a major role in what they choose to eat.

But Pew also found 84% of Americans believe healthy food costs more than less healthy options, and while eating clean is a good idea, there can be some downsides.

Experts say even good habits can go too far.

Experts say the problems start when healthy eating becomes too restrictive.

Cutting out entire food groups without a plan, including carbohydrates, can leave your body running on empty. Your brain alone relies heavily on glucose for fuel.

The Mayo Clinic says adults need at least 130 grams of carbs a day. Too few can lead to fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and brain fog.

Another risk? Food rules. “No sugar.” “No carbs.” “No red meat.” When eating turns into a long list of “Nevers,” experts use the term orthorexia to describe an unhealthy fixation on eating pure or perfectly.

And then there’s the guilt factor. Experts say rigid food rules can increase anxiety around eating and, in some cases, contribute to disordered eating patterns.

So, remember, the goal isn’t perfection, it’s balance.

Experts say if healthy eating starts to cause stress, guilt, or social isolation, it may be time to reassess your approach. Because healthy eating should support your well-being, not control it.

Vincent Cicone started a GoFundMe page to help support financial challenges he has faced while trying to cope with the loss of his wife, Samantha Cicone.

“She’s a very special woman. She always loves smiling. She was always happy,” Cicone said, remembering his late wife.

“We miss her every day, and the pain of her absence is overwhelming. The aftermath has left us facing not only emotional devastation but also significant financial challenges. I have had to cover funeral costs, crime scene cleanup, and repairs to our home from the damages that occurred that morning. These expenses have added to the stress and difficulty of trying to rebuild our lives,” he wrote on the GoFundMe page.

On Sept. 15, 2025, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said 45-year-old Mauricio Vasco Lopez entered the family’s home on Pine Oaks Lane in Middleburg and began shooting before someone inside returned fire.

Deputies said Lopez shot three people: a 21-year-old woman, Cicone and his wife.

For Cicone, that day was a “typical morning” for his family.

“Get a little sleep before we go to whatever adventure leads us that day,” he told News4JAX on Thursday.

Those were his thoughts before the chaos erupted.

“When we came out, I was face to face with a guy who pointed a 10 millimeter pistol,” he said.

Cicone wrote in the GoFundMe that he was shot in the chest while trying to protect his family after Lopez forced his way into the home. Lopez then chased Cicone’s 16-year-old son and wife through the home before fatally shooting her, according to the GoFundMe page.

Cicone said his son, who is on the autism spectrum, ultimately grabbed a shotgun and shot Lopez, saving both of their lives. Lopez died from his injuries.

“He had no issue protecting his home. He had no issue with that. His only issue he had was the aftermath of it all,” Cicone said.

Nearly a year later, Cicone hopes that people remember Samantha as someone who was giving and kind.

“She’s a very special woman. I mean, she always loves smiling. She was always happy,” he said. ”I wake up a lot of mornings, and I’m looking at the couch where my wife used to sit. And I don’t see her."

Investigators said they found no evidence that Lopez knew the family. According to the investigation, Lopez’s car got a flat tire outside the home before he stormed inside and started shooting, but his motive remains unclear.

If you would like to donate, click here.

As of Thursday, the fundraiser had raised $800 toward its $11,000 goal.