Tresonda Benefield, 26, Nathanial Carter, 25, Jackeri Lewis, 28 and Jakeithiyan Daniel, 25, pleaded guilty last year, according to federal prosecutors.

Benefield, Carter, and Lewis were each sentenced to 16 years and 1 month in federal prison, and Daniel was sentenced to 14 years and 6 months in federal prison.

They also have to pay back the money they stole.

Police said the four suspects used the same mode of operation for each robbery at a Dollar General on Main Street, Fort Caroline Road, Yellow Bluff Road and a store on Main Street in the Brentwood neighborhood.

The robberies took place between April 9 and May 1, 2024, officials said. Benefield, Carter and Lewis participated in all four robberies, while Daniel was involved in the last two.

MORE: Officer fires shot at suspected robbers leaving Brentwood dollar store, Jacksonville police say

Benefield kept an eye on each of the stores before the robberies and then drove the rest of the crew to the stores just before closing time.

Once the store employees began to lock up the store at night, the crew, wearing masks and brandishing firearms, approached the employees and demanded that they go back inside the store to unlock the safe.

The store employees were then forced to hand over the money inside the safe. The group collectively stole more than $11,000 from the four stores.

After one of the robbery incidents, there was a brief chase that led to an officer firing a shot at the getaway vehicle when one of the suspects raised a gun at him.

WATCH | Video shows JSO officers in dramatic takedown of suspects accused in Dollar General robbery spree

Following the suspects’ arrest, police searched the vehicle. Officers said they found three guns believed to be used in all the robberies, ski masks, more than $3,500 in cash and stolen merchandise in the vehicle.

Investigators also said a search warrant served at two of the suspects’ homes led to the discovery of clothing worn by the suspects in a previous armed robbery, a box of latex gloves that matched the gloves worn in previous robberies and Dollar General bags.

No one was injured in the shooting or during the robberies.

Dollar General’s corporate office issued this statement about the robberies in 2024:

We are committed to providing a safe environment for employees and customers. We have invested in various security measures, as appropriate for each store. To protect the integrity of these measures, we do not publicly comment on their details. Additionally, we appreciate our ongoing and collaborative partnership with Jacksonville law enforcement.

Dollar General Spokesperson

With rising political violence, including recent incidents near the White House, and a president who enjoys being at the center of public pomp yet has repeatedly faced attempts on his life, a major security challenge awaits.

“It comes as no surprise to you that D.C. on a normal day is a target-rich environment,” said Darren B. Cox assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office at a recent press conference detailing the security preparations. “We are prepared for any threats.”

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to visit Washington in the coming weeks for the festivities.

The throngs will be joined by thousands of law enforcement officers and agents and 5,000 National Guard troops, along with military-style vehicles and other hardware they don’t often see on the streets of America.

Authorities are preparing for a major security operation

The largest crowds are expected July 4, with multiple events happening simultaneously, including the Great American State Fair, a showcase for each state and a signature attraction of the celebrations that stretches across the National Mall.

The annual fireworks display that night is designated a National Security Special Event for the first time by the Department of Homeland Security, granting it the highest classification for federal security coordination.

For visitors, that means strict ID requirements, long lines and magnetometers, similar to air travel security. Snipers are also expected to be deployed at some events.

Flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is across the Potomac River from Washington, will be suspended longer than in other years because of the scope of the celebrations — from noon on July 4 until the next day. Other America 250 events that include flyovers or parachute jumps could prompt more flight disruptions.

The FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Park Police and D.C. National Guard have all been involved in security coordination for the events. At the press conference earlier this month, equipment that could be deployed to guard the city was on display, including BearCat armored SWAT vehicles, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected, known as MRAPs, as well as communication vans and FBI diving boats.

“Our protective model is meant to adjust to any type of direct or indirect threats that we come across,” said Tara McLeese, special agent in charge of the Secret Service Washington Field Office. “I can assure you that we have no lack of imagination as to the potential threats out there."

Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II, interim commander of the D.C. National Guard, said the planning had been underway for months and included rehearsals.

Blanchard said the guard members would continue the roles they have served the last 10 months as part of a deployment to the city President Donald Trump says is meant to fight crime. Blanchard highlighted that guard members, including military police officers, would be helping with duties like traffic and crowd control as well as responding to emergencies around the events.

President Trump, who has already attended several events leading up to July 4, including the kickoff rally last week launching the Great American State Fair, has said on Truth Social that he would hold a rally on the National Mall.

Speaking at a press conference Monday updating the upcoming security preparations, Cox reiterated that “at this time we are not tracking any credible threats related to the July 4th event, but we always remain vigilant.”

Recent violence has shaped the threat picture

The festivities come at a fraught moment, with recent political violence creating a complex threat environment for authorities. One man, Cole Tomas Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president after he sprinted past security at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April. Allen has pleaded not guilty.

In the following weeks, two men on two separate occasions opened fired at Secret Service officers, the service said. Each incident happened in the vicinity of the White House.

More recently, the FBI announced it had thwarted a planned attack targeting Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show at the White House. Several suspects have been arrested in that case.

Security was already enhanced on the National Mall ahead of the launch of festivities, as Trump claimed without providing evidence that vandals had damaged the Reflecting Pool that he had recently renovated.

Matt Dallek, a political scientist at George Washington University who studies extremism, said Trump posed a unique security challenge because he is “both an accelerant and a target of political violence.”

The nation’s bicentennial offers a historical parallel

Observers draw some parallels to the 1976 bicentennial. The nation was coming off Watergate and Vietnam and 10 months before the celebration there were two assassination attempts against then-President Gerald Ford.

“There was a lot of sourness in the country in ’76, a lot of cynicism about the direction of the country,” Dallek said. But both Ford and his democratic opponent Jimmy Carter understood the threat political divisions posed and “were looking to bring down the level of vitriol.”

Angelyn Spaulding Flowers, Professor of Homeland Security & Administration of Justice at the University of the District of Columbia, said the amount of security was unparalleled for the city, citing the ongoing and open-ended National Guard presence that has flooded Washington with additional security patrols for months.

House Bill 127, signed into law during the 2026 legislative session, amends Florida’s required instruction statute to mandate cursive writing be taught in public schools statewide.

Starting July 1, teachers will be required to incorporate cursive writing into their classrooms, covering letter formation, proper spacing and alignment, and practice writing complete words and sentences.

Students will have until the end of fifth grade to demonstrate proficiency. Under the new law, proficiency means a student can write uppercase and lowercase letters in cursive, produce legible words and sentences with proper spacing and alignment, and read and apply cursive writing in ways that support literacy development — including writing essays and assignments in cursive in accordance with state academic standards.

What it means for Florida classrooms

The law marks a significant shift for Florida’s public schools, where cursive writing instruction has largely faded from curricula in recent years.

Teachers in grades 2 through 5 will be expected to begin incorporating cursive instruction when students return for the upcoming school year.

The IRS Criminal Investigations division, the crime-fighting arm of the IRS, says Twista, whose legal name is Carl Mitchell, failed to pay income tax from 2019 to 2023 and owes more than $440,000 in back taxes.

Last week, Mitchell pleaded guilty to five counts of willfully failing to pay income tax. He is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 22.

Best known for his 2004 album ’Kamikaze,” Mitchell has collaborated with musicians including Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and Jamie Foxx on the song “Slow Jamz." He has received two Grammy nominations.

His income stemmed from performances, album sales, streaming and royalties, according to IRS-CI.

Despite warnings from both the IRS and his own accountants of his tax debts, “instead, Mitchell entered into agreements with a third-party company to pay him advances on future royalties, knowing that the IRS would not be able to levy these funds,” the IRS said in a statement.

Mitchell also has unpaid tax liabilities dating back to 2011, and the government alleges Mitchell made large purchases to support his lifestyle, including buying at least four luxury vehicles.

Representatives for Mitchell did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

“IRS Criminal Investigation doesn’t care how famous you are or what you’ve accomplished,” Adam Jobes, with IRS-CI's Chicago field office, said in a statement. "If you willfully refuse to pay your taxes, we’ll follow the money and bring you to justice.”

A month after his French Open meltdown, the top-ranked Sinner produced a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 win that lasted 3 hours and 30 minutes in the honorary opening match on Centre Court reserved for the past year’s men’s singles champion.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, remains the only Wimbledon men’s singles winner in the professional era (since 1968) to have lost in the first round the following year. The Australian was defeated by Ivo Karlovic in his 2003 opener.

Sinner hadn’t played an official match since he struggled with dizziness during a heat wave at Roland Garros, where after being within one game of concluding his second-round match in straight sets, he was beaten by Juan Manuel Cerundolo in five.

The match with Kecmanovic was played in ideal conditions, with sunny skies and the temperature 24 degrees Celsius (75 Fahrenheit).

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

The expressway connects three northeast Florida counties, completing a project that began in late 2019.

“This is the final Clay County segment of the First Coast Expressway,” said Jacob Pickering, public information officer for FDOT. “Clay County has really experienced a lot of improved efficiency with this First Coast Expressway — another option for you.”

US 17 to Leonard C. Taylor Parkway

The new stretch allows drivers to travel the expressway from US 17 to Leonard C. Taylor Parkway. New traffic signals on Leonard C. Taylor Parkway were also activated Monday, giving drivers coming from the east the ability to head north directly onto the expressway — including right off the Shands Bridge.

“Once they get off the Shands Bridge, they can immediately go north and access the First Coast Expressway right from the bridge now,” Pickering said. “This is that final connection that connects folks all the way down right to the Shands Bridge up to the First Coast Expressway at US 17.”

The First Coast Expressway is already open from US 17 north to Interstate 10, meaning Monday’s opening completed the full Clay County corridor.

3 new bridges, electronic tolling

The new segment includes three new bridges, a brand-new drainage system and an all-electronic toll facility.

Drivers without a SunPass can still use the road — the system will automatically read their license plate.

“What this is, is really good for the state of Florida, because what we’re doing is giving that option and proving to our motorists on these roadways that we’re thinking of you guys and we’re trying to give you new options here,” Pickering said.

For the toll rates, including SunPass rates and toll-by-plate rates, click here.

New traffic triangle

Any drivers traveling through the intersection of State Road 13 and State Road 16 near the Shands Bridge should expect a new traffic pattern in the shape of a triangle, with traffic flowing counterclockwise.

“There will be some changes to the roadway, so we want folks to use extra caution. But also the significance is really that you’ll have more options to get around, and you’ll have easier access to both State Road 13 and State Road 16 from either direction,” Pickering said.

Two legs of what is known as the “triangle” are now one-way only, while State Road 13 continues to carry traffic in both directions with two newly installed traffic signals

FDOT also advised drivers to prepare for slowdowns on Monday morning and to leave the house a bit earlier than they are used to, to give them some extra time in case of any delays.

This temporary setup will remain in place until the construction of the bridge is completed in 2030.

Drivers who will benefit most

Drivers in Green Cove Springs and St. Johns County are expected to see the greatest impact from the new segment.

US 17, which runs through the center of Green Cove Springs, is known for heavy congestion during peak travel hours. The new expressway gives commuters an alternative to crowded surface roads like Blanding Boulevard and US 17.

“What we’re hoping that will happen here for the folks who live in Green Cove, who maybe work in Orange Park or Jacksonville — this will give them a new option to get home quicker,” Pickering said.

Residents of St. Johns County communities such as Fruit Cove will also benefit, gaining quicker access to the expressway than ever before.

“If you live in St. Johns County, you can now access the First Coast Expressway much sooner than you could before, right at the bottom of the Shands Bridge,” Pickering said. “That really gives folks in Fruit Cove and Green Cove this brand-new option to really access that urban parkway really fast.”

Limited access design

Because the road is a limited-access toll facility, FDOT does not expect the kind of peak-hour backups common on surface roads.

“It is limited access, so we don’t expect peak rush hours to build up on this section of the roadway,” Pickering said.

As drivers get familiar with the new segment, FDOT is urging patience and caution. The department’s Target Zero initiative — aimed at eliminating fatalities and crashes on Florida roadways — remains central to its mission.

“We just really want to tell drivers to be safe out there, and as folks get used to this new roadway segment in the next week, give it some time and be patient with everybody around you,” Pickering said.

Five days have passed since the twin earthquakes struck northern Venezuela, killing more than 1,450 people, according to the government. Relief organizations say the first 72 hours after a natural disaster is the most crucial time period for rescues, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.

Families kept vigil at search sites in hard-hit La Guaira, where local and international rescue teams battled exhaustion and the grim knowledge that the chances of finding life were rapidly diminishing.

Ana Rada watched intently as civil defense workers searched the rubble of a collapsed apartment for her missing brother.

“We have to stay strong, even without food, without sleep,” she said, wiping her eyes. "Until I see the body, I still have hope.”

Aftershock rattles rescuers

The aftershock, which struck about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of Caraballeda on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, measured 4.6 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Survey. Colombia’s geological survey put the magnitude at 5.1.

Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, said there were no immediate reports of additional damage, but the aftershock sent residents in the capital of Caracas screaming into the streets.

“Here we are again, back in the street. I don’t know when we’ll have a moment of true peace,” said Concepción Hernández, 51, who evacuated her apartment building in the Chacao municipality of Caracas.

One rescuer said he was deported from US

One of the rescuers working Monday in La Guaira was miner Jean Sosa, who said he was deported from the United States in January over a missed immigration court hearing and arrived in Caracas last month, dazed by an odyssey that he said began in shackles at an Arizona immigration detention center. The journey involved traveling by bus through five countries after immigration agents left him in southern Mexico without his passport, phone or wallet.

Sosa, 31, was checking on some family friends in La Guaira when the earthquakes hit Wednesday. For days, he raced to pull people from the rubble in the absence of national rescue teams.

“I’m not involved in politics, but I believe many people could have been saved if there had been equipment and support from top authorities from the very beginning,” he told The Associated Press, wearing a helmet and a black T-shirt splotched with dust in the port city where he said he had already rescued 20 people alive. Those rescues heartened him, he said, and gave him hope for more despite a dire lack of supplies.

“We're working without gloves, without equipment, borrowing supplies, improvising bandages and whatever else we can,” he said. “But we’re still here, still fighting.”

Government and UN offer vastly different numbers of people affected

Jorge Rodríguez, who is the brother of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, said that as of Monday, a total of 12,721 people had been affected, while the number of damaged or collapsed buildings had reached 774.

The United Nations, however, has said that up to 6.8 million of Venezuela’s nearly 30 million residents may be affected by the earthquakes, which could mean being displaced or losing access to essential services such as electricity and water.

Because of the chaos and poor cellphone service, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is unclear how many have been found.

Rodríguez, faced with growing anger over a response criticized as slow and inadequate, sought to reassure the population that rescue efforts were far from finished, even though the 72-hour mark had passed.

She shared footage on social media Monday of first responders lifting Aaron Levi Cantillo, 21, out of the ruins on a stretcher to applause after what she said was a grueling 43-hour operation.

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

When he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2024, Beasley agreed to tailor his performance based on prop bets in certain games, according to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said Beasley and others “turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation.”

The schemes, he added, “erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.”

Attorneys for Beasley and Davis did not immediately return messages seeking comment on charges of conspiracy and bribery.

Nocella said the scheme involved hundreds of thousands of dollars. The indictment, which names six people, says Beasley had financial woes, including millions of dollars in gambling losses, and had relied on Davis, a former teammate, for financial help.

In return for fixing his performance, Beasley got paid by his money-winning co-conspirators and his debts to Davis were reduced or eliminated, the indictment alleges.

In one example, Beasley dashed past four players to grab a rebound at the last second in a Milwaukee victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, 2024. With the Bucks ahead by seven points, the shot and any rebound would not have affected the outcome.

But by hustling to grab the missed shot, Beasley finished with four rebounds that night, which was a winning prop bet, the indictment states.

“What's funny is after he got it he had a big sigh of relief,” a co-conspirator said in a text message, according to the indictment.

Beasley last played for the Detroit Pistons in 2024-25, averaging 16 points. He is one of five players in NBA history with more than 300 3-pointers in a season, but has not played in the NBA since because of the investigation. He played briefly for a team in Puerto Rico earlier this year.

Beasley's financial woes have been widely reported by the news media, including lawsuits by his Detroit landlord and payment disputes with a Milwaukee barber and Minnesota dentist.

Davis was a journeyman who was primarily a backup in a 12-year career that got him roughly $48 million in gross salary. He and Beasley briefly were teammates in Minnesota in the 2020-21 season.

In April, former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, became the first person to plead guilty in a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and other basketball figures.

Jones entered guilty pleas to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in schemes to defraud major sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel, and filch millions of dollars from unwitting poker players.

He was accused of selling or attempting to sell insider information to bettors based on his relationships in the NBA.

One of the biggest figures in the sweeping gambling investigation is Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame who was coach of the Portland Trail Blazers when he was charged last year.

Billups is accused of participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. He has pleaded not guilty.

Another key figure is Terry Rozier, who was on the Miami Heat when he was charged in 2025. Rozier is accused of conspiring with friends to help them win bets on his performance during a 2023 game when he played for the Charlotte Hornets. He, too, has pleaded not guilty.

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Associated Press writers Tim Reynolds in Miami and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.

Gotham announced signing Kerr on Monday to a deal that will keep her with the team through 2030. The move marks a return to the NWSL for Kerr, who previously played for Sky Blue — which later became Gotham — from 2015-17.

She also played for the Chicago Red Stars before moving to Chelsea in November 2019. Kerr remains the NWSL's top regular-season scorer with 77 career goals and led the league in scoring for three straight seasons from 2017-19. She won league MVP awards in 2017 and 2019.

Kerr, 32, also is the all-time leading scorer for the Australia, among men or women, with 75 international goals, surpassing men's leader Tim Cahill with 51. She led the Matildas to the semifinals of the 2023 Women's World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

“I’m incredibly excited to return to Gotham FC and to this city,” Kerr said in a statement released by the team. “This club was an important part of my journey, and to come back at this moment, with everything Gotham has built, is really special. The ambition here is clear, and I’m looking forward to helping this team compete for trophies and create more history.”

Known for her backflip goal celebrations, Kerr is widely considered one of the best strikers in the world. She's the only player to have won a Golden Boot in three different leagues.

“Sam is one of the defining players of her generation and a game-changing talent who has consistently delivered at the highest levels of world football,” said Yael Averbuch West, president of soccer operations for Gotham FC. “Her winning mentality, relentless competitiveness and ability to decide matches in an instant make her one of the most impactful players in the game. Bringing Sam back to Gotham is a landmark moment for our club, and we couldn’t be more excited.”

Gotham won the league title last year and in 2023. The team’s loaded roster already includes such players as Esther González, who won the 2023 World Cup with Spain, German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, U.S. midfielder Rose Lavelle and England defender Jess Carter.

Kerr finished with 17 goals last season for Chelsea. She scored 65 goals in the Women’s Super League and won the league’s Golden Boot twice. She scored 116 goals in all competitions, tying Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer Fran Kirby. Chelsea won five WSL titles, three FA Cups and three League Cups during Kerr’s tenure with the club.

She also played professionally in the W League in Australia.

Kerr is married to American Kristie Mewis, who also played in the NWSL and the English WSL, as well as for the U.S. national team. The couple have a son, Jagger Mewis-Kerr, who was born in May 2025.

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

A disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms is near the North Carolina coast. Forecasters say a broad area of low pressure could form off the Southeast U.S. coast in the next day or two, and there’s a slight chance it will gradually organize as it drifts southward and then westward.

The keyword here is slight. The chance of any formal tropical development sits at just 10% over the next seven days, and conditions are expected to become less favorable as the week goes on. Wind shear and drier air will limit any development.

As we head into the month of July, these are the zones we look at for potential development.

Johnson, 40, spent 10 seasons in the league and last played in 2017 for the Arizona Cardinals. He said on ABC's “ Good Morning America ” that he was diagnosed with the fatal nervous system disease last year.

“Honestly, I don’t know if you really fully process it,” he said, using his eyes to communicate through a computerized speech-generating device during the interview with Michael Strahan. “At first you’re in shock. Then you realize you have two choices: You can give up or you can fight. I chose to fight.”

Johnson, a first-round draft pick out of East Carolina in 2008, rushed for 7,965 yards over six seasons with the Titans. The native of Orlando, Florida, had 2,006 yards in 2009 to earn the nickname “CJ2K” and ingratiate himself with the Tennessee fan base.

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, in a statement released Monday, said the organization is holding Johnson, his wife and four children close.

“Some people leave a mark on an organization that you just can’t put into words. Chris Johnson is one of those people for us. His leadership on the field, in addition to his impact in the locker room and Nashville community have written him permanently into the story of this franchise," Adams Strunk said. “Learning this news is extremely difficult, and we will support Chris every step of the way throughout his journey."

ALS, which is an acronym for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative condition that affects nerve cell communication with muscles throughout the body. The disease leads to muscle weakness and can cause deterioration of the ability to move, speak and breathe.

Tim Shaw, who had a six-year career as a linebacker in the NFL and was a teammate of Johnson's with the Titans from 2010-12, was diagnosed in 2014 at age 30 with ALS and is still alive.

Johnson, who also played one season for the New York Jets, first noticed weakness in his right hand and trouble with his grip. He was still working out daily a year ago. Now he can't hold a cup or speak on his own.

“Your mind stays sharp. People sometimes look at a person with a physical disability and assume you’re not still the same person inside,” Johnson said. “I still think the same. I still dream. I still love my family. My body just doesn’t cooperate.”

Johnson was joined for the interview by his wife, Brittany, who has become his primary caregiver.

“She hasn’t left my side through any of this. My kids are also a huge part of why I keep going,” Johnson said. “Every day I wake up wanting more time with them to make more memories and just be their dad. They give me a reason to keep fighting.”

Johnson has been participating in experimental treatments with the goal of extending his life and helping the medical field move closer to a cure for the disease.

“If it helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research or gives another family hope,” he said, “then it's worth it.”

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

The justices said Monday that Trump can fire leaders of independent agencies with one exception, ruling that central banker Lisa Cook can keep her job at the Federal Reserve for now.

The court said states can count late-arriving mailed ballots, rejecting a Trump-led challenge. It declined to consider Trump’s push to toss a $5 million jury verdict that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll. And it turned away Trump defender Alan Dershowitz ’s effort to rewrite the U.S. libel law standards.

Here's the Latest:

America 250 celebrations bring extraordinary security challenge to Washington

Federal law enforcement is preparing for one of the capital’s largest and most complex security operations as hundreds of thousands of people visit Washington for the 250th anniversary of the nation’s freedom.

The security challenge comes amid rising political violence, including recent incidents near the White House, and a president who enjoys being at the center of public pomp yet has repeatedly faced attempts on his life.

The nation’s capital “is a target-rich environment” on a normal day, said Darren B. Cox, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “We are prepared for any threats.”

The throngs will be joined by thousands of law enforcement officers and agents and 5,000 National Guard troops, along with military-style vehicles and other hardware not often seen on American streets.

▶ Read more

Trump says he will keep fighting Carroll case after court declines to take it up

The president said in a social media post that it was “a Fake Case” brought against him by a woman he claims he never met.

“I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength,” Trump wrote.

He also said the case, in which a jury found that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in New York City in the 1990s and and later defamed her, is “really against the United States of America, and all it stands for.”

In a statement Monday, Carroll said the decision affirms the jury’s verdict will stand. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” she said.

Trump says he'll seek to remove Cook despite court rejection of his initial attempt

Trump said he lost his effort to remove the Federal Reserve’s Lisa Cook “on a strictly procedural basis” and would still seek to remove the central bank governor.

The court ruled 5-4 that the Federal Reserve’s Lisa Cook can remain on the Fed board as she challenges the administration’s attempts to fire her over claims of mortgage fraud, which she has denied.

Trump said in a social media post that “we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”

In light of Supreme Court rejection, Trump renews push for his voter ID bill

Trump called a Supreme Court ruling that ballots postmarked by Election Day can be counted days after an election a “tremendous loss.”

Trump posted on social media that the decision makes it more important for his SAVE America Act to pass. The measure would require proof of citizenship and include a ban on mail-in ballots unless that person is sick, disabled, traveling or deployed by the military, Trump noted.

“There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump said.

The president then called out Republican senators who have objected to the measure: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Cook says her attempted firing was about ‘political pressure’ on the Fed

The firing attempt “was never about mortgage documents signed years ago” but rather “was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure” from Trump, who has long sought lower interest rates from the central bank, Cook said in a written statement reacting to the court’s ruling.

Trump fired Cook last August, citing allegations that she had committed fraud in mortgage documents she signed in June and July of 2021. The Biden appointee sued to keep her job, and lower courts ruled she could remain while the case is litigated. The Supreme Court Monday upheld those rulings.

“Today’s ruling affirms a principle that has underpinned sound economic stewardship for generations: that the Federal Reserve must make all its policy decisions guided by evidence and independent judgment, free from political interference,” Cook’s statement said.

Trump applauds ruling empowering him to fire independent agency leaders

A majority of the justices ruled presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a previous court ruling from 91 years ago.

“It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” Trump posted on social media.

The justices ruled in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter. The decision’s logic extends to National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Trump did not acknowledge that the court recognized some limits on his authorities by also ruling 5-4 that Lisa Cook can remain a central bank governor while challenging unproven mortgage fraud allegations, which she has denied.

Supreme Court says Fed’s Cook can keep her job for now

The Supreme Court on Monday dramatically expanded presidential power, upholding Trump’s firings of the heads of independent federal agencies with one important exception, the Federal Reserve.

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

But other than at the nation’s central bank, with its role of setting interest rates, the court held that presidents have free rein to fire agency heads at will, despite federal laws that require a cause for such dismissals and a 91-year-old decision that had limited executive authority. That decision, Humphrey’s Executor, was overturned.

Witkoff and Kushner going to Qatar for talks with Iran

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Steve Witkoff, who is the special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, are flying to Qatar to meet with the Iranians.

Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that those talks would be “high level” and that technical negotiations would occur on the sidelines. Iran has denied that the talks are happening.

Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire by attacking a ship last week in Strait of Hormuz, but so far the interim deal for negotiations to take place appears to have held.

Court rules states can count late-arriving mailed ballots

The Court said states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day, a persistent target of Trump.

The decision Monday rejects a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

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

Trump has claimed most mail balloting breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience. He keeps repeating that fraud caused his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 even though more than 60 court decisions and his own attorney general said that argument had no merit.

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Supreme Court rebuffs Alan Dershowitz’s $300 million suit against CNN

The Supreme Court refused Monday to revive the prominent attorney’s defamation lawsuit against CNN over its coverage of remarks he made while defending Trump during his 2020 impeachment.

Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented from the majority decision, saying legal standards for public figures who claim defamation should be reconsidered.

Alan Dershowitz said the news network aired only part of a comment he made, distorting his meaning to make him look like he’d “lost his mind,” according to court documents.

The network said that multiple outlets had interpreted his remarks in a similar way, and Dershowitz couldn’t show CNN was trying to mischaracterize what he said.

Dershowitz had urged the justices to reconsider New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the landmark First Amendment case that made it harder for public figures to win libel lawsuits by requiring proof that an outlet either knowingly published something false, or showed a reckless disregard for the truth.

Supreme Court will weigh GOP push to revive Arizona voting laws

The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider a Republican push to enforce strict Arizona voting laws passed in the swing state after the 2020 election.

The high court has allowed some similar rules to take effect temporarily before, including Arizona’s proof-of-citizenship requirement for state and local elections and a Virginia purge of voter rolls that the state said was aimed at keeping noncitizens from voting.

President Donald Trump’s Republican administration joined the appeal after lower courts found the measures violated federal voting laws.

The high court is expected to hear arguments in the fall and hand down an opinion after the midterm elections.

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Supreme Court rejects Trump push to toss $5 million E. Jean Carroll verdict

Trump wanted the justices to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. The high court, in a typically brief and unexplained order, declined to take up the case.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.

Trump’s attorneys also framed the case as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House. A jury also awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million after a second defamation trial. Trump also appealed that ruling, which is not yet before the Supreme Court.

Are oil traders too optimistic about a recovery in Gulf oil shipping?

Oil prices have inched up amid escalating tensions, with Tehran launching fresh drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait in response to new U.S. airstrikes over the weekend.

Brent crude, the international standard, was up 58 cents to $73.18 a barrel early Monday, up from about $72 before the war. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 73 cents to $69.96 a barrel.

But there’s still plenty of risk regarding ship safety in the Strait of Hormuz following the latest attacks on vessels. ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a commentary Monday that oil traders have been “too optimistic” about the timeline for a recovery in Persian Gulf supplies.

“This complacency is odd and clearly leaves significant upside risk if the supply recovery proves slow — or if we see significant re-escalation,” the commentary said.

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Race or ethnicity matters more to many Black Americans: AP-NORC poll

Most Black Americans — 73% — say their race or ethnicity is “extremely” or “very” important to how they see themselves, according to the new AP-NORC poll. Only about half of Black adults say that being an American is highly important to their personal identity.

About half of Hispanic Americans say their race or ethnicity is highly important to them, compared to 22% of white Americans.

Vincent Harris, a 60-year-old in California who participated in the poll, says his identity as a Black man rises above other attributes for him because of how Black men are treated in America.

“A lot of people are scared of Black men just because we are Black and we are male. And that’s crazy,” Harris said. “People don’t even take you for who you are as a person; they just look at your race.”

House Republicans look to get their agenda on track

With a social media assist from President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson is looking this week to ease the divisions in his Republican ranks and make progress on key legislative priorities before this fall’s elections.

Johnson sent lawmakers home early last week and went to the White House after GOP tumult prevented the House from voting on two spending bills and a measure dealing with veterans’ benefits. Meanwhile, the list of legislative priorities only grew with Trump requesting another $87.6 billion, mostly to cover the war with Iran.

Johnson emerged from his White House visit with a coveted Trump social media post telling Republicans to quit voting down procedural rules that allow for final votes on their legislative priorities. “No more grandstanding, please!” Trump wrote.

Before Trump’s message, Republican and Democratic lawmakers were openly doubting whether the House would even return this week.

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Nancy Pelosi democracy institute is established at UC Berkeley

The former House Speaker and the University of California, Berkeley, are partnering to form a new nonpartisan academic institute they say will be dedicated to strengthening democracy.

Pelosi says she wants to “strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good.” The Democrat is leaving Congress after representing San Francisco for nearly 40 years and is planning a busy retirement. She’ll co-teach a course on Congress at the Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy, which will launch in January and has already received more than $35 million in philanthropic commitments.

The university says the institute aims to strengthen America’s democratic institutions; overcome challenges to society, the economy and the planet; promote human and civil rights; and ensure political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds.

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Kara Swisher brings her Silicon Valley influence into politics

Kara Swisher is expanding her influence from tech journalism to politics. She’s known for her fearless interviews with tech leaders including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Now her podcasts including “On with Kara Swisher” and “Pivot” are gaining traction as political platforms, reflecting the growing importance of digital media.

Swisher is hardly the only podcaster talking politics. Conservatives like Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson and some liberals like the former Barack Obama aides who host “Pod Save America” have larger audiences. They’re all dwarfed by Joe Rogan. But Swisher has few rivals who can match her technology expertise and connect those observations to the broader political debate.

Swisher told The Associated Press from her Washington home that she gets called by all the presidential candidates and she’s “going to get to all of them.”

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American identity matters more to Republicans: AP-NORC poll

The new AP-NORC poll also finds that Republicans are much likelier than Democrats or independents to say being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their personal identity.

At the same time, young adults are less likely than older people to say this is important to their identity. Matt Stafford, a 39-year-old centrist in Massachusetts who participated in the poll, said he is proud to be American, even if U.S. politics frustrate him. He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to represent the U.S. and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for.”

Despite that pride, he’s frustrated: “I love America, but our biggest problem is how we’re pushing both sides — like the left and the right — to the extremes.”

Trump says Iran wants a meeting. Tehran says nothing's scheduled

Trump said Monday on social media that Iran had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts, to be held Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. Iranian officials said no such meeting was scheduled.

The U.S. president has tried to preserve an increasingly fragile interim deal as hostilities have mounted in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, which could cause oil prices to rise and undermine Trump’s claims to voters that inflation in America was easing.

Trump celebrates U.S. oil futures trading at roughly $69 a barrel

Trump on Monday celebrated that U.S. oil futures were trading at roughly $69 a barrel, a decrease that he credited to the interim deal with Iran.

Even though the president has previously said oil prices and domestic political concerns were not influencing his approach to Iran, Trump has repeatedly focused on lower oil prices with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as a key victory.

The president falsely claimed that oil prices at $69 a barrel are lower than they were before the war. “This is less than it was prior to the start of the Denuclearization of Iran!” Trump said on social media.

Oil futures in the U.S. were trading at a range of roughly $65 to $66 before the war began in late February.

Americans’ pride in the country declines: AP-NORC poll

Americans have grown less proud of the country’s history and the way its democracy works over the last decade, according to a new AP-NORC poll.

The poll found Americans’ pride in the U.S. on several key attributes has dropped since 2017, including the nation’s military and its political influence around the globe.

The findings point to a broad decline in patriotic sentiment over a period that included most of President Donald Trump’s first term, the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and Trump’s return to the White House.

Much of the falling positivity comes from Democrats, who have become increasingly disenchanted with the country since Trump’s first term.

Iran’s president says $6B in frozen assets in Qatar to be released

Iran’s president said Monday that $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released by Qatar, as negotiations with the United States were challenged by attacks across the Persian Gulf this weekend.

Masoud Pezeshkian ’s mention of the funds appears aimed at selling the Iranian public on the interim deal, particularly as its grip on the Strait of Hormuz has been tested by efforts to open Oman’s territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf. Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, in which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime, creating a global energy crisis.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side, drawing retaliatory American airstrikes and concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

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Trump says his renovation plans for a golf course will enable a ‘major’ tournament

Trump on Sunday surveyed several of his construction projects around the nation’s capital, suggesting afterward that his redevelopment of the East Potomac Golf Links would enable it to host a premier tournament.

“When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events,” Trump posted on social media.

Trump toured the course with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, various aides and the golf course architect Tom Fazio and his son, Gavin Fazio. The president’s redevelopment of the course is subject to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

It’s unclear when the course could host any major tournaments, as locations are chosen several years ahead of the events. Locations for the U.S. Open are scheduled through 2051, though there are available spots in 2043, 2046 and 2048. The PGA Championship is set through 2035.

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The Supreme Court wrapping its term with momentous cases about Trump’s power

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

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

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

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

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

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Trump presses Syria to take on Hezbollah, raising alarm in Lebanon and Israel

As the White House has soured on Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, U.S. President Donald Trump has shocked many in the region by pushing an alternative: Let Syria fight the Iran-backed militant group instead.

He has suggested that the battle-hardened and Islamist-led insurgents who overthrew Syria’s autocratic President Bashar Assad a year and a half ago and formed a new government would do a better job of rooting out Hezbollah than the Israeli army.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said he has no interest in doing so, and has asserted that Trump’s comments were misconstrued. But Trump has doubled down on the idea.

Although it remains unclear how serious the White House is about the proposal, the prospect of a Syrian invasion has raised alarms in Lebanon — and also in Israel, which regards al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government with suspicion and has seized control of a strip of southern Syria since he took power.

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The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. There were no noted dissents. Trump also plans to appeal another $83.3 million verdict awarded to Carroll by a different jury after a second defamation trial, his lawyers have said.

The decision comes as the court hands down its biggest opinions, including a ruling that expands his firing power over the federal bureaucracy with the exception of the Federal Reserve.

Trump called the decision to pass on the Carroll case “surprising” in a social media post, and he said he would continue to fight the defamation claims. “This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for,” he wrote.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.

Trump's attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House.

“This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since nominated Smith to be an appeals court judge. His lawyers called the case “Liberal Lawfare" in a statement on Monday.

Carroll's lawyers had urged the justices to pass on the case. They argued that the women's testimony was relevant because the allegations were similar and that Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decisions were in line with others around the country. “This question is not worthy of review,” wrote attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.

Monday's decision affirms the jury's verdict will stand, she said in a statement Monday. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” she said.

Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll when he denied her allegation in 2022.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.

Trump has successfully fended off other hefty court judgments, including a New York civil fraud penalty of over $500 million thrown out by a New York appeals court. The Supreme Court also granted him broad immunity from criminal prosecution in 2024, though it later narrowly rejected his bid to halt sentencing in his New York hush money case.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this report.

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

Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, Alicia Keys, Ja Rule and Stevie Wonder were among the other musical stars at the service. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Adrien Brody, Hoda Kotb and Gayle King were among the other notables.

Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl said Davis would have been thrilled by the turnout. “Clive would have loved this,” she said. “He’d have been touched to have filled the house, thrilled by the superstars who have come to share tributes to him.”

The service was closed to the public but was livestreamed from Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

Davis, a record company lawyer who rose to become one of music’s most influential figures, launched the careers of numerous stars, including Whitney Houston, Springsteen, Keys and Kenny G, and influenced others such as Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead.

Springsteen called him big, bombastic and brave. “He was born to run everything,” The Boss said. He remembered meeting him at age 22 in 1972, his anxiety rising. “I can’t wait to hear you,” Davis told him. After his audition, the executive simply said: “Welcome to Columbia Records."

"In those few words, he changed my life forever,” Springsteen said.

Davis died June 22 in his Manhattan apartment at the age of 94, a few weeks after he was hospitalized for an upper respiratory issue.

Buchdahl asked what song Davis most admired that was not something he had a hand in and was told “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” written by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg in 1938 for the film “The Wizard of Oz.” Buchdahl then sang a soaring version. “You have a home at Sony Music Classics,” joked Rob Stringer, the CEO of Sony Music Entertainment.

Warwick told a story about how Davis urged her to work with Manilow in the late 1970s, which she initially resisted. But Davis’ suggestion was fruitful: Their partnership, the album “Dionne,” went platinum and earned two Grammy Awards. “So Barry and I became very, very good friends that day,” she said to laughter.

Manilow recalled Davis urging him to record the rock song “Brandy,” written by Scott English and Richard Kerr. Manilow turned it into a love song and played it for Davis. “Just do that,” Davis told him. They renamed it “Mandy.” It went to No. 1. “He believed in me from the very beginning,” Manilow said.

Hudson sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and then grew emotional as she transitioned to “I Will Always Love You,” a hit for Houston. ”We love you, Clive" she said before getting a standing ovation.

While many record execs saw their influence wane as they grew older, Davis' seemed to grow. He breathed new life into the careers of established artists such as Aretha Franklin and Santana, and helped launch Keys and several early “American Idol” winners' careers, including Kelly Clarkson's.

Springsteen said a world had died with Davis' passing — the record executive-led top-down changemakers that also included such visionaries as Berry Gordy, Ahmet Ertegun, Mo Ostin and Jerry Wexler: “Men who defined, loved and sustained the record business.”

“There isn’t a day when I don’t sit on my big front porch in my big house, surrounded by my big cars with my big family, looking out over my big yard, and Clive doesn’t come somewhere whistling around the top of my brain,” Springsteen said.

Keys was in tears when she approached the podium and borrowed a handkerchief. “I'm actually not a crier. I'm in a strange place,” she told the crowd. She recalled being 15 when she first met Davis, running because she was late, and playing songs for him on a piano. “You saw something in me that I was just beginning to see in myself,” she read in a letter to Davis.

“In a world that so often reduces art to commerce, and genius to product, you held the line. You reminded me again and again that what we were doing was about truth and legacy, and about the human heart reaching out to another human heart and saying, ’You are not alone.”

Davis is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren. An instrumental version of Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” played as Davis coffin was carried out of the synagogue.

The app said it has started allowing users to reserve unique usernames, which can be used to contact WhatsApp users when the feature is launched later this year.

WhatsApp, which says it has more than 3 billion users globally, has until now allowed users to be contacted by anyone who has their phone number.

The app, owned by Meta Platforms, said in a blog post that over the “coming months” users will get the option to be found and contacted only by their username, and not their number. It wasn't more specific about the timeline.

“We have designed this as a core privacy feature,” Alice Newton-Rex, WhatsApp's vice president of product, told reporters.

There won't be a directory of usernames on the app, and the app won't suggest names as you type.

“People will need to know your exact username to contact you for the first time,” she said.

WhatsApp's current privacy settings are limited to blocking individual users and silencing unknown callers. The app also allows users to add a profile name, but that's only displayed in chat groups for other people who don't have the user's contact info saved.

While Americans still prefer text messaging to WhatsApp, the app is widely used in Europe, Asia and much of the rest of the world.

Catchy online handles are highly coveted and users will likely scramble to claim a desirable one.

“I think a lot of people will go and get usernames and that’s why we decided to open reservations early,” Newton-Rex said.

Companies, organizations and creators with existing accounts on Meta's social media platforms, Instagram and Facebook, will get the chance to claim their usernames on WhatsApp.

Usernames need to be between three and 35 characters. To prevent impersonation, WhatsApp will hold back usernames for high-profile people or groups such as celebrities, public figures and government entities.

Florida lawmakers had to return for a special session to complete this year’s budget, which was sent to the governor at $114.5 billion.

The total cost, though, was higher after “back of bill” spending moves, and DeSantis said that with about $800 million in line-item vetoes, the final budget came out at $117.6 billion.

Governor DeSantis Signs Florida Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 https://t.co/cGxEyn0Afv

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 29, 2026

“The things that we vetoed, a lot of those are just either inappropriate or maybe nice to have. Nice to have is fine, but I want to fund things that we have to have,” DeSantis said.

He said that makes this the fourth straight year that the state’s budget is less than it was the year before.

“Who else is doing that?” DeSantis said. “The footprint of government is not growing in Florida. If anything it’s shrinking.”

The budget includes more than $30 billion for K-12 schools, or about $9,338 per student, about $150 more than the prior year. That includes about $4.5 billion for the state’s school vouchers program, which pays parents a stipend to send their children to private schools or for homeschooling.

The funding also sets aside $1.5 billion to boost teacher pay, with more than $201 million for teachers with at least 10 years of experience, although the increase will be capped at $3,000 per year.

There is also $665 million for Everglades restoration projects, another priority for DeSantis throughout his two terms in office.

“This budget continues to move Everglades restoration forward so that Floridians – and those that visit our great state – can realize the ultimate benefits ahead of schedule,” said Everglades Trust CEO Anna Upton in a released statement. “Restoring the natural flow of water south through the Everglades and decreasing harmful discharges from Lake Okeechobee will mean that Florida’s economy, which relies on clean water, will continue to thrive.”

The signing also comes just days before more than 100 laws are set to take effect in Florida on July 1.

The governor’s office is expected to release a detailed breakdown of where the money is going from the budget and what was vetoed. News4JAX will update when we receive that update from the governor.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% after erasing a midmorning stumble and was on track to break a five-day losing streak. It’s coming off just its second losing week in the last 13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 243 points, or 0.5%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher.

Comcast helped lead the way and jumped 6.6% after saying it will split off its NBCUniversal media business and Sky from its broadband and wireless business. Its stock came into the day with a loss of 17.3% for the year so far.

Several stocks boosted by the artificial-intelligence boom also rose after Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix said they will invest roughly $518 billion in a new chipmaking hub in South Korea, as its president hopes to capitalize on surging AI demand.

Applied Materials, whose equipment helps make semiconductors, rallied 10.9% to bring its gain for the year so far to roughly 170%.

AI stocks have been on a roller-coaster ride recently after soaring to tremendous heights. They’re under pressure because of worries that their profits can’t possibly keep pace with the huge gains for their stock prices. And the drops have an outsized effect on investors because AI stocks have become some of Wall Street’s largest and most influential, giving them more weight on indexes than others.

SpaceX, which owns the xAI business along with rockets, has already become worth more than $2 trillion after its stock made its debut on the Nasdaq earlier this month, with sharp rises and falls along the way. It’s become big enough that Nasdaq said Elon Musk’s company will join the Nasdaq 100 index before trading begins on July 7, which will force funds tracking the index to buy the stock.

SpaceX rose 1.9%.

That helped offset a 7% drop for Verizon Communications, which said it's paying $625 million as part of a deal to combine its international wireline connectivity and managed network services business with some of London-based BT Group's subsidiaries in a joint venture.

The gains for the stock market came even though oil prices rose. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.6% to $73.77, pulling slightly above where it was before the war with Iran began. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 1.9% to $70.57.

Following attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend, President Donald Trump said Monday on social media that Iran had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts, though one of Iran’s top negotiators said no further talks had been scheduled.

The hope is that an end to the war with Iran will give oil tankers full access again to the Strait of Hormuz, allowing them to exit the Persian Gulf and deliver crude to customers worldwide. That would help lower the price of oil, whose jumps because of the war have sent a punishing wave of inflation around the world.

If oil prices do recede and stay low enough, it could keep enough pressure off inflation to allow the Federal Reserve and other central banks to keep interest rates steady or even cut them instead of hiking them. Higher interest rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments. High yields worldwide have been rattling investors since oil prices burst above $100 per barrel.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.37% from 4.38% late Friday and from 4.56% early this month.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

Stocks jumped 1.6% in Hong Kong and 1.2% in Shanghai for two of the world’s biggest gains, while South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2%.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The U.S. president has tried to preserve a fragile interim deal, but hostilities mounted in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil had been shipped before war began. After four days of trading strikes, both sides appeared to pause their attacks Monday.

Trump said on social media that a meeting with Iran would happen Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, are flying to Qatar for the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

But Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator for Iran, denied any talks had been scheduled.

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

Oil prices fell sharply after the signing of the interim deal, but if they were to reverse course in a meaningful way it could undermine Trump’s claims to voters ahead of November elections that inflation was easing.

Earlier on Monday, Iran’s president said that $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets would be released by Qatar. Masoud Pezeshkian’s mention of the funds appeared aimed at selling the Iranian public on the interim deal, particularly as its grip on the strait has been tested.

Increased tension in waterway vital to world energy supplies

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

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

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

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

Pezeshkian says $6 billion coming to Iran

Pezeshkian offered praise for the interim deal in comments published Monday by the state-run IRNA news agency, calling it “a great victory for the Iranian people.”

“Based on the plans made, $6 billion out of the total $12 billion of Iranian resources in Qatar will be released and returned to the country, and necessary follow-ups are being carried out,” he said. He did not elaborate.

Pezeshkian, a reformist within Iran's theocracy, is the highest-ranking official within Iran to reference the release of the funds held by Qatar, a key mediator along with Pakistan in the negotiations.

So far, U.S. officials say no frozen Iranian assets have been released. Qatar as well as has not acknowledged any such transfer.

Confusion mounts over next round of Iran-US talks

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

Gharibabadi, the Iranian negotiator, cast doubt on the meeting in comments published by IRNA.

“Reports by some media about technical talks by the working groups being held in Doha are not confirmed,” he said.

Technical talks involve lower-level diplomats working on the specifics of any deal that would draw top leaders from Iran and the U.S. back to the table.

Oman, Iran discuss possible fees for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz

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

Albusaidi said services could include water safety measures, pollution prevention, navigational assistance and preparedness for incidents such as fires. He told Radio Monte Carlo while visiting France that there are “successful examples” of similar services being provided in compliance with maritime law.

Albusaidi said Oman does not support imposing transit fees on ships.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ve got a county-by-county list of events happening around Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia to celebrate July 4th.

FLORIDA

Alachua County

• Fanfares & Fireworks (Gainesville): Community Independence celebration with live music and a fireworks finale. 6–10 p.m., Friday, July 3 (fireworks ~9:30 p.m.) at the UF Bandshell at Flavet Field in Gainesville.

Bradford County

• Starke Spangled Splash Bash (Starke): City/community July 4 festivities including a parade. Parade starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 4 (military flyover of vintage aircraft at 10 a.m.).

Clay County

• Independence Day Celebration (Keystone Heights): Full-day, family-friendly Independence Day activities honoring America 250 (community events + fireworks finale). 10 a.m.–9:30 p.m., Saturday, July 4 at Theme Park Tennis Courts, 555 S Lawrence Blvd., Keystone Heights.

Columbia County

• July 4 celebration (Lake City): Live music, food, hot air balloons, fireworks and more. 5 p.m.-11:55 p.m., Saturday, July 4, at the Columbia County Fairgrounds at 164 SW Mary Ethel Lane, Lake City.

Duval County

• Jacksonville Fourth of July Celebration (Downtown Jacksonville): Downtown riverfront festival-style celebration (live music, art, family activities, food vendors) + fireworks. 4–9:30 p.m., Saturday, July 4 (fireworks 9 p.m.) at Riverfront Plaza, Downtown. What you need to know

Flagler County

• United Flagler Fourth / Fireworks Over the Runways (Palm Coast): Countywide July 4 celebration at the airport with live entertainment/activities + fireworks. 5–10 p.m., Saturday, July 4 (fireworks 9 p.m.) at Flagler Executive Airport in Palm Coast.

Nassau County

• Light Up Amelia / Hometown 4th of July Firework Show (Fernandina Beach): City-sponsored downtown/waterfront July 4 celebration + fireworks. 6–10 p.m., Saturday, July 4 (fireworks 9 p.m.) at Waterfront Park/Downtown in Fernandina Beach.

Putnam County

• July 4 celebration (Palatka): Free, family-friendly event includes live music, food trucks, vendors, a kids zone, face painting, puppet shows and more from 4-9:30 p.m., Saturday, July 4 at the Palatka Riverfront.

St. Johns County

• Fireworks Over the Matanzas (St. Augustine): City/visitor-bureau promoted concert + fireworks over the bayfront. 6–9:30 p.m., Saturday, July 4 (fireworks 9 p.m.) at St. Augustine bayfront/downtown waterfront area, St. Augustine.

Union County

• July 4 celebration (Lake Butler): Live music, waterslides, face paiting, food trucks and more, starting at 8 a.m., Saturday, July 4 at Lakeside Park in Lake Butler.

GEORGIA

Camden County

• St. Marys July 4 festival + fireworks (St. Marys): Festival-style celebration from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, July 4, with a parade and fireworks over the St. Marys River at St. Marys waterfront.

Glynn County

• Beach Village carnival: Bounce houses, carnival rides, face painting and more form 2-7 p.m., Friday, July 3 a Beach Village.
• Jekyll Island concerts and fireworks (Jekyll Island): Live music on the Turtle Stage in Beach Village from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., followed by a fireworks display at 9 p.m., Saturday, July 4.

Ware County

• Waycross America 250: Field of Honor (Dedication Ceremony): America 250 commemorative dedication ceremony at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 4 at 2401 Knight Ave., Waycross.
• Waycross July 4th Celebration / 4th of July Spectacular (Waycross): Downtown celebration with live music, food/arts vendors, inflatables/family activities + fireworks finale. 12–10 p.m., Saturday, July 4 (fireworks at dusk) at Downtown Waycross (Pendleton Street).

If your city/county has an event that we do not have listed, please email the information to webteam@wjxt.com.

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

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

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

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

Support for Trump’s position

The justices ruled in the case of former Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter, whom Trump fired without cause despite a provision of federal law that requires a reason. The logic of the decision extends to other agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, where Trump also has fired board members.

Trump voiced his approval in a Truth Social post. “It is such an Honor to be the sitting President who won this Historic and Unprecedented Ruling, one of the most important ever given with respect to Presidential Powers,” he wrote.

The court already had signaled its support for the Trump administration’s position, over the liberals’ objection, by allowing Slaughter and the board members of other agencies to be removed from their jobs even as their legal challenges continued.

No president before Trump had sought to wrest control of the agencies that regulate wide swaths of American life, including nuclear energy, product safety and labor relations. But at arguments in Slaughter's case in December, the six conservatives, including three appointed by Trump, seemed more concerned about issuing a ruling that would endure than handing too much power to Trump.

Their rhetoric was reminiscent of the presidential immunity case in 2024 that allowed Trump to avoid prosecution for his efforts to undo his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The court is writing a decision “for the ages,” Justice Neil Gorsuch said then.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent she summarized aloud in the courtroom, said the ruling could lead to “submission, instability, and even oppression.”

“The president, to be sure, emerges with more power than ever before. That power was given to him by six justices on this court, not the people or the Constitution,” Sotomayor said.

Fed governor Cook's case

In Cook’s case, the court voted 5-4 to reject the Trump administration’s effort to get Cook out of her job now. Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the three liberal justices were in the majority.

Allowing Cook to be ousted now, Roberts wrote, “would allow the President to remove a member of the Federal Reserve at any time, for any reason, without any notice before, and without any judicial check after. That would turn for-cause protection into little more than at-will employment.”

Roberts did include a footnote in his opinion noting that nothing forbids Trump from “trying again” to fire her, provided she is given proper notice and a chance to contest it.

Trump suggested he would take Roberts up on the offer, saying on Truth Social that “we will take appropriate action immediately to make sure that someone who has committed wrongdoing will not be making vital decisions concerning the Welfare of the United States of America!”

Cook, who was nominated to the Fed’s Board of Governors by Biden, can continue in her post at least as long as her lawsuit challenging her firing goes on, the court said. The Trump administration is appealing a lower-court ruling in her favor.

Besides trying to fire Cook, Trump had threatened to fire former Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell if he didn’t leave the board when his term as chairman ended in mid-May. Powell has remained as a governor, even as Kevin Warsh has replaced him as chairman.

Judges on lower courts have allowed Cook to remain in her post as one of seven central bank governors.

The true motivation for trying to fire Cook, Trump’s critics say, is the Republican president’s desire to exert control over U.S. interest rate policy. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook, the first Black woman to be a Federal Reserve governor, he could replace her with his own appointee and gain a majority on the Fed’s board. The case is being closely watched by Wall Street investors and could have broad impacts on the financial markets and the U.S. economy.

Cook said her case was “never about mortgage documents signed years before I became a Federal Reserve governor.”

"It was an attempt to remove me on a manufactured pretext because I refused to bow to political pressure and continued to set interest rates based only on what would best serve the American people. That is the most fundamental obligation of a Federal Reserve governor,” Cook said in a statement.

Trump's confrontation with the Fed

Trump has been dismissive of worries that cutting rates too quickly could trigger higher inflation. He wants dramatic reductions so the government can borrow more cheaply and Americans can pay lower borrowing costs for new homes, cars or other large purchases, as worries about high costs have soured some voters on his economic management.

The Fed has left its key rate unchanged this year, but a growing chorus of policymakers is expressing concern about persistently high inflation and suggesting the central bank could raise its benchmark rate by the end of this year or leave it unchanged.

While Cook’s case was under review at the high court, Trump dramatically escalated his confrontation with the Fed. The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation of Powell and served the central bank with subpoenas.

The investigation ended in late April, the department said. The announcement cleared a major roadblock to the confirmation of Warsh as Powell’s successor.

The case against Cook stems from allegations she claimed two properties, in Michigan and Georgia, as “primary residences” in June and July 2021, before she joined the Fed board. Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home.

Those applications, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in January, are evidence of “gross negligence at best” and give Trump reason to fire her. In any event, he argued, courts shouldn’t be reviewing his decision and Cook has no right to a hearing.

Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

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Five people – four women and one man – died at the scene of the shooting in Stade, police said. A sixth, also an adult, died later at a hospital.

Police said several people were wounded, some of them seriously, German news agency dpa reported, but they did not give a specific figure or information on the victims’ identity.

Police said the shooting took place in the facility on Dankersstrasse, a street south of the town center. The facility includes temporary accommodation for pregnant women or young mothers with children.

There was no immediate word on a possible motive.

A main suspect was arrested, while another two people were subject to “police measures” on suspicion of involvement, police said in a statement. They didn't elaborate.

Video footage after the shooting showed a large police presence, along with other emergency service personnel and several ambulances on a residential street.

Germany’s gun laws are more restrictive than those in the United States, and mass shootings are rare but not unheard of.

Vitali Mertens, who lives across the street from the scene, said he heard gunshots and “the whole area was cordoned off right away.”

Stade has about 50,000 inhabitants and is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Hamburg.

Americans’ pride in the U.S. on several key attributes has dropped since 2017 — including the nation's military and its political influence around the globe — according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. This poll was conducted in April, as the United States and Iran fought over the Strait of Hormuz in a prolonged war that started with the U.S. and Israel launching strikes on Iran.

New Gallup polling also finds that only 53% of U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, the lowest reading in the trend dating back to 2001.

The findings point to a broad decline in patriotic sentiment over a tumultuous period that included most of President Donald Trump's first term, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation that contributed to a backlash against President Joe Biden. That timeframe also covers Trump's return to the White House, where he's taken more aggressive actions on immigration and issues abroad.

Much of the falling positivity comes from Democrats, who have become increasingly disenchanted with the country since Trump's first term.

At the same time, most U.S. adults say that being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their identity, highlighting an enduring connection, even as some become increasingly critical of the country's past or the government’s current actions.

American pride declines on the armed forces and democracy

Americans' pride in the way democracy works in the U.S. has declined 14 percentage points, falling from 42% in February 2017 to 28% now.

In addition, Americans' pride in their armed forces has dropped 19 percentage points since 2017, and pride in the U.S.’s history has declined 14 percentage points. In each case, the drop is largely driven by Democrats, with some movement among independents as well.

Karla Galdamez — a 48-year-old Democrat who used to teach U.S. history — believes America has regressed under the Trump administration. While the Californian is not proud of Trump, she is pleased with how far the U.S. has come in 250 years.

“It’s a country that really wanted to be different and really wanted to be better," she said. "Despite some of the very ugly history that we have of segregation and slavery ... if you look at the trajectory of the last 250 years, we’ve done nothing but get better and move toward a more egalitarian nation.”

Only 14% of Democrats and 28% of independents say they are “extremely" proud to be an American, according to Gallup's new poll, compared with 70% of Republicans.

The AP-NORC poll found that Republicans are especially likely to be proud of the nation's armed forces. About 9 in 10 Republicans say the military makes them “extremely” or “very” proud, compared with about 6 in 10 U.S. adults.

Samantha Fulks, a 40-year-old in San Antonio, Texas, says she’s proud to be an American and doesn't hide it. The Texas Republican showcases that pride with an American flag in her front yard — as well as Trump flags in the back yard — and she plans to wear red, white and blue on the Fourth of July. Fulks comes from a military family, and while she believes the country's involvement in Iran is unnecessary, she remains a proud supporter of the military.

“I still support our troops no matter what they do,” Fulks said.

Being an American matters more for personal identity among Republicans and older adults

Matt Stafford, a 39-year-old in Massachusetts, is proud of being an American, even if the U.S. political system frustrates him.

He has a bald eagle tattooed on his back to represent the United States, its freedoms and “all the things we’re supposed to stand for as a country.” But despite that national pride, he often finds himself frustrated by politicians on both sides. Stafford — a centrist who identifies as “politically homeless” — wants Democrats and Republicans to come together to look out for their constituents in middle America.

“I love America, but our biggest problem is how we’re pushing both sides — like the left and the right — to the extremes," he said.

For many Americans, their partisanship is often intertwined with their national identity. The poll finds that Republicans are much likelier than Democrats or independents to say being an American is “extremely” or “very” important to their personal identity.

Younger people are also much less likely than older people to say being an American is highly important to their personal identity. About three-quarters of Americans ages 60 and older say being an American is highly important to them, compared with only about one-third of U.S. adults under 30.

Race or ethnicity matters more to many Black Americans

The AP-NORC survey found that the vast majority of Black Americans — 73% — say their race or ethnicity is “extremely” or “very” important to how they see themselves, higher than the share that say that about being an American.

Vincent Harris, a 60-year-old in California, says his identity as a Black man rises above other attributes for him because of how Black men are treated in America.

“A lot of people are scared of Black men just because we are Black and we are male. And that's crazy,” Harris said. “People don't even take you for who you are as a person; they just look at your race.”

About half of Hispanic Americans say their race or ethnicity is highly important to them, compared with 22% of white Americans.

Black and Hispanic adults are also more likely than white adults to say their family’s ancestry or country of origin is highly important to their personal identity.

Harris, who identifies as a gay man, says being an American is “a wonderful thing” because of the freedoms that Americans have, despite the obstacles he's had to overcome.

“It’s great to be an American — regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or whatever. As long as you have that freedom of choice as an American, that’s a great thing," Harris said. "Right now, I wouldn’t live in any other country in the world. I’m here. I love it.”

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

Murdaugh’s murder convictions and sentence of life in prison were overturned last month by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The goals of Monday's hearing were to set deadlines for exchanging evidence between the defense and prosecution, and to figure out dates for other hearings and the next trial, which was set for April 5.

Dozens of media outlets, from international agencies to local TV stations to true crime podcasters, were inside the Lexington County courthouse to again chronicle every forehead rub and quizzical look from the once rich and imposing Southern lawyer.

"I see we have a full house,” Judge Debra R. McCaslin said as the hearing began in the 200-person capacity courtroom.

It's a rare chance to see up close how life behind bars has changed the 58-year-old Murdaugh, who still has decades to serve in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to stealing about $12 million from clients and his family's law firm.

Prosecutors say Murdaugh shot his wife Maggie and younger son Paul, 22, because he believed sympathy over their deaths would buy him time to fix his problems. At that point, his financial crimes were close to being exposed by his law firm and the family of a teen who filed a wrongful death lawsuit after Paul crashed a boat while drinking.

Murdaugh wore an orange prison jumpsuit in court Monday, mostly listening with his mouth fixed in a tight line. His lawyers want the judge to let him wear civilian clothing at every hearing and during his retrial.

At one point, defense attorney Dick Harpootlian asked Murdaugh to stand.

“Chains around the hands, chain around the waist, chains on his feet,” Harpootlian noted to the judge, saying he thinks jurors would be prejudiced if they see his client shackled like dangerous criminal, when he’s only been convicted of financial crimes.

The prosecution argued that it's standard for imprisoned defendants to wear restraints and jumpsuits. “Every time someone is transferred out of court, it is a security risk,” Creighton Waters said.

Defense lawyers want Murdaugh, who was disbarred during his legal troubles, to have access to a laptop in prison without internet access to review evidence so they don’t have to print and deliver it all. Harpootlian said Monday there are more than 20,000 pages of documents.

“Well surely, Mr. Harpootlian, he reviewed those before his first trial, did he not?” the judge asked.

“Five years ago,” the lawyer replied.

Another pretrial motion asks prosecutors to turn over DNA found under Murdaugh’s wife’s fingernails for testing at a private lab. Investigators said it was from an unknown and unrelated man.

The defense said they’re happy to pay for the independent DNA testing.

“I’m gonna let you pay for it,” the judge quipped, drawing a chuckle from the courtroom.

Murdaugh was grimacing and biting his lower lip during the exchange.

The defense also wants to hold the next trial outside of Colleton County, where the killings happened and the first trial took place. That matter was discussed, but not decided on Monday.

While admitting he is a thief, insurance cheat, liar and bad lawyer, Murdaugh has adamantly denied shooting to death his wife and son since he said he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.

A jury convicted him of two counts of murder in 2023 and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

But during that trial, a few jurors said the Colleton County clerk of court, assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh’s body language when he testified in his own defense and to not be fooled, confused or thrown off by what he might say.

The state Supreme Court ruled that was a suggestion Murdaugh was guilty and overturned his convictions.

The justices were also concerned that days of testimony at the murder trial centered around how Murdaugh stole from clients, many of them in dire straits.

Brief testimony is fine, but details such as how some of the people Murdaugh stole from were disabled or vulnerable could unfairly turn against him jurors who should be focused just on whether he killed his family, the justices said.

Murdaugh remains in a South Carolina prison as he serves a 40-year federal sentence at the same time as a 27-year state sentence for his financial crimes.

The 5-4 decision rejected a Republican-led attack on laws in more than half the states and the District of Columbia that permit mailed ballots to arrive and be counted some number of days after the election, provided they are postmarked by Election Day. The outcome spares officials the headache of changing their ballot rules just a few months before the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

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

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the court's majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices.

Federal laws setting a single Election Day “leave open when those votes must be received,” Barrett wrote.

Congress could change the law, she said. “If varied deadlines for ballot receipt similarly call for a national solution, the American people must choose it through their elected representatives,” Barrett wrote.

The legal challenge was part of Trump’s broader attack on most mail balloting, which he has said breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and years of experience in numerous states. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 resulted from fraud even though more than 60 court decisions and his own attorney general said that argument had no merit.

Trump called the court ruling a “tremendous loss” and renewed his call for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which has made it through the House of Representatives but not the Senate.

“There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The court heard arguments in March in a case from Mississippi pitting the state against Trump’s Republican administration and the Republican and Libertarian parties. At issue was whether federal law sets a single Election Day that requires ballots to be both cast by voters and received by state officials.

The federal appeals court in New Orleans struck down a Mississippi law allowing ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days of the election and are postmarked by Election Day.

The outcome is a “sigh of relief” for a lot of election administrators, said Stephen Richer, a Republican and the former top election administrator in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.

A ruling in favor of the Republican National Committee "would have created a whole host of administrative challenges for the affected states,” said Richer, who is now a legal fellow at the Cato Institute.

RNC officials did not immediately respond Monday to email and telephone requests for comment.

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

Just moments after Maher began to accept the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Matt Friend, a leading impersonator of the president, took to the stage and, in Trump's voice, joked that he would accept the award himself. Trump was a punchline for other comedians and entertainers, including Whitney Cummings, Jay Leno and Woody Harrelson.

For the most part, the barbs weren't particularly biting. Cummings, for instance, said that under Trump's influence, the Kennedy Center would host “white ‘Hamilton.’” And once Friend left the stage, Maher largely steered clear of hitting the president. The commentary was nonetheless notable for unfolding in an iconic performing arts venue that Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to bend to his favor, leaving its future in the coming years uncertain.

Accepting the award, Maher derided extremes in both political parties, rejecting what he called “groupthink.”

“If you hang around long enough and create something important enough, everyone hates you at some point,” Maher said.

The ceremony in the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall wasn't purely political. There were plenty of jokes about Maher's fondness for marijuana, his rejection of organized religion and his penchant for controversy, including comments he made shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the cancellation of his television show, “Politically Incorrect.”

The Kennedy Center's uncertain future hangs over event

But the future of the Kennedy Center hung most prominently over the event.

Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Republican president fired much of the center's leadership and installed a board largely composed of allies. It named Trump as chairman and his name was added to the building's iconic facade, prompting a legal battle that became a proxy fight over the extent of the president's power.

Trump later said the Kennedy Center would close in July for a two-year renovation. But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper upended those plans in May by ruling that Trump's name was illegally added to the building, ordering it removed. The judge also has blocked the closure.

Trump's name has come down from the building, in compliance with the judge's order. But the part of the building once covered with letters spelling the president's name is now shrouded in a tarp. The full closure is on hold. Lawyers for the Kennedy Center have said they are not planning for now to build out programming.

Cooper has asked for an update next month on how long the tarp will remain on the building. For now, the final event scheduled for the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall is “The Freedom Gathering: A Musical Celebration” on July 3.

The legal fight has turned into a saga that at points became fodder for jokes at the Twain gala. At one point, Harrelson joked “we fixed that" in a nod to the court order calling for Trump's name to be removed from the building.

Ahead of the ceremony, Lutnick said Trump “wants to make this building sensational.”

But others were more skeptical. As he walked the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, Leno said Trump’s moves at the Kennedy Center were both “hilarious” and about “vanity.”

“It's not a war,” he said. “It's not people getting killed. It's not antisemitism. It's a silly thing covering a name. I mean what's funnier than that? I mean it's just like, you know it's high school with money.”

Friend said he felt there was a “hunger games vibe” as he entered the building.

“It's crazy,” he said of the changes Trump has pushed for.

Maher has a fraught relationship with Trump

Given Trump's sway over the Kennedy Center, Maher's selection for the award was notable because the two men have long had a fraught relationship.

Before he entered politics, Trump filed a $5 million lawsuit against Maher in 2013 for breach of contract. Appearing on Leno’s “The Tonight Show,” Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump’s choice if Trump could prove he was not “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”

Trump claimed that when he provided his birth certificate, Maher did not pay up, prompting the lawsuit. Trump ended up dropping it.

The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year. Lutnick noted that Trump had written out all the critical comments he'd made about Maher over the years and autographed the document.

“You've got to be able to laugh at it,” Lutnick said. “The president can laugh at it. Bill Maher can laugh at it. And that's what makes tonight great.”

Maher hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show heading into the weekend. Vance, who is promoting a book, said he watches the show and laughed at Maher's monologue “even though you were making fun of me.” During the interview, Maher pressed Vance on the Iran war, immigration enforcement and election conspiracy theories.

“You guys have two outcomes that an election can be,” Maher told Vance. “Either we win or they cheated. That s—- has to stop.”

The Twain prize ceremony will air on Netflix on July 21.

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Associated Press videojournalist John Carucci contributed to this report.

If their injuries aren't too severe, victims can survive for a week or more, assuming the weather isn't too hot or cold, experts say.

In Venezuela, rescue teams have been racing against the clock to pull survivors from the rubble after two powerful earthquakes shook the northern state of La Guaira last Wednesday. More than 770 buildings were totally or partially collapsed from the earthquakes, and aftershocks continued to shake the region.

Most rescues happen in the 24 hours after a disaster. The chances of survival drop with each day after that, experts say. Most victims are badly injured or buried by falling stones or other debris.

What factors affect earthquake survival?

Trapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury while they await rescue, like under a sturdy desk, said geophysicist Victor Tsai from Brown University. Experts call this a survivable void space.

If fire, smoke or hazardous chemicals were released as a result of the building collapse, they may decrease a person's survival odds, said emergency response expert Dr. Joseph Barbera, an associate professor at George Washington University.

Beyond that, having air to breathe and water to drink are crucial as the days go on.

“You could survive a while without food,” Barbera said. “You could survive less without water.”

Temperatures where someone is trapped may affect survival, and temperatures outside the rubble can affect rescue missions.

More than 2,600 rescue workers from around the world arrived in Venezuela with trained search dogs and machinery, the government said. And rescue efforts in La Guaira, the hardest-hit area, appeared significantly more organized on Sunday, after residents expressed frustration and anger about the level of response in the days before.

It can be important for survivors to receive vital medical care before they are removed from the rubble, Barbera said. If not, the buildup of toxins from crushed muscles could make them go into shock after they are rescued.

After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a teenager and his 80-year-old grandmother were found alive after nine days trapped in their flattened home. And the year before, a 16-year-old Haitian girl was rescued from earthquake rubble in Port-au-Prince after 15 days.

What to do during an earthquake

The best practices for survival during an earthquake depend on where you are in the world. Building codes in regions with active fault lines are often designed to withstand earthquakes, but that doesn't hold true everywhere.

In many countries, including the United States, the best practices are to drop, seek cover and hang on unless you are close to a building exit. Seek shelter under a heavy table or near sturdy furniture that may yield a survivable pocket if the roof collapses. Cover your face with cloth or a mask to protect from dust and debris.

If you are trapped in the rubble after and earthquake, save your energy and don't overexert. Ration food and water, listen for rescue calls and search for something near you to make noise. If you have a phone with you, conserve its battery and try for help in short spurts each day.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Instead, Alexandra Lozano created fake stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking to apply for humanitarian visas without her clients' knowledge, according to several lawsuits and a legal ethics investigation. They say she preyed on immigrants’ desperation to drain their bank accounts while leaving them at risk of deportation.

She is accused hiring workers who didn’t have proper legal credentials and building an assembly-line system to rush through applications, even copying clients’ signatures onto documents they never saw.

“I put the trust of my family with her,” 30-year-old Gabriel Martinez Garcia said. After they paid $30,000, he said Lozano duped his family and got his mother placed in removal proceedings despite her marriage to a naturalized U.S. citizen. “We believed in her and then she just let us down.”

Lozano's firm, Luz del Camino Legal, closed this month amid a barrage of allegations. She permanently surrendered her law license rather than face discipline from the bar association, and denies wrongdoing.

While federal data shows immigration service scams are rising sharply, Lozano’s alleged scheme stands out for its scale. The bar says her signature is on more than 53,000 pending cases.

It's unclear how many cases were fraudulent or to what extent her clients were complicit. The ones suing her say they had no idea.

The consequences of her downfall are hitting the immigration system “like a tidal wave,” said Erika Gonzalez, an attorney with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.

The Trump administration last year started overhauling the humanitarian programs Lozano allegedly exploited, claiming a surge in applications since 2020 was a sign of widespread fraud. The administration tightened the programs' restrictions and slowed processing rates, which advocacy groups say will hurt legitimate victims.

The visas are meant for people who were trafficked or abused

Lozano specialized in getting visas through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which covers all genders.

These programs seek to protect victims from having their immigration status weaponized by abusers. Evidence standards are more flexible, making the system more accessible to victims. But it's also easier for an unscrupulous firm to exploit, immigration attorneys say.

Lozano's firm probed clients for issues at home or work, then spun them as abuse cases that didn't meet the threshold for these humanitarian programs, according to attorneys representing dozens of her old clients.

Although clients quickly secured work permits, they often faced trouble years later when seeking permanent residency and their claims faced greater scrutiny.

Lozano denies mass immigration fraud

Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Lozano, said clients were expected to review their applications before signing and blamed them for any false statements.

“Alexandra’s practice has always been to fight for her clients, zealously pursue every lawful option available to them, and support their efforts to build lives in this country,” his statement said.

The bar accused Lozano of fraud in May and her firm shut down June 10. She’s being investigated by the fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. The Department of Homeland Security, which runs the immigration agency, declined to comment.

At least 920 immigration service scams were reported in 2025, which is more than the first three years of the Biden administration combined, according to Federal Trade Commission data analyzed by the AP. Experts say that's probably an undercount, given immigrants’ reluctance to come forward.

Clients say foreign workers, not US-licensed lawyers, handled cases

Lozano is accused of enlisting hundreds of employees in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina to provide legal advice to clients and handle visa applications. That would mean clients never got consultations from a U.S.-licensed attorney.

“Alexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse,” said Rafael Alvarez, who worked for Lozano from 2022 to 2024 in Colombia. “There were a lot of cases that were not true.”

Lozano's former chief operating officer, Amy Rios, testified in 2024 that the firm earned $1.7 million teaching other law firms its legal strategies for humanitarian visas and “changed the way many attorneys now approach immigration law.”

Recent lawsuits accuse at least two other firms in Texas and Ohio of replicating Lozano’s tactics, which they deny.

Immigrants say they didn't know about the lies

Erika Sanchez and her husband entered the U.S. unlawfully. Multiple lawyers told them there was no way to adjust their status from within the country.

But Lozano promised a successful outcome after just one consultation in 2020, according to a lawsuit the couple filed in May alongside seven other former clients.

The couple trusted the firm when it asked for their signatures on blank paper, Sanchez said, and lived on a tight budget to pay Lozano more than $32,000.

“We truly did believe that she was doing the right thing,” Sanchez said.

She added that they never saw the application submitted by the firm for her husband, which they later learned contained false claims that his teenage daughter abused him. He is now in removal proceedings.

Some former clients say they didn't discover the alleged fraud for years. Nora Murillo Moreno said the firm told her about the fake abuse claims on the day before her green card interview. She panicked.

“Should I say what really happened, or what is written?” Murillo Moreno said. “I knew things didn’t match.”

Trump administration says visa surge indicates ‘rampant fraud’

Attorneys suing Lozano say her rise parallels an exponential increase in visa applications for trafficking and domestic abuse cases.

Domestic abuse claims more than tripled between the 2020 and 2025 fiscal years, from nearly 15,000 applications to upward of 53,000 per year, according to immigration agency data. There were also nearly twelve times as many applications from parents alleging their child abused them.

During that same period, human trafficking claims jumped from around 1,000 applications to more than 37,000.

In December, the immigration agency said it would overhaul its domestic violence visa program due to “rampant fraud" based on the increase in filings, without offering other evidence. The changes include narrowing definitions of abuse and giving greater weight to evidence supplied by alleged abusers.

Cecelia Levin, an attorney with the nonprofit Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, said making these visas harder for actual abuse victims isn't the answer. Instead, the Trump administration should focus on enforcing the law against attorneys running scams, she said.

An earlier ethics complaint was dismissed

Immigration attorneys say Lozano’s social media was filled with red flags, like claiming the Virgin Mary blessed all her cases.

In 2023, the Washington bar said it had concerns about Lozano’s law practice but dismissed an ethics complaint against her, according to a document obtained by the AP. The complaint alleged deceptive advertising and other misconduct, but the bar said she was protected by disclaimers.

Sara Niegowski, a spokesperson for the bar, said it blocked Lozano from practicing law “as quickly as possible.”

Lozano’s ex-clients are in a legal mess

Former clients are now scrambling to get their case files from the defunct firm. Hundreds showed up for recent consultations with volunteer attorneys in Washington and Oregon.

Many applied to join a lawsuit seeking financial compensation for legal malpractice. Another class action lawsuit aims to recoup their attorney fees. On Friday, a statement from the federal immigration agency told ex-clients how to withdraw their cases or update their addresses so processing could continue.

Vicente Omar Barraza, an attorney behind the malpractice lawsuit, said hundreds of former clients told him they still don't know what Lozano's firm wrote in their applications. He’s worried many people lost viable pathways to legal status.

Garcia Martinez, who says his mother is in removal proceedings because Lozano mishandled her case, lives every day in fear that she will be deported.

“I’m just praying really, really, really hard for her,” Garcia Martinez said. “None of this should have happened.”

___

Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and data journalist Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

Temperatures across the area are expected to climb into the mid-to-upper 90s, and with humidity factored in, it’s going to feel more like 105 to 110 degrees this afternoon.

A Heat Advisory is in effect from noon until 7 p.m. for much of Northeast Florida and parts of Southeast Georgia.

Limit time outdoors, take frequent breaks, and stay hydrated. Be sure to wear light, loose-fitting clothing and have your sunscreen on. The heat will be at its worst during the afternoon hours.

Storms are on the way, too

The heat won’t be the only thing building this afternoon. Expect scattered to numerous thunderstorms to pop up today and again Thursday, especially as sea breezes push inland.

The St. Johns River basin could see storm activity develop by mid-afternoon, and the heaviest storm activity is expected in north-central Florida, where multiple storm boundaries are expected to collide.

A tropical system? Maybe just a rainmaker

There’s also a low-level tropical threat worth keeping an eye on — though it’s nothing to lose sleep over right now.

A disorganized cluster of showers and thunderstorms is near the North Carolina coast. Forecasters say a broad area of low pressure could form off the Southeast U.S. coast in the next day or two, and there’s a slight chance it will gradually organize as it drifts southward and then westward.

The keyword here is slight. The chance of any formal tropical development sits at just 10% over the next seven days, and conditions are expected to become less favorable as the week goes on.

It’s worth a casual watch — but not a panic.

Osaka, who has made a habit of creating a buzz with her creative outfits at recent Grand Slam tournaments, wore a flowing kimono-like robe with swinging sleeves and elaborate embroidery as she walked onto No. 3 Court for her first-round match against Elsa Jacquemot.

The Japanese player's latest creation drew a rave reaction from the crowd, many of whom were eagerly waiting with their phones aloft to record her entrance. One female fan shouted “C'mon queen!” as Osaka walked out.

“It’s something that we’ve been waiting for all day, right, what Naomi Osaka is going to appear in at Wimbledon," said Alicia Molik, the former top-10 ranked player who is doing commentary for the BBC. “A bit of inspiration from, perhaps, a bygone era as well.”

Osaka kept her robe on as she bounced on her toes at the net while listening to instructions from the chair umpire. She then removed it and placed it on her chair to begin warmups before the match started.

The four-time Grand Slam champion's fashion creations have become so eagerly anticipated that Osaka faced plenty of questions before the tournament about how she would handle the all-white rule at the All England Club.

“Literally everyone keeps asking me that and I've never thought of the color white being a restriction,” Osaka said Sunday. “I feel like there’s so many different patterns, fabrics, textures that you can use.”

And use them, she did.

___

AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

___

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

He beat Scottie Scheffler in a playoff at the Travelers Championship, had both parents from Norway watch him win for the first time and even did the “row” with the Norwegian soccer fans who cheered him all the way to the surprising end.

Hovland capped off a gritty rally when he made a 7-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole and won the Travelers when Scheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt.

“Winning in the playoff against Scottie — best player in the world — that was pretty satisfying,” said Hovland, who won for the first time since the Valspar Championship in March 2025.

The surprise was Scheffler going from a big advantage — an 8-iron to 4 feet on the 18th on the first playoff hole — to missing a hard-sliding putt on the high side that made Hovland a winner.

“Maybe I hit it a little firmer than I intended to,” said Scheffler, whose putt caught the left edge and rolled out some 7 feet by the hole. “It looked like it got pretty far by the hole and I was playing it outside the hole, so I hit it down my line, just maybe the speed was a touch off.”

It was a big disappointment for Scheffler, who made Monday possible by making an 8-foot par putt on the 72nd hole in near darkness to force the playoff.

He was first to hit from the 18th fairway and some 3,000 fans on the hillside around the green erupted in cheers. Hovland responded, just like the 28-year-old Norwegian had done on the back nine Sunday when he rallied from a two-shot deficit.

Hovland's birdie putt was snapping off to the right when it curled in the right side and he let out a big fist pump.

“It’s one of those putts that if I make mine, his gets significantly tougher, and if I miss, he probably will make his,” Hovland said. “Yeah, it was definitely no gimmies there, so to put the pressure on him was awesome.”

It was the first Monday finish on the PGA Tour since The Players Championship in 2025, which involved a three-hole aggregate playoff won by Rory McIlroy. This turned out to be one hole and 15 minutes, but it did not lack for drama, or atmosphere.

There was lively banter for the playoff. A group of Norwegian fans, who had been in Boston for the World Cup, wore their soccer jerseys and chanted, “Hov-land!” as he approached his golf ball in the fairway. The Americans began the “Scot-tie Scheff-ler!” chants to drown them out.

The Norwegians also brought the “row,” which has gone viral in the stadium and subway stations and wherever they go. They sit shoulder to shoulder, arms out and then forcefully pull them in. Hovland had never seen it in person until Saturday.

When it was over, he sat with his people and they showed him how it's done.

“You definitely get adrenaline from it,” he said.

Hovland had plenty of that Sunday afternoon when he returned from a 90-minute rain delay and made three straight birdies to catch up to Scheffler and eventually get into the playoff. He closed with a 69, while Scheffler had a 68. They finished at 21-under 259.

Hovland is rarely satisfied with a swing that has given him a reputation for making solid contact. He felt it gaining momentum with a third-place finish in Canada, and even in the U.S. Open despite missing the cut. There was always one bad swing that allowed doubts to creep in.

Those were gone at the TPC River Highlands, particularly at the end. He was first to hit in the playoff and drilled it down the middle, just as he had done all week.

“I’ve been playing golf with Viktor for a long time. We’ve had some good battles in college and out here as a pro," Scheffler said. “He’s a guy that has a lot of talent and works really hard. So those are the types of guys you like to see have success.”

For Scheffler, it was his fourth runner-up finish this year after opening his season with a victory at The American Express in the California desert. But he felt a little momentum, even in a playoff loss, as he gets ready a three-week stretch that includes the British Open, the final major of the year.

“Ball striking is definitely in a good spot. That was some of the best I hit it all season,” Scheffler said. “Obviously I think just a little disappointed with the results of today. But, yeah, I did a good job of keeping myself in the tournament last night, made the nice putt to close out last night, and so trying to remember that one.”

Hovland headed home for Norway with his parents. As for his throng of flag-waving, rowing supporters? Norway plays Ivory Coast on Tuesday in Dallas, the hometown of Scheffler.

“That was probably more coincidental,” Hovland said with a laugh. “That should be a good game.”

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

The former mayor of Greater Manchester also said he would move part of the prime minister’s office from London’s 10 Downing St. to northwest England as part of “the biggest rebalancing of power our country has seen.”

“Growth cannot be ordered from the top down. Instead, it can only be nurtured from the bottom up,” Burnham said in a speech aimed at bringing voters, Labour Party colleagues and financial markets up to speed with his economic vision.

Burnham is the strong favorite to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation last week.

“If councils can’t fix potholes, what chance do they have of bringing forward major regeneration schemes to get growth going?” Burnham said. He set out a 10-year plan to get “good growth in every postcode,” in a country where wealth and power are concentrated in London and the south of England.

He said he would reverse almost two decades of low growth since the 2008 financial crisis through an approach dubbed “Manchesterism” — harnessing private and public money to invest in areas like transport, housing and infrastructure. He also pledged to create new industrial jobs and better educational opportunities, and to reform the U.K.’s inefficient and expensive privatized water and energy utilities.

Moving the new ‘No. 10 North’ to Manchester

During the speech at the People’s History Museum in the city where he spent nine years as mayor, Burnham said a new government office in Manchester – dubbed “No. 10 North” — would oversee regional development and become “the nerve center of a rewired Britain,” tasked with equalizing living standards across the country. Regional mayors would get more power over housing, welfare and education as part of his planned reforms.

Burnham’s rousing speech was short on specifics about where the government would find more money, and he didn’t take questions from journalists.

Burnham won praise for his role in revitalizing and regenerating Manchester, but he has not served in a U.K. government for almost two decades, and may struggle to replicate “Manchesterism” on a U.K.-wide scale.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank, said Burnham is right to focus on “rebalancing Britain."

“The U.K.’s concentration of power and opportunity in Westminster has held back growth, productivity and living standards for too long,” said IPPR Executive Director Harry Quilter-Pinner. “The real test now is delivery.”

Matthew Flinders, a politics professor at the University of Sheffield, said replicating Burnham’s Manchester approach on a national level would require “a fundamental shift" in the way politics is done in Britain.

“And at the heart of that would be moving from a very traditional, elitist, centralized model of politics toward something that is in many ways far more European, far more based on power-sharing in order to develop long-term policymaking capacity,” he said.

Burnham is likely to inherit Starmer's challenges

Burnham will be aware that Starmer also announced a 10-year mission — the equivalent of two full terms in government —- to transform Britain soon after he was elected in a landslide in July 2024. Starmer is leaving after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

Burnham won a special election for a seat in Parliament on June 18 and was sworn in as a lawmaker on June 22, the same day Starmer announced that he will resign as soon as a successor is chosen.

Burnham is so far the only contender in the Labour Party leadership contest. If no one challenges him, he will become prime minister by July 20.

While Burnham is considered more charismatic than the stolid Starmer, he will face many of the same political and economic challenges, including a sluggish economy, tattered public services and a cost-of-living squeeze. He will also be constrained by the platform the center-left Labour Party was elected on in 2024, with its pledges not to increase taxes on working people.

And like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to dramatically increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States.

The government’s long-awaited defense investment plan — which sparked the resignation of Defense Secretary John Healey on June 11 — is expected to be published before a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8. Starmer’s successor will be expected to stick to the commitments in the plan.

“Andy Burnham’s big idea is to shuffle power between politicians,” said opposition Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake. “Not fix the welfare system. Not cut the taxes strangling working families and British business. Not fund the defense our country desperately needs.”

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Lawless reported from London. Associated Press Writer Brian Melley contributed to this story.

The company said Monday that its board and management team think each company will be better positioned to pursue its own strategic priorities, invest for growth and create long-term shareholder value as independent entities.

The planned move comes after Comcast announced in November 2024 that it was spinning off cable networks such as USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, as well as CNBC and MSNBC into a new company. Movie ticketing platform Fandango and the Rotten Tomatoes movie rating site were also included.

Like other cable companies, Comcast in recent years has shifted its business emphasis away from traditional cable toward streaming and other sources of revenue, such as its movie studio, theme parks and home wireless and internet services.

Media and entertainment company NBCUniversal includes a theme parks division, Universal film and television studios, NBC and Telemundo networks, Peacock, and Bravo. Its portfolio will now include European media business Sky.

Comcast, based in Philadelphia, will continue providing internet services to residential and business customers.

Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh will become the CEO of NBCUniversal. Comcast’s former Chief Financial Officer Michael Angelakis will become the CEO of Comcast, following completion of the separation. In the interim, he will serve as a strategic adviser.

Comcast Chairman and co-CEO Brian Roberts will continue to be actively involved in the leadership of Comcast and NBCUniversal, working in partnership with the CEOs of both companies.

“Comcast will continue to build on its leadership in connectivity, while NBCUniversal, together with Sky, will have the scale, brands, content and financial resources to compete as a premier global media and entertainment company,” Cavanagh said in a statement.

Once the transaction is complete, Comcast shareholders will own shares in both Comcast and NBCUniversal. The separation is expected to be completed in about a year. It still needs final approval from Comcast's board and is subject to regulatory approvals.

Comcast expects to keep a stake of up to 19.9% ownership position in NBCUniversal for up to one year after the spinoff is complete.

In premarket trading, Comcast shares surged 24%.

That has blunted the nascent recovery of ship traffic that in normal times feeds the global economy with a fifth of its oil and gas shipments. Now, hopes for a continued rise are on hold as ship traffic cautiously continues at levels below those from before the war.

Oil producers and markets were hoping to continue the rise in passages that followed a U.S.-Iranian interim deal, from less than 10% of normal to roughly half of prewar averages on the eve of the June 25 drone incident.

A second strike on Saturday hit a tanker carrying crude for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the U.S. The U.S. responded with a second round of strikes on Iranian “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities.” Iran launched drone and missile strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday.

Here’s where things stand and the reasons behind the current confusion.

Iran tries to assert its control over the strait

Iran demands that ships pass the strait using a route near its coastline. It has set up an agency to vet ships and collect information on crews, destination and cargo. It had also demanded payment in at least some cases. That meant a conundrum for ship owners and operators, because the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is running the vetting process, is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU. So paying the IGRC means exposure to risk of U.S. or EU sanctions.

Ships had increasingly used a southern route along the coast of Oman under a U.S. overwatch operation that guided them using drones and aircraft. The ship that was hit was trying to use that route.

Control over the strait gives Iran leverage over the global economy, and over Trump. The effective closure of the strait sent U.S. gasoline prices higher, a politically sensitive issue ahead of the U.S. mid-term elections in November. Simple fear of Iranian drones or speedboats, it has turned out, is enough to deter ship traffic.

The US and Iran don’t agree on what they agreed on

U.S. officials say the interim agreement was that the strait would reopen, without Iran collecting money from passing vessels, for 60 days while a more permanent resolution to the war is negotiated.

Iran is citing language from the agreement which says that Iran “will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels” during the negotiating period.

Iran says that language means it’s up to Iran exactly how the strait reopens. The interim agreement says Iran will “conduct dialog with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the strait.”

Iran underlined that position by initially threatening vessels without taking action. At that point, enterprising ship operators started to test the Iranian position and took their chance to rescue vessels stuck for weeks in the Gulf. The day before the June 25 drone strike, 78 vessels passed the strait, including at least five large oil tankers with up to 2 million barrels of oil each, according to S&P Global. That was still below the 130 or more that was normal before the war. But oil prices fell to prewar levels, and a return to normalcy seemed to at least be on the horizon.

Ship traffic continues at somewhat lower pace

Ship traffic has continued, but at a somewhat lower pace than the day before the first Iranian strike, and an humanitarian evacuation by the UN's International Maritime Organization remains suspended.

On Sunday, there were 44 transits, 24 inbound and 20 outbound, with the “strait open with no disruption to freedom of navigation despite ongoing military operations,” according to marine data firm Windward. It said “most traffic has shifted north under Iranian coordination" and noted that “multiple” sanctioned tankers had crossed Sunday.

There was “elevated activity” by IGRC speedboats, with around 60 of the vessels patrolling in swarms around the U.S.-overseen southern corridor.

Of 108 crossings over the weekend, 39 used the U.S.-backed Omani route, 37 the Iranian route, while 23 were unknown due to their switching off their location systems and running dark, according to ship tracker MarineTraffic.com. Nine used a prewar route in the middle of the strait.

“The split suggests operators are still assessing risk cautiously, rather than returning to pre-crisis traffic patterns,” MarineTraffic.com said on X.

The oil market remains unruffled, US gasoline prices down

Oil prices fell after the U.S.-Iran memorandum raised hopes of an end to the conflict, and oil traders seem to have stayed with that approach.

International benchmark Brent crude rose 0.9% on Friday to $72.67 at 1430 GMT, close to its last close before the war of $72.48.

Other factors have combined to ease pressure on oil prices, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report Monday. Hit with higher fuel prices, consumers have scaled back energy use. IEA member governments released oil from emergency stocks. Exporters like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have ramped up alternative routes using pipelines that bypass the strait. Exports surged from other suppliers, most notably the US. Another major factor: the 40% drop in China’s oil imports between February and May, as China relied in part on drawing down its robust oil reserves.

U.S. gasoline pump prices have fallen back below $4 per gallon, averaging $3.86 as of Monday.

Experts say Iran’s position is contrary to international law

Multiple international law experts say Teheran’s demand to control the strait violates international law as set down in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which took effect in 1994.

The treaty requires coastal states to permit peaceful passage through their waters. Iran’s stance raises concerns that other choke points, such as the Straits of Malacca in East Asia, could be subject to geopolitical power plays that disrupt global commerce, as Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz has done.

Trump says talks are coming, Iran hasn’t confirmed

The U.S. and Iran are supposed to negotiate a more lasting resolution, including the strait and the future of Iran’s nuclear program and stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and ending the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details.

Trump said Monday on social media that Iran had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts. However one of Iran’s top negotiators said no further talks had been scheduled.

Pier side access, local food, and libations available for purchase.

DJ Rantz with the crowd pleasing dance music!

Gates 6:30pm must be 16 or older.

21 must show ID.

Welcome to bring a folding chair for front row seats of the Fireworks show.

904tix.com for pre sale tickets

610 East Bay Street

Parking free Lot S

The Mickler’s Landing Beachfront Park shuttle will operate July 4–6 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., running between Cornerstone Park, 1046 A1A North, and the Mickler’s parking lot, the county said.

Law enforcement and rescue personnel will patrol beaches throughout the weekend. The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Augustine Beach Police Department and St. Johns County Marine Rescue personnel will be on duty. Marine Rescue lifeguards will be stationed along the beaches from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and beach flags indicating water and surf conditions will be displayed.

The county cautioned that the absence of a flag does not mean there is no danger and urged beachgoers to consult a staffed lifeguard tower for local conditions.

On-beach driving will be allowed between 8 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Vehicles must remain in designated driving lanes, and driving conditions can change throughout the day at each access point, St. Johns County Beach Services said.

Beach visitors are encouraged to monitor daily updates on driving and access conditions by following @SJCBeaches on Facebook and X and by downloading the SJC Connect mobile app. Information is also available on the St. Johns County website under the Beach Services section.

For safety information, rules and regulations, visit the county’s beach safety page.

Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, is scheduled to die by lethal injection July 28 at Florida State Prison near Starke, according to the warrant DeSantis signed on Friday. The window to carry out the sentence runs from noon, July 28 through noon, Aug. 4.

The warrant is the 12th DeSantis has signed this year and followed last week’s execution of Dusty Ray Spencer. Spencer, at 74, became the oldest inmate put to death by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 after a U.S. Supreme Court decision halted executions.

Dennis Sochor, 74, is set to surpass Spencer in age at the time of execution by seven days if there is no delay in his scheduled July 14 execution. Sochor was convicted of killing an 18-year-old woman he met at a New Year’s celebration in a Broward County bar 44 years ago.

Age was brought up in Spencer’s defense.

On June 18, the Florida Supreme Court rejected the argument that the execution would constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment given Spencer’s age.

The Florida Supreme Court noted, “The only age-based exemption from execution recognized by the United States Supreme Court is for individuals under the chronological age of eighteen when they committed the offense.”

According to court records, Occhicone went to the Pasco County home of Raymond and Martha Artzner where his former girlfriend was living with her child on June 10, 1986.

Occhicone initially knocked on a sliding glass door, but his former girlfriend refused to talk and threatened to call the police. Occhicone appeared to leave, only to return a brief time later armed with a handgun. He cut the telephone lines to the home and was confronted outside by Raymond Artzner.

Occhicone shot and killed Artzner and then broke into the home. While his former girlfriend was able to flee with her child, Occhicone fatally shot Martha Artzner four times.

Charged with two counts of first-degree murder, Occhicone received a life sentence for Raymond Artzner’s death and a death sentence for killing Martha Artzner.

The jury voted 7-5 to recommend death in September 1987.

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty quickly requested DeSantis stay the execution.

“Five jurors voted to spare Dominick’s life, and even the sentencing court recognized that he was acting under extreme mental and emotional disturbance,” the group stated in a petition. “His case reflects the devastating consequences of untreated addiction, emotional crisis, and human failure --- not a problem that another execution can solve.”

The high court has allowed some similar rules to take effect temporarily before, including Arizona's proof-of-citizenship requirement for state and local elections and a Virginia purge of voter rolls that the state said was aimed at keeping noncitizens from voting.

President Donald Trump’s Republican administration joined the appeal after lower courts found the measures violated federal voting laws.

The high court is expected to hear arguments in the fall and hand down an opinion after the midterm elections.

The Republican-controlled legislature passed the laws in 2022, part of a wave of similar proposals around the country after Trump falsely claimed widespread voter fraud was responsible for his narrow defeat there to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump reclaimed the state in 2024, helping secure his return to the White House.

The case reached the Supreme Court's emergency docket in 2024. The justices gave the GOP a partial victory, allowing Arizona to require proof of citizenship for registration in state and local elections but not federal races.

Also that year, the high court allowed Virginia to continue a purge of voter rolls shortly before the election.

Citizenship is required to vote across the country, and people must attest they are citizens under penalty of perjury to register. Arizona is among only a handful of states that require additional proof, like a driver's license or passport. Data indicates that voting by noncitizens is rare.

Arizona tried to impose proof requirements for national elections in 2013, but the law was struck down by the Supreme Court. Now, people can register as “federal only” voters without providing proof of citizenship, but Arizona requires additional proof for state and local election participation.

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

The majority declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas dissented, calling on the court to reconsider the legal standards for public figures who claim defamation.

Alan Dershowitz said the news network aired only a portion of the comment made during his defense of the president, distorting his meaning to make him look like he’d “lost his mind,” according to court documents.

The network said that multiple outlets had interpreted his remarks in a similar way, and Dershowitz couldn’t show CNN was trying to mischaracterize what he said.

In his appeal, Dershowitz had urged the court to reconsider New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. The landmark First Amendment case that made it harder for public figures to win libel lawsuits because it requires proof that an outlet knowingly published something false, or showed a reckless disregard for the truth.

Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law School professor and legal commentator, was part of Trump's defense team during his impeachment trial over allegations that Trump wanted political favors from Ukraine in return for U.S. military aid. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

Dershowitz responded to a question at one point by saying, “the only thing that would make a quid pro quo unlawful is if the quo were somehow illegal." Providing arms to Ukraine, he said, isn't illegal.

He alleged that CNN only played what he said moments later: “Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly, they are right, your election is in the public interest, and if the president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”

Dershowitz said the edit made it seem like he was arguing a president could avoid impeachment for illegal acts as long as he was doing it to get reelected – a concept his original suit called “preposterous and foolish on its face.”

CNN countered by saying it did air his full remarks during its live coverage, and invited him on twice more to expand on his meaning.

Lower courts tossed out the suit, finding that Dershowitz hadn’t shown CNN acted with “actual malice” in its reporting, making it fall short of the standard set by New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.

Health authorities in the coastal enclave said the drone strike hit a neighborhood in Deir al-Balah, one of the least damaged towns in central Gaza.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said the fatalities were Hassan al-Hanagra and his 8-year-old grandchild, Malik Abu Shawish, along with another man. Abu Shawish, whose parents are divorced, was visiting his mother's tent at the time of the strike, and his mother was among seven people wounded in the strike, hospital officials said.

Israel's military said the strike was targeting a militant, but did not immediately name him or say if he was killed.

A strike in southern Gaza on Sunday killed Zaher Abu Salem, the Israeli military said, describing him as a member of Islamic Jihad who was involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the war. A total of four people were killed Sunday in a flurry of strikes around Gaza, including a 13-year-old girl, Eileen al-Farra, who was hit by shrapnel from Israeli tank shelling and was buried Monday.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided since a ceasefire took hold in October, Israeli forces have carried out near-daily strikes, killing 1,045 Palestinians, including more than 360 women and children, according to health officials in Gaza. Israel says it is targeting militants, often saying they were planning attacks on Israeli troops who hold more than 60% of the Gaza Strip. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks since the ceasefire.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,058 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Palestinian teen killed near Ramallah

Meanwhile, Israeli forces raided locations throughout the occupied West Bank, including near Ramallah, where the Palestinian Health Ministry reported a 15-year-old from Jerusalem was killed by a gunshot to the head.

Emergency crews transported Amir Jaber to the hospital from the al-Bireh area after attempting to resuscitate him at the scene, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. It also reported two injured by Israeli fire in a raid near Hebron, the West Bank's most populous city.

The Israeli military did not comment immediately.

The raid near Ramallah — the Palestinians' administrative capital in the West Bank — was among half a dozen throughout the territory reported by WAFA, the Palestinian news agency, on Monday.

At least 59 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank this year, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

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

Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, its forces have conducted bombing in an effort to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and sap morale. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to the U.N.

A Russian missile targeting infrastructure struck the central city of Dnipro, killing five people and wounding 29, Zelenskyy said on social media. Russian drones also hit a passenger minibus in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three and wounding six, including a child, he said.

Russia drones also killed a 69-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man in the northeastern Sumy region, National Police said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a daytime Russian strike killed one person and wounded five others in the northeastern city.

Other deadly attacks occurred in at least six other regions of Ukraine, authorities said. No further details were immediately available.

Strikes leave some Ukrainians without power

Some customers in eight Ukrainian regions were left without power Monday after Russian strikes, while hot weather drove up electricity use as people turned on air conditioners, grid operator Ukrenergo said.

Zelenskyy renewed his plea for Europe to step up its development of air defenses to block Russia’s ballistic missiles.

“People need greater protection from such horrific attacks,” Zelenskyy said. “Above all, we need anti-ballistic capabilities. It is essential that Europe is as active as possible in developing its own anti-ballistic defense – its own systems and missiles.”

Putin says expanding Ukrainian drone attacks won't stop the war

A marked shift has taken place in the war in recent months, Western officials say, as Ukraine’s expanding drone strikes have brought fuel shortages in Russia and Russia-occupied territory. The attacks have weakened the Russian military’s supply lines to the front in eastern and southern Ukraine, slowing their advance, according to analysts.

Ukraine’s innovative drone engineering has given it an edge and made it a world leader in the technology’s military use. It is now helping partner countries after previously pleading for foreign military support.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday acknowledged that Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russia’s oil facilities have caused fuel shortages. The scarcity has triggered public anger and frustration as people wait in line for hours at gas stations.

But Putin ruled out making concessions to end the invasion and insisted that Russia will ultimately prevail in the war despite what he called “temporary” setbacks.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s position on Ukraine remains unchanged, insisting that Russian troops are continuing their front-line offensive.

Their effort “makes us confident that our goals will be achieved,” Peskov told reporters.

Russia's battlefield progress is waning, analysts say

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said the Kremlin's stance is an attempt to push the West and Ukraine to giving in to Russia’s demands.

But, it added, “Russia’s battlefield performance continues to decline in 2026 and Russia’s ability to seize its objectives militarily is in question.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 209 Ukrainian drones from late Sunday through early Monday.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 82 of the 108 drones that Russia launched overnight.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

For 35 years, Pace has taught music. But outside the piano studio, he is also the founder of Be the Change Northeast Florida, a nonprofit dedicated to helping families, seniors and people experiencing homelessness.

On his property, volunteers have a nickname for the growing collection of storage buildings: “The Compound.”

Inside, every space has a purpose.

One building stores hygiene items for care bags. Another is filled with clothing for families. A food pantry helps people in crisis. A trailer serves as a mobile clothing closet for homeless outreach.

Pace says people can come get clothing with no questions asked.

No applications. No income requirements. No judgment. Just help.

The nonprofit provides clothing to families, donates items to senior citizens and once a month takes food, hygiene supplies and clothes to people experiencing homelessness in downtown Jacksonville.

Be the Change Northeast Florida also holds yard sales to raise money for the nonprofit. Pace says clothing is never sold — it is always given away for free.

A partnership with Feeding Northeast Florida has helped the organization expand its food outreach, allowing volunteers to regularly pick up food and provide more support to people in need.

Pace still teaches music full time, and many of his students and their families have become volunteers.

For him, music and service are connected.

“You can’t change the world,” Pace said, “but you can change the world for one person.”

Whether he is teaching a student at the piano, loading food into a pantry or helping a family find clothes, Pace says the mission is simple: help people.

For dedicating his time, talent and heart to serving others, Joel Pace is News4JAX’s June Positively JAX winner.

Pakistan said the operations were launched in response to militant attacks across Pakistan. Security forces carried out a ground operation along the border late Sunday, followed by strikes against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.

Afghanistan condemned the strikes in Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar provinces as a “cowardly act of aggression” and an “act of brutality.” Hayatullah Mohajer Farahi, the deputy minister for publications at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said Afghanistan would respond “in due time.”

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said Pakistani forces targeted a home in Paktia's Chamkani district, killing an older man and a child, while other family members were wounded. When residents gathered to rescue people, the area was struck again, killing 28 villagers and wounding 158, he said.

Six people, mostly women and children, were killed in a village in Giyan district, Paktika province, when another home was struck, he said. A civilian home in Kunar province was also hit, causing no casualties but killing some 30 livestock.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan independently confirmed that at least 28 civilians were killed and 49 others were wounded in the strikes, including women and children. It added that the figures were preliminary and could increase.

Pakistani officials said an uneasy calm prevailed along the border Monday, with security forces remaining on high alert.

Envoys are summoned over the attacks

On Monday, Afghanistan and Pakistan summoned each other's top diplomats to protest the attacks.

Zia Ahmad Takal, the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry's deputy spokesperson, accused Islamabad of repeatedly blaming Afghanistan for security incidents inside Pakistan without “credible evidence.”

Pakistan’s behavior “seriously harms the atmosphere of trust between the two countries, good neighborly relations and the security and stability of the region,” Takal said.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned Afghanistan’s top diplomat in Islamabad to protest the involvement of Afghan nationals in recent attacks, including one in Karachi over the weekend.

Militant attacks targeting Pakistan’s police and security forces have surged in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence. The Pakistani Taliban are separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban that returned to power in 2021.

Tarar, the Pakistani information minister, shared three videos on X that he said showed projectiles striking sprawling camps and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khawarij in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. Tarar said the overnight strikes killed “terrorists” and destroyed weapons and ammunition stockpiles.

Pakistan uses the phrase “Khawarij” to refer to Indian-backed Pakistani Taliban and other militants. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

Tarar said Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign “will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.”

India, however, denied any involvement, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal calling the statements “baseless allegations.” Pakistan should “look inwards, take credible action against the terror infrastructure on its territory,” he said.

Pakistan launches operation after assault in Karachi

The Pakistani security operation followed a militant attack targeting the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in Karachi that killed three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as a wounded Afghan national.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack.

Officials in Pakistan claimed one Afghan suspect was captured following the attack, saying that “Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.” Police later released the statement of the wounded Afghan detainee, who said the Karachi attack was planned by Jamaat‑ul‑Ahrar, though it was unclear if the confession was made under duress.

Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.

The escalation follows months of military action. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.

Multiple rounds of talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire. China hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed from Islamabad.

They walked the coed Paris runways at Amiri and Ami. At Vetements, women modeled many of the “menswear” looks, and Sharon Stone closed the show in thigh-high boots.

Inside fashion, none of this was eyebrow-raising.

The gender blur was not happening on the margins. It was built into Paris Men’s Fashion Week, which ended Sunday, where a multibillion-dollar luxury industry shows what it thinks men will want next.

It has reached menswear advertising, too.

A pregnant Rihanna became the face of Pharrell Williams’ first Louis Vuitton men’s campaign in 2023, appearing on a giant Paris billboard with her baby bump exposed and arms full of Vuitton bags.

“It’s not something completely new,” said Joseph McBrinn, art historian at Ulster University.

Women have paraded through menswear collections for so many seasons that it barely registers with fashion insiders anymore — even as a Gen Z mainstream, only now catching up to the gender-bending David Bowie flaunted in the ’70s, treats it as the cutting edge.

In recent decades, he said, fashion has moved “from very binary understandings of gender and fashion to something which is today very fluid” — reflective, he added, of how younger people now think.

The deeper confusion: They do not always travel together.

At Issey Miyake’s IM Men, by the brand’s account, the cast was entirely male — yet the show still read as androgynous.

The border between his and hers keeps eroding, on the body and on the calendar. It has not vanished, and its erosion owes as much to money as to gender.

“Androgyny only works because people understand what is being crossed,” said Andrew Groves, menswear systems professor at the University of Westminster.

The real story is not that menswear has escaped its rules, but that designers are finding new freedom inside one of fashion’s narrowest rule books, Groves added.

The runways look like they are erasing gender; the categories are exactly what make the gesture legible.

This season's men's clothes borrowed freely from womenswear

For Jonathan Anderson, Dior’s first ever designer to oversee both its men’s and women’s lines, models wore pearls, pink and sheer blouses with soft bows at the throat; the collection, he told reporters, was about how he "connects with the feminine.”

At Saint Laurent, men bared their chests in second-skin tops, wore briefs cut from leather and walked in transparent shoes lifted from the women’s runway.

The house opened Paris Men’s Week, and its menswear push is not only aesthetic: Saint Laurent has reportedly set a target of doubling men’s sales by 2030.

Many houses have folded men’s and women’s collections into one coed runway. Once provocations, such shows became a calendar strategy by the late 2010s — part creative, part convenient, mostly commercial.

When Anthony Vaccarello took over Saint Laurent in 2016, he scrapped its separate menswear show and sent men down the women’s runway, restoring a men’s show only in 2018; Vetements and Balenciaga merged theirs around then too.

“I don’t think having men and women on the same runway means a greater belief in nonbinary genders,” said Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “That’s really more of an economic thing.”

One show costs less than two

A mixed approach consolidates the media moment and lets a designer tell a single story. That matters in a luxury market under pressure – it’s been a weaker period for the sector in the last couple of years.

Women already buy menswear, which helps explain why Ami, founded in 2011 as a men’s brand, added womenswear.

The blurring of the clothes is the older story. Long before “nonbinary” was common usage, Yves Saint Laurent put women in men’s tailoring in 1966, Bowie smudged the line in the ’70s and Jean Paul Gaultier sent men out in skirts in the ‘80s. Fashion ran years ahead of the language.

Suzy Menkes, the veteran fashion critic, sees the history stretching even further back. Men once wore “the most dramatic, precious, glamorous and priceless jewels,” she noted, without doubting that they were suitable for men. The 20th century, she said, narrowed that idea of male dress before fashion began reopening it.

The exchange has never been equal: A woman in a man’s suit is, 60 years on, unremarkable; a man in a skirt or heels still reads as transgression.

“Women’s bodies are still consumed in ways that men’s bodies are not,” McBrinn said.

Men, he added, “can still be seen as deviant” when they cross the line.

Off the runway, the moment is volatile: combative online masculinity, “manosphere" influencers like the Tate brothers, a wave of anti-trans laws.

Last year, J.Crew set off a conservative uproar by marketing a pink sweater to men — even as Dior, Paul Smith and Willy Chavarria sent pink down their own runways. The fight was cultural, but not only: reports said pink apparel sellouts rose 17% year-on-year in spring-summer 2025.

Menkes said color is part of the same story. Postwar Europe helped harden the idea that some colors were “suitable” for men, she said, and it took “a surprisingly long time” for shades such as lilac or pale pink to be accepted as male choices.

Steele said openness to androgyny crested in the 1920s, the ’70s and the ’90s, then receded each time.

“Everything is moving to the right,” McBrinn said. “Fashion may go back to being much more entrenched within gender binary” — perhaps, he warned, within five to 10 years.

The stakes run past the runway

After years of expanding legal protections for LGBTQ+ people, progress is reversing in many countries, with transgender people at the center of the fight.

“We are seeing tremendous backlash internationally against trans people,” Steele said.

In the end, Steele said, the runway matters less than the office and the dinner table. People shift when they see androgynous clothes on friends, colleagues or men around them.

Increasingly, they are just clothes.

Black Music Month traces its roots to 1979, when President Jimmy Carter designated June as a time to honor the cultural, historical and artistic impact of Black musicians on American music.

“Behind the Board” is News4JAX’s newest original series featuring Jacksonville music innovators — from producers and engineers to musicians and rising artists shaping the city’s sound and culture.

Each week, “Behind the Board” goes beyond the music, taking viewers inside the creative process while sharing the personal journeys behind the sound.

The series explores how Jacksonville’s culture, communities and musical legacy continue to influence artists across multiple genres and inspire the next generation of talent.

From the studio to center stage, the series showcases the River City’s growing influence on the soundtrack of today and the artists driving Jacksonville’s music scene forward.

Every Monday at 9 a.m. starting June 1, the following artists will be featured in this order on “Behind the Board”:

• André Troutman: Serves as music director for rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, for his current stadium tour. His collaborations on Ye’s Bully earned him his first two entries on the Billboard Hot 100. Troutman is also carrying on the legacy of his cousin, Roger Troutman, of the legendary funk band Zapp & Roger, by incorporating futuristic vocals through the talk box.
• Dwayne Richardson II: Professionally known as D Rich, the Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum producer stands out with his horn-driven sound and instrumentation, leading to Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 projects for artists like Future and Metro Boomin. Other credits include Rick Ross’ “Box Chevy,” which was filmed in Downtown Jacksonville, and Jeezy’s chart-topping his “All There,” featuring the late Bankroll Fresh.
• Jahaan Sweet: The Grammy Award-winning, Billboard chart-topping producer, songwriter, and pianist’s unique sound has landed him collaborations with artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Travis Scott. Sweet was recently honored with a spot on the Jacksonville Riverfront Music Garden Walk of Fame.
• Darien Bankhead: The producer and artist known as Boyband has built a genre-blending sound that fuses hip-hop, alternative, and electronic music. In 2020, he earned his first Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for his work on Lil Nas X’s 7.
• Bobby Wintons Jr.: Known as Bob On Keys, Wintons was born in Apalachicola, Florida, before moving to Jacksonville, where he got his start as a jazz and church musician. The Billboard-charting producer has worked alongside artists like Future, Boston Richey, Nardo Wick and serves as music director for Yung Bleu. He’s also toured internationally in Jeju Island, South Korea, Cancun, Mexico, and the Bahamas.

He said that growing up, music was all around him.

“I knew all the jingles on TV, every commercial, every radio song that came on, I was singing to all of them, sometimes to my detriment in school,” Troutman said of his earliest memories.

Watch the full interview below.

He sang in his elementary school choir for a treat in the holiday concert, but he learned he liked singing.

“I went for the popsicles and stayed for the singing,” Troutman said. “But that was my first time ever in any organized singing.”

Troutman, an arranger, producer, singer and composer who studied vocal performance at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, said he decided to pursue music as a career early.

When he was in middle school, his uncle Darryl Hall had a summer camp called 100 Youth Voices State Aurora Performing Arts Camp, which he said was his first introduction to performing arts.

“It gave me the exposure to all of those arts areas, things that I had just been doing on my own at home and I used to pretend like I knew how to sing opera, not knowing that I would literally end up getting a full scholarship for singing classical music,” Troutman said. “I like doing this and I can get paid doing it on Broadway and back then I’m like, ‘wait, you get paid to do this? I was like, ‘Oh, I could do this. I want to do this for the rest of my life.’”

He described a turning point during a church service in Jacksonville that pushed him to relocate to Los Angeles. In high school, he visited his Uncle Mike, who lived there. He did a few things on TV with BET, but he found himself wanting more while he was playing the keys at Central Baptist in Jacksonville.

“God was like, ‘Yes, I have to go,’…I was like, I was like, right now I’m in the middle of offering. I’m in the middle of playing right now. It’s like, yes, it’s time to go…He said to me, ‘You’re a big fish in a small pond, and I need to expand you globally.’”

So he headed to Los Angeles with no real plan, only knowing his uncle Mike.

‘How do you do that?’: The talkbox family legacy

Troutman is a relative of Roger Troutman of the 1980s funk band Zapp & Roger and has embraced the talkbox that helped define that sound.

The talkbox is a device that is connected to an instrument, usually a keyboard. The device directs sound from the instrument into the user’s mouth through a plastic tube adjacent to a vocal microphone. The musician controls the instrument’s sound by changing the shape of their mouth, vocalizing the instrument’s output into a microphone.

Zapp & Roger popularized the talkbox through hit songs like “Computer Love” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” They also influenced the West Coast hip-hop scene with their songs being sampled.

André Troutman said he first became serious about the instrument after hearing his cousin Rufus use it in the Sunday service during their family reunion in Ohio.

“After the end of service going up, and I was like, how do you do that?” Troutman said. “I went and bought one. I went to Guitar Center and went bought one. And I knew that I wanted to play it on keytar because I wanted to be cool.” He described the learning curve with a laugh: “A lot of practice, a lot of weird faces, and a lot of bad notes.”

Troutman describes himself as a singer first and at the time, he was heavily in gospel music. He was trying to figure out how to integrate the talkbox into what he already does.

“I felt a definite inherent responsibility to honor the shoulders on which I stand, and do it to my absolute best ability,” he said. “When people did start holding me in the same sentence as Roger and Zapp, it was a huge responsibility for me that I took with honor and humility...”

He acknowledged the doors that playing the talkbox has opened for him.

‘That was everything to me’: Working with Kanye West

Troutman said he began working with West in March 2025, initially helping with music and production for live shows.

“Literally just coming along, to help in the area of music and production,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing working with him because he’s such a universally creative person, incredibly wise in how he formulates things...it’s like a vortex of just pure energy.”

That collaboration grew into a larger role orchestrating music for West’s stadium tour and contributing to “Bully.”

“All the Love happened. It was just a very incredibly organic. And I feel like very organic and very God move how it was, was all orchestrated and it just flowed,” Troutman said.

Performing the song for stadium audiences, he added, has been “mind-blowing.”

Troutman said having his name on “Bully” was deeply meaningful after years of working as an independent musician.

“To be able to Google me and just see my name next to something that I created, that mattered that much to me. That was everything to me,” he said, noting how important the credit would be for his mother and daughters to see.

His family and the world can see that he earned his first two entries on the Billboard Hot 100 list with “All the Love” and “White Lines.” He said the recognition meant everything to him.

“I remember the night that I reached out to him and expressed how important it was for my name to be on this,” he said.

He said of the live show at So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles that he hadn’t really had a chance to sit and take in the magnitude of the performance because it’s happened so fast and they’re gearing up to continue the stadium tour, including a performance on June 26 in Tampa.

“It’s a story I couldn’t have written,” Troutman said. “It’s really hard for me to put into words...”

It’s an immense accomplishment for an independent artist from Jacksonville who’s never signed a record deal.

‘Build with the people next to you’: Advice for Jacksonville artists

Troutman urged young creatives to build with peers in their own community.

“Instead of reaching up to this impossible build with the people next to you,” he said. “The world will come and find you and they will hear you make a noise when you build.”

He said the collective community that you create will elevate you to the next level, not the people who may be out of your reach.

He pointed to a network of Jacksonville artists — many who attended Douglas Anderson — who have supported one another.

“I call my friends first, and then we build and grow up together,” he said.

‘We are a diamond’: Jacksonville’s arts growth

Troutman praised recent civic investments such as the Riverfront Music Garden and the Jacksonville Walk of Fame, calling them the realization of long-held dreams.

“This is a manifestation of dreams and conversations we had 10, 15 years ago,” he said. “It takes money to create art. And it takes money to be sustainable. And there’s seeds. I look at it as investments.”

While he isn’t featured on the Walk of Fame (yet), he urged continued investment and communication to help the city’s creative economy grow.

“We have a plan to do that with Jacksonville. We have as many accolades as any other city. We are a diamond,” he said.

‘Behind the board, I am...’

“Behind the board, I am The Oracle,” he said. “My gift is being able to see beyond what people see. Cannot hear sometimes beyond what people hear. Vision and connectivity. I can see it oftentimes. I can see the tree when it’s still the seed. I can pull people together and pull the best out of people, and really guide the energy.”

Troutman’s rise from performance arts in Jacksonville to stadium stages and the Billboard charts reflects a mix of craft, community and persistence — and a commitment to honoring the musical lineage that shaped his sound.

Watch the full interview with Richardson below.

He was a high school football player with a dream tucked into the liner notes of CDs his father bought — he wanted to see “Produced by” next to his name.

Richardson, professionally known as D Rich, taught himself how to make beats in a digital audio workspace program called FruityLoops through hours of repetition and let some of his neighborhood friends listen.

His friends recognized his talent and suggested he start selling them.

“They’d always be like, ‘man, take some of your beats to school, let them dudes hear it, and they’ll buy some beats,’ and they would buy them $100 a pop and it was selling,” Richardson said.

He was a football player at Lee High School and Nathan Bedford Forest and many of the other guys at the school were rappers too. While football was his true passion, he gained confidence in his music production talent.

“I knew I had something...so I stayed on the field and once football didn’t work out, I was like, you know what, man, I’m gonna give this music thing a try, and it worked out,” Richardson said. “I knew I had a talent because people loved it.”

It was so special that in the era of custom voicemail messages on phones, his classmates would call him and tell him not to answer just so they could hear the song and him rapping on it.

‘It unfolded like a miracle’: Taking a risk

He used to post his beats on his MySpace social media page. There was a rap producer based in Atlanta named Shawty Redd, who worked with the heavy hitters at the time. Richardson said he sent him a message to look at his beats.

“He checked it out instantly and shot me a text and shot me his number and I called him,” Richardson said. “It unfolded like a miracle.”

This led him to take what he called the biggest risk of his life. He had just got a job at a Publix Warehouse, which wasn’t easy to get into at the time.

“I had a song with Jeezy called ‘Who Dat,’ I was already signed to Shawty Redd, but the song came out and I was still in Jacksonville working, but I never told anybody,” Richardson said.

His coworkers would be listening to the song on their stereos while working.

“I had it in my mind that I can’t tell nobody that I made this song because nobody will believe me,” he said.

He went into work like any other day, but something felt different.

“I just looked at the manager’s office, I looked back at everybody else and I just walked out,” Richardson said. “It’s like something came over me and say ‘this ain’t for you, you’ve got something else to do,’ and my mom took me to the airport with a book bag, got a standby pass with AirTran for $60 and I flew to Atlanta just like that.”

He said he’d rather take that risk and move in with Shawty Redd and be okay with it not working out.

“I couldn’t live my life knowing that I had a chance to do something,” Richardson said.

‘Jacksonville is the sound of my music’

While Atlanta is roughly a five-hour drive up the interstate from Jacksonville, Richardson was sure to carry the influences of his home city with him.

“I feel like Jacksonville is the sound of my music,” he said. “The horns, from playing high school football, the battle of the bands, my music has a lot of horns in it and I feel like the horns from the band is what’s known as my sound.”

He said Jacksonville rap fans listen to fast, high-energy music, which represents the toughness of its residents.

“My beats kind of had a umph and I definitely credit it to Jacksonville," he said.

That umph led him to many awards and to work with many of hip-hop’s biggest names. He said his collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin on the mega-popular song ‘Type S***’ was a defining moment in his career.

“I was 17 years in at the time so most people really don’t have a career that long or their biggest song doesn’t come that long into their career,” he said. “That was a big moment for me and I was accepted by a lot of my peers...[Future and Metro Boomin] love working with me.”

Another significant moment is when Rick Ross shot the “Box Chevy” video in Jacksonville in 2013, shutting down parts of Main Street and the Florida Theatre and bringing visibility to the city.

Richardson produced a beat for Ross that never came out, but Ross eventually released a song that sounded similar to one that Richardson made.

“I expressed that instead of being quiet and in my feelings, they were like, ‘send us some more beats and we can make that right,’ and I sent some beats; then they sent me ‘Box Chevy,’” he said. “It’s still a classic today to me.”

He gave his top five favorite songs that he’s produced in his career:

“All There” by Jeezy feat. Bankroll Fresh

“Who Dat” by Jeezy because it “changed his life.”

”Supafreak" by Jeezy feat. 2 Chainz

“Type S***” by Future and Metro Boomin

Bankroll Fresh the person and artist, who passed away in 2016.

“[Bankroll Fresh] was an artist that I started with out of the streets with nothing going on, no backing, just two guys independently coming together,” he said.

‘I just want to see guys win’: Paying it forward

But with all the accolades and career highlight moments, Richardson stays humble and focuses on what’s next.

“I’m big on longevity, discipline, consistency and I think with some factors, you can’t gloat too much over one layer, you gotta keep going,” he said.

Now running his company Rich Territory, Richardson said he’s focused on paying it forward. He’s mentoring younger producers aged 19 and 21 years old, and using his industry relationships to place their beats with major artists, sometimes putting his own name on the work to open doors for them.

“I just want to see guys win,” he said. “God blessed me with the opportunity, and I just kind of want to let God use me to help others.”

‘Behind the board, I am...’

“Dwayne Richardson, the humble,” he said, staying aligned with the down-to-earth attitude that’s carried him so far. “Just a regular guy from Jacksonville, Florida, went to Lee High, Nathan Bedford Forest, John Love Elementary.”

Richardson said he is grateful for the support Jacksonville has shown him through the years. He said there are times when he would go to a Jaguars game and hear his songs played.

“I appreciate all the support,” he said. “It’s in the air, it’s in the frequency. I’ve got some new stuff with Metro Boomin coming up, got a lot of new stuff with Future, y’all get ready.”

Watch the full interview with Sweet below.

Sweet, who began piano at 6 and studied jazz at LaVilla School of the Arts before attending Douglas Anderson School of the Arts and graduating from Juilliard, said the instrument shaped his approach to making records.

“Piano really is an accompanying instrument,” he said. “That instrument was made to help other musicians sound good…My mentality is always go in the room and help them do whatever they want to do.”

He said that whatever they’re trying to convey musically, translates to production, which is then translated to songwriting.

Sweet credited his first teacher, Cynthia Blaylock, with recognizing his talent and keeping him at the piano.

“She saw something in me that my parents didn’t see,” he said. “I wasn’t even really that into it, but she was just like, ‘Hey, he’s really good at this.’”

His parents wouldn’t let him quit either. He wanted to play sports, though he wasn’t good at them.

“I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t want to do this, I want to play sports, whatever I was in was the excuse,” he said. “I wasn’t the most gifted in sports at that age, but my parents were like, ‘yo you’re not quitting.’”

He joined a jazz band program in the 6th grade and played with some older musicians and learned to love piano.

“That helped shape me as a musician and that’s when I fell in love with piano so when I started playing jazz and see how I could be around my friends and collaborate with them, because jazz is a collaborative music so that kind of just shaped my whole identity,” he said.

He then learned that he could make money through this foundation of collaboratively creating music. That was when he took music seriously as an art form.

He started playing in his church, St. Paul AME and they paid him at 12 years old to play in the band.

“I got paid to do something I love to do,” Sweet said. “At that point I was like, oh, I can make money now.”

‘I had to shape up’: Juilliard and the grind

He graduated from Douglas Anderson School of Arts and going to Juilliard was something that he said offhand as a child, not knowing that it could be a reality.

“I was just trying to shock people,” he said of wanting to go to Juilliard. “But the idea didn’t really become a reality until I fell in love with jazz...then I realized, ‘Oh shoot, like this may really happen.’”

He said he was ready to leave Jacksonville after Douglas Anderson. He felt the best move he could make to progress his career was to move to New York in Juilliard’s jazz program.

Sweet said Juilliard tested him. “I was ready to drop out,” he admitted, recalling a low point during his first year. He told his cousin, comedian Lil Duval, he was thinking of quitting.

“He called my dad and said, ‘Yo, let me tell you what your son said,’” Sweet recalled. “My dad called me, cursed me out. My mom called and cursed me out…you drop out, you ain’t getting nothing from us.”

The reprimand helped him refocus.

“I had to shape up,” Sweet said. He improved his grades, completed his coursework and graduated. “It’s a different level of detail that I had to give to the music, but once I got it, it was easy,” he said.

After adjusting to Juilliard’s rigorous training, he said, he found a routine that worked for him.

Breakthroughs and collaborations

While still a student, Sweet began getting placements and meeting collaborators. He said he met R&B singer Kehlani through local New York producers Jeff Robinson and David Harris, also known as Swagg R’Celious, and worked on her “Cloud 19″ EP, including the breakout song “Get Away.”

“[Nick Cannon] sent [Kehlani] to work with Swagg and I met her there,” he said. “She [said] ‘I like Jahaan’ and we were both young so it was just like hey let’s make more music and that kept happening.”

Just one year after graduating from Juilliard, Sweet earned a Grammy nomination for his collaboration on Kehlani’s acclaimed mixtape “You Should Be Here” while they were on tour together.

“It was crazy,” he said. “It was cool. It was cool. Great moments for sure.”

He relocated to Los Angeles to make more music with Kehlani and for the tour, but after a while, he realized he wanted to spend more time in the studio rather than the road.

While in L.A., he met Matthew Jehu Samuels, professionally known as Boi-1da, whose collaborations include Drake, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna and more. Sweet credited a lot of his professional success and connections he’s made to Samuels.

“Boi‑1da forever is a big, big, big, big, big reason why I’m successful with production,” he said. “He just wanted me to be next to him. I learned a lot just watching him.”

In 2022, he won a Grammy Award for his contributions to Jon Batiste’s Album of the Year, “We Are.” He received the award in the mail and shared the moment with his mother.

Sweet has contributed to projects for Beyoncé — including work on “Renaissance” — Jay‑Z and Drake, and he was part of sessions with Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Travis Scott on the song “Father.”

“It was a humbling experience,” he said of working with Ye and Travis. “I’m just here to help whatever is going on.”

Jacksonville native André Troutman is also credited on Ye’s album “Bully." Troutman is also sharing the stage with Ye on his international tour, providing vocals using a talkbox instrument. To have two musicians from the River City on an artist of Ye’s magnitude is no small accomplishment.

“Two people doing things on that scale...I was like, man, this is so great and so great for the city.” Sweet said of he and Troutman representing Jacksonville on the world stage.

With all the accomplishments, credits and accolades, there’s still at least one thing that Sweet desires: a No. 1 record.

“I’m always just trying to be better every day. That’s just a checklist thing. It’s something that I just want to be like, ‘OK, I finally did it,’” he said.

He said he isn’t chasing it, but he knows it will happen when it’s supposed to happen.

“Just staying diligent in the process,” Sweet said.

Sweet said he hopes to collaborate with artists Bruno Mars, Frank Ocean and SZA.

‘It means so much’: Riverfront Music Garden, giving back

Sweet said being honored in Jacksonville with his name on the Riverfront Music Garden Walk of Fame felt deeply meaningful.

“To be honored by the city I grew up in…it means so much,” he said.

Through his company, The Sweet Life, Sweet said he prefers hands‑on mentorship.

“I try to get very direct with people — meeting them in person, exchanging texts. That’s my way of truly giving back,” he said.

Sweet urged aspiring musicians to think beyond their hometowns.

“Dream the biggest dream you can dream, and then go chase that,” he said. “There’s a way bigger world out there.”

Behind the board I am...

“I’m a collaborator.” He added, “That’s what the synergy for me is: collaboration, even if it’s not music, just being with people you want to be around or doing things with people you respect, admire, love, whatever it is, life is collaboration to me.”

Collaboration is a word that Sweet often said when talking about how he originally fell in love with piano, the beginning of his taking music seriously as an art form.

That desire for collaboration has led him into rooms with the world’s biggest artists.

“I use my skill to help me be better at collaborating...with other people...train my brain to be able to walk into any room and we have some kind of common understanding,” Sweet said.

Press the play button to watch the full interview with Bankhead.

Bankhead, a native of the Northside, credited his mother for introducing him to music and marching band for teaching him discipline and the basics of arranging.

He learned trumpet in sixth grade, started making beats in his teens and sold his first beat at 16 for $300 — an early sign that music could become more than a hobby.

“I was 16. I didn’t have a job. I was still in school,” Bankhead said of his first sale. “I was just like, ‘Oh, you can actually make some money off of this.’”

A mix of self-teaching, local friends and mentorship helped him advance. Taz Taylor, another producer from Jacksonville who started a producer collective called Internet Money, mentored Bankhead and taught him tricks of the trade.

“If you didn’t know anyone doing it, you were kind of on your own,” Bankhead said, describing how resource-sharing among Jacksonville producers helped him learn FL Studio and other tools.

He left college after two years and saved money working locally, then moved to Los Angeles to chase bigger opportunities.

“I knew I needed to go to a bigger city and then the opportunity came up to move to L.A. and I was like, you know what, I’m gonna do it, I’ve got some money saved, and then I’m gonna just go see what happens,” Bankhead said.

He said the move accelerated his technical skills — recording, engineering and understanding the music business — and put him in contact with artists and producers who helped elevate his work.

His credits include work with Young Thug, Gunna and the late Juice WRLD. He also contributed to Lil Nas X’s 2019 project “7,” which earned him a Grammy nomination and a Billboard plaque.

Bankhead said he nearly walked away from music a year before that session, frustrated by slow progress in Los Angeles. A friend, Andre “Bizness Boi” Robertson, invited him to the Lil Nas X session that led to the collaboration.

The recognition, he said, “put a lot of things in perspective” and reinforced that he had overcome many obstacles that affect young people on Jacksonville’s Northside.

“It’s kind of bleak,” he said. “I have a lot of peers of mine that passed away over the years from things like gang violence, drugs, stuff like that. In the moment, I kind of felt like, wow I really did beat a lot of the odds, you know what I mean and...it carries a heavy weight with me, in that regard.”

‘It’s a melting pot’: Jacksonville’s sound sets itself apart

Staying true to himself has been central to his approach. Bankhead blends funk, alternative pop, rock and hip-hop, a style he attributes to Jacksonville’s diverse music scene — from Southern rap to a robust rock and punk community.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, Black or Asian, Mexican or whatever, you’re just part of the culture but I feel like what a lot of people don’t know is that Jax has an insane rock and punk scene,” he said.

While other cities like Atlanta or L.A., which have a distinctive sound from artists who are from there, he said that Jacksonville is unique in the sense that it’s a mixed bag.

“You could get a trap artist, an alternative artist, an R&B artist,” he said. “It’s a melting pot...There’s so much exchange of culture here that’s slept on.”

He referenced Jahaan Sweet, also from Jacksonville, who has worked with the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake, Jon Baptiste and more.

“I think that’s what sets the city apart,” he said.

Bankhead records and performs under the name Boyband — and sometimes uses the longer handle Alone in a Boyband — a moniker he said reflects his multirole identity as creator, engineer and photographer.

During the pandemic, he taught himself bass and uses it now to sketch songs before bringing in collaborators.

“I can’t start a song without my bass,” he said. “I can pretty much map out the entire song on an instrument and then bring the homies in.”

He also spoke of the pressure that comes after a high-profile success.

“The music industry is very ‘what have you done lately?’” he said, describing bouts of imposter syndrome and the challenge of following up a major placement. Still, he says accolades pushed him to keep working.

Bankhead’s advice to aspiring musicians: be willing to fail, cultivate your work and trust your instincts.

“If you love it, don’t quit,” he said. “You got to be okay with putting something out and not doing good. You got to be realistic about yourself, but also trust yourself.”

Asked what mark he hopes to leave, Bankhead said he wants to inspire others to be authentic.

“I want more people to just be themselves,” he said. “You’ll get to where you want to go quicker if you do that.”

He also welcomed recent local efforts to recognize Jacksonville’s musical history, including a new Riverfront Music Garden with a walk of fame.

“It’s good that people get their flowers,” he said. “Especially those who made something of themselves coming from Jacksonville.”

Behind the board I am...

“Behind the board, I am the wild card,” he said. “When I get pulled in line for projects, it’s usually never for what I want to do for the project; it’s always like, ‘I need something different, I need the weird stuff...”

But he said he still wants to make a song that becomes a hit on the radio

“I literally just want on because it just adds to the lore,” Bankhead said.

Watch the full interview with Wintons below.

Wintons said his earliest memory of music is playing the drums for his church, which he credited his mother for getting his start with the instrument. He said he wasn’t that good of a drummer, so he was allowed to play the slow songs.

“She sings, writes, does plays, she does her own music so she’s a super huge influence on me as a musician,” he said.

His Uncle Toby plays the keys and he has many other family members who sing as well.

Wintons switched from drums to piano around age 12 or 13. He later moved with his family to Jacksonville after they connected with The Potter’s House, where his mother taught and he attended the Potter’s House Christian Academy.

Expanding his musical horizons through collaboration

The church foundation gave way to other musical rooms. In high school, he played jazz with a local band, learning key basslines and standards that would expand his musical vocabulary.

“My first instance of any music outside of church was jazz,” he said.

Playing Friday night gigs as a teenager gave him early experience recreating and respecting songs across genres.

That broad musical education — from gospel to jazz to trap — informs his approach in the studio.

Though he’s not from Jacksonville, he’s worked with local artists Akai and Ebonique. He said it’s important for him to build community among the artists right in his backyard.

“One of the main things that I like to do is collaborate with different artists...and bring a different side that they might not be used to working with other producers,” Wintons said.

He described his creative process as half random experimentation and half intentional work tailored to the artist in mind.

Collaboration is central to his work. Wintons said a period of studio sessions with producers DJ Shab and Keem Turbo helped him develop a reliable formula.

‘It happens fast’: Billboard 200 recognition

“By the time [Keem] got to the drums it was like, ‘Yeah, this is it,’” he said of those sessions. The team approach helped produce songs that caught wider attention.

One of those tracks, produced with the group, became his first Billboard credit. Wintons worked on a song titled “Loner” by rapper Boston Richey that later appeared on the Billboard 200, earning him his first chart plaque.

“You just go to the studio and cook,” he said. “Sometimes it happens kind of fast. He posted a snippet online and a week later it was out there.”

His studio work led to higher-profile collaborations and live dates, including serving as Music Director with rap artist Yung Bleu while on tour and recording sessions with artists such as Nardo Wick, Sada Baby and Melvin Crispell III.

Wintons recalled an early studio moment with Nardo Wick — who initially thought Wintons was the studio manager — when Nardo discovered he plays keys and asked him to teach a song ahead of a Rolling Loud performance.

He also spent time away from music, playing football at Alabama State, before returning to Jacksonville and committing to music full-time.

“College was dope,” he said. “I met so many different musicians. It opened my eyes.”

‘You gotta go learn’: Maintaining a signature sound

To stay relevant while keeping his signature sound, Wintons studies widely. He urged young musicians to learn multiple genres, perform in cover bands and absorb the feel of different musical traditions.

“Whether it’s rock, pop, jazz, hip-hop, EDM, house, everything has its true essence,” he said. “You gotta go and learn from those people who make that music.”

For those trying to break into music locally, his advice was practical: balance skill with personality.

“You don’t want to just be skillful and nobody wants to work with you,” he said. “But you also don’t want to be so cool and not really know what you’re doing. Have a balance of skill and personality.”

He emphasized preparation and professionalism. Being “a good steward” of his craft, he said, means showing up ready and exceeding expectations.

“When someone [calls] me for a session, I try to be super prepared, like overly prepared,” he said.

On stage, Wintons said the payoff is immediate. Live performance demands the rehearsal and musicianship that studio work builds, and crowd energy fuels improvisation.

“Playing live is all I did before studio,” he said. “It’s all in real time. You can’t go back and change anything.”

Behind the Board, I am...

“Passionate,” he said. “That’s the best way I can explain it, that’s where the passion comes out.”

Bob on Keys continues to produce, perform and travel while staying rooted in the musical lessons of his family and church. He said his goal is simple: make music that serves its purpose — to make people dance, cry or worship — and to reach the listeners it was meant to reach.

“When we hear a song, it automatically makes you feel a certain way,” he said.

At 10:25 p.m. Sunday, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office received reports of a shooting on Ramona Boulevard.

As officers were heading to the scene, the call was upgraded to a person shot at the Victory Pointe Apartments, west of Lane Avenue.

When officers arrived at the apartment complex, they found a man fatally shot in the playground area. He died at the scene.

JSO is working to identify the man and learn if he lived in the apartment complex. They say he is believed to be between 20 and 25 years old.

Investigators are looking for a suspect and working to learn what led up to the shooting.

“We’re still trying to look for, search the area for video and/or any type of vehicles that were possibly used for travel,” Sgt. Steve Rudlaff said. “At this point, we definitely know he was on foot, but do not know anything else after.”

Anyone with information on the shooting is aksed to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office by phone at 904-630-0500, by email at JSOCRIMETIPS@JAXSHERIFF.ORG, and or Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.

JEA on Thursday said that Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC — the company that owns the property, according to records — finally paid the thousands of dollars it owed for a delinquent water bill after we reported on the water outage there, but residents still can’t find anyone to talk to as the city citations start to pile up on the empty front office.

RELATED |Water is back at a Westside apartment complex after days without service. But residents don’t know how long it will last

“So who am I sending the you know, letter saying that, you know, I’m breaking the lease or, you know, withholding rent if things aren’t getting fixed, if the address that I’ve been paying rent to is no longer there anymore?” resident Naportia Jones said.

Jones said no one has been at her complex office for some time, so she calls the number on her resident portal where she pays her rent, but no one picks up.

The phone number is the same number listed on the complex next door, where a sign says “People’s Choice.”

That company is linked to multiple apartment complexes in the city.

People’s Choice is tied to an LLC that sold Arbor Oaks back in April to Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, according to records. State records show Andrew Sallee as the registered agent and manager of Jacksonville Rental Properties. He told News4JAX on Thursday that he no longer owns Arbor Oaks, despite what records show, but has provided no proof to back up that claim.

MORE | Social media influencer connected to troubled Westside apartments says he doesn’t own it anymore. Records link his LLC

Naportia, who lives at Arbor Oaks, says she still gets emails from People’s Choice.

News4JAX went to check the office at Arbor Oaks again on Friday.

We have been here multiple days this week after it was left without water for before our reporting helped get it back on. On top of that, we saw a kitchen countertop covered in bugs, and issues with the ceiling, and the city actually cited the complex on Thursday for a sagging ceiling and holes in walls, among other listed reasons.

News4JAX also went next door to the other apartment complex and saw some people talking to residents who looked like maintenance workers. When we asked about whether residents at Arbor Oaks should take their concerns there, they didn’t have any real answers and wouldn’t identify themselves.

At that complex, a note says the office is closed, but says to go to another nearby apartment complex on 103rd Street, which is also linked to People’s Choice, according to property records. News4JAX went to that location, as we have four times this week, but no one was there.

“What I’m hoping to do is withhold the rent and I haven’t paid rent or anything, hoping that someone will come knock on the door or call me and be like, Hey, Miss Jones, you haven’t paid rent, or, you know, something, just to get someone to call back, or just to get somebody you know here,” Jones said.

Just before 6 p.m., JEA confirmed Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC had paid the $19,000 that were owed in unpaid water bills for the Arbor Oaks Apartments on Jammes Road. The payment came the same day News4JAX contacted the registered agent and manager linked to the LLC and asked about ongoing issues.

RELATED | Water is back at a Westside apartment complex after days without service. But residents don’t know how long it will last

Water was running at the apartment complex when News4JAX visited on Thursday. However, we noticed another issue: bugs covering Kathy Lewis’ kitchen counter.

Lewis said she and other residents can’t contact the owner or anyone else at the complex to address issues like this.

“It is really awful. The bugs are eating through the paint of the ceiling,” Lewis said.

Iris Woods also said she has some bug issues in her apartment.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like it. I don’t like living here. I want to move, but I don’t have no place to go right now,” Woods said.

After two days trying to reach the office, News4JAX attempted to knock on the office’s door once again on Thursday, hoping to speak with someone in charge.

No one answered.

“It’s been an ongoing issue for quite some time. You know, they keep the office closed,” Lewis said.

During Thursday’s visit, News4JAX noticed the City of Jacksonville posted citations on the property.

According to the city, it issued three citations. One for failure to maintain property, which mentions cracked flooring, holes in walls and baseboards separating. A second citation was issued for failure to maintain facilities and equipment in good repair, and a third citation for failure to maintain facilities.

The citations were issued to Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC.

Duval property records show the apartment complex is owned by Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, and JEA said it previously owed $19,000, which led to the water being turned off multiple times since June. That money was paid Thursday.

Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC shows up on the deed, which records show was signed over on April 9. State records show Andrew Sallee as the registered agent and manager of Jacksonville Rental Properties.

After searching his name, News4JAX found YouTube videos with Sallee on podcasts. He also has a strong Instagram following of more than 1 million people, and he describes himself as an investor in real estate and an entrepreneur.

News4JAX exchanged direct messages with Sallee on Thursday morning after he commented on our Facebook post stating he was not the owner of the property and that he had sold the asset.

After exchanging messages on Facebook, News4JAX exchanged emails with Sallee. He said we should contact the owner, and he included the name of who he said is the owner’s chief operating officer. We replied, asking for a record of the sale. The response we received was that the attorney is out of the office at this time.

According to the latest TRIM notice for that property, as of August, it was sent to Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, which is under Sallee’s name.

That could be the case in Jacksonville thanks to a renewed push by a councilman who wants more accountability for the city’s landlords.

A Jacksonville councilman is reintroducing a bill that would establish a rental registry with information on who owns a property, code violations against them, and more.

The residents at the Arbor Oaks apartments on the Westside had issues reaching their landlord when their water was off for days. Councilman Jimmy Peluso wants to change that.

Naportia Jones, a resident, said it’s been a growing issue to get in touch with management, especially when things needed fixing. She said she’s tried calling more than 20 times with no response.

“If I’m about to rent from somebody, I can look them up, make sure they’re a good landlord,” Peluso said.

He is trying to build a rental registry, where there would be information on who owns a property and any code violations they have against them, as well as someone physically in an office in downtown Jacksonville who could reach out to a property owner or management.

“The rental registry office, that staffer can also be kind of a conduit, an ombudsman, if you will, to make sure that they can help people get resources for rental assistance,” Peluso said.

News4JAX reached out to the listed owner according to property deeds for Arbor Oaks, which is Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC and the registered agent of that LLC, Andrew Sallee, though he said he doesn’t own it. He was asked again on Thursday for proof of sale of that property, but News4JAX hasn’t gotten anything back.

Every day for a week, News4JAX knocked on the Arbor Oaks door and the neighboring property, where some said they have paid rent. It took exactly seven days before we met people in the office, but they did not have answers.

Video shows at least one maintenance worker who said they worked for Peoples Choice LLC, a company linked to that neighboring property, but the people in the office didn’t give any answers and the people living at Arbor Oaks said some of the things they worked on aren’t totally fixed.

Someone living at the property next door, linked to Peoples Choice, Virginian Arms, showed his struggles of being in a wheelchair, paralyzed and only having a piece of plywood to help him get into his apartment.

These units fall in Councilwoman Tyrona Clark-Murray’s district. News4JAX reached out to a cell phone number on Sept. 4, believed to have belonged to her, and did not receive a response. We called and emailed her aides back on Sept. 9.

On Wednesday, we were told that they would get her the message and that she was busy, and that she has a daytime job, but we have been reaching out and have gotten no response from Clark-Murray.

We stopped by the city council and Clark-Murray was not in her office.

Earlier this week, Councilman Rahman Johnson spoke about the issues we aired in our coverage, though not all of the people in these complexes are in his district.

Peluso was the second councilman, though not from this district, to speak on the issues with the apartments and anything related to rents.

“I want to show as much positivity to good landlords as we’re going after some folks just sitting on bad properties and not doing their work,” Peluso said.

Peluso filed similar legislation in April, but it was withdrawn a month later to be reworked. He says the new bill is being drafted now and intends to hold meetings to discuss it in the coming months.

Clark-Murray acknowledged the ongoing problems at Arbor Oaks apartments, where residents faced a water outage earlier in the month due to unpaid bills.

“We’re aware of the problem, and we are working on solutions,” Clark-Murray said. “My heart always goes out to the people, but I also wonder, what is management doing with the money that they should have paid to keep up the service?”

The issues at Arbor Oaks first came to light on Sept. 2, when residents said they had been without water for several days. Water service was restored later that same day, but residents continued to report difficulties reaching property management or the owner, Jacksonville Rental Properties, LLC.

When asked about similar situations across Jacksonville, Clark-Murray noted this wasn’t an isolated incident.

RELATED: Westside apartment complex resident fed up with conditions plans to withhold rent, if she can find someone to respond

“This is not the first case, obviously, in Jacksonville, and there have been some cases that have been much, much worse,” she said. “But for the people who are going through it, it doesn’t matter how many cases, it’s the first case or the last case, they’re going through that, and they want their services restored.”

Looking ahead, the councilwoman indicated there are potential solutions within legal boundaries.

MORE | Residents of troubled Westside apartment complex still can’t find anyone to help with problems; city issues new citation

“There are other solutions that we can look at, some ways like code enforcement make sure that the management company is doing what it’s supposed to do,” she said.

News4JAX will continue to monitor developments at Arbor Oaks and the City Council’s response to these ongoing issues.

For weeks, the News4JAX I-TEAM has been reporting on ongoing problems at housing owned and linked to Peoples Choice Apartments, where residents have said they faced maintenance issues and deteriorating conditions.

RELATED |‘It’s horrid’: Tenants say they’re paying nearly $1K for mold, leaks, and broken AC in duplexes owned by major landlord|Social media influencer connected to troubled Westside apartments says he doesn’t own it anymore. Records link his LLC|Water is back at a Westside apartment complex after days without service. But residents don’t know how long it will last|Residents of troubled Westside apartment complex still can’t find anyone to help with problems; city issues new citation

Legacy Family Communities, an LLC that was created less than a month ago following our reporting, has now replaced Peoples Choice.

News4JAX first visited Arbor Oaks in September when residents told us they had been without running water for days. JEA said it shut off the water because of an unpaid bill. JEA later restored the water after we shared residents’ concerns, and a couple days later, the $15,000 bill was paid.

News4JAX was never able to get a hold of the leaders of Peoples Choice to get answers about other concerns residents at Arbor Oaks and the property next door, Virginian Arms, had, but Legacy Family Communities sent us an email on Thursday.

“On behalf of Arbor Oaks and Virginian Arms and its new property management company Legacy Family Communities, we want to formally respond to the recent media coverage and news articles that spotlighted issues at our locations,” the email statement said. “Regretfully, our residents had to endure some brief unpleasant experiences that did not meet our expectations for our properties.”

The company said the welfare of its residents are a top priority and it is committed to providing residents a “safe and secure environment to call their home.”

“We are listening to the concerns presented by the community and have a team in place that is working diligently to implement changes to achieve meaningful and sustainable improvement,” the statement said. “As we move forward, we will focus on transparency, accountability, and restoring confidence within the community. These changes may not occur overnight, but welcome the opportunity for a follow-up as we progress forward and will provide updates at that time. Thank you for your attention and for giving us the chance to demonstrate our commitment to improving our Communities.”

According to the City of Jacksonville, there have been 15 individual complaints related to Arbor Oaks since July. The city said there were 10 fines for various property safety and maintenance violations since the summer and fines totaling $2,325. The city said that the property manager is aware and is planning to address them.

News4JAX visited Arbor Oaks on Friday and saw crews trimming bushes and power washing. Trash was noticeably cleaner than last week. Both are issues the complex had been cited for.

We reached back out to property management, who have not responded to our request for an interview about the recent work being done.

On Dec. 4, the City of Jacksonville’s Code Compliance gave News4JAX an update regarding Arbor Oaks Apartments on Jammes Road, and confirmed there were 12 active cases on the property, with seven resulting in fines.

The city also said two new complaints were awaiting initial inspections, and the citations and fines issued remained open and unpaid.

In late October, there were 10 active enforcement cases, according to the City of Jacksonville.

News4Jax returned to the property Monday. We saw what residents say is a vacant apartment with the door open and possibly broken. Residents say animals go in there. We also observed holes in the barbed wire fence. Residents also say people experience homelessness come through the fence and sometimes go into the unused units. We also noticed multiple boarded up units.

We reached out to the property manager for the new management team Legacy Family Communities who hung up on us.

RELATED | Westside apartments left without running water led to an investigation and a search for the owner. Here’s what we found

The apartment complex, which was initially linked to Peoples Choice Apartments, sparked a News4JAX I-TEAM investigation in September after a resident reported going days without running water.

“If you want to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, we are literally using the bathroom in buckets and then carrying it outside and throwing it in the trash,” said Naportia Jones back in September.

RELATED |‘It’s horrid’: Tenants say they’re paying nearly $1K for mold, leaks, and broken AC in duplexes owned by major landlord|Water is back at a Westside apartment complex after days without service. But residents don’t know how long it will last|Residents of troubled Westside apartment complex still can’t find anyone to help with problems; city issues new citation

According to JEA, the water service had been off since July due to a $15,000 unpaid bill, with JEA reporting meter tampering. After News4JAX’s initial story, JEA said the bill was paid by Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, the company listed as the property owner.

The I-TEAM tried repeatedly to contact property management and ownership to get answers for residents living amid uncollected trash and deteriorating conditions.

Despite water service being restored, other issues persisted.

The City of Jacksonville confirmed 15 complaints since July in connection with Arbor Oaks, resulting in more than $2,300 in fines for insect infestations, garbage issues, and ceiling damage.

After weeks of knocking on doors with no response, a representative from the management company ran into someone with the property management team, but they refused to answer questions or provide contact information for ownership.

The city said property management told them they were aware of the issues and planned to address them.

News4JAX also looked into the property owner.

Attempts to reach the owner, according to property records, Andrew Sallee, who has a large social media following, were unsuccessful. He initially claimed to have sold the property back to the previous owner but did not provide proof of sale or respond to calls.

The I-TEAM tracked Sallee to a condo building in Fort Lauderdale but could not reach him.

After returning to Jacksonville, News4JAX received an email from Legacy Family Communities, a new management group formed shortly after the initial reports.

The new group acknowledged the problems and said they were committed to fixing them.

RELATED | New manager of troubled apartment complexes addresses ‘brief unpleasant experiences,’ pledges change, accountability

Since then, some visible improvements have been made at Arbor Oaks, including trash pickup and maintenance work. However, the new management has not agreed to an interview and shut their office door when approached.

News4JAX has also reached out to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation about the conditions but received no response.

Councilwoman Tyrona Clark Murray, representing the district, said in a September meeting she was aware of the issues and planned to discuss solutions, but to this date, she has not scheduled a follow-up meeting.

Because of the reporting, JEA restored water service and changed its policy to notify residents before shutting off water. However, issues persisted.

The I-TEAM tried repeatedly to contact property management and ownership to get answers for residents living amid uncollected trash and deteriorating conditions.

“If you want to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, we are literally using the bathroom in buckets and then carrying it outside and throwing it in the trash,” said Naportia Jones back in September.

RELATED |‘It’s horrid’: Tenants say they’re paying nearly $1K for mold, leaks, and broken AC in duplexes owned by major landlord|Social media influencer connected to troubled Westside apartments says he doesn’t own it anymore. Records link his LLC|Water is back at a Westside apartment complex after days without service. But residents don’t know how long it will last|Residents of troubled Westside apartment complex still can’t find anyone to help with problems; city issues new citation

According to JEA, the water service had been off since July due to a $15,000 unpaid bill, with JEA reporting meter tampering. After News4JAX’s initial story, JEA said the bill was paid by Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, the company listed as the property owner.

The City of Jacksonville confirmed 15 complaints since July about Arbor Oaks, resulting in more than $2,300 in fines for insect infestations, garbage issues, and ceiling damage.

After weeks of knocking on doors with no response, a representative from the management company finally ran into someone with the property management team, but they refused to answer questions or provide contact information for ownership.

The city said property management told them they are aware of the issues and plans to address them.

News4JAX also looked into the property owner.

Attempts to reach the owner, according to property records, Andrew Sallee, who has a large social media following, were unsuccessful. He initially claimed to have sold the property back to the previous owner but did not provide proof of sale or respond to calls.

The I-TEAM tracked Sallee to a condo building in Fort Lauderdale but could not reach him.

After returning to Jacksonville, we received an email from Legacy Family Communities, a new management group formed shortly after the initial reports.

The new group acknowledged the problems and said they were committed to fixing them.

MORE | New manager of troubled apartment complexes addresses ‘brief unpleasant experiences,’ pledges change, accountability

Since then, visible improvements have been made at Arbor Oaks, including trash pickup and maintenance work. However, the new management has not agreed to an interview and shut their office door when approached.

News4JAX reached out to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation about the conditions, but received no response.

Councilwoman Tyrona Clark Murray, representing the district, said in a September meeting she was aware of the issues and planned to discuss solutions, but to this date, she has not scheduled a follow-up meeting.

The service restoration at the Arbor Oaks Apartments on Jammes Road comes on the same day the News4JAX I-TEAM brought the concern to the City of Jacksonville and JEA.

A resident, who did not want to be identified, said he hasn’t had running water since Friday.

He said he has to shower at the gym and buy gallons of water to get by.

A video obtained by News4JAX from one of the apartment’s residents showed no water flow in the bathroom or the kitchen.

During our visit to the apartment complex on Tuesday, we also ran into Roshaunda Williams, who said her son lives there and has been dealing with the same issue.

“Not having water is like not being able to fully bathe,” she said.

According to the City of Jacksonville, they’ve received two complaints in the last several days about the lack of running water at the apartment complex.

Despite multiple attempts to contact apartment complex management by knocking on the office door and making phone calls, at the time of this publication, we had not been able to reach anyone in charge.

JEA told News4JAX that the owner of Arbor Oaks Apartments, Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC, owes the agency approximately $19,000 for past-due amounts and a deposit.

According to JEA, it has tried to reach the owner since May 16 to request a deposit. However, the agency said it never received it and disconnected services on July 9. The agency also noted that since that time, it believes someone has tampered with the equipment on three separate occasions to supply water.

Residents told News4JAX the water has been on and off for weeks, which lines up with JEA’s statement.

Read JEA’s statement below:

JEA is restoring water service to Arbor Oaks Apartments for the safety of residents.

JEA only disconnects services as a last resort, after notifications and efforts to help customers resolve issues. Starting on May 16, 2025, JEA notified Jacksonville Rental Properties LLC multiple times that a deposit was needed to keep services on. The deposit was not received, and water services were disconnected on July 9. Since that time, JEA has detected tampering of equipment at least three different times and confirmed that water was supplied to the property.

JEA spokesperson

JEA also said it is “working to secure payment from Jacksonville Rental Properties,” and since it just re-established the service, it does not have a new deadline.

Residents who expressed their concerns on Tuesday were happy to know water would finally be turned back on.

“This isn’t the first time the water’s been cut off,” a resident told News4JAX.

News4JAX is currently trying to track down more information on the property owner and will be following this story.

She's filling in for Joy Behar on ABC's “The View.” Appearing alongside Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Starring in a CNN documentary. Preparing a national tour. And churning out four podcasts most weeks featuring long-form interviews and commentary.

It's a ubiquity born of more than three decades chronicling the technology industry with a professed indifference to power that vaulted her into a rare echelon of journalism celebrity.

She harnessed that reputation to persuade rivals Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to appear onstage together and make Mark Zuckerberg so uncomfortable under questioning that he broke out into a sweat. She had Elon Musk's cellphone number — the two aren't currently speaking — and often texts tech and business leaders.

She's betting the influence that made her a Silicon Valley force will translate into politics as podcasts supplant traditional media as a destination for candidates seeking attention.

During Republican President Donald Trump's second term, potential Democratic presidential candidates ranging from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris to onetime Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel have appeared on Swisher's shows. She expects that roster to grow.

“We get called by all the presidential candidates,” the 63-year-old Swisher said in an interview at her home in a leafy corner of Washington, where her trademark high self-regard was on display. “We’re going to get to all of them.”

Swisher is hardly the only podcaster talking politics. Conservatives like Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson and some liberals like the former Barack Obama aides who host “Pod Save America” have larger audiences. They're all dwarfed by Joe Rogan.

But Swisher, who has evolved from a traditional print journalist to business owner and podcast host, has few rivals who can match her technology expertise and connect those observations to the broader political debate.

“When I first went on her podcast when I just got into Congress in 2017, she was very well respected in tech circles,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat whose district includes Silicon Valley. “But now she's emerged as a larger cultural force, especially at a time where there's such anger at the tech billionaires and tech arrogance.”

Interviews that produce revealing moments

When she's not on the road, Swisher typically records from a basement studio in the Washington home she shares with her wife, children and a cat named Lovely. The conversations on her interview podcast “On with Kara Swisher” are often referenced later on “Pivot,” which she co-hosts with entrepreneur Scott Galloway.

They frequently produce revealing moments, as when Newsom filled in for Galloway on “Pivot.” Swisher derided him for being too easy on Steve Bannon when the longtime Trump aide appeared on Newsom's own podcast.

“You had an opportunity to engage,” Swisher pressed. “Why not engage?”

The typically self-possessed Newsom conceded, “I'm not the pro that some of these others are, but I appreciate the insight.”

Swisher pushed Buttigieg on why he took so long to say President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, shouldn't have sought reelection. Buttigieg said he wasn't consulted.

“Sure, but you have eyes,” Swisher responded.

Her interview with Harris captured the former vice president's tenacious side as she called policies from Trump's Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “f----- up.” Harris said gravely that she “can't laugh” about such matters, though Swisher noted on a later podcast that the two had just joked about Kennedy backstage.

“Be the person backstage because that's the person who gave a great answer,” Swisher said in the later podcast.

In an interview, Newsom said Swisher “calls out my bulls—-.”

“She'll send me missives unsolicited,” he said. “She's usually right, and it drives me crazy.”

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who has long known Swisher, agreed that being interviewed by Swisher is “not a layup.”

Even Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a rare Republican to go on her show, said it was a worthwhile experience despite being pressed on whether his willingness to speak out against the Trump White House emerged only after he opted against reelection.

“If you’re a politician, you should be able to walk up anywhere and hold your own,” Tillis said. “Do the prep, get on the show. You may end up having an opportunity, like in my experience, to give a completely different perspective.”

‘Pivot’ was initially focused on tech and business

Shaping the political conversation wasn't the objective when “Pivot” launched in 2018.

Galloway, who hosts his own “Prof G” and “Raging Moderates” podcasts, recalled the idea for “Pivot” was to focus on the intersection of technology and business. That's still much of the show's focus, but the biggest stories in those spaces, such as the initial public offering for Musk's SpaceX or the rise of artificial intelligence, are now inevitably linked to politics.

“Show me a big business or tech story, and I'm going to show you a political overlay,” Galloway said.

The expansion converges with a sense of urgency among Democrats to be more aggressive on digital platforms, where audiences are increasingly concentrated.

“The single most important quality that every candidate needs to have is the ability to talk and the ability to talk anywhere,” said Teddy Goff, the co-founder of Precision Strategies and the digital director for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. “That might mean a two-hour podcast interview. It might mean a 15-second digital video.”

Democrats are still stung by Rogan's nearly three-hour Trump interview in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign. Rogan, who doesn't consider himself a journalist, has said Harris' campaign didn't agree to his terms. Harris has described being spurned by Rogan.

Swisher agreed Democrats should embrace podcasts but insisted she's not a left-leaning counter to Rogan.

“You can’t manufacture this stuff,” she said. “It just doesn’t work, right? The kids like what the kids like.”

Still, the podcasts add up to influence and financial success.

Galloway said “Pivot,” which is effectively a joint venture between himself, Swisher and Vox Media, will be a $15 million to $20 million business this year. With a staff of just five, that's a robust moneymaker as media is disrupted by a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

Vox Media itself has been reborn after a recent acquisition by James Murdoch, who swept New York magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and the Vox editorial brand into a single company where podcasts are the fastest-growing business.

“Podcasts are the NBA,” Galloway said. “There’s a small amount of people making a lot of money.”

A goal to be popular ‘among the entire populace’

While Swisher largely hosts Democrats, she's recently interviewed Tillis and Scott Jennings, a conservative CNN commentator. She hopes to soon bring on additional Republicans and said she texted Steve Hilton's wife, a former Google executive, in hopes of booking him shortly after he advanced in California's governor's race.

“What we’re going for is to be popular among the entire populace,” she said. “So that people who don’t feel they want to be in a constant state of anger, whether it’s on the left or the right, can have a place to go.”

But her barbed comments about Trump and other Republicans could complicate that goal.

Kelly McBride, an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, said shows like Swisher’s can sometimes “butt right up against the type of podcasts that I would not consider journalism.”

“The way you separate them out is that the intention and the system surrounding the podcast is engineered in a way to create fact-based information,” she said.

Swisher describes her work as “reported analysis,” citing tech writer Om Malik, who died last week, as an inspiration.

As for the tone of the podcasts, it's all part of the authenticity that is central to Swisher's brand. Beyond the takes on the day’s news, she and Galloway have developed a strong — if unlikely — chemistry in which his penchant for vulgarities can make her seem almost highbrow.

“We don’t shy away from our faults,” she said. “We don’t shy away from our biases. You know, we don’t shy away from things that most people try to.”

With all 32 places in his cold room taken, Zouhaeir Hertelli reluctantly has to gently say “Non,” over and over and over again.

“We're facing a really catastrophic situation," he said. “I'm getting hundreds of calls."

As the historic heat wave shifted its deadly temperatures eastward this weekend to other parts of Europe, France began counting the human cost it left in its wake.

Tallying heat-related deaths could take time

The statistical and public health work of tallying heat-related deaths could take weeks or months. But it's already apparent that the toll exacted by the intense, unrelenting extreme temperatures was terrible in France, the first country hit from mid-June, particularly among older people who died at home.

“We're dealing with an enormous spike of deaths because of the heat wave and we're really full, full, full,” Hertelli said.

In its first preliminary estimate, the national public health agency said deaths surged during the heat wave's peak in France last week, which roasted most of Europe's largest country with temperatures that soared in many places above 40C (104 F) and also broke records for nighttime highs — an exhausting one-two punch for fatigued bodies.

Public Health France said there were more than 1,200 deaths last Wednesday, when France registered its hottest-ever day, breaking a record that had been set just the previous day. By way of comparison, the pre-heat wave death rate in April and May was around 900 to 1,000 per day, it said.

There were more than 1,400 deaths on Thursday and another 1,400 on Friday, it said.

The agency cautioned that its estimate of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three sizzling days is expected to increase as more death certificates come in for people who died at home and in care facilities for older people, where most deaths are still not registered electronically.

"Mortality will as a consequence be higher than these first figures,” the agency said.

Many who died were 65 and older

It said that 85% of the deaths registered so far during the three days it studied involved people aged 65 and above and that there was a sharp increase in deaths at home — up by about 40% — particularly in the Paris region.

Hertelli and others in the funeral industry said Paris mortuaries quickly ran out of storage space. City Hall said two temporary storage units, with 20 places each, were installed for municipal mortuaries and that city hospitals provided another 50 additional places.

Still, Hertelli said funeral directors he spoke to told him they were having to store bodies as far away as Chartres — 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Paris — and in other regions around the capital. To open more space, he said he has asked authorities for permission to temporarily install refrigerated containers outside his mortuary, which is next to Paris' Orly airport, but is still waiting for a green light.

“Families are suffering,” he said. “We have no solution to offer them, because the funeral homes are full. So we are deeply affected, we have empathy for them, but there’s nothing we can offer. We are really facing a problem, a big problem," he said.

Temperatures reached historic highs

Historic high temperatures in 2003, surpassed this time, were blamed for 15,000 deaths, provoking a national reckoning about care of older people, who were particularly hard-hit. More than 5,700 deaths were also attributed to heat during an exceptionally hot summer last year.

Véronique Bertrand, a Paris funeral director, said she fears that lessons have been forgotten.

“Most of the deaths that we are dealing with at the moment were people who were living alone at home, isolated. Given the circumstances in which they were found, there can be no other conclusion than that these were deaths caused by the heat," Bertrand said.

“I think people absolutely need to wake up, that solidarity needs to come back, that what happened in 2003 led to a movement in that direction, with people thinking about their neighbors, of those around them who live alone and perhaps checking from time to time that they're drinking water and are being looked after," she said.

"With the passing years, we’ve perhaps forgotten that it could happen again and that things would even perhaps be worse.”

But of these, the bulk are set to take effect on July 1.

In all, there are 112 laws that will kick off next month, though there may still be more to come as June progresses, with several bills still heading to DeSantis’ desk for approval.

In the meantime, you can find the full list of laws taking effect in July below. The list has been updated as of June 25 by our sister station WKMG in Orlando.

HB 33 — New Road Names

House Bill 33 renames the following roadways in Florida:

• Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue — The portion of State Road 985 between Southwest 24th Street and State Road 90 in Miami-Dade County
• President Donald J. Trump Boulevard — The portion of State Road 870 between West Tradewinds Avenue and the eastern end of Commercial Boulevard in Broward County

Under this law, the FDOT must erect suitable markers for these new designations.

HB 35 — Traffic Offenders

House Bill 35 revises the term “habitual traffic offender” to add the offense of driving without a valid license.

This crime will be added to the list of offenses for which a certain number of convictions in a five-year period requires the state to designate the person as a habitual traffic offender.

Once a person is designated as a habitual traffic offender, he/she can generally be prosecuted for a third-degree felony for driving a motor vehicle thereafter.

HB 47 — Medical Diagnoses

House Bill 47 lets parents whose child is removed from their home by the DCF ask for a second medical evaluation (or a compilation of differential diagnoses) within five days of an initial examination.

The healthcare practitioner who performs the second evaluation must submit a written report to both the DCF and the parents within 10 days.

Furthermore, the law allows the DCF to delay forwarding allegations of criminal conduct to law enforcement pending the outcome of the child protection investigation if the parent alleges the child has a certain preexisting condition or asks for a second evaluation.

SB 52 — Security Services

Senate Bill 52 refers to a state statute that regulates private investigative and security services.

More specifically, the law expresses that this statute doesn’t apply to volunteers who provide armed security services at churches, mosques, synagogues or other places of worship.

HB 89 — Veterinary Prescriptions

House Bill 89 requires licensed veterinarians to clearly inform clients of their right to receive a written prescription for medication that can be filled at the pharmacy of a client’s choice.

The law also mandates that if the veterinary clinic is able to fill the prescription, the vet should disclose that option to the client, as well.

SB 124 — Florida Virtual Schools

Senate Bill 124 amends state statutes regarding the Florida Virtual School, which was founded in 1997 to provide students in the state with tech-based educational opportunities.

More specifically, the law makes several technical changes, such as including all full-time and part-time FLVS students for the purposes of full-time equivalent student calculations.

HB 131 — Estate Curators

House Bill 131 amends the state’s Probation Code, which outlines how estates may be administrated.

More specifically, the law modifies provisions like curator bond requirements and when courts may appoint curators.

HB 167 — Phosphate Mining

House Bill 167 establishes a defense from strict liability in lawsuits related to environmental pollution brought under the WQAA.

More specifically, the defense kicks in if the lawsuit is related to pollution caused by a former phosphate mine and certain requirements are met.

SB 168 — Public Nuisances

Senate Bill 168 declares any place that has been used as a gambling house at least twice within a 12-month period a “public nuisance.

The law also increases maximum fines if nuisance activity persists beyond one year from $250 per day to $500 per day.

HB 177 — Conflict of Interest

House Bill 177 refers to capital cases in which the CCCRC represents an indigent defendant but determines that it can’t continue to provide representation due to conflicts of interest or similar reasons.

In these scenarios, a judge may appoint a CCCRC from a different region to represent the defendant rather than a private attorney under certain conditions.

HB 178 — School Athletics

House Bill 178 requires that head coaches of sports teams be allowed to use personal funds to support the welfare of students under the FHSAA.

Under this law, coaches may provide help in the form of food, transportation and recovery services.

That said, coaches are limited to using $15,000 in personal funds per athletic team per year.

SB 182 — Teacher Mentors

Senate Bill 182 establishes the School Teacher Training and Mentoring Program, aimed at improving teacher effectiveness in public schools.

Under this program, qualified teachers can be placed as mentors in schools that have a “D” or “F” grade, thereby improving the performance of these schools.

SB 192 — Patient Funds

Senate Bill 192 deletes the $1,500 cap on advances a chiropractic physician may collect for examination or treatment.

HB 199 — Veterans Affairs

House Bill 199 amends existing requirements for admission to a veterans treatment court program at any stage of a criminal proceeding.

More specifically, the law repeals requirements for the state attorney to approve placement into such a program, as well as an application from a defendant for participation.

SB 212 — Sex Offenders

Senate Bill 212 amends state statutes regarding sexual offenders and predators in the state.

Under this law, those convicted of certain sex offenses against children 16 years of age or younger may not live within 1,000 feet of a public swimming pool.

Current law already prohibits these sorts of sex offenders from living near schools, childcare facilities, parks and playgrounds, though this bill cracks down even harder via the following rules:

• Contacting Children: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they knowingly contact a minor at any park, playground or public swimming pool.
• School Grounds: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they’re purposefully present in any pre-K-12 school while the school is still in operation, with few exceptions.
• Prowling Offenders: The bill increases the restricted distance for loitering and prowling by such sex offenders from 300 feet to 500 feet of places where children congregate.

HB 245 — Child Pornography

House Bill 245 replaces the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” under state law.

This shift does not change any other elements of the law, including offenses related to child pornography.

HB 249 — State Flagship

House Bill 249 redesignates the official state flagship.

More specifically, the law replaces the current state flagship (the schooner Western Union) with the S.S. American Victory.

HB 253 — Dental Care

House Bill 253 expands eligibility for the Veterans Dental Care Grant Program.

The law accomplishes this by providing explicit statutory authorization for the program to provide services to veterans with incomes of up to 400% of the federal poverty level.

HB 271 — Bail Bonds

House Bill 271 subjects foreign and alien bail bond insurers doing business in Florida to the same reporting requirements as domestic bail bond insurers.

HB 273 — Special Districts

House Bill 273 requires that when state or federal money is used to help special districts in rural areas, the agreement must allow those districts to get paid for approved work they finish.

HB 277 — Domestic Violence

House Bill 277 enhances domestic violence penalties if the suspect has already been convicted of that crime in the past.

The bill also increases the funding amount for relocation assistance claims for victims of domestic violence from $1,500 to $2,500 for a single claim (lifetime maximum bumped from $3,000 to $5,000).

Furthermore, the bill adds threatening to kill/injure a family pet and the existence of a military protective order to the list of factors that judges can consider when determining whether to grant a domestic violence injunction.

SB 288 — Electric Cooperatives

Senate Bill 288 revises a state statute that prohibits certain bylaws, tariffs and policies from being used by rural electric cooperatives.

Under this law, the statute is limited to only those cooperatives that sell electricity at retail.

SB 290 — FDACS

Senate Bill 290 makes a number of changes to state law related to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

Some of these changes include a prohibition on local governments from banning gas-powered landscape equipment, and criminal penalties for those receiving unauthorized help on a CDL exam.

You can read a list of more changes here.

SB 296 — Domestic Violence

Senate Bill 296 requires the Division of Telecommunications to investigate the feasibility of a domestic and dating violence 911 alert system.

The results of the study must be reported to the Senate President and House Speaker by Jan. 31, 2027.

SB 298 — Public Records (Domestic Violence)

Senate Bill 298 expands two existing public record exemptions for victims of domestic violence who participate in the state’s confidentiality program.

SB 302 — Coastal Resiliency

Senate Bill 302 prohibits any dredging or filling of submerged lands at the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, with some exceptions provided for public safety and environmental protection.

This law is also expected to streamline the permitting process for nature-based methods aimed at improving coastal resiliency, helping to accelerate restoration timelines.

SB 340 — Human Trafficking

Senate Bill 340 requires graduates of professional and practical nursing programs to complete a two-hour course on human trafficking to be eligible to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX).

The NCLEX is a prerequisite for full licensure. Furthermore, this requirement applies to students who apply to take the NCLEX on or after July 1, 2027.

HB 355 — Patient Protection

House Bill 355 requires the AHCA to establish minimum standards for pediatric patient care in hospital emergency departments.

Furthermore, the bill requires all hospitals with emergency departments to develop and implement policies and procedures for pediatric patient care in the department.

HB 359 – Search Warrants

The bill amends multiple sections of law relating to obtaining search warrants. Specifically, the bill:

• Provides that a judge may authorize a law enforcement officer to appear remotely using audio-video communication technology when seeking a search warrant from the judge.
• Specifies that law enforcement may obtain a search warrant to search an area or areas, using a drone, where evidence that a crime was committed might reasonably be found.
• Expands the circumstances in which a judge may issue a search warrant to authorize this issuance of a warrant to recover a dead body.

Generally, a law enforcement agency must return a search warrant to the issuing court within 10 days, not including the date of issuance. The bill increases the number of days certain search warrants must be returned by to within:

• Twenty days if a search warrant issued to an out-of-state provider for electronic communications data.
• Thirty days if a search warrant is issued to search for and seize specimens from a specific person for DNA analysis and comparison, including blood and saliva samples, or to seize specimens for entry into the DNA database.
• Three hundred sixty five days if a search warrant is issued for a computer, a computer system, or an electronic device, and any data or information contained in such computer, computer system, or electronic device.

The bill specifies a search warrant issued to search for and seize data or information contained in a computer, computer system, or electronic device, the warrant is considered timely executed if the computer, computer system, or electronic device is seized by a law enforcement agency within 10 days of the issuance of the search warrant, not including the date of issuance. A law enforcement agency is not required to complete the analysis or review of data or information contained in a computer, computer system, or electronic device within any specific time if such computer, computer system, or electronic device was timely seized by a law enforcement agency.

SB 386 — Farm Equipment

Senate Bill 386 sets up a process for consumers and manufacturers to remedy defective farm equipment.

If farm equipment is defective, this law lets buyers report the defect to the manufacturer during the warranty period or the one-year period after the original delivery date of the farm equipment.

The law also requires the manufacturer to either replace or refund any defective farm equipment.

SB 394 — Reinsurance Managers

Senate Bill 394 exempts an underwriting manager who manages assumed facultative risks for a reinsurer from reinsurance intermediary manager licensing requirements.

This applies if the facultative reinsurance business managed by the underwriting manager is less than 10% of the assumed annual gross written premium of the insurer.

SB 418 — Blue Envelope Program

Senate Bill 418 creates the “Blue Envelope Program” to improve communication between autistic people and law enforcement officers during motor-vehicle related interactions.

Under the program, individuals may be identified as having Autism Spectrum Disorder, with blue envelopes including communication guidelines for officers to keep in mind about specific individuals.

These blue enveloped will be available upon request from the FLHSMV or the local tax collector starting on Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 422 — Airport Broadcasts

Senate Bill 422 prohibits airports from using information derived from automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) systems emitted from certain aircraft as a means of collecting fees from owners.

This rule is limited to aircraft with a gross weight of 12,499 pounds or less operating under FAA rules and applies under the following two scenarios:

• The operation for which a fee would be assessed is a departure or a landing, including touch-and-go landings
• The fee would be assessed based on an aircraft entering into the airspace of the airport where the fee is assessed

HB 425 — Historic Cemeteries

House Bill 425 provides that if a recorded historic African-American cemetery sells excess vacant land to fund the cemetery’s long-term upkeep, the local government must administratively approve an application to rezone the excess land to allow for development consistent with adjacent land uses.

Furthermore, the law lets local governments use reasonable discretion to determine the new zoning, provided that it’s consistent with the surrounding area.

SB 428 — Drowning Prevention

Senate Bill 428 amends the Swimming Lesson Voucher Program, raising the age limit to include children between 1 and 7 years of age.

SB 436 — Felony Battery

Senate Bill 436 expands the list of qualifying prior offenses that allow for misdemeanor battery to be upgraded to a third-degree felony.

More specifically, if someone has a prior conviction of resisting an officer with violence, any subsequent battery charges may be bumped up to a third-degree felony.

HB 441 — Conservation Lands

House Bill 441 requires that when a water management district considers selling conservation lands, the governing board publish the following information at least 30 days before meeting:

• The district-owned parcels of land for sale or proposed for exchange
• The privately owned parcels proposed for exchange
• The portions of those parcels that will be preserved in a permanent conservation easement
• A statement from the district explaining why those lands are no longer needed for conservation purposes

HB 445 — Dangerous Crimes

House Bill 445 adds certain offenses dealing with child exploitation and certain kinds of computer porn to the list of dangerous crimes under Florida law.

This means that someone arrested for one of these offenses can’t be given nonmonetary pretrial release at a first appearance hearing.

HB 453 — High School Diplomas

House Bill 453 allows student with disabilities to substitute one school year of participation in the Special Olympics for the P.E. requirement for a standard high school diploma.

Furthermore, the law specifies that two years of marching band satisfies both the one-credit requirement in P.E. and the one-credit requirement in performing arts.

SB 474 — Military Affairs

Senate Bill 474 revises laws relating to military service leave for public employees.

For example, the law expands eligibility for certain leave protections to include public officials who are also members of the U.S. Coast Guard or Florida State Guard.

SB 474 also expands the eligibility requirements for financial assistance from the Soldiers and Airmen Assistance Program.

HB 477 — Drug Paraphernalia

House Bill 477 expands the type of narcotic-drug testing products excluded from the definition of “drug paraphernalia.”

More specifically, the law excludes products that are used solely to determine whether a controlled substance contains xylazine.

SB 484 — Data Centers

Senate Bill 484 prohibits utilities from passing data center costs — including electricity costs — onto residential and small business customers.

Furthermore, the law prohibits utilities from serving data centers controlled by foreign countries of concern, and it allows local communities to set stricter standards on such centers.

HB 491 — Faith-Based Content (BIPs)

House Bill 491 allows Batterers’ Intervention Programs (BIPs) to offer supplemental faith-based activities as a voluntary service to participants referred to a BIP by court order or by consent for acts of domestic violence.

That said, the law also preserves current rules, which require all mandatory BIP curricula to be based on a psychoeducational or cognitive behavioral therapy intervention model.

SB 504 — Body Cameras

Senate Bill 504 requires governmental agencies that allow code inspectors to wear body cameras to set up policies addressing proper use and storage of these cameras, as well as the recorded data.

SB 506 — Public Records (Body Cameras)

Senate Bill 506 creates a public records exemption for code inspectors’ body camera recordings if the footage is recorded:

• Inside a private residence
• Inside a facility that offers health care, mental health care, or social services
• In a place that a reasonable person would expect to be private

HB 538 — Extracurricular Activities

House Bill 538 revises student eligibility and participation requirements for extracurricular activities, including athletics. It makes a variety of changes, including:

• Allowing districts to use funds raised through high school booster clubs for activities to pay the coaches of those activities
• Authorizing districts to classify athletic coaches and activity sponsors of extracurricular activities as administrative personnel and thusly negotiate salary compensation
• Permitting students who wish to participate in a sport that their current school doesn’t offer to participate in that sport through another school in the same district

HB 561 — Educator Preparation

House Bill 561 makes it easier for teachers whose licenses expired to get back into the classroom, but without having to retake subject area exams that have already been passed.

The bill also gives these educators a temporary license so that they can work and earn the classes or training hours they need, and it sets up free training to help them renew or fix their license.

HB 565 — Persons With Disabilities

House Bill 565 requires the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to recognize Tatton-Brown-Rahman syndrome as a qualifying condition for APD services.

The law also requires all employees — not just managers and supervisors — of APD-licensed adult day training and residential facilities to undergo a level 2 background screening.

HB 569 — Forensic Client Services

House Bill 569 allows the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to house non-forensic clients and forensic clients within the same wards in secure APD facilities.

SB 578 — Alzheimer’s Awareness

Senate Bill 578 requires the DOEA to contract for the development of a statewide Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Initiative.

The initiative must provide Florida residents affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias with greater support and access to helpful information.

SB 584 — Commercial Driving Schools

Senate Bill 584 allows for county tax collectors to enforce statutory provisions related to commercial driving schools.

More specifically, the law allows these agencies to enter into agreements with the DHSMV to better crack down on fraudulent or deceitful business practices by these sorts of schools.

SB 590 — Statute of Limitations

Senate Bill 590 extends the window to prosecute someone who willfully fails to make a required report of suspected child abuse, abandonment, neglect or sexual abuse.

This is done by pausing the statute of limitations until a law enforcement agency becomes aware of the reporting violation.

SB 594 – Local Housing Assistance Plans

The bill requires each county and municipality local housing assistance plan under the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) Program to include a strategy for providing program funds to mobile home owners, including assistance with lot rental payments. The bill specifies that lot rental assistance is an approved home ownership activity for which local governments may award SHIP funds, but such assistance may not exceed the equivalent of six months’ rent. The bill also authorizes funds reserved for the construction, rehabilitation, or emergency repair of eligible housing to be used for the rehabilitation or emergency repairs of mobile homes.

Finally, the bill removes the current law restriction that limits the use of SHIP funds for manufactured housing to 20 percent of the total funds made available in each county and municipality.

SB 598 — Funeral Services

Senate Bill 598 makes several revisions to a state statute that regulates funeral and cemetery services.

For example, the law prohibits licensees from contracting to become the sole provider of funeral services for any firm that provides medical or end-of-life care to the public.

Furthermore, SB 598 allows licensees to dispose of human remains that have been in their lawful possession for at least 90 days if the legally authorized person of the decedent fails to direct the disposition.

HB 625 — JAC Members

House Bill 625 increases the number of the Justice Administrative Commission from four to seven.

SB 628 — Trump Highway

Senate Bill 628 renames over a dozen roadways across the state.

The bill also designates the Tallahassee airport at 3300 Capital Circle SW as the “Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport.”

Furthermore, SB 628 designates 124 miles of SR-80 stretching from SR-A1A in Palm Beach County to US-41 in Lee County as the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

HB 655 — Public Records (Attorney Meetings)

House Bill 655 creates a public meeting exemption for state and local agencies to meet privately with their attorneys under the Bert Harris Act.

More specifically, the law exempts the meeting’s transcripts from public disclosure until the relevant property-rights claim is settled (or when the statute of limitations ends, if there’s no litigation).

SB 656 — Crimes Against Children

Senate Bill 656 renames the “Online Sting Operations Grant Program” to the “Internet Crimes Against Children Grant Program.”

Under this program, grants may be awarded to local law enforcement agencies to help them combat online child exploitation and to target those preying on children online.

HB 679 — Trademark Registration

House Bill 679 mandate that the Florida Department of State use the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s schedule of classes of goods and services as the state’s classification for trademark purposes, rather than the general classes for trademarks for goods and services set in statute.

Furthermore, the bill requires that agency to set up a website where applicants can apply for a trademark or renew a trademark and provides that the website must safeguard the applicant’s information to ensure data integrity.

SB 686 — Agricultural Enclaves

Senate Bill 686 deals with agricultural enclaves: pockets of agricultural land that are mainly surrounded by development.

Under this bill, enclave owners may submit development plans for single-family housing.

Local governments won’t be allowed to enact regulation for one of these enclaves that is more burdensome than for other types of applications for comparable uses, either.

HB 697 — Drug Prices

House Bill 697 makes it unlawful for a PBM to force a pharmacy to take a loss when dispensing a drug or to reimburse a nonaffiliated pharmacy less than an affiliated pharmacy.

Furthermore, the law requires PBMs to allow in-network pharmacies to submit consolidated appeals comprised of multiple adjudicated claims featuring identical drugs, day supplies, and dates of service.

HB 753 — School Counselors

House Bill 753 exempts prospective school counselors from certain professional preparation and educational competence requirements otherwise imposed on classroom teachers by state law.

However, the bill clarifies that individual school districts may still require these requirements as a condition of employment for school counselors.

SB 772 — Eyewear Insurance

Senate Bill 772 expands Florida’s limited-license portable electronics insurance agent license to also cover eyewear insurance, including smart glasses and non-electronic eyewear.

HB 797— Nonprofits

House Bill 797 revises the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act to conform with the Model Nonprofit Corporation Act and the Florida Business Corporation Act.

SB 800 — Engineering Violations

Senate Bill 800 provides an escalating fine schedule for subsequent violations of engaging in the unlicensed practice of engineering. These fees are as follows:

• $10,000 for a second violation
• $15,000 for a third violation
• $20,000 for a fourth violation
• $25,000 for a fifth and subsequent violation

HB 803 — Building Permits

House Bill 803 limits local government regulation of glazing requirements on commercial buildings, and provides for lower fees when a private provider is retained for commercial construction projects.

The law also mandates that certain building permits expire after one year after issuance or on the effective date of the next edition of the Florida Building Code — whichever is later.

SB 816 — Diabetes Research

Senate Bill 816 codifies the University of Florida Diabetes Institute as a statewide resource for diabetes research, prevention, treatment and education.

SB 820 — Problem-Solving Court Reports

Senate Bill 820 specifies additional data that must be presented in the annual problem-solving court reports prepared by the Office of the State Courts Administrator.

The law creates data reporting requirements for early childhood court and veterans treatment court programs, and amends reporting requirements for mental health and drug courts.

SB 824 — School Property

Senate Bill 824 requires each school district to submit an annual inventory of unimproved real property owned as of June 30 each year.

This information will be compiled into a report for state leaders, along with possible recommendations for how to best use the land.

SB 844 — Sickle Cell Disease

Senate Bill 844 requires that the standard continuing education course on prescribing controlled substances include information regarding the treatment of pain for patients with sickle cell disease.

SB 848 — Stormwater Treatment

Senate Bill 848 allows ERP applicants to use compensating stormwater treatment as a mitigation measure when existing ambient water quality prevents compliance with water quality standards.

Furthermore, ERP applicants for regional stormwater managements systems must provide documentation of adequate financial responsibility, along with a graphic depicting the drainage area served by the system.

HB 851 — Autism Learning

House Bill 851 requires each school district to provide at least one annual autism-specific professional learning opportunity for instructional personnel and school-based administrators.

HB 867 — Dry Needling

House Bill 867 allows occupational therapists to perform dry needling, and establishes minimum experience, education, and training requirements to do so.

HB 883 — Insurance Companies

House Bill 883 allows protected cell captive insurance companies to operate and be domiciled in Florida, thus creating a regulatory framework for such companies.

HB 905 — Foreign Influence

House Bill 905 aims to limit influence in the state from “foreign countries of concern,” including places like Iran, North Korea, Cuba, China and Russia.

The law accomplishes this by prohibiting charities from accepting contributions from these countries, restricting preplanned adoption/surrogacy agreements with citizens of these nations, and setting up harsher penalties for crimes committed to benefit such groups.

HB 913 — Inmate Services

House Bill 913 requires money in the Contractor-Operated Institutions Welfare Trust Fund to be used exclusively for programs to help inmates reintegrate back into society, as well as environmental/health upgrades in contractor-operated institutions.

HB 919 — Donald Trump Airport

House Bill 919 preempts to the state the ability to name major commercial service airports.

More specifically, the law renames the Palm Beach International Airport as the “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.”

All other major airports, including the Orlando International Airport, may keep their current names for now.

HB 925 — Court Clerks

House Bill 925 increases funding to the Clerks of the Court.

However, the law doesn’t raise any existing service charges or fees, or create any new service charges or fees that the Clerks may assess.

HB 927 — Local Land Planning

House Bill 927 requires certain local governments to create a registry of qualified contractors to conduct pre-application reviews of plans, permits or plats submitted in line with local land development rules.

HB 929 — Chickee Regulation

House Bill 929 prohibits local governments from enacting an ordinance that prevents a member of the Miccosukee or Seminole tribes from constructing a chickee under certain conditions.

HB 961 — Electronic Signatures

House Bill 961 requires that insurance companies implement secure control processes and procedures for electronic signatures that are acceptable to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

SB 984 — Firefighter Benefits

Senate Bill 984 expands the eligibility for disability and death benefits available to firefighters after a cancer diagnosis.

Current law provides a $25,000 one-time payout as a disability benefit resulting from an initial diagnosis.

However, the bill would make that available to a former firefighter regardless of whether he/she elects to continue coverage in an employer-sponsored health plan or group health insurance trust fund.

SB 1004 — Pet Sales

Senate Bill 1004 implements several new consumer protections related to pet sales in Florida.

The new provisions include the following:

• Requiring pet dealers to disclose financing terms before a sale is finalized
• Allowing consumers to terminate financing agreements without penalty if an animal is later found unfit for purchase due to illness or disease
• Requiring pet dealers to provide veterinary medical records documenting examinations, medications, and treatments provided to the animal
• Requiring written notice informing consumers of their rights under Florida law, including the ability to return or exchange a sick animal and seek reimbursement of veterinary costs
• Making violations enforceable under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act

HB 1019 — Firefighting Foam

House Bill phases out the use of firefighting foam that contains intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

SB 1022 — Children’s Initiatives

Senate Bill 1022 provides for the creation of the Bay County 32401 Children’s Initiative in Bay County, and the Pompano RYZE Children’s Initiative in Broward County.

These sorts of initiatives are community-based service networks located in disadvantaged areas of the state to improve education, economic and health outcomes for local residents.

SB 1030 — Recovery Residences

Senate Bill 1030 changes rules for licensing of substance-abuse treatment providers, which is regulated by the DCF.

Under this law, already-licensed providers with a clean record over the prior year may add new services without being forced to take clients during a “probationary” license period just to prove they can operate.

HB 1031 — Callback Queues

House Bill 1031 sets up a pilot program to implement callback queues at two state agencies: the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Children and Families.

HB 1069 — Background Screenings

House Bill 1069 makes several changes to background screenings in the state, including:

• Prohibits a person from acting as an athletic coach if he/she doesn’t pass specified background screening qualifications
• Specifies that volunteers required to undergo such background screenings are limited to volunteer coach, assistance coach, manager, or referee for a youth athletic team
• Prohibits a person from denying or failing to acknowledge arrests covered by expunged or sealed criminal records if he/she is screened through the Clearinghouse by a qualified entity

HB 1073 — School Board Bill of Rights

House Bill 1073 establishes a District School Board Members’ Bill of Rights, which does the following:

• Provides members with access to school district documents necessary to fulfill the duties required under the State Constitution and Florida
• Allows members to consult with the district’s CFO on budget information
• Lets members request documents or information from school staff, subject to legal restrictions and administrative approval
• Grants members the ability to publicly comment on district school board business, except for student/employee disciplinary matters or other issues prohibited by law

HB 1081 — Cybersecurity Experiential Learning

The bill requires the Florida Center for Cybersecurity (Cyber Florida) at the University of South Florida to develop a Cybersecurity Experiential Learning Program and:

• Identify specific cybersecurity internship and experiential learning opportunities;
• Consult with employers in the state with openings in cybersecurity roles;
• Review best practices for cybersecurity learning opportunities at other National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity-designated educational institutions;
• Establish minimum qualifications that a student should possess prior to enrolling in the Cybersecurity Experiential Learning program; and
• Identify educational institutions seeking to participate in the program and the projected number of students to be served at each participating institution.

Implementation of the bill is subject to appropriation. Additionally, Cyber Florida must publish a report annually on its website, beginning July 1, 2028, containing specified data on the program and recommendations for program improvements.

HB 1085 — Cyber Security

House Bill 1085 creates the Local Government Cybersecurity Protection Program within the University of South Florida, to be administered by Cyber Florida.

The program must help eligible local governments with developing cybersecurity risk management programs to defend against cybersecurity threats.

HB 1093 — Vertiports

House Bill 1093 includes vertiports and charging systems as qualifying projects for funding under public-private partnerships between state and private entities.

In addition, the law allows the FDOT to fund all of the project costs of a public vertiport if federal funds aren’t available.

HB 1103 — Vessel Restrictions

House Bill 1103 allows local governments to administer provisions of law concerning vessels at risk of becoming derelict and long-term anchoring permits.

Furthermore, the law lets cities and counties regulate vessel speed and operation within 300 feet of a confluence of water bodies presenting a blind corner (up to 1,000 feet) if the extended area is necessary to ensure safe navigation and visibility for approaching vessels.

HB 1113 — Vessel Restrictions

House Bill 1103 allows local governments to authorize a code enforcement officer to administer the provision of law concerning vessels at risk of becoming derelict on state waters.

This can be done by way of local ordinances.

HB 1115 — Genetic Counseling

House Bill 1115 creates the Genetic Counseling Education Enhancement Grant Program to support graduate genetic counseling programs at state universities.

HB 1121 — Disability Services

House Bill 1121 revises aging and disability services provided by the Department of Elder Affairs.

More specifically, the law adds food and nutritional supplements as allowable uses of subsidy payments under the Home Care for the Elderly Program.

HB 1159 — Sexual Offenses

House Bill 1159 sets up harsher penalties for various sexual offenses. These changes include:

• CSAM: Replacing the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in Florida statutes
• Harsher Penalties: Increases penalties for use of a child in a sexual performance; possession and transmission of child porn; creation of generated child porn; possession of a child-like doll; and certain sex acts involving animals
• Mandatory Sentencing: Adults must receive a mandatory minimum sentence for certain offenses related to using children in sexual performances and transmitting child porn
• Repeat Offenders: Raises mandatory minimum sentences for certain repeat sex offenders
• Life Felony: Creates a life felony for aggravated use of a child under 12 years old in a sexual performance
• Generated Child Porn: Creates a second-degree felony for transmitting generated child pornography
• No Pets: Prohibits anyone convicted of certain sex offenses involving animals from owning or working with animals for at least five years

HB 1175 — Office Surgery Suites

House Bill 1175 requires new safety design standards for office surgical suites.

More specifically, the law dictates that such standards allow up to six patients on an outpatient basis.

This is in lieu of the current limit of four patients who, due to treatment, illness or injury, are unable to act in self-preservation during an emergency.

SB 1180 — Community Development Districts

Senate Bill 1180 revises rules for Community Development Districts (CDDs).

More specifically, the law sets up a recall election process for members of a CDD’s board of supervisors, which largely mirrors that of recall procedures for local governments.

HB 1201 — Student Health

House Bill 1201 updates statutory provisions regarding the care of students with epilepsy or seizure disorders and expands the definition of schools to include charter schools.

The law also requires schools to display a poster identifying the basic steps of responding to someone having a seizure.

Lastly, the law requires the FDOH to include required education and training for schools in its epilepsy education program.

HB 1217 — Greenhouse Gases

House Bill 1217 prohibits the state and local governments from adopting or enforcing net-zero greenhouse gas emissions policies, including carbon taxes.

HB 1219 — Spoil Island

House Bill 1219 designates a mangrove island within Jupiter Sound as the “Andrew ‘Red’ Harris Spoil Island.”

The island will be named for Andrew “Red” Harris, a native of Jupiter who started his own insurance brokerage agency in 2011 and was killed in a boating accident roughly three years later.

SB 1246 — Nursing Education Fund

Senate Bill 1246 expands the scope of the Linking Industry to Nursing Education Fund to address workforce shortages in health science education programs, in addition to nursing education programs.

HB 1279 — Teacher Funding

House Bill 1279 lets school districts provide immediate pay incentives to high-performing teachers who choose to teach in lower-performing schools, even without collective bargaining.

The law also allows bonuses for districts and teachers who offer Florida Advanced Courses (FACTs), in line with bonuses offered for other advanced courses like AP, AICE and IB.

SB 1296 — Union Crackdown

Senate Bill 1296 provides for the decertification of partisan school unions, fast-tracking salary increases that some unions have stalled.

The law requires at least 50% participation in union certification elections, meaning that unions can no longer be recertified through elections with just a handful of voters.

Furthermore, SB 1296 increases penalties for illegal strikes, raising the maximum fine from $20,000 per day to $40,000 per day for such organizations.

HB 1337 — Estate Authority

House Bill 1337 amends several provisions of Florida law to reduce the necessity for court involvement or formal proceedings in the distribution of a decedent.

More specifically, this bill does the following:

• Gives a personal representative more authority with respect to a decedent’s safe deposit box
• Expressly allows a personal representative to institute a proceeding to enforce his/her authority as personal representative
• Increases the amounts of what Florida law considers “small estates,” such that procedures other than formal probate proceedings may be instituted to dispose of the subject property under certain conditions

HB 1343 — Insurance Qualifications

House Bill 1343 provides that anyone who’s earned a high school diploma in Florida satisfies the education requirement for an insurance customer representative’s license.

This applies if the person in question completed a course in insurance and personal finance as part of his/her curriculum.

That said, the law also directs the development of a 0.5-credit course in insurance and personal finance, which school districts may use starting in the 2027-2028 school year.

HB 1347 — Lab Personnel

House Bill 1347 revises current requirements for performing moderate- or high-complexity laboratory testing.

To do so, the law adopts federal qualifications as the minimum licensure requirements for clinical lab technologists and technicians to perform such testing.

HB 1389 – Affordable Housing

The bill makes a variety of changes regarding the Live Local Act, passed during the 2023 Regular Session, to require the authorization of certain affordable housing developments by local governments under certain conditions. The bill:

• Provides that the preemptions of the Live Local Act permitting the development of affordable housing apply on any property owned by a county, municipality, or school district;
• Provides that the preemptions of the Live Local Act permitting the development of affordable housing apply on a property which is more than 3 acres in size, owned by a religious institution, and has contained a house of public worship for 10 years;
• Provides that, through July 1, 2030, a multifamily or mixed-use development using the preemptions of the Live Local Act may consist of an assemblage of parcels under common ownership or control which are separated by no more than 15 feet of land and limited public pedestrian access;
• Provides that the preemptions of the Live Local Act do not apply in an area subject to a land development regulation intended to retain the open character of land, any area of critical state concern, or any portion of property under a conservation easement;
• Provides that a local government may not utilize other dimensional means such as setbacks or stepbacks to constructively restrict the height of a project authorized by the Live Local Act;
• Provides that farming and farm operations, including the packaging and sale of those products raised on the premises, are excluded from the definitions of commercial, industrial, or mixed-use zoning which would require the local government to approve affordable housing developments; and
• Provides that the Live Local Act may apply if the development is approved by the governing body of an airport where the proposed development is near an airport runway or noise zone.

An applicant for a proposed development authorized under ss. 125.01055(7) or 166.04151(7), F.S., who submitted documentation before July 1, 2026, may proceed under the provisions of law as they existed at the time of submission, or notify the local government of their intent to revise their submission to account for the changes made by the bill.

Related to the Florida Fair Housing Act, the bill clarifies that it is unlawful to discriminate in land use decisions or in the permitting of development based on the financing of a development or proposed development that is for affordable housing, and waives sovereign immunity in cases based on such discrimination.

Related to the missing middle property tax exemption created in the Live Local Act, the bill makes the following changes, applicable to the 2027 tax rolls:

• Defines a multifamily project to include multiple parcels held under common ownership or control developed as one plan, excluding single-family residences and parcels separated by more than 200 feet of land;
• Requires the taxing authority to find that the local availability of affordable units has exceeded the demand for each of the previous 3 years, rather than the most recent year, prior to opting out of the exemption; and
• Allows a development which received a building permit within 4 years before a local government opted out of the exemption to apply for the exemption.

The bill also provides that local governments may provide density bonus incentives to landowners who donate real estate for the purpose of assisting local governments in providing affordable housing to military families that receive the basic allowance for housing.

Finally, the bill directs the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to evaluate the efficacy of using mezzanine finance, or second position short-term debt, to stimulate the construction of owner-occupied affordable housing and evaluate potential for tiny homes to meet affordable housing needs. The report is due by December 31, 2027.

HB 1405 — Missing Persons

House Bill 1405 reestablishes the Missing Persons with Special Needs Statewide Project.

The project would be implemented through centers for autism and related disabilities (CARD), each of which must provide personal search-and-rescue devices for distribution to project participants.

HB 1407 — Civil Actions

House Bill 1407 sets clear time limits for people who claim to have been illegally discriminated against at work to file a lawsuit after they complain to the state.

HB 1417 — Department of Environmental Protection

House Bill 1417 repeals the Environmental Regulation Commission, which is expected to streamline rulemaking for environmental protection.

This law also requires erosion and sediment control plans for the construction of solar facilities to include stormwater best management practices.

HB 1443 — Parkinson’s Disease Registry

House Bill 1443 requires the Florida Institute for Parkinson’s Disease at USF to set up a statewide Parkinson’s disease registry.

Under this legislation, physicians who diagnose a patient with Parkinson’s disease must report nationally recognized performance measures to the registry beginning on Jan. 1, 2027.

HB 1445 — Public Records (Parkinson’s Disease Registry)

House Bill 1445 creates a public record exemption for patient-identifying information held in the Parkinson’s disease registry set up by HB 1443.

The exemption will be repealed on Oct. 2, 2031, unless reenacted by lawmakers.

HB 1471 — Terrorist Organizations

House Bill 1471 makes several changes to state law regarding terrorist organizations. Many of those revisions are as follows:

• Terrorist Designations: Creates a process by which the state may designate groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organization if certain conditions are met
• Religious Laws: Courts and tribunals are prohibited from enforcing religious or foreign laws against someone if such application would violate his/her constitutional rights
• Private Schools: Prohibits private schools participating in state scholarship programs from being owned or funded by terrorist groups, terrorist supporters, or criminal gangs
• State Universities: Prevents institutions in the Florida College System from using state funds to support programs that advocate for terrorist organizations
• Visa Students: Public colleges must report information about the current status of students who are attending on a visa if they promote terrorist organizations
• Student Expulsions: If a student promotes a terrorist organization while enrolled at a public university, the student must be immediately expelled and assessed an out-of-state fee

HB 1473 — Public Records (Terrorism)

House Bill 1473 creates a public record exemption tied to HB 1471 for certain information that would require Florida’s Chief of Domestic Security to provide to the governor and cabinet in certain situations.

HB 1509 — Veterinarian Licensure

House Bill 1509 revises requirements for veterinarian licensure by endorsement.

More specifically, the law removes the requirement that such applicants have held a valid, active out-of-state license for the three years immediately preceding their application.

Instead, such an applicant’s valid, active out-of-state license be “in good standing.”

HB 1515 — Public Records (Uterine Fibroid Research)

House Bill 1515 creates a public record exemption for patient-identifying information submitted to the FDOH for inclusion in the Uterine Fibroid Research Database.

SB 1602 — Veteran Housing

Senate Bill 1602 creates the “Homes for Veterans Property Management Incentive Pilot Program.”

The pilot program provides that landlords may apply to receive funding from a trust fund to hold a vacant dwelling for a veteran for up to 45 days, and to cover property loss at the dwelling caused by the veteran that may extend beyond the deposit of up to $2,000.

SB 1614 — Florida Building Code

Senate Bill 1614 removes a current provision of law that allows a local government to use excess funds from enforcing the Florida Building Code to build a structure that houses a local government’s code enforcement agency.

SB 1690 — Early Learning Services

Senate Bill 1690 makes several statutory changes relating to early childhood education and childcare regulation.

For example, the law requires the DCF and local licensing agencies to disseminate electronically certain information regarding all childcare facilities to the community.

HB 4085 — Okeechobee County

House Bill 4085 grants over 400 acres of state lands to the Okeechobee Utility Authority. These lands are the site of a wastewater treatment plant operated by the authority.

HB 5401 — State Court System

House Bill 5401 terminates the Mediation and Arbitration Trust Fund within the State Courts System.

All current balances and revenues of the fund will instead be transferred to the State Courts Revenue Trust Fund.

Kids and teens now average up to seven hours a day on entertainment screen time, not including schoolwork. And for families, that time adds up.

A recent study found parents spend more than five hours a day on their phones, often during family time. So now, ask yourself a simple question: What if summer didn’t look like a screen?

Is it time to hit pause on constant connection?

A growing number of families are trying something different, calling it an “analog summer” as they call a timeout from scrolling to actually live.

Making a conscious effort to build life around connection, because right now, the average family spends less than 40 minutes a day in meaningful conversation. While teens check their phones more than 100 times a day.

So, what does an “analog summer” actually look like? It starts simple, phones out of bedrooms, no-screen dinners and set “offline hours” each day. But then you can get even more creative!

Try the “20-minute trade.” For every 20 minutes on a screen, you owe 20 minutes doing something real.

Next, the “phone parking lot.” One spot in the house, everyone drops their phone when they walk in. Then, the “random hour.”

Every day, someone picks an activity out of a jar. No screens. No plans. Just do it.

And maybe the most unexpected, “no-proof fun.” Doing something you don’t post, don’t record, don’t share.

Experts say even short breaks from screens can improve mood, reduce stress and help people focus. And more importantly, these small moments build stronger connections and create memories that last longer than any post.

And here’s the payoff: one of the longest-running studies on happiness, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, found that strong relationships are the biggest predictor of long-term health and well-being. So, this summer, maybe the goal isn’t more content, it’s more connection.

At approximately 1 a.m., JSO received several 911 calls reporting a shooting on West 11th Street, west of Grunthal Street. Patrol officers arrived to find two men, between 20 and 30 years old, suffering from gunshot wounds.

One of the men died at the scene and the other was taken to a hospital in critical condition by first responders with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.

Police say a large group of people were in the area when the shooting happened, but by the time officers arrived, most of those individuals had already left.

Many of the neighbors News4JAX spoke with Sunday did not want to be on camera, citing fear of retaliation. One woman, who asked not to be identified, said she initially mistook the gunshots for fireworks.

“We thought it was fireworks, honestly, because people have been shooting fireworks off for the past week — and then we realized it was worse than what it was,” she said.

She described waking up to find her street completely roped off.

“We got up around one o’clock and I saw flashing lights. At first I thought it was somebody partying because it happens a lot around here. So I wake my husband up and we come out — and it’s roped off at the front of the house all the way past the apartment complex. There was a lot of cops. Nobody said anything to us. We had no idea what was going on.”

The woman, who moved to Jacksonville from South Carolina less than six months ago with her husband and children, said the shooting has her reconsidering whether she made the right decision moving here.

“We are looking to move,” she said. When told she had only been in Jacksonville for four months, she was direct: “We’re moving. It was terrifying — because I’m here alone a lot, my husband works. We don’t want to be here no more.”

Neighbors told News4JAX they want to see a stronger police presence on the block going forward.

Detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Unit and State Attorney’s Office are conducting an investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500, email jsocrimetips@jaxsheriff.org or call CrimeStoppers at 866-845-TIPS.

Pelosi, a Democrat who has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years and is not seeking reelection, will also participate in the organization's academics by co-teaching a course on Congress. The Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy will launch in January.

“I am honored to partner with this exceptional community of scholars and students so we can equip the next generation with the tools they need to strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good,” Pelosi said.

The university says the institute will be focused on four pillars: strengthening America's democratic institutions; overcoming challenges to society, the economy and the planet; promoting human and civil rights; and ensuring political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds.

Examples of the research that will be pursued include how to address climate change and wealth inequality and which electoral changes could be made to reduce voter polarization.

The Nancy Pelosi Institute has already received more than $35 million in philanthropic commitments. UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons said the institute aligns with the university's commitment to foster civil discourse and prepare students to lead with integrity on the global stage. The institute will be anchored in the university's political science department.

“We intend to do more than simply study democracy,” Lyons said. “We are building this institute to strengthen it.”

The institute will also be home to an exhibit chronicling Pelosi's career, a remarkable arc that included two stints as House speaker. Republican George W. Bush was completing the final two years of his presidency when she became the first female speaker. She continued during Democrat Barack Obama's first two years as president, helping muscle his landmark Affordable Care Act into law.

The second stint served as a check on President Donald Trump, a Republican who was impeached twice by the House but acquitted in the Senate.

One of Pelosi's most enduring images will be of her tearing up her copy of Trump's 2020 State of the Union address. She held up what remained of the address to her family in the gallery and explained to reporters that “it was a manifesto of mistruths.” Republicans were harshly critical of her action.

Trump was no fan of Pelosi. He responded to news of Pelosi's retirement last year by telling reporters he was glad she would be leaving Congress.

Pelosi, 86, remains a powerful figure in Democratic politics, particularly in her home state of California. Since stepping aside from leadership in 2023, she has served as a rank-and-file member of the House unlike any other, a speaker emerita engaged in the daily business of legislating while providing counsel to the next generation of Democratic leadership.

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Follow the AP's coverage of Nancy Pelosi at https://apnews.com/hub/nancy-pelosi.

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

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

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

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

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

Last month, he tried again.

Dong says he shook off the fear of death

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

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

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

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

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

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

From refugee center to Canada

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dong vows to press on with his activism

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Democratic gubernatorial primary between U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and state Attorney General Phil Weiser will not only determine who might lead Colorado as President Donald Trump wages what Weiser has described as a “ revenge campaign ” against the state and its outgoing governor, but it could also create an opening in the closely divided U.S. Senate.

If Bennet wins the nomination and the general election, he would need to vacate his U.S. Senate seat, allowing the governor to name a replacement until the next general election in 2028. Bennet has said that he would hold his seat right up until taking office and appoint his own replacement, rather than allowing Polis to make the pick.

In a June 4 debate, Bennet said he would appoint a replacement under the age of 50. Of the four Democrats in Colorado’s congressional delegation, three are under 50: Jason Crow, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen. All have endorsed Bennet.

One name Bennet already eliminated from consideration was Polis, saying his decision to commute the sentence of election conspiracy theorist and imprisoned former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was disqualifying. Peters’ conviction over her role in a security breach of county election equipment after the 2020 election became a rallying cry for Trump and his supporters.

If Weiser becomes governor, Bennet would serve out the remaining two years of his term, a scenario that has prompted some Weiser supporters to brandish bumper stickers that read “Weiser for governor! Bennet for Senate.”

This is the second office Bennet has sought while serving in the U.S. Senate. In 2019, he briefly sought the Democratic presidential nomination. This year, he is one of four sitting senators running for governor, which is the most in recent history.

The winner will face either state Rep. Scott Bottoms, state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, or pastor and Marine Corps veteran Victor Marx as the Republican nominee. Marx leads the GOP field in fundraising, with about $2.8 million in contributions and about $200,000 in the bank heading into the campaign’s final 20-day stretch. Marx more than doubled Kirkmeyer’s and Bottoms’ combined totals in each category.

According to Colorado Secretary of State records, Marx is the beneficiary of more than $400,000 in spending on TV and digital advertising from outside groups supporting his campaign. He’s also the target of a several hundred-thousand-dollar ad campaign opposing him and supporting Kirkmeyer. Another group has spent a small amount on social media and email advertising opposing Marx and supporting Bottoms.

On the Democratic side, Weiser has raised about $6.5 million in contributions, compared to about $4.8 million for Bennet. Both candidates also have the backing of outside groups who have spent millions in support of their campaigns and against the other.

Democrats have won nine of the last 11 elections for Colorado governor and have held the office since 2007.

At the top of the ballot, first-term Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper faces a primary challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales. The winner will face Republican state Sen. Mark Baisley, who is unopposed in his primary.

One of the top U.S. House races to watch in November will be in the 8th Congressional District in the northern Denver suburbs, where Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans seeks a second term. The Democratic nominee will be either former state Rep. Shannon Bird or state Rep. Manny Rutinel. The seat will be key to determining control of the chamber.

El Paso County and the city and county of Denver are the most populous jurisdictions in the state. Arapahoe, Jefferson, Adams and Douglas counties, which surround Denver, also have large populations, as do Larimer, Weld, Boulder, Pueblo and Mesa.

These 11 counties comprise about 87% of the state’s total registered voters and are critical sources of primary votes for both parties. However, Republican-leaning El Paso and Douglas counties tend to be more influential in Republican primaries, while heavily-Democratic Denver and Boulder counties tend to play a larger role in Democratic primaries.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 7 p.m. MT, which is 9 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, secretary of state, attorney general, university regent, state Senate and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Registered party members may vote only in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may participate in the Democratic, Republican or Unity Party primaries.

How many voters are there?

As of June 1, there were about 4.4 million registered voters in Colorado. That includes about 1.1 million registered Democrats, about 997,000 registered Republicans and about 2.3 million voters not affiliated with any party.

How many people actually vote?

In 2022, when Democratic incumbents were running for renomination for both U.S. Senate and governor, roughly 520,000 people voted in the Democratic primaries and about 633,000 in the Republican primaries.

In 2020, when there was a Republican incumbent U.S. Senator running for renomination, about 999,000 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary and about 555,000 in the Republican primary.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

Elections in Colorado are conducted predominantly by mail. As of Thursday, about 327,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 228,000 Republican primary ballots have already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

When are early and absentee votes released?

In most Colorado counties, the first vote update of the night tends to include a mix of results from mail, early in-person and Election Day in-person voting. Since Colorado elections are conducted primarily by mail, mail voting results are released throughout the night, along with results from other voting methods.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2022 state primary, the AP first reported results at 9:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. By 12 a.m. ET, about 79% of the vote had been counted. The last vote update of the night was at 4:05 a.m. ET with about 90% of total votes counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

In Colorado, an automatic recount is triggered if the margin between the top two vote-getters is 0.5% or less of the leading candidate’s vote total. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 126 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

Johnson sent lawmakers home early last week after tumult in his conference prevented the House from voting on two spending bills and a measure dealing with veterans' benefits. Meanwhile, the list of legislative priorities only grew with Trump requesting $87.6 billion in new spending, mostly to cover the cost of the war with Iran.

The week ahead could signal whether Johnson can turn a short summer in Washington into a productive work period that voters will reward in November.

“We have got a lot more to do. We have got to keep it going,” Johnson told Fox News Channel’s "Sunday Morning Futures."

Johnson, of Louisiana, went to the White House moments after the House wrapped up its abbreviated workweek and returned with a coveted Trump social media post telling Republicans to quit voting down the procedural rules that allow for final votes on their legislative priorities.

“No more grandstanding, please!" Trump wrote.

Before Trump's message, Republican and Democratic lawmakers were openly doubting whether the House would even return this week or just follow the Senate's lead and break for the July Fourth holiday.

“I got to have everybody working here on all cylinders, and I’m excited to bring them back," Johnson said on Fox.

A promising week quickly turns sour for Republicans

The House began last week with a legislative victory that speaks to voters' concerns about affordability, passing bipartisan legislation aimed at lowering the cost of housing. It was the culmination of years of work by members on both sides of the political aisle.

But Trump abruptly called off the bill signing ceremony, saying he would not act until Congress passed legislation that requires proof of citizenship for those registering to vote. Johnson said he will send the housing bill to Trump on Monday and hopes the Republican president signs it with the “biggest, boldest marker that he has.”

Hard-liners in the House have also taken up Trump's demand for the elections bill. More than two dozen of them have signed a letter pledging to vote against any Senate bills unless the elections legislation is attached. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., led the blockade that prompted Johnson to send lawmakers home early.

Democrats seized on the Republican gridlock.

”This is the incredibly pathetic Congress," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "The fact they can't get their act together, can’t establish discipline to keep this place running, is stunning. I’ve never seen such incompetence.”

Republicans also voiced their frustration.

“I just think it’s a very self-defeating position for anyone to take, that they’re going to shut everything down over one issue,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.

But Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., predicted there will be more gridlock ahead unless a bill that includes the elections legislation is sent to Trump. While the House has already passed a version of the measure, it has stalled in the Senate.

“Yeah, I think everything is going to be held up until we come to an agreement on voter ID and especially confirming the citizenship of Americans before they register to vote," Harris said.

Asked if Americans want Congress to be advancing other priorities besides the voting bill, known as the SAVE America Act, Harris replied. “I think they truly believe that this is a very important bill. I’m not sure they believe that a lot of the other things we’re doing here in Washington are very important.”

The test ahead is on an important defense bill

Trump's admonition to House Republicans to quit voting down their own procedural rules will be put to the test this week. Leadership is expected to tee up a vote on an annual defense policy bill, must-pass legislation that calls for some of the increased spending that Trump wants for the Pentagon.

Luna, a Trump ally, was making no promises about standing down, even after the president's social media post. She has proposed attaching the elections legislation to the defense bill. Because of the narrow Republican majority, it takes only a few Republican “no” votes to block a bill from advancing to a final vote.

“If they want my vote, they should entertain it, debate it, and if they block it, then we’ll see. But that’s how you get my vote," Luna told reporters.

There's little time left for top GOP priorities

The House is scheduled to be in session for only about 28 days before the midterm elections. The lawmakers are out for virtually all of August and October, giving them additional time to campaign back home for reelection.

In that window, they must pass bills to keep the government running beyond the Sept. 30 end of the budget year. They also aspire to pass a bill on a party-line basis that would include more defense spending, partially paid for by cuts in other programs. Republicans have billed their effort as going after waste and fraud.

It would be the successor to the big tax and spending cut bill that Republicans passed last year. That measure extended the tax cuts passed in Trump's first term and expanded tax breaks for those who get income through tips and overtime. The bill also focused on boosting immigration enforcement, paid in part through reduced spending on Medicaid and nutrition assistance.

Johnson has talked optimistically about being able to pass such a bill before the August recess. He met with members of the House Budget Committee last week as they try to find a path forward. But Republican senators are not counting on it. There are also doubters in the House, given the difficulty of the process that is required to bypass a filibuster in the Senate.

“I’m just not seeing a path forward on it," said Republican Rep. David Valadao, who represents a perennial swing district in California's farm belt.

But Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said members are close to a framework. He predicted it will be politically rewarded if they are able to address election integrity and curb waste and fraud.

“We have to energize our base, and we have to address the enthusiasm gap," Arrington said.

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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

One option starts right on your phone.

The app is called Too Good To Go. It connects customers with local businesses that have unsold food at the end of the day — items that might otherwise be thrown away.

The idea is simple: businesses post “surprise bags” on the app. You can see where the bag is located, how much it costs and a general idea of what type of food you might receive.

News4JAX tested it out.

After searching a local ZIP code, we found a Circle K on Philips Highway offering a surprise bag for about $4. The app said the bag would include at least $12 worth of items.

When we arrived, the employee said the bags are always a surprise.

“You never know what you’re going to get,” she said.

Inside our bag: an Angus bacon and cheddar jack burger, an Uncrustables sandwich, a Balanced Breaks snack pack with nuts and cheese, and a bottle of water.

All of it cost right around $4.

Circle K appears to be one of the bigger local participants. We found Too Good To Go bags available at Circle K locations across Jacksonville.

We also found options at Whole Foods, but those sold out quickly, so if you want to try the app, it might help to check early.

The catch is that you do not get to pick exactly what comes in the bag. The upside is the price: customers can get food for a fraction of what it would normally cost, while also helping reduce food waste.

For families looking for small ways to stretch their grocery budget, Too Good To Go may be worth checking before your next food run.

“This is the final Clay County segment of the First Coast Expressway,” said Jacob Pickering, public information officer for FDOT. “Clay County has really experienced a lot of improved efficiency with this First Coast Expressway — another option for you.”

US 17 to Leonard C. Taylor Parkway

The new stretch will allow drivers to travel the expressway from US 17 to Leonard C. Taylor Parkway. New traffic signals on Leonard C. Taylor Parkway will also be activated Monday, giving drivers coming from the east the ability to head north directly onto the expressway — including right off the Shands Bridge.

“Once they get off the Shands Bridge, they can immediately go north and access the First Coast Expressway right from the bridge now,” Pickering said. “This is that final connection that connects folks all the way down right to the Shands Bridge up to the First Coast Expressway at US 17.”

The First Coast Expressway is already open from US 17 north to Interstate 10, meaning Monday’s opening completes the full Clay County corridor.

3 new bridges, electronic tolling

The new segment includes three new bridges, a brand-new drainage system and an all-electronic toll facility. Drivers without a SunPass can still use the road — the system will automatically read their license plate.

“What this is, is really good for the state of Florida, because what we’re doing is giving that option and proving to our motorists on these roadways that we’re thinking of you guys and we’re trying to give you new options here,” Pickering said.

Drivers who will benefit most

Drivers in Green Cove Springs and St. Johns County are expected to see the greatest impact from the new segment. US 17, which runs through the center of Green Cove Springs, is known for heavy congestion during peak travel hours. The new expressway gives commuters an alternative to crowded surface roads like Blanding Boulevard and US 17.

“What we’re hoping that will happen here for the folks who live in Green Cove, who maybe work in Orange Park or Jacksonville — this will give them a new option to get home quicker,” Pickering said.

Residents of St. Johns County communities such as Fruit Cove will also benefit, gaining quicker access to the expressway than ever before.

“If you live in St. Johns County, you can now access the First Coast Expressway much sooner than you could before, right at the bottom of the Shands Bridge,” Pickering said. “That really gives folks in Fruit Cove and Green Cove this brand-new option to really access that urban parkway really fast.”

Limited access design

Because the road is a limited-access toll facility, FDOT does not expect the kind of peak-hour backups common on surface roads.

“It is limited access, so we don’t expect peak rush hours to build up on this section of the roadway,” Pickering said.

As drivers get familiar with the new segment, FDOT is urging patience and caution. The department’s Target Zero initiative — aimed at eliminating fatalities and crashes on Florida roadways — remains central to its mission.

“We just really want to tell drivers to be safe out there, and as folks get used to this new roadway segment in the next week, give it some time and be patient with everybody around you,” Pickering said.

Introduced by Ice Cube, the eight-time Grammy winner was honored with performances at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater from SZA, Doechii, Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Common, her children Selah Marley and Zion Marley, who revisited songs from Hill’s stellar catalog while she stood smiling, singing along and applauding throughout the tribute.

After she accepted the honor, Hill encouraged artists to embrace their gifts and remain true to their purpose.

“I fight for y’all,” Hill said. “And fighting for y’all is me fighting for myself, it’s me fighting for my children, it’s me fighting for my community.”

The Living Legend Icon Award recognizes pioneers whose work has remained culturally essential across generations. Hill first emerged as a member of the Fugees before releasing her landmark solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” featuring classics including “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Ex-Factor” and “Everything Is Everything.”

Janet Jackson surprises Teyana Taylor with honor

Teyana Taylor fought back tears Sunday after an emotional surprise at the BET Awards:Janet Jackson walked onto the stage to present Taylor with the Icon of the Year Award.

Taylor, visibly stunned as Jackson received a standing ovation, embraced the music legend before thanking one of her biggest inspirations.

“They did not tell me Janet was coming,” Taylor said through tears. “There will be no me without you.”

Presenting the award, Jackson praised Taylor’s relentless work ethic and artistic range, highlighting her Golden Globe win for best supporting actress in “One Battle After Another” and calling her gifts “God-given.”

The Icon of the Year Award recognizes a creative force whose influence is shaping culture. Taylor has evolved from a multiplatinum recording artist into an award-winning actor, director, producer and choreographer.

Accepting the honor, Taylor reflected on her two-decade career.

“I worked my (expletives) off 20 years,” she said. “So I’m not accepting what I’ve earned with arrogance. I’m accepting what I’ve earned with gratitude.”

BET Awards remembers Clive Davis, Richard Smallwood and other trailblazers

The BET Awards paused to honor influential figures from music and entertainment who died over the past year during an emotional in memoriam tribute.

Erica Campbell of Mary Mary introduced the segment by reflecting on the enduring legacies left behind by those who died, paying special tribute to the late gospel composer Richard Smallwood, whose music she said strengthened her faith. She also remembered the late music executive Clive Davis, who died earlier this week at 94, before performing Whitney Houston’s “I Love the Lord” with Le’Andria Johnson.

The tribute remembered Smallwood, Davis, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and others whose contributions left a lasting mark on music, television and culture.

D’Angelo honored with all-star tribute

The show also celebrated the late D’Angelo’s legacy with a star-studded tribute that opened with appearances by his three children.

Ari Lennox, BJ the Chicago Kid, Durand Bernarr, George Clinton and RAYE were among the artists who honored the singer with performances of his music, celebrating the enduring influence of one of R&B’s most acclaimed voices.

Sylvia Rhone honored for shaping generations of artists

Music executive Sylvia Rhone received the BET Ultimate Icon Award in recognition of her groundbreaking leadership and lasting impact on the music industry.

Presented by Kelly Rowland, the honor celebrated Rhone’s trailblazing career as the first Black woman to lead a major record company owned by a Fortune 500 corporation. A video tribute featured messages from artists including Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes, highlighting her role in helping develop the careers of performers such as Tracy Chapman, Brandy, Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Future, Travis Scott and Tyler, the Creator.

While accepting the award, Rhone dedicated the honor to the artists and creative teams she has worked alongside throughout her career.

“Tonight’s honor bears my name, but it really belongs to all of us who create culture,” she said.

Rhone also used the moment to urge the music industry to protect artists as artificial intelligence reshapes the business.

“We make the algorithm. The algorithm doesn’t make us,” she said. “We must honor the musician. We must compensate the creator.”

She concluded by calling on the industry to ensure the next generation of artists has the opportunity to create “the songs that will change the world.”

Druski opens BET Awards with dramatic entrance

Druski made a grand entrance to kick off the BET Awards on Sunday, descending from the rafters in a harness as a choir filled the theater with a rendition of Kirk Franklin’s “Revolution,” setting the tone for a night celebrating music, comedy and culture.

The comedian and digital creator made history by becoming the youngest host of the ceremony. The show's opening performances featured Kehlani, who sang “Folded” with Jamie Foxx and his daughter, Anelise Estelle Foxx, on guitar. Don Toliver also performed his hits “E85” and “Body.”

Accepting the award for best female R&B/pop artist, Kehlani admitted she hadn’t prepared a speech, instead marveling that “Janet Jackson is here,” before telling the icon she was “really honored to be here” among the night’s talent.

Druski, 31, surpassed Kevin Hart, who previously held the distinction as the BET Award’s youngest host when he emceed in 2011.

Throughout the night, Druski leaned into his comedic persona with appearances alongside Martin Lawrence and Latto. Lawrence jokingly shut down Druski’s pitch to appear in the next “Bad Boys” film before teasing his upcoming Paramount+ series, while Latto playfully poked fun at the host during one of the show’s transitions. Druski also spoofed Jay-Z's Roots Picnic freestyle.

Druski became one of entertainment’s fastest-rising stars through his viral sketches before expanding into sold-out comedy tours and collaborations with artists including Drake and Snoop Dogg, as well as appearances alongside figures like Tom Brady and Timothée Chalamet.

Hip-hop pioneer MC Lyte returned as the show’s announcer.

The River City’s music background dips into a plethora of genres: the southern rock anthems of Lynyrd Skynyrd, to the soulful tunes of Ray Charles, to the pop-punk hits of Yellowcard.

Jacksonville’s music heritage runs deeper than many people realize. The city’s newest tribute to that legacy can be found at the Riverfront Music Garden and Walk of Fame in downtown Jacksonville.

Jill Enz, chief of Natural and Marine Resources for the City of Jacksonville, oversaw the project from start to finish, with an end goal that goes beyond honoring the past.

“The vision was really the history of Jacksonville musicians and celebrating that history, so that along with kind of playful interactive elements for people to use and explore music on their own,” Enz said.

The Walk of Fame features a roster of musicians whose influence stretches far beyond Florida’s borders — including the Johnson Brothers, Ma Rainey and Tim McGraw.

Lisa Thomas, marketing director for Duval Hall, said those names represent something bigger than music.

“They’re everything,” Thomas said. “It’s not just our music history. It’s Jacksonville as a whole.”

Thomas pointed out that Jacksonville’s musical identity predates many of the city’s other cultural touchstones.

“Before the Jags were here, we had our music,” Thomas said.

The Walk of Fame spans multiple genres, reflecting the breadth of Jacksonville’s contributions to American music, with some surprising names along the way.

“You even have Mae Axton, who wrote ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ for Elvis Presley,” Thomas said. “I mean, she’s on this walk, as she should be.”

Not every Jacksonville music legend has their name on the Walk of Fame — but their stories are no less significant. Historic Mt. Zion AME Church is one of the places where that history lives.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been increasingly tense since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year implied Japan could intervene if China used military force against Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own.

Meanwhile, Japan has accelerated its military expansion, especially by adding offensive capabilities, which Beijing has condemned.

China's Commerce Ministry on Monday placed 20 Japanese entities, including multiple divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation, on a control list, which prohibits Chinese and foreign exporters from selling to them dual-use items made in China. Dual-use items can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Additionally, 20 other entities have been added to a watch list for dual-use items, according to the ministry. It includes Mitsui E&S, which makes engines and other equipment for ships, as well as divisions of Fujitsu and Komatsu corporations.

Chinese companies exporting to these firms will be required to apply for special licenses, submit risk assessment reports on the Japanese companies and written pledges that the dual-use items will not be used for military purposes.

Beijing and Tokyo spar over export measures

The export controls are “entirely justified, reasonable and lawful," the Chinese Commerce Ministry said, adding they are aimed at "firmly deterring Japan’s reckless pursuit of ‘new militarism.’”

“We hope Japan will recognize its mistakes, reverse its wrongful course, genuinely reflect on its past and return to the right track,” it added.

Japan’s top government spokesperson called the curbs as “unacceptable and extremely regrettable,” while calling on Beijing to retract the measures.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Monday that Japan would take necessary countermeasures after thoroughly assessing the curbs and their impact.

Under Takaichi, Japan's military has been equipped with more offensive capabilities, including long-range missiles on remote islands. Exports of lethal weapons are now allowed under a new policy. Japan will revise its defense and security documents by December, which could further increase its defense budget.

On Monday, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force announced the deployment of a Type-12 missile launcher on the southernmost remote island of Minamitorishima, an apparent response to China’s growing activity expanding into the Pacific.

The curbs serve as a diplomatic message, an expert says

In February, China put 20 Japanese companies on an export control list and 20 others on a watch list.

The Commerce Ministry said that since then, “instead of reflecting on its past and correcting its course, Japan has continued down the wrong path” by accelerating remilitarization, deploying offensive weapons and launching missiles.

The ministry emphasized the curbs affect only a small number of Japanese entities, and the measures only apply to dual-use items. “They do not affect normal Sino-Japanese economic and trade exchanges, and honest and law-abiding Japanese entities have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

The measures function more as a "diplomatic message” as Beijing steps up its pressure on Tokyo, said George Chen, partner for Greater China at the advisory firm The Asia Group.

“From Beijing’s perspective, Japan has not taken meaningful actions to stabilize bilateral ties,” Chen said. “And concerns are growing in China about deeper defense cooperation between Japan, the United States, and potentially other partners.”

In the short term, Japan–China relations will likely remain fragile “and at risk of slipping further if neither side moves to arrest the downward trend,” he added.

For Beijing, the issue of Taiwan is particularly sensitive. China considers the self-ruled island its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary, and has increased military pressure on it.

Earlier this month, the Chinese coast guard conducted patrols east of Taiwan in what state media described a “pointed warning” to Japan and the Philippines following an announcement that the countries would discuss their maritime boundaries in waters that Beijing views as its own.

The United Kingdom, Germany and France in a rare joint statement last week condemned Chinese activities in the waters east of Taiwan, adding they opposed any change of the status quo between China and Taiwan.

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Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Kanis Leung and Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the so-called Nakamal Agreement with his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, in the Australian capital nine months after the Vanuatuan government rejected an earlier draft. Vanuatu had feared the deal would limit its ability to attract infrastructure investment.

“Our agreement reflects and confirms Australia’s role as Vanuatu’s largest and most comprehensive economic, security and development partner, a responsibility that we take seriously,” Albanese told reporters.

Natap said the pact “reaffirms our shared commitment to continuing and strengthening the comprehensive partnership between our two countries, founded on mutual respect, trust and our common vision for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pacific.”

Under the agreement, Vanuatu will not allow any foreign military base or infrastructure in its territory and will keep its critical infrastructure free from militarization, foreign interference or unauthorized access, a government statement said.

The agreement is one of several Australia has struck or is negotiating with regional neighbors to prevent China from gaining security influence in the region.

Vanuatu will consult with Australia when it considers third-party engagement in its critical infrastructure, but there is no power of veto as originally proposed.

China expressed concern that the agreement may be targeted at it.

“We hope that cooperation between relevant countries and Pacific Island countries will contribute to the development and stability of the island region, not target any third party or be used as a tool for geopolitical rivalry,” said Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vanuatu committed to prioritize policing cooperation with Pacific Islands Forum members, a collection of 18 countries and territories that includes Australia. But the agreement does not exclude Chinese police. China does not have a permanent police presence in Vanuatu, but Chinese police personnel often visit the nation of 350,000 people.

Vanuatu also agrees to come to Australia, New Zealand and France first in response to major natural disasters.

Australia had proposed to provide Vanuatu with 500 million Australian dollars ($344 million) over a decade under the terms of the agreement as originally drafted.

Albanese said the cost of the latest agreement would be made public by December.

Napat said a bilateral agreement Vanuatu is negotiating with China would be made public once the pact had “clearance from Beijing.”

Napat has previously described the so-called Namele Agreement with China as a “comprehensive development cooperation” deal. He said it was not a security pact.

Vanuatu has received large loans and aid from China for buildings, wharves and other infrastructure.

“Currently, it’s not yet signed. We will share the (Namele) agreement. There is nothing to hide. Our government is transparent and I am so grateful that the Prime Minister (Albanese) has also given me the clearance to share with them (China) the Nakamal Agreement,” Napat said. China did not say whether it would reveal the details of the agreement when asked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday in Beijing.

In September last year, Albanese was notified that a previous draft of the pact had been rejected hours before he was to fly to Vanuatu for the signing.

Pride events often mix celebration and calls to action, reflecting the political winds, cultural climate and news around LGBTQ+ rights.

This month's parades and festivals around the U.S. have unfolded as President Donald Trump works to roll back transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Among other moves, the Republican's administration removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument earlier this year, then ultimately relented amid a lawsuit.

“As LGBTQIA+ events and symbols are being erased, it’s vital that our community have safe spaces to show up and march to make clear: We are here,” Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for New York parade organizers Heritage of Pride, said in a statement Friday. “We will not be erased.”

Carlos Duarte came in from Long Island to attend New York's parade.

“It’s very important for us to be here … to be all together for love, peace and to show the world who we are,” Duarte said.

Meanwhile, multiple Republican governors have promulgated conservative-friendly designations for June, such as “Nuclear Family Month,” sometimes openly describing them as a counter to Pride. Other prominent Republican politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, criticized Major League Baseball 's response to some San Francisco Giants players who added Bible verses to the rainbow-themed Pride Night caps they were issued.

Against that backdrop, the NYC Pride March and the San Francisco Pride Parade set out to further their legacies as some of the world's largest and oldest such celebrations.

Both trace their roots to events held in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion on June 28, 1969, when patrons of a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid and ended up kindling a wave of activism.

The Stonewall Inn still is a bar; the Stonewall monument centers on a small park across the street, about half a mile (about 0.8 km) from the Pride March route at its closest point.

The newer Queer Liberation March, founded by activists who saw the Pride March as too corporate and official, also was held in Manhattan on Sunday.

This year, some transgender rights activists pressured Pride organizers to bar some New York City hospitals' contingents from marching because the institutions announced in recent months that they would stop providing transgender youth treatments.

Christen Clifford, a mother of two trans children, said during a news conference before the parade that New York City needs to enforce state laws that protect gender-affirming care.

“How can you let institutions that are actively harming queer kids march in Pride?” Clifford said. “I hope that New York City Pride will ban these hospitals from any future Pride parades until they restart care and so that families like mine know that you are listening to our concerns.”

The cutoff came amid funding threats from the Trump administration, and at least some of the hospitals also got federal Justice Department subpoenas for transgender patients' medical records. A judge has temporarily blocked the document demand.

Heritage of Pride said it has been talking with the hospitals about the issue. The group also noted the parade contingents are organized by LGBTQ+ employee groups, not by the top administrators responsible for decisions about care.

A message was sent to San Francisco Pride organizers about whether they faced similar questions.

Other cities with Pride parades Sunday include Seattle, where a World Cup soccer match Friday took on a Pride dimension after the countries whose teams involved — Iran and Egypt — triedunsuccessfully to get the celebrations canceled.

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Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

President Lee Jae Myung joined the companies’ chairs Monday in announcing the plan, which dovetails with the government’s efforts to expand investment beyond the greater Seoul metropolitan area, the country’s economic center and heart of its semiconductor sector.

The southwest has been a particular focus, as it lacks major industrial hubs and has historically trailed in economic development. The region has long been a political base for Lee’s liberal Democratic Party.

Samsung and SK Hynix, which together produce about two-thirds of the world’s memory chips, said they will each build two fabrication plants in the southwest, expanding beyond their existing manufacturing complexes in Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul.

Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong said the company’s new fabs will be built in the southwestern city of Gwangju, where experts have proposed several potential sites, including the grounds of a military air base slated for relocation.

The companies didn’t specify when the fabs in the southwest regions would be completed. SK Hynix's Chairman Chey Tae-won said the project would be a complex, large-scale effort requiring “vast sites, along with sufficient power, water and skilled workers." He said it took nine years for SK Hynix to establish its major manufacturing cluster in Gyeonggi Province. Still, a significant expansion of manufacturing facilities is needed for the company to keep up with global demand, Chey said.

Government officials dismissed questions about whether the southwest has enough power and water to support major semiconductor fabs. They said the region’s strength in renewable energy would give the chipmakers an edge as they face growing global pressure to use cleaner sources of electricity.

Samsung and SK Hynix have reported record profits in recent months as soaring global investment in data centers and other AI infrastructure has fueled demand for memory chips. Government officials and business experts expect AI-driven demand to continue increasing as the technology spreads to AI-powered industrial robots and autonomous vehicles. The chipmakers' existing semiconductor complexes in Gyeonggi Province may reach capacity sooner than expected, they say.

During Monday’s event, government officials outlined plans to build what they called a nationwide semiconductor ecosystem, with existing manufacturing hubs in the southeast expanding production of chip components and materials, the central Chungcheong region specializing in chip packaging, while data centers are built across the country.

“We must establish the core building blocks of artificial intelligence faster than any other country. Semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers are the three pillars of our next great leap forward,” the president said.

Saudi Arabia is out at the earliest point. Again. Bottom of a group that included tiny Cape Verde, the third-smallest nation ever to compete on this stage and into the knockouts for the first time.

By signing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema as part of a spectacular recruitment drive in recent years, Saudi Arabia has been a major disruptor of club soccer. But on the international stage it still has a long way to go eight years out from hosting the World Cup in 2034.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabian Football Federation president Yasser Al-Misehal resigned. Taking full responsibility for the failed World Cup campaign, he said that stepping aside will allow for a “new phase” of leadership within Saudi football.

Qatar, the host four years ago, is also on its way home after just three games, so too are the other gulf nations Iran and Iraq. Compared to the success of African teams at this World Cup, with nine out of 10 advancing to the round of 32, gulf nations are struggling mightily to make their mark.

A goalless draw against Cape Verde ended Saudi Arabia's hopes of advancing from the group phase for the first time since 1994.

“It was not what we wanted because when playing in such a match against a team that is more or less the same level as us, our performance was not good. So this gives rise to concern,” Saudi coach Georgios Donis said.

Qatar made history with its first point at a World Cup, scoring a dramatic late equalizer against Switzerland. But it was another disappointingly early exit after it was eliminated just two games into its home tournament in 2022.

“I think that they show that at least we were able to compete in these kind of matches,” coach Julen Lopetegui said.

The appointment of Lopetegui — the former Spain and Real Madrid coach — is evidence of the type of investment Qatar has made to try to boost its performance on the global stage. Unlike Saudi Arabia, it has not embarked on such an audacious drive to attract aging stars from Europe to its domestic league.

Despite a population of 3 million people and only around 300,000 citizens, it has managed to develop enough homegrown players to win back-to-back Asian Cups in recent years and assert its dominance on a region that includes powers like Japan and South Korea.

But it has not been able to translate those performances to the World Cup, and such an early exit marks a disappointment less than four years after hosting the tournament and spending billions of dollars to create eight state-of-the-art stadiums.

“You compare with other countries ... for sure we know who we are,” said Lopetegui. "But at the same time I think that this is one little country but with a big passion, a big investment ... we have to improve every day and they did this.

“We look to the future being optimistic about this for sure.”

It's all about the future for Saudi Arabia, too, after winning the right to host the World Cup in 2034.

It has been on a mission to wield influence in sports around the world, from buying Premier League Newcastle to launching LIV Golf and hosting world title boxing matches and Formula 1.

The World Cup would be its standout achievement as it looks to move away from its heavy reliance on oil and explore other revenue-generating sectors.

It will want its national team to make a statement at its home tournament and while superstar signings like Ronaldo have raised the profile of its league, the hope is that they will also raise standards.

Yet after pulling off one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history by beating eventual champion Argentina four years ago, there was no standout moment this time — failing to advance beyond the group phase for the sixth time in a row.

“When we have these stars in the Arabian League, I think that the more competitive the competition, the better our players will be,” said Donis. “But it’s different when we’re playing for the national team because in the national team, these experiences, there needs to be a certain mentality.”

Focus on development of homegrown talent is clear as 2034 approaches.

Star signings from overseas have slowed and some big names, including Neymar, have departed. U.S. Soccer’s sporting director Matt Crocker was lured away to head up talent development in Saudi Arabia and youth investment is said to have doubled over the past three years.

If Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been disruptors with their sudden mega spending, Iran has been competing in World Cups since 1978.

It had to contend with difficulties regarding preparation and travel in the wake of war with the United States and only narrowly missed out on advancing as a best third place team after three draws. In seven appearances at the World Cup it has never gone beyond the groups.

Likewise for Iraq in its two appearances 40 years apart.

At a time when a supersized 48-team World Cup has opportunities for the likes of Cape Verde and Congo to make history, gulf nations are still waiting for their moment.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The step, which still needs approval in Parliament, reflects deteriorating ties between Israel and Turkey. Turkey has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries from officially recognizing the mass deaths of Armenians around 1915 as a genocide, even as Armenians have pushed for it.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

For years, Israel never officially broached the subject for fear of angering Turkey, but that relationship has soured over the past two decades, especially as the most recent wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran have dragged on.

“Despite the extensive and unambiguous historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization, including a manipulative rewriting of history, mainly by the Turkish government,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who brought the decision to the government.

He noted that Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have previously described the violence against Armenians as a genocide. But it has never been formally recognized in a vote by Israel’s Knesset.

“It is never too late to do the right thing,” Saar said Sunday, calling it a “moral and historical duty.”

He noted that 32 countries, including the United States, Syria and Lebanon, have also classified the violence as a genocide. It was not immediately known when Sunday's decision, approved unanimously by Israel's Cabinet, would go to the parliament for approval.

Turkey called Israel’s move a “politically motivated” step meant to distract from the country’s own actions against Palestinians.

“The Israeli government, which systematically persecutes the Palestinian people in full view of the world and is being tried at the International Court of Justice for genocide against the people of Gaza, aims to cover up its own crimes,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This malicious attempt, which disregards legal and historical facts, reveals the predicament of Netanyahu and his accomplices, who have arrest warrants against them in connection with the investigation into crimes committed against Palestinians at the International Criminal Court,” the statement added.

Israel and Turkey were once close allies, but relations soured during the rise of Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leading Israel to reconsider its position.

Israel has faced repeated accusations, including from the United Nations and Turkey, that its offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel, founded in the wake of the Holocaust, denies the accusations.

Israel launched the war in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Gaza's Health Ministry, part of the Hamas government, says over 73,000 people have been killed, roughly half of them women and children. Israel says it does not target civilians and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza and repeated accusations that Israel has carried out a genocide. Israel called the report a “libelous sham.”

As if taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning and reaching 2,000 career strikeouts weren't enough, his brilliant outing Sunday night for Boston came against the rival New York Yankees — a team Gray once pitched for and hasn't been shy about disliking.

So after winning in a wild ending, Gray and the Red Sox were reveling in a four-game sweep at Fenway Park that marked their longest winning streak this season.

“They’re at the top of our division right now. They are where we hope to be. So yeah, it was a good series and it was a pretty sick finish to the series for us,” Gray said after the Red Sox rallied for a 5-4 victory in 10 innings.

Actually, the Yankees fell a game behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East, thanks in large part to Boston's first four-game sweep in the rivalry since 2018.

Finishing it off proved difficult when New York scored two runs in the ninth to tie it and then two more in the 10th to take a 4-2 lead. But the Red Sox responded with three in the bottom half and walked off with a rousing win on Jarren Duran's game-ending single.

The chaotic conclusion nearly overshadowed what Gray had done earlier, striking out nine and shutting down the Yankees emphatically for 7 1/3 innings as Boston clung to a 2-0 advantage.

“I was just trying to do my part to win the game. That’s all I was thinking about other than executing a pitch," Gray said. “I just felt very focused. I wanted to come out and win the game and we did that.”

Gray didn't dwell much on the opponent despite his history with New York.

He pitched for the Yankees after a trade-deadline deal with the Athletics in 2017, but the following season ended up losing his spot in the rotation and being left off the postseason roster. His time in New York ended with an offseason trade to Cincinnati.

Stops in Minnesota and St. Louis followed before the three-time All-Star arrived in Boston this season, and he said he never really wanted to play for the Yankees in the first place.

While the last-place Red Sox (36-46) are still 10 games below .500, Gray said it felt pretty special getting to that point after what it took to win Sunday night. The veteran right-hander tipped his cap to Boston fans as he left to a standing ovation in the eighth after Amed Rosario ended the no-hit bid with a one-out single up the middle on Gray’s 97th pitch.

“I think in the sixth inning or something they started really like getting into it and it was cool. I appreciated that,” Gray said. “I appreciate them and it seemed like they appreciated the outing tonight. We need them. If we’re going to get back into this thing, we need them. And they were here for us this weekend, so I appreciated that.”

It was the first time since 1963 the Yankees were held hitless through the first four innings of three straight games.

Gray got some defensive help in the third when Wilyer Abreu robbed Austin Wells of a hit with a sliding grab in shallow right field after a full sprint to reach the sinking ball in time. Abreu also committed a pair of costly throwing errors late that helped the Yankees tie it and later take the lead.

Interim manager Chad Tracy said he still has plenty of confidence in his two-time Gold Glove outfielder, as did his teammates.

“We’ve had a good weekend. Even though we gave up a couple of runs, the energy in the dugout coming in was like, let’s go win the game,” Tracy said. “There’s been times here in the past couple of months where that would have kind of crushed us, but that was not the case. They were fired up to try and get that done.”

Yankees starter Carlos Rodón allowed only one hit in five innings, Caleb Durbin's two-run single with one out in the fourth.

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

The dead included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers and the pilot, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said it was France's biggest aviation accident involving skydiving in about 30 years.

“Some of the victims’ families witnessed the aircraft falling with their own eyes. So there is tremendous emotion and an even greater psychological trauma," Nunez said.

He refused to speculate on what caused the crash but said the plane dropped out of the sky suddenly. He said it had just taken off from the Nancy-Essey airfield on the outskirts of the city of Nancy when it came down about 300 meters (yards) from the runway.

Yves Séguy, prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region, said the plane suffered a malfunction and “fell almost vertically," narrowly missing a built-up area.

“Had it occurred just a few dozen meters away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” he said.

The plane banked to the left after takeoff and crashed less than a minute later near houses, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24.

Police cordoned off the crumpled wreckage.

Flight tracking sites identified the plane as a single-engine Pilatus PC-6, a small transporter of freight, passengers and skydivers.

The parachutists were to have jumped as tandems, Nancy Mayor Mathieu Klein told public broadcaster France Info. Tandem jumps are skydiving experiences where two people, often an instructor and a novice jumper, are attached together for the descent.

Emergency services responded immediately and were providing psychological support to victims' relatives, officials said. The Paris prosecutor's office is leading the crash probe, Nunez said.

A resident, identified as John Curaku by BFM-TV, told the broadcaster that he was in his yard when he heard what sounded like a plane's engine stopping, immediately followed by a bang.

He said he went to the crash site and “there were no signs of life,” with two of the bodies thrown a few meters (yards) from the plane.

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Leicester reported from Paris and Hatton from Lisbon, Portugal.

Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without Iran's oversight has sparked days of crossfire. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday it would expand a route near Oman for inbound and outbound traffic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday reiterated the claim that Tehran must govern the strait to the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.

“Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” Araghchi said.

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side.

Pakistan, a key mediator, has said talks would resume Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran on the terms of their interim deal. The Trump administration on Sunday said nothing has been canceled and technical talks are on track for the coming days.

Talks include arrangements around the strait, the removal of a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran, and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The two sides have 60 days from their signing of the memorandum of understanding earlier this month to work out details.

Continued conflict in Lebanon threatens the agreement, which says fighting must end on all fronts before certain issues can be discussed.

Strikes target Gulf states hosting US military

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Kuwait, which hosts a major U.S. military base, said air defenses intercepted Iranian drones and two missiles just after the U.S. strikes in Iran. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Bahrain said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The damaged building was not near its headquarters.

Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it called “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression."

Later on Sunday, Qatar said a civilian had been killed, and another person was hurt, by shrapnel related to “military operations in the area" after a vessel didn't return at its scheduled time on Saturday. It did not give details.

Trump accuses Iran of violating ceasefire

The U.S. military said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship on Saturday. The Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, another key mediator.

U.S. President Donald Trump on social media accused Iran of violating the deal and warned of a point where the U.S. may "be forced to militarily complete the job.”

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote.

The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated.

Ship traffic on the strait had increased over the past 72 hours, “despite the elevated threat environment,” the multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday, adding that “U.S.-assisted commercial transits continued uninterrupted."

It said 89 such transits had been made, below the historical average of 138 vessels a day.

Iran calls for new ‘conflict control unit’ in Lebanon

Last week, Israel and Lebanon signed a framework agreement to end the latest fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, which began two days after the Iran war started when Hezbollah fired at Israel. Israel has responded with an invasion of southern Lebanon and it has said it will not withdraw until Hezbollah is disarmed.

The agreement did not include Iran or Hezbollah, which has criticized it and rejected calls to disarm.

On Sunday, Iran's foreign minister again said the U.S. must force Israel to halt attacks and withdraw. Israel occupies around 600 square kilometers (231 square miles) in southern Lebanon, which it says it needs as a security buffer.

Sporadic clashes have continued, and Hezbollah's leader said Saturday that the group would continue fighting until Israel withdraws from Lebanon.

Key Iranian negotiator and parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Sunday that a meeting of a new “conflict control unit” formed among Iran, the United States and Lebanon should meet as soon as possible, Iran's state broadcaster reported.

Two strikes hit southern Lebanon on Sunday morning — one in Taybeh town and the other in the Nabatiyeh area, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Overnight, Hezbollah militants killed an Israeli soldier in Deir Siryan village in southern Lebanon, according to Israel's military. Hezbollah did not comment.

Israel targets a village in Syria

Israel's military targeted Abdin village in southern Syria’s Daraa province with artillery shelling Sunday evening, Syrian state media reported. There was no immediate report of casualties.

The provincial government of Daraa said in a statement that residents of the village had thrown rocks at an Israeli convoy when it advanced on the village, and that the troops withdrew after U.N. peacekeepers intervened. It said the Israeli artillery shelling drove Abdin's residents to flee the village.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel's military said it had killed several armed men in southern Syria but gave no details. There was no statement from Syrian officials.

Israel seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria in December 2024 following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in an insurgent offensive. Israeli officials initially called the move temporary, but more recently they have said they plan to occupy the zone indefinitely.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AlJoud and Abby Sewell in Beirut and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

The government reported 1,450 dead from the quakes Sunday afternoon as it faced growing criticism from Venezuelans that its response was inadequate and overshadowed by civilian-led efforts to rescue people buried under collapsed buildings. Thousands more have been reported missing.

Even as the likelihood of finding people alive diminished with each passing hour, rescuers continued to free some survivors from mountains of debris, offering anguished families a sliver of hope. The first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Sunday night that even as the threshold passed, the search for survivors would continue. More than 2,600 rescue workers from around the world had arrived with trained search dogs and machinery, the government said.

“It’s been incredibly hard work, but we’re going strong,” said Jason Mercano, a civilian who was able to communicate with family buried under the rubble and was working with rescue teams to pull them out.

“We've never given up hope,” he added.

More than 770 buildings partially or totally collapsed

Still, many Venezuelans are struggling to hold onto hope in an increasingly desperate situation. The one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that hit last Wednesday have left a trail of devastation. The U.N. said up to 6.8 million of Venezuela's nearly 30 million residents may be affected by the earthquakes.

A layer of dust coated coastal communities, and as the stench of decomposing bodies spread, more people began to wear masks.

Authorities said Sunday that more than 770 buildings had totally or partially collapsed from the earthquakes, twice as many as were reported destroyed or damaged on Friday. The risk of further damage remains as aftershocks continued to shake Venezuela; quakes measuring 4.2 and 4.5 hit Sunday morning.

But rescue efforts in La Guaira — the hardest-hit area — appeared significantly more organized on Sunday as international rescue missions arrived en masse. In previous days, residents there had expressed frustration and anger about the level of response.

The government reported on state television that more than 14,000 members of the military and police are now patrolling La Guaira state, where access is blocked and special permits are required to enter.

Because of the chaos and shoddy cellphone service since the earthquakes, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is unclear how many have been found.

Optimism and grief mark La Guaira

Moments of optimism contrasted sharply with grief on Sunday.

Masses of people gathered around a mountain of debris watching as rescue crews from the U.S., France and Venezuela pulled a man and his son from a crack in the concrete, covered in dust and almost unresponsive. Helmet-clad teams pulled them on a black tarp and passed the two carefully through the crowd to an ambulance to hydrate them through an IV.

Rescue teams and onlookers burst into applause in a moment of relief, then continued working.

In another part of La Guaira, Helen Guedez and her mother were reeling. They had spent days trying to save her father Jesús from their apartment.

She felt a swell of hope when rescue teams from the U.S. had come to inspect the building and confirmed to them that her dad was still alive under the rubble. But they told the family that the building was too unstable to enter and rescue him, she said.

They left the scene, but Guedez said would continue to try and rescue their father without their assistance. She said they were now working with civilian volunteers and local miners to get him out.

“We're not going to give up," said Guedez. “The rest of the team is willing to continue. They know there's another way to get him out and they said they're going to keep working until the very end.”

Despite the overwhelming demand for medical services and the shortage of supplies in Venezuela’s public health system, Domingo Luciani Hospital in the capital of Caracas coped with an influx of patients thanks to a flood of donations.

“We have tons of patients, but thank god, people have responded by bringing us a great deal of supplies,” said Leomery Pérez, an anesthesiologist at the hospital.

Authorities said they had treated more than 3,100 wounded people, including many with crush injuries.

A big challenge for Venezuela's acting president

The disaster poses a significant challenge for acting President Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the U.S. capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Since then, the U.S. government has played in increasingly powerful role in dictating the future of the South American nation. Venezuela has faced economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.

The country now faces an even more difficult circumstances, said Ronal Rodríguez, researcher for the Bogotá-based Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario.

“There is political interference by the United States, the operational incompetence of a government that has driven the country into a complex humanitarian crisis and, all of the sudden, an earthquake in a place that lacks human capital and short-term resources to address the situation,” he said.

Amy Pope, director general from International Organization for Migration, warned that displacement from Venezuela – where crisis has forced 8 million people to migrate over the past decade – was likely to increase as people seek safety.

Rodríguez on Sunday said she was setting up a special commission to assess the damage to homes to confirm whether it's safe for people sleeping on the streets to return, adding that her government would also examine infrastructure damage. The search for life in the destruction, she said, would also continue.

“Today we recovered people who are still alive,” she said. “We always maintain hope.”

___

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez, Matías Delacroix in La Guaira, Venezuela; Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Clara Preve and Mayra Pertossi in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Elliot Spagat in San Diego, contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

The court’s conservative majority has so far been mostly receptive to Trump's immigration crackdown, including a decision last week allowing the administration to end temporary legal protections for people who came to the U.S. because of war or natural disaster in their homeland. Another decision could make it harder for people fleeing persecution to seek asylum in the United States.

During arguments in April, the justices signaled a more skeptical look at Trump's executive order that would overturn long-settled understanding and deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.

The court also has rejected Trump's assertion of the power to unilaterally impose wide-ranging tariffs under an emergency powers law.

The decision in February drew Trump's ire, including an unusually harsh and personal denunciation of two of his court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who voted against him.

The extent of Trump's power to fire independent agency members is the oldest undecided case, argued in December. The justices seem likely to overturn, or drastically narrow, a 91-year-old decision. It required a cause, like neglect of duty, before a president could remove the Senate-confirmed officials from their jobs.

The outcome appears to be in little doubt because the conservatives have allowed the firings to take effect while the case plays out, even after lower-court judges found the firings illegal.

The court seemed less willing to endorse Trump's bid to immediately fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies. No president has ever fired a Fed governor in the agency's 112-year history.

By custom, the court finishes its work before July 4. After this week, its next public meeting is the first Monday in October.

Boston starter Sonny Gray took a no-hitter into the eighth against his former team before Amed Rosario singled with one out. That ended a brilliant outing for Gray, who had nine strikeouts to reach 2,000 for his career.

But the Yankees scored twice in the ninth off All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman to tie it 2-all, aided enormously by a brutal throwing error from two-time Gold Glove right fielder Wilyer Abreu.

New York scratched across two more runs in the 10th, taking advantage of another throwing error by Abreu after Rosario's sinking liner squirted out of his glove for an RBI single. But right-hander Fernando Cruz (4-3) was unable to hold the lead after closer David Bednar had pitched the previous two innings.

Boston's first four-game sweep of the Yankees since 2018 marked the first four-game winning streak this season for the last-place Red Sox.

New York arrived at Fenway Park with the best record in the American League but left a game behind Tampa Bay atop the AL East.

Justin Slaten (1-4) worked one inning for the win.

Anthony Seigler led off the bottom of the 10th with an RBI single that scored the automatic runner from second base and trimmed Boston's deficit to 4-3. Pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida followed with a double before a sacrifice fly by Tsung-Che Cheng tied it at 4 and advanced Yoshida to third.

New York brought in Rosario from left field to form a five-man infield, and Duran hit a line drive to right where nobody was standing.

Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. was ejected for arguing after he was called out on a check-swing for strike three to end the sixth.

Up next

Yankees LHP Ryan Weathers (3-5, 3.95 ERA) faces Detroit RHP Casey Mize on Monday as New York returns home and opens a three-game series against the Tigers.

Boston is scheduled to start LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.83 ERA) against Washington LHP Andrew Alvarez on Monday to open a three-game set at Fenway Park.

___

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

That was the case though Sunday night due to a rain delay at the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship, and with Scottie Scheffler in contention.

An NBC Sports spokesman said the decision was made in consultation with the PGA Tour and Major League Baseball to stick with coverage of the golf tournament once it resumed at 7:20 p.m. EDT until it finished or was suspended due to darkness.

Scheffler — the world's No.. 1 player — made an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole to force a sudden-death playoff against Viktor Hovland on Monday morning. Tournament officials determined officials deemed there was not enough daylight to start the playoff.

The final round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highlands course in Cromwell, Connecticut. NBC aired the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The start of the final round of third women's major of the year in Chaska, Minnesota, was delayed 3 1/2 hours due to rain. Haeran Ryu won by two strokes for her first major title.

The Yankees-Red Sox game was also streamed on Peacock. NBC picked up coverage at 8:28 p.m. during the bottom of the fourth inning with the Red Sox leading 2-0.

NBC viewers still got to see the more interesting parts of the game. Boston's Sonny Gray had a no-hitter through seven innings before the Yankees' Amed Rosario ended it with a single with one out in the eighth inning. New York rallied for two runs in the ninth to send it into extra innings and then scored two in the 10th to take a 4-2 lead.

The Red Sox though scored three in the 10th, including Jarren Duran's game-winning RBI single, to beat the Yankees 5-4 and complete a four-game sweep of their longtime rival.

This is NBC's first season carrying “Sunday Night Baseball.” It was the first Yankees-Red Sox game on NBC since Sept. 8, 1995.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple militant attacks across the country.

In Afghanistan, government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistan's attacks resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of civilians, including women and children.

“We strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression and consider it a crime and an act of brutality,” he said.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence.

The security operation took place a day after militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night.

Tarar said Pakistan’s latest operation along the Afghan border targeted hideouts and safe havens of the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest operations are likely to further strain already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

Strikes are the latest in cross-border violence between neighbors

Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan's military launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.

The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action between the two countries. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.

Multiple rounds of talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire. China also hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

Pakistan since last year has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of TTP and other militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Afghan Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the charge.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul; Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.

Communications Minister Anika Wells on Monday blamed the platforms’ resistance to the age restrictions for the need to toughen the laws that came into force on Dec. 10.

“We can all agree we would like the scheme to work better than it is currently, but that is on Big Tech taking the Mickey,” Wells told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., using an Australian slang term for deceiving, teasing or mocking.

The government announced Sunday it would introduce draft legislation into Parliament this week that would double the maximum fine to 99 million Australian dollars ($68 million) for platforms that fail to take reasons steps to prevent Australian children from holding accounts.

The amendments would also increase the powers of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s online safety watchdog, to demand information and documents to ensure platforms were complying with Australian law, a government statement said.

The new powers would also include information from third parties, such as age assurance technology providers, to test claims made by the platforms about how those under 16 continued to circumvent the ban, the statement said.

Senior opposition lawmaker Jane Hume said her party would consider voting for the reforms, saying the “social media ban wasn’t working” because of deficient laws.

“The legislation was clearly undercooked in the first place. The eSafety Commissioner wasn’t given the powers to be able to pursue these Big Tech companies,” Hume said.

Parliament passed the initial legislation with overwhelming support in 2024. The targeted platforms were given more than 12 months to plan to implement the ban.

Many countries who have implemented or are planning similar restrictions have been closely watching progress of Australia’s ban.

The government initially reported more than 5 million children had accounts removed, deactivated or restricted after the ban became law.

But eSafety reported in March that seven in 10 children who held accounts on restricted platforms on Dec. 10 remained on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Inman Grant said in April she was considering court action against those platforms and YouTube, alleging they were not taking reasonable steps to exclude children.

She had been satisfied with progress made by the remaining restricted platforms: X, Kick, Reddit, Threads and Twitch.

Wells said she had received monthly updates from eSafety since March and “we are not seeing improvements.”

“These (draft) changes ensure that the eSafety Commissioner has the tools and powers she needs to hold platforms to account and we’re making sure that she can do just that,” Wells said.

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Winning a third straight major to start the season was within reach for Korda on this windy Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club, three weeks after she came back to secure her first U.S. Women's Open title.

“I was just trying to take it a shot at a time, really," Korda said. "I didn’t know where the leaders were at, so I was just trying to focus on myself.”

Soft greens from a morning deluge that delayed play by 3 1/2 hours and an unsteady putter got the best of her, as did the rest of the formidable pack at the top of the leaderboard. That's why the feat she was pursuing is so rare, a daunting prospect even for the runaway LPGA Tour leader.

Haeran Ryu finished at 13-under 275 to become the sixth South Korean to win the event over the last 12 editions, beating Ina Yoon by two strokes. Brooke Henderson and Dewi Weber tied for third at 10 under. Three Americans — Allisen Corpuz, Auston Kim and Alison Lee — tied for fifth place, six strokes behind Ryu.

Korda shot a 1-over 73 to finish seven shots back and fall into a four-way tie for eighth, failing to match what Inbee Park in 2013 and Babe Zaharias in 1950 pulled off as the only women to win the first three majors of the season.

For her part, that wasn't an accomplishment she'd been intentionally pursuing, even if her smashing success on the course this year has been fueling more fan interest in the sport, a following that was palpable to her wherever she went this week.

“You guys made that such a big thing. I didn’t think about that, no," Korda said. “I was just kind of disappointed in the way that I played this week, not that I came up short really. I was just thinking about the way that I played, not like the realistic big picture that everyone is talking about.”

Korda three-putted five times this week, after posting no more than three in any other tournament this year. Hazeltine’s signature lakeside hole dragged her down, too, with a double bogey in both the first and fourth rounds on the 16th. Her second shot from the right edge of the fairway on Sunday splashed in the water for a costly penalty stroke, and she two-putted the par-4 hole.

This was just the second time in nine official stroke play events this year that Korda didn't finish first or second. She also tied for eighth at the Queen City Championship in Cincinnati in May. Korda still needs two points to secure her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame, a system that will grant her entry with one more major win or two more regular tour event victories. But with the Evian Championship and Women’s British Open waiting on the schedule next month, Korda has two more majors to play. Winning one of them would give her the career grand slam at age 27.

Next week, she'll rest and reset before traveling to Europe.

“Just chill for a few days,” Korda said, “and then practice.”

___

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

The 88 Project, which focuses on rights issues in Vietnam, documented 56 such arrests in 2025, the third consecutive year of increases and double the number in 2022. The report includes only arrests where the defendant could be identified by name and the case tracked, and the actual numbers are believed to be much higher, said Ben Swanton, co-director of the group.

The report says the country under leader To Lam “routinely weaponizes criminal law” to quash dissent. To Lam, the country’s former top security official who has served as general secretary of the Communist Party since 2024, was also elected president earlier this year.

The arrests are largely driven by fears of an uprising against the leadership in a so-called “color revolution,” like the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or the 1986 Yellow Revolution in the Philippines, according to the report.

It is a fear shared by the Communist Party in neighboring China, which has been accused of using similar tactics to stifle critics. Though competing maritime claims have led to confrontations between the two countries and a tense diplomatic relationship at times, China and Vietnam were able to agree earlier this year to together “prioritize political security and enhance efforts to prevent and resist color revolutions,” the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

“With the ascendancy of To Lam, the country has become a literal police state that tolerates no dissent,” Swanton said.

“This represents a serious regression from the period of relative openness in the 2010s when some dissent was tolerated and civil society groups were able to engage in policy activism.”

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the findings of the report.

The report found that authorities are relying increasingly on Article 331 of Vietnam's penal code, which makes it a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison to “abuse democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state.”

Previously little used, “authorities have enlarged the scope and application of Article 331 so that it reaches further into society, beyond human rights and democracy dissidents ... to all those who voice any grievance with state or local Communist Party and government officials,” New York-based Human Rights Watch wrote in a report last year.

“The Vietnamese authorities’ increased use of Article 331 is a little known facet of the government’s expanding crackdown on ordinary people who are seeking to use social media and other peaceful means to publicly raise important social issues, including religious freedom, land rights, rights of Indigenous people, and government and Communist Party corruption,” Human Rights Watch wrote.

Among those arrested under Article 331 last year were three men behind the YouTube channel “Nguoi Da Tin' — The Messenger — on allegations that videos they uploaded were ”distorted content" that violated the statute, The 88 Project reported.

The report provides details of every arrest identified as politically related in 2025.

Those also included an activist for the minority Montagnard group who was arrested in Thailand and extradited to Vietnam, a dissident writer accused of spreading “propaganda against the state,” and a man who helped residents of Ha Tinh province file complaints demanding fair compensation for land expropriated for a new highway.

“The Vietnamese government has dealt alarmingly severe punishments to longstanding targets like journalists and human rights activists, while displaying an increasing willingness to attack groups previously thought safe, such as political exiles and legal petitioners,” the report said.

“Mother Khadijah” worked alongside her provocative and charismatic husband for decades, helping lead their religious and sociopolitical movement, which espouses Black self-reliance. Its home base was Mosque Maryam on the south side of Chicago, where the pair lived.

“The Honorable Minister @LouisFarrakhan with deep sadness yet with profound gratitude to Allah informs you that his beloved wife of 72 years, the first lady of the Nation of Islam, Mother Khadijah has returned to Allah (may Allah be pleased),” a statement by the Shura Executive Council said.

Her death came only seven months after devotees had marked Khadijah's 90th birthday. The statement said funeral services are to be announced.

Mosque Maryam remembered Farrakhan as “a devoted follower” with “a precious soul, a sweet heart.”

In a post on Facebook, R&B artist ZaRio Son Rise recalled her as “a true queen, a righteous woman, and one of the greatest examples of dignity, faith, loyalty, and grace our generation has ever witnessed.”

Born Betsy Ross, Khadijah Farrakhan married her husband, then named Louis Walcott, in Boston on Sept. 12, 1953. The two had nine children. Their eldest son, Louis Farrakhan Jr., died in 2018, and son Joshua Farrakhan died in 2023.

Khadijah Farrakhan converted to Islam in 1955, the same year that her husband joined the Chicago-based movement after being heavily influenced by Malcolm X, his friend from Boston. The pair changed their names around that time.

Louis Farrakhan stepped into the organization's leadership vacuum shortly after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. Among his most significant accomplishments was the Million Man March on Washington in 1995.

Two years later, Khadijah Farrakhan spoke before a gathering of America's Black women in Philadelphia dubbed the Million Woman March.

“A nation can rise no higher than its women,” she told the crowd. “We focus on women but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family -- men, women and children.”

Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend, wildfires were sparked in Germany and Berlin police used water cannons to cool down the crowds.

Meanwhile, the heat wave slowly moved toward eastern parts of the continent.

Germany marked a new record for the third day in a row with 41.7 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in Neißemünde, near the border with Poland, which baked under its new all-time high of 40.5 C (104.9 F). The Czech Republic also experienced its hottest day ever with 41.9 C (107.4 F), up from the previous record of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 F) on Saturday.

A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this past week would not have been possible without climate change.

The rapid study found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago.

France records surge in deaths during heat wave

France reported a surge in deaths last week, including a sharp increase at private homes, especially in the Paris region, the national public health agency said Sunday.

There were more than 1,200 deaths on Wednesday, when France was sweltering under its hottest temperatures, increasing to more than 1,400 deaths on each of the two following days, Public Health France said. In April and May, before the heat wave, France’s rate of deaths was about 900 to 1,000 per day.

The agency concluded that France experienced a total of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three days alone, an estimate it cautioned is likely to increase as more data is collected, including for deaths at home.

The increase was sharpest in areas under red warnings of extreme heat, it said. Those warnings blanketed about three-quarters of the country at the peak of the heat wave. The agency said that 85% of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, WHO warns

“Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday on X. “Right now 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling.”

Driven by climate change and global warming, the “once-in-a-generation” heat wave is now occurring nearly every year, Tedros said, adding that more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded since June 21 linked to high temperatures in Europe.

“Heat stress is often called the ‘silent killer’ — and European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for these temperatures,” Tedros warned as he called on European countries to implement action plans. He said they should focus on preparedness, prevention and stronger health system responses.

Lightning strikes Swedish theme park

In Sweden, several people were injured when they were hit by lightning at an amusement park, the country's TT news agency reported.

Three adults were taken to the hospital, among them a woman with serious injuries, after the lightning struck the Tosselilla Sommarland park in Tomelilla in the south of the country.

Across Europe, the extreme heat has been followed by severe thunderstorms.

Denmark, which marked new temperature records on Saturday, recorded 1,156 lighting strikes by Sunday morning, according to public broadcaster DR.

Heat sparks wildfires in forests contaminated with WWII ammunition

In Gohrischheide, in eastern Germany, a fire broke out in a large forest that's still contaminated with ammunition from World War II, complicating efforts by firefighters.

Similarly, a major firefighting operation was underway in southwest Germany near the village of Traisen, where the heat sparked a forest fire in an area that also contained unexploded ordnance. Firefighters had to stop work temporarily after explosions took place and an ordnance disposal unit was brought in to continuously assess the situation, German news agency dpa reported. Some 650 people in Traisen had to leave their homes Sunday afternoon because the fire continued to spread.

Fire departments in the big cities were busy sending out ambulances to people suffering from heat-related illnesses. In Berlin, an additional 500 ambulance dispatches were reported on Saturday, most of them heat-related.

Berlin police use water cannons to cool down locals and tourists

The German capital's police found a way to help suffering Berliners and tourists alike. They put up two huge water cannons — usually used to disperse unruly protesters — in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate and sprayed the cool water across the cheering crowd.

The heat also worsened damage to infrastructure, with the concrete surface on countless highways breaking up, and a weekend warning by national rail operator Deutsche Bahn to avoid all unnecessary train travel.

More than 600 passengers had to be evacuated from an overheated train in Brandenburg after a tree fell onto an overhead power line during a storm on Saturday evening. The train, which was on its way from Hamburg to Prague, lost power. The air conditioners stopped working and the doors were locked until emergency responders forced them open. Two people were hospitalized with heat-related problems, dpa reported.

In the eastern city of Leipzig, no trams will be running until early Monday morning due to heat damage to tracks and switches. The Leipzig Public Transportation Authority said that the high temperatures had caused the joint sealant for asphalt and concrete in switches and tracks to run and clump together in many places throughout the city's network.

——

Leicester reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

Ukraine has markedly stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for its invasion — now in its fifth year — and make Russians feel the consequences.

“Our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”

The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causing widespread shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and prompting authorities in many regions to introduce fuel rationing. According to Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table.

Putin says Ukrainian attacks aim to split Russian society

Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin described the Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries as an attempt to “cause a split in Russian society and force Russia to halt, even if only briefly, the advance of our troops along the line of contact, and create conditions for launching a negotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary."

“We will not give them that chance,” Putin said, adding that “strikes on our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front, on the line of contact.”

He said for the first time that Ukraine has proposed a halt on deep strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offer because Russian strikes deep into Ukrainian territory are more powerful and devastating.

The Russian leader added that Kyiv also offered to limit the fighting to the four regions that Russia annexed but never fully captured — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He rejected the proposal, arguing it would allow Ukraine to relocate its forces that are fighting Russian troops in other areas to let them focus on fending off the Russian attacks in the four southeastern regions.

Ukrainian drones set major Russian refinery on fire

Meanwhile, debris from downed Ukrainian drones sparked a blaze at the refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a town in Russia's Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea, according to regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev. The falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk and wounded another in a nearby village, local authorities said.

The facility is one of southern Russia’s major refineries, processing close to 4 million tons of crude per year, according to its operator’s website. It is also a key source of petroleum products intended for export through Russia’s Black Sea ports, including fuel oil, naphtha and marine fuel.

Zelenskyy also claimed that another Russian refinery, in the Yaroslavl region around 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border, was hit during the nighttime strikes.

There were no immediate reports from Russian authorities about the strike on the Yaroslavl refinery. Local Gov. Mikhail Evraev reported on Sunday morning that some roads between Moscow and the region's capital, Yaroslavl, were temporarily closed due to “an enemy attack by Ukrainian drones.”

Fuel shortages in Russia as Putin says plans will be ‘adjusted’

For months, Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on energy facilities deep inside Russia. Despite a raft of Western sanctions, Moscow remains among the world's top exporters of oil and natural gas.

More recently, Ukraine has attempted to choke off fuel deliveries to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in early 2014. Last weekend, Kremlin-installed officials in Crimea suspended gasoline sales to civilians, after Kyiv's targeting of supply routes triggered the worst energy crisis there since the annexation.

Speaking at a meeting with officials that focused on the fuel situation, Putin admitted that the country was “going through a difficult period,” but insisted that Moscow would “honor all its social obligations.”

Shortly after, he told state TV that the country's arms industries will quickly ramp up production of air defense systems to fend off Ukrainian attacks.

Putin also said that Russia will import more fuel and speed up repair works at oil facilities to end the “temporary deficit.”

“All damaged facilities are being restored quite quickly, and the issues that arise are not critical,” he said.

Putin specifically pledged to quickly deal with fuel shortages in Crimea, saying that fuel deliveries to the Black Sea peninsula by land and sea will rise and voicing confidence that “this task will be accomplished.”

As fuel shortages spread across Russia, the governor of the Irkutsk region in Siberia, thousands of kilometers (miles) from the Ukrainian border, Igor Kobzev announced that drivers will only be allowed to buy no more than 50 liters (13 gallons) of fuel per vehicle per day at state-run Rosneft gas stations in the province. Other gas stations may set lower limits.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Moscow was actively reviewing fuel export agreements to avoid compromising domestic needs.

Drones, bombs and missiles target more regions

Also on Sunday, a Russian aerial bomb killed two people in Zaporizhzhia — a city in southern Ukraine — and injured 16 others, including two children, said regional administration head Ivan Fedorov.

In Russia's border region of Belgorod, Ukrainian drone strikes killed one person and injured another earlier on Sunday, according to acting local Gov. Alexander Shuvayev.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 213 Ukrainian drones during the night, including over Russia, occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 142 long-range strike drones and eight missiles overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. Of those, 125 drones and seven missiles were struck down, the air force said.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The final round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highlands, and officials deemed there was not enough daylight for them to start the playoff.

The playoff was to start at 9 a.m. Monday, the first time a PGA Tour went an extra day since The Players Championship last year.

“It’s more fun when you’re making the ones to win,” Scheffler said. “But to keep yourself in it is also nice. Like I said, I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do.”

Scheffler and Hovland each had birdie chances at the end. Scheffler rammed his 30-foot putt 8 feet by the hole. Hovland's 25-foot attempt missed by inches and he tapped in for a 69. Scheffler made his third big par putt for a 68 to match Hovland at 21-under 259.

That was one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who closed with a 61 and was briefly tied for the lead, though it never looked as though it would be enough.

Hovland, who went into the final round with a one-shot lead over Scheffler, found himself two back when play was halted by a pounding rain and lightning in the area, both of them in the fairway on the 14th hole.

Hovland poured in a 15-foot birdie putt from just off the green, to get within one shot and Scheffler had to make a 6-foot par putt to stay in the lead.

On the reachable par-4 15th, Scheffler's pitch from the collar of rough — wet grass might have saved his tee shot from going in the water — raced toward the pin on the top shelf and kept right on going, over the back and down a slope. He chipped that just onto the green and made another big par putt with Hovland in tight for a third straight birdie.

That left them tied. Scheffler missed a big opportunity on a 10-foot birdie chance on the 17th that spun off of the left edge of the cup, and the world's No. 1 player did well to hammer a shot from the wet rough right of the 18th fairway to just inside 30 feet.

PGA Tour official decided before they finished the 18th there would not be enough light to play even one extra hole.

They arrived at the playoff in different manners — Scheffler with three birdies against one bogey, Hovland going through a 10-hole stretch in the middle of his round with just two pars.

Hovland fell behind by two early, only for a two-shot swing on No. 7. There was a two-shot swing in Scheffler's favorite to start the back nine, and then Hovland made up ground with three straight birdies, the final two after rain changed the condition of the course.

The break was good for Hovland just to settle him down.

“I hit some good shots and then some bad shots and I just couldn’t quite get a flow in,” Hovland said. “So it was nice to just get completely off the golf course and reset and I felt a lot better coming back. So sometimes that’s all you need.”

Morikawa finished in style, a shot out of the wet sand in the bunker on the 18th to just inside 10 feet for ninth birdie of the round to post at 20-under 260. Morikawa, who started the day nine shots out of the lead, had to wait some three hours — including the delay — before leaving.

“The thought of actually having a chance, waiting it out, didn’t really cross my mind,” Morikawa said. “But I told my wife earlier this morning, ‘Let’s shoot 61 and end the three-week stretch on a good note.’ And sometimes the way you manifest things works out.”

Matt Fitzpatrick shot 64 to finish alone in fourth followed by U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who played remarkably well after such a draining week at Shinnecock Hills. He was in it until a shot into the water for bogey on the 17th. Clark had a 65 and was three shots back.

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

It will be hot and humid to start the new week. Highs on Monday will be in the mid to upper 90s and when you factor in the humidity it will feel like it’s around 105 degrees.

Scattered showers and storms will develop in the afternoon and evening. Heavy rain, frequent lightning and gusty wind is possible in any storm.

Storm coverage will remain widespread on Tuesday with highs near 90 degrees.

Regarding the drought, the latest drought monitor reflects improvement across our area. Several areas have been downgraded to a moderate and severe drought which reflects the rainfall we saw over the past week.

While we are still in a deficit, rainfall will once again lead to more improvement in the next outlook.

TONIGHT: Partly Cloudy. An Isolated Storm Early. Low 77.

MONDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 96, Low 76.

TUESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 76.

WEDNESDAY: Partly Cloudy. Isolated Rain & Storms. High 91, Low 75.

THURSDAY: Partly Cloudy. Mainly Dry. High 91, Low 75.

FRIDAY: Partly Cloudy. Mainly Dry. High 93, Low 76.

The accident occurred around 6 a.m. in Ras Tanura, and everyone killed was a Saudi national, the statement said. An investigation was opened into the cause of the crash.

The helicopter belonged to Aramco, which is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia.

Aramco recently has had to scramble as the Iran war disrupted oil supplies and raised prices. The company has said it successfully shifted some oil exports to a pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted as Iran asserted control over the waterway.

In the days since Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under the concrete mass in La Guaira state, one of the hardest-hit areas.

Then on Sunday came a burst of movement. A pair of dust-coated legs was pulled out of a hole by rescue teams from Virginia, France and Venezuela.

Teams gently carried the man from the structure where he had been trapped for four days, his body slack but still gripping his phone, onto a black tarp and administered an IV.

Then came his young son, pulled shirtless and almost unresponsive over a pack of hard-hat clad rescue workers with the words “Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue” emblazoned on the backs.

“Slow, slow, gentle, gentle,” chanted rescue teams in a mix of Spanish and English, as they passed the father and son through a crowd of onlookers into a nearby ambulance.

The teams burst out into applause days into search and rescue efforts, at a time that hope of finding survivors was dimming.

Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez and Matías Delacroix were among the throng of people who witnessed the rescue.

On Sunday, Arraez said they were scouring the La Guaira region “trying to see if we can see any miracles” when they found the U.S. rescue teams and local civilians calmly working to pull the father and son out of the building.

“At this stage many begin to lose hope. You see that in their faces,” Arraez said, as helicopters flew overhead. “When somebody makes it out alive, this father and son. It’s more than a glimpse, it’s real hope for people.”

The one-two punch of the earthquakes has been the greatest natural disaster the South American nation has faced in decades.

Authorities reported 1,450 people were dead on Sunday, with thousands more injured and many more missing.

The first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.

But small moments of optimism, solidarity and humanity like this have cut through almost overwhelming grief.

Venezuelan firefighters poured water into the mouth of a dust-covered dog peeking its head through cracks in the concrete.

After being trapped for 70 hours, one woman sat up on a stretcher, grinning and waving at cheering crowds as she was loaded on a gurney into an ambulance.

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Associated Press photojournalist Matías Delacroix contributed to this report.