Through the first two games of the season, the returns on Hunter have been underwhelming. Is he still the player who general manager James Gladstone famously said could elevate the sport itself, or is the team still trying to figure out how to use him?

Hunter has been invisible on offense. On defense, Hunter has played 62 snaps at his cornerback position and made five tackles. The Jaguars have rotated heavily at corner with Hunter, Buster Brown and Jarrian Jones. But the questions are naturally flowing about the impact of the two-way star whom Jacksonville traded up to No. 2 in the 2025 draft to select the unicorn Heisman Trophy winner who was elite as a receiver and as a cornerback.

“Anytime you struggle, offensively specifically, you look at the totality of it all and Travis is a big part of that,” said Jaguars head coach Liam Coen. “We’re looking at continuing to find different ways to get him involved. You’re also looking at the other side of the ball and looking at are we batting here on defense in terms of all that stuff. The missed assignments, communication. I thought he did a nice job, throughout the course of the week and we’re going to look at giving him some more this week.”

Hunter has logged just 11 offensive snaps (seven against the Broncos, four against the Browns) this year. Hunter has one catch for 8 yards and a rush for 3 yards. Are the Jaguars trying to bring Hunter back slowly from his 2025 knee surgery or has he not earned more reps than that? Hunter had a career-high 101 yards and a touchdown in a Week 7 game against the Rams last year in his final game before a season-ending injury. With receiver Brian Thomas Jr. struggling again, could Jacksonville push Hunter into a larger role on offense?

“I think that’s still evolving and one of those things that we’re trying to find, whether it’s Travis or any of our offensive guys, what’s the best way to use those guys and get the best 11 on the field given the situation,” offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said.

Discussion

At 900 PM GMT (2100 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Fay was located near latitude 29.8 North, longitude 41.8 West. Fay is moving toward the west near 6 mph (9 km/h). A generally westward motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected over the next few days.

Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph (85 km/h) with higher gusts. Some strengthening is possible overnight before weakening likely commences by Friday afternoon.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles (130 km) from the center.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1005 mb (29.68 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

Pettit's alma mater, LSU, announced Thursday that he died a day earlier. The university did not provide a cause of death.

Pettit was an All-American at LSU before going on to the NBA, where he was an All-Star for each of his 11 seasons, all with the Hawks. He led them to the 1958 championship over the mighty Boston Celtics, the Hawks’ lone title.

He was also the NBA MVP in 1959 and was the MVP of the All-Star game four times, an achievement matched only by Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant.

Pettit was a force at a time when the NBA featured the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor. But it was also before a time when the NBA was widely seen on television, and Pettit — playing in a smaller market — was denied a larger audience.

At 6-foot-9 and 205 pounds and with a deeply receding hairline, Pettit was a physical presence at power forward, before such a position became part of basketball’s vocabulary. He rarely missed a game. He also played center and was one of the first big men who did not play solely with his back to the basket.

Pettit was the Rookie of the Year in 1955, the last year the Hawks played in Milwaukee before moving to St. Louis.

He captured the MVP the next season, leading the league in scoring at 25.7 points a game. He also was the NBA’s scoring leader in 1959 at 29.2 points.

He retired after the 1964-65 season with career averages of 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds. At that time, he was the NBA’s career leader in points (20,880) and second in rebounds (12,849).

He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1970.

“Lean, graceful, and always well-conditioned, Bob Pettit's physical build made him one of the first big men to play facing the basket,” reads Pettit’s biographical profile at the Hall of Fame. “But Pettit's resolve set him apart from his peers; he simply would not be outworked.”

Robert Lee Pettit Jr. was born on Dec. 12, 1932, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His father worked in law enforcement and served as East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff. Pettit was a late bloomer in basketball, not making the Baton Rouge High School varsity until his junior season.

As a senior, he led Baton Rouge to a state championship and wound up with more than a dozen college offers. He chose to stay home and starred at LSU as a sophomore, an era when players could not join the varsity until then.

He led the Southeastern Conference in scoring all three of his seasons, with averages of 25.5 points as a sophomore, 24.9 as a junior and 31.4 as a senior.

Pettit is one of only three LSU players — Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal the others — to earn a place in the Hall of Fame. Bronze statues of Pettit and O’Neal stand outside LSU’s home arena, the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. His No. 50 is retired by LSU, his No. 9 by the Atlanta Hawks.

Pettit’s misfortune was that most of his career coincided with a run of Celtics championships that remains one of the most dominant runs in American pro sports history.

Pettit was two victories short of being a three-time NBA champion. Pettit’s Hawks advanced to the finals four times, all against Boston, twice losing in seven games.

The first meeting, won by Boston in 1957, came down to double overtime of Game 7. The second ended with a championship for the Hawks, interrupting Boston’s run of nine titles in 10 seasons. The Hawks also dropped NBA Finals matchups with the Celtics in 1960 (in seven games) and 1961 (in five).

Pettit retired to his native Baton Rouge after leaving basketball and worked in banking and financial consulting. He was a regular at LSU and New Orleans Pelicans games in recent years.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Heavy rains from powerful Hurricane Polo could cause life-threatening flooding and landslides in Mexico, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. In places like the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, seawater swept through homes Thursday and left wooden planks and furniture strewn on the streets.

Polo has gone back and forth between Category 4 and 5, both major-hurricane strength. The strongest winds were expected to remain offshore as the storm’s center skirts the coast before moving out to sea.

Far off the southern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island, Tropical Storm Nolo was gathering strength and forecasters expect it to become a hurricane soon. Hawaii is likely to see heavy rains starting on Thursday and winds reaching hurricane levels by early Saturday. Nolo could dump more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of rain across islands still recovering from a string of storms.

The series of hurricanes comes as the weather phenomenon El Niño prompts major environmental shifts across the world, fueling drought in some areas and flooding in others. El Niño traditionally dampens the Atlantic hurricane season, while it tends to rev up tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific with moist air and little wind shear.

Hawaii has been battered this year by major flooding in the spring, an earthquake and two other hurricanes just since mid-August.

“In my 20 years of experience here, I’ve never seen three hurricane watches for the islands in the same year,” said John Bravender of the National Weather Service in Honolulu.

Hurricane Polo could trigger flooding and mudslides in Mexico

Mexican authorities were opening shelters and clearing people from beaches, while coastal residents tried to protect businesses from getting swept away. People in high-risk areas were being evacuated.

Much of the worry from locals comes from hurricanes in past years that devastated cities along the Pacific coast. Hurricane Otis in 2023 unexpectedly plunged Acapulco into turmoil for weeks.

“So many people said it wouldn’t happen and then it did. After that, you’re left on edge,” said Gonzalo Ramírez, a bartender in the city.

Guerrero state was particularly at risk of flooding and mudslides, the hurricane center said. Tropical-storm-force winds stretched up to 125 miles (201 kilometers) from the eye of the storm. After heading away from land, Polo was forecast to hook back toward Mexico's coast farther north on Saturday.

The hurricane posed the biggest threat to the rural and mountainous coast of Michoacan and Guerrero, which is scattered with small tourist towns and ports. Much of the area is marked by poverty and residents routinely complain they are left to fend for themselves during natural disasters.

Mexican authorities have deployed 15,000 security personnel across the coast and suspended schools as a precaution. Authorities didn’t immediately say how many people had been evacuated.

Nolo could hit Hawaii as a hurricane as soon as Friday

Forecasters said Tropical Storm Nolo might grow into a major hurricane and could drop 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain on the Big Island, with even higher amounts possible through Saturday.

The island of Maui could also be hit with life-threatening floods and mudslides, the hurricane center said.

While the Big Island is expected to bear the brunt of the storm, its full path remains uncertain, according to Bravender, the weather service's warning coordination meteorologist in Hawaii.

Most concerning, he said Thursday, is that the heaviest rain is likely to fall over the same southeastern region of the Big Island hit in August by Hurricane Lala and where grounds are still wet from additional precipitation.

“There are several communities that were isolated, flooded, roads that were washed out,” he said. “It’s that same area that is most under threat,” Bravender said.

Hawaii officials told residents to put together emergency kits and the governor issued an emergency proclamation, activating more than 230 Hawaii National Guard members. Schools were closed for the rest of the week.

Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, said crews that had been helping restore power in Kauai after this month’s Hurricane Lowell would return to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island in preparation for the coming storm.

Odalys and Fay are not near land

A third storm in the Pacific, Hurricane Odalys, was centered far from land roughly 1,110 miles (1,785 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

In the northern Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Fay re-formed early Thursday, the U.S. hurricane center said. It was nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) west-southwest of the Azores.

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Aoun Angueira reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Hallie Golden in Seattle and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

The board reviewed the case involving Tipsy Bar and Grill during a meeting Thursday, nearly three months after city inspectors posted a stop-work order at the business. The order cited a building addition that officials said lacked the proper permits.

Tipsy has remained closed since then, according to people who work near the bar along Edgewood Avenue. But officials said the business could eventually reopen if it meets a series of requirements designed to improve safety and bring the property into compliance.

The board’s case involves Tipsy Bar & Grill, Tipsy Bar & Grill 1 Inc. and/or 243 Edgewood Ave. South, LLC, which owns or is associated with the property at 243 Edgewood Ave. S.

A nearby business owner, who asked not to be identified, said the closure has meant less cleanup for surrounding businesses.

“We don’t have to clean up anymore,” the business owner said.

The owner said the problems previously extended beyond Tipsy’s property, particularly on weekend nights.

“I pick up liquor bottles. I pick up needles. I pick up condoms. I’ll pick up all kinds of trash on both sides of the road,” the owner said.

The business owner also described trash along the I-10 and Edgewood Avenue area.

The concerns came after a series of incidents and complaints connected to the bar and surrounding area, including shootings, attempted murder cases, burglaries, crashes and allegations of alcohol being served after hours.

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Lt. Douglas Molina, who works in community engagement, said the location had generated dozens of calls for service.

“Last year, it was 65 in 25, and we’re already at 43 this year, probably closing, said Molina.

In June, JSO’s Vice Unit cleared Tipsy during an early-morning raid tied to alleged after-hours alcohol sales. JSO said several employees received Notices to Appear for allegedly selling or dispensing alcoholic beverages after hours, according to a previous News4JAX report.

City inspectors also posted a stop-work order after identifying an unpermitted building addition. The owner did not respond to News4JAX’s request for comment at the time.

Molina said Tipsy’s representatives are now working toward reopening while following requirements established through the nuisance-abatement process.

“Now they’re in the process of working to open back up,” Molina said. “And what we do with the Sheriff’s Office is ensure that they’re following the guidelines that we establish under the Public Nuisance Abatement Board.”

The goal, Molina said, is to protect people who visit the business and those who live and work nearby.

“To ensure that the safety of the people who come there and the people around the establishment is safe,” he said.

During Thursday’s meeting, city leaders, JSO representatives, Tipsy’s property manager and the business’s attorney presented information about the property and discussed ways it could improve inside and outside.

Tyrona E. Clark-Murray, the city council representative for District 9, said she is not opposed to the business reopening if it can operate safely, but she is not encouraged by a reopening without meaningful changes.

“I’m not encouraged to have them reopen if they cannot operate safely,” Murray said.

Murray said Jacksonville needs safe places for people to gather and enjoy themselves.

“Here in Jacksonville, we’ve got to learn how to have a good time and gather together, and everyone goes home the same way they came,” she said.

She also said she has met with homeowners near Tipsy and is working with JSO to address their concerns about crime in the area.

“I also want the homeowners that are in proximity to Tipsy to know that once again I met with them and I’m acting on their concerns and I am doing my very best working with JSO to help bring crime down in District 9,” Murray said.

The board and JSO said Tipsy must comply with long-term requirements before reopening. Those requirements include passing code-enforcement inspections and securing the necessary city licenses and approvals.

Xi was making his first state visit to the U.S. in 11 years, and the geopolitical rivals had a long list of thorny subjects before them, including the risks of unchecked artificial intelligence, Taiwan, trade tensions over tariffs and the war in Iran, a country with which Beijing has close economic ties.

But Trump made time for a tour of his White House projects. After 90 minutes in the Oval Office, he walked his Chinese counterpart out to the South Lawn, where his chopper had been parked in advance on the new granite landing area.

As the leaders approached, a Marine opened the door and saluted as Trump and Xi climbed aboard with a small group of aides and translators. They looked around and chatted with the pilots for several minutes, though the aircraft never took off.

Trump also spent time gesturing toward the ballroom he is building where the East Wing once stood. Xi peered at two hulking concrete towers under construction as Trump intently watched Xi’s face while he spoke about the project, out of earshot of a group reporters summoned for the occasion.

Trump says Xi ‘loves good granite’

The president's attempts to impress Xi come as he's built his party's midterm election messaging strategy around slamming Democrats as “communists.”

Trump has devoted an increasingly large portion of his second term to building projects around the White House and greater Washington. He has spent weeks saying crews were scrambling to finish the helipad in time for the Chinese leader’s visit and lamenting that the ballroom wouldn't be done.

“We had a great meeting and he has great interest in granite,” Trump said after giving Xi a first-hand look.

"He’s an expert on stone, aside from many other things -- and he loves good granite,” he said.

Trump gestured with relish and pointed to the large letters spelling out the “Seal of the President of the United States” on its surface. He enthusiastically touched Xi’s arm repeatedly, and China’s leader even returned the gesture a single time, reaching to tap Trump back once.

During Xi's visit, the president didn't miss the chance to brag about the photos he's hung inside the West Wing, images of Trump around the world, framed in gold.

Trump showed Xi a picture of the two of them taken when the U.S. president visited Beijing in May, according to a social media video posted by a White House aide.

“Who is that? I don’t recognize him!” Trump joked. “That’s great,” Trump said in the video. “We have a lot of respect for you. We have this up. We’ve had that up for a year. A lot of respect,” Trump said.

Trump also showed Xi the wall-mounted copy of the Declaration of Independence he had installed in the Oval Office, according to a handout image released by the Chinese Embassy.

Trump also gives Xi a glimpse of his autopen gag

Trump's tour started even before their Oval Office session, when Trump walked Xi past a row of presidential portraits Trump has installed along the colonnade between the White House residence and the West Wing — pausing to gesture grandly at his own picture.

There are two portraits of Trump, one for each of his terms. Between them, instead of a picture of President Joe Biden, Trump has hung a depiction of an autopen signing his Democratic predecessor's name — a reference to Trump’s frequent allegation that Biden was not up to the job by the end of his term in office.

An aide's video showed Trump pointing to the three images, saying, “Trump, and then Trump, and this is the autopen,” as Xi laughed.

“It’s Biden,” Trump said, slapping Xi on the arm.

Fernandina Beach voters will also choose a new mayor, between two current commissioners: Genece Minshew and Timothy Poynter. With only two candidates qualified, that race will only appear on the general election ballot in November.

In addition, in the primary, Fernandina Beach overwhelmingly approved a citizen initiative ordinance regarding the city’s paid parking program. The program, which started in February, charged drivers $2 per hour in some parts of downtown Fernandina Beach. Because the ordinance passed, the city would have been required to seek approval from voters in order to implement parking. However, the day after the election, the city commission voted to terminate its agreement with the parking management company as soon as possible. Under those terms, November 18, 2026 was set as the final day of the paid parking program.

News4JAX sent a questionnaire to each candidate asking about their background and their views on several issues. Scroll down to read the responses of those seeking your vote in their own words.

Note: Responses are sorted alphabetically and are presented exactly as submitted, with no editing by News4JAX staff.

SEAT 4 CANDIDATES

Scott Inglis

Occupation: Recently Retired as a electric bike mechanic. Served 20 years in the US Navy.

Age: 58

Family: My Wife of 33 years, Lisa Inglis

Education: A. S. Degree, Radiology with Honors, Florida State College at Jacksonville 2017

Political experience: None

What do you see as the top three issues in this race, and how do you plan to address them?

The three things I hear about over and over are trust in City Hall, growth and infrastructure, and how we’re spending taxpayer money.

A lot of people feel like they’re not being heard. Whether it’s paid parking, development, traffic, or major city projects, too many residents believe the decision has already been made before they ever get a chance to speak. That’s got to change.

Growth is coming whether we like it or not, but we can decide whether we stay ahead of it or let it run us over. Roads, drainage, flooding, and public safety have to come first. If we don’t keep up with infrastructure, we’re just handing the next generation a bigger bill.

And finally, I think we owe it to taxpayers to spend their money like it’s our own. Before we talk about raising taxes, we need to know where every dollar is going and whether we’re getting our money’s worth.

How can you help voters in a way that others running for this office cannot?

I’m not going to tell you I’m the only person who cares about this city, because I think everybody running does.

What I bring is a lifetime of solving problems.

I spent 20 years in the Navy fixing equipment that couldn’t afford to fail. Since then I’ve worked as a mechanic, managed volunteers, chaired the Shrimp Festival for the past 3 years, and spent years working with people from every walk of life.

I’ve learned that the best decisions come from asking questions, listening, and doing your homework—not pretending you’re the smartest person in the room.

I’m not looking for a political career. I’m looking for an opportunity to serve the city that’s been home to my wife and me for over 24 years, In fact we met and got married here 33 years ago.

What would you hope to be remembered for accomplishing after serving in this office?

Honestly, I hope people remember that I did exactly what I told them I was going to do.

I’d like people to say I listened, I was accessible, I returned phone calls, and I made decisions based on what was best for Fernandina Beach—not politics and not special interests.

If we leave our infrastructure in better shape, improve trust in City Hall, protect the character of our community, and make government a little more open than when I got there, I’ll feel like I did my job.

Campaign website: www.votescottinglis.com

Campaign social media: Facebook

FERNANDINA BEACH MAYOR

Fernandina Beach’s mayor is elected from among the current members of the city commission. This year, commission members Genece Minshew and Timothy Poynter entered the race.

The candidate getting the most votes in the election will become mayor. The other candidate will become vice mayor.

Each will serve a two-year term, until the next municipal general election.

Attorneys representing the 18-year-old Black college student's family have called for transparency, asking that the grand jury investigative materials and the official autopsy report be publicly released. Crump and his team discussed the contents of the cellphone analysis, even reading a few Snapchat messages out loud, but they did not release a full report of all the messages sent and received in the days leading up to and the day of Wells' death.

The grand jury had access to that information, including 282 pages of Snapchat conversations, when it convened last week, according to the panel's report and Crump. Crump said the forensic examiner was able to track messages received and sent and tie them to the location of Wells' phone from the day before he went missing all the way up to when his family got the phone back.

“The messaging, as I said, was very telling … some of his own friends were concerned about (how) people on Horn Island can be racist,” Crump said Thursday.

Wells' family and their legal team have slammed the grand jury report and have been working to keep the investigation open and active. They've asked for federal authorities to look into the events surrounding Wells' death. His body was found two days after he went with a group of mostly white friends on a boat trip to a barrier island for a July 4 party.

The high-profile death in a Deep South state with a history of racial tension has sparked rampant speculation and suspicion. State and local officials and several of Wells' white friends who had become the target of that speculation had hoped that the grand jury report would quell critics.

Wells' parents and lawyers express suspicions

Wells’ parents and their lawyers voiced suspicions after Wells’ friends left the island without him, saying he wanted to stay behind and talk to a girl. Wells’ phone was on the boat that took him to the island, and his family and their attorneys have expressed doubt that he would choose to stay behind without his phone.

Crump said the last text message sent by Wells was July 3 around 8:30 p.m., but that was not unusual given that he and many teenagers communicate primarily on social media, including Snapchat and Instagram.

Andrew Garrett, the forensic examiner who extracted the contents of Wells' phone, said the GPS and other phone data showed that Wells had opened it with his face while it was on the boat around 2:17 p.m. It was then locked and continued to receive messages as it traveled on the boat, then by car and eventually was picked up by his family.

Garrett also said at the news conference Thursday that some snap messages had been deleted. He did not specify whether the senders deleted those messages on their own phones, but he made clear that he could not ascribe intent to those deletions. There was no evidence presented that suggested someone had unlocked Wells' phone after it left the island and before the family got it back.

The Associated Press sent a message to Crump's team seeking clarification Thursday.

A lawyer who represents some of Wells’ friends who have been the subject of speculation and online hate said it was unclear what new information the cellphone report revealed, reiterating that none of his clients were on the boat carrying Wells’ phone.

“They never had the phone,” attorney Edward Paltzik said of his clients.

The grand jury findings attempt to explicitly clear the friends who left the island without Wells from any wrongdoing, including trying to squash several online rumors.

Lawyers question drowning determination

The grand jury report said the panel found Wells' death to be “consistent with drowning” and found that he had not been in a fight or altercation while on the island.

Crump and Wells' parents questioned how the panel could determine Wells likely drowned, when both the official and independent autopsies said the cause of death could not be determined.

The state's official autopsy report, which Crump's team received late Wednesday, also said Wells' airways and stomach were empty, raising questions about how the grand jury found he had likely drowned.

“What this means is that there is no water in the stomach, there is no water in the lungs and there is no water in the throat,” Wells' family attorney Liza Park said.

Both the official and independent autopsies noted fresh bruising on Wells' head. A witness testified to the grand jury that he saw Wells slip awkwardly off the side of a boat around 3:30 p.m. on July 4, but that Wells continued to socialize after the fall and didn’t appear injured, the report said. The panel said it couldn’t determine whether the fall caused the bruising, but noted it was not a fatal injury.

The government asked for an immediate halt to lower court orders finding that people must have the chance to object before the U.S. government deports them to countries other than their homelands.

The justices allowed the deportation flights to continue when the case came before them last year. Since then, an appeals court has upheld a Boston-based judge’s final ruling that migrants must have a meaningful chance to argue a third-country deportation would put them in danger of persecution or torture.

The order doesn't completely prohibit deportations to third countries, but it adds new requirements. The Trump administration says that creates unworkable delays and has already led to the cancellation of a flight carrying 70 people with criminal convictions to three different countries.

“The order below would again obstruct DHS from efficiently removing aliens ... by inordinately delaying third-country removal for any alien who voices a fear of persecution or torture in that country, no matter how frivolous or belated the claim,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

Thousands of migrants have been sent to third countries when their homelands won't accept them or they can't be returned there, the administration said.

Those third-country governments provide assurances that people won’t be persecuted or tortured, attorneys said.

The lower courts' legal requirements would mean cascading delays and could force the reworking of agreements with foreign countries, attorneys wrote.

James Percival, the Department of Homeland Security's general counsel, said Wednesday on X that 25,000 people in the U.S. illegally have been deported to third countries, calling those deportations “an essential public safety tool.”

The vast majority of the deportees have been sent to Mexico, but under a series of often-secret agreements, the administration has deported thousands of others to more than two dozen countries, from Liberia to Guyana.

Some have found themselves in countries they’d never heard of before their arrivals. Some also face serious safety risks, and are left with little choice except to return to the home countries they were fleeing.

This month, lawyers for two men deported to Equatorial Guinea said they were beaten and held at gunpoint in a hotel-turned-detention center by police who covered their heads with bags.

In his tweet, Percival included a video of Taylor Swift smiling and pointing to her wedding ring as she celebrated a touchdown by her husband, the football player Travis Kelce.

“How my wife looks at me when I tell her we have deported 25,000 illegal aliens to third nations,” Percival wrote.

The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are living in the United States illegally.

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Tim Sullivan contributed to this report from Minneapolis. Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Netanyahu addressed the plenum after days of speeches by world leaders condemning Israel's war in Gaza and accusing him of orchestrating a genocide against the Palestinian people. At times, the Israeli leader, facing a tough race for re-election next month, became emotional and indignant as he lectured his critics, among them New York's mayor.

Netanyahu, his voice rising in emphasis, said attacking Iran “was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make” and denounced as “moral cowards” a mass of delegates who walked out of the hall when he took the podium to speak.

“In defending itself, Israel is also defending many of the countries whose delegates just left this hall,” Netanyahu said. “In fact, I want you to know that many of their leaders even thank us privately for taking out Iran’s nukes.”

When Netanyahu walked to the rostrum, a mix of cheers, boos and mass walkouts erupted. Scores of delegates marched out and a majority of visible seats sat empty afterward. “Order in the hall, please,” General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said repeatedly.

“If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said.

A speech aimed at a domestic audience

Netanyahu's remarks — which at times sounded like a stump speech — were aimed largely at the audience at home as the country prepares for elections on Oct. 27. It was delivered during the evening prime time in Israel and filled with standard talking points used to defend policies in the occupied West Bank and treatment of the Palestinians.

Netanyahu reminded the assembly of the scale of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people.

“This is equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours,” he said, or 16 times the death count of the 9/11 attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead in New York and more in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.

Netanyahu said the attack left Israel with no choice but to hit Hamas hard. Many governments have accused Israel of committing war crimes, and Netanyahu himself faces an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court accusing him of crimes against humanity.

He predicted the fall of Iran's government

While the war in Iran has been inconclusive and caused havoc on the global economy, Netanyahu insisted he had made the right decision.

He thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for taking decisive action against Iran, and predicted Iran’s theocratic government would fall. Trump made a similar assertion at the outset of the war that began nearly seven months ago, but the Iranian government appears to remain firmly in charge.

Netanyahu, known for using visual aids during his General Assembly speeches, at one point held up a pager while reminding the audience of the Sept. 17, 2024, attack in which Israel remotely detonatedthousands of pagers that had been distributed to the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The pager attack wounded more than 3,000 people and killed 12, including two children.

He says reports of settler violence in the West Bank are distorted

Netanyahu dismissed incidents of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as a “handful of young juvenile delinquents” throwing stones, chopping down olive trees and lighting fires.

“I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism,” the prime minister said before accusing foreign leaders and the international press of distorting the scale of violence in the West Bank.

Netanyahu’s government is dominated by settlers and their allies, and has made few arrests in the wave of settler violence.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want both as part of their future state. The Palestinians and most of the international community view the settlements as illegal and as an obstacle to creating a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported more than 1,600 settler attacks this year.

At least 104 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers or soldiers this year, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Health Ministry. Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinians over the same period. This week, a settler was killed and the son of Israel's ambassador to the U.S. badly wounded in separate Palestinian attacks.

Israel is increasingly isolated on the world stage

Netanyahu also accused New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani of spreading lies about Israel and endangering Jewish New Yorkers with his criticism of the country's military actions in Gaza.

Before the prime minister arrived in New York, Mamdani called him a “war criminal” and pushed for his arrest. The mayor has acknowledged that New York does not have the authority to execute an International Criminal Court warrant but urged federal authorities to do so.

In past years, Netanyahu has used his General Assembly speech to both denounce the United Nations as biased and make Israel's case to world leaders. His address is the cornerstone of an abbreviated trip to the United States as Israel has grown increasingly isolated throughout the war in Gaza.

The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping 251. At least 73,922 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's subsequent offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community.

A ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hamas last October halted the heaviest of the fighting and led to the release of the remaining hostages yet further steps have since stalled. Israel maintains control of most of Gaza and continues to carry out airstrikes on Palestinians near military-held zones. Hamas not disarmed or relinquished power and there has been no progress toward reconstruction in the mostly destroyed territory.

Netanyahu has said no Palestinian state will be established while he is Israel’s leader and has argued that the Palestinian Authority is not a partner for peace.

Netanyahu followed the Palestinian president’s remote speech

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the U.N. General Assembly earlier Thursday, delivering prerecorded remarks from his office in Ramallah after the United States denied him a visa to attend the gathering for the second year in a row.

Though world leaders have repeatedly invoked the plight of Palestinians in speeches throughout the week, Abbas urged the international community to take more tangible action against Israel.

“How long will some countries continue to remain silent about Israel, or continue supplying it with weapons that it uses against our people?" Abbas said. “What, then, is the international community waiting for before it acts to protect the Palestinian people?”

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Associated Press reporters Jennifer Peltz and Edith M. Lederer contributed.

Cameron Coverson was arrested on a warrant and charged with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with certain minors, offenses against students by authority figures, traveling to meet a minor to commit unlawful acts and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.

The arrest report says the investigation began after a student reported concerns to the school’s principal. Investigators allege Coverson had an inappropriate relationship with a student over the summer in May and later had inappropriate contact with the student at school.

The report said the nature of the messages turned inappropriate, with what the student told police were “student-teacher roleplay” conversations.

The two met at a park for a sexual interaction on Aug. 1, according to the report. On Sept. 16, the report said, Coverson asked the student to come to his classroom. Video captured only the two walking into the room.

The student told police that while in the classroom, Coverson wanted to talk about what happened over the summer and suggested blocking each other’s numbers.

The report said the student wanted to leave, but Coverson wouldn’t let her go and attempted to force her into the classroom’s closet before she demanded he let her go.

The report also says detectives reviewed messages and conducted a controlled phone call as part of the investigation. During the call, the student expressed frustration to Coverson, stating: “If you want to do something, you could at least wait until like school is over, cause that was really risky.”

Coverson replied, “Okay,” according to the report.

Coverson was arrested without incident near Duval Road and Mission Creek Drive, the report says. He was booked into the Duval County jail.

His arraignment is set for Oct. 14, but according to court documents, Coverson has waived his appearance and pleaded not guilty.

News4JAX reached out to DCPS for comment and is awaiting a reply.

Election officials said the plan is both inadequate and belated after the administration gutted the agency’s election security work last year, prompting the officials to pay for private services to ensure they were prepared for the upcoming elections.

“For them to come in five weeks before the election, yeah, nice effort,” said Nevada's Democratic Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who added that he would have liked to see the federal government provide more funding for cybersecurity, rather than Nevada taxpayers having to pay for it.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had originally promised to release the plan by mid-August as part of the Trump administration's move to kickstart election security assistance after a hiatus. He announced the plan at the same time he threatened election officials for not cooperating with the administration's preferred methods to hunt down noncitizen voting, a phenomenon that research shows is extremely rare.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, has since its founding in 2018 helped warn state and local election officials about potential threats from foreign governments.

But CISA, as it’s known, was largely absent from that role in last year’s elections after the Trump administration dismantled much of its role in election security. The administration cut some 1,000 employees from CISA and slashed $10 million from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials.

CISA has also gone the entirety of Trump’s second term without a Senate-confirmed director, instead cycling through a series of acting leaders.

Plan refers to ‘consistent’ support that many election officials say has been lacking

The 13-page document released Thursday warns of various threats to election security, including software vulnerabilities, hacks of voter registration databases, insider threats and physical security incidents, such as bomb threats that targeted several polling locations in the 2024 elections.

But it affirms that many longstanding election practices can address such threats and says the agency’s goal is “to ensure the American people can trust voting systems and know that physical safety measures will be in place when they go to their assigned polling locations to cast their votes.”

It states that DHS has “consistently supported CISA’s delivery of cybersecurity and physical security services to election officials,” something numerous election officials around the country have said isn't true.

Multiple secretaries of state told The Associated Press that services previously provided by CISA, such as live tabletop exercises and penetration tests to evaluate security of their systems, were not available in the lead-up to this year's midterms.

Minnesota Secretary of State Scott Simon, a Democrat, said in August that his office expects to spend roughly $250,000 on private vendors to conduct penetration testing, which can expose security vulnerabilities and recommend actionable fixes.

Shenna Bellows, the Democratic secretary of state in Maine, told the AP the same month that communications with CISA had been “sporadic and irregular, to say the least.” She said it would be helpful if the Trump administration could restore intelligence briefings that used to be granted to election officials about threats from foreign adversaries, but noted that trust with federal officials had been broken with the cuts to the agency.

Thursday's plan doesn't mention any specific 2026 threats from adversaries like Russia, Iran or China, all of whom have sought to meddle in U.S. elections — either directly through hacking or indirectly through influence campaigns.

Kris Warner, the Republican secretary of state in West Virginia, said Thursday that some of CISA’s assistance to his state had been continual throughout the Trump administration, including no-cost reviews of its public-facing websites for cybersecurity issues.

Warner acknowledged CISA had cut back under the Trump administration but said he views the agency “as a resource and not as a service provider” and said his office had last year hired a departing CISA election security adviser who has helped fill any gaps that may exist.

Report follows August call between CISA and election officials

In early August, two CISA officials — acting director Nick Anderson and assistant director for integrated operations Jim Harrell — joined a National Association of Secretaries of State call attended by a bipartisan group of secretaries of state, according to several election administrators.

The call grew tense when Arizona's Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes voiced his concerns about the withdrawal of federal resources.

Fontes told the AP at the time that he told the CISA officials he didn’t trust them. He said it seemed to him the officials were there “to cover their butts.”

“They even acknowledged on the call that it was too late for them to do anything for 2026,” he said.

Simon said the officials appeared interested in rebuilding relationships and previewing their future plans, which he appreciated. But he said the effort at goodwill came later than election officials needed.

“Secretaries of state have already moved on and sought other partners and other resources for the services that CISA has retreated from over the last year and a half,” Simon said.

In Michigan, a voting rights group has tried to fill the gap

In Michigan, where mail ballots have already been sent out for the Nov. 3 elections, Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie said the state’s relationship with CISA has been “nonexistent” this year despite working together closely in previous election cycles.

“If the federal government wants to be helpful, they can’t do so at the 11th hour,” the Democrat said.

Ashiya Brown, the Michigan state director of the voting rights group All Voting Is Local, agreed. She noted the new plan says CISA has 10 regional directors to support election administrators but still doesn't answer her biggest question.

“Does CISA still have the people and capacity to provide that support when clerks need it?” she asked. “I’m glad CISA has put forward a plan, but what matters now is whether the support described in it reaches local election officials before November.”

CISA has been hiring on its website for new positions, Brown said, but it's unclear whether they are all staffed yet.

Meanwhile, Brown, a former security official with the Michigan Department of State, said her group has hired former CISA employees to help provide training and other support to election clerks and fill the gap.

Edevbie said even without collaboration with CISA, he is confident the state’s elections are secure.

“We are always prepared to defend our elections and to ensure that every voter who is eligible to cast a ballot can do so here in Michigan,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Jessica Hill in Las Vegas and Jacqueline GaNun in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.

But media coverage of Trump’s White House was hardly normal. On a high-profile day when Chinese leader Xi Jinping was visiting Washington and planning to attend a state dinner, no major American network was airing live coverage.

After the White House banned CNN from a rotation of five major U.S. broadcast outlets who take turns shooting and sharing video, the other four — in a show of solidarity — were still declining to participate in the so-called video pool.

The president posted online that TV networks “refused to cover one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years ... because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to “TRUMP.”

It was a chaotic day for the media at the White House and in court.

Initially, in the morning, CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists were denied entry. A Secret Service agent had confiscated their credentials as part of the ban. After the ruling for the outlets in the early hours Thursday, White House operations officials were notified to restore access to the affected reporters, but said they needed time to find, reactivate and deliver their entry badges. The process took over two hours, according to an administration court filing.

In his decision to provisionally lift the ban, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the three outlets’ access. He said they had met the legal thresholds to obtain a temporary restraining order and were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes were revoked without due process.

The ruling did not address CNN's removal from the White House video pool. The White House did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The judge's ruling issued a temporary order

Kelly — whom Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — said the government must have clear standards for conduct that would lead to revoking a press pass. He called the standard of objectionable reporting outlined in letters that the White House sent the outlets “so vague it hardly does the trick.”

The judge also made clear he did not buy the administration’s argument that the news outlets’ reporting endangered national security — and noted that Trump himself had not used that argument in the beginning, focusing solely on what he called negative coverage.

Theodore Boutrous Jr., the news outlets' attorney, said the judge’s quick ruling vindicated the freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law.

“I think we’re going to end up stronger because of this, and this tactic of just attacking the press, attacking individual journalists, is going to be discredited,” Boutrous said in an interview on MS NOW Thursday afternoon. “The law is just clearly on our side here,” he said.

The temporary restraining order — typically designed to preserve the status quo pending a closer review of the case by the court — expires in two weeks. The judge gave both sides until Oct. 5 to file their arguments over whether he should consider issuing a longer-lasting ruling called a preliminary injunction. Kelly said he “intends to rule expeditiously” on the preliminary injunction request.

Attorneys debated access to the White House and any risk to national security

Boutrous argued in the hearing that there was an urgent need for renewed access, saying that the ban caused irreparable harm to the outlets at a time of momentous news events. “We’re at war," he told the judge. "We have world leaders coming to Washington.”

Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik, in his argument, reiterated the administration’s point that the president has the right to choose who gets into the White House.

“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” Velchik said.

In arguing that Trump was not engaging in viewpoint discrimination — the government singling out specific media outlets for the content of what they say or publish — Velchik said the president had criticized other news organizations, but not banned them. He noted, for example, that Trump had called ABC “the worst."

Major networks refrained from covering Trump for the media pool

On Wednesday, after the hearing, the major networks refused to air footage of Trump without assurances that CNN would be permitted back into the video pool.

At Joint Base Andrews, where the president formally welcomed Xi, journalists from Fox News, CBS and NBC were present but not shooting video.

Other television outlets whose crews were present, according to signs on their tripods and cameras, were NewsNation, Newsmax, Right Side Broadcasting Network, One America News and LindellTV.

The Associated Press said it provided video coverage of Trump greeting Xi to its customers, so they could decide whether to broadcast. “We did not stream the coverage on our own platforms, including APNews.com or our YouTube channel,” said an AP spokesman, Patrick Maks.

In an advisory to customers, AP said it would not have independent video coverage of meetings between Trump and Xi. It noted that a U.S. government handout live feed could be accessed on the White House website.

The AP was one of some 50 groups filing an amicus brief ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, urging the court to immediately restore the three outlets’ White House access.

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Golden reported from Seattle, and Kellman from London. AP reporter Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

Douglas Stewart Carter, 71, was sentenced to death in 1985 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, the aunt of a former Provo police chief. The state Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter remains in custody and maintains his innocence.

No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene, but the jury convicted Carter, a Black man, based on a signed confession and two witnesses who said he had bragged about killing Olesen, who was white.

One of Carter's attorneys, Neal Hamilton, urged prosecutors on Thursday to dismiss the charges.

Judge Derek Pullan set a bond hearing for Monday, when Hamilton said he expects his client to be released pending an eight-week trial set to begin next July.

“It's not time to try to save face and continue with a tainted prosecution,” Hamilton said. “They know they don't have a case. The moral obligation is to dismiss.”

Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said in a Wednesday court filing that the state was withdrawing an earlier notice that it intended to seek the death penalty. He said results of a DNA analysis received Tuesday excluded Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and material found on the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.

Gray said the state planned to reexamine its decision to move forward with the case. But the prosecutor added that the new evidence “does not necessarily exonerate Carter of the murder.” Gray noted the handgun used to shoot Olesen was never found and Carter confessed.

Carter argued his signed confession was coerced. The two witnesses he allegedly bragged to — a couple living in the U.S. without legal status — said years later that police and prosecutors offered to pay their rent, coached them to lie in court and threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not implicate Carter.

His defense attorneys also say witnesses saw a white man fleeing the crime scene and that an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen. They allege prosecutors were close to filing charges against the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant asked them not to, so he could continue investigating. Carter was identified as a suspect soon after, the document alleges.

Orla Olesen, who died in 2009, had told police he found his wife dead in their home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.

Leaving their husbands behind at the White House, the first ladies visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art in a display of soft power that united two figures known for fusing style and diplomacy. It was the first public meeting in nearly a decade between the spouses, one a former fashion model and the other a famed soprano.

The first ladies arrived to crowds gathered on sidewalks across from the museum, many waving Chinese and American flags.

Inside the museum, the first ladies toured the Peacock Room, a gilded green, blue and gold dining room that was once housed in a London mansion before opening to the public in Washington in 1923. The room was created by American artist James McNeill Whistler.

They also paused to look at a stone disk from ancient China, along with “Princess from the Land of Porcelain,” an oil painting by Whistler hanging in the Peacock Room and featuring a kimono-clad woman standing and holding a fan. Later, youngsters from Hope Chinese School serenaded the women with renditions of famous Chinese folk songs, “Song and Smile” and “Jasmine Flower.”

First ladies last met in 2017 in Beijing

The meeting drew global attention, featuring two powerful and glamorous women from the world's two biggest economies.

“They definitely add to the grandiosity and the symbolic significance of this trip,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank.

Every interaction between the first ladies was scrutinized for clues about the standing between their countries, Sun said. Also closely watched were their style choices, which are followed in fashion circles. Melania Trump wore a black tweed jacket and skirt from Alexander McQueen, while Peng wore a qipao-style dress with a traditional collar adorned with a silver flower.

Their last public meeting was in 2017, when President Donald Trump stopped in Beijing during a tour of Asia in his first term. During that trip, the first ladies shared tea at the Palace Museum and visited a school where students performed songs and dances. Melania Trump did not attend her husband’s visit to Beijing earlier this year.

Trump and Peng approach their roles differently

Peng, 63, has embraced a more public role than her predecessors, who rarely attended state visits and usually stayed in the background. Melania Trump, who is 56, keeps a lower profile, often preferring to work behind the scenes.

They split off from the White House on Thursday while Donald Trump and Xi Jinping held private talks, touring the museum after a White House welcome ceremony and before a lavish state dinner.

Peng’s last trip to the White House was in 2015, when President Barack Obama hosted Xi. A noted star before her husband's rise, Peng ascended to national fame in the 1980s as a military singer, performing patriotic songs in full dress uniform.

As the children's choir sang on Thursday, Peng quietly mouthed some of the lyrics and later clapped along with the boys and girls. At one point, she turned and shared a laugh with Melania Trump.

Peng is also a public welfare advocate, taking on roles that have little precedent for her position in China. She has been an official antismoking ambassador in China, and in 2011 she was appointed as the World Health Organization goodwill ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

She has been appearing more in public recently following a period in which she was less visible on the global stage because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a cutback in diplomatic trips by her husband.

Asian art museum houses thousands of objects

The Smithsonian's Asian art museum, located along the National Mall, has been a target of the Trump administration’s attempt to eliminate what it sees as liberal ideology from the institution's museums.

The White House last year ordered a review of Smithsonian museums to make sure exhibits “celebrate American exceptionalism” and “remove divisive or partisan narratives.”

The Asian art museum features more than 46,000 objects dating from the Neolithic period to the present, according to its website. It has been part of a broader Smithsonian effort to return stolen or unethically obtained objects to their home countries. Last year, the museum returned fragments of a silk manuscript from China that dated to more than 2,000 years ago and had been looted from a tomb.

In a Fox News Channel interview on Wednesday, Melania Trump said she was taking Peng to the museum to show the “connection with the culture, with us and China.”

When Peng visited the White House in 2015, she joined first lady Michelle Obama at a naming ceremony for a giant panda at the National Zoo. The ceremony also featured songs sung by preschoolers at a local Chinese immersion school. The panda, Bei Bei, was later returned to China in 2019 to enter a breeding program.

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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Didi Tang and Fu Ting contributed to this report.

They will be closely scrutinized at Thursday's state dinner, offering potential clues about where things actually stand between President Donald Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping on the meatier policy matters discussed behind closed doors.

The leaders may have focused on tensions over Taiwan, trade and artificial intelligence during business hours — even as an ongoing, First Amendment fight over press access at the White House unfolded. But afterward, the attention turns to the flashy details of a swanky meal honoring Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, in the White House's East Room.

“Everyone wants to be there,” Trump said during this week's United Nations General Assembly. “It's the hottest ticket in town.”

Asked on Monday night who'd be in attendance, the president responded, “sort of everybody,” adding, “I would say you have the entire tech world, the entire banking world and a lot more.”

The dinner was expected to showcase “the positive vibes surrounding the visit” and indicate that “the president is very focused on signaling warmth and a close personal connection with Xi,” said Edgard Kagan, senior adviser and chair in China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

First lady Melania Trump’s menu features a first course of yellow squash velouté with wild mushrooms, fresh herbs, crispy pancetta and drizzled scallion oil.

After that, guests will get sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted garden eggplant and a sauce verte. Dessert is vanilla crémeux with sour cherry confit and walnut frangipane, as well as ice cream with honey from the White House.

Trump has already sought to one-up Xi after Beijing

The dinner comes after the president took the unusual step of personally greeting Xi and his wife on Wednesday as they arrived at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. Normally, presidents wait for their state visit guests to arrive at the White House itself before offering a formal welcome.

During Thursday's arrival ceremony, Thursday, Trump and Xi reviewed troops with trumpets blaring, with the U.S. president saying, “From the time of my first election in 2016 President Xi and I have forged a friendship.”

Thursday's dinner will include an abundance of technology industry titans, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai of Google, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies.

During his own visit to Beijing in May, Xi treated Trump to a state dinner that unfolded beneath grand chandeliers at the Great Hall of the People. That event included many tech luminaries who are likely to be at the White House this time, such as Tim Cook, formerly Apple's CEO, Musk and Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive.

Trump has since begun referring to the White House ballroom that he’s building as the “Great Hall of the United States” to rival where he dined in China.

“This is a very large hall,” Trump recently said of the Great Hall of the People before adding, “But we’re gonna top it.”

Trump used to decry the pomp he now revels in

In 2015, as then-President Barack Obama was preparing to host Xi for a state visit, Trump — in the midst of his first run for president — criticized all the hubbub.

“Just take them to McDonald’s and go back to the negotiating table,” Trump said then, during a rally in South Carolina. He later conceded on Fox News Channel that Xi might at least be worthy of getting “probably a double-size Big Mac.”

Xi visited Trump in 2017 for the first time. But the White House said the Chinese wanted that meeting to happen at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, viewed as a more relaxed setting that might defuse some of the high expectations of a formal summit in Washington.

A dearth of pageantry didn't mean a lack of extraordinary moments, however, underscoring just how important having China's leader dine with Trump can be.

Later recounting the incident to Fox News Channel, Trump said he sprung a surprise on Xi just after dinner, noting that the U.S. was striking Syria as the pair was having “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it.”

Trump said he told Xi that U.S. forces had “just fired 59 missiles” and that China's president “was eating his cake. And he was silent.”

No. 1 versus No. 2.

Undefeated Mandarin against reigning state champion Raines.

It was a matchup on Friday with a quality and atmosphere that was among the best in Florida. And Mandarin came out swinging.

On the Mustangs’ opening drive, quarterback Knox Annis found Brysen Wright in the endzone to put the Mustangs up 7-0 — an early statement.

But the night flipped fast.

After a well-placed Raines punt pinned Mandarin deep, the Vikings began winning the field-position battle, and the mistakes that can hide in a winning streak started showing up on the scoreboard.

“Miscommunications, penalties, lining up wrong. Just little mistakes that just — it starts to pile up,” Mandarin quarterback Knox Annis said.

Raines took control with a physical run game and a couple of momentum plays — including a third-down deflection off the back of a Mandarin defender that miraculously ended up in the hands of the Vikings and into a touchdown — on the way to a 31–13 win.

So when a team gets set back how does it respond?

Head coach Toby Bullock pointed to how thin the margin can be against elite teams — and why Monday matters more than Friday now.

“I’m expecting our energy to be high,” linebacker Kaden Bryant said. “After that loss, we just move forward.”

Now Mandarin turns the page to a district matchup against Fletcher and a homecoming atmosphere back on their side — a chance to show what they learned, and what kind of team they are when the season doesn’t go perfectly.

“We come back on Monday,” Annis said. “It’s a new day. It’s a new week.”

About the series: Varsity 4’s “Plus 2”

Plus 2 is Varsity 4’s season-long, behind-the-scenes series following the Mandarin Mustangs — the work, the standards, and the moments that define a high school football season, week to week.

Dr. Heidi Overton is currently serving as a White House adviser and has worked on a series of Trump health initiatives, including an executive order last month that called for splitting up and spacing out decades-old childhood vaccinations. Overton, a physician, stood beside Trump in the Oval Office when he falsely remarked that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine could be “quite lethal.”

Senate Health Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, pushed Overton to reject that statement and affirm the safety of FDA-approved vaccines.

“Right now every vaccine that is on the market has been determined to be safe and effective,” including the MMR vaccine, Overton said.

Cassidy has repeatedly tried to extract commitments from Trump health nominees to uphold vaccine standards, including from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., only to see the Republican administration push forward with efforts undermining their use.

“Kennedy gave me guarantees, and he did not keep them," said Cassidy, a Republican. “If the president asks you to do something that goes against those guarantees you give us today, what will you do?”

Overton said she would “follow the statutory requirements” for FDA commissioners and give Trump her best advice. Later in the hearing, Overton declined to explicitly say that Trump was wrong about the MMR vaccine's safety.

“This committee needs to know whether you will be radically honest, whether you will use your authority to stand up for sound science and protect children’s health,” Cassidy said. He didn’t indicate whether he’d support Overton’s nomination or when he might schedule a committee vote on it.

If confirmed, Overton would inherit a raft of other controversial projects at the agency, including a safety review of the nation’s principal abortion drug and new rules that make it easier to sell flavored electronic cigarettes. Both issues were a focus for Republicans and Democrats on the panel.

Overton sidesteps past statements on abortion pill

The FDA approved the abortion pill mifepristone in 2000 and has repeatedly affirmed its safety while broadening access, including allowing it to be sent through the mail. But Kennedy ordered an FDA review of the drug’s safety last year, following calls from anti-abortion groups and lawmakers favoring abortion restrictions.

While working at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, Overton wrote that the FDA decision to allow mail delivery of mifepristone was “dangerous to women,” referring to the practice as “chemical abortion on demand.”

In response to questions from Washington Sen. Patty Murray, Overton sidestepped her personal views on the drug, stating that it “has met the safety and efficacy determinations of the FDA.” Overton said she didn't want to “prejudge” the FDA's ongoing safety review of the pill.

“The FDA has said this is safe,” responded Murray, a Democrat. “We need someone in FDA to make sure this is done by science.”

Republicans on the health committee, including Cassidy, recently published a report suggesting the handful of companies that sell mifepristone may not be complying with rules for overseeing doctors who prescribe the drug.

“If I’m confirmed as commissioner I would be committed to making sure every company is following the law,” Overton told Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana.

Overton’s abortion views could complicate her efforts to win over two moderate Republicans on the panel: Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Both have bucked their party on the issue, supporting federal access to abortion. Collins is currently locked in a tight reelection race in which abortion access is a central issue.

But Collins focused her questions Thursday on a different issue: recent FDA decisions allowing new flavored e-cigarettes onto the market. Under previous administrations, including Trump's first term, the agency had restricted sweet vaping flavors due to their potential appeal to kids.

Overton pointed out that approval of several fruit-flavored vapes had the backing of FDA scientists, who determined the products met the standard of “appropriate for the protection of public health,” by helping adult smokers quit cigarettes.

“They believed that standard was met because so many adult smokers are using flavors preferentially,” Overton said.

To become commissioner, Overton will need a majority of votes from the 21-member health committee, followed by a positive vote from the full Senate.

Under the current administration, leading the agency has involved balancing Trump’s demands for slashing regulations — such as those for vaping products — alongside Kennedy’s interests in scrutinizing vaccines, drugs and food ingredients.

The previous FDA head faced numerous challenges before quitting

Those challenges dogged the tenure of the previous FDA head, Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned in May. Makary's time at the agency was defined by scientific disputes, leadership changes and a string of media stories detailing low morale and internal dysfunction among staffers. The FDA has lost about 20% of its employees to layoffs, buyouts, retirements or resignations since Trump took office.

Overton studied under Makary at Johns Hopkins University, where she received a doctoral degree in clinical research after earning her medical degree at the University of New Mexico.

Like Makary, Overton has no experience running a large bureaucracy, a critical skill for steering the FDA's 16,000 staffers spread across numerous U.S. and international locations.

In financial disclosure forms, Overton reported no investments in healthcare or food companies. That’s a stark contrast to Makary and other recent FDA nominees who have had to divest investments or cut other financial ties with companies regulated by the FDA.

Overton reported $50,000 to $100,000 in student loans.

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

Nor’easter conditions and elevated tides are creating hazardous conditions at beaches across Northeast Florida, and the National Weather Service issued a high surf advisory warning of life-threatening rip currents, minor tidal flooding, and waves expected to persist through Saturday.

News4JAX was on the ground at Jacksonville Beach, where waves reached 4 to 7 feet Thursday — with even larger surf forecast for Friday.

High surf and flooding expected through Saturday

A full harvest moon is contributing to unusually high tides, raising the risk of minor tidal flooding Thursday night and Friday morning. Wind gusts are expected to reach up to 35 mph.

Eddie Reinhold, a surfer, was honest about what the water looked like Thursday.

“Right now it’s just a blown-out mess, a lot of mush — you might get lucky if the current pushes you in the right kind of section,” Reinhold said.

Weather experts are urging swimmers to stay out of the surf zone entirely. Reinhold echoed that warning for anyone without experience.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, stay out of the surf,” he said. “But it’s a good time — there’s people out there surfing, so you just got to be careful.”

Surfers say it’s the best waves all summer

For experienced surfers, the rough weather is a rare opportunity after a quiet summer on the water.

“Just get out there and have fun, enjoy the Florida surf while you can — we don’t have it all summer,” Reinhold said.

Fellow surfer Tristin Mullen described the challenge of paddling out in the conditions.

“Bro, it took me so long to paddle out because it just breaks weird,” Mullen said. “I probably had to duck dive like 20 different times to just get out. But this northeastern weather we’re getting is most definitely making it bigger.”

Fewer crowds, but caution still advised

The rough weather thinned out the usual beach crowd Thursday. Jacksonville Beach resident Jayvee Vegiga said he didn’t mind.

“I like it personally — less people here at the beach, but also a nice cool breeze,” Vegiga said.

Experts encourage surfers to know their limits and avoid surfing alone during the nor’easter. Conditions are expected to begin calming by Sunday.

Authorities in Florida arrested Robert M. Murphy Jr. on Wednesday night, and he was being held Thursday in the Marion County jail on out-of-state fugitive warrants from North Carolina. That came after a Wake County grand jury indicted Murphy on Sept. 14 on nine felony counts of sexual contact under pretext of medical treatment and 23 counts of sexual battery, a misdemeanor.

In a statement Thursday to The Associated Press confirming the indictment, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said the charges were linked to 14 victims who were interviewed by law enforcement officers amid a multiyear investigation.

“This is a big step in a longer process committed to seeking justice on behalf of these victims,” Freeman said. “We commend the hard work of law enforcement and the courage of the victims who have brought us to this point.”

The Marion County Sheriff's Office listed the 32 charges but no additional details on its online database after his arrest, first reported by ESPN.

The case originated with a federal civil lawsuit from a single athlete filed four years ago. That complaint alleged years of misconduct by Murphy, such as improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing.

The case eventually landed in state court in 2025 with 14 former Wolfpack athletes, with that number growing to 31 joining the lawsuit by late January. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in June, citing procedural reasons, while attorneys for the players have appealed.

Jared Hammett and Seth Blum, two Raleigh-based attorneys who have represented Murphy in the civil suits, have denied wrongdoing by their client. They did so again Thursday in a statement to the AP in response to the criminal charges that referenced N.C. State's 2022 statement that campus police had conducted an investigation that year and filed no criminal charges.

“We are very disappointed that the Wake County District Attorney’s office would choose to prosecute based on a changing story," Hammett and Blum said. "Four years ago law enforcement concluded there was not enough to support charges. Apparently, after enough careful editing, someone came up with a story that got a prosecutor’s attention.

"We, as always, believe that when people hear the actual facts of what occurred, Mr. Murphy will be cleared and the truth will be paramount.”

Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented players going back to the original case, told the AP that the number of athletes who have contacted players’ attorneys with similar allegations has grown to 35.

“This is a huge development for the men," Sutton said in a statement about the criminal charges. "They are extremely grateful for (Wake) ADA Melanie Shekita’s dedication and for the assistance of law enforcement in North Carolina and Florida.”

All but two of those 31 athletes were “John Doe” plaintiffs to protect their identity, while two former men’s soccer players were named.

One is Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022 and whose allegations dating to August 2015 were the subject of the N.C. State campus police's initial investigation. The other is one of two athletes who filed their own federal lawsuits in February 2023 and April 2023. The AP typically doesn’t identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless the person has spoken publicly about it, which Locke has done.

The lawsuit with 31 athletes as plaintiffs listed Murphy, who was at N.C. State from 2012-22, among nine defendants named individually. Others are school officials accused of negligence in oversight roles, including former athletic director Debbie Yow and current AD Boo Corrigan.

The judge's June dismissal of the lawsuit cited reasons such as the statute of limitations expiring in claims dating back as early as 2013. It had also cited jurisdictional grounds, stating any complaint should go through the North Carolina Industrial Commission — a state agency that deals with workplace matters because N.C. State is a public university — rather than civil court.

In a statement, N.C. State said it was aware of the criminal charges filed against Murphy.

“Sexual misconduct of any kind is unacceptable,” the university said. “The health and safety of students and student-athletes is paramount to N.C. State Athletics and the university. We are aware of the charges filed by Wake County against Robert Murphy. We will cooperate with law enforcement in this matter. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we cannot comment further at this time.”

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

Reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico have returned to the White House Thursday afternoon, hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s ban of three news outlets. Despite the ruling, the journalists were initially denied access Thursday morning. The back-and-forth was the latest in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

Trump’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration voiced support for the safety of long-established vaccines at a hearing Thursday, even as senators questioned her about the White House’s efforts to upend childhood immunizations. Dr. Heidi Overton is currently serving as a White House adviser and has worked on a series of Trump health initiatives, including an executive order last month that called for splitting up and spacing out decades-old childhood vaccinations.

Here's the latest:

Trump fumes about networks not covering Xi’s White House welcome ceremony

The president posted online that TV networks “refused to cover one of the Biggest and Most Beautiful Events to take place in many years.”

He added, “The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television” but no network covered it “because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to “TRUMP.”

The event actually wasn’t covered because the White House’s five-network television pool rotation has refused to cover Trump’s events after he moved to ban one of its members, CNN, along with MS Now and Politico, from the White House grounds.

A judge issued a temporary order on Thursday allowing the three outlets back at the White House. But the network pool has continued not to cover Trump because CNN hasn’t yet had its place in the pool rotation covering presidential events restored.

Xi and Trump talk about Iran, Russia-Ukraine and North Korea, China says

The two leaders exchanged views on global and regional issues such as the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, according to the official Chinese government readout of the meeting at the White House.

Xi and Trump also confirmed their mutual support for hosting regional meetings in the coming weeks, the statement said.

China is to host the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping in November, and the U.S. is holding this year’s G20 summit in Florida. The statement didn’t say if the leaders will attend each other’s summit.

Xi also said the two leaders decided to build a “constructive strategic and stable China-U.S. relationship.” Such a relationship benefits not only the Chinese and American people, but the people of the world, the statement said.

Trump administration seeks Supreme Court approval for quick deportations

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow continued quick deportations of immigrants to third countries where they have no ties.

The federal government claims these countries have assured the U.S. no harm will come to the deportees. The administration is asking for an immediate halt to lower court orders finding that these people must have the chance to object before the U.S. government deports them to countries other than their homelands.

The justices previously allowed the deportation flights to continue temporarily — when the case came before them last year. Since then, an appeals court has upheld a Boston-based judge’s final ruling that migrants must have a meaningful chance to argue a third-country deportation would put them in danger of persecution or torture.

Who’ll attend the state dinner from Capitol Hill?

Any White House state dinner guest list is shrouded in secrecy until just before the event, but at least one Republican lawmaker is confirmed to be attending Thursday’s state dinner.

At the last Xi dinner in Washington, then-President Barack Obama made some bipartisan outreach, including then-Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and then-Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana, both Republicans, on the guest list.

If past is prologue, it doesn’t seem likely that there will be that kind of cross-party outreach from Trump. During the first state dinner in his second term, honoring King Charles, the lawmakers invited were only Republicans.

Chinese state media: Xi urges talks over Iran and supports a comprehensive deal

In meeting with Trump, Xi said China supports the U.S. and Iran returning to an interim deal that was signed in June in an effort to wind down the war. That’s according to the Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television.

Xi said China hopes the two sides can return to dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible for an eventual, comprehensive deal, including on Iran’s nuclear program.

The interim deal broke down soon after it was signed as the sides traded renewed fire over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for energy shipments. China is Iran’s biggest oil buyer and its largest trading partner.

The Chinese state broadcaster is authorized to release official statements.

International body says it wasn’t invited to observe US election in break from tradition

An international body known for monitoring elections in 57 countries says it has not been invited to observe the U.S. midterm elections, as it has for every federal election there since 2002.

The United States is a founding member of the group, the Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe, which was created during the Cold War to help ease East-West tensions.

Maria Telalian, the director of OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said the office had built a constructive relationship with U.S. authorities and electoral stakeholders over the years. She said the organization regrets not being able to continue that work.

The State Department said: “The United States is one of the world’s oldest constitutional democracies. ODIHR should focus its limited resources on elections where it can have the greatest impact.”

Committee vote for surgeon general nominee delayed

A key Senate committee has delayed a vote on the nomination of Trump’s choice for surgeon general, Dr. Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor.

Saphier’s nomination, which is Trump’s third pick for the role, was expected to move this week out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

However, a committee news release says her nomination vote has been postponed and will not take place this week. A new date has not yet been set.

Meanwhile, the nomination of Chris Klomp to serve as deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has advanced out of the Senate Finance committee — on a 14 to 13 vote. It’s unclear, however, when a full Senate vote will take place on that nomination.

Energy Department to spend $2B to squeeze more electricity from aging power grid

The Energy Department said Thursday that it will spend almost $2 billion to try to squeeze more electricity out of the nation’s aging and stressed power grid.

That announcement comes as the Trump administration steps up efforts to avoid blackouts amid skyrocketing energy demand spurred by artificial intelligence.

Officials say the money will go toward 31 projects across 26 states that are expected to produce enough additional electricity to power 16 million homes. The projects are to use new technologies such as sensors to ensure safe transmission or direct power away from congested or overloaded paths.

The Energy Department says the upgrades could improve power reliability and lower electricity costs for about 100 million Americans. It comes as electricity bills rise faster than inflation in many parts of the U.S.

Israel’s Netanyahu: Attacking Iran was ‘one of the easiest decisions’ he’s ever made

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told world leaders at the United Nations that attacking Iran “was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”

He denounced as “moral cowards” a mass of delegates who walked out of the U.N. General Assembly when he took the podium to speak. When Netanyahu walked to the rostrum, a mix of cheers, boos and mass walkouts erupted.

The Palestinian delegation had called for a mass walkout.

Netanyahu also thanked Trump for taking decisive action against Iran, and he insisted Israel would prevail: “We will continue to win because we have no other choice.”

Xi departs the White House

The Chinese leader left from the North Portico of the White House around 1:30 pm.

Before he climbed into his limo, Xi shook hands with Trump and the men briefly spoke about the meeting they had.

Xi will return later Thursday evening for the state dinner.

Xi says there can be more direct flights between US and China

In his remarks at the White House, Xi said the two countries “may also increase direct flights to facilitate two-way travel and trade.”

The number of direct flights between the U.S. and China fell during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover to the pre-pandemic level.

Xi also said China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. on counternarcotics and law enforcement and that the two militaries “should maintain regular dialogue, and improve mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention.”

Trump and Xi climb aboard presidential helicopter on new White House helipad

“We had a great meeting” Trump said as the leaders approached the helipad with a green presidential helicopter parked on it. Xi said nothing.

Trump could then be seen gesturing as he showed Xi the letters of the helipad’s presidential seal, prompting Xi to nod.

The leaders later climbed aboard the presidential helicopter, which is known as Marine One when the president is aboard. They could be seen talking to the pilots, though what was said was unclear.

Trump and Xi also appeared to point at the sweeping construction site that is Trump’s planned ballroom, which is being built nearby.

Trump has bragged for weeks about rushing to finish the helicopter landing area in time for a visit by the head of China’s Communist Party — setting up his chance to show it off for Xi.

Energy secretary says administration asking refiners to cut exports to bring down diesel prices

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration is asking diesel exporters to voluntarily cut exports while prices are high and supplies are tight.

Wright told reporters after an event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that exporters were told: “‘You gotta put Americans first. Reduce a little bit your exports overseas, put some more diesel into the United States. Let’s grow our diesel inventories, let’s push prices down.’”

Wright said wholesale diesel prices dropped over 15 cents on Wednesday in the U.S. He added, “We need to see more of that diesel staying here to bring immediate relief to American buyers of diesel.”

Wright said the administration is working on other measures to bring down diesel prices and help refiners produce more but he couldn’t discuss those ideas yet.

Trump FDA nominee Heidi Overton voices support for vaccines

The president’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration faced questions Thursday from senators who will vote on her nomination to lead the federal agency.

A physician and top White House adviser, Dr. Heidi Overton has worked on administration health efforts. That included a plan from Trump announced last month to break up longtime combination vaccines for children over safety concerns.

Overton said Thursday that FDA-approved vaccines remain safe and effective. She also responded to questions about FDA’s oversight of the abortion pill and vaping products.

The committee with vote on her nomination later.

In her current role as a domestic policy adviser, Overton also worked on White House health initiatives including the revamped food pyramid. Previously she was an executive at the America First Policy Institute, authoring papers critical of abortion and transgender care.

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US cybersecurity agency releases its report for the midterms

The agency is laying out potential threats to election systems and listing services it can offer to election officials to protect the vote.

Its report comes just 40 days before Election Day in the midterms and after state election officials have complained that they’ve not been getting the level of cooperation from the agency they’ve had in previous elections.

The Trump administration gutted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s election work last year. It cut some 1,000 employees and slashed $10 million from two cybersecurity initiatives. That forced state and local election officials to pay for private services to ensure they were prepared for this year’s midterms.

CISA, as the agency is known, is housed under the Department of Homeland Security. Since its founding in 2018, it has helped warn state and local election officials about potential threats from foreign governments.

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Human Rights Watch voices low expectations for summit

At least one group has low expectations for what might come out of Trump’s meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping — Human Rights Watch.

“Human rights are not likely to be on the agenda, as both leaders have shown disregard for international human rights norms meant to constrain state power,” said Maya Wang, HRW’s Deputy Asia Director, writing in an emailed statement.

Trump and Xi were cited in HRW’s World Report 2026 as being major factors in imperiling a rules-based international order.

Dozens of people protest against Xi outside the White House

The protesters are waving Taiwanese flags and holding signs calling for religious freedom and an end to what they call dictatorship.

Some wore white T-shirts reading, “End the CCP,” an acronym for the Chinese Communist Party, while others held up a large banner declaring, “The CCP’s crimes against humanity are countless.”

Others held black-and-white photographs of Xi with large red X’s over his face.

Around 200 supporters of the Chinese leader also gathered outside the Waldorf Astoria hotel, where Xi is staying, waving Chinese and American flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome.”

US farmers are watching China’s promises to buy more soybeans

After the previous US-China summit in May, the White House announced that China agreed to buy $17 billion annually in American agricultural products. That was atop China’s earlier commitment in October 2025 to purchase soybeans.

The deal restored an export market for farmers struggling with high fuel and fertilizer prices. But while soybean purchases have doubled since last year, China had only bought $3.9 billion worth of other U.S. agricultural products in the first seven months of 2026, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

That rate is only slightly higher than during the trade war in 2025, and it’s unclear if China will reach the committed level by the end of the year. The USDA forecasts that China will purchase $21.5 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products in the fiscal year starting in October.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters back at White House after judge intervenes

Reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico have returned to the White House, hours after a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s ban of three news outlets.

The judge said early Thursday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored.

Early Thursday afternoon, CNN and MS NOW journalists were back at the White House after the latest back-and-forth in an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

The president announced Friday he was banning the outlets, assailing what he called “fake news.” The outlets argued they were singled out over the content of their coverage.

White House Press Operations Director Micah Stopperich wrote in a court filing that officials were notified at 7:10 a.m. Thursday to restore access and the reporters got their badges back shortly after 10 a.m. once the Secret Service located and reactivated them.

US government pays for TV ad featuring Trump’s midterm messaging

An ad featuring images of President Donald Trump and saying America will never be a communist country looks like a typical Republican campaign advertisement, except that at the end, a bit of text says “paid for by the U.S. government.”

According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the advertisement cost $14,000 and it ran during conservative shows on Fox News and Newsmax.

It’s not clear what part of the U.S. government paid for the spot. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment. Neither did Fox News or Newsmax.

The advertisement doesn’t say who voters should support in the midterms, but it meshes with campaign messaging from Trump and other Republicans, particularly during the party’s unusual convention in Dallas earlier this month.

Trump presented a military review that was smaller in scale but had a story to tell

The White House staged a military review in the Rose Garden that was smaller in scale compared to the troop review Xi prepared for Trump in May.

But Trump had something special: a colonial band in celebration of the 250 years of America.

Twelve marines later performed rifling tossing and formations.

In Beijing, Trump and Xi walked down a red carpet to inspect hundreds of troops in a massive open space in front of the Great Hall of People. The troops later goosestepped in unison before the leaders.

Senate to vote on resolution to halt the Iran war as gas prices upend midterms

Increasingly anxious about the Iran war, senators are set to vote Thursday on a war powers resolution seeking to halt President Trump ’s military action, which has been largely blamed for the spike in fuel prices and become a flashpoint in the midterm election.

The Senate vote, days after Trump’s bombastic address to the United Nations in which he threatened to “annihilate” Iran, is likely to be the last chance for lawmakers to go on record about the war ahead of November. More Republicans are peeling way from the president as the war drags on, a rare slap back to Trump, as they campaign for control of Congress.

“They have been carrying water for this ridiculous and illegal war for months and months and months and not listening to their constituents,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, who pushed the war powers resolution forward. “And now they finally are.”

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Trump and Xi do a military review

In the late morning, Trump and Xi participated in a military review in the Rose Garden.

With military band members positioned on the roof of the West Wing, the two leaders and their spouses watched as other musicians dressed in colonial wear and white wigs played. The military review concluded with a flyover of a B-2 bomber and four fighter jets soaring over the White House.

The military review is a customary feature of state visits at the White House, but it’s usually done on the South Lawn.

Before they stepped out onto the Rose Garden for the review, Trump and Xi walked along the colonnade in front of the presidential “walk of fame,” where portraits of all U.S. presidents are displayed. Trump pointed to his own portrait.

Xi confirms 2 pandas will come to Zoo Atlanta in the coming days

The Chinese president announced that as a measure of good faith, China would send two pandas to Zoo Atlanta after Beijing reclaimed four pandas in 2024 as diplomatic tensions between China and the U.S. intensified.

China and the zoo first announced in April that two pandas, male Ping Ping and female Fu Shuang, would be coming to the U.S. as part of a giant panda conservation agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association.

Xi confirmed that “Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people” in “a few days.”

He called the panda loan programs with the U.S. “an envoy of friendship.”

Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.

Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun returned from Zoo Atlanta to China in 2024. The National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China in 2023, and other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed.

China and the US must ensure AI is under human control, Xi says

Xi touched on artificial intelligence in his opening remarks, saying the two superpowers have a responsibility to ensure that humans always operate AI.

“We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and ensure that a development of AI is always under human control and serves the well being of the people,” the Chinese leader said.

The two countries’ finance ministers earlier this week met, with the U.S. proposing a new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents between the two nations.

This is the first Trump-Xi meeting at the White House

The U.S. president noted that he and the Chinese leader have met all over the world, including in China and in Palm Beach, Florida, at the president’s club.

But this is actually the first time the two are meeting at the White House proper, Trump noted.

“We have spent time together all over the world,” he said.

During those visits, Xi and Trump have “forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually.”

Trump noted that a lot has changed at the White House since Xi was last there for an Obama-hosted state visit — a nod to his renovation projects.

Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, is among those at the state visit

Her husband is Jared Kushner, one of the president’s two main diplomatic envoys. Their daughter, Arabella, sang for Xi when the Chinese leader visited Mar-a-Lago during Trump’s first term in office.

Others in attendance, according to the seating chart in the Grand Foyer, where Trump and Xi are delivering opening remarks: Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and David Perdue, the U.S. ambassador to China.

Xi state visit underway at the White House

Just after 10 a.m. ET, the official state visit by China’s Xi Jinping was underway.

To the blare of trumpets, Trump and first lady Melania Trump walked out of the White House residence onto the South Lawn, where they were to greet Xi and Madame Peng.

China’s leader and his spouse then walked out of a black vehicle, where they warmly shook hands with the Trumps. Then the four posed for the cameras.

Anti-Beijing and pro-Beijing protesters gather outside the White House ahead of Xi’s arrival

“Down with Xi Jinping,” chanted those condemning Beijing’s brutal policy in Tibet. They also chanted “shame on Xi Jinping.”

Another group has gathered about a block away with banners welcoming the Chinese leader.

The two camps are separated and there has been no direct clash.

Trump-Xi schedule does not include a joint news conference

The presidents of the U.S. and China are scheduled to deliver remarks Thursday morning at the White House and again in the evening as part of a state dinner.

The schedule does not include a news conference and it’s unclear whether Trump and Xi will take questions from either American or Chinese reporters.

In a 2015 meeting, Xi and President Barack Obama held a joint news conference as part of a White House summit. In the Rose Garden, which Trump has since turned into a patio, each president made opening remarks. Then they each answered one question from a U.S. reporter and another from a Chinese reporter before taking additional, nation-specific questions.

The Trump-Xi summit comes as U.S. networks are boycotting White House pool coverage in protest of Trump stripping credentials from MS Now, Politico and CNN.

US-China trade truce welcomed but leaves issues unresolved

Analysts welcomed the extension of the trade truce U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday but said it left unresolved many of the issues that divide the United States and China.

“Agreeing to the extension is positive, but agreement to merely avoid an all-out tariff war for a few months is not a cause for celebration and is probably the minimum necessary to call the summit a success,” said Jeff Moon, a former U.S. diplomat and trade official specializing in China.

“The summit will be heavy on pomp and circumstance and light on substance, so the question is whether (extending the trade truce) will be the principal summit deliverable (or) whether the leaders will also tackle more ambitious goals as well,’’ said Moon, who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.

The national statistics agency, known as INDEC, reported that the share of Argentines living below the poverty line jumped four percentage points from 28.2% in the second half of 2025. Extreme poverty, or indigence, rose from 6.3% to 7.5%.

The reversal comes after Milei repeatedly touted declining poverty as evidence that his free-market economic overhaul was bearing fruit. Poverty surged to nearly 53% in the first half of 2024 after his government’s devaluation of the peso and sweeping spending cuts left most Argentines unable to afford a basket of basic goods. But the rate then fell rapidly as Milei’s austerity drive helped tame inflation, hitting an eight-year low of 28% in the second half of 2025.

Thursday’s report suggests that progress has lost momentum as unemployment edges higher and rising prices squeeze Argentines’ purchasing power, with average salaries still below where they stood in real terms when Milei took office in December 2023. Average per-capita household income rose 11.5% from the previous six months, while the basic basket of goods used to set the poverty line increased nearly 20%, INDEC said.

Roughly 9.7 million people across the 31 urban areas surveyed by INDEC were living below the poverty line, including 2.25 million in extreme poverty. Nearly 45% of children under 15 were poor. The survey covers 30.1 million people living in major urban areas across Argentina, rather than the country’s entire population of 46 million.

Milei inherited triple-digit inflation and chronic fiscal deficits from his populist predecessors and responded with one of the most aggressive austerity programs in Argentina’s recent history, slashing public spending and subsidies while tightening monetary policy. His government argues that fiscal balance is key to stabilizing Argentina's crisis-stricken economy and laying the groundwork for improved living standards.

But the macroeconomic stability Milei has achieved has yet to translate into stronger jobs and growth. Formal private-sector employment has fallen for 13 straight months, while economic activity dropped 2.9% in July from the previous month, INDEC reported Thursday.

“Milei persuaded people that achieving a fiscal surplus required sacrifice, and that by now those sacrifices would be paying off,” said Lucas Romero, a political analyst who heads the polling firm Synopsis Consultores. “Without tangible results — in economic activity, jobs and incomes — it will be difficult to persuade people to keep making sacrifices, especially if the government asks for further austerity.”

Milei’s critics say the poor have paid a high price for Argentina’s economic stability, with cuts to pensions and social assistance accounting for nearly a quarter of his government’s inflation-adjusted spending cuts, according to a September analysis by the Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis, a research organization.

Economy Minister Luis Caputo acknowledged Thursday’s increase on social media but emphasized that poverty remained far below the levels recorded during Milei’s first months in office.

“While poverty and extreme poverty increased compared with the previous semester, both rates remain sharply lower than in the first half of 2024,” he wrote.

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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre contributed to this report.

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

Seiya Suzuki homered for the Cubs (88-71), who assured themselves of one of the NL's three wild card berths.

Chicago also was a wild card last year, when the Cubs beat San Diego in the first round and lost to Milwaukee in a Division Series. The Cubs will be making consecutive postseason appearances for the first time since four straight from 2015-18, which in 2016 included their first championship since 1908.

The Cubs clinched their berth shortly after the White Sox earned their postseason trip with a 9-1 win at Kansas City.

Miami (78-81) was assured its third straight non-winning season.

A favorite to win the NL MVP award, Crow-Armstrong became the seventh 40-40 player, joining a group that includes Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Jose Canseco was the first with the 1988 Oakland Athletics.

Crow-Armstrong hit his 45th homer during Sunday’s 9-1 win at Cincinnati, extending his career high. The 24-year-old drew a leadoff walk from Tyler Phillips in the first inning and swiped second base on the next pitch to Suzuki for his 40th steal in 47 attempts. Fans chanted “MVP” as the Wrigley Field videoboard proclaimed the feat.

Ohtani was the previous player with a 40-40 season, hitting 54 homers and stealing 59 bases for the 2024 Dodgers. Acuña hit 41 homers and swiped 73 bases for Atlanta in 2023. Alfonso Soriano (2006 with Washington), Alex Rodriguez (1998 with Seattle) and Barry Bonds (1996 with San Francisco) are the other 40-40 players.

Matthew Boyd (10-5) allowed one run, five hits and two walks over seven innings, and Ryan Zeferjahn pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save to finish a five-hitter.

Ian Happ tripled off Jack Ralston (0-2) to start the sixth and came home three pitches later on Nico Hoerner’s single, breaking a 1-1 tie.

Miami’s Jakob Marsee had an RBI single in the third and Suzuki hit his 26th homer in the fifth, a drive off Jack Ralston.

Up next

The Marlins return to Miami on Friday to begin a season-ending, three-game series against Atlanta.

The Cubs play a day-night doubleheader Friday at Boston. The opener was shifted to Sunday by Major League Baseball because of a forecast for a storm.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The subpoenas issued this month require the former FBI employees to testify in Fort Pierce, Florida, as the Justice Department pursues an ill-defined theory of a “deep state” conspiracy to deprive Trump of his civil rights and keep him from power.

The investigation so far has been focused largely on f ormer government officials who examined ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, but the subpoenas disclosed Thursday hint at the far-reaching nature of an investigation that is also scrutinizing the FBI's 2022 search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for classified documents.

Justice Department officials are pressing ahead with the investigation after the resignation this month of Joseph diGenova, a Trump ally who had been brought in to help lead the probe that has animated right-wing commentators who have long alleged former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired against the Republican president.

The filing on behalf of the subpoenaed employees tees up a fresh legal question for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed judge who not only dismissed the classified documents prosecution of Trump but also sits in the Fort Pierce courthouse where the Justice Department has centered its yearlong conspiracy probe of Trump's perceived foes.

Cannon last February issued an order blocking the release of a report on the classified documents investigation prepared by special counsel Jack Smith, whose team in 2023 brought dozens of felony charges against the then-Republican candidate, and barring the release of information about the case to non-Justice Department employees.

Now, lawyers for the subpoenaed former employees are asking Cannon to clarify whether that order precludes their clients from being able to testify before the grand jury since they'll be asked about the investigation. Without clarity, they say, they may be forced to decide between being in contempt of the order if they testify, “not providing full, unconstrained testimony" if they choose to comply with the order or invoking their constitutional rights against self-incrimination.

“Specifically, Clients seek to confirm that they can freely discuss non-public information related to their work on the investigation with individuals outside the DOJ, including but not limited to the grand jury and Client's own counsel, without running afoul of the terms of the order,” the lawyers wrote.

The filing reveals new details about the scope of the investigations and negotiations with the government.

Submitted on behalf of a group of current and former agents and analysts who participated in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, the filing says that the FBI in July and August reached out to request voluntary interviews and told the attorneys that grand jury testimony would follow those interviews.

The lawyers say newly issued subpoenas to a small group of witnesses seek testimony next week and the following week. They say the Justice Department has broached the possibility of giving immunity to the witnesses but has not formally offered that yet.

Star Meat Delivery Inc., based in Lucama, North Carolina, is recalling more than 167,000 pounds (75,750 kilograms) of raw pork, beef, and goat nationwide. The USDA said that number could grow as it continues its investigation.

Food produced without inspection may contain undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, or other contaminants, the agency said Tuesday in announcing the recall. So far, there have been no confirmed reports of illnesses or injuries from the meats, according to the USDA.

The meat in question was produced “on various dates” before Sept. 22 and has USDA inspection stickers falsely bearing an establishment number — EST. 1363 — that the agency said “does not have a federal grant of inspection.” However, some packages people purchased may not bear that labeling because retail stores may have applied their own stickers with pricing and safe handling instructions, the agency warned.

The products were shipped to Georgia distributor A&D Foods to send to retail and restaurant locations nationwide.

The USDA said the products should be considered misbranded and unsafe to eat and be discarded or returned to the place of purchase.

The agency said the problem was discovered during the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service’s routine checks. It’s not clear whether anyone has been arrested or criminally charged.

Star Meat Delivery, in a statement posted on its Facebook page Thursday, pushed back at the notion that the inspection stamps on its products were somehow falsified. It said the establishment number in question was “legitimately reserved” as part of the USDA application process while it seeks approval to process and package meat for the Georgia distributor.

That approval process is still underway, Star Meat said, although the meat involved was sourced from a USDA-inspected supplier.

“No other products sold by Star Meat Delivery were mislabeled, and no other products sold by Star Meat Delivery are part of the recall that has been issued,” the company said. “We are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities to finalize the application and are following the recall procedures that have been put into place.”

The USDA didn’t immediately respond to Star Meat's statement.

Recalls triggered by forged inspection stamps are relatively rare, according to Keith Schneider, a food safety professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

“This is someone taking a shortcut,” he said. “Systems are in place to catch these sorts of things and it appears the system worked as intended. You can’t skip inspections.”

Last year, some 32,000 pounds (14,500 kilograms) of meat, including chorizo, pork chops and ribs, produced by Sabrositos Hondurenos, of New Jersey, were recalled after the USDA determined they had fake inspection stickers.

The committee’s inquiry into JTA is being discussed as the City Council approved a resolution allowing JTA to use up to $30 million in local gas-tax revenue to pay down a $20 million line of credit.

Council President Nick Howland said the immediate priority is stabilizing JTA and ensuring residents have reliable transportation.

The resolution allowing JTA to use gas-tax revenue was drafted after the agency announced plans to lay off nearly 200 employees. JTA Interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson told committee members the agency is working to reduce its size and stabilize operations during the next fiscal year.

“We are working to stabilize after having to make some extremely tough decisions,” Ferguson said.

RELATED | Former JTA board member says she warned officials about agency’s financial situation | ‘Hurt and blindsided’: Laid-off JTA employee says employees were given severance packets, escorted out of headquarters

Council members questioned whether projected gas-tax revenue could fluctuate with changes in fuel prices. They also asked whether JTA should focus more on its core transit mission instead of roadway projects.

“Has there been any consideration of JTA focusing in on their core transit issues versus roadway projects?” one council member asked. “Is that a way of re-engineering JTA?”

“That is one of the fundamental considerations before us,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the next phase of the agency’s plan will include a communitywide conversation about Jacksonville’s overall mobility plan, with a focus on providing reliable transportation for residents who depend on public transit the most.

MORE | Skyway Social event canceled amid JTA’s $39 million budget shortfall

Council members also asked whether laid-off employees could be rehired in the future. JTA leaders said the agency has up to two years to bring employees back under its collective bargaining agreement.

The committee’s broader unanswered question is how JTA reached its current financial position. Council member Chris Miller said the crisis may have been developing for years.

“This just didn’t happen overnight,” Miller said. “There were a lot of leaders who had information on where this was headed, and I just hope we’re serious about how we got here.”

Council member Ron Salem said the changes will have a significant effect on residents.

“It’s a huge issue when you’re altering bus routes and furloughing dozens of employees,” Salem said. “That’s serious.”

JTA leaders said several bus routes will be adjusted beginning Nov. 2. The agency said the workforce reduction is expected to save $21.9 million.

For years, Ranch Rescue of Lake City volunteers showed up to the Home Depot to feed a colony of homeless cats that had made the property their home.

They trapped them, spayed, neutered and returned them, vaccinated them and ear-tipped them.

They had a standing agreement with store management that allowed them to keep coming back.

That’s until rescuers say the store came under new management.

“She goes on to the property to feed her cats. And there’s two dead cats laying by the food bowls. And that’s when she ran into this Rachel, she says you’re not welcome on the property. You’re going to be trespassing. And the cats are being trapped and taken to a secure facility,” said Ranch Rescue founder Laura Rister.

Rister says being a TNR cat shows possession in the State of Florida, meaning the animals are considered the feeders’ property.

The rescue was given no information about where the cats were taken or what happened to them.

And now they have some questions.

“Where did the cats go? What is the disposition?” Rister said.

The mystery has prompted a public uproar.

Protesters gathered outside the Home Depot demanding answers.

Thousands of comments flooded social media. And the Humane Society of Lake City released a statement making clear they had nothing to do with the disappearance.

The volunteer who discovered the cats were gone has been especially shaken.

“She’s still throwing up. She’s a schoolteacher. She’s had to call out of school. She is upset,” Rister said.

Not everyone we spoke with shares the same level of concern.

A frequent Home Depot customer told News4JAX that while they aren’t familiar with the details of the situation, they will always stand behind the store.

“I stand with Home Depot. The people here are like family to me,” said Dustin Busscher.

Ranch Rescue says three cats are still believed to be on the property, but say those animals are not in their care, and they want ownership of them.

News4JAX drove around the entire perimeter of the property looking for any sign of the remaining cats.

We found none.

Legal action underway

Ranch Rescue has now secured legal representation, demanding answers about who removed the animals, where they were taken and what happened to them.

News4JAX reached out to Home Depot for comment and did not immediately receive a response.

Ranch Rescue says they will not stop until they have answers about every cat that went missing from that property.

For more information on how to support Ranch Rescue click here.

The S&P 500 finished nearly flat and edged down by less than 0.1% following several turns between losses and gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 161 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite added less than 0.1%.

Stocks have slowed their rally since the S&P 500 climbed to the brink of its all-time high earlier this week as pressure from the bond market has cranked higher.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 5.20% from 5.11% late Wednesday and is back to where it was in 2007. High yields slow the overall economy by making it more expensive to borrow money, while also undercutting prices for stocks and other investments.

Yields climbed through the morning, which pushed stocks downward, until they took a sudden turn lower in the midday hours. The 10-year yield dropped from nearly 5.17% to less than 5.13% in about 20 minutes before ultimately turning higher again.

Yields once again were following the track of oil prices, which have been scattershot because of uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow crude oil to flow freely again from the Middle East.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude in the most actively traded part of the market went from $102 to roughly $99 in a matter of minutes midday Thursday. It later rose to settle at $100.22, up 2.1% from the prior day.

It’s not just worries about expensive oil and inflation that have sent Treasury yields higher. The U.S. economy continues to expand, which also supports yields.

On Thursday, a report showed fewer U.S workers applied for unemployment benefits last week and further strengthened expectations for the economy.

Such numbers could convince the Federal Reserve that the economy can withstand more hikes to short-term interest rates. The Fed raised its main interest rate last week for the first time in three years in hopes of slowing the economy and removing some of the fuel for inflation.

Traders now see better than a coin flip’s chance that the Fed could raise rates twice more by the end of the year, according to data from CME Group.

So far, the solid overall economy has helped U.S. companies continue to deliver strong growth in profits. That in turn has helped their stock prices remain relatively strong despite worries about war, inflation and tariffs.

“The headlines have turned more ominous, but the underlying drivers of growth remain intact,” strategists at Barclays wrote in a report. “As long as AI-related investment, US corporate profitability, and consumer spending continue to beat expectations, the economy and markets seem capable of absorbing tighter central banks and higher rates.”

Stitch Fix became one of the latest U.S. companies late Wednesday to report better quarterly results than analysts expected. But its stock nevertheless tumbled 21.6% after it said “a more challenging consumer environment” could hold back its revenue growth this upcoming fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, fell 3% after reporting a profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts’ expectations.

High yields in the bond market hurt prices for all kinds of stocks, and they often hit hardest on those seen as the most expensive. That puts the target on AI stocks, which soared for years in the frenzy around the technology.

Higher yields also make it more expensive for companies to borrow money to build AI data centers, which could slow their construction and restrain demand for AI chips.

Nvidia slipped 0.4% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

On the winning side of Wall Street was Everpure. The data storage and management company’s stock jumped 11.2% after it stood by its financial forecasts for this fiscal year and said it expects revenue growth to accelerate in the following one.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 1.90 to 7,704.13 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 161.61 to 51,349.98, and the Nasdaq composite rose 3.34 to 26,939.37.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell modestly around much of the world. A drop of 1.2% in Shanghai and gain of 0.8% in Tokyo were two of the bigger moves.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report.

Osiris, a 26-year-old female whale, died on Monday, Chicago's Shedd Aquarium said in a statement. The death comes less than a week after a fourth beluga, named Jelly Bean, died since it was rehomed at Oceanogràfic de València in Spain.

The deaths were sudden and unexpected as their health wavered amid the challenges of adjusting to a new home, according to statements from the aquariums.

Beluga whales are particularly vulnerable to changes in their environment, like climate change, pollution and other sources of stress, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Beluga whales native to the Cook Inlet on Alaska's coast are classified as an endangered species, and their population rapidly declined by nearly 80% from 1979 to 2018.

“When Shedd was asked to help with this rescue, we understood that these animals arrived with significant vulnerabilities and that the outcome for every individual could not be guaranteed,” the Shedd Aquarium said in a statement.

The belugas struggled to adapt to the aquarium

The Shedd Aquarium took in 10 of the 30 belugas and four dolphins stranded at Marineland, an Ontario park that closed years ago and could no longer care for them. The Canadian government signed off on a last-minute agreement to move its last captive whales out of the country earlier this year, saving them from euthanasia.

The belugas came from the Marineland park and zoo in Niagara Falls, Ontario, which announced in early 2023 that it was for sale and closed to the public in late summer 2024. Twenty whales — 19 belugas and one killer whale — had died at Marineland since 2019, according to provincial government data obtained through freedom of information laws and official statements.

The rescued belugas were moved in custom-made slings and temperature-controlled containers, Shedd staff told The Associated Press. Aquarium personnel traveled to Marineland to examine their health records in preparation for the move. They have monitored their health minute-by-minute since they arrived, the aquarium staff said.

Peekachu and Rain died at the Shedd in late August and early September after arriving from Canada. Another beluga that had lived at the aquarium for decades died around the same time.

Osiris was a “whale of clinical concern” since she arrived, according to the aquarium. The whale did not eat as consistently as her fellow animals, which complicated the efforts to keep her well-fed and hydrated, according to the statement.

“Osiris experienced periods of meaningful progress, both nutritionally and socially, but her overall condition remained closely monitored,” the aquarium stated.

Osiris' caretakers noticed sudden changes in her behavior and breathing patterns the morning of her death, according to the aquarium. She was moved to the medical habitat, but “her condition declined rapidly,” and she “passed away despite lifesaving efforts.”

A beluga sent to Spain died suddenly

Jelly Bean, the whale that died at Oceanogràfic de València, also died “suddenly and unexpectedly,” according to José Rafael Serra, a spokesperson for the facility. The whale “experienced feeding difficulties, prompting the veterinary team to intensify her monitoring,” despite periods of improvement, Serra said in an email.

The Spanish aquarium took in two of Marineland's beluga whales, including Jelly Bean. The Georgia Aquarium and SeaWorld locations in San Diego and San Antonio have also accepted whales from the Canadian park.

The two rescued whales at the Georgia Aquarium showed decreased appetites and were examined, but no issues were found, the aquarium said in a social media post Friday. The whales at SeaWorld are in “stable health,” according to AnneMarie Iturrizaga, a spokesperson for the company that owns the parks.

The Shedd Aquarium notified the NOAA of Osiris’ death Monday, according to John Chu, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries. Within 30 days of the whales’ deaths, the aquarium must formally submit their names and causes of death, and on request, provide copies of necropsy reports, Chu said in an email earlier this month.

The Shedd Aquarium said it will conduct necropsies into the whales and will share the results when they are confirmed.

Andrew Trites, the director of the University of British Columbia’s Marine Mammal Research Unit, said it was concerning that the four belugas had died “so shortly after arriving in their new homes."

The belugas were in small, confined spaces on the flights out of Marineland, but that's not out of the ordinary for them, Trites said. The whales often swim in narrow spaces between sheets of ice, and “should be reasonably well adapted to that sort of condition,” he said.

“Four animals have died so shortly after arriving in the new homes, and that’s what stands out to me as being surprising," Trites said.

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This story corrects the name of the agency to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Mayes-Osterman reported from Chicago, and Associated Press reporter Ryan J. Foley contributed. Mayes-Osterman is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

They could still win the AL Central, too. The White Sox began the day one game behind the Cleveland Guardians.

Chicago has three games left at home against the last-place Colorado Rockies, while the Guardians wrap up their series in Boston on Thursday night before flying to Kansas City, where they coincidentally have three left against the Royals. The White Sox win mathematically eliminated Baltimore from postseason contention.

Kyle Teel homered and reached base five times, and five different White Sox drove in runs. David Sandlin (3-2) allowed one run on five hits over six innings against the club that drafted him out of Oklahoma four years ago.

Randy Dobnak (3-5) allowed six runs — four earned — for Kansas City. He also made two errors while retiring just four batters.

Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, reaching 20 in a season for a club-record 10th time.

The first couple of innings summed up what the White Sox have done so masterfully this season: They capitalized on mistakes.

Sam Antonacci opened the game with a single, Teel reached on a bunt when Dobnak's throw was wide of first base, and Miguel Vargas followed with an RBI single. Andrew Benintendi added a sacrifice fly and, after Vargas stole second to get into scoring position, Tristan Peters brought him home with another single to make it 3-0.

More hijinks ensued in the second: Braden Montgomery singled leading off, Dobnak walked Antonacci, then the right-hander threw to nobody covering first base for his second error. That allowed Montgomery to easily score from second.

By the time Dobnak plunked Teel and Vargas added another RBI single, the champagne was probably on ice in the clubhouse.

The White Sox improved to 82-77, a record number of wins for a club coming off three straight 100-loss years. They head home having won four of their last five with their first playoff appearance since 2021 in their pocket and a division title still in their sights.

Up next

The White Sox finish the regular season against the Rockies with RHP Sean Burke (10-7, 3.40 ERA) starting Friday night.

The Royals welcome the Guardians on Friday night with LHP Noah Cameron (9-8, 3.92) on the mound.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Hamas said it was ready to move forward on a Gaza peace agreement, while a top European Union official said only a small amount of the funds needed to rebuild the Gaza Strip has been collected.

Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East. More coverage of the U.N. General Assembly is available here.

Netanyahu calls claims of Gaza genocide the ‘lie of the century’

Allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza are “the biggest lie of the century,” Netanyahu told world leaders in a defiant speech before the U.N. General Assembly.

Netanyahu's appearance in the hall was met with a mix of cheers, boos and mass walkouts. Scores of delegates trooped out and a majority of seats sat empty as he spoke.

“If there are any other moral cowards who have not yet left the hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said.

His voice rising in emphasis, Netanyahu said attacking Iran “was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make” and denounced as “moral cowards” delegates who walked out of the hall.

Abbas addresses UN by video after visa is denied

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was forced to address the U.N. in a prerecorded video after the United States again denied him a visa to attend the General Assembly.

The 90-year-old leader’s popularity at home and relevance abroad have both waned. But in his remarks, Abbas made clear he did not intend to quietly accept being sidelined.

“We will not leave our homeland. We will not accept displacement. And we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf,” Abbas said.

Though world leaders have repeatedly invoked the plight of Palestinians in speeches throughout the week, Abbas urged the international community to take more tangible action against Israel.

It was the second straight year Abbas was denied a visa.

Hamas says it's ready to advance Gaza peace agreement

A Hamas spokesman said the group is ready to move forward with the next steps of a peace agreement, after Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a six-month, $2.45-billion plan for Gaza's reconstruction.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem expressed the Palestinian militant group’s “full readiness to implement the Board of Peace’s roadmap” but made no mention of any disarmament plans.

Israel has said it will not allow reconstruction until Hamas disarms.

Last year, Hamas agreed to a plan that includes disarmament but has since traded accusations with Israel of ceasefire violations and has accused Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to occupy much of Gaza.

A top EU official said only 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) has been raised out of the 71 billion euros ($80.8 billion) that the United Nations, the World Bank and the 27-nation European Union estimate are needed to rebuild Gaza.

Houthis claim attacks on Saudi targets

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed attacks on a “sensitive target” in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and on Aramco oil company facilities in the Saudi port city of Yanbu, but did not provide evidence of those claims.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement that cruise and ballistic missiles and drones were used, but did not specify when. It was the second claim of an attack against the Saudi capital in days.

The rebels also said they fired dozens of missiles and drones on the southwestern Saudi province of Jazan. Saree said that they were in response to the “unjust siege and the launching of aggressive airstrikes” from Saudi territory.

The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims.

The Saudi government and Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comments. A Saudi military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, had said earlier that six ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Arabia ’s Red Sea port of Yanbu and southwestern city of Taif had been intercepted.

At the U.N., Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said he wasn’t worried about a Houthi takeover of parts of Yemen, and that the government is “very capable of defending the territory it controls.”

Asked about the U.S. decision to not get militarily involved against the Houthis, the prince deflected. He also refused to say whether Saudi Arabia would join the Abraham Accords, saying that the full implementation of the Gaza peace plan must happen before anything else.

UN urges access to humanitarian aid for civilians in Yemen

The U.N. pleaded for the fast delivery of humanitarian aid in Yemen as fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces intensifies an already dire humanitarian situation.

U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said people fleeing violence need access to food, shelter and healthcare. Ground fighting, artillery and aerial strikes have killed and wounded at least 125 civilians since the beginning of August. Türk also called for the release of 73 U.N. staffers detained by the Houthis in the past few years.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

This statement is meant to shift the international response to the rise in sea level driven by humans from fragmented initiatives to sustained, coordinated and adequately-funded action. It comes as country after country has lamented the toll of climate change in speeches this week and called for collective action.

Contrarily, U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly calls climate change a hoax, a con job or a scam.

Here are the world leaders in their own words:

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THE QUOTE: “Until recently, the response to climate change was firmly established at the center of the international agenda. This year, however, the topic disappeared from the debates of the G7 and G20, forums that bring together the largest carbon emitters. It is time to resume the offensive and inflict a defeat on denialism. Nature reminds us every day that we live on one planet. The glaciers in the Himalayas are melting. The super El Nino may cause torrential rains, droughts and forest fires in different parts of the globe.”

— Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil

THE SITUATION: Climate change and deforestation threaten the Amazon. A strong El Nino, a cyclic warming of the equatorial Pacific, causes higher temperatures and drier weather in the rainforest, conditions that worsen wildfires.

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THE QUOTE: “What we experienced in Nepal was Himalayan tsunami. But the larger looming threat is even more consequential. It is not only the devastation we mourn today; it is for greater danger that lies ahead if the world continues to look away... I call upon you to treat climate action not as a charity, but as a matter of justice.”

— Shisir Khanal, minister of foreign affairs for Nepal

THE SITUATION: Human-caused global warming thinned glaciers and thawed mountain permafrost, likely helping to destabilize the Himalayan slope that collapsed last month and unleashed catastrophic flooding across Nepal, according to a World Weather Attribution report. More than 1,300 people were killed and over 5,000 remain missing.

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THE QUOTE: “To protect the lives of present and future generations, all states must take serious action to tackle global warming. I believe that climate action and economic growth can go hand-in-hand.”

— Sanae Takaichi, prime minister of Japan

THE SITUATION: Japan is working to protect communities from warming and has pledged to slash emissions, but extreme heat remains a threat in the short term.

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THE QUOTE: “I think this summer was a summer of truth. The recent summer months have been, as we heard from the scientists, the hottest on record, but may be the coolest for the years to come.”

— Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission

THE SITUATION: Europe is heating up twice as fast as the global rate, making it the fastest-warming continent.

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THE QUOTE: “By the end of this century, 12 to 18% of our coastal areas could be submerged by sea level rise, affecting the livelihoods of tens of millions. Climate change has caused loss and damage equivalent to 1% of our GDP. And our food security is at serious risk”

— Tarique Rahman, prime minister of Bangladesh

THE SITUATION: The low-lying geography of Bangladesh makes it one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

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THE QUOTE: “Cabo Verde speaks with the same voice as other countries that are also living the climate crisis every day. For us, climate change is not a distant risk. It is an existential reality affecting our economies, our food and water security, our coastlines and ultimately our people’s future.”

— Francisco Carvalho, prime minister of Cape Verde

THE SITUATION: Cape Verde, like other small island developing states, is grappling with rising sea levels and increasingly powerful storms that erode shorelines, submerge land and threaten homes and livelihoods.

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THE QUOTE: “Nearly a third of the world’s tuna is caught in Pacific waters. And it’s moving east into the high seas. More than a quarter of our people live within a kilometer of the shore. Six of our communities have already moved. Two more are moving now. And half a degree is not a rounding error. For us, it is the difference between adaptation and relocation.”

— Naiqama Lalabalavu, president of Fiji

THE SITUATION: Lalabalavu cited projections that by 2050, the fish available to each Fijian is projected to fall by nearly a quarter, from 41 kilograms (90 pounds) a year to about 31. And more than half of that loss comes from climate change, he said.

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THE QUOTE: “The climate crisis is often referred to as a ‘global group project shared by all 8 billion people on Earth.’ A single country cannot tackle this challenge alone. At the same time, abandoning growth cannot bring everyone on board.”

— Lee Jae Myung, president of Korea

THE SITUATION: The impact of extreme weather worsened by climate change is far-reaching in South Korea. Farmers face higher costs and must use more labor to produce the same or lower yields.

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THE QUOTE: “We live in a fragmented world. Nations are turning inward. Promises are made loudly and kept quietly, if at all. Each country is tempted to say: It is not my storm, not my coastline, not my problem. The ocean does not recognize that thinking. It is one body of water. What warms in one hemisphere breaks upon another. The sea has never been fragmented. Only we are.”

— Philip Davis, prime minister of the Bahamas

THE SITUATION: Like many other countries in the Global South, Bahamas has a lot of debt from warming-connected weather disasters. Hurricane Dorian, the strongest storm to hit the country on record, caused $3.4 billion in damage in 2019.

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THE QUOTE: “For those who have declared climate change a hoax perpetrated by geopolitical opponents, the warnings of recent times cannot have been clearer. Melting glaciers, flash flooding, droughts, record-breaking heatwaves, brush fires, hurricanes and other extreme weather phenomena are unmistakable signals of an overburdened planet. Climate change is the ultimate test of global equity.”

— John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana

THE SITUATION: Ghana faces erratic rainfall, erosion of its coastal towns and accelerating desertification. In June, Mahama said Ghana and coastal West Africa were hit with unprecedented torrential rain that killed 39 people.

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

The airstrikes struck the southern and eastern Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Paktia and Khost, killing four civilians, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

“These shameless acts of aggression and attacks by the Pakistani military regime will be met with an appropriate response,” he said.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced the strikes after officials said Afghanistan’s Taliban forces had fired eight drones and shelled Pakistani border posts after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as a cross-border infiltration attempt by militants.

Tarar also posted on X aerial footage that appeared to show several strikes hitting sprawling compounds in Afghanistan’s Kandahar and Khost provinces. He said the air and drone strikes destroyed militant hideouts and support infrastructure, including drone launch and storage sites, across 10 locations in Taliban-controlled areas. He said the sites were linked to attacks on civilians in Pakistan and the drone incursions on Wednesday.

Mujahid, the Afghan government spokesperson, rejected Pakistan's claims of drone attacks and warned of “consequences” for Pakistan over its airstrikes.

On Monday, Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts.

The escalation threatens mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between Kabul and Islamabad.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing militants to operate from its territory and carry out attacks across the border, an accusation Kabul denies.

“Instead of dismantling these networks and taking credible and verifiable action against those using Afghan territory to perpetrate terrorism against Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban regime has chosen to escalate the situation through hostile drone operations against Pakistan,” Tarar said.

“The strikes were deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate and strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks against Pakistan,” he added.

Pakistani officials also claimed Wednesday that security forces had neutralized eight rudimentary drones launched by the Afghan Taliban before they could enter the northwestern city of Kohat and the border town of Torkham, and that Afghan forces fired mortars and other heavy weapons at Pakistani border posts. Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire targeting Taliban border posts, mortar sites and defensive positions, they said.

The four officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media about the latest flare-up.

Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed in Monday's airstrikes, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died and four others were wounded. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties and Kabul formally protested the attack.

On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed concern about what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan.

Monday’s airstrikes followed a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, that killed six Pakistani security personnel. Days earlier, a suicide bomber struck a mosque inside a police compound in the nearby city of Kohat.

Eight gunmen then stormed the compound, triggering a 20-hour gunbattle that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers. No group had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups. The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have stepped up their attacks on Pakistani security forces, boosted by the Afghan Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. AP writer Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

The New York-based CPJ says it regularly updates its findings as new information comes to light. It removed another three Palestinians from its list because their role as journalists could not be established. It reinstated six cases, including two Israeli journalists killed in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war.

“The accuracy and credibility of CPJ’s research are fundamental to our mission,” CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. “We base the determinations we make solely on whether individuals meet our definitions of who we consider to be a journalist, not an individual’s affiliation or views, nor in response to pressure or intimidation from any government or interest group.”

The group said that even after the review, its figures show that Israeli forces were responsible for “by far the majority of killings of journalists and media workers worldwide since 2023.”

Among those killed during the war was Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who worked for The Associated Press and other outlets. She was killed, along with 21 other people, including rescue workers and other journalists, when Israel carried out a double strike on a Gaza hospital in August 2025.

Israel denies targeting journalists and has said a number of slain journalists were members of Hamas or other armed groups posing as reporters. In some cases, it has provided evidence of such ties that was rejected by their employers.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the revised numbers showed CPJ's “hypocrisy and lack of professionalism in its fact-checking of events on the ground.”

Critics accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists to silence war coverage. Israel has barred foreign reporters from entering Gaza outside of brief military-run visits since the start of the war, while officials at the same time have questioned the credibility of Palestinian journalists inside the territory. CPJ says that it considers all Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza to have been killed in connection with their work since they can do their work anywhere and because they are not allowed to leave the territory.

Journalists are protected under international law

CPJ said obituaries for Hamas and other militants released after the October 2025 ceasefire deal identified fighters who the rights group had previously classified as journalists.

That prompted CPJ to launch an internal review in June and commission an auditor the following month to examine its findings.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, CPJ has removed a total of 27 people from its list of slain journalists after finding that they participated in combat or belonged to a militant group. It removed another nine for other reasons. The updated list also includes a Palestinian journalist killed by a Palestinian militia and four Israelis killed by Hamas.

Journalists are considered civilians under international law regardless of their political views or affiliations, unless they participate in hostilities. Israel says militants posing as journalists have used such protections to collect intelligence and help target Israeli forces.

Hamas and other armed groups operate media outlets, as well as political parties, charities and other civilian institutions alongside their highly secretive armed wings. They also have military media units embedded with fighters that film attacks and release propaganda and hostage videos.

CPJ said it initially did not consider membership in a military media unit alone as proof of engagement in combat, but has since revised its criteria to exclude "anyone with active membership of any military arm of a state or non-state actor." Five of the 19 were removed because of those new criteria, it said.

AP Executive Editor Julie Pace is on the CPJ board.

Israel has faced heavy criticism over the killing of civilians

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 people. The last remaining hostages were released, or their remains were returned, under the ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 74,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its figures but says around half were women and children. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records, and its figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Israel says it only targets militants and takes extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians, blaming their deaths on Hamas because it operates in dense residential areas. Major rights groups and experts have accused Israel of genocide, allegations it vehemently denies.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao provided the information to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a letter dated Tuesday after the New York Democrat inquired last month about the strike group's crew. The Lincoln's extended deployment drew the nation's attention following reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products.

Eight attempts in a strike group of 6,000 sailors over 10 months is actually low, experts say. The Navy reported 356 suicide attempts across the service in 2024, while there were more than 1,500 attempts among all active duty personnel that year, according to the latest annual report.

However, the reported attempts are not the best measure for conditions on the Lincoln and its supporting destroyers, particularly with no other additional details, said Dr. Harold Kudler, a former national lead for mental health services at the Department of Veterans Affairs and a retired VA psychiatrist.

“But something happened to get those families upset. Something happened to raise concerns about the health and well-being of those troops,” Kudler said, referring to media reports that quoted sailors and their families. “It reverberated through the military and reverberated across the country. So we need to understand what that was because we don’t need that to happen again.”

Acting Navy secretary offers information following questions about mental health and hygiene

Gillibrand had asked Cao several questions focused on ship conditions, including about the availability of mental health support and healthy food as well as hygiene. The senator also asked if there were any suicides.

“There have been no suicides on board during this deployment,” Cao wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press and reported earlier by CNN. “Since the beginning of LINCOLN'S deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group — this number includes the LINCOLN crew and Sailors from the carrier wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers, and all embarked aviation squadrons.”

Cao wrote that the carrier deployed with a psychologist, a clinical social worker, a counselor, three behavioral health technicians and a therapy dog.

Cao said the Lincoln maintained adequate food supplies, but because combat operations limited resupply opportunities, meal options were reduced from two to one for a short time. However, he wrote that four nutritionally balanced meals were served daily.

Cao acknowledged delays in scheduled resupply shipments but said the Navy prioritized the delivery of hygiene products and established a rotation to streamline distribution to different squadrons. He also acknowledged piping failures on the carrier early in its deployment as well as temporary issues with desalination units.

Trump had downplayed reports on ship conditions

President Donald Trump had downplayed reports about conditions on the Lincoln, which left its homeport in San Diego in November, arrived in the Middle East in January in support of Iran operations, and spent a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 260 days.

The carrier and some of its supporting ships stopped in Thailand in early September on their way back home to California. The Lincoln’s commanding officer, Capt. Dan Keeler, said then that the ship was heading home soon but may make further supply stops. He declined to say the exact date the strike group was expected back in the U.S.

Last month, Trump called the nearly nine months at sea that the sailors endured a “good period of time” but added that “over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also had said that conditions about the Lincoln were “completely misrepresented.”

Gillibrand slams the Trump administration for ‘deteriorating conditions’ for troops

Gillibrand took aim at Trump and Hegseth in a statement released this week in response to Cao's letter.

“What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as ‘fake news’ turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members," she stated.

“Our troops and their families make immense sacrifices every single day, yet the president dismissed them with open disrespect,” Gillibrand said. "That this administration can find endless taxpayer dollars for bombs, ballrooms, and billionaires, but cannot take care of our service members, is completely unacceptable.”

Extended deployments of carriers wear on service members who are away from home for long periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment. The Navy is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the nearly seven-month-old war.

Kudler, the retired VA psychiatrist, said it can be challenging for troops counting down the days of their deployment to have it extended. He said the Lincoln could be a learning opportunity for the Navy.

“Let’s really do a serious look at what lessons have been learned and what we can do in the future,” he said, “to ensure that these kinds of deployments, if they are necessary, are easier on the service members and the families.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

In Glynn County, most local races were already decided in the primary or primary runoff. There will be one board of education race on the general election ballot for all county voters, and some voters will see an additional board of education race, and a county commission race. There will be other races on the ballot, but with just one candidate.

Glynn County Commission - District 3

This is an open seat, as commissioner Thomas “Wayne” Neal, who has served on the board since 2019, is not seeking re-election. No Democratic candidates qualified for this race. This race only appears on the ballots of voters in District 3.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Dane Hutcheson - Self-employed (Campaign website)

Glynn County Commission - District 4

Incumbent David Sweat is seeking re-election. This race only appears on the ballots of voters in District 4.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• David Sweat - Retired (Campaign Facebook page)

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE

• Cornell Harvey - Retired

Glynn County Board of Education, At-Large Post 1

Incumbent Mike Hulsey is seeking re-election in this race. As this is an at-large post, it will appear on the ballots of all voters in the county.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Mike Hulsey - Retail Manager

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE

• Zarak C. Hasbrouck - Retired

Glynn County Board of Education, District 4

There is no incumbent in this race, as the current District 4 board member is serving on an interim basis and not seeking a full term. This race will only appear on the ballots of those voters in District 4.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Lori Lynn Kozlowski - Realtor

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE

• Craig B. Campbell - Clergy

Joint Water & Sewer Commissioner - At-Large Post 2

Incumbent Clayton Watson was re-elected to this commission that oversees the drinking water supply and wastewater treatment in Glynn County. This is a non-partisan race that will appear on the ballots of all Glynn County voters.

Read about the rest of the races in the general election in our 2026 Georgia Voter’s Guide.

The warning Tuesday came despite no “confirmed information” that kratom contributed to either death, Lafayette County Metro Narcotics said in a news release. The students were found Monday afternoon in different locations, one on campus and the other off campus, a university spokesperson said.

The university on Thursday identified the students as Aidan Hamilton, a freshman from Englewood, Colorado, and Robert Strang, a junior from Atlanta. The school said in a statement that their families "have asked for privacy as they grieve.”

U.S. health officials and states have increasingly scrutinized kratom, an herbal extract that acts as a stimulant at low doses and a sedative at high doses, over the past decade. Kratom is legal at the federal level, but some state and local governments have banned the substance and federal authorities have issued warnings about its risks.

Toxicology reports aren't yet available

Two state agencies were working to expedite toxicology reports for the students, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement Wednesday.

“Mississippi is praying for the families and friends of the two Ole Miss students during this incredibly difficult time,“ Reeves said.

Authorities said they had no evidence the deaths were connected but noted the kratom found at the scenes was sold at a retail store. Officials did not name the store or say whether any criminal charges would be filed.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we encourage everyone to avoid kratom and any other medication or substance that was not prescribed to you or obtained from a trusted, regulated source,” the task force's news release said.

Kratom is extracted from a tree native to Southeast Asia

It is used in capsules, powders and liquids that are often sold in gas stations or smoke shops. Proponents say that in its pure form, kratom is a safe, natural herbal supplement that can help manage pain, anxiety and depression and ease the effects of opioid withdrawal.

Doctors who treat addiction, however, say people can quickly become dependent on it, leading to withdrawal symptoms. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration webpage is blunt: Don’t use it.

The agency says it carries the risk of serious adverse effects, including liver toxicity, seizures and substance use disorder.

In rare cases, it's been associated with deaths, though kratom was usually used in combination with other drugs in those cases, and the contribution of kratom in the deaths is unclear, the agency says on its website.

A trade organization has pushed back

Mac Haddow, with the American Kratom Association, said the FDA and states that have banned kratom are conflating the natural product with synthetic and chemically manipulated ones, which are associated with adverse effects and even deaths.

Haddow, a senior fellow on public policy with the association, said he's heard numerous people tell lawmakers over the years how kratom has improved their lives.

"Some believe it saved their lives because it allowed them to get off of opioids,” he said.

Podcast host Joe Rogan and Cindy Crawford's late son, Presley Gerber, have talked about their experiences using kratom.

Last year, the FDA recommended a ban on products with concentrated levels of 7-hydroxymitragynine, a chemical found in only trace amounts in natural kratom.

Mallory Pullman, managing director at Mississippi Poison Control, said she's seen an increase in such concentrated products in recent years, and consumers may not be able to distinguish them from natural kratom.

“Until you know what product you’re working with, whether it’s kratom or some of these highly concentrated derivatives, you really have to be careful about buying a product and just taking it arbitrarily,” she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Eleven states have banned kratom

Others, including Mississippi, have regulated it, in part by requiring people to be 21 or older to buy it. Both the city of Oxford and Lafayette County, where the University of Mississippi is located, have bans in place.

North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed a bill this month restricting the sale of kratom products after declaring kratom a public health crisis this summer and calling a special legislative session to address it. The state has had 50 deaths associated with kratom since 2019, according to the governor's office.

Despite the bans and restrictions, use of kratom in the U.S. has increased, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and Texas State University.

In a paper published this year, they found kratom use in the U.S. was at an all-time high, with more than 5 million people saying they had used it in their lifetime. The group includes more than 100,000 children ages 12-17.

"Policy changes regarding kratom and 7-OH products are needed in all states if we are serious about protecting our children,” the study's main researcher, Sean McCabe, said in a statement in the University of Michigan News.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed.

“Florida will not allow anyone to steal the vote of Americans at the ballot box,” Uthmeier said. “These defendants swore they were qualified electors, cast ballots in our elections, and later confirmed they were never eligible to vote. Thanks to our Statewide Prosecutors, FDLE, the Florida Department of State, and USCIS, they are being held accountable.”

100+ prosecutions since SB 524

DeSantis says since he signed SB 524 — which established the Office of Election Crimes at the Department of State — there have been more than 100 election fraud-related prosecutions. Officials say more than 50% of those prosecutions began since Uthmeier took office.

“We have prioritized election integrity in Florida, and we have zero tolerance for voter fraud,” DeSantis said. “I was proud to announce that the newly formed Association of State and Local Election Officials will bring together election officials from across the country to improve election administration and restore public trust in our electoral systems. Under the leadership of Cord Byrd and James Uthmeier, we are committed to helping other states replicate the successes we have seen in Florida.”

How the investigations unfolded

The cases began with referrals from the Florida Department of State Office of Election Crimes and county Supervisors of Elections. Immigration-status reviews — including checks of federal databases — flagged registered voters who were not U.S. citizens.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators then obtained voter-registration applications, poll-book signatures or vote-by-mail certificates, and post-election ineligibility notices to verify the crimes. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services played a key role in confirming non-citizen status.

Who was charged

The Office of Statewide Prosecution, working with FDLE, the Florida Department of State Office of Election Crimes, and USCIS, is charging 16 non-citizens who registered by falsely claiming U.S. citizenship and then voted, and four convicted felons who registered and voted while still on probation.

Each charged offense is a third-degree felony. If convicted as charged, most defendants face up to 10 years in the Florida Department of Corrections.

The defendants arrested so far include Alejandro Garcia Villegas, 65, of Lake City, a Mexican national and lawful permanent resident since March 16, 2021. Investigators say he registered on Sept. 20, 2022, falsely affirming he was a U.S. citizen, and voted early in person on Oct. 30, 2024. He later agreed in writing that he is not a U.S. citizen. He is charged with Unqualified Noncitizen Electors Willfully Voting.

Cases span Brevard, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Hillsborough, Lee, Marion, Okeechobee, and Polk counties. The investigation remains active and ongoing, and officials say additional charges and arrests are expected.

In Pierce County, all local races were either uncontested or already decided in the primary or primary runoff. Some may still appear on the general election ballot, but with only one candidate.

Pierce County Commission - Chairman

The incumbent, Neal Bennett, is seeking re-election, and won the Republican primary. No Democrats qualified for this race. Unlike the other two commission races, this is a county-wide election.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Neal Bennett - Retired

Pierce County Commission - District 2

The incumbent, Graham Raley, is not seeking re-election. Jason Christmas won the Republican primary. No Democrats qualified for this race. This race only appears on the ballots of voters in District 2.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Jason Christmas - Retail store manager

Pierce County Commission - District 4

Incumbent David Lowman sought re-election, but lost to Austin Moore in the Republican primary. No Democrats qualified for this race. This race only appears on the ballots of voters in District 4.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Austin Moore - Sales

Read about the rest of the races in the primary in our 2026 Georgia Voter’s Guide.

The Senate tally, 49-50, coming days after Trump's bombastic address to the United Nations in which he threatened to “annihilate” Iran, was likely the last chance for lawmakers to go on record about the war ahead of November. More Republicans are peeling way from the president as the war drags on, a rare slap back to Trump, as they campaign for control of Congress. The Senate outcome fell short, with four GOP senators joining most Democrats in favor of the resolution.

“They have been carrying water for this ridiculous and illegal war for months and months and months and not listening to their constituents,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who pushed the war powers resolution forward.

About half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than when Trump returned to office, according to a new survey from The Associated Press in partnership with KFF. The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters.

"We’ve got to break the cycle,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who joined in voting yes.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky also voted for the resolution to end the war, as they have in many previous tallies, and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voted against.

This was the 14th time the Senate has considered a war powers resolution, since Trump launched the conflict on Feb. 28.

War powers resolutions are largely political statements, without the full force of law, but stand among the sharper tools the House and Senate have to express disapproval of the White House, short of halting funds for Trump's military actions. As resolutions, they do not go to the president's desk for his signature.

As gas prices climb, Republicans start to question the war

Republicans in control of Congress have shied away from directly confronting Trump over the war, now stretching past the seven-month mark. But their unrest is surfacing as stubbornly high gas prices leave voters in a cash crunch back home.

Diesel costs, in particular, have almost doubled, topping $6 a gallon, according to AAA.

Just returning from a swing through Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska stumping for GOP candidates who are suddenly at risk in their elections, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana called on Trump to hold a prime-time address to the nation to explain the Iran war strategy and the end game.

“People are confused about the war and upset about the cost of living,” he said.

But he and others were not yet ready to vote against the war.

“My own view is that the focus right now needs to be on attacking the cost of living issues,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who opposes the war powers resolution and believes the president is acting within his authority to conduct the military action.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries scoffed at the handful of Republicans now trying to distance themselves from what he called Trump's failed economy. “Now all of a sudden they’re waking up,” he said.

Democrats keep pushing war powers votes in Congress

Earlier this month, the House for a third time approved a war powers resolution, this time with seven Republicans joining the Democrats, including two from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zach Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks, where affordability issues among rural voters are dominating the campaigns.

Senators, though, have rarely been able to confront Trump by passing a war powers resolution.

In June, the Senate approved a war powers resolution after four GOP senators joined Democrats, but Republicans abruptly reversed course the next day after Trump berated them during a private lunch over the outcome.

At the time, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, stood up to defend his vote only to end up in a shouting match with Trump. He later switched to oppose the war powers resolution after receiving a personal briefing from the White House.

Thursday's vote was on a resolution that had passed the House in July with GOP support. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who authored the House resolution, said the Senate outcome was "a slap in the face to the millions of American people who want this war to end."

Other options to halt the Iran war

As the war drags on, costing $43.5 billion so far, Congress is also seeking other ways to force Trump to rethink his military strategy in Iran.

Rep. Thomas Massie, the renegade Republican from Kentucky, pushed forward articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth before the GOP leadership abruptly adjourned the House and sent lawmakers home to campaign for the election, avoiding any potential vote on the matter.

Lawmakers also have the power of the purse to curtail military spending, something Republicans have been reluctant to do but Democrats are sure to tackle if they win power in the midterm election. The White House's request for an additional $87.6 billion funding package for the war and other needs has idled in Congress.

First created in the aftermath of the Vietnam War as a way to hold a president accountable for military actions, the war powers act has long posed a test of the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.

While the Constitution says only Congress can declare war, the president as commander-in-chief is also able to engage the military. The war powers act seeks to provide clarity by requiring the president, within 60 days of any such action, to seek approval — or risk disapproval — from Congress.

___

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

Interscope Records announced that Nov. 13 will be the sale date for U2's 16th studio album and released a new track, “Silencio.” “Street of Dreams,” the first song to be taken from the new album, was released in July.

“It’s a messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs," The Edge, the band's guitarist, said in a statement. Added singer Bono: “There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms.”

“Carnaval De Luz” — which translates from Spanish and Portuguese to “Carnival of Light” — is produced by Jacknife Lee, who has been working with U2 since 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.”

The last track on the album is “Torn,” a duet with Parton that a statement describes as “what has sadly turned out to be her last recorded vocal performance.” A representative for Parton confirmed it is her final vocal performance. It was co-written by U2, Parton and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and is described as “a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances.”

The band, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has not been dormant, having dropped two EPs, “Days of Ash” and “Easter Lily,” each with six songs, released for Ash Wednesday and Easter, respectively.

The new album cover has The Edge and Bono joined by drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton walking in a line along a beach, with Bono leading the way in a top hat and black coat, in a clear echo of the Beatles' “Abbey Road” cover.

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AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed to this report.

While Trump has many thorny issues to discuss with the president of America’s biggest economic rival, he focused on his long relationship with Xi as the two gathered with aides for opening remarks before formal talks.

“From the time of my first election in 2016, President Xi and I have forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually, built on mutual respect and the vital interests of our people,” Trump said.

China has resisted the Trump administration's urgings — and economic threats — to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to U.S. terms to end the nearly seven-month war. Xi wants to see Trump permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips. The two sides on Wednesday agreed to extend by two months a one-year trade truce that was set to expire Nov. 10 as they work to find a more durable agreement.

Xi presses Trump on Taiwan

In their private conversation, Xi also urged Trump to “prudently handle the Taiwan issue,” according to the Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.

China has made clear it views Taiwan as the most sensitive issue in the U.S.-China relationship. Beijing considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory and vows to annex the island by force if necessary. The United States is obligated by law to provide Taiwan with sufficient hardware to deter any armed attack from the mainland. The U.S. has said it opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side.

China has repeatedly pressed Washington to permanently halt the arms sales, including when Trump and Xi met in Beijing in May.

After that meeting, Trump said he was holding off on final approval for a record $14 billion arms package that was in the pipeline. He also described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

Chinese president once more invokes the 'Thucydides trap”

Xi was also more pointed than Trump in his public remarks, saying Chinese and American interests are “deeply intertwined” and that the “competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds."

He also reiterated his warning that the U.S. and China must avoid the “ Thucydides trap," referring to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one, the result is often war. Xi offered a similar warning when Trump visited Beijing in May.

“It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses,” Xi added.

Xi also announced that China will invite 100,000 American youth to come to his country for studies and exchanges in the next five years and that China will send two pandas to the zoo in Atlanta. He called the beloved animals an “envoy of friendship" and that they will meet the American people in a “few days."

Xi says China and US should make sure AI is ‘always under human control’

Trump said in a social media post earlier Thursday that artificial intelligence — “superintelligence” as he is trying to rebrand it — will be high on the agenda amid growing global anxiety that the technology will kill jobs or potentially even wipe out humanity.

“I want to leave it exactly where it is,” Trump wrote. “That is China’s position also.”

Xi also touched on AI in his opening comments, saying that the two countries had a responsibility to ensure that humans always operate AI.

“We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good and ensure that a development of AI is always under human control and serves the well being of the people,” the Chinese leader said.

The two countries’ finance ministers met earlier this week, with the U.S. proposing a new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents between the two nations.

Trump rolls out the red carpet for Xi and faces criticism from some White House allies

Trump has made clear he wants to impress Xi with the visit. The Republican president made sure construction of a new helicopter landing pad on the White House's South Lawn was completed before the visit and he met Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on Wednesday evening when they flew into Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.

The White House also arranged for an elaborate military review that the leaders and their spouses observed before the Oval Office talks. Following the military review, first lady Melania Trump accompanied Peng for a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.

After about 90 minutes of talks, the leaders stepped out to the South Lawn so Trump could show off the new White House helipad and give Xi a tour of Marine One, the presidential helicopter. Trump and Xi also appeared to peer at the ballroom construction site from afar. Xi left the White House shortly after the quick tour and is to return in the evening for the state dinner.

“We had a great meeting,” Trump said in a brief exchange with reporters after the tour.

Later, the leaders will dine on sea bass at a black-tie dinner in the White House East Room, featuring red décor and a toast honoring the late President Richard Nixon, whose 1972 trip to China led to the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979 and the parallel severing of formal ties with Taiwan.

Trump's decision to roll out the red carpet for Xi has spurred criticism from lawmakers in both parties and some White House allies.

“Quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would have suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome here in the United States of America based on all of the troubling issues we have with President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

Xi urges US and Iran to return to interim agreement

The two sides also discussed the ongoing conflict in Iran, according to Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television.

Trump has argued to little effect that China, which is far more dependent on Gulf oil than the U.S., has plenty of incentive to use its sway with Tehran to help force an end to the conflict.

But Trump's war of choice has unnerved Beijing, with the government condemning the U.S. and Israeli military action and Xi previously expressing concerns the conflict signaled a return to what he called the “law of the jungle." The U.S. administration has warned China, Tehran's biggest trading partner, not to aid Iran’s military effort.

Xi, during Thursday's talks, said China supports the U.S. and Iran returning to a short-lived interim deal from the summer in an effort to wind down the war, according to CCTV. That agreement broke down soon after it was signed in June as the countries traded renewed fire over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for energy shipments.

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Associated Press writers Bill Barrow, Collin Binkley, Josh Boak, Kevin Freking, Seung Min Kim, Darlene Superville and Will Weissert and AP photographer Jacquelyn Martin contributed to this report.

In Charlton County, all local races were either uncontested or already decided in the primary or primary runoff. Some may still appear on the general election ballot, but with only one candidate. However, voters in the city of Homeland will face a choice in a special election regarding Sunday alcohol sales.

Charlton County Commission - District 1

Incumbent Alphya Benefield is seeking re-election. No Republicans qualified for this race.

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES

• Alphya Benefield - Tax preparer

Charlton County School Board - District 1

Incumbent Deborah Young sought re-election, but lost to Charles Brown in the Democratic primary. No Republicans qualified for this race.

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE

• Charles Brown - Missile mechanic

Charlton County School Board - District 5

There is no incumbent in this race. No Democrats qualified for the election.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• John Lynn Murray - Self-employed

Homeland Special Election

Voters in the city of Homeland will be asked to vote yes or no on a proposal regarding Sunday alcohol sales within city limits, based on the following ballot language:

“Shall the governing authority of the City of Homeland, Georgia be authorized to permit and regulate package sales by retailers of both malt beverages and wine on Sundays between the hours of 12:00 P.M. and 11:30 P.M.?”

Read about the rest of the races in the primary in our 2026 Georgia Voter’s Guide.

In Ware County, all local races were either uncontested or already decided in the primary or primary runoff. Some may still appear on the general election ballot, but with only one candidate. General election voters will face a choice on a county special election for a homestead exemption for residents age 75 or older.

Ware County Commission - District 3

Incumbent Republican Timothy Lucas sought re-election but was disqualified from the race prior to the election. Jonathan Daniell won the Republican primary. No Democrats qualified for this race.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE

• Jonathan Reid Daniell - EMA director

Ware County Board of Education - District 6

Incumbent Brandi Waters was re-elected in this non-partisan race.

Read about the rest of the races in the primary in our 2026 Georgia Voter’s Guide.

Ware County Special Election - Homestead Exemption

Georgia’s House Bill 1566, passed into law earlier this year, led to this question being put on the general election ballot for Ware County voters. It creates a homestead exemption for school district taxes for those Ware County residents age 75 and older.

Voters will be asked to vote yes or no based on the following ballot language:

“Shall the Act be approved which provides a homestead exemption from Ware County school district ad valorem taxes for educational purposes in the amount of the full assessed value of the homestead for residents of that school district who are 75 years of age or older?”

The money will go toward 31 projects across 26 states that are expected to produce more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity — enough to power 16 million homes. The projects will use new technologies such as sensors to measure real-time weather conditions to ensure safe transmission or direct power away from congested paths, the department said.

The upgrades could improve power reliability and lower electricity costs for about 100 million Americans, officials said.

“This is a quick way to lower electricity prices and increase reliability: using fibers that are already in the transmission lines to analyze what’s the temperature out, what’s the wind out, how can we use this transmission line to distribute more power, but safely and only in the right conditions," Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a news conference promoting the grants Thursday at a PPL Corp. facility in Allentown.

The eastern Pennsylvania electric utility says two data centers in its territory came online this year and six more are under construction, with enough other data centers in the advanced planning stages that its peak electric demand could quintuple by 2032.

PPL said it is receiving $71.5 million to modernize an existing high-voltage transmission line across roughly 30 miles in northern Pennsylvania.

The announcement comes amid warnings that AI’s voracious demand for power is threatening to overwhelm U.S. power supplies, as massive new data centers come online faster than new power plants can be built. It also comes as electricity bills rise faster than inflation in many parts of the U.S., blamed in some areas on demand from data centers.

The snowballing opposition to data centers in communities across the country has thrown a wrench into the plans of the world’s richest companies and transformed the midterm election landscape.

Trump continues to stick up for data centers, even as politicians from both major political parties criticize them and many communities try to block them.

In the meantime, Congress and some states are trying to push utilities to use new technology to make grids more efficient, lessening the need to build new power plants.

Julia Selker, the executive director of the WATT Coalition, a trade association for grid-enhancing technologies, said both the projects and the scale of the investment are significant. Utilities in the U.S. are lagging places like Europe in adopting the technologies, despite federal investment in the past to develop and test them.

Wright said that work on the projects should begin right away and that he hoped some efficiencies are in place before this winter to tamp down price spikes when extreme weather sends demand skyrocketing.

He said he didn't know whether the projects would have gotten done without federal funding. Many, he said, had been under consideration before the grants were offered, but the grant recipients hadn't “quite pulled the trigger” on them.

Projects being announced Thursday will involve component enhancements on more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) of transmission lines and technological enhancements across nearly 21,000 miles (34,000 kilometers), the department said.

Projects were prioritized based on those that can be put into operation quickly, officials said. Money for the grants comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law enacted by Congress under then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat. The government's $1.9 billion in funding will be matched by $3.35 billion in cost-share funding from the recipients, the Energy Department said.

Recipients include utilities, cooperatives and four state agencies. The state agencies — in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio and Oklahoma — were the biggest recipients, collectively drawing at a total of $810 million, with the Colorado and Oklahoma projects promising improvements to the wider regional grid.

Trump has vowed to “unleash” the nation's energy sector in his second term, aiming to drive up record-setting domestic oil and gas production, strip away pollution restrictions on power plants and keep expensive coal-fired power plants operating past their retirement dates.

The administration also has pledged nearly $4 billion to buy back offshore wind leases as Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

His administration has pushed to help tech giants build and connect data centers to power plants and high-voltage power lines and convert Cold War-era uranium enrichment plants into data center and power plant complexes.

___

Daly reported from Washington.

A favorite to win the NL MVP award, Crow-Armstrong became the seventh player with at least 40 homers and 40 steals in a season, joining a group that includes Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Jose Canseco was the first with the 1988 Oakland Athletics.

Crow-Armstrong hit his 45th homer during Sunday's 9-1 win at Cincinnati, extending his career high. The 24-year-old drew a leadoff walk from Tyler Phillips in the first inning and swiped second base on the next pitch to Seiya Suzuki for his 40th steal in 47 attempts. Fans chanted “MVP” as the Wrigley Field videoboard proclaimed the feat.

Ohtani was the previous player with a 40-40 season, hitting 54 homers and stealing 59 bases for the 2024 Dodgers. Acuña hit 41 homers and swiped 73 bases for Atlanta in 2023.

Alfonso Soriano (2006 with Washington), Alex Rodriguez (1998 with Seattle) and Barry Bonds (1996 with San Francisco) are the other 40-40 players.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The record to beat for most people grilling simultaneously was 2,220, set in Japan's Ishigaki City in 2023.

The South African hopefuls, who were denied in a failed attempt last year, poured into a sports stadium in the capital, Pretoria, to take up their positions around 500 grilling stations. Organizers said they expected around 3,000 participants.

The strict rules, according to a Guinness World Records adjudicator who watched over the attempt, were: Everyone needs to be barbecuing simultaneously for a minimum of five minutes to be counted.

“And if anyone leaves, they do get disqualified,” said the adjudicator, Paulina Sapinska, who wore a blue blazer and tie and held an official-looking clipboard as she monitored the mass sausage and burger grilling.

Cooking meat outside on a wood, charcoal or gas fire is a beloved South African pastime, just as it is in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.

It's called a “braai” in South Africa, and one of the favorite meats is a fat, curled up sausage known as boerewors — which translates as farmer's sausage. But there were also burgers, steaks and chops to grill for the record attempt.

The mass cookout came on Heritage Day, a national holiday where people in multiracial and multicultural South Africa are encouraged to show off and celebrate their own specific heritage. The holiday has become known informally as “Braai Day” because the love of the cookout is shared by people across the country and it's how many South Africans celebrate it.

Participant Alex Coetzee said he also took part in the 2025 record attempt, when South Africa fell short because too many people left their grilling stations.

"It’s gonna be better (this time)," said Coetzee, who wore a shirt emblazoned with the colors of the South African flag. "We’re actually gonna break the world record now. South Africans have the record and that’s the most important part.”

But was this year's attempt well done, or did it go up in smoke?

Sapinska, the Guinness World Records adjudicator, kept the country on a knife edge by saying she and other officials were reviewing the evidence and that the final word on if there was a new world cookout champion might only come on Friday.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Two decades later, the Mohegans have sold the Sun to the Houston Rockets and the Sun is relocating.

“I remember the energy in the arena,” Meehan said. “I knew it was Mohegan’s team we were cheering for.”

Now 29, Meehan is among a loyal group of Mohegan fans preparing to say goodbye to a team that became a point of community pride.

The Mohegan Tribe purchased its WNBA franchise for $10 million in 2003, becoming the first Native American tribe to own a professional sports team. Over 24 seasons, the Connecticut Sun connected generations of tribal members and gave Mohegan people a platform to share their language, culture and values with the league and its fast growing fan base.

But in May, the tribe’s business arm closed a $300 million deal with Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta to sell the Sun and relocate the team, with proceeds going to help strengthen the tribe's balance sheet as it digs out from substantial debt.

Beth Regan, chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe’s Council of Elders and a self-proclaimed “Day 1” Connecticut Sun fan, said the team’s last game on Mohegan land on Thursday night will be emotional.

“Family and community mean everything to us,” Regan said. “The Connecticut Sun are part of our cháhshayooô, our family.”

Tribal members embraced the team

Basketball is not a particular passion for Meehan, Their loyalty and enthusiasm for the Sun is an exception.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not a good year and they’re not winning or whatever,” Meehan said. “The team is special and the fan base is special.”

Meehan remembers wearing their hair in space buns like their favorite Sun player, Nykesha Sales, and flocking to the tunnel with other tribal members to ask for players’ autographs.

Players visited tribal youth camps and the annual Mohegan Wigwam Festival. The Sun’s fiery, free-spirited mascot, Blaze, made appearances at social dances.

Generations of Heather Landry's Mohegan family connect over their love of the Sun. Landry bought season tickets this year, giving her 10-year-old daughter Emersyn an opportunity to meet favorite players and even score a selfie with Brittany Griner and Saniya Rivers.

But Landry said her favorite memory of the team came when her family stopped by the Mohegan government center, happened upon a Sun practice session in the community gym and got invited to watch from the bleachers.

“I’m sure my daughter will cry when we walk out of the arena on Thursday,” Landry said of the team's last game in Connecticut.

The Sun “Moheganized” the WNBA

In April, when WNBA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker learned she had been drafted by an Indigenous-owned team, she felt it was “meant to be.”

Leger-Walker, who is Māori and Samoan, said Mohegan elders often visited Sun practices to welcome new players and offer blessings and prayers for the team’s success.

“It was cool for me to come to that realization, that a lot of my values that I carry with me from home are the exact same here,” Leger-Walker said.

From halftime performances featuring tribal singers and dancers to a team logo styled after a traditional Mohegan symbol, the Connecticut Sun brought Mohegan culture to the WNBA and to a national stage.

Regan has smudged the team with sage during losing streaks, a cleansing practice meant to help the players let go of poor performances. She has also gifted injured players sweetgrass braids and laughed when she remembered athletes including 6’6” center Jonquel Jones hugging their knees to squeeze into the community’s sweat lodge.

In 2021, when the WNBA and Nike gave team uniforms an upgrade, Regan said it was the perfect opportunity to “Moheganize” their uniforms with imagery like the “trail of life” motif, which is traditionally painted on woven baskets, and alternating purple and white trim styled after a wampum collar. One of the team’s alternate jerseys displays the word “Keesusk,” the Mohegan word for “Sun.”

“Our languages were taken from us in colonization,” Regan said. “So to see ‘Keesusk’ on those uniforms is so joyous, so validating for our tribe.”

The tribe took an early bet on the WNBA

The Mohegan Tribe purchased the WNBA’s Orlando Miracle in 2003 amid a financial crisis for the league with no clear path forward. That's when the team relocated to Uncasville, Connecticut and became the Sun.

By 2010, the Sun had made deep playoff runs, ranked near the top of the league in game attendance and became the first WNBA team to turn a profit despite playing in the league's smallest market.

Following the Mohegan's lead, other tribes have since invested in professional sports to diversify their economies. Wilton Rancheria is now majority owner of Major League Soccer's Sacramento Republic FC. The Seneca Nation recently purchased the National Lacrosse League’s Rochester Knighthawks. And the Pechanga Band of Indians' business arm is a founding partner of the LA Clippers' Intuit Dome arena.

Regan said the “writing's been on the wall” since the WNBA exploded in popularity and players negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement that requires teams to provide state-of-the-art practice facilities among other expensive upgrades that the tribe would have struggled to afford.

The Mohegan Tribal Council declined an emailed interview request Wednesday. In selling the team, Meehan trusts that the council made the right business decision. But they called the WNBA's move to effectively block a deal that would have sent the Sun to Boston, a much closer venue, a “betrayal" of the tribe that they say rescued the franchise.

Ahead of Thursday's final game, Meehan is gathering 24 years of Connecticut Sun mementos—ticket stubs, her original 2003 team jersey—to keep in a framed shadow box signed by the 2026 team's players.

Regan fought tears while explaining what Mohegan people will lose when the team relocates. She said her people should be proud of the role they played in shaping the WNBA's success story.

“Before all the attention, when the WNBA needed investment, who stepped up?” Regan said. “Mohegan did.” ___ This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

“Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They talk to me, they tell me ‘this isn’t the city we remember, it changed so quickly,'” Netanyahu told world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly.

Mamdani has long been a vocal critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza and has called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who is “the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Mamdani met with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday in New York.

Last week: 27-8. Season: 159-22-1 (.866).

Week 6 predictions

State series games

Thursday, Sept. 24

Beachside (3-1) at Nease (1-3): Panthers back to work after an off week. N4J pick: Nease 33, Beachside 20.

Clay (4-1) at (3) St. Augustine (5-0): Blue Devils have been solid, but Yellow Jackets haven’t lost in this series since 2014. N4J pick: (3) St. Augustine 29, Clay 17.

Flagler Palm Coast (4-0) at Tocoi Creek (0-5): Bulldogs keep Toros winless in a big district game. FPC allows teams just 9 points per game. N4J pick: Flagler PC 31, Tocoi Creek 10.

Friday, Sept. 25

Atlantic (3-1) at Keystone Heights (2-3): Worst pick of last week was predicting Indians to lose to Bell by 34. They won 16-13. N4J pick: Keystone Heights 21, Atlantic 20.

(9) Baker County (4-1) at Godby (3-2): Tough district game but the Wildcats win in a slugfest. N4J pick: (9) Baker County 24, Godby 20.

Baldwin (1-3) at (5) Bolles (3-1): Xander Edwards ran for more than a quarter of a mile in this game last year. N4J pick: (5) Bolles 42, Baldwin 7.

(8) Bradford (5-0) at Madison County (3-2), 7:30 p.m.: Always a difficult game at Boot Hill. N4J pick: (8) Bradford 28, Madison County 14.

Creekside (3-2) at Sandalwood (4-1), 6:30 p.m.: Saints are surging, but I think the schedule has prepared the Knights more for this one. N4J pick: Creekside 31, Sandalwood 20.

Englewood (1-3) at Ribault (3-1), 6:30 p.m.: Trojans continue rebound after loss to Columbia a couple weeks ago. N4J pick: Ribault 34, Englewood 6.

First Coast (0-5) at Atlantic Coast (0-4), 6:30 p.m.: Buccaneers have been in contention for three wins. Stingrays have lost big every game. N4J pick: First Coast 20, Atlantic Coast 14.

Fleming Island (2-3) at Orange Park (2-3): Golden Eagles get back to .500. N4J pick: Fleming Island 31, Orange Park 13.

(7) Fletcher (3-1) at (6) Mandarin (3-1), 6:30 p.m.: Mustangs face another tough defensive front in this one. N4J pick: (6) Mandarin 28, (7) Fletcher 24.

Impact Christian (1-4) at University Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.: Christians rounding into midseason form. N4J pick: UC 45, Impact 7.

KIPP Bold City (0-4) at Jackson (3-1), 6:30 p.m.: Greyhounds have been outscored 194-6. Tigers get fourth shutout of the season. N4J pick: Jackson 38, KIPP Bold City 0.

Menendez (2-2) at Wolfson (3-2), 6:30 p.m.: Falcons cool off the Wolfpack. N4J pick: Menendez 33, Wolfson 20.

Middleburg (3-2) at Ridgeview (1-3): Broncos building some momentum as they try and pick up steam for playoff run. N4J pick: Middleburg 31, Ridgeview 13.

Pine Ridge (0-4) at Matanzas (0-4): Pirates get in the win column. N4J pick: Matanzas 28, Pine Ridge 0.

Ponte Vedra (2-3) at Bartram Trail (4-1): Sharks get back to .500 in a close one. N4J pick: Ponte Vedra 30, Bartram Trail 24.

Riverside (2-2) at (2) Columbia (5-0), 7:30 p.m.: Tigers have been playing on another level in first half of season. N4J pick: (2) Columbia 35, Riverside 6.

Scintilla Charter (0-2) at Hilliard (4-0): No challenge for the Red Flashes. N4J pick: Hilliard 42, Scintilla 8.

Suwannee (5-0) at Wakulla (4-1): Can Bulldogs keep perfect start going? War Eagles are tough. N4J pick: Wakulla 21, Suwannee 17.

Taylor County (2-2) at Fort White (3-1), 7:30 p.m.: Tough game for the Indians. N4J pick: Taylor County 21, Fort White 13.

(10) Trinity Christian (2-3) at NFEI (3-1): Conquerors have been snake-bitten in all three losses this season. N4J pick: (10) Trinity Christian 38, NFEI 14.

West Port (2-3) at Oakleaf (2-2): Knights bounce back after loss to Bolles. N4J pick: Oakleaf 35, West Port 14.

Westside (0-5) at Palatka (1-4): Panthers end their slide here and keep Wolverines’ skid going. N4J pick: Palatka 34, Westside 6.

Yulee (3-2) at (4) Ed White (3-1), 6:30 p.m.: Commanders have most feared set of runners (QB/RB/RB) in the area. N4J pick: (4) Ed White 38, Yulee 14.

Independent games

Bell (4-1) at Eagle’s View (0-6): Bulldogs were unbeaten until last week’s loss to Keystone. N4J pick: Bell 28, Eagle’s View 0.

Bronson (2-4) at Joshua Christian (2-2): Battle of the Eagles goes to the local team. N4J pick: Joshua Christian 14, Bronson 12.

Cornerstone Classical (4-1) at Aucilla Christian (3-3), 7:30 p.m.: Strength of schedule makes the difference here. N4J pick: Aucilla Christian 28, Cornerstone 20.

Crescent City (0-4) at Branford (4-2), 7:30 p.m.: Buccaneers are too much for Raiders. N4J pick: Branford 33, Crescent City 7.

(2) Episcopal (5-0) at Duval Charter (2-3): Eagles continue push for unbeaten regular season. N4J pick: (2) Episcopal 35, Duval Charter 14.

Halifax Academy (1-4) at Harvest Community (1-5): Similar teams, so I’ll go with the Warriors. N4J pick: Harvest 21, Halifax Academy 12.

McKinney Christian, Texas (4-1) at Christ’s Church Academy (4-1): In Florida against Texas, I’ll take the Eagles. N4J pick: (4) Christ’s Church 35, McKinney Christian 27.

Parker (0-5) at Union County (2-3), 7:30 p.m.: Tigers have been sliding, but they should end that skid easily against the Braves. N4J pick: Union County 42, Parker 13.

Providence (2-3) at Seffner Christian (5-0): Stallions fall on the road. N4J pick: Seffner Christian 28, Providence 21.

Seven Rivers (1-4) at Old Plank Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.: Defenders start stacking Ws again. N4J pick: Old Plank 31, Seven Rivers 14.

St. Joseph (2-3) at Bishop Snyder (0-5): Flashes get it done easily here. N4J pick: St. Joseph 42, Bishop Snyder 7.

(1) West Nassau (4-0-1) at Fernandina Beach (1-4): Warriors have been the kings of Nassau County. N4J pick: (1) West Nassau 35, Fernandina Beach 13.

Zarephath Academy (0-4) at West Oaks (2-3), 6 p.m.: Eagles drop a tough one on the road. N4J pick: West Oaks 30, Zarephath 14.

OFF: Bishop Kenny, First Coast Christian, Interlachen, Paxon, Raines, Stanton.

As the war with Iran has dragged on, Trump and Netanyahu have split over how to prosecute it, straining a relationship between the two allies. Netanyahu has also faced global criticism both for Israel’s war in Gaza and settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Instead of a packed itinerary, Netanyahu, who arrived on Thursday, was scheduled to meet only a handful of leaders before giving his speech.

The apparent snub underscored how badly the relationship between Trump and the prime minister has fractured. Many in Washington associate Netanyahu with the increasingly unpopular fight with Iran and Trump has labored to avoid the appearance that the Israeli leader forced him into a war that Trump said would be a “little excursion” lasting only weeks.

Netanyahu's brief visit also demonstrated how isolated he is globally, three years after launching a punishing war in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. He faces an election next month widely seen as a referendum on his responsibility for the security failures surrounding the attacks and his ability to defend Israel's reputation on the world stage.

Day after day this week, as other heads of state have stepped to the podium, many have harshly criticized Israel's actions, particularly in Gaza. Ahead of his visit, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged his arrest, saying the U.S. should honor a warrant for Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court. He is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Gaza, though the U.S. is not a member of the court and New York City lacks the authority to arrest him.

Still, the prime minister is a master showman, and often turns to props and visual aids during speeches in flawless English to drive home his message. Last year at the summit, scores of diplomats walked out while he was speaking. But that is unlikely to faze him, as he speaks primarily to an audience of Israeli voters.

“He times his speech so that it is broadcast here in primetime,” said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. who served under Netanyahu and lives in Israel.

But experts say without the usual high-profile meetings, the trip could hurt Netanyahu’s image at home.

“I think the trip is a mistake, because it exposes his weaknesses,” said Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations and professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan and Reichman universities.

While many Israelis view the U.N. as hostile toward Israel, he added, the fact that he could not secure a meeting with Trump only highlights how poorly Netanyahu has managed the relationship with his nation's strongest ally.

In 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden was reluctant to host Netanyahu at the White House but still made time to sit down with him on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

“Israel cannot survive without the United States,” Gilboa said.

The slight in New York follows sharp criticism from Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel and a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements, of the settlers attacking Palestinian communities in the West Bank. In unusual remarks for an ambassador, he referred to the attackers as “terrorists."

“It’s significant of a deeper rift,” Oren said of Netanyahu's slim itinerary.

When Trump was in New York on Tuesday, he met with an array of leaders from Arab nations, as well as from Denmark, Japan, Greenland, Ukraine and Venezuela, among others. He then quickly returned to Washington to roll out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For a leader who likes to portray himself as a global statesman, it is a “big, big miss for him at a time where he can’t afford misses,” Natan Sachs, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said of Netanyahu.

On other past trips, Netanyahu met with a slate of high-profile leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

This year, though, the prime minister's office said “many world leaders” asked to meet with Netanyahu during his brief visit, but that he was on a “tight schedule” and needed to return to Israel before the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins at sundown on Friday.

On his schedule, the statement said, were leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, Ethiopia, Greece, Slovenia, and Papua New Guinea.

The weekly average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan rose to 7.03% from 6.95% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.30%.

The average rate is now the highest it's been since Jan. 16, 2025, when it was at 7.04%.

“Beyond the immediate financial constraints, the 7% threshold is a foreboding psychological barrier,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “Crossing this mark could create a chilling effect on the market" that would lead to a considerable slowing of home sales transactions this fall.

Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to borrowers’ costs, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power. As rates rise, that can also lead prospective home shoppers to delay buying.

In late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly dipped to 5.98%, its lowest level going back to late 2022. The roughly 1 percentage point increase in the rate since then translates roughly into an additional $276 a month cost for a borrower financing a $400,000 home loan at the current average rate.

Depending on a borrower’s income, credit and other factors, they may qualify for a rate on a 30-year mortgage that is below or above the current average.

The housing market has been stuck in a rut this year in large part because of elevated mortgage rates, which have been climbing in the months since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February.

Mortgage rates are influenced by inflation, Federal Reserve policy and bond-market investors’ expectations for the economy, among other factors. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

Expectations of higher inflation amid surging oil prices have pushed up the 10-year Treasury yield, which was at 3.97% in late February, before the war began. It surged to 5.17% in midday trading on the bond market Thursday. That’s put it roughly back to where it was in 2007.

The latest increase in the 10-year Treasury yield suggests that “upward mortgage rate pressure seems likely to linger,” said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com.

The Federal Reserve’s decision last week to increase its key interest rate for the first time in three years in a bid to tame surging inflation could also keep upward pressure on mortgage rates.

While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can ultimately affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys. The Fed also signaled that another rate hike could occur later this year.

Wall Street traders now see close to a coin flip’s chance that the Fed could raise rates twice more by the end of the year, according to data from the CME Group.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low. U.S. sales of those homes slowed again last month.

The latest data on home loan applications show that the upward trend in mortgage rates has given some would-be homebuyers reason to pause.

Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, fell 1.5% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This marks the third straight weekly drop.

Applications for loans to refinance existing mortgages also declined, falling to their slowest pace since February 2025.

The latest move in rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, is likely to discourage some homeowners eager to refinance. That average rate increased this week to 6.42% from 6.26% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.49%.

The elevated mortgage rates are driving more prospective homebuyers to adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs. Such loans, which typically offer lower initial interest rates than traditional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, accounted for nearly 10% of all mortgage applications last week, MBA said.

But there's something different near the end — a bit of text at the bottom that says “paid for by the U.S. government.”

According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the advertisement cost $14,000 and it ran during conservative shows on Fox News and Newsmax.

The White House said in a statement the ad is "educational and unapologetically patriotic."

“These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad," the White House statement said.

Fox News and Newsmax did not immediately return a request for comment.

The White House did not say what agency paid for the spot, which includes background music with singers crooning “love me” over and over.

The advertisement does not say who voters should support in the midterms, but it meshes with campaign messaging from Trump and other Republicans, particularly during the party's unusual convention in Dallas earlier this month.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee if his party wins the majority in November, said in a social media post that it's a violation of the Hatch Act for government employees to work on such a video.

“It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns,” Raskin wrote.

Republicans also criticized the ad.

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who is not running for reelection, referenced the former right-wing Hungarian prime minister to critique the advertisement.

“It’s inappropriate. It’s not like they need a GoFundMe page to have the dollars to do that sort of ad and they could do it. But using taxpayer dollars, it feels like Viktor Orban,” he said.

Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said he hadn't seen the ad but questioned whether it was legal.

"I don’t generally like to see politicians use public money to pay for their own campaign ads,” he said.

___

Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti and Steven Sloan in Washington contributed to this article.

The steady, at times strong, onshore winds continue, with showers along our coastal counties and beaches. Rainfall amounts have been light, with areas along I-95 and the beaches showing radar-estimated totals of 0.10 to 0.25 inches.

A slight chance of showers continues Friday, mainly for St. Johns and Flagler counties.

Sustained winds have been in the teens to low 20 mph range, with gusts hovering around 25-29 mph. The onshore winds will maintain marine and coastal hazards through Saturday morning.

Minor coastal and tidal flooding along the St. Johns River, Intracoastal, and the beaches will be possible at times of High Tide through Friday morning, and possibly Saturday.

As the front moves south and dry air moves in, cooler temperatures will start the day Friday and continue this weekend. This will be the first of our widespread lows in the 50s and 60s.

Tonight: Winds decreasing late, with coastal showers possible through around 5 p.m.

Friday: Breezy with coastal showers, 20-30 percent for St. Johns and Flagler counties. Morning lows in the 60s and 70s. Afternoon highs in the 70s to 80s. Decreasing winds, partly cloudy, and cool overnight.

Weekend: Make those outside plans, whether you are decorating for Fall, tailgating, or relaxing by a fire pit. The weather will be perfect. A little more of a northeasterly breeze on Saturday and a little warmer on Sunday. Lows in the 50s and 60s. Highs in the 70s and 80s.

Tropics: Tropical storm Fay will weaken in the coming days, and in the eastern Atlantic another tropical depression may be forming. www.news4jax.com/weather/2026/09/24/tropical-storm-fay-strengthens-expected-to-weaken-friday/

Sunrise: 7:17 a.m.

Sunset: 7:19 p.m.

Tropical Storm Fay was located near latitude 29.8 North, longitude 41.2 West and is moving west around 6 mph.

The generally westward motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected over the next few days.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 50 mph with higher gusts and additional strengthening is possible through tonight.

A gradual weakening trend is expected on Friday.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles from the center.

The estimated minimum central pressure has dropped to 1005 mb or 29.68 inches.

In the far eastern Atlantic Invest 90, located a few hundred miles south-southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands, is producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

This system could become a short-lived tropical depression or a tropical storm later today or on Friday while it moves northwestward to northward.

Increasing upper-level winds, however, should prevent further development by the weekend.

The formation chance through 48 hours and 7 days is now 70 percent.

Wearing his “Catman” T-shirt, DeBacker pulled off the intricate rescue of a frightened and exhausted cat named Lola who had spent about five days trapped, likely upside down for most of that time, behind a wall in her family's old home in the New York City suburbs.

Lola's ordeal began about two weeks before the rescue, when she ducked under a floorboard while the family was moving out of their second-floor apartment in Franklin Square.

That’s when DeBacker and his team were called in.

DeBacker, who has been rescuing cats for at least 15 years, set a trap with food and cameras in the hopes of luring Lola out, but she'd avoid the trap when she emerged at night.

Things took a turn for the worse when she stopped showing up at all — she had fallen and was now stuck behind a first-floor wall.

When they found her, Lola was trapped upside-down, eating insulation and becoming increasingly weak. DeBacker was losing hope that they’d get her out alive.

But their luck changed last Friday. With a contractor's help, they used an electric saw to start cutting a hole in the wall and managed to see Lola through an endoscopic camera. She seemed nervous, so to prevent her from trying to flee further into the wall, they switched to a quieter drill.

“After two weeks we did not want to lose the cat again,” he said.

In video of the rescue, DeBacker can be seen reaching through the narrow hole, where he made contact with Lola’s hind legs. He then moves into a standing position, shifts his weight back and carefully pulls her out backward.

“Safe!” a woman can be heard saying as the dusty and exhausted cat is placed into a towel-lined crate.

When Lola was finally freed, DeBacker described it as the greatest feeling in the world.

“We were all so happy,” he said.

“It’s pretty miraculous that the cat survived there five days with no food or water,” DeBacker said. “And when you’re upside-down, all the blood is rushing to your head.”

Lola was taken to an emergency vet, where they found insulation in her body, he said. She is now back with her family and struggling with a poor appetite. Her family has been taking her to the vet to try to figure out what's going on, he said.

DeBacker, who has four cats of his own, offered a word of caution to any fellow cat owners who are preparing to move: "Secure the cats first and not after all the moving. The moving will scare the cat into hiding.”

Varsity 4 News4JAX coaches Super 10 rankings, Week 6

Rank (previous), school, record last year, classification, points, (first-place votes)

1. (1) Raines (5-0, Class 3A), 160 (16)

Last week: Beat (2) Mandarin, 31-13. This week: Off.

2. (T3) Columbia (5-0, Class 4A), 137

Last week: Beat (10) Trinity Christian, 27-20. This week: vs. Riverside (2-2), 7:30 p.m.

3. (T3) St. Augustine (5-0, Class 4A), 102

Last week: Beat Orlando Evans, 24-20. This week: vs. Clay (4-1), Thursday.

4. (2) Mandarin (3-1, Class 5A), 96

Last week: Lost to (1) Raines, 31-13. This week: vs. (7) Fletcher (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

5. (5) Bolles (3-1, Class 2A), 93

Last week: Beat (7) Oakleaf, 42-24. This week: vs. Baldwin (1-3).

6. (6) Ed White (3-1, Class 4A), 73

Last week: Beat Camden County, 48-44. This week: vs. Yulee (3-2), 6:30 p.m.

7. (9) Fletcher (4-1, Class 5A), 43

Last week: Beat First Coast, 48-0. This week: at (6) Mandarin (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

8. (7) Trinity Christian (2-3, Class 1A), 39

Last week: Lost to Columbia, 27-20. This week: at NFEI (3-1).

9. (NR) Bradford (5-0, Class 2A), 37

Last week: Beat Tocoi Creek, 48-10. This week: at Madison County (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

10. (8) Oakleaf (2-2, Class 5A), 27

Last week: Lost to (5) Bolles, 42-24. This week: vs. West Port (2-3).

Dropped out

Nease (1-3, Class 5A).

Also receiving votes

University Christian (3-2, Class 1A), 15; Bartram Trail (4-1, Class 5A), 12; Nease (1-3, Class 5A), 7; Ponte Vedra (2-3, Class 5A), 7; Baker County (4-1, Class 3A), 4; Beachside (3-1, Class 5A), 3; Bishop Kenny (2-3, Class 3A), 3; Sandalwood (4-1, Class 6A), 3; Ribault (3-1, Class 3A), 2; Middleburg (3-2, Class 4A), 1.

Week 6 schedule

Thursday, Sept. 24

Beachside (3-1) at Nease (1-3)

Clay (4-1) at St. Augustine (5-0)

Flagler Palm Coast (4-0) at Tocoi Creek (0-5)

Friday, Sept. 25

Atlantic (3-1) at Keystone Heights (2-3)

Baker County (4-1) at Godby (3-2)

Baldwin (1-3) at Bolles (3-1)

Bell (4-1) at Eagle’s View (0-6)

Bradford (5-0) at Madison County (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

Bronson (2-4) at Joshua Christian (2-2)

Cornerstone Classical (4-1) at Aucilla Christian (3-3), 7:30 p.m.

Creekside (3-2) at Sandalwood (4-1), 6:30 p.m.

Crescent City (0-4) at Branford (4-2), 7:30 p.m.

Englewood (1-3) at Ribault (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Episcopal (5-0) at Duval Charter (2-3)

First Coast (0-5) at Atlantic Coast (0-4), 6:30 p.m.

Fleming Island (2-3) at Orange Park (2-3)

Fletcher (3-1) at Mandarin (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Halifax Academy (1-4) at Harvest Community (1-5)

Impact Christian (1-4) at University Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

KIPP Bold City (0-4) at Jackson (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

McKinney Christian, Texas (4-1) at Christ’s Church Academy (4-1)

Menendez (2-2) at Wolfson (3-2), 6:30 p.m.

Middleburg (3-2) at Ridgeview (1-3)

Parker (0-5) at Union County (2-3), 7:30 p.m.

Pine Ridge (0-4) at Matanzas (0-4)

Ponte Vedra (2-3) at Bartram Trail (4-1)

Providence (2-3) at Seffner Christian (5-0)

Riverside (2-2) at Columbia (5-0), 7:30 p.m.

Scintilla Charter (0-2) at Hilliard (4-0)

Seven Rivers (1-4) at Old Plank Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

St. Joseph (2-3) at Bishop Snyder (0-5)

Stanton (5-1) at First Coast Christian (1-3)

Suwannee (5-0) at Wakulla (3-1)

Taylor County (2-2) at Fort White (3-1), 7:30 p.m.

Trinity Christian (2-3) at NFEI (3-1)

West Nassau (4-0-1) at Fernandina Beach (1-4)

West Port (2-3) at Oakleaf (2-2)

Westside (0-5) at Palatka (1-4)

Yulee (3-2) at Ed White (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Zarephath Academy (0-4) at West Oaks (2-3)

OFF: Bishop Kenny, Interlachen, Paxon, Raines.

Varsity 4 Independent coaches poll, Week 7

Rank, (previous), school, record, points, (first-place votes)

1. (1) West Nassau (4-0-1, SSAA), 104 (9)

Last week: Beat Yulee, 28-7. This week: at Fernandina Beach (1-4).

2. (3) Episcopal (5-0, SSAA), 94 (1)

Last week: Off. This week: at Duval Charter (1-3).

3. (2) Paxon (4-2, SSAA), 87

Last week: Lost to Jackson, 21-0. This week: Off.

4. (4) Christ’s Church (4-1, SSAA), 67 (1)

Last week: Off. This week: vs. McKinney Christian, Texas (3-1).

5. (NR) Interlachen (4-1, SSAA), 45

Last week: Beat Citrus, 35-21. This week: vs. Lake Weir (4-0), 7:30 p.m.

6. (5) Stanton (5-1, SSAA), 32

Last week: Beat Bishop Snyder, 52-7. This week: Off.

Dropped out

Union County (2-3, SSAA), 12.

Others receiving votes

Fernandina Beach (1-4, SSAA), 23; Cornerstone Classical (4-1, SSAA), 12; Union County (2-3, SSAA), 12; St. Joseph (2-2, SSAA), 6; Crescent City (0-4, SSAA), 5.

Week 6 schedule

Thursday, Sept. 24

Beachside (3-1) at Nease (1-3)

Clay (4-1) at St. Augustine (5-0)

Flagler Palm Coast (4-0) at Tocoi Creek (0-5)

Friday, Sept. 25

Atlantic (3-1) at Keystone Heights (2-3)

Baker County (4-1) at Godby (3-2)

Baldwin (1-3) at Bolles (3-1)

Bell (4-1) at Eagle’s View (0-6)

Bradford (5-0) at Madison County (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

Bronson (2-4) at Joshua Christian (2-2)

Cornerstone Classical (4-1) at Aucilla Christian (3-3), 7:30 p.m.

Creekside (3-2) at Sandalwood (4-1), 6:30 p.m.

Crescent City (0-4) at Branford (4-2), 7:30 p.m.

Englewood (1-3) at Ribault (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Episcopal (5-0) at Duval Charter (2-3)

First Coast (0-5) at Atlantic Coast (0-4), 6:30 p.m.

Fleming Island (2-3) at Orange Park (2-3)

Fletcher (3-1) at Mandarin (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Halifax Academy (1-4) at Harvest Community (1-5)

Impact Christian (1-4) at University Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

KIPP Bold City (0-4) at Jackson (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

McKinney Christian, Texas (4-1) at Christ’s Church Academy (4-1)

Menendez (2-2) at Wolfson (3-2), 6:30 p.m.

Middleburg (3-2) at Ridgeview (1-3)

Parker (0-5) at Union County (2-3), 7:30 p.m.

Pine Ridge (0-4) at Matanzas (0-4)

Ponte Vedra (2-3) at Bartram Trail (4-1)

Providence (2-3) at Seffner Christian (5-0)

Riverside (2-2) at Columbia (5-0), 7:30 p.m.

Scintilla Charter (0-2) at Hilliard (4-0)

Seven Rivers (1-4) at Old Plank Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

St. Joseph (2-3) at Bishop Snyder (0-5)

Stanton (5-1) at First Coast Christian (1-3)

Suwannee (5-0) at Wakulla (3-1)

Taylor County (2-2) at Fort White (3-1), 7:30 p.m.

Trinity Christian (2-3) at NFEI (3-1)

West Nassau (4-0-1) at Fernandina Beach (1-4)

West Port (2-3) at Oakleaf (2-2)

Westside (0-5) at Palatka (1-4)

Yulee (3-2) at Ed White (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Zarephath Academy (0-4) at West Oaks (2-3)

OFF: Bishop Kenny, Interlachen, Paxon, Raines.

Varsity 4 News4JAX Super 10 rankings, Week 6

Rank (previous), school, record last year, classification

1. (1) Raines (5-0, Class 3A)

Last week: Beat (6) Mandarin, 31-13. This week: Off. Coaches poll ranking: 1.

Why they’re here: The Vikings left no doubt about their standing in the area with an 18-point romp over previously unbeaten Mandarin. The defense has been wicked tough. They’re off this week before a statewide showdown with powerhouse Venice in Week 7.

2. (4) Columbia (5-0, Class 4A)

Last week: Beat (10) Trinity Christian, 27-20. This week: vs. Riverside (2-2), 7:30 p.m. Coaches poll ranking: 2.

Why they’re here: The Tigers have now beaten a pair of Super 10 teams after last week’s comeback over Trinity last week.

3. (3) St. Augustine (5-0, Class 4A)

Last week: Beat Orlando Evans, 24-20. This week: vs. Clay (4-1), Thursday. Coaches poll ranking: 3.

Why they’re here: Yellow Jackets won a gritty game last week against Evans. Big district game on tap against a surging Clay squad.

4. (6) Ed White (3-1, Class 4A)

Last week: Beat Camden County, 48-44. This week: vs. Yulee (3-2), 6:30 p.m. Coaches poll ranking: 6.

Why they’re here: Commanders got their signature win against the Wildcats in a shootout. Coupled with how close they played No. 1 Raines this season, Ed White makes a jump over both Mandarin and Bolles.

5. (5) Bolles (3-1, Class 2A)

Last week: Beat Oakleaf, 42-24. This week: vs. Baldwin (1-3). Coaches poll ranking: 5.

Why they’re here: Rocked previously ranked Oakleaf in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score. They younger players are starting to settle in after nearly half a season of work.

6. (2) Mandarin (3-1, Class 5A)

Last week: Lost to (1) Raines, 31-13. This week: vs. (7) Fletcher (3-1), 6:30 p.m. Coaches poll ranking: 4.

Why they’re here: Loss to Raines ended a 20-game winning streak against Duval County Public Schools teams dating back to 2021. Younger offensive line struggled against the relentless veteran rush of Raines. Mustangs are better than the No. 6 spot, but that’s how it broke down this week.

7. (8) Fletcher (3-1, Class 5A)

Last week: Beat First Coast, 48-0. This week: at (6) Mandarin (3-1), 6:30 p.m. Coaches poll ranking: 7.

Why they’re here: Senators demolished winless First Coast and now face a Mustangs team looking to bounce back. Fletcher defensive front is the key to winning this week.

8. (9) Bradford (4-0, Class 2A)

Last week: Beat Tocoi Creek, 48-10. This week: at Madison County (3-2), 7:30 p.m. Coaches poll ranking: 9.

Why they’re here: Tornadoes haven’t slowed down one bit on either side of the ball. QB Cy Cubbedge is very strong dual-threat player. Defense has been nasty.

9. (NR) Baker County (4-1, Class 3A)

Last week: Beat Palatka, 22-7. This week: at Tallahassee Godby (3-2). Coaches poll ranking: Not ranked.

Why they’re here: Wildcats have one loss this season (16-9) in a highly competitive game against No. 8 Bradford. They’re clicking under new (old) head coach Jamie Rodgers.

10. (10) Trinity Christian (2-3, Class 1A)

Last week: Lost to Columbia, 27-20. This week: at NFEI (3-1). Coaches poll ranking: 8.

Why they’re here: Conquerors are far better than their record indicates, with two losses in OT on two-point conversions and another by a TD to No. 2 Columbia. This is a team that will push for a state championship game appearance.

Dropped out

Oakleaf (2-2, Class 5A), lost to Bolles, 42-24.

Keep an eye on

Baker County (4-1, Class 3A); Clay (4-1, Class 4A); Creekside (3-2, Class 6A); Flagler Palm Coast (4-0, Class 6A); Oakleaf (2-2, Class 5A); Ponte Vedra (2-3, Class 5A); University Christian (3-2, Class 1A).

Week 6 schedule

Thursday, Sept. 24

Beachside (3-1) at Nease (1-3)

Clay (4-1) at St. Augustine (5-0)

Flagler Palm Coast (4-0) at Tocoi Creek (0-5)

Friday, Sept. 25

Atlantic (3-1) at Keystone Heights (2-3)

Baker County (4-1) at Godby (3-2)

Baldwin (1-3) at Bolles (3-1)

Bell (4-1) at Eagle’s View (0-6)

Bradford (5-0) at Madison County (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

Bronson (2-4) at Joshua Christian (2-2)

Cornerstone Classical (4-1) at Aucilla Christian (3-3), 7:30 p.m.

Creekside (3-2) at Sandalwood (4-1), 6:30 p.m.

Crescent City (0-4) at Branford (4-2), 7:30 p.m.

Englewood (1-3) at Ribault (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Episcopal (5-0) at Duval Charter (2-3)

First Coast (0-5) at Atlantic Coast (0-4), 6:30 p.m.

Fleming Island (2-3) at Orange Park (2-3)

Fletcher (3-1) at Mandarin (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Halifax Academy (1-4) at Harvest Community (1-5)

Impact Christian (1-4) at University Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

KIPP Bold City (0-4) at Jackson (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

McKinney Christian, Texas (4-1) at Christ’s Church Academy (4-1)

Menendez (2-2) at Wolfson (3-2), 6:30 p.m.

Middleburg (3-2) at Ridgeview (1-3)

Parker (0-5) at Union County (2-3), 7:30 p.m.

Pine Ridge (0-4) at Matanzas (0-4)

Ponte Vedra (2-3) at Bartram Trail (4-1)

Providence (2-3) at Seffner Christian (5-0)

Riverside (2-2) at Columbia (5-0), 7:30 p.m.

Scintilla Charter (0-2) at Hilliard (4-0)

Seven Rivers (1-4) at Old Plank Christian (3-2), 7:30 p.m.

St. Joseph (2-3) at Bishop Snyder (0-5)

Stanton (5-1) at First Coast Christian (1-3)

Suwannee (5-0) at Wakulla (3-1)

Taylor County (2-2) at Fort White (3-1), 7:30 p.m.

Trinity Christian (2-3) at NFEI (3-1)

West Nassau (4-0-1) at Fernandina Beach (1-4)

West Port (2-3) at Oakleaf (2-2)

Westside (0-5) at Palatka (1-4)

Yulee (3-2) at Ed White (3-1), 6:30 p.m.

Zarephath Academy (0-4) at West Oaks (2-3)

OFF: Bishop Kenny, Interlachen, Paxon, Raines.

It is the second big round of store closures under Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in 2024. Last September, Starbucks closed 627 stores in North America and Europe.

In a letter to employees, Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said the locations targeted either aren't delivering acceptable financial results or can't provide the kind of experience that Starbucks wants for customers and employees.

The company didn't say Thursday which coffeehouses will close or how many are located in the U.S.

Starbucks Workers United, which represents workers at the 700 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores that have voted to unionize, said 20 unionized stores are among the 250 that are closing, or 8% of the total. Starbucks stores have been voting to unionize since late 2021, but the union and the company have yet to reach a labor agreement.

Grams said Starbucks is continuing to retrofit its North American coffeehouses to make them cozier and more inviting. The company expects 1,500 stores will be retrofitted by Sept. 30, which is the end of Starbucks' fiscal year.

“This progress has given us a clearer view of the performance of every coffeehouse,” Grams said in his letter. “While most are benefiting from this overall momentum, some coffeehouses continue to underperform despite the hard work and commitment of all of you.”

Grams said Starbucks is still committed to growing its store count in North America. At the end of June, the company had 18,371 stores in the region.

Starbucks said it will transfer employees to other stores if possible or provide severance support if it's not able to place an employee in another location. Starbucks Workers United said Thursday it's sending a formal request for information to Starbucks about the planned closures and will engage in bargaining at every unionized store.

Starbucks has also been cutting its corporate ranks. The company laid off 900 nonretail employees when it closed stores last September. In May, Starbucks laid off an additional 300 corporate employees and closed some underused U.S. offices.

The company said it will incur $300 million in restructuring charges with this round of closures, including $200 million in cash charges as it exits leases and pays employee separation benefits and $100 million in non-cash charges due to the disposal and impairment of coffeehouse assets.

Starbucks shares fell less than 1% Thursday in afternoon trading.

The event, March 9-14, 2027, at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, sold out three days last year. Parking for The Players has become one of the hottest tickets, too. During the presale last year, Friday and Saturday parking tickets sold out in less than an hour. Friday and Saturday parking for the 2027 event also sold out quickly after the 10 a.m. launch.

The tournament uses dynamic ticket pricing, so those costs are set by demand.

The most popular ticket is the Stadium pass. Other upgraded ticket options are available. The Players also continues its complimentary youth tickets policy where two youths up to 15 years old can get in free with a ticketed adult. Military service members and veterans are also eligible for special ticket opportunities. Those will be announced at a later date. The military appreciation concert is on March 9.

Saturday tournament tickets have sold out for three consecutive years, and last year’s final two rounds sold out for the first time in tournament history. Cameron Young led The Players just one hole in the 2026 event – the 72^nd and final one to notch a one-shot victory over Matt Fitzpatrick.

“Three tournament days sold out in 2026, and we expect that momentum to continue,” Players Executive Director Lee Smith said in a statement. “We’re incredibly proud of how this event has grown, and that growth is a direct reflection of the passion and support of our fans and our community. With demand continuing to grow, we encourage fans to purchase early and secure their spot at TPC Sawgrass in 2027. We’ll see you on 17.”

The suspect, a 49-year-old St. Augustine resident, was arrested around 3:40 p.m. on Sept. 17, near the intersection of State Road 16 and Masters Drive in St. Augustine.

What happened

According to the arrest report, a deputy on scene saw the suspect’s black Nissan SUV run over a victim’s e-bike while the rider was in the crosswalk.

The deputy saw the suspect get out of the driver’s side of the vehicle as the victim walked to the sidewalk, then re-enter her car and leave the scene. The suspect did not attempt to provide her information or help the victim, according to the report.

Victim’s injuries

The victim told deputies that the suspect’s vehicle ran over the e-bike and caused injuries to the victim’s right arm and right inner leg. Investigators noted that the victim’s right hand began to turn purple and swell while they spoke on scene.

The victim ultimately refused care from St. Johns County Fire Rescue but provided a sworn statement detailing the incident.

Driver’s account

After being read her Miranda rights, the suspect told deputies she was turning right onto Masters Drive from SR-16 when she saw the victim in the crosswalk. She said she turned her head to check for additional pedestrians before accelerating.

The suspect gave contradicting statements about whether she believed she had struck the bicycle, ultimately saying she “guessed she hit the bicyclist,” according to the report.

She also told investigators she did not stay on scene, did not attempt to render aid, and wanted to contact someone else before calling law enforcement.

Charges, booking

The suspect was charged with one felony count of failing to stop and remain at a crash involving injury other than serious bodily injury.

She was booked into the St. Johns County Jail the same day. Bond was set at $2,500. The charge is listed as pending.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in February seized approximately 650,000 ballots from a November 2025 special election on statewide congressional redistricting favorable to Democrats and pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The measure easily passed statewide, and won in Bianco's county by roughly 80,000 votes.

The court called the ballots’ seizure “unlawful,” saying California law requires voted ballots to remain in the custody and control of election officials, even during a criminal investigation. Bianco must also “refrain from further handling of the ballots except as necessary to comply with our order,” the court said in an unanimous decision. Bianco did not immediately comment on the ruling.

“If election misconduct is suspected, the Elections Code provides several mechanisms for law enforcement to review and examine ballots without compromising their integrity,” the court wrote.

Bianco’s ballot investigation came as President Donald Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing unsubstantiated instances of fraud. His administration in January seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia. Some Republicans have mirrored Trump’s rhetoric on voting in their states.

Election officials and civil rights groups have been following the Bianco case carefully as they brace for the possibility that Trump or his allies may try to seize ballots in November.

Bianco said he confiscated the election materials as part of a criminal investigation after receiving a complaint from a local citizens group that the count was off. Local election officials had previously said the complaint was unfounded. Bianco, was running for governor at the time, but he did not make it through the primary.

Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta immediately launched a legal challenge, arguing the sheriff had no authority over election materials and warning the seizure was designed to sow distrust in elections. He ordered Bianco to return the ballots, but Bianco did not.

“The Court has now made clear that this kind of defiance cannot stand, that the Attorney General has the authority to intervene when sheriffs take improper action, and that voted ballots belong in the custody of elections officials,” Bonta said Thursday.

The University of California, Los Angeles Voting Rights Project also sued the sheriff and the Riverside County Registrar of Voters on behalf of several Riverside County voters. The state Supreme Court last month heard arguments in both cases.

The Court also found that a search warrant does not override the state's electoral law.

“The Court’s decision reaffirms a basic principle that in California, the Election Code applies to everyone, including law enforcement,” said Chad Dunn, legal director and co-founder of the UCLA Voting Rights Project. “These are the voters’ ballots. They must be protected through the processes the Legislature has established. This ruling provides important clarity for election officials, law enforcement, and voters across California.”

Newsom on Saturday signed a bill that would prevent anyone from seizing ballots, as Bianco did.

Bianco began recounting the vote shortly after seizing the ballots using sheriff’s officials under the supervision of a special master appointed by a court but suspended it days later, citing mounting legal challenges from the state attorney general and the voting rights group. But he has not returned the ballots.

Bradley Hertz, who represented Bianco before the court, argued the sheriff had a legal duty to open a criminal investigation after receiving a complaint and he followed the penal code to carry out that investigation, first issuing search warrants in February.

Hertz said Bianco has not returned the ballots to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters because those ballots are “evidence.”

At the time of the ballots’ seizure, Bianco was one of two prominent Republicans running for governor in a crowded June primary. He did not advance to the general election and later announced plans to run for reelection as sheriff in 2028.

Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and Democrat running for governor, is part of the UCLA lawsuit to halt Bianco’s efforts.

China and the zoo had said in April that Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, would go to the United States. But Xi’s announcement at the White House, in opening remarks before talks with President Donald Trump, marked the first public confirmation of the timing. Beijing had reclaimed four pandas from Atlanta in 2024, the last of the animals on loan from China to the U.S. at the time.

Xi said Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, “will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people” in “a few days.” He called it “a piece of good news” and hailed the panda loan program as an example of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans.”

The pandas are part of a conservation agreement between the zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.

In 2024, Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun returned from Zoo Atlanta to China, ending a 25-year partnership and leaving the U.S. without any of the animals for several months. The National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China in 2023 before accepting new arrivals Bao Li and Qing Bao, in October 2024 after Atlanta lost its pandas. Other American zoos sent pandas back to China before that as loan agreements lapsed.

When the pandas' Atlanta return was officially promised in the spring, Zoo Atlanta CEO Raymond B. King celebrated “the wonder and joy of giant pandas" and said his facility was “delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species.”

Everyone who purchased a ticket will be contacted by email and receive a full refund, organizers said.

The event was planned as a celebration centered on riding the Skyway through downtown Jacksonville. Organizers said alternative transportation, including shuttles and trolleys, was considered but would have changed the experience.

“Rather than move forward with an event that no longer reflects that vision, we believe pausing for this year is the most responsible path forward,” organizers said in a statement.

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The cancellation comes as JTA works to address a $39 million budget shortfall.

The agency approved a $139 million budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, down from $178 million in the current fiscal year. JTA plans to eliminate 44 administrative positions and potentially cut up to 150 frontline operations jobs as part of its cost-saving efforts.

JTA also plans to reduce weekday bus service, generally moving routes to a Saturday-level schedule beginning Nov. 2. Some of the agency’s busiest routes and First Coast Flyer bus rapid transit service will continue operating at more frequent intervals.

The Skyway is scheduled to pause passenger operations beginning Nov. 2. JTA has said the pause is expected to save about $10 million during the fiscal year while the agency and the community consider the system’s future.

The authority is also planning to pause its NAVI autonomous vehicle service beginning Dec. 31. That change is expected to save about $487,000 per month.

JTA Interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson said the cuts are intended to stabilize the agency’s finances while preserving essential transportation services.

The Skyway Social organizers said their commitment to downtown Jacksonville remains strong and that they hope to bring the event back in the future.

“We look forward to returning with fresh ideas and world-class experiences for our city in the future,” the statement said.

The Dodgers are once again among the best teams in the big leagues, and they'll have several challengers in October, including the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays. All three teams could finish the regular season with 100 wins or more. Los Angeles is rolling into the postseason and four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup on Wednesday after a stint on the injured list and was 1 for 4 at the plate with two strikeouts and a walk.

The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves have also clinched spots in the postseason. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, a three-time AL MVP, is dealing with a right calf strain that will likely keep him out through at least the Wild Card Series.

While the 12-team playoff field appears mostly set, there are a few long-shot contenders for the postseason, and specific matchups are in flux.

Here's some of what to watch as the season comes to a close.

Here's who can clinch a playoff spot Thursday

In the American League, the Cleveland Guardians can clinch a postseason spot with a win at Boston or a loss by the Rangers or a loss by the Astros.

The Chicago White Sox can clinch a postseason spot with a win at Kansas City.

Over in the National League, the San Diego Padres can clinch with a win at the Dodgers or a loss by the D-backs. The Chicago Cubs can clinch with a win vs. Miami or a loss by the D-backs.

The Philadelphia Phillies can clinch their spot in October with a win vs. Milwaukee and a loss by either the D-backs or the Padres.

AL Central and West are tight, other division winners are set

There's quite a bit of mediocrity in the AL Central and West divisions this season, which has led to some fascinating pennant races and could lead to a sub-.500 team making the postseason.

The Guardians (82-76) have a narrow advantage over the White Sox (81-77) in the AL Central while the Rangers (78-80) and Astros (78-80) are fighting for the AL West. Houston has the tiebreaker if the season ends in a tie.

Over in the National League, the playoff bracket is close to set.

The Padres (88-70), Cubs (87-71) and Phillies (87-71) are jockeying for position in the wild-card race but will almost certainly make the postseason. The only team within shouting distance is Arizona (84-74), which is three games back. Chicago holds the head-to-head tiebreaker for home field over Philadelphia and San Diego, and the Phillies own the tiebreaker over the Padres after sweeping that season series 6-0.

MVP races, stats to watch

MLB's major awards probably won't have much drama this season.

Both MVP races have strong favorites with Chicago's Pete Crow-Armstrong running away with the NL honor while Houston's Yordan Alvarez is the probable choice in the AL, though Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero has also had a fantastic season. Alvarez still has an outside shot at a Triple Crown. He leads the AL in batting average at .316 and his 41 homers are tied with Caminero, New York's Ben Rice and Baltimore's Pete Alonso. His 102 RBIs are eight back of Alonso.

For the Cy Young Award, Milwaukee flame thrower Jacob Misiorowski and New York ace Cam Schlittler are the favorites in the NL and AL, respectively.

The Rookie of the Year races also look set with Cincinnati's Sal Stewart and his 110-RBI season the leader in the NL and Detroit's Kevin McGonigle the favorite in the AL.

What is the MLB playoff format?

There are 12 teams that qualify for MLB’s postseason, including six teams from both the AL and NL. The three division winners in each league get seeds No. 1 through No. 3, ranked by win-loss record. Then the three wild-card teams get seeds No. 4 through No. 6, also ranked by win-loss record.

The top two teams with the best record in both the AL and NL automatically advance to the Division Series. The other eight teams play in the Wild Card Series, which is a best-of-three format beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 29. In both the AL and NL, the No. 6 seed will travel to face the No. 3 seed while the No. 5 seed goes to No. 4. The higher seed hosts all three games.

The winners then advance to the best-of-five Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven League Championship Series and a best-of-seven World Series between the winners of the AL and NL.

What is the MLB postseason schedule?

Wild Card Series: Sept. 29-Oct. 1 (NBC/Peacock)

Division Series: Oct. 3-10 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)

Championship Series: Oct. 11-20 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)

World Series: Oct. 23-31 (FOX)

Who are the favorites to win the World Series?

The Dodgers (+200) are the favorites to capture a third straight World Series title while the Brewers (+550), Rays (+800) and Yankees (+850) are viewed as the top contenders.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

The organization’s Soldier Ride brings veterans together for fitness, camaraderie and a shared experience. The event is designed for riders with a range of disabilities, using adaptive bicycles customized to meet each participant’s needs.

Veterans attended a bike-fitting event Wednesday to make adjustments before the ride.

“This is my first one, so I’m really excited about it,” Army veteran Maria Terry said. “I miss being around other veterans, and being able to come together while doing something physical and staying active makes it even better.”

The kickoff celebration began at 9:30 a.m., with riders leaving around 10 a.m. The 20-mile route will take riders to the USS Orleck before returning to Wounded Warrior Project headquarters.

Thursday is the first day of the event. On Friday, riders will travel through Jacksonville Beach.

Drivers in the Belfort Road and downtown areas should plan for possible traffic changes and watch for cyclists along the route.

The man, whose identity was not disclosed, was taken away in an ambulance after the encounter on Sunday in Evanston, a city around 12 miles (19 kilometers) north of downtown Chicago. He told police his head, neck and teeth were injured, according to a news release from the Evanston Police Department.

A federal agent told officers who responded to calls reporting an altercation at just before 10 a.m. that morning that five agents in separate vehicles were looking for a fugitive with a Chicago address and a warrant for his arrest, according to the release. The agents mistook the man for the fugitive, the agent told police.

When the man refused to give his identification, the agents tried to handcuff him, the agent said. After realizing he was a U.S. citizen and not the person they were seeking, they released him.

One police officer saw blood on the agent’s hands, according to the release. The agent told police he was injured while trying to handcuff the man, and that they left the area immediately after because they feared protesters who had gathered would attack them, it noted.

Police have visited the man at the hospital and photographed his injuries, and are investigating the encounter.

Local authorities investigating

Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said in a post on X that the man was treated at St. Francis Hospital for minor injuries. The police department “continues to investigate the situation, and we will remain vigilant about federal activities,” he wrote.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had “encountered an individual who resembled the target” of a “targeted enforcement operation,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “The individual was given lawful commands but was not cooperative and refused to identify himself.”

The officers “left the scene without further incident” after the man identified himself, according to the statement. “When ICE officers offered the individual assistance, he refused.”

Illinois authorities condemn bloody encounter

The incident drew condemnation from Illinois officials as backlash grows against ICE's presence in communities around the country. ICE announced a record number of arrests last month, with nearly 51,000 people arrested.

“I am disgusted and outraged by reports of what happened in my hometown of Evanston on Sunday,” Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said in a statement.

Eyewitnesses tell AP what they saw

Ryan Garton, 56, told The Associated Press that he saw the agents pinning down the man, who was Black, on the side of the road as he was driving home. He pulled over to document what was happening on video.

One agent had his knee on the man’s back and was “beating up on him,” Garton told the AP. “I’m a citizen, leave me alone,” Garton said the man screamed as the agent pinned him down. Around five people stood nearby and yelled at the agent to stop.

Garton said he urged the agent to get off the man so he could inspect his injuries, and that the agent acknowledged that he was already aware the man was a U.S. citizen. When the agent stepped away, Garton saw bloodstains in the shape of handprints on the man's shirt.

“His upper right eye socket and temple were swollen as if he had been punched” and his face was scraped “as if it had been ground into the sidewalk,” he said.

The man told Garton that he had been walking to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription when the agents stopped him.

Michael Lipson, the owner of a store across the street from where the incident occurred, said he saw the agents wrestle the man to the ground as he repeatedly yelled that he is a U.S. citizen. The man's face looked “badly messed up,” Lipson told the AP.

Lipson said the agents checked cards and papers from the man’s wallet before leaving them scattered on the road. Lipson laid out his sweatshirt for the man to rest on while Garton inspected his injuries.

The same day, ICE agents shot and wounded a man in Austin, Texas, the latest in a string of shootings by federal immigration agents that have prompted growing backlash against the Trump administration's aggressive immigration tactics.

At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents in President Donald Trump's second term, including a Colombian man shot dead in Maine in July by an agent with a history of violent behavior, and a Mexican man hit by a tractor trailer as he fled agents in Florida the same month. ICE agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, during the Trump administration's siege of Minneapolis, named “Operation Metro Surge,” earlier this year.

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

The Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, says it conducted multiple undercover purchases of fentanyl from Tyler Marrs, 30, before executing a search warrant at his home on Timberwood Drive on Sept. 3. Investigators say they also identified a private website allegedly operated by Marrs for the purchase and delivery of narcotics.

What detectives say they found inside

Inside the home, detectives say they recovered 11 firearms, two drones and $22,477 in cash. Investigators also seized 5.5 grams of fentanyl, 78.2 grams of a suspected synthetic opioid — classified as a Schedule I controlled substance — 3.7 grams of methamphetamine, 122.5 grams of various pills, 22 Suboxone films and 18 grams of an unidentified white powdery substance, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Beyond the drugs and weapons, detectives say they located equipment consistent with the manufacturing and distribution of narcotics — including a pill press, a 3D printer, a laboratory manual, precursor chemicals, glassware, vials, packaging and labels, and a money counter.

Charges, arrest

Marrs was arrested and charged with possession of fentanyl with intent to sell, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, possession of a legend drug with intent to sell, use or display of a firearm during the commission of a felony, manufacture or delivery of drug paraphernalia, and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.

As in years past, African leaders attending the U.N. General Assembly this year are demanding a reform of the powerful Security Council that would include permanent seats for countries from the continent in the global body's highest decision-making structure.

Many African heads of state who addressed the meeting since it began on Tuesday have decried the continent’s lack of permanent representation in the Security Council as it navigates global security issues that directly and indirectly affect their populations and governments.

These include the war between Russia and Ukraine, the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and, more recently, the U.S. war with Iran — issues that all loom large at this year's General Assembly.

The 15-member Security Council has five permanent members — the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China — that hold veto power. Other nations, which do not, are elected by the General Assembly rotate in and out every two years on a staggered basis. Africa holds three of those nonpermanent seats.

The representation question is becoming more urgent

While the calls for Africa to be represented permanently on the Security Council have often been debated by the General Assembly, many said the global conflicts currently faced by the organization made it more urgent for the body to be more inclusive.

According to most African leaders, the unfair representation in the Security Council has created doubt about the credibility of the organization and its oft-trumpeted commitment to multilateralism and equality among nations.

“Every nation is sovereign and equal under the (U.N.) charter. Yet, on the gravest question of war and peace, five nations possess a permanent power that the other 188 do not. The equality proclaimed in this assembly ends at the doors of the security council,” Kenyan President William Ruto told delegates on Wednesday.

They have also highlighted the large African population and the high number of African countries that are member states of the United Nations.

“How can a world led with a right conscience justify the denial of 1.6 billion Africans, the right to equal representation?” asked Ethiopia’s president, Taye Atske Selassie.

In 2024, the United States said it would support the addition of two new permanent seats for African countries on the council. That, however, was under the administration of former President Joe Biden.

Liberia's president, Joseph Nyuma Boakai, said Wednesday that “the historical injustice is no longer tenable.”

“The imbalance is not a favor for Africa,” he said. “It is necessary to restore United Nations trust, credibility and legitimacy.”

Artificial intelligence is a key example

As the world's leaders grapple with the future of artificial intelligence at the meeting, many in Africa also insisted that the decision-making about its rapid growth and development should include the developing nations as they were likely to feel its impact reverberate across the continent.

This came a day after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged global competitors in artificial intelligence to cooperate in addressing threats from the technology. And on the same day, the Security Council held a special meeting about AI that featured the industry's leaders calling for help in managing the technology.

On Wednesday, Botswana President Duma Boko was among the leaders calling for African nations to be included in the discussions. He said this extended to critical minerals, rare earths, and energy resources that power the technological developments. Many of those come from developing countries.

“Therefore, developing countries must have a meaningful voice in setting the standards and safeguards that will govern these technologies, ensuring that they expand opportunities, support decent work, and strengthen public services, while protecting human dignity, rights, and security,” Boko told delegates.

Most leaders are sticking the initial demands contained in the African Union's position on the issue adopted in 2005, which includes a demand for at least two permanent seats on the Security Council.

Said Namibia President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah: “The time has come for us to recognize that we have been negotiating for too long."

Reform is not an attack on the United Nations, said Somalia's president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

“Reform is necessary to protect its legitimacy, renew confidence in its institutions and ensure that it remains capable of responding to the realities of our time,” he said Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Geely Auto unveiled technology that can charge an electric vehicle battery from 10% to 70% in just 4.5 minutes, a leap analysts called a significant development for the Chinese auto group.

Geely is joining the ranks of BYD, which last year overtook Tesla as the world's biggest EV maker, as well as CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, both of which this year rolled out around 5-minute EV ultrafast charging.

By comparison, some of the fastest-charging EVs available in the U.S. currently can take roughly 20 minutes, analysts said.

“China is way, way, way ahead in terms of multiple players engaged in the charging competition,” said Lei Xing, an independent analyst of China's auto industry based in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Geely, BYD and CATL lead ultrafast charging race

Chinese automakers are seeking to eliminate the “ultimate barrier” to EV adoption – range anxiety – by narrowing the gap between EV charging and the roughly five-minute refueling experience of gasoline vehicles, explained Stephen Chan, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings.

At a launch event Wednesday, Geely Auto announced its new system that can charge an EV from 10% to 70% in 4.5 minutes, and 10% to 97% in just 8 minutes and 40 seconds.

BYD in March launched a new generation of its “blade” EV battery that it said can charge an EV from 10% to 70% in 5 minutes, and from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes. In April, CATL rolled out technology that can charge an EV from 10% to 80% in 3 minutes and 44 seconds, and from 10% to 98% in 6 minutes and 27 seconds.

Despite the breakthroughs, experts cautioned there are other obstacles.

“The real challenge is whether the battery can accept that level of current quickly and repeatedly without overheating, excessive degradation or internal bottlenecks,” said Chris Liu, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at Omdia, a technology research and advisory group.

EV makers face intense competition inside China

With more than 100 domestic passenger car brands, Chinese auto makers face intense competition. Domestic car sales have fallen for months in China as automakers are exporting more cars overseas. A focus on technological advancements like ultrafast charging is a way to set themselves apart and try to improve sales.

But success will depend on factors including the scale of companies' charging network.

For one, the majority of China’s public charging stations still operate below 1 megawatt, while Geely, BYD and CATL’s ultrafast charging technologies rely on higher charging power to reach their full potential, said Chan at S&P. That means network expansions or grid updates will remain as hurdles for large-scale adoption.

Some in the industry are already taking ambitious steps. China's BYD, for instance, is targeting 20,000 superfast charging stations by the end of this year, followed by 30,000 more in 2027 and 40,000 in 2028, bringing the total to 90,000 stations by that time, according to a Deutsche Bank analysis.

China leading the world in EV fast-charging

Other countries including the U.S. is still behind China when it comes to ultrafast EV charging.

In the U.S., EV fast-charging sessions typically take roughly 20 to 40 minutes to charge from 10% to 80%, according to S&P, although newer models from brands like Hyundai, Kia and Porsche can reduce charging times to approximately 18 to 20 minutes under optimal conditions.

“Overall, while the battery-charging network in the U.S. is growing at a rapid pace, it is still well behind China’s ultrafast charging speeds by orders of magnitude,” said Neal Ganguli, a partner and managing director in the automotive and industrial practice at consultancy AlixPartners.

But Ganguli also believes the U.S. may not be attempting to match China’s “megawatt race” in EV charging at least in the near future, but to pursue a “more moderate” path to upgrades.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office documented costly problems in several initiatives ICE has pursued since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and ordered the mass arrest and deportation of people who are in the country illegally.

Among the misspending was nearly $3 million to erect tents at Guantanamo Bay that were never used, $20 million to maintain purchased warehouses that are now being sold without having housed a single detainee, and excessive rates paid to hold detainees at a deficient and now-shuttered Florida lockup.

ICE has no strategic plan for spending its windfall

Congress gave ICE an unprecedented $45 billion to expand detention capacity last year as part of the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill, but the agency still lacks a comprehensive strategic plan for how to spend it wisely, the report warned. The detainee population has increased from 39,000 in January 2025 to 67,000 as of July 30.

“Without taking action to manage detention investments in accordance with program and project management practices, ICE will likely continue to make uninformed decisions and risk further inefficiency and wasted resources,” warned the GAO, a nonpartisan agency that investigated at the request of congressional Democrats.

The Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, told GAO it would develop a plan to guide its detention expansion by Aug. 31, 2027, but that may be too late to prevent more waste, the report said.

ICE and DHS offered no immediate additional comment on the report.

The government scrapped a plan for mass detention at Guantánamo Bay

Shortly after Trump returned to the White House, the government began blowing money by hastily pursuing plans to detain more people who were in the U.S. illegally, the report found.

After the White House directed officials to use the military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for immigration detention in January 2025, the Department of Defense assembled enough tents to hold 5,000 people there at a cost of $2.85 million, the report said. But DHS found that the tents didn't meet detention standards, and they were removed before they housed a single detainee.

The plan for mass detention at Guantánamo Bay was later found to be “infeasible” and scrapped because of the costs of building facilities that could meet federal standards. Instead, the agency housed an average of 16 detainees daily there this year, at a cost of millions of dollars, the report found.

ICE is wasting millions of dollars on empty warehouses

Earlier this year, ICE purchased 11 large warehouses across the country for $1.07 billion as part of a plan backed by former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to increase detention capacity. But that idea was scrapped amid public opposition before any detainees were housed in them because the department didn't conduct “appropriate due diligence and planning," according to the GAO report. DHS is now planning to sell seven of the facilities.

ICE has spent $20 million on costs and services related to those seven warehouses that it will not recover, including zoning assessments, title insurance, utilities and security, and will need to sell them for the total purchase price of $707 million to avoid more waste, the report said.

ICE has also “incurred significant costs” for the four warehouses that it plans to keep, including a $426 million outlay to renovate facilities in Arizona and Maryland that is on hold due to legal challenges.

Report finds waste on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and other plans

After the warehouse initiative faltered, ICE launched a plan to purchase facilities owned by private contractors that were already housing detainees, saying it would give more control over infrastructure and limit local governments' ability to restrict their use.

The agency spent $1.5 billion to buy two of them in July and could buy more even though ICE has “not assessed the long-term affordability of owning these facilities," the report said.

The report found fault with other initiatives. ICE never reached a contract with the state of Florida to operate the facility nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” which housed detainees for a year until it was closed in June following reports of substandard and abusive conditions.

Instead, DHS agreed to reimburse the state through a special $608 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that authorizes a charge of $249 per detainee per day — 171% higher than ICE's normal rate of $92, the report found. DHS is also paying the state the higher rate for a second facility that's still open in Sanderson, Florida.

ICE is also facing high costs under an agreement in which the Bureau of Prisons is housing detainees at eight facilities. The agreement requires ICE to reimburse the full cost, which has ballooned because of overtime and other staffing assignments, and pay a rate of $182 per detainee per day, the report said.

Maria Grazia Chiuri freed the body at Fendi, Simone Bellotti relaxed the uniform at Jil Sander and Meryll Rogge embraced generations at Marni.

If first seasons are when new designers demonstrate their brand knowledge, then second and third are when designers start to blaze their own paths while evolving the fashion house.

“I don’t think we have to be nostalgic. The brand has fantastic recognizable codes. We want to cherish that," Rogge said backstage after the Marni Spring Summer 2027 co-ed runway preview on Thursday. "I have to find my own way to honor the brand, to honor the values and to hopefully make young people dream, and other generations dream.”

Meryll Rogge seeks intergenerational acceptance at Marni

Rogge said Marni's sweet spot is intergenerational appeal and that the brand hit that target with their new bag: Its first customer was a 17-year-old girl and its second an 80-year-old woman.

The runway collection in general hewed more toward the younger crowd with pedal pushers and mini-shifts that many 80-year-olds would have worn in their youths. Older Marni dressers may feel more at home today in the collection's short-haired goat fur coats, which could appeal to any age, if not every pocketbook.

Rogge is in full command of Marni's heritage quirkiness. Men's knit vests were styled like halters and worn over button-down shirts and thin long johns peeked out of baggy boxers. For women, a plaid dress featured a keyhole detail set off by a shoe buckle — shoes being an unlikely inspiration for the collection.

The looks were modern and easy to wear, with an element of gorpcore, or mountain looks made for the city, in a series of anorak dresses and tops.

Fendi frees the body

Chiuri enveloped the runway for her highly anticipated second show at Fendi inside glass walls, allowing the audience to see their images reflected on the models while perhaps obscuring some of the detail. With a soundtrack of Italian dance classics, Chiuri said she was trying to recreate the freedom and frenzy of the dance floor.

“This was meant to be a hall of mirrors, where we actually reflect ourselves in other people’s bodies,’’ Chiuri, 62, said backstage after Wednesday's show. “I believe that for a generation like mine, which believed in the nightclub as a place of freedom, meeting people and dancing and watching other bodies was a way of connecting with others.”

Chiuri returned to Fendi, where she started as an accessories designer, after turns as co-creative director at Valentino and creative director at Dior.

Her co-ed sophomore collection started with undergarments, making bare skin integral to the look and leaning into brand heritage traits of fluidity and layered textures. Think silken slips and deeply scooped tanks that contrasted with tailored military jackets, cape-like trenches and patchwork fur coats.

Arrivals at the show were hindered by a combination of fans waiting to catch a glimpse of front-row guests like Monica Bellucci and Italian singer Jovanotti, and an anti-fur protest. Fendi was born as a furrier, and the brand is sticking with the legacy but putting the emphasis on upcycled pieces.

Jil Sander softens the minimalist uniform

Simone Bellotti’s third collection for Jil Sander brimmed with confidence, as he softened the minimalist uniform with inventive tailoring.

The silhouette was heavily elongated, with three-quarter-length jackets and argyle knitwear that covered the bum. But it also bubbled and billowed, with pleats and built-in capes that allowed air to flow through the garments and around the body.

Bellotti hit his stride with tailoring that gave structure and lightness to the jackets, dresses and skirts in all the right places. Coats featured a single, off-skew pressed fold, which played off the tiny notched collars. Shirts were punctuated by knife pleats that ballooned in the back, while cascading pleats fluttered down the side of skirts.

The color palette was mostly neutrals of black, gray and blue, to keep the focus on the architecture of the looks.

“There is always something that I really like about this idea to distort the precision a little bit. I think it is more honest,” he said after the show on Wednesday.

A particularly striking pair of coats featured an exaggerated cutaway saddle flap of a royal riding jacket, a shape achieved through hand sewing and not a mere styling trick.

“It is very beautiful to see the result of this manipulation, made by hands,” Bellotti said.

Years later, after moving to Jacksonville, she wanted others from different cultures to experience that same sense of connection through the power of language. Unable to find a group similar to the one that helped her build friendships and community, Camila decided to create it herself ― becoming the founder of Jacksonville Spanish-English Conversation Group.

On the season three premiere episode of Voices of the 904, Camila shares how the group grew from just five people in 2019 into a steadily expanding community, why consistency, creativity and collaboration have been key to its growth, and how language has become a tool for bringing people together.

Meet the voices from previous seasons

For Camila, each meet-up, volunteer event or community collaboration is about more than just practicing Spanish or English.

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It’s about building confidence, making connections and creating a space where people feel like they belong.

“Jacksonville is growing,” Camila acknowledged. “Jacksonville is becoming a very diverse city. So, spaces like these are important because they promote that diversity and people can belong to a community that is more diverse.”

At the heart of it all is her belief that language can be more than a barrier ― it can be a bridge that brings people closer together.

Learn more about Jacksonville Spanish-English on Instagram or Facebook.

Catch more episodes of Voices of the 904 below:

The run will begin with three dates next month in Europe. It kicks off at Dublin's 3Arena on Oct. 26, followed by Paris' Accor Arena on Oct. 29 and London's OVO Arena Wembley on Oct. 30.

Additional artist announcements, as well as U.S. dates, are forthcoming.

An artist presale begins at 10 a.m. local time Monday at Macklemore.com.

According to a press release from Live Nation, the shows will benefit several Palestinian aid organizations, including Anera, Glia, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Taawon, HEAL Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace, Medical Aid for Palestinians. Institute for Middle East Understanding, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and an U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA USA.

“If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years. There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now,” Macklemore wrote on Instagram in the caption of his “Free Palestine” announcement. “When the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention.”

What to know about Macklemore's pro-Palestinian comments — and Ed Sheeran

Last week, Macklemore made headlines when it was revealed that he was dropped as an opener for Ed Sheeran’s tour of North and South America because of the rapper’s onstage pro-Palestinian comments. Since then, all of Sheeran’s other supporting acts dropped out, including a group that plays with Sheeran during part of the show.

At the time, Sheeran said the decision to cut Macklemore from the Loop Tour was the promoter’s, not his own.

Macklemore said his removal was the result of an effort led by Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots. His Kraft Group also owns Gillette Stadium, where the NFL team plays and where Sheeran is scheduled to perform later this month.

Macklemore also announced he would donate $1 million from his net earnings from the tour to six organizations helping Palestinians.

Citing cybersecurity risks and national security concerns, the Federal Communications Commission has banned certain new foreign-made drones, WiFi routers, and home robotic devices, including robot vacuums, from entering the U.S. market unless they qualify for an exemption or special approval.

Some companies have already received approval. Netgear and Eero, for example, have been cleared to sell certain new router models.

Consumer Reports’ Pang-Chieh Ho says that while those approvals are encouraging, the new rules could still mean fewer choices overall and delays for new products from manufacturers that have not yet been approved. For now, though, it’s still too early to know exactly how the changes will affect shoppers over time.

Consumer Reports says many routers, robot vacuums, and drones that were approved for sale before the bans are still available in stores. If you were already planning to replace or buy one of these products, CR says it may be a good time to compare options and make a purchase if you find one that fits your needs.

When shopping, Consumer Reports recommends choosing manufacturers with a strong track record of supporting their products and providing regular security updates.

“Security updates are really important because without those fixes, your device can become more vulnerable to hackers over time,” Ho said.

Connected devices can also collect a significant amount of personal data. That’s why Consumer Reports evaluates privacy and security on products such as robot vacuums and WiFi routers.

CR says shoppers should look beyond price and features. Check what information the product collects, how that data is used, and whether you have control over or can delete your personal information.

And if you already own a WiFi router, robot vacuum, or drone, Consumer Reports says you don’t need to replace it because of the new bans. Keep using it, but stay on top of software and security updates to help protect your device over time.

The horse’s name drew attention after winning his debut Monday at Horseshoe Indianapolis Racecourse. Hitler was born in Austria and was an artist before becoming the head of the Nazi Party in Germany.

“The Registrar determined that the name is ineligible under Rule 6.F.9.d, which prohibits names that ‘are likely to be offensive or threatening based upon factors including, but not limited to, color, creed, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, politics or sexual orientation,’” the Jockey Club said in a statement announcing its decision.

Owner and breeder Scott Herbertson said on social media it was a reference to Austrian painter Gustav Klimt and that his filly originally called New Order was named for his favorite band. New Order is also a term for the Nazis' plan for occupying Europe.

The Jockey Club said that horse, a full sister to Merrylegs, had also been unnamed.

“We take these matters seriously and appreciate that they were brought to our attention,” the Jockey Club said.

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See AP’s full horse racing coverage here

Our highs are holding steady in the 80s. North winds will run around 15 to 17 mph, with gusts up to 25+ mph at times, especially along the coast.

The big weather story is at the beaches. A High Surf Advisory is in effect, and we also have a high rip current risk. That persistent north to northeast wind is building rough surf and dangerous water conditions, so swimming is strongly discouraged.

Even experienced swimmers can get pulled out quickly in this setup.

Friday stays breezy and mostly sunny with highs in the upper 70s. Winds will still be out of the north around 15 to 17 mph with gusts near 25 mph, so coastal conditions may remain rough.

The weekend looks much nicer inland: sunny, cooler mornings, and highs near 81 Saturday, then mid 80s by Sunday.

Overnight lows drop into the low to mid 60s Friday and Saturday night before we start warming back up next week.

The arbitrator’s decision, issued Wednesday and which largely sided with Zahn, represents an extraordinary godsend for a former utility executive who was recently released from prison following convictions of wire fraud and conspiracy – all tied to his highly controversial and unsuccessful effort as JEA’s leader to privatize the agency.

The arbitrator, Leslie W. Langbein of Miami Lakes, issued a 36-page decision that does not once mention Zahn’s convictions, which followed a years-long federal grand jury investigation.

Langbein said that instead of firing Zahn without cause, as the board had initially agreed to in December 2019 during a frenzied effort to tamp down public criticism of the agency, city attorneys improperly “favored a course of action that yielded to … public clamor and political pressure demanding Zahn’s termination with cause.”

Without naming her, Langbein was critical of former board chair April Green, a one-time Zahn ally who turned into a fierce critic by the end of his tenure. She had pressed for Zahn’s termination with cause in an effort to deny him months of severance-like pay.

A JEA spokesperson noted that the decision was not final but otherwise said the agency had no comment.

Langbein’s decision does not specify how much JEA might ultimately owe Zahn, and JEA attorneys can appeal, though such efforts are rarely successful.

Nate Monroe is the executive editor of The Florida Trib. He can be reached at nate.monroe@floridatrib.org.

Molly Farrar is a Report for America corps member and The Florida Trib’s Jacksonville municipal watchdog reporter. She can be reached at molly.farrar@floridatrib.org.

The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge from a state moving to rein in popular and now-ubiquitous betting apps that allow people to place wagers on most anything, including sports, weather, elections and technology.

Prediction market platforms have argued states do not have the authority to govern them because they are regulated at the federal level by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

New York officials filed Thursday's lawsuit against Polymarket in state court and want the company to face fines and be forced to pay restitution to users because the platform did not get a gaming license from the state. The state has previously sued other platforms such as Kalshi, Coinbase and Gemini using a similar argument.

“By running an unlicensed gambling operation, Polymarket has done more than just knowingly violate state law, they have put New Yorkers at risk, especially those underage who are most vulnerable to problem gaming,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.

In a statement, Polymarket’s Chief Legal Officer Neal Kumar said, “We'll fight for our users.”

“Polymarket was founded in a tiny NYC apartment and now has more than 350 employees here, embodying why people and businesses come here to make it. We believe in New York and we’re staying here,” Kumar said.

Prediction market platforms have said they operate differently than traditional gambling operations, because consumers are trading against other consumers, similar to how stock markets work. They allow participants to buy and sell contracts tied to the probable outcome of an event. The platforms say prices are based on trading and they only take a fee from the trading.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has opposed state regulation of the platforms, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he believes the rising number of hybrid incidents in NATO countries shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin is losing the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, and that the best way to respond is to give more weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.

“All the response options are there, and we will use whatever we need,” Rutte said, speaking at a ceremony in New York marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

He said that citizens of the 32 NATO countries can remain calm. “Putin is in a bad place,” Rutte said. “He is not winning the war in Ukraine.”

Danish agency says Russia is more willing to take risks

In a new risk assessment released Thursday, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said Russia is likely to step up its hybrid campaign — a term for the use of non-conventional hostile acts such as sabotage, cyberattacks, disinformation and an array of other methods — to pressure adversaries in the West and NATO.

“This could include destructive cyberattacks that cripple critical societal functions as well as sabotage attacks that carry a high risk of casualties,” it said.

“Russia has become more willing to take risks,” the agency said.

Hybrid attacks can aim to destabilize a country, test its defenses, strain resources, or influence public opinion — often in a way that makes it hard to identify those responsible.

An Associated Press interactive map tracking the incidents of hybrid attacks shows an escalation, from 59 in March 2025 to more than 200 at this point.

Poland's prime minister is also worried about Russia's hybrid warfare

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last week that Russia is planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, including Poland.

He said Russia will likely pretend the attacks are “accidental” in order to “paralyze or at least weaken the motivation of NATO countries” to rush to the defense of a member state coming under attack.

The Danish agency said there is “a low but growing risk that Russia will launch a limited military attack against one or several NATO countries bordering Russia,” but that this “could potentially take place in the coming months.”

The aim would be to divert European resources away from supporting Ukraine and sow division in NATO, the service said. At the same time, it noted there are “no indications that Russia will launch an outright invasion of one or several NATO countries.”

NATO and European Union officials have said that Russia's armed forces are too tied up in Ukraine and that no unusual military activity has been noted near European countries close to Russia.

The US warns against over-reacting

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said earlier this week that the number of incidents right now does not indicate a conflict might be imminent.

“I don’t think it’s at a volume that would mean that it’s the beginning,” Whitaker said on Tuesday in Iowa, where he attended a panel about NATO alongside Rutte.

“I don’t think that it’s in anybody’s interest to head towards a conflict,” he said. “I think one of the things that we have to be very careful (about) is overreacting to any sort of hybrid activity.”

“We haven’t reached that threshold,” he said.

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Moulson reported from Berlin.

But what happens when the hackers aren't human?

That's the question at the center of a public policy debate roiling Silicon Valley and Washington following disclosures by leading tech companies that their artificial intelligence models went rogue and hacked into other organizations. The attacks have generated calls even from within the industry for greater oversight and regulation, spurred congressional inquiries and raised questions about whether a years-old legal framework designed to punish criminal hackers is sufficient in an era of autonomous actors capable of engineering their own havoc.

It all adds up to a “Wild West,” said Jack Nelson, chief information security officer and deputy general counsel at the software company Ivanti. Questions of accountability will focus on what the companies knew when they were developing the models, how much they understood about what could happen and what guardrails existed, he said.

“If you owned a tiger and you didn’t put a lock on the cage, the tiger probably did something bad you didn’t intend for it to but you knew it could have, so you are responsible for not putting a lock on that cage,” Nelson said.

“I don’t know if I would go so far as to say these models are tigers without locks, but that’s probably a decent framework to think of it as,” he added.

The prospect of legal accountability is unclear. Lawsuits are a possibility, but some legal experts believe any criminal investigations would face an extremely high burden given the autonomous nature of the attacks and the absence of evidence the AI models were designed with the intent to hack into other networks.

The FBI director has called the autonomous attacks ‘the new frontier’

The issue surfaced in July when OpenAI revealed that its artificial intelligence system escaped from a testing ground and used stolen credentials to break into the servers of Hugging Face, an AI development hub and marketplace, to obtain information it needed to carry out a task.

Since then, Anthropic said its AI models hacked into three other organizations during testing, triggering a company review into whether the models were able to access the internet from within testing environments that should have been sealed off. Meta has said a “misconfiguration” during testing resulted in an AI model accessing the internet on its own and hacking another company. Google recently made a similar disclosure.

The revelations contributed to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urging a development slowdown. The topic has likewise dominated Washington, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent telling lawmakers he opposed giving AI labs a “liability exemption — which is what they are asking for." President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has resisted calls for greater oversight but did announce plans to appoint an AI czar and task force.

The hacks could tee up a fight over liability reminiscent of the debate over Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which shields technology companies for material posted on their platforms.

The FBI has not publicly announced any investigations, but Director Kash Patel at a congressional hearing last week called the issue “the new frontier." He suggested in response to questions from Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who has launched a congressional investigation, that the bureau would limit scrutiny to models created with the intent of committing a crime.

“What we need to do on a resource basis is go after the people that created these models that are going rogue ...for the specific purpose and with the intention to commit a criminal act,” Patel said. “We can’t be punishing people if they created something lawfully and then a criminal took it and changed it and then dispersed it."

Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that the Justice Department had no plans to regulate AI but that “if anyone associated with AI violates criminal law, we’ll investigate that.”

The case law and FBI and Justice Department approach "is going to be fascinating because it can go a bunch of different ways,” said former Justice Department cybercrime prosecutor Sid Mody.

Various criminal statutes govern cyberspace

The Department of Justice does have statutes at its disposal for a company determined to have been "reckless in the way that it tests its AI agents," said Michael Zweiback, a former chief of the cyber and intellectual property crimes section of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

"And if in fact the AI agent gets loose in the wild and then causes substantial damage to other companies, then DOJ has to look at it from a prosecutorial discretion issue as to whether or not they want to make an example out of the particular company," he added.

Among the possibly relevant laws: a 40-year-old statute called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which makes it illegal to knowingly access a computer without authorization. The White House cited the statute, which has been used against hacktivists, nation-state hackers and other cybercriminals, in an executive order directing prosecutors to pursue those who use AI to illegally access computers or further other crimes.

But some experts say even if there may be a basis to investigate, that hardly means a crime was committed.

For one thing, the law makes several references to behavior done “knowingly” or “intentionally," but there's no indication the autonomous agents were given any command or authorization by the companies to enter another network, said Kiran Raj, a former senior Justice Department official who specializes in cybersecurity law.

In detailed public accountings of the incidents, the companies have characterized the hacks as inadvertent outgrowths of testing and evaluation, with OpenAI calling its model behavior “unexpected" and “unprecedented" and Meta attributing the incident to a “misconfiguration.”

“I think it would be a pretty big stretch to say any of these companies are intentionally trying to do this. That's not their purpose. That's not what they're doing,” said Raj, also a former lead Microsoft program manager. “The fact that an AI agent may intentionally be doing something is going to be, I think, pretty hard to attribute the intent to the company.”

Humans naturally crave touch. If you don’t receive enough positive physical contact, you could become touch-starved.

Jesse Lyon, MS, CCHt, QS, LMHC of Lyon Counseling explains, “Touch-starved can happen when somebody is not getting the type of social connection or interactions that they really need.”

Without regular touch, you can feel lonely, depressed, anxious, irritable, and stressed. That’s because touch prompts the release of oxytocin, which is known as “the love hormone.”

“So, if oxytocin’s going up, cortisol is coming down. If you go too long without having that good feeling, that warm, cuddly emotion, your stress hormones go up,” says Lyons.

Studies have shown that consensual touch can improve mood, relieve pain, boost immunity and lower blood pressure. Scientists have also found that touch activates nerve fibers that light up parts of the brain associated with emotion.

So, how can you help yourself feel better if you’re touch-starved? First — turn your focus on others.

“The answer is not to demand touch, but to say, how can I give to others? Because we know when you help somebody out who’s in need, when you support others in your community or do something good for someone that you didn’t have to, that also gives you that oxytocin boost, too,” explains Lyons.

Other healthy ways to cope: get a pet that you can cuddle with, spend more time with family and friends, try a weighted blanket or schedule a massage. Avoid unhealthy behaviors like doomscrolling, video games, pornography, or substances.

Lyons says, “They can actually just distract from the touch starvation and put a band-aid over it, while below the surface, that touch starvation is actually growing deeper.”

Helping you understand the importance of human touch.

During the COVID pandemic, many people became touch-starved. One online survey found that 68 percent of people said they were experiencing low-to-high levels of touch deprivation.

The recall affects 1,955 bottles of the 1/2 Grain (30 mg) tablets sold in 100-count bottles.

The affected product carries NDC 69680-166-00, Lot No. 504950, with an expiration date of Sept. 30, 2026. The tablets are distributed nationwide across the United States.

What makes this recall serious

The recall has been classified as a Class I recall by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — the most serious classification level, reserved for situations where use of or exposure to the product could cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

Thyroid tablets contain two active hormones: levothyroxine (T4) at 19 micrograms and liothyronine (T3) at 4.5 micrograms per tablet, as labeled. A superpotent drug delivers more of those hormones than stated, which can lead to serious health complications, particularly for patients with underlying heart conditions or those sensitive to thyroid hormone levels.

What patients should do

The recall is ongoing, and consumers who have the affected product should stop using it immediately and contact their healthcare provider.

Notifications to consignees and the public were made by letter. The recall was firm-initiated and voluntary, meaning Vitruvias Therapeutics took action without a formal FDA mandate.

The FDA’s Center Classification Date for this recall was Sept. 22.

Vitruvias Therapeutics is located at 778 N. Dean Road, Suite 600, Auburn, AL 36830. Consumers with questions can contact the company directly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says more than two-thirds of children miss at least one day of school due to illness or injury. And it’s not just the kids who are affected — school staff and parents are at risk too.

Dr. Shilpa Amin, chair of emergency medicine at HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, says schools typically see a spike in sick kids right at the start of the school year. She says certain symptoms should signal parents to keep children home.

“If a child has a fever for 24 hours and it’s not going away with Tylenol or Motrin, you need to bring them to the ER, keep them home and see if that fever is going away,” she said. “If the child is coughing a lot, they’re spreading the germs.”

Dr. Amin says to also watch out for the child being tired, lethargic and experiencing diarrhea as other signs to keep the kids home.

She also offers several practical tips for keeping the whole family healthy. Washing hands for at least 20 seconds, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, keeping distance from people who are sick and wearing a mask can all help limit the spread of illness.

She acknowledges, however, that getting kids to follow those guidelines is easier said than done.

“Kids are kids, right? They’re not going to stay away from their sick friend because they want to play with them,” she said. “But it’s good that you have a conversation with them and say, ‘Hey, we want to keep you safe, so if your little buddy is coughing, you might not want to play with them on the playground, kind of stay away from them.”

For parents, Dr. Amin says exposure to whatever the kids bring home is sometimes unavoidable. But consistent habits — washing hands, sanitizing surfaces and wearing masks when needed — remain good practices to keep up throughout the house.

It looks as good as over, but Baku has sprung surprises before and the 20-year-old Italian was beaten by teammate George Russell in both of Thursday's practice sessions.

A year ago, Baku was where Oscar Piastri's title shot began to fall apart. The Australian was leading the standings when he almost stalled on the grid, dropped to last and crashed, all in the space of about a minute on the opening lap.

That kicked off a run of six races without a podium finish for Piastri, who had to watch the title race become a fight between eventual champion Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

Antonelli — whose practice was hampered by car problems Thursday — is sounding cautious as he aims to become F1's youngest-ever champion.

“Until you cross that finish line, it’s not over. It’s like tennis, one point at a time, here one race at a time," he said. “The sooner it’s over, the better it is. Still a long way and it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be intense but I’m ready to give my best and to keep having fun.”

There are key differences this year. For one thing, Antonelli’s lead is more than double the biggest advantage Piastri had last year. He’s coming off back-to-back wins, not the team orders controversy which was dogging Piastri and Norris a year ago.

As for Piastri, he says it's “love-hate in some ways” as he returns to a venue where he won in 2024 and endured a nightmare 2025.

“I think probably my best race ever has been at this track and probably my worst race ever has been at this track, so always eventful,” Piastri said.

Russell fastest in both practices as Antonelli has car trouble

Antonelli’s teammate George Russell was dominant in both practice sessions Thursday, heading the first by 0.4 seconds and beating second-place Antonelli by 0.552 in the other.

Max Verstappen was best of the non-Mercedes drivers as he went second-fastest in the first session and third-fastest in the second, with the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton close behind in both.

Lando Norris' flagging title defense hit another obstacle as he said the McLaren car was “miles off” the pace after placing 14th and sixth in the two sessions.

“The car didn’t feel that bad, so it’s just a little knife in the heart when you see how far off you are,” he added.

Antonelli's day was disrupted by a hydraulic failure which left his car smoking at the side of the track in the first session. Arvid Lindblad hit a barrier in second practice, causing a red-flag stoppage.

Antonelli's title rivals need to bounce back

The three British drivers behind Antonelli are all trying to recover from disappointing races at the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Russell all but ruled himself out of the title race after an uncompetitive run to fifth in Madrid, while Norris was left ruing a badly-timed virtual safety car which cost him the win. Hamilton retired, making it five races off the podium for the Ferrari driver.

“I’m going to keep fighting every single race until it’s mathematically impossible, but it doesn’t change how I go about my job," Russell said Wednesday. "There’s obviously a huge deficit, but it’s not even really a consideration right now.”

Red Bull's double bet on Isack Hadjar

Red Bull is backing Isack Hadjar's health and his potential in the hope the young French driver develops into one of F1's top talents.

It was a tough day for Hadjar as a car issue in first practice cost him valuable time to readjust to F1. After a fix for the problem, which Hadjar initially thought was the engine but turned out to be a gearbox failure, he went ninth-fastest in the second session.

Hadjar returns for Baku despite saying he still feels pain from the wrist fracture which ruled him out of the last three races. And he has a contract extension to partner Max Verstappen for 2027, too.

Wrist injuries can have long-term consequences. Lance Stroll rushed back from wrist fractures sustained in a preseason cycling crash in 2023 but ended up missing a race after all in 2025 when he needed a follow-up operation to deal with lingering pain.

A rare Saturday race amid broader F1 schedule uncertainty

It's an unusual race week in a very unusual F1 season, as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is held on a Saturday to make way for a national day of remembrance on Sunday. That means Thursday practice and Friday qualifying.

This starts a run of three races in three weeks because of the extra round next week in Malaysia, still carrying branding of the called-off Bahrain Grand Prix.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

The Houthis later claimed they fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at the kingdom’s southwestern Jazan province. In recent days, they have been blamed for attempted attacks on the kingdom, including on Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

The statement by Saudi Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, who is also the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, followed alerts by Saudi civil defense authorities, who later noted the danger had passed.

The fighting near the crucial Red Sea shipping corridor has worried global markets as the Houthis pursue a blockade of Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, with Iranian support.

The new launches came as Yemen's internationally recognized government prepared to take its turn addressing the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

The situation in the Arab world's poorest country is grim as the fighting backed by the two Mideast powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia, has pulled Yemen back into civil war after four years of relative calm. Over 125,000 people have fled the fighting as a humanitarian crisis grows.

While the Saudis have sought military support from allies, their key partner the United States has said it has been in contact with the Houthis and indicated it was sitting this fight out.

The rebels have asserted they are targeting only the Saudis and said commercial shipping on the Red Sea otherwise faces no threat, but they have warned other nations against stepping in.

Their new perch at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea after storming down Yemen's coast this month gives them better surveillance of passing ships on one of the world's busiest waterways.

For the Houthis' ally Iran, which has asserted control over the even busier Strait of Hormuz off its coast since the U.S. and Israel attacked it in February, the added pressure on shipping is welcome.

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Anna reported from Jerusalem.

Tens of thousands of Catholic devotees are converging on St. Louis for a formal ceremony of beatification on Thursday, in which the prelate will be designated Blessed Fulton Sheen — one step away from sainthood.

The afternoon ceremony is taking place at the Dome at America's Center after years of delays. The stadium was chosen for the site because there wasn't a venue large enough in his home Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, to accommodate the anticipated number of attendees.

About 50,000 tickets were distributed as of Thursday, according to organizers with the diocese and the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, which advocates for his sainthood. By early morning, the downtown streets were filling up with pilgrims, many of them priests in clerical garb and nuns in habits. Scores of bishops, a thousand priests and hundreds of religious order members, seminarians and deacons were expected.

A temporary altar was set up on the stage in the indoor stadium, backed by photos — including Sheen's tomb at the Peoria cathedral, now a destination for pilgrims.

The event honors a prelate who was once a regular presence in the living rooms of millions of Americans — including that of the future Pope Leo XIV, who says he watched the broadcasts of his fellow Illinois native while growing up in Chicago.

Sheen's journey from Peoria to primetime

Sheen was a pioneering radio priest who quickly adopted the new medium of television in the 1950s, when he began hosting the program, “Life is Worth Living.” Dressed in a cassock, cape and skullcap, he stood at a chalkboard and delivered moral and religious lessons without a narrow Catholic focus.

The show competed favorably against entertainers Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra on other networks. In an Emmy acceptance speech, Sheen thanked his writers — Gospel scribes Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. He’s been called America’s first televangelist.

“Archbishop Sheen was a beacon of faith, hope, and love who shone through radio and television for decades,” Pope Leo said in a June speech to directors of The Pontifical Mission Societies, which Sheen headed in the U.S. for 16 years. “I myself witnessed his evangelization efforts as I was growing up.”

Sheen was born in 1895 in the small town of El Paso, Illinois, and raised in Peoria. After becoming a priest and earning a doctorate in philosophy, he had a short pastorate in Peoria before becoming a professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington.

He became known both for his academic lectures and his plainspoken addresses from the pulpit and the studio, first on radio and then on TV. He often signed off with the benediction, “God love you.”

Sheen appeared in a Time magazine cover article. He guided celebrities and others converting to Catholicism.

He met with popes and spoke at the reformist Second Vatican Council. He railed against communism, though he opposed the Vietnam War.

Sheen raised funds and traveled the world on behalf of Catholic missions. He served as a bishop in New York state, retiring as an archbishop. After his death at 84, he was buried at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York until his niece won a court battle in 2019 to move his body to Peoria’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

The Illinois teen tied to Sheen's path to sainthood

It's there, where Sheen had been a young altar server and was later ordained a priest, that pilgrims now place crucifixes and other items on his marble tomb, giving them status as relics.

To qualify for beatification, the Vatican normally requires one miracle attributable to the faithful seeking the candidate's heavenly prayers.

The late Pope Francis approved the beatification, attributing to Sheen the resuscitation of an infant born in 2010 without a pulse and revived only after lengthy efforts by medical workers. The Peoria-area child, the now-teenaged James Fulton Engstrom, is slated to present relics of Sheen at the ceremony, accompanied by his family, who had sought Sheen's intercession for healing.

His mother, Bonnie Engstrom, said today's ceremony will feel like a “foretaste of heaven.”

She and her husband taught each of their eight children to have a devotion to their patron saint, giving them the sense that they have a heavenly “squad” cheering them on. They chose Sheen for James' patron after discovering the prelate's old videos, adding that his Midwestern-accented voice reminded her of her grandfather and great-grandfather. “He’s like a local boy,” she said at a morning news conference.

James, who just turned 16, has a devotion to Sheen, but he's largely avoiding the media spotlight. “He’s a delightful young man, but he’s still just a teenage boy, and he needs to be given the space and the grace to have his own journey of life," Engstrom said. "He didn’t ask for any of this.”

She said she'd been praying to Sheen throughout the pregnancy, and “it was just a very natural thing in the hardest hour of our life” to seek his prayers. James was born at home without a pulse and rushed to the hospital — where workers who were attempting to resuscitate him were about to declare him deceased — when his heart began beating normally, Engstrom and other witnesses said.

Sheen's beatification backstory

The beatification was originally scheduled for 2019, but the Vatican delayed the ceremony. The Diocese of Rochester, which Sheen briefly led in the 1960s, requested the delay out of caution, due to legal investigations taking place then into the oversight of priests accused of sexual abuse across New York state.

Church officials later concluded that Sheen’s record gave no cause for further delay, and plans for the ceremony resumed. Pope Leo XIV approved the beatification earlier this year.

“May the example and the intercession of this holy bishop, known for his evangelizing work through the media, inspire many others likewise to find new ways of spreading the gospel message with joyful enthusiasm,” Leo said Wednesday on the eve of the ceremony.

Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, said church investigators review records and interview witnesses before determining whether a healing qualifies as a miracle. He said there are now six more cases under investigation; a second miracle would qualify Sheen for sainthood under Vatican rules.

Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka said he believes the wait for canonization will be shorter than for the beatification, especially with an Illinois-born pope who's “very much aware of who Sheen is and how he influenced his own life.”

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

The city gave Robert Palmer’s company, Jax Downtown Pro Real Estate LLC, the property for $1 under an agreement dated Feb. 25, 2020. The agreement set a Sept. 10, 2026, deadline for the stadium project.

After the deadline passed, the city sent a letter stating that the company must pay “the fair market value for the Property plus accrued interest as set forth therein.”

The property consists of two parcels. According to the Duval County Property Appraiser’s Office, one parcel is assessed at $629,470, while the second is assessed at $132,018.

Together, the parcels have an assessed value of $761,488. The amount Palmer’s company may ultimately owe could be higher once accrued interest and the city’s calculation of fair-market value are included.

The company has 30 days to respond to the city’s letter.

Stadium plans delayed

The proposed stadium would be built on Jacksonville’s Eastside, near the city’s sports complex. Renderings showed a soccer-specific stadium as part of an estimated $80 million development.

The project has faced continuous delays, and the stadium was not completed by the expected deadline. The Jacksonville Armada has also played at various venues during its history, including university and other local facilities.

For now, the property remains without the promised stadium.

The main combatants are Ethiopian federal troops and fighters loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, an armed political group in Tigray, Ethiopia's northernmost regional state.

Ethiopia's military said Thursday that dozens of TPLF fighters had been killed in ongoing operations and that federal forces “have been able to detain many” others and seize a large quantity of weapons from them.

The TPLF and Ethiopian federal troops waged war between November 2020 and November 2022, when a peace deal was signed in Pretoria, South Africa.

Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian forces against the TPLF in that conflict. The civilian death toll was estimated by Ghent University researchers to be 500,000, including from violence, famine and the collapse of health services.

After both sides signed the Pretoria peace deal, a caretaker administration seen as loyal to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was installed in Mekelle, the Tigray capital. But tensions remained, with the TPLF maneuvering for political control in Mekelle.

Rebel fighters forge a coalition

This time, the TPLF appears to have mobilized widely, bringing together former foes in its stated goal of removing Abiy from power in Addis Ababa, the federal capital.

On Sunday, the TPLF and six other opposition groups announced that they had formed an alliance to overthrow Abiy's governing Prosperity Party, which was reelected in June polls that were boycotted by major opposition groups.

Both sides had been accusing each other of bad faith, and for months some civilians in Tigray expected a return to armed hostilities. In May, the TPLF forced out regional leader Tadesse Werede, who reported to Abiy, and replaced him with a new council led by TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael, who led the Tigrayans in the previous conflict.

Ethiopian federal authorities accused the TPLF of seeking to build an alliance with neighboring Eritrea to destabilize Ethiopia. The TPLF accused Ethiopian authorities of conducting drone attacks in Tigray. Eritrea said that it was alarmed by Abiy’s repeated assertions of his wish for sovereign access to the Red Sea via Eritrea.

Both sides deny responsibility for launching this round of hostilities, and most of the fighting is believed to be in remote areas of often ragged, mountainous territory. On Wednesday, TPLF fighters seized the airport in Mekelle from federal police, and national carrier Ethiopian Airlines canceled flights there and elsewhere in the region.

Observers say pressure is building on Abiy

The Ethiopian News Agency, the official news organization of the Ethiopian government, described the TPLF as a “Trojan horse,” saying that the group’s “repeated attempts to incite conflict” defy the government’s “patience, concessions and magnanimity.”

The coalition formed by the TPLF and six other opposition groups said that it would be known as the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival. In addition to the TPLF, the others include the Amhara Fano National Movement, the Oromo Liberation Army, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front, the Benishangul Peoples’ Liberation Movement and the Gumuz Peoples’ Democratic Movement.

That alliance, which unites some groups previously opposed to each other, may put pressure on Abiy, according to Kjetil Tronvoll, an academic analyst of Ethiopia at Oslo New University College.

“The situation now differs substantially from the 2020-2022 war on Tigray,” he said in an analysis posted on X. “This time around Fano is an ally and Eritrea a backer. Supply lines are also secured through Eritrea.”

Regional blocs and the US call for an end to fighting

The African Union and a key regional bloc known as IGAD called for de-escalation of hostilities. U.S. Ambassador Ervin J. Massinga said in a statement that he felt disappointed by the TPLF’s “poor decision to launch a large-scale offensive.”

His statement said that the TPLF’s “unwinnable fight does nothing for the people. Other armed groups would be wise to avoid this.” A TPLF official, Amanuel Assefa, said the statement was unfair.

Abiy has been praised by many for his ambitious infrastructure projects that seek to turn Addis Ababa into a world-class city. To his supporters, the prime minister is a renaissance man trying to reimagine the old greatness of Ethiopia.

Abiy rose from relative obscurity to power in 2018 as a reform-minded pragmatist. Ties with Eritrea, which broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 after decades of brutal guerrilla warfare, had been cold since the 1990s, and Abiy’s efforts to repair relations with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki helped him win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

A year later, Abiy confounded expectations by launching a military operation against the TPLF.

Some of Abiy’s critics now see him as a provocateur whose actions could lead to hostilities in the Horn of Africa. His push for sovereign access to the Eritrean seaport of Assab has reignited tensions with Eritrea, which shares a border with Tigray. Abiy also angered Somalia by trying to negotiate access to the sea via the territory of Somaliland.

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Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.

The Labor Department said Thursday that 197,000 people applied for unemployment checks last week, the fewest since mid-July and down from a revised 198,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell to 202,250 last week from 204,000.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. So far this year, claims have mostly stayed below 220,000 — historically low.

The American job market has remained sturdy despite higher energy prices that have squeezed businesses and consumers since the fighting with Iran began Feb. 28.

Layoffs are low. Businesses, remembering the labor shortages that followed the end of pandemic lockdowns, are reluctant to let go of staff. They’re hiring — but modestly by the standards of recent years.

So far this year, employers — companies, government agencies and nonprofits — have been adding an average of 80,000 jobs a month, including a surprising 162,000 in August. That is an improvement on a dismal 2025 when monthly job creation averaged 9,700 as high interest rates and President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policies discouraged hiring.

The Labor Department will release the jobs report for September next week. It's expected to show that employers added 52,500 jobs and that the unemployment rate remained low at 4.1%, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.

Hiring remains well below the 166,000 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, and the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns.

Students returned to class Thursday with extra law enforcement at the school following the arrest.

Green Cove Springs police said the investigation began Wednesday after the FBI forwarded information it received through what police described as a TTL Guardian, or Threat-to-Life, tip.

According to police, the tip involved a Roblox user who allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting at Clay High School.

Green Cove Springs police said investigators identified the Roblox user as a 14-year-old Clay High student who lives within Green Cove Springs city limits. Police said their investigation led to the student’s arrest.

The teenager was taken to the Duval Regional Juvenile Detention Center.

The student is accused of violating Florida’s law prohibiting written or electronic threats to kill, cause bodily injury, conduct a mass shooting or commit an act of terrorism.

As students arrived for class Thursday morning, 10th grader Kaylee Schichtel told News4JAX that hearing about a threat at her school leaves students questioning how seriously they should take it.

“You have to worry if the threats are real, if you are even going to make it out of school that day,” Schichtel said. “Just there are crazy people out here.”

Schichtel said this was not the first time during her time at Clay High that she had heard about a threat involving the school.

“This is not the first time I have heard of a threat and cops are actively at our school for it. Throughout the two years I’ve been here, there have been numerous threats,” Schichtel said. “I just think it’s crazy that you would joke around with a threat, because there are big consequences for that. And there are some people who are really messed up in the head that like would do that. And I think we shouldn’t joke about threats because the officers have bigger problems to deal with.”

Police have not said in the information released so far whether investigators found any weapons or evidence of a specific plan to carry out the alleged threat.

The Green Cove Springs Police Department and Clay County School District said in a joint statement that they take all threats involving schools seriously and that threats of violence will not be tolerated.

News4JAX is working to learn more about what prompted the initial Threat-to-Life tip, what investigators found during their investigation and whether the student had access to any weapons.

Under an agreement with the city of Jacksonville, JTA can use $30 million they’ve already received in local gas tax revenue to pay down a loan and severance packages. A JTA Spokesperson says they have 10 years to pay the money back. The funding will help the agency meet its debt obligations.

The agreement comes days a JTA announced it will be laying off more than 150 employees, drawing criticism from residents and former employees.

“I’m going to be very vocal about not letting any of my money come to JTA,” one Jacksonville resident told the board.

RELATED | ‘Hurt and blindsided’: Laid-off JTA employee says employees were given severance packets, escorted out of headquarters

Former JTA employees also attended Wednesday’s meeting and urged the agency to avoid additional layoffs by moving some workers to part-time positions.

“They all have issues to solve. They have bills to pay,” a former employee said. “Nobody is happy about losing their homes or cars because they lost their jobs, so I would beg them to stay part time.”

Interim CEO Cleveland Ferguson said the restructuring process is ongoing and is expected to continue through Nov. 1.

“This process is not finished,” Ferguson said. “It will continue through Nov. 1, and we will bring service within available resources.”

Ferguson told board members that safety, reliability, debt reduction and financial discipline are the agency’s top priorities.

“These decisions carry a real human cost,” Ferguson said. “I recognize the weight of them, and I take responsibility for carrying them out in a way that is disciplined, fair and respectful of the people affected.”

Some board members questioned whether JTA can repay its utility debt without first understanding how the agency reached its current financial position.

“We have to first know several things: What happened? Why did it happen? And are those problems solved?” one board member said. “Where did the holes in the bucket come from?”

The Clay County Board of County Commissioners also voted Wednesday to terminate a funding agreement with JTA. The decision could affect Clay County’s community transportation program, a public shuttle bus service.

The two former heavyweight world champions are set to meet Dec. 11 in Cardiff, promoter Turki Alalshikh said Thursday.

“For 15 years no one has been able to make this fight,” Alalshikh posted on X. “I can now confirm that Fury Vs Joshua will be coming to the UK, as I promised British boxing fans. The time for talking is over...”

The fight is being staged at the Principality Stadium.

A clash between the British rivals has been one of the most anticipated fights for more than a decade.

“THE WAIT IS OVER. Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua finally collide,” Joshua’s promoter Matchroom posted on X.

Fury stepped out of retirement this year and made his return to the ring for the first time in more than a year with victories against Arslanbek Makhmudov and Mariusz Wach.

Joshua’s only fights since losing his IBF world title fight against Daniel Dubois in 2024 were against YouTuber Jake Paul and Kristian Prenga.

Alalshikh is a Saudi Arabian adviser who organizes boxing events for the kingdom.

While Fury and Joshua are arguably past their peak, it is fight that is still likely to garner global attention and will be streamed live on Netflix in the early hours of the morning running into Dec. 12.

Approval will be needed to allow the fight to take place at that time.

“There are still some arrangements to be finalized with the organisers, including any required changes to Principality Stadium’s premises licence, but we are looking forward to welcoming fans to the city for what promises to be an unforgettable night of boxing,” Cardiff Council leader Chris Weaver said.

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See AP’s full sports coverage here

Bacon, CEO of Unisun Sports, joined This Week in Jacksonville: Business Edition to discuss the agreement bringing the Atlantic Sun Conference and United Athletic Conference together under a unified media strategy. The ASUN includes Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida.

Unisun Sports operates as a shared support structure for the two conferences, which retain their independent identities. Bacon compared the organization to a parent company that helps affiliated brands work more efficiently.

“We reduce a lot of our costs by bringing down and eliminating redundancies,” Bacon said. “We increase our value in the marketplace, we control our competition better, and we build strength and security for our members.”

The agreement makes ESPN the exclusive home for both conferences beginning with the 2026 academic year. It includes more than 1,200 digital productions on ESPN+, linear coverage of conference basketball championship games and opportunities for additional regular-season and championship events across ESPN platforms.

For fans of Jacksonville University and UNF, Bacon said the agreement should provide more access to their teams and student-athletes.

“Almost every championship that we offer will be on an ESPN platform,” he said. “So if you’re a fan, if you are a parent of one of our student-athletes, if you’re an alum, access will be provided at an unprecedented level.”

Bacon also emphasized the value of linear television, which he described as regular television. He said national exposure can raise awareness of a university, influence applications and potentially contribute to enrollment.

He sees a similar opportunity locally. The agreement allows for the production of 188 local linear games across the two conferences, giving member institutions a way to reach audiences in their own communities.

“Athletics, not just putting the games on, Kent, right? It’s one thing to have the basketball game on, but what it’s a two and a half hour commercial shirt for your institution,” Bacon said.

Bacon said the next step is to build a more commercial operation around the new media exposure, creating revenue that can be returned to member institutions and student-athletes. He described Unisun Sports as an organization that has built the structure but now needs to “get it out and fly it.”

From 3 to 7 p.m., guests are invited to Center Court, directly in front of Dillard’s, for a live runway show with featured collections, fashion-forward trends, photo opportunities, and a chance to shop the latest styles throughout Orange Park Mall. Neighbors are encouraged to arrive early for first-come, first-served seating.

Learn more by visiting orangeparkmall.com and officialfloridafashionweek.com.

The Kentucky-born brand opened a new restaurant in McKinney, Texas, on Thursday to serve as a test lab in its home market. Called Open House, it serves breakfast — a U.S. first for KFC — and stays open late. The menu will feature new drinks like boba-filled refreshers and crunchy-topped milkshakes, an expanded lineup of tenders and sauces, and new side dishes like fried green beans and spicy pickles.

The restaurant has double drive-thru lanes and a mobile order pickup station. But KFC designed it to encourage customers to stay a while. After ordering at a digital kiosk, they can sit and wait for employees to bring the food to their table. There is also a photo booth and a counter selling branded merch.

KFC did not say how much of Open House’s design or menu will eventually reach the rest of its 3,424 U.S. restaurants. The new beverages are likely to spread more widely; the company already introduced a similar drink menu in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Turkey and other markets.

KFC is trying to make fast food more of an experience

The Texas concept and gleaming, multi-story flagships set to open in Dubai, Seoul and London show KFC is trying to make grabbing fast food more of an experience.

“People don’t remember what they eat, but they remember how they were feeling when they were eating,” KFC Chief Concept Officer Christophe Poirier, who leads new restaurant design, said.

Poirier said KFC is automating tasks like ordering so employees can focus on hospitality. Ideally, KFC will function more like an Apple Store or a luxury retailer, he said, without the stressful lines or grumpy cashiers that plague the fast-food industry.

“You leave the retailer and say, ‘Wow. The product is amazing, but beyond that the service was amazing. For 10 or 15 minutes I was feeling like a king,’” he said.

Kentucky-born brand is thriving abroad but its US sales are down

KFC was the pioneer of fast-food fried chicken. The brand got its start in 1930, when Harland Sanders bought a roadside motel in Corbin, Kentucky, and started serving fried chicken to travelers. In 1952, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in Utah.

Now owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands, KFC has grown into one of the world's largest fast-food chains. As of June, the brand counted more than 34,000 restaurants in over 150 countries. A new branch opens somewhere in the world every 3 1/2 hours, according to Poirier.

Sales are strong in international markets. China alone accounts for almost 40% of KFC restaurants worldwide. But U.S. sales have faltered as fast-growing competitors raced to meet rising demand for chicken from American consumers seeking leaner sources of protein.

Chick-fil-A and Popeyes began expanding rapidly in the 2010s; both brands now have nearly as many U.S. locations as KFC. Newer chains like Raising Cane’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken and Wingstop focused on chicken tenders and sauces, making KFC’s buckets of bone-in chicken look out of date.

McDonald's said this week that it's bringing hand-breaded chicken, like KFC has long made, to the U.S. and other markets. Even Long John Silver’s recently added fried chicken wings to its menu.

In 2015, KFC commanded a 20% share of the $21.8 billion in U.S. chicken-chain sales, according to Technomic, a restaurant market research company. By 2025, KFC’s share had fallen to 8%, even as sales at chicken chains more than doubled to $57.7 billion.

KFC wants to attract younger customers without losing older ones

Younger diners see the brand as old and tired, said Neil Saunders, a managing director with the market research company GlobalData.

“Some of their locations honestly aren’t very nice. They’re down at the heel and grubby. They don’t feel contemporary,” Saunders said.

KFC has pursued a turnaround for a while, shedding underperforming U.S. locations even as it expanded overseas. Since the beginning of 2022, 529 KFC restaurants in the U.S. have closed, according to company filings.

The brand has also experimented with its menu. Work to develop KFC's portfolio of 20 sauces and improve its chicken tenders advanced at a small concept store in Florida called Saucy by KFC, which opened in 2024, said Dhiren Karnani, KFC’s global head of food and experience. Beverages became a focus after research indicated that younger consumers often decide where to eat based on drink selections, he said.

Karnani said KFC had to ensure menu changes fit the brand and elevate its chicken, which still uses Sanders’ original recipe. KFC wants to respond to consumer demand for more beverages and tenders, he said, but will still serve bone-in chicken and sides like gravy.

“We're just providing more choices and more ways a consumer can enjoy KFC, rather than saying goodbye to the past as we look into the future,” he said. “Because who are we if not really for our heritage? I think we celebrate it.”

Phil Kafarakis, the CEO of IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, which represents restaurant suppliers and manufacturers, said KFC struggled to get attention from Yum Brands while the parent company dealt with problems at Pizza Hut. Yum, which also owns Taco Bell, sold Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion earlier this year.

“I personally think it’s going to be an exciting time for KFC,” Kafarakis said.

The women are among the thousands of federal workers and contract employees in the Washington region whose lives were upended when the Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency overhauled the federal workforce last year, cutting jobs and grants.

A new survey released Thursday by Gallup and the Greater Washington Community Foundation shows the far-reaching impact on the nation's capital.

Despite living in one of the most affluent parts of the country, many in the greater D.C. area — which includes parts of Maryland and Virginia and is referred to as the DMV — now see a bleak local job market and rising costs. Some are even considering leaving the region.

“It wasn’t just about our jobs being gone. It was really this awful ripple effect of all these lives and destinies really disrupted," Nataro said.

The District of Columbia, which official figures show accounted for a fifth of the roughly 100,000 job losses in the region and is host to an ongoing deployment of the National Guard, has been particularly impacted. According to the survey, about two-thirds of D.C. residents said their household had been directly affected by the job cuts, one of the highest percentages in the region.

Federal job cuts impacted higher-income households

More affluent households were hit especially hard by the cuts, the survey found. A majority — 58% — of those in households with an annual income of $90,000 or more said they were impacted by the reductions, compared to 48% of lower-income households.

Trumbull earned over $130,000 annually at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After DOGE came for her job, she took a deferred resignation in the second-round offering, under threat of a forthcoming USDA reorganization that wasn’t really a decent option. She only secured new, part-time employment a year later.

During that time, she had to take a forbearance on her mortgage. She applied for public assistance. She and her husband took home just $2,000 a month, she said, while amassing debt from their home ownership.

When jobs didn’t come through, she did some contract work and taught to “cobble together enough money to make sure my kids were supplied — cause you don’t get to stop buying diapers.”

“I don’t see a future where I can go back to not worrying about moving money around constantly” to cover bills, she said.

Even though lower-income residents were less likely to report any impacts, the survey suggests that hardship was still acute among this group. About 1 in 10, 14%, DMV residents say that they or someone in their household accessed social services like food banks or job placement support for the first time in the past year, which rose to about one-quarter of those in households earning less than $90,000 per year.

Many residents worry about housing payments and healthcare

About one-third of DMV residents say they are “very” or “somewhat” worried about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, down from about half in 2023 following the economic troubles of the COVID pandemic. Renters, Black and Hispanic adults, and lower-income residents are particularly worried about housing payments.

Nataro, 42, and a single mom of two young children, asked her landlord for a rent reduction after she lost her job at USAID, one of DOGE's first targets. She signed up for food stamps and unemployment assistance. She found work in academia quickly but took a substantial pay cut.

“It’s very humbling, because you know before that you’re paying all your bills and struggling but you’ve got enough to cover everything,” she said. Now, she has had to ask for help.

Roughly 2 in 10 DMV residents say there were times in the past year when they couldn't pay for healthcare, according to the survey. Nataro said she has had to make tough choices on her personal healthcare needs to cut costs.

Danielle Yates, the managing director of marketing and communications at the Greater Washington Community Foundation, said the survey found that a significant number of people in the region had trouble taking care of their basic needs.

About 1 in 10 DMV residents say they couldn't provide adequate shelter or housing for their family the past year, according to the survey, and roughly 2 in 10 say there were times when they couldn't pay for food.

A Capital Area Food Bank survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago last year also found broad food insecurity. “Thirty-eight percent of our area’s residents said that they needed some support in putting food on their tables so that they could lead an active and healthy lifestyle,” said Radha Muthiah, executive director of the CAFB.

Views of the local job market have dimmed

Residents' perceptions of the local job market are much less optimistic than just a few years ago. Only about half of DMV residents rate the availability of good jobs where they live as “excellent” or “good," down from 65% in 2023.

Those who have found work say they've been left with the scars of DOGE's ruthlessness.

A job Nataro loved and felt made a difference in the world was taken away, leaving her “traumatized.”

"I haven’t taken any real personal effects to the office. We haven’t really unboxed things.”

Some consider leaving the region

Rising costs and housing also influence how DMV residents think about the region, in addition to the job cuts.

About one-third of DMV residents expect that living conditions in the Washington area will be “worse” in the next five years, while about half think they will be “about the same.” Only about 2 in 10 expect things will get better.

About 1 in 10 D.C. residents, 14%, say they are considering leaving the DMV region in the next year, with most who are thinking about departing pointing to rising costs and housing expenses.

Barbera and her husband both worked at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a place where the staff was fired twice because of court decisions. A year and a half after they were fired in March 2025, the couple are considering leaving the area because of rising costs, especially childcare for their three children. Although both have full-time jobs doing consulting work, they are earning half of what they did, said Barbera.

The two had worked a collective 30 years for the peace-focused organization when they were let go. She said she feels lucky because they have family support and jobs but are being forced into considering a different future.

“This is the only place they’ve lived,” Barbera said of her children. “We don’t want to leave. But we have to have the conversation.”

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The VoicesDMV analysis is based on a mail survey of U.S. adults aged 18 and older living in the Greater Washington Region using random address-based sampling. The survey of 2,801 residents was conducted Feb. 9 to April 6, 2026. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The city said these seasonal flooding events are not unusual and typically occur each fall.

Drivers are urged to avoid standing water whenever possible. If driving through flooded areas is necessary, officials recommend slowing down and avoiding creating a wake, which can push water onto nearby properties and create additional hazards.

Residents can monitor current water levels and view the city’s King Tide chart at the Hohonu Dashboard